The Flying Saucer Working Party
The Flying Saucer Working Party was set
up in October 1950, but operated under such secrecy that its existence was
known to very few. Nevertheless, there were two clues that such a study had
been carried out. One of these clues was obvious, but the other was more
obscure.
The first clue was in the Secretary of
State for Air's response to Prime Minister Winston Churchill's famous 28 July
1952 memo in which he enquired "What does all this stuff about flying saucers
amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let me have a report at your
convenience". The response, dated 9 August 1952, began "The various reports
about unidentified flying objects, described by the Press as "flying saucers",
were the subject of a full Intelligence study in 1951".
The second clue was in a minute dated
29 May 1959, written by an official in S6 (a now defunct MOD division whose
responsibilities for researching and investigating UFOs were latterly taken on
by DS8, Sec(AS) and now DAS). This minute contained a sentence which read "The
subject was reviewed by the J.I.C. some years ago and their views agree with a
more extensive review carried out by the Americans". This minute can be found
at the PRO in file DEFE 31/118.
There was some considerable discussion
and debate about the terms of reference of the Flying Saucer Working Party. The
final version read as follows:
1. To review the available evidence in
reports of "Flying Saucers".
2. To examine from now on the evidence
on which reports of British origin of phenomena attributed to "Flying Saucers"
are based.
3. To report to DSI/JTIC as necessary.
4. To keep in touch with American
occurrences and evaluation of such.
The five man working party was chaired
by Mr G. L. Turney from one of the MOD's scientific intelligence branches. All
the members were specialists in the field of scientific and technical
intelligence. One member, Wing Commander M. Formby, Assistant Director of Intelligence
(Technical) at the Air Ministry, also chaired the Guided Missiles Working
Party.
The working party's conclusions were
set out in a document dated June 1951 and bearing the designation DSI/JTIC
Report No. 7. It was entitled "Unidentified Flying Objects" and classified
"Secret Discreet". The report comprises six pages (including the cover sheet)
and is reproduced here, in full. We obtained it last year under the Code of
Practice on Access to Government Information (as did a number of other researchers)
and it was subsequently made available at the Public Record Office on 1 January
2002. Some of the key PRO file references containing the Report and related
DSI/JTIC discussions are DEFE 10/496, DEFE 41/74 and DEFE 41/75.
As the report is reproduced here, in
full (aside from some material in paragraph 4, relating to liaison with the
Americans, which has been withheld) we do not propose to do much more than give
a brief summary of the document, as we believe it speaks for itself. The
following commentary should be viewed in conjunction with Graham Birdsall's
analysis in the January 2002 issue of UFO Magazine.
written by Nick Pope
SECRET PROJECTS
PROJECTS
Sat, 5th November, 2011
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Renowned U.S. Navy Commander
Reveals Stunning Roswell Crash Secret
Reveals Stunning Roswell Crash Secret
Renowned U.S. Navy Commander Reveals Stunning Roswell Crash Secret
Submitted by Anthony Bragalia on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 10:49
by Anthony Bragalia
The UFO Iconoclast(s)
One of the most acclaimed Naval scientists in U.S. military history has stated unequivocally that the Roswell crash of 1947 was not of a balloon nor was it a hoax. Based on evidence he had seen in an official capacity, the Commander was instead convinced that the crash represents an event with deep implications for all of mankind. Universally acknowledged as the "grandfather" of satellite technology - and a close associate of Dr. Werner von Braun - Commander George W. Hoover has revealed that the truth about Roswell is far stranger that we have ever dared to think.
Submitted by Anthony Bragalia on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 10:49
by Anthony Bragalia
The UFO Iconoclast(s)
One of the most acclaimed Naval scientists in U.S. military history has stated unequivocally that the Roswell crash of 1947 was not of a balloon nor was it a hoax. Based on evidence he had seen in an official capacity, the Commander was instead convinced that the crash represents an event with deep implications for all of mankind. Universally acknowledged as the "grandfather" of satellite technology - and a close associate of Dr. Werner von Braun - Commander George W. Hoover has revealed that the truth about Roswell is far stranger that we have ever dared to think.
THE GENIUS COMMANDER
COMMANDER GEORGE W. HOOVER, SEATED (LEFT) WITH FRED DURANT (ROBERTSON PANEL ON UFOS) AND WERNER von BRAUN (SEATED ACROSS)
Commander George W. Hoover was long associated with the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR). He was also a space program pioneer and innovator of numerous avionic and astronautical devices.Hoover was highly awarded for his technical achievements including the Aviation Week Laureate Award, the American Astronautical Society's Space Flight Award, the Legion of Merit and the British Interplanetary Society's Bronze Medal.
Hoover made enormous contributions to atmospheric balloon research leading to Project Skyhook; the X-15 Jet Aircraft (in developing the D-558-1) and to Werner von Braun's Project Orbiter (resulting in the launch of Explorer I, the first Americansatellite.) When retired from service, Hoover was a leading consultant to organizations including NASA (providing human standards development for Apollo) General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas and Curtis Wright.Hoover was also instrumental in the development of the first advanced flight instrumentation and of the first flight simulators. A highly decorated pilot as well, he personally logged over 5,000 flight hours in over 100 types of aircraft.
Dr. Werner von Braun said of Hoover in the early 1950s, "Everybody talks about satellites, then nobody does anything. George Hoover's contribution should never be forgotten." Vice Chief of the Navy, Admiral Harry D. Felt said of Hoover that he offered "the driving spirit, organizing genius, imagination and foresight which set in motion the mighty effort toward the first man-made earth satellite, man's first step toward space flight."
HOOVER THE VISIONARY
Hoover was not only a technical genius, but also a scientist with far-ranging interest, including studies in cosmology and philosophy.Hoover also had developed theories on the technical feasibility of lunar and Mars bases with the likes of Harvard astronomer Fred Whipple, Arthur C. Clarke and German scientist Krafft A. Ehricke. Hoover's interest extended to the subject of UFOs.
Developing evidence shows that Hoover may well have been assisting Fred Durant of the early UFO government study group "The Robertson Panel" as well as on other official UFO studies with others.
His private interest in such things though is demonstrated in a strange "side" episode in his career: In 1957, Admiral N. Furth (who helped lead the Office of Naval Research) had received in the mail in a manilla envelope a copy of the book "The Case for the UFO" by astronomer Morris K. Jessup. The copy made its way to Major Darrell L. Ritter of ONR. Ritter presented George Hoover and Captain Sidney Sherby with a copy of the book. The version of the book sent to ONR, however, had handwritten comments on the top, bottom and margins of the pages. Now known to have been the scrawls of a dubious character named Carlos Allende, the annotations were nonetheless "interesting." Though clearly amateur, they did in fact speak coincidentally to some of the very areas of technical and theoretical development that GeorgeHoover himself was then engaged. This included notes by Allende about "magnetic fields" "gravity fields" "cosmic rays" and "cloaking technologies." Because of this,Hoover reviewed the material (in a strictly personal capacity) to see if anything of any value could be culled. Of course there was not, but the strange episode demonstrates that Hoover was one of the Navy's foremost "outside of the box" thinkers. Hoover reported back that Allende's wild ideas of naval ship "invisibility" likely found their impetus in routine ship degaussing exercises made at the time.
THE COMMANDER'S NAMESAKE SON: "WHAT HE TOLD ME ABOUT ROSWELL"
Commander George W. Hoover was long associated with the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR). He was also a space program pioneer and innovator of numerous avionic and astronautical devices.Hoover was highly awarded for his technical achievements including the Aviation Week Laureate Award, the American Astronautical Society's Space Flight Award, the Legion of Merit and the British Interplanetary Society's Bronze Medal.
Hoover made enormous contributions to atmospheric balloon research leading to Project Skyhook; the X-15 Jet Aircraft (in developing the D-558-1) and to Werner von Braun's Project Orbiter (resulting in the launch of Explorer I, the first Americansatellite.) When retired from service, Hoover was a leading consultant to organizations including NASA (providing human standards development for Apollo) General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas and Curtis Wright.Hoover was also instrumental in the development of the first advanced flight instrumentation and of the first flight simulators. A highly decorated pilot as well, he personally logged over 5,000 flight hours in over 100 types of aircraft.
Dr. Werner von Braun said of Hoover in the early 1950s, "Everybody talks about satellites, then nobody does anything. George Hoover's contribution should never be forgotten." Vice Chief of the Navy, Admiral Harry D. Felt said of Hoover that he offered "the driving spirit, organizing genius, imagination and foresight which set in motion the mighty effort toward the first man-made earth satellite, man's first step toward space flight."
HOOVER THE VISIONARY
Hoover was not only a technical genius, but also a scientist with far-ranging interest, including studies in cosmology and philosophy.Hoover also had developed theories on the technical feasibility of lunar and Mars bases with the likes of Harvard astronomer Fred Whipple, Arthur C. Clarke and German scientist Krafft A. Ehricke. Hoover's interest extended to the subject of UFOs.
Developing evidence shows that Hoover may well have been assisting Fred Durant of the early UFO government study group "The Robertson Panel" as well as on other official UFO studies with others.
His private interest in such things though is demonstrated in a strange "side" episode in his career: In 1957, Admiral N. Furth (who helped lead the Office of Naval Research) had received in the mail in a manilla envelope a copy of the book "The Case for the UFO" by astronomer Morris K. Jessup. The copy made its way to Major Darrell L. Ritter of ONR. Ritter presented George Hoover and Captain Sidney Sherby with a copy of the book. The version of the book sent to ONR, however, had handwritten comments on the top, bottom and margins of the pages. Now known to have been the scrawls of a dubious character named Carlos Allende, the annotations were nonetheless "interesting." Though clearly amateur, they did in fact speak coincidentally to some of the very areas of technical and theoretical development that GeorgeHoover himself was then engaged. This included notes by Allende about "magnetic fields" "gravity fields" "cosmic rays" and "cloaking technologies." Because of this,Hoover reviewed the material (in a strictly personal capacity) to see if anything of any value could be culled. Of course there was not, but the strange episode demonstrates that Hoover was one of the Navy's foremost "outside of the box" thinkers. Hoover reported back that Allende's wild ideas of naval ship "invisibility" likely found their impetus in routine ship degaussing exercises made at the time.
THE COMMANDER'S NAMESAKE SON: "WHAT HE TOLD ME ABOUT ROSWELL"
GEORGE HOOVER JR.
