Editing Francis Gary Powers (section)

===Prisoner exchange===
====CIA opposition to exchange====
The CIA, in particular chief of [[CIA Counterintelligence]] [[James Jesus Angleton]], opposed exchanging Powers for Soviet KGB [[Colonel]] [[Rudolf Abel|William Fisher]], known as "Rudolf Abel", who had been caught by the [[FBI]] in the [[Hollow Nickel Case]] and tried and jailed for espionage.<ref name="auto">{{citation |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/hollow-nickel/rudolph-ivanovich-abel-hollow-nickel-case/ |title=Famous Cases: Rudolph Ivanovich Abel (Hollow Nickel Case)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121132429/https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/hollow-nickel/rudolph-ivanovich-abel-hollow-nickel-case/ |archive-date=January 21, 2016 |publisher= [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]}}</ref><ref name=Reel />{{rp|236–37}} First, Angleton believed that Powers might have deliberately [[defection|defected]] to the Soviet side. CIA documents released in 2010 indicate that U.S. officials did not believe Powers' account of the incident at the time, because it was contradicted by a [[classified information|classified]] [[National Security Agency]] (NSA) report which alleged that the U-2 had descended from {{convert|65,000|to|34,000|ft|km}} before changing course and disappearing from radar. The NSA report remains classified as of 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7113512.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918040157/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7113512.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 18, 2011 |title=CIA documents show US never believed Gary Powers was shot down |publisher=Timesonline.co.uk |access-date=August 31, 2012}}</ref>

In any event, Angleton suspected that Powers had already revealed all he knew to the Soviets and therefore reasoned that Powers was worthless to the U.S. On the other hand, according to Angleton, William Fisher had revealed little to the CIA, refusing to disclose even his real name, and for this reason, William Fisher was still of potential value.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

However, Barbara Powers, Gary Powers' wife, was allegedly often drinking and having affairs. On June 22, 1961, she was pulled over by the police after driving erratically and was caught [[driving under the influence]].<ref name=Reel />{{rp|251}} To avoid bad publicity for the wife of the well-known CIA operative, doctors tasked by the CIA to keep Barbara out of the limelight arranged to have her committed to a [[psychiatric ward]] in [[Augusta, Georgia]], under strict supervision.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|251–51}} She was eventually released to the care of her mother. However, the CIA feared that Gary Powers languishing in Soviet prison might learn of Barbara's plight and as a result reach a state of desperation causing him to reveal to the Soviets whatever secrets he had not already revealed. Thus, Barbara unwittingly may have aided the cause of the approval of the prisoner exchange involving her husband and William Fisher.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|253}} Angleton and others at the CIA still opposed the exchange but President [[John F. Kennedy]] approved it.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|257}}

====The exchange====
On February 10, 1962, Powers was exchanged, along with U.S. student [[Frederic Pryor]], for Soviet KGB Colonel [[Rudolf Abel]]. Due to political differences between the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[German Democratic Republic]] at the time, Pryor was turned over to American authorities at [[Checkpoint Charlie]], before the exchange of Powers for Abel was allowed to proceed on the [[Glienicke Bridge]].

Powers credited his father with the swap idea. When released, Powers' total time in captivity was 1 year, 9 months, and 10 days.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=237–40}}