四十二年前的9月9日，由陳懷駕駛的U-2C在江西上空被共匪的SA-2飛彈擊落。這次因為被打下來的不是美國人，所以美國政府不像1960年5月1日的事件後那麼窘迫。不過美國政府還是立刻下令由國務院統一口徑發言，並向駐在各國的美國使館發出了以上的電文（按一下文件可以放大）。
這封電報雖然有部分是事實，卻也有不少「謊言」。當初中情局為了編故事，的確在1960年安排了U-2的出口執照。而直到陳懷被擊落的那一天為止，美國也確實沒有再為中華民國空軍訓練新的飛行員。但是要說美國不知道當天是誰出任務，那可就是睜眼說瞎話了。美方在任務中所扮演的角色，和如何分享得來的情報，當然也絕對不是中華民國政府（GRC）單方面的事了。
幾個月前，為了「外交官有沒有說謊的權利」，老外交官投書駁斥新一代外交官的作法。其實這封美國國務院的電報就說明了老美的外交官不僅有說謊的權利，而且還有說謊的劇本。我們的語言裡不是也有「外交辭令」這種形容嗎？
補充一下：當時的美國總統甘乃迪（John F. Kennedy）在事件發生後的美國時間9月13日下午六點，於國務院召開了一次記者會。記者會的內容主要跟古巴和蘇聯有關，但是甘乃迪回答了一個跟上述事件有關的問題，以下文字來自甘乃迪總統圖書館的資料：
QUESTION: Mr. President, would you state, sir, whether or not the United States has given export licenses for the export of U-2 aircraft to other nations, other than Nationalist China, and if so, what is our policy?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we have not. These export licenses were given, as you know, in July of 1960, and were sold to the Nationalist Chinese Government, and we have no plans to sell any further ones or, grant any other export licenses.
By stating the export licenses took place in July 1960, JFK was kicking the political football to Ike, whom was the US President at the time.
Smooth, huh?
JFK’s words about the U-2 export licenses may sound like a pure political statement. But CIA might in fact have obtained the license (singular, not plural) from State Department, just to make the cover story more plausible.
In the document, Office of Special Activities, 1954-68, CHRONOLOGY, there is an entry about the U-2 export license, although the date, December 7, 1960, is a bit off. The censored text (three letters) should be “GRC”, Government of Republic of China. Since this is a classified internal document, there would have been no reason to include this entry if the license had not been issued.
雖然甘乃迪總統公開表示美國不會再把U-2賣給中華民國，往後的發展還是證明他沒有說實話（其實他也算說實話啦，因為美國並沒有「賣」U-2給台灣），只不過美國在檯面上依然不願證實自己的確涉入這項偵察合作。一直到季辛吉訪問中國，才終於正式向中國承認。以下文字來自美國最近解密的季辛吉與周恩來對話備忘錄：
PM Chou: Chiang Kai-shek’s Air Force sometimes still makes intrusions into airspace over the mainland in planes which you give them, but we can distinguish between theirs and yours. You have given them U-2 reconnaissance planes.
Dr. Kissinger: Yes. But we have moved every activity in which we are engaged farther away from your coast, as you know.
PM Chou: Air reconnaissance.
Dr. Kissinger: Yes. And on the Paracel Islands, when you protested we accepted your protest and instituted a limit on March 12.