George W. Hoover Jr. is the namesake son of Commander George Hoover. Hoover Jr. is himself highly accomplished. He is Berkeley-educated and degreed in Engineering Physics with an MBA from UCLA and a JD from Loyola Law.Hoover Jr. is today a Partner with one of the most prestigious and successful patent law firms in the nation. Hoover Jr. holds US Patents in technologies as far ranging as Energy Storage and 3-D Mapping. Prior to this, Hoover Jr. was a Senior Manager in Advanced Control Systems for Hughes Aircraft.
In extended email correspondence with a research associate of mine named Aurimas Svitojus, George W. Hoover Jr. recently revealed some remarkable things about his father, Commander George Hoover:
• Hoover was -in an official capacity - made privy to Roswell crash information in the 1950s or earlier
• Hoover related some of this information to Hoover Jr. as early as the 1960s!
• Hoover told his son "on a number of occasions" the he had personally "seen the evidence about the Roswell crash event that convinced him that it was neither a balloon nor a hoax"
• Hoover Sr. either would not, could not or did not wish to elaborate any further on this with his son, even after several conversations
• Hoover Sr. had "both a personal and a professional interest in UFOs"
George Hoover Jr. confirms that his father spoke of the Roswell crash - by name - as early as the 1960s. This is yet another powerful example of people privately speaking of the Roswell crash well before "all of the hoopla" of media attention in beginning in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hoover Jr. also confirms that his father was "professionally" involved in the study of UFOs while at the Navy. He further confirms that his father knew positively - bypersonal examination of evidence that he deemed conclusive - that the Roswell crash was not resultant from the crash of a balloon and that it was not a hoax. Just what exactly it was though,Hoover Sr. did not seem to want to tell his namesake son.
CIA'S FRED DURANT ON ROSWELL AND HOOVER
George W. Hoover Jr. is the namesake son of Commander George Hoover. Hoover Jr. is himself highly accomplished. He is Berkeley-educated and degreed in Engineering Physics with an MBA from UCLA and a JD from Loyola Law.Hoover Jr. is today a Partner with one of the most prestigious and successful patent law firms in the nation. Hoover Jr. holds US Patents in technologies as far ranging as Energy Storage and 3-D Mapping. Prior to this, Hoover Jr. was a Senior Manager in Advanced Control Systems for Hughes Aircraft.
In extended email correspondence with a research associate of mine named Aurimas Svitojus, George W. Hoover Jr. recently revealed some remarkable things about his father, Commander George Hoover:
• Hoover was -in an official capacity - made privy to Roswell crash information in the 1950s or earlier
• Hoover related some of this information to Hoover Jr. as early as the 1960s!
• Hoover told his son "on a number of occasions" the he had personally "seen the evidence about the Roswell crash event that convinced him that it was neither a balloon nor a hoax"
• Hoover Sr. either would not, could not or did not wish to elaborate any further on this with his son, even after several conversations
• Hoover Sr. had "both a personal and a professional interest in UFOs"
George Hoover Jr. confirms that his father spoke of the Roswell crash - by name - as early as the 1960s. This is yet another powerful example of people privately speaking of the Roswell crash well before "all of the hoopla" of media attention in beginning in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hoover Jr. also confirms that his father was "professionally" involved in the study of UFOs while at the Navy. He further confirms that his father knew positively - bypersonal examination of evidence that he deemed conclusive - that the Roswell crash was not resultant from the crash of a balloon and that it was not a hoax. Just what exactly it was though,Hoover Sr. did not seem to want to tell his namesake son.
CIA'S FRED DURANT ON ROSWELL AND HOOVER
This author reached out to Fred Durant to see if any more information could be obtained on this. Durant is the former Secretary of the CIA's UFO study group "The Roberston Panel" of 1952, resulting in what is sometimes called the "Durant Report." Fred Durant and George Hoover were very close for a very long time, including when both were at the ONR.
Durant is now 94 years old and living in North Carolina. He is still well-spoken and sharp, but very guarded. He was extraordinarily evasive with me in both emails (sent through his assistant, as Durant is now nearly blind) as well as in phone conversation. Durant still speaks like a spook. The former CIA Agent qualified his responses to me several times and prefaced his answers with seemingly well-rehearsed phrases common to those in Intelligence: "I have no reason to believe" and "To my knowledge."
When asked about what Durant felt about the true nature of the Roswell crash, Durant replied, "To my knowledge, all investigations of Roswell were concluded years ago." Later he stated "to my knowledge, the story of the Roswell crash was one of misidentification of a Mogul balloon." Finally on the matter he said, "I do not believe that any evidence of unknown phenomena was obtained."
Durant spoke fondly of Hoover and confirmed to me that he worked with him and had known him well. He also agreed that Durant was trustworthy and he added thatHoover "sold his concepts well" at the Navy. He also lauded Hoover as playing a role in the development of early space flight and satellite technology.
However, when I asked Durant why Hoover would say that Roswell was not a balloon and not a hoax, he replied, "I have no reason to believe the posthumous claim that George Hoover was aware of any factual information about the Roswell incident." When I told Durant that Hoover's own namesake son said differently, Durant wanted to know "where Hoover's papers are kept." He simply did not want to hear what Hoover's own family and others were saying about this, and seemed more concerned about locating any extant professional or personal papers of Hoover's. Durant, even at 94, proves rather clearly that some of these men take the Oath of Intelligence to their graves.
HOOVER REVEALS THE ROSWELL SECRET
Durant is now 94 years old and living in North Carolina. He is still well-spoken and sharp, but very guarded. He was extraordinarily evasive with me in both emails (sent through his assistant, as Durant is now nearly blind) as well as in phone conversation. Durant still speaks like a spook. The former CIA Agent qualified his responses to me several times and prefaced his answers with seemingly well-rehearsed phrases common to those in Intelligence: "I have no reason to believe" and "To my knowledge."
When asked about what Durant felt about the true nature of the Roswell crash, Durant replied, "To my knowledge, all investigations of Roswell were concluded years ago." Later he stated "to my knowledge, the story of the Roswell crash was one of misidentification of a Mogul balloon." Finally on the matter he said, "I do not believe that any evidence of unknown phenomena was obtained."
Durant spoke fondly of Hoover and confirmed to me that he worked with him and had known him well. He also agreed that Durant was trustworthy and he added thatHoover "sold his concepts well" at the Navy. He also lauded Hoover as playing a role in the development of early space flight and satellite technology.
However, when I asked Durant why Hoover would say that Roswell was not a balloon and not a hoax, he replied, "I have no reason to believe the posthumous claim that George Hoover was aware of any factual information about the Roswell incident." When I told Durant that Hoover's own namesake son said differently, Durant wanted to know "where Hoover's papers are kept." He simply did not want to hear what Hoover's own family and others were saying about this, and seemed more concerned about locating any extant professional or personal papers of Hoover's. Durant, even at 94, proves rather clearly that some of these men take the Oath of Intelligence to their graves.
HOOVER REVEALS THE ROSWELL SECRET
In 1995 George W. Hoover Sr. left his testament for history with an associate of the History Channel. Some of Hoover's hints about Roswell that he had made to his own son were later corroborated in private, off-the-record conversations that Commander Hoover had with researcher William J. Birnes PhD, JD.
This included a visit by Birnes and others to Hoover's home in Pacific Palisades, CA. Birnes had sought out Hoover for information on a design issue for a technical "cockpit display project" that Birnes was working on at the time. The talk at some point turned to UFOs. In correspondence with this author, Birnes detailed his experience with Hoover to me and indicated that Hoover was lucid, articulate and serious.
Commander George Hoover had finally revealed what he really knew about Roswell. He explained the truth as he had learned it all those decades ago:
• UFOs are not the "biggest secret" - it is the entities behind them that was of most concern
• Roswell was in fact a crash event of "visitors from somewhere else"
• The entities were "not so much interplanetary as much as they were literally also time travelers." They are extra-temporal.
• The visitors are clearly "from the future." There is reason to believe that they may even be "us" from a future Earth.
• These "future humans" have the ability to "manipulate reality around us."
• The government feared the intentions and abilities of the "visitors"
• These visitors are able to use the power of consciousness in extraordinary ways to morph reality
• We human beings are far more powerful in potential than we ever dreamed that we are. We don't yet comprehend our extraordinary future capabilities.
• The visitors remain at essence though "corporeal" and "physical" - and secret attempts at reverse-engineering the visitor's crash material were made
• Incredibly, Hoover admitted that he himself was engaged in such technology transfer as a Naval Intelligence Officer with Top Secret clearances
Hoover appears to have been fairly sparse in his comments to Birnes (just as Hoover was with his namesake son) but his insight still speaks volumes. We learn that the truth about UFOs is held in secret. Roswell really happened. The visitors manipulate time and matter, perhaps as future humans. The role that can be played by fields of consciousness upon technology -and upon reality itself- is difficult to comprehend. And there have been efforts at replication of the crash debris by the U.S. Navy. When Birnes' interview of Hoover was related to his son Hoover Jr., the son replied that he was unaware that his father had said this, but neither did he discount it.
Readers will know of this author's previous work linking Battelle Memorial Institute with the US Navy and the development of "shape-recovery" alloys inspired by the Roswell debris. Readers will also remember that this author reported on the US Navy's bizarre Mind-Over-Matter experiments on the "memory metal" Nitinol conducted by Nitinol's co-inventor, Dr. Frederick Wang of the Office of Naval Research (ONR.)
The connection is rather astounding and it now comes full circle:
ONR's Commander George Hoover confirmed that the US Navy was engaged in the reverse-engineering and technology transfer of the Roswell material. He also said that the "mind" matters. Battelle's metallurgist (and secret government UFO researcher) Dr. Howard Cross worked closely with the US Navy, including in providing valuable information on Titanium and Titanium-Nickel alloys (the basis for memory metal.)
ONR's Fred Wang was inspired by Battelle's earlier work to create the Roswell-like morphing metal called Nitinol. Wang was also confirmed to have been involved in Mind-Over-Matter experiments to morph Nitinol with psychic influence. (See Roswell -Battelle article series archived on this site.)
HOOVER'S MESSAGE TO MANKIND
Commander George Hoover had finally revealed what he really knew about Roswell. He explained the truth as he had learned it all those decades ago:
• UFOs are not the "biggest secret" - it is the entities behind them that was of most concern
• Roswell was in fact a crash event of "visitors from somewhere else"
• The entities were "not so much interplanetary as much as they were literally also time travelers." They are extra-temporal.
• The visitors are clearly "from the future." There is reason to believe that they may even be "us" from a future Earth.
• These "future humans" have the ability to "manipulate reality around us."
• The government feared the intentions and abilities of the "visitors"
• These visitors are able to use the power of consciousness in extraordinary ways to morph reality
• We human beings are far more powerful in potential than we ever dreamed that we are. We don't yet comprehend our extraordinary future capabilities.
• The visitors remain at essence though "corporeal" and "physical" - and secret attempts at reverse-engineering the visitor's crash material were made
• Incredibly, Hoover admitted that he himself was engaged in such technology transfer as a Naval Intelligence Officer with Top Secret clearances
Hoover appears to have been fairly sparse in his comments to Birnes (just as Hoover was with his namesake son) but his insight still speaks volumes. We learn that the truth about UFOs is held in secret. Roswell really happened. The visitors manipulate time and matter, perhaps as future humans. The role that can be played by fields of consciousness upon technology -and upon reality itself- is difficult to comprehend. And there have been efforts at replication of the crash debris by the U.S. Navy. When Birnes' interview of Hoover was related to his son Hoover Jr., the son replied that he was unaware that his father had said this, but neither did he discount it.
Readers will know of this author's previous work linking Battelle Memorial Institute with the US Navy and the development of "shape-recovery" alloys inspired by the Roswell debris. Readers will also remember that this author reported on the US Navy's bizarre Mind-Over-Matter experiments on the "memory metal" Nitinol conducted by Nitinol's co-inventor, Dr. Frederick Wang of the Office of Naval Research (ONR.)
The connection is rather astounding and it now comes full circle:
ONR's Commander George Hoover confirmed that the US Navy was engaged in the reverse-engineering and technology transfer of the Roswell material. He also said that the "mind" matters. Battelle's metallurgist (and secret government UFO researcher) Dr. Howard Cross worked closely with the US Navy, including in providing valuable information on Titanium and Titanium-Nickel alloys (the basis for memory metal.)
ONR's Fred Wang was inspired by Battelle's earlier work to create the Roswell-like morphing metal called Nitinol. Wang was also confirmed to have been involved in Mind-Over-Matter experiments to morph Nitinol with psychic influence. (See Roswell -Battelle article series archived on this site.)
HOOVER'S MESSAGE TO MANKIND
Hoover died at age 83 in 1998. In his decades of service to our country, the Commander helped to provide to mankind the vision to go beyond our planet Earth. He aimed to take us high and far to the stars. This is because Hoover knew that we can be so much more. We have the potential to be at once an Interstellar and a Hyper-Dimensional race. We will one day manipulate and morph the very fabric of space-time and matter itself. We too will traverse the vast cosmos in an instant. When that day comes, the Navy Man tells us, we will no longer fear the Alien. We will realize that we are the Alien.
Philip Schneider and the Black Budget
Philip Schneider was mysteriously found dead on January 16, 1996 after conducting several controversial lectures throughout the US, including Denver where he covered topics such as, Space-Defense, black helicopters, railroad cars built with shackles, extraterrestrials and the secret black budget.
Philip Schneider claimed to be an ex-government structural engineer who helped build deep underground military bases (DUMB) around the United States. He also claims to be one of only three people to survive the 1979 incident between the alien Grays and the US military at the Dulce, New Mexico underground base.
Philip voluntarily retired from the military after he disagreed with their spending, secrecy and unconstitutional actions. His ex-wife, Cynthia Drayer believes that Philip Schneider was murdered because he publicly revealed the truth about the US government’s involvement with UFOs.
The following quote is from Philip Schneider from one of his lectures:
"I love the country I am living in more than I love my life, but I would not be standing before you now, risking my life, if I did not believe it was so. The first part of this talk is going to concern deep underground military bases and the Black Budget. The Black Budget is a secretive budget that garners 25% of the gross national product of the United States. The Black Budget currently consumes $1.25 trillion per year. At least this amount is used in black programs, like those concerned with deep underground military bases. Presently, there are 129 deep underground military bases in the United States”.
Philip Schneider recounts his encounter with extraterrestrials in the following excerpt:
"I was involved in building an addition to the deep underground military base at Dulce, which is probably the deepest base. My job was to go down the holes and check the rock samples, and recommend the explosive to deal with the particular rock. As I was headed down there, we found ourselves amidst a large cavern that was full of outer-space aliens, otherwise known as large Greys. I shot two of them. At that time, there were 30 people down there. About 40 more came down after this started, and all of them got killed. We had surprised a whole underground base of existing aliens. Later, we found out that they had been living on our planet for a long time, perhaps a million years. This could explain a lot of what is behind the theory of ancient astronauts.”
"Anyway, I got shot in the chest with one of their weapons, which was a box on their body that blew a hole in me and gave me a nasty dose of cobalt radiation. I have had cancer because of that.”
"I didn't get really interested in UFO technology until I started work at Area 51, north of Las Vegas. After about two years recuperating after the 1979 incident, I went back to work for Morrison and Knudson, EG&G and other companies. “
Philip Schneider released a lot of information pertaining to a supposed deep underground base under Denver International Airport as well. He said these underground bases were all throughout the US and they all were connected by a super highway.
Philip’s father Oscar Schneider was also said to have worked on secret government projects including the Philadelphia Experiment, which is the disputed story of the US Navy who supposedly made their large ship invisible for a brief amount of time. Philip and his family were reportedly harassed by government agents including his daughter who says she was being followed and monitored at school. Philip’s ex-wife Cynthia Drayer does not believe that he committed suicide. Here are some of her reasons:
1. “There was no suicide note.”
2. "Philip always told his friends and relatives, that if he ever ‘committed suicide’ you would know that he had been murdered”.
3. “From a number of sources, including his taped lectures (video and audio), and statements to his friends, and the borrowing of a 9mm gun, Philip felt that he and his family were being threatened and were in danger because of his lectures”.
4. “All of his lecture materials, alien metals, higher math books, photographs of UFO's coming out of the Operation Crossroad A-Bomb, notes for his book on the alien agenda, were missing. (Everything else in the apartment was still there, including gold coins, wallet with hundreds of dollars, jewelry, mineral specimens, etc)”.
5. “No coroner ever came out to his apartment after his body was found (against Oregon Law) - and a police investigation never took under consideration that items were missing from his apartment - it was considered a suicide, plain and simple”.
Schneider’s death is still a mystery, there are reports that he committed suicide and reports that he was found tortured with piano wire around his neck. There are other reports suggesting that he had a stroke or a heart attack.
No one may ever know the truth of Schneider’s claims but there is no doubt that he was an interesting figure and that he had some very disturbing and controversial things to say.
eing one of the most courageous whistleblowers from the mid 90′s, Phillip Schneider set ground for many of todaysconspiracy theories. He was one of the first to disclose about the New World Order(NWO). He claims to have shot twoalien grays while doing his work as an geologist. Thirteen attempts on his life were made after he began disclosing all his experiences with secret governments, underground bases and ETs. Phil Schneider was shot several times, missed several toes and fingers(due to his fight with the two alien grays) and suffered from cancer(due to radiation residue from the alien fight). Unfortunately, the fourteenth and last attempt on his life succeeded.
Philip Schneider’s life was certainly as controversial as his death. He was born on April 23, 1947 at Bethesda Navy Hospital. Philip’s parents were Oscar and Sally Schneider. Oscar Schneider was a Captain in the United States Navy, worked in nuclear medicine and helped design the first nuclear submarines. Captain Schneider was also part of OPERATION CROSSROADS, which was responsible for the testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific AT Bikini Island. In a lecture videotaped in May 1996, Philip Schneider claimed that his father, Captain Oscar Schneider, was also involved with the infamous “Philadelphia Experiment.”
In addition, Philip claimed to be an ex-government structural engineer who was involved in building underground military bases (DUMB) around the country, and to be one of only three people to survive the 1979 incident between the alien Grays and U.S. military forces at the Dulce underground base.
Philip Schneider’s ex-wife, Cynthia Drayer believes that Philip was murdered because he publicly revealed the truth about the U.S. government’s involvement with UFOs.
Here’s a written statement of Philip’s wife:
My name is Cynthia Drayer, I live in Portland, Oregon, and I am the ex-wife of Philip Schneider. Philip and I met in 1986, were married in Carson City, Nevada, and had a daughter, Marie, in 1987. We were divorced in 1990 and lived in separate residences. Philip lived in an apartment complex in Wilsonville, Oregon. On 1/17/1996 I received a call that Philip was dead in his apartment and apparently had died up to a week before his body was discovered. At the time of the removal of his body, his cause of death was by a stroke. When I went to the funeral home I had feelings of discomfort about his death. I asked to view the body, but due to decomposition, the funeral director suggested otherwise. I wanted to be sure, in my own mind,. that Philip had not died under “unnatural causes”.
For the last two years of his life, Philip had been on the “lecture tour” throughout the United States, talking out about government coverups. You name it, he was talking about it: Aliens (treaties and abductions), UFO’s, the One World Government, Black Budgets, Underground Mountain Bases, CIA involvement in civilian murders and drugs, Stealth technology, the Philadelphia Experiment, Operation Crossroads (Bikini Island A-bomb experiments), Dulce Fire Fight, the Oklahoma bombing, the World Trade Center bombing, missing children, Gunderson Freight Cars, the opening of concentration camps and Marshal Law/UN involvement, man-made viruses and earthquakes, etc.etc.
A day later, I received a call from the Clackamas County Detectives, that the funeral director had found “something” around Philip’s neck.
An autopsy was performed at the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office (in Portland, Oregon) by Dr. Gunson, and she determined that Philip had committed suicide by wrapping a rubber cathater hose three times around his neck, and half-knotting it in front. There are several reasons why I believe that Philip did not commit suicide, but was murdered:
1. There was no suicide note.
2. Philip always told his friends and relatives, that if he ever “committed suicide” you would know that he had been murdered.
3. From a number of sources, including his taped lectures (video and audio), and statements to his friends, and the borrowing of a 9mm gun, Philip felt that he and his family were being threatened and were in danger because of his lecutres.
4. All of his lecture materials, alien metals, higher math books, photographs of UFO’s coming out of the Operation Crossroad A-Bomb, notes for his book on the alien agenda, were missing. (Everything else in the apartment was still there, including gold coins, wallet with hundreds of dollars, jewelry, mineral specimens, etc.)
5. No coroner ever came out to his apartment after his body was found (against Oregon Law) – and a police investigation never took under consideration that items were missing from his apartment – it was considered a suicide, plain and simple
6. The medical examiner took blood and urine samples at the autopsy but REFUSED to analyze them, saying that the county would not “waste their money on a suicide”. Although I was assured that the samples would be kept for 12 months, when I asked for these samples to be sent to an independent lab 11 months later they were “missing” and presumed “destroyed”.
7. Philip had missing fingers on his left hand, and limited motion in his shoulders. I believe that it was physically impossible for Philip to have held the rubber hose in his left hand with missing fingers and then wrap the hose three times with shoulders that had limited motion. In order to end up where his body was, he had to sit on the edge of his bed, wrap the hose around his neck, slowly and painfully strangle to death, and fallen head first into a wheel chair.
8. Philip was an expert in chemicals and his own medical needs. He had multiple pills at hand that could have ended his life quickly and painlessly. He also had a 9mm gun that he had borrowed to protect himself. Why strangle himself in such an unusual manner?
9. Philip was very religious, and did not believe in suicide. He had intense chronic pain all of the time I knew him. At the time of his death, he was on disability, had a housekeeper, and had cancer. The operation to help him with his back pain did not alleviate the pain and he had brittle bone syndrome (osteoperosis). He struggled every day, not to die, but to live.
He felt that these lectures he gave was making a difference, and was looking forward to giving more. In fact he was scheduled for another lecture tour that started 1/16/96 in Tampa, Florida. He had just found a friend who was going to help him write a book about the New World Order, and he was enjoying his time with his daughter.
10. Philip was undergoing “injections” of “Beta Serone” every week in an experiment to stop his multiple sclerosis. After his death I contacted the only agency that conducted these experiments to obtain his medical record (OHSU). They had never heard of him, and he was not a part of their experiments. This would suggest people unknown were injecting him on a weekly basis with an unknown substance. He often times called me after these “shots” to tell me that he was too sick for his daughter to come and visit. I believe that the shots that Philip thought were being given to him to help him back to health, were actually being given to him to make him sick.
11. Philip was seen with an “unknown blonde haired woman” for several months before his death. Several times this same individual was seen or talked about and her mysterious presence only leads one to wonder if she had anything to do with his “suicide”.
12. Several people with psychic abilities have indicated that Philip did not commit suicide, but was murdered (some say by 5 people: 4 men and 1 woman, 4 directly and one by taking out a “contract”.
Philip Schneider was mysteriously found dead on January 16, 1996 after conducting several controversial lectures throughout the US, including Denver where he covered topics such as, Space-Defense, black helicopters, railroad cars built with shackles, extraterrestrials and the secret black budget.
Philip Schneider claimed to be an ex-government structural engineer who helped build deep underground military bases (DUMB) around the United States. He also claims to be one of only three people to survive the 1979 incident between the alien Grays and the US military at the Dulce, New Mexico underground base.
Philip voluntarily retired from the military after he disagreed with their spending, secrecy and unconstitutional actions. His ex-wife, Cynthia Drayer believes that Philip Schneider was murdered because he publicly revealed the truth about the US government’s involvement with UFOs.
The following quote is from Philip Schneider from one of his lectures:
"I love the country I am living in more than I love my life, but I would not be standing before you now, risking my life, if I did not believe it was so. The first part of this talk is going to concern deep underground military bases and the Black Budget. The Black Budget is a secretive budget that garners 25% of the gross national product of the United States. The Black Budget currently consumes $1.25 trillion per year. At least this amount is used in black programs, like those concerned with deep underground military bases. Presently, there are 129 deep underground military bases in the United States”.
Philip Schneider recounts his encounter with extraterrestrials in the following excerpt:
"I was involved in building an addition to the deep underground military base at Dulce, which is probably the deepest base. My job was to go down the holes and check the rock samples, and recommend the explosive to deal with the particular rock. As I was headed down there, we found ourselves amidst a large cavern that was full of outer-space aliens, otherwise known as large Greys. I shot two of them. At that time, there were 30 people down there. About 40 more came down after this started, and all of them got killed. We had surprised a whole underground base of existing aliens. Later, we found out that they had been living on our planet for a long time, perhaps a million years. This could explain a lot of what is behind the theory of ancient astronauts.”
"Anyway, I got shot in the chest with one of their weapons, which was a box on their body that blew a hole in me and gave me a nasty dose of cobalt radiation. I have had cancer because of that.”
"I didn't get really interested in UFO technology until I started work at Area 51, north of Las Vegas. After about two years recuperating after the 1979 incident, I went back to work for Morrison and Knudson, EG&G and other companies. “
Philip Schneider released a lot of information pertaining to a supposed deep underground base under Denver International Airport as well. He said these underground bases were all throughout the US and they all were connected by a super highway.
Philip’s father Oscar Schneider was also said to have worked on secret government projects including the Philadelphia Experiment, which is the disputed story of the US Navy who supposedly made their large ship invisible for a brief amount of time. Philip and his family were reportedly harassed by government agents including his daughter who says she was being followed and monitored at school. Philip’s ex-wife Cynthia Drayer does not believe that he committed suicide. Here are some of her reasons:
1. “There was no suicide note.”
2. "Philip always told his friends and relatives, that if he ever ‘committed suicide’ you would know that he had been murdered”.
3. “From a number of sources, including his taped lectures (video and audio), and statements to his friends, and the borrowing of a 9mm gun, Philip felt that he and his family were being threatened and were in danger because of his lectures”.
4. “All of his lecture materials, alien metals, higher math books, photographs of UFO's coming out of the Operation Crossroad A-Bomb, notes for his book on the alien agenda, were missing. (Everything else in the apartment was still there, including gold coins, wallet with hundreds of dollars, jewelry, mineral specimens, etc)”.
5. “No coroner ever came out to his apartment after his body was found (against Oregon Law) - and a police investigation never took under consideration that items were missing from his apartment - it was considered a suicide, plain and simple”.
Schneider’s death is still a mystery, there are reports that he committed suicide and reports that he was found tortured with piano wire around his neck. There are other reports suggesting that he had a stroke or a heart attack.
No one may ever know the truth of Schneider’s claims but there is no doubt that he was an interesting figure and that he had some very disturbing and controversial things to say.
eing one of the most courageous whistleblowers from the mid 90′s, Phillip Schneider set ground for many of todaysconspiracy theories. He was one of the first to disclose about the New World Order(NWO). He claims to have shot twoalien grays while doing his work as an geologist. Thirteen attempts on his life were made after he began disclosing all his experiences with secret governments, underground bases and ETs. Phil Schneider was shot several times, missed several toes and fingers(due to his fight with the two alien grays) and suffered from cancer(due to radiation residue from the alien fight). Unfortunately, the fourteenth and last attempt on his life succeeded.
Philip Schneider’s life was certainly as controversial as his death. He was born on April 23, 1947 at Bethesda Navy Hospital. Philip’s parents were Oscar and Sally Schneider. Oscar Schneider was a Captain in the United States Navy, worked in nuclear medicine and helped design the first nuclear submarines. Captain Schneider was also part of OPERATION CROSSROADS, which was responsible for the testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific AT Bikini Island. In a lecture videotaped in May 1996, Philip Schneider claimed that his father, Captain Oscar Schneider, was also involved with the infamous “Philadelphia Experiment.”
In addition, Philip claimed to be an ex-government structural engineer who was involved in building underground military bases (DUMB) around the country, and to be one of only three people to survive the 1979 incident between the alien Grays and U.S. military forces at the Dulce underground base.
Philip Schneider’s ex-wife, Cynthia Drayer believes that Philip was murdered because he publicly revealed the truth about the U.S. government’s involvement with UFOs.
Here’s a written statement of Philip’s wife:
My name is Cynthia Drayer, I live in Portland, Oregon, and I am the ex-wife of Philip Schneider. Philip and I met in 1986, were married in Carson City, Nevada, and had a daughter, Marie, in 1987. We were divorced in 1990 and lived in separate residences. Philip lived in an apartment complex in Wilsonville, Oregon. On 1/17/1996 I received a call that Philip was dead in his apartment and apparently had died up to a week before his body was discovered. At the time of the removal of his body, his cause of death was by a stroke. When I went to the funeral home I had feelings of discomfort about his death. I asked to view the body, but due to decomposition, the funeral director suggested otherwise. I wanted to be sure, in my own mind,. that Philip had not died under “unnatural causes”.
For the last two years of his life, Philip had been on the “lecture tour” throughout the United States, talking out about government coverups. You name it, he was talking about it: Aliens (treaties and abductions), UFO’s, the One World Government, Black Budgets, Underground Mountain Bases, CIA involvement in civilian murders and drugs, Stealth technology, the Philadelphia Experiment, Operation Crossroads (Bikini Island A-bomb experiments), Dulce Fire Fight, the Oklahoma bombing, the World Trade Center bombing, missing children, Gunderson Freight Cars, the opening of concentration camps and Marshal Law/UN involvement, man-made viruses and earthquakes, etc.etc.
A day later, I received a call from the Clackamas County Detectives, that the funeral director had found “something” around Philip’s neck.
An autopsy was performed at the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office (in Portland, Oregon) by Dr. Gunson, and she determined that Philip had committed suicide by wrapping a rubber cathater hose three times around his neck, and half-knotting it in front. There are several reasons why I believe that Philip did not commit suicide, but was murdered:
1. There was no suicide note.
2. Philip always told his friends and relatives, that if he ever “committed suicide” you would know that he had been murdered.
3. From a number of sources, including his taped lectures (video and audio), and statements to his friends, and the borrowing of a 9mm gun, Philip felt that he and his family were being threatened and were in danger because of his lecutres.
4. All of his lecture materials, alien metals, higher math books, photographs of UFO’s coming out of the Operation Crossroad A-Bomb, notes for his book on the alien agenda, were missing. (Everything else in the apartment was still there, including gold coins, wallet with hundreds of dollars, jewelry, mineral specimens, etc.)
5. No coroner ever came out to his apartment after his body was found (against Oregon Law) – and a police investigation never took under consideration that items were missing from his apartment – it was considered a suicide, plain and simple
6. The medical examiner took blood and urine samples at the autopsy but REFUSED to analyze them, saying that the county would not “waste their money on a suicide”. Although I was assured that the samples would be kept for 12 months, when I asked for these samples to be sent to an independent lab 11 months later they were “missing” and presumed “destroyed”.
7. Philip had missing fingers on his left hand, and limited motion in his shoulders. I believe that it was physically impossible for Philip to have held the rubber hose in his left hand with missing fingers and then wrap the hose three times with shoulders that had limited motion. In order to end up where his body was, he had to sit on the edge of his bed, wrap the hose around his neck, slowly and painfully strangle to death, and fallen head first into a wheel chair.
8. Philip was an expert in chemicals and his own medical needs. He had multiple pills at hand that could have ended his life quickly and painlessly. He also had a 9mm gun that he had borrowed to protect himself. Why strangle himself in such an unusual manner?
9. Philip was very religious, and did not believe in suicide. He had intense chronic pain all of the time I knew him. At the time of his death, he was on disability, had a housekeeper, and had cancer. The operation to help him with his back pain did not alleviate the pain and he had brittle bone syndrome (osteoperosis). He struggled every day, not to die, but to live.
He felt that these lectures he gave was making a difference, and was looking forward to giving more. In fact he was scheduled for another lecture tour that started 1/16/96 in Tampa, Florida. He had just found a friend who was going to help him write a book about the New World Order, and he was enjoying his time with his daughter.
10. Philip was undergoing “injections” of “Beta Serone” every week in an experiment to stop his multiple sclerosis. After his death I contacted the only agency that conducted these experiments to obtain his medical record (OHSU). They had never heard of him, and he was not a part of their experiments. This would suggest people unknown were injecting him on a weekly basis with an unknown substance. He often times called me after these “shots” to tell me that he was too sick for his daughter to come and visit. I believe that the shots that Philip thought were being given to him to help him back to health, were actually being given to him to make him sick.
11. Philip was seen with an “unknown blonde haired woman” for several months before his death. Several times this same individual was seen or talked about and her mysterious presence only leads one to wonder if she had anything to do with his “suicide”.
12. Several people with psychic abilities have indicated that Philip did not commit suicide, but was murdered (some say by 5 people: 4 men and 1 woman, 4 directly and one by taking out a “contract”.
DO NOT TRUST THE GOVERNMENT!
CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90
Summary: In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.
An extraordinary 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or read something about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), and 57 percent believe they are real. (1) Former US Presidents Carter and Reagan claim to have seen a UFO. UFOlogists--a neologism for UFO buffs--and private UFO organizations are found throughout the United States. Many are convinced that the US Government, and particularly CIA, are engaged in a massive conspiracy and coverup of the issue. The idea that CIA has secretly concealed its research into UFOs has been a major theme of UFO buffs since the modern UFO phenomena emerged in the late 1940s. (2)
In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.
Background
The emergence in 1947 of the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union also saw the first wave of UFO sightings. The first report of a "flying saucer" over the United States came on 24 June 1947, when Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and reputable businessman, while looking for a downed plane sighted nine disk-shaped objects near Mt. Rainier, Washington, traveling at an estimated speed of over 1,000 mph. Arnold's report was followed by a flood of additional sightings, including reports from military and civilian pilots and air traffic controllers all over the United States. (4) In 1948, Air Force Gen. Nathan Twining, head of the Air Technical Service Command, established Project SIGN (initially named Project SAUCER) to collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute within the government all information relating to such sightings, on the premise that UFOs might be real and of national security concern. (5)
The Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command (AMC) at Wright Field (later Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in Dayton, Ohio, assumed control of Project SIGN and began its work on 23 January 1948. Although at first fearful that the objects might be Soviet secret weapons, the Air Force soon concluded that UFOs were real but easily explained and not extraordinary. The Air Force report found that almost all sightings stemmed from one or more of three causes: mass hysteria and hallucination, hoax, or misinterpretation of known objects. Nevertheless, the report recommended continued military intelligence control over the investigation of all sightings and did not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena. (6)
Amid mounting UFO sightings, the Air Force continued to collect and evaluate UFO data in the late 1940s under a new project, GRUDGE, which tried to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs via a public relations campaign designed to persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, meteors, optical illusions, solar reflections, or even "large hailstones." GRUDGE officials found no evidence in UFO sightings of advanced foreign weapons design or development, and they concluded that UFOs did not threaten US security. They recommended that the project be reduced in scope because the very existence of Air Force official interest encouraged people to believe in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria" atmosphere. On 27 December 1949, the Air Force announced the project's termination. (7)
With increased Cold War tensions, the Korean war, and continued UFO sightings, USAF Director of Intelligence Maj. Gen. Charles P. Cabell ordered a new UFO project in 1952. Project BLUE BOOK became the major Air Force effort to study the UFO phenomenon throughout the 1950s and 1960s. (8) The task of identifying and explaining UFOs continued to fall on the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson. With a small staff, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) tried to persuade the public that UFOs were not extraordinary. (9) Projects SIGN, GRUDGE, and BLUE BOOK set the tone for the official US Government position regarding UFOs for the next 30 years.
Early CIA Concerns, 1947-52
CIA closely monitored the Air Force effort, aware of the mounting number of sightings and increasingly concerned that UFOs might pose a potential security threat. (10) Given the distribution of the sightings, CIA officials in 1952 questioned whether they might reflect "midsummer madness.'' (11) Agency officials accepted the Air Force's conclusions about UFO reports, although they concluded that "since there is a remote possibility that they may be interplanetary aircraft, it is necessary to investigate each sighting." (12)
A massive buildup of sightings over the United States in 1952, especially in July, alarmed the Truman administration. On 19 and 20 July, radar scopes at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked mysterious blips. On 27 July, the blips reappeared. The Air Force scrambled interceptor aircraft to investigate, but they found nothing. The incidents, however, caused headlines across the country. The White House wanted to know what was happening, and the Air Force quickly offered the explanation that the radar blips might be the result of "temperature inversions." Later, a Civil Aeronautics Administration investigation confirmed that such radar blips were quite common and were caused by temperature inversions. (13)
Although it had monitored UFO reports for at least three years, CIA reacted to the new rash of sightings by forming a special study group within the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and the Office of Current Intelligence (OCI) to review the situation. (14) Edward Tauss, acting chief of OSI's Weapons and Equipment Division, reported for the group that most UFO sightings could be easily explained. Nevertheless, he recommended that the Agency continue monitoring the problem, in coordination with ATIC. He also urged that CIA conceal its interest from the media and the public, "in view of their probable alarmist tendencies" to accept such interest as confirming the existence of UFOs. (15)
Upon receiving the report, Deputy Director for Intelligence (DDI) Robert Amory, Jr. assigned responsibility for the UFO investigations to OSI's Physics and Electronics Division, with A. Ray Gordon as the officer in charge. (16) Each branch in the division was to contribute to the investigation, and Gordon was to coordinate closely with ATIC. Amory, who asked the group to focus on the national security implications of UFOs, was relaying DCI Walter Bedell Smith's concerns. (17) Smith wanted to know whether or not the Air Force investigation of flying saucers was sufficiently objective and how much more money and manpower would be necessary to determine the cause of the small percentage of unexplained flying saucers. Smith believed "there was only one chance in 10,000 that the phenomenon posed a threat to the security of the country, but even that chance could not be taken." According to Smith, it was CIA's responsibility by statute to coordinate the intelligence effort required to solve the problem. Smith also wanted to know what use could be made of the UFO phenomenon in connection with US psychological warfare efforts. (18)
Led by Gordon, the CIA Study Group met with Air Force officials at Wright-Patterson and reviewed their data and findings. The Air Force claimed that 90 percent of the reported sightings were easily accounted for. The other 10 percent were characterized as "a number of incredible reports from credible observers." The Air Force rejected the theories that the sightings involved US or Soviet secret weapons development or that they involved "men from Mars"; there was no evidence to support these concepts. The Air Force briefers sought to explain these UFO reports as the misinterpretation of known objects or little understood natural phenomena. (19) Air Force and CIA officials agreed that outside knowledge of Agency interest in UFOs would make the problem more serious. (20) This concealment of CIA interest contributed greatly to later charges of a CIA conspiracy and coverup.
Summary: In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.
An extraordinary 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or read something about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), and 57 percent believe they are real. (1) Former US Presidents Carter and Reagan claim to have seen a UFO. UFOlogists--a neologism for UFO buffs--and private UFO organizations are found throughout the United States. Many are convinced that the US Government, and particularly CIA, are engaged in a massive conspiracy and coverup of the issue. The idea that CIA has secretly concealed its research into UFOs has been a major theme of UFO buffs since the modern UFO phenomena emerged in the late 1940s. (2)
In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.
Background
The emergence in 1947 of the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union also saw the first wave of UFO sightings. The first report of a "flying saucer" over the United States came on 24 June 1947, when Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and reputable businessman, while looking for a downed plane sighted nine disk-shaped objects near Mt. Rainier, Washington, traveling at an estimated speed of over 1,000 mph. Arnold's report was followed by a flood of additional sightings, including reports from military and civilian pilots and air traffic controllers all over the United States. (4) In 1948, Air Force Gen. Nathan Twining, head of the Air Technical Service Command, established Project SIGN (initially named Project SAUCER) to collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute within the government all information relating to such sightings, on the premise that UFOs might be real and of national security concern. (5)
The Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command (AMC) at Wright Field (later Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in Dayton, Ohio, assumed control of Project SIGN and began its work on 23 January 1948. Although at first fearful that the objects might be Soviet secret weapons, the Air Force soon concluded that UFOs were real but easily explained and not extraordinary. The Air Force report found that almost all sightings stemmed from one or more of three causes: mass hysteria and hallucination, hoax, or misinterpretation of known objects. Nevertheless, the report recommended continued military intelligence control over the investigation of all sightings and did not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena. (6)
Amid mounting UFO sightings, the Air Force continued to collect and evaluate UFO data in the late 1940s under a new project, GRUDGE, which tried to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs via a public relations campaign designed to persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, meteors, optical illusions, solar reflections, or even "large hailstones." GRUDGE officials found no evidence in UFO sightings of advanced foreign weapons design or development, and they concluded that UFOs did not threaten US security. They recommended that the project be reduced in scope because the very existence of Air Force official interest encouraged people to believe in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria" atmosphere. On 27 December 1949, the Air Force announced the project's termination. (7)
With increased Cold War tensions, the Korean war, and continued UFO sightings, USAF Director of Intelligence Maj. Gen. Charles P. Cabell ordered a new UFO project in 1952. Project BLUE BOOK became the major Air Force effort to study the UFO phenomenon throughout the 1950s and 1960s. (8) The task of identifying and explaining UFOs continued to fall on the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson. With a small staff, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) tried to persuade the public that UFOs were not extraordinary. (9) Projects SIGN, GRUDGE, and BLUE BOOK set the tone for the official US Government position regarding UFOs for the next 30 years.
Early CIA Concerns, 1947-52
CIA closely monitored the Air Force effort, aware of the mounting number of sightings and increasingly concerned that UFOs might pose a potential security threat. (10) Given the distribution of the sightings, CIA officials in 1952 questioned whether they might reflect "midsummer madness.'' (11) Agency officials accepted the Air Force's conclusions about UFO reports, although they concluded that "since there is a remote possibility that they may be interplanetary aircraft, it is necessary to investigate each sighting." (12)
A massive buildup of sightings over the United States in 1952, especially in July, alarmed the Truman administration. On 19 and 20 July, radar scopes at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked mysterious blips. On 27 July, the blips reappeared. The Air Force scrambled interceptor aircraft to investigate, but they found nothing. The incidents, however, caused headlines across the country. The White House wanted to know what was happening, and the Air Force quickly offered the explanation that the radar blips might be the result of "temperature inversions." Later, a Civil Aeronautics Administration investigation confirmed that such radar blips were quite common and were caused by temperature inversions. (13)
Although it had monitored UFO reports for at least three years, CIA reacted to the new rash of sightings by forming a special study group within the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and the Office of Current Intelligence (OCI) to review the situation. (14) Edward Tauss, acting chief of OSI's Weapons and Equipment Division, reported for the group that most UFO sightings could be easily explained. Nevertheless, he recommended that the Agency continue monitoring the problem, in coordination with ATIC. He also urged that CIA conceal its interest from the media and the public, "in view of their probable alarmist tendencies" to accept such interest as confirming the existence of UFOs. (15)
Upon receiving the report, Deputy Director for Intelligence (DDI) Robert Amory, Jr. assigned responsibility for the UFO investigations to OSI's Physics and Electronics Division, with A. Ray Gordon as the officer in charge. (16) Each branch in the division was to contribute to the investigation, and Gordon was to coordinate closely with ATIC. Amory, who asked the group to focus on the national security implications of UFOs, was relaying DCI Walter Bedell Smith's concerns. (17) Smith wanted to know whether or not the Air Force investigation of flying saucers was sufficiently objective and how much more money and manpower would be necessary to determine the cause of the small percentage of unexplained flying saucers. Smith believed "there was only one chance in 10,000 that the phenomenon posed a threat to the security of the country, but even that chance could not be taken." According to Smith, it was CIA's responsibility by statute to coordinate the intelligence effort required to solve the problem. Smith also wanted to know what use could be made of the UFO phenomenon in connection with US psychological warfare efforts. (18)
Led by Gordon, the CIA Study Group met with Air Force officials at Wright-Patterson and reviewed their data and findings. The Air Force claimed that 90 percent of the reported sightings were easily accounted for. The other 10 percent were characterized as "a number of incredible reports from credible observers." The Air Force rejected the theories that the sightings involved US or Soviet secret weapons development or that they involved "men from Mars"; there was no evidence to support these concepts. The Air Force briefers sought to explain these UFO reports as the misinterpretation of known objects or little understood natural phenomena. (19) Air Force and CIA officials agreed that outside knowledge of Agency interest in UFOs would make the problem more serious. (20) This concealment of CIA interest contributed greatly to later charges of a CIA conspiracy and coverup.
The CIA Study Group also searched the Soviet press for UFO reports, but found none, causing the group to conclude that the absence of reports had to have been the result of deliberate Soviet Government policy. The group also envisioned the USSR's possible use of UFOs as a psychological warfare tool. In addition, they worried that, if the US air warning system should be deliberately overloaded by UFO sightings, the Soviets might gain a surprise advantage in any nuclear attack. (21)
Because of the tense Cold War situation and increased Soviet capabilities, the CIA Study Group saw serious national security concerns in the flying saucer situation. The group believed that the Soviets could use UFO reports to touch off mass hysteria and panic in the United States. The group also believed that the Soviets might use UFO sightings to overload the US air warning system so that it could not distinguish real targets from phantom UFOs. H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of OSI, added that he considered the problem of such importance "that it should be brought to the attention of the National Security Council, in order that a communitywide coordinated effort towards it solution may be initiated." (22)
Chadwell briefed DCI Smith on the subject of UFOs in December 1952. He urged action because he was convinced that "something was going on that must have immediate attention" and that "sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major US defense installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles." He drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the National Security Council (NSC) and a proposed NSC Directive establishing the investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the intelligence and the defense research and development community. (23) Chadwell also urged Smith to establish an external research project of top-level scientists to study the problem of UFOs. (24) After this briefing, Smith directed DDI Amory to prepare a NSC Intelligence Directive (NSCID) for submission to the NSC on the need to continue the investigation of UFOs and to coordinate such investigations with the Air Force. (25)
The Robertson Panel, 1952-53
On 4 December 1952, the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) took up the issue of UFOs. (26) Amory, as acting chairman, presented DCI Smith's request to the committee that it informally discuss the subject of UFOs. Chadwell then briefly reviewed the situation and the active program of the ATIC relating to UFOs. The committee agreed that the DCI should "enlist the services of selected scientists to review and appraise the available evidence in the light of pertinent scientific theories" and draft an NSCID on the subject. (27) Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Director of Air Force Intelligence, offered full cooperation. (28)
At the same time, Chadwell looked into British efforts in this area. He learned the British also were active in studying the UFO phenomena. An eminent British scientist, R. V. Jones, headed a standing committee created in June 1951 on flying saucers. Jones' and his committee's conclusions on UFOs were similar to those of Agency officials: the sightings were not enemy aircraft but misrepresentations of natural phenomena. The British noted, however, that during a recent air show RAF pilots and senior military officials had observed a "perfect flying saucer." Given the press response, according to the officer, Jones was having a most difficult time trying to correct public opinion regarding UFOs. The public was convinced they were real. (29)
In January 1953, Chadwell and H. P. Robertson, a noted physicist from the California Institute of Technology, put together a distinguished panel of nonmilitary scientists to study the UFO issue. It included Robertson as chairman; Samuel A. Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist from the Brookhaven National Laboratories; Luis Alvarez, a high-energy physicist; Thornton Page, the deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Operations Research Office and an expert on radar and electronics; and Lloyd Berkner, a director of the Brookhaven National Laboratories and a specialist in geophysics. (30)
The charge to the panel was to review the available evidence on UFOs and to consider the possible dangers of the phenomena to US national security. The panel met from 14 to 17 January 1953. It reviewed Air Force data on UFO case histories and, after spending 12 hours studying the phenomena, declared that reasonable explanations could be suggested for most, if not all, sightings. For example, after reviewing motion-picture film taken of a UFO sighting near Tremonton, Utah, on 2 July 1952 and one near Great Falls, Montana, on 15 August 1950, the panel concluded that the images on the Tremonton film were caused by sunlight reflecting off seagulls and that the images at Great Falls were sunlight reflecting off the surface of two Air Force interceptors. (31)
The panel concluded unanimously that there was no evidence of a direct threat to national security in the UFO sightings. Nor could the panel find any evidence that the objects sighted might be extraterrestrials. It did find that continued emphasis on UFO reporting might threaten "the orderly functioning" of the government by clogging the channels of communication with irrelevant reports and by inducing "hysterical mass behavior" harmful to constituted authority. The panel also worried that potential enemies contemplating an attack on the United States might exploit the UFO phenomena and use them to disrupt US air defenses. (32)
To meet these problems, the panel recommended that the National Security Council debunk UFO reports and institute a policy of public education to reassure the public of the lack of evidence behind UFOs. It suggested using the mass media, advertising, business clubs, schools, and even the Disney corporation to get the message across. Reporting at the height of McCarthyism, the panel also recommended that such private UFO groups as the Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators in Los Angeles and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization in Wisconsin be monitored for subversive activities. (33)
The Robertson panel's conclusions were strikingly similar to those of the earlier Air Force project reports on SIGN and GRUDGE and to those of the CIA's own OSI Study Group. All investigative groups found that UFO reports indicated no direct threat to national security and no evidence of visits by extraterrestrials.
Following the Robertson panel findings, the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSCID on UFOs. (34) The Scientific Advisory Panel on UFOs (the Robertson panel) submitted its report to the IAC, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Federal Civil Defense Administration, and the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board. CIA officials said no further consideration of the subject appeared warranted, although they continued to monitor sightings in the interest of national security. Philip Strong and Fred Durant from OSI also briefed the Office of National Estimates on the findings. (35) CIA officials wanted knowledge of any Agency interest in the subject of flying saucers carefully restricted, noting not only that the Robertson panel report was classified but also that any mention of CIA sponsorship of the panel was forbidden. This attitude would later cause the Agency major problems relating to its credibility. (36)
The 1950s: Fading CIA Interest in UFOs
After the report of the Robertson panel, Agency officials put the entire issue of UFOs on the back burner. In May 1953, Chadwell transferred chief responsibility for keeping abreast of UFOs to OSI's Physics and Electronic Division, while the Applied Science Division continued to provide any necessary support. (37) Todos M. Odarenko, chief of the Physics and Electronics Division, did not want to take on the problem, contending that it would require too much of his division's analytic and clerical time. Given the findings of the Robertson panel, he proposed to consider the project "inactive" and to devote only one analyst part-time and a file clerk to maintain a reference file of the activities of the Air Force and other agencies on UFOs. Neither the Navy nor the Army showed much interest in UFOs, according to Odarenko. (38)
A nonbeliever in UFOs, Odarenko sought to have his division relieved of the responsibility for monitoring UFO reports. In 1955, for example, he recommended that the entire project be terminated because no new information concerning UFOs had surfaced. Besides, he argued, his division was facing a serious budget reduction and could not spare the resources. (39) Chadwell and other Agency officials, however, continued to worry about UFOs. Of special concern were overseas reports of UFO sightings and claims that German engineers held by the Soviets were developing a "flying saucer" as a future weapon of war. (40)
To most US political and military leaders, the Soviet Union by the mid-1950s had become a dangerous opponent. Soviet progress in nuclear weapons and guided missiles was particularly alarming. In the summer of 1949, the USSR had detonated an atomic bomb. In August 1953, only nine months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb, the Soviets detonated one. In the spring of 1953, a top secret RAND Corporation study also pointed out the vulnerability of SAC bases to a surprise attack by Soviet long-range bombers. Concern over the danger of a Soviet attack on the United States continued to grow, and UFO sightings added to the uneasiness of US policymakers.
Mounting reports of UFOs over eastern Europe and Afghanistan also prompted concern that the Soviets were making rapid progress in this area. CIA officials knew that the British and Canadians were already experimenting with "flying saucers." Project Y was a Canadian-British-US developmental operation to produce a nonconventional flying-saucer-type aircraft, and Agency officials feared the Soviets were testing similar devices. (41)
Adding to the concern was a flying saucer sighting by US Senator Richard Russell and his party while traveling on a train in the USSR in October 1955. After extensive interviews of Russell and his group, however, CIA officials concluded that Russell's sighting did not support the theory that the Soviets had developed saucerlike or unconventional aircraft. Herbert Scoville, Jr., the Assistant Director of OSI, wrote that the objects observed probably were normal jet aircraft in a steep climb. (42)
Wilton E. Lexow, head of the CIA's Applied Sciences Division, was also skeptical. He questioned why the Soviets were continuing to develop conventional-type aircraft if they had a "flying saucer." (43) Scoville asked Lexow to assume responsibility for fully assessing the capabilities and limitations of nonconventional aircraft and to maintain the OSI central file on the subject of UFOs.
CIA's U-2 and OXCART as UFOs
In November 1954, CIA had entered into the world of high technology with its U-2 overhead reconnaissance project. Working with Lockheed's Advanced Development facility in Burbank, California, known as the Skunk Works, and Kelly Johnson, an eminent aeronautical engineer, the Agency by August 1955 was testing a high-altitude experimental aircraft--the U-2. It could fly at 60,000 feet; in the mid-1950s, most commercial airliners flew between 10,000 feet and 20,000 feet. Consequently, once the U-2 started test flights, commercial pilots and air traffic controllers began reporting a large increase in UFO sightings. (44) (U)
The early U-2s were silver (they were later painted black) and reflected the rays from the sun, especially at sunrise and sunset. They often appeared as fiery objects to observers below. Air Force BLUE BOOK investigators aware of the secret U-2 flights tried to explain away such sightings by linking them to natural phenomena such as ice crystals and temperature inversions. By checking with the Agency's U-2 Project Staff in Washington, BLUE BOOK investigators were able to attribute many UFO sightings to U-2 flights. They were careful, however, not to reveal the true cause of the sighting to the public.
According to later estimates from CIA officials who worked on the U-2 project and the OXCART (SR-71, or Blackbird) project, over half of all UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights (namely the U-2) over the United States. (45) This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security project. While perhaps justified, this deception added fuel to the later conspiracy theories and the coverup controversy of the 1970s. The percentage of what the Air Force considered unexplained UFO sightings fell to 5.9 percent in 1955 and to 4 percent in 1956. (46)
At the same time, pressure was building for the release of the Robertson panel report on UFOs. In 1956, Edward Ruppelt, former head of the Air Force BLUE BOOK project, publicly revealed the existence of the panel. A best-selling book by UFOlogist Donald Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps major, advocated release of all government information relating to UFOs. Civilian UFO groups such as the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) immediately pushed for release of the Robertson panel report. (47) Under pressure, the Air Force approached CIA for permission to declassify and release the report. Despite such pressure, Philip Strong, Deputy Assistant Director of OSI, refused to declassify the report and declined to disclose CIA sponsorship of the panel. As an alternative, the Agency prepared a sanitized version of the report which deleted any reference to CIA and avoided mention of any psychological warfare potential in the UFO controversy. (48)
The demands, however, for more government information about UFOs did not let up. On 8 March 1958, Keyhoe, in an interview with Mike Wallace of CBS, claimed deep CIA involvement with UFOs and Agency sponsorship of the Robertson panel. This prompted a series of letters to the Agency from Keyhoe and Dr. Leon Davidson, a chemical engineer and UFOlogist. They demanded the release of the full Robertson panel report and confirmation of CIA involvement in the UFO issue. Davidson had convinced himself that the Agency, not the Air Force, carried most of the responsibility for UFO analysis and that "the activities of the US Government are responsible for the flying saucer sightings of the last decade." Indeed, because of the undisclosed U-2 and OXCART flights, Davidson was closer to the truth than he suspected. CI, nevertheless held firm to its policy of not revealing its role in UFO investigations and refused to declassify the full Robertson panel report. (49)
In a meeting with Air Force representatives to discuss how to handle future inquires such as Keyhoe's and Davidson's, Agency officials confirmed their opposition to the declassification of the full report and worried that Keyhoe had the ear of former DCI VAdm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter, who served on the board of governors of NICAP. They debated whether to have CIA General Counsel Lawrence R. Houston show Hillenkoetter the report as a possible way to defuse the situation. CIA officer Frank Chapin also hinted that Davidson might have ulterior motives, "some of them perhaps not in the best interest of this country," and suggested bringing in the FBI to investigate. (50) Although the record is unclear whether the FBI ever instituted an investigation of Davidson or Keyhoe, or whether Houston ever saw Hillenkoetter about the Robertson report, Hillenkoetter did resign from the NICAP in 1962. (51)
The Agency was also involved with Davidson and Keyhoe in two rather famous UFO cases in the 1950s, which helped contribute to a growing sense of public distrust of CIA with regard to UFOs. One focused on what was reported to have been a tape recording of a radio signal from a flying saucer; the other on reported photographs of a flying saucer. The "radio code" incident began innocently enough in 1955, when two elderly sisters in Chicago, Mildred and Marie Maier, reported in the Journal of Space Flight their experiences with UFOs, including the recording of a radio program in which an unidentified code was reportedly heard. The sisters taped the program and other ham radio operators also claimed to have heard the "space message." OSI became interested and asked the Scientific Contact Branch to obtain a copy of the recording. (52)
Field officers from the Contact Division (CD), one of whom was Dewelt Walker, made contact with the Maier sisters, who were "thrilled that the government was interested," and set up a time to meet with them. (53) In trying to secure the tape recording, the Agency officers reported that they had stumbled upon a scene from Arsenic and Old Lace. "The only thing lacking was the elderberry wine," Walker cabled Headquarters. After reviewing the sisters' scrapbook of clippings from their days on the stage, the officers secured a copy of the recording. (54) OSI analyzed the tape and found it was nothing more than Morse code from a US radio station.
The matter rested there until UFOlogist Leon Davidson talked with the Maier sisters in 1957. The sisters remembered they had talked with a Mr. Walker who said he was from the US Air Force. Davidson then wrote to a Mr. Walker, believing him to be a US Air Force Intelligence Officer from Wright-Patterson, to ask if the tape had been analyzed at ATIC. Dewelt Walker replied to Davidson that the tape had been forwarded to proper authorities for evaluation, and no information was available concerning the results. Not satisfied, and suspecting that Walker was really a CIA officer, Davidson next wrote DCI Allen Dulles demanding to learn what the coded message revealed and who Mr. Walker was. (55) The Agency, wanting to keep Walker's identity as a CIA employee secret, replied that another agency of the government had analyzed the tape in question and that Davidson would be hearing from the Air Force. (56) On 5 August, the Air Force wrote Davidson saying that Walker "was and is an Air Force Officer" and that the tape "was analyzed by another government organization." The Air Force letter confirmed that the recording contained only identifiable Morse code which came from a known US-licensed radio station. (57)
Davidson wrote Dulles again. This time he wanted to know the identity of the Morse operator and of the agency that had conducted the analysis. CIA and the Air Force were now in a quandary. The Agency had previously denied that it had actually analyzed the tape. The Air Force had also denied analyzing the tape and claimed that Walker was an Air Force officer. CIA officers, under cover, contacted Davidson in Chicago and promised to get the code translation and the identification of the transmitter, if possible. (58)
In another attempt to pacify Davidson, a CIA officer, again under cover and wearing his Air Force uniform, contacted Davidson in New York City. The CIA officer explained that there was no super agency involved and that Air Force policy was not to disclose who was doing what. While seeming to accept this argument, Davidson nevertheless pressed for disclosure of the recording message and the source. The officer agreed to see what he could do. (59) After checking with Headquarters, the CIA officer phoned Davidson to report that a thorough check had been made and, because the signal was of known US origin, the tape and the notes made at the time had been destroyed to conserve file space. (60)
Incensed over what he perceived was a runaround, Davidson told the CIA officer that "he and his agency, whichever it was, were acting like Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamster Union in destroying records which might indict them." (61) Believing that any more contact with Davidson would only encourage more speculation, the Contact Division washed its hands of the issue by reporting to the DCI and to ATIC that it would not respond to or try to contact Davidson again. (62) Thus, a minor, rather bizarre incident, handled poorly by both CIA and the Air Force, turned into a major flap that added fuel to the growing mystery surrounding UFOs and CIA's role in their investigation.
Another minor flap a few months later added to the growing questions surrounding the Agency's true role with regard to flying saucers. CIA's concern over secrecy again made matters worse. In 1958, Major Keyhoe charged that the Agency was deliberately asking eyewitnesses of UFOs not to make their sightings public. (63)
The incident stemmed from a November 1957 request from OSI to the CD to obtain from Ralph C. Mayher, a photographer for KYW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, certain photographs he took in 1952 of an unidentified flying object. Harry Real, a CD officer, contacted Mayher and obtained copies of the photographs for analysis. On 12 December 1957, John Hazen, another CD officer, returned the five photographs of the alleged UFO to Mayher without comment. Mayher asked Hazen for the Agency's evaluation of the photos, explaining that he was trying to organize a TV program to brief the public on UFOs. He wanted to mention on the show that a US intelligence organization had viewed the photographs and thought them of interest. Although he advised Mayher not to take this approach, Hazen stated that Mayher was a US citizen and would have to make his own decision as to what to do. (64)
Keyhoe later contacted Mayher, who told him his story of CIA and the photographs. Keyhoe then asked the Agency to confirm Hazen's employment in writing, in an effort to expose CIA's role in UFO investigations. The Agency refused, despite the fact that CD field representatives were normally overt and carried credentials identifying their Agency association. DCI Dulles's aide, John S. Earman, merely sent Keyhoe a noncommittal letter noting that, because UFOs were of primary concern to the Department of the Air Force, the Agency had referred his letter to the Air Force for an appropriate response. Like the response to Davidson, the Agency reply to Keyhoe only fueled the speculation that the Agency was deeply involved in UFO sightings. Pressure for release of CIA information on UFOs continued to grow. (65)
Although CIA had a declining interest in UFO cases, it continued to monitor UFO sightings. Agency officials felt the need to keep informed on UFOs if only to alert the DCI to the more sensational UFO reports and flaps. (66)
The 1960s: Declining CIA Involvement and Mounting Controversy
In the early 1960s, Keyhoe, Davidson, and other UFOlogists maintained their assault on the Agency for release of UFO information. Davidson now claimed that CIA "was solely responsible for creating the Flying Saucer furor as a tool for cold war psychological warfare since 1951." Despite calls for Congressional hearings and the release of all materials relating to UFOs, little changed. (67)
In 1964, however, following high-level White House discussions on what to do if an alien intelligence was discovered in space and a new outbreak of UFO reports and sightings, DCI John McCone asked for an updated CIA evaluation of UFOs. Responding to McCone's request, OSI asked the CD to obtain various recent samples and reports of UFO sightings from NICAP. With Keyhoe, one of the founders, no longer active in the organization, CIA officers met with Richard H. Hall, the acting director. Hall gave the officers samples from the NICAP database on the most recent sightings. (68)
After OSI officers had reviewed the material, Donald F. Chamberlain, OSI Assistant Director, assured McCone that little had changed since the early 1950s. There was still no evidence that UFOs were a threat to the security of the United States or that they were of "foreign origin." Chamberlain told McCone that OSI still monitored UFO reports, including the official Air Force investigation, Project BLUE BOOK. (69)
At the same time that CIA was conducting this latest internal review of UFOs, public pressure forced the Air Force to establish a special ad hoc committee to review BLUE BOOK. Chaired by Dr. Brian O'Brien, a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the panel included Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer from Cornell University. Its report offered nothing new. It declared that UFOs did not threaten the national security and that it could find "no UFO case which represented technological or scientific advances outside of a terrestrial framework." The committee did recommend that UFOs be studied intensively, with a leading university acting as a coordinator for the project, to settle the issue conclusively. (70)
The House Armed Services Committee also held brief hearings on UFOs in 1966 that produced similar results. Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown assured the committee that most sightings were easily explained and that there was no evidence that "strangers from outer space" had been visiting Earth. He told the committee members, however, that the Air Force would keep an open mind and continue to investigate all UFO reports. (71)
Following the report of its O'Brien Committee, the House hearings on UFOs, and Dr. Robertson's disclosure on a CBS Reports program that CIA indeed had been involved in UFO analysis, the Air Force in July 1966 again approached the Agency for declassification of the entire Robertson panel report of 1953 and the full Durant report on the Robertson panel deliberations and findings. The Agency again refused to budge. Karl H. Weber, Deputy Director of OSI, wrote the Air Force that "We are most anxious that further publicity not be given to the information that the panel was sponsored by the CIA." Weber noted that there was already a sanitized version available to the public. (72) Weber's response was rather shortsighted and ill considered. It only drew more attention to the 13-year-old Robertson panel report and CIA's role in the investigation of UFOs. The science editor of The Saturday Review drew nationwide attention to the CIA's role in investigating UFOs when he published an article criticizing the "sanitized version" of the 1953 Robertson panel report and called for release of the entire document. (73)
Unknown to CIA officials, Dr. James E. McDonald, a noted atmospheric physicist from the University of Arizona, had already seen the Durant report on the Robertson panel proceedings at Wright-Patterson on 6 June 1966. When McDonald returned to Wright-Patterson on 30 June to copy the report, however, the Air Force refused to let him see it again, stating that it was a CIA classified document. Emerging as a UFO authority, McDonald publicly claimed that the CIA was behind the Air Force secrecy policies and coverup. He demanded the release of the full Robertson panel report and the Durant report. (74)
Bowing to public pressure and the recommendation of its own O'Brien Committee, the Air Force announced in August 1966 that it was seeking a contract with a leading university to undertake a program of intensive investigations of UFO sightings. The new program was designed to blunt continuing charges that the US Government had concealed what it knew about UFOs. On 7 October, the University of Colorado accepted a $325,000 contract with the Air Force for an 18-month study of flying saucers. Dr. Edward U. Condon, a physicist at Colorado and a former Director of the National Bureau of Standards, agreed to head the program. Pronouncing himself an "agnostic" on the subject of UFOs, Condon observed that he had an open mind on the question and thought that possible extraterritorial origins were "improbable but not impossible." (75) Brig. Gen. Edward Giller, USAF, and Dr. Thomas Ratchford from the Air Force Research and Development Office became the Air Force coordinators for the project.
In February 1967, Giller contacted Arthur C. Lundahl, Director of CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), and proposed an informal liaison through which NPIC could provide the Condon Committee with technical advice and services in examining photographs of alleged UFOs. Lundahl and DDI R. Jack Smith approved the arrangement as a way of "preserving a window" on the new effort. They wanted the CIA and NPIC to maintain a low profile, however, and to take no part in writing any conclusions for the committee. No work done for the committee by NPIC was to be formally acknowledged. (76)
Ratchford next requested that Condon and his committee be allowed to visit NPIC to discuss the technical aspects of the problem and to view the special equipment NPIC had for photoanalysis. On 20 February 1967, Condon and four members of his committee visited NPIC. Lundahl emphasized to the group that any NPIC work to assist the committee must not be identified as CIA work. Moreover, work performed by NPIC would be strictly of a technical nature. After receiving these guidelines, the group heard a series of briefings on the services and equipment not available elsewhere that CIA had used in its analysis of some UFO photography furnished by Ratchford. Condon and his committee were impressed. (77)
Condon and the same group met again in May 1967 at NPIC to hear an analysis of UFO photographs taken at Zanesville, Ohio. The analysis debunked that sighting. The committee was again impressed with the technical work performed, and Condon remarked that for the first time a scientific analysis of a UFO would stand up to investigation. (78) The group also discussed the committee's plans to call on US citizens for additional photographs and to issue guidelines for taking useful UFO photographs. In addition, CIA officials agreed that the Condon Committee could release the full Durant report with only minor deletions.
In April 1969, Condon and his committee released their report on UFOs. The report concluded that little, if anything, had come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years and that further extensive study of UFO sightings was unwarranted. It also recommended that the Air Force special unit, Project BLUE BOOK, be discontinued. It did not mention CIA participation in the Condon committee's investigation. (79) A special panel established by the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the Condon report and concurred with its conclusion that "no high priority in UFO investigations is warranted by data of the past two decades." It concluded its review by declaring, "On the basis of present knowledge, the least likely explanation of UFOs is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitations by intelligent beings." Following the recommendations of the Condon Committee and the National Academy of Sciences, the Secretary of the Air Force, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., announced on 17 December 1969 the termination of BLUE BOOK. (80)
The 1970s and 1980s: The UFO Issue Refuses To Die
The Condon report did not satisfy many UFOlogists, who considered it a coverup for CIA activities in UFO research. Additional sightings in the early 1970s fueled beliefs that the CIA was somehow involved in a vast conspiracy. On 7 June 1975, William Spaulding, head of a small UFO group, Ground Saucer Watch (GSW), wrote to CIA requesting a copy of the Robertson panel report and all records relating to UFOs. (81) Spaulding was convinced that the Agency was withholding major files on UFOs. Agency officials provided Spaulding with a copy of the Robertson panel report and of the Durant report. (82)
On 14 July 1975, Spaulding again wrote the Agency questioning the authenticity of the reports he had received and alleging a CIA coverup of its UFO activities. Gene Wilson, CIA's Information and Privacy Coordinator, replied in an attempt to satisfy Spaulding, "At no time prior to the formation of the Robertson Panel and subsequent to the issuance of the panel's report has CIA engaged in the study of the UFO phenomena." The Robertson panel report, according to Wilson, was "the summation of Agency interest and involvement in UFOs." Wilson also inferred that there were no additional documents in CIA's possession that related to UFOs. Wilson was ill informed. (83)
In September 1977, Spaulding and GSW, unconvinced by Wilson's response, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Agency that specifically requested all UFO documents in CIA's possession. Deluged by similar FOIA requests for Agency information on UFOs, CIA officials agreed, after much legal maneuvering, to conduct a "reasonable search" of CIA files for UFO materials. (84) Despite an Agency-wide unsympathetic attitude toward the suit, Agency officials, led by Launie Ziebell from the Office of General Counsel, conducted a thorough search for records pertaining to UFOs. Persistent, demanding, and even threatening at times, Ziebell and his group scoured the Agency. They even turned up an old UFO file under a secretary's desk. The search finally produced 355 documents totaling approximately 900 pages. On 14 December 1978, the Agency released all but 57 documents of about 100 pages to GSW. It withheld these 57 documents on national security grounds and to protect sources and methods. (85)
Although the released documents produced no smoking gun and revealed only a low-level Agency interest in the UFO phenomena after the Robertson panel report of 1953, the press treated the release in a sensational manner. The New York Times, for example, claimed that the declassified documents confirmed intensive government concern over UFOs and that the Agency was secretly involved in the surveillance of UFOs. (86) GSW then sued for the release of the withheld documents, claiming that the Agency was still holding out key information. (87) It was much like the John F. Kennedy assassination issue. No matter how much material the Agency released and no matter how dull and prosaic the information, people continued to believe in a Agency coverup and conspiracy.
DCI Stansfield Turner was so upset when he read The New York Times article that he asked his senior officers, "Are we in UFOs?" After reviewing the records, Don Wortman, Deputy Director for Administration, reported to Turner that there was "no organized Agency effort to do research in connection with UFO phenomena nor has there been an organized effort to collect intelligence on UFOs since the 1950s." Wortman assured Turner that the Agency records held only "sporadic instances of correspondence dealing with the subject," including various kinds of reports of UFO sightings. There was no Agency program to collect actively information on UFOs, and the material released to GSW had few deletions. (88) Thus assured, Turner had the General Counsel press for a summary judgment against the new lawsuit by GSW. In May 1980, the courts dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the Agency had conducted a thorough and adequate search in good faith. (89)
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the Agency continued its low-key interest in UFOs and UFO sightings. While most scientists now dismissed flying saucers reports as a quaint part of the 1950s and 1960s, some in the Agency and in the Intelligence Community shifted their interest to studying parapsychology and psychic phenomena associated with UFO sightings. CIA officials also looked at the UFO problem to determine what UFO sightings might tell them about Soviet progress in rockets and missiles and reviewed its counterintelligence aspects. Agency analysts from the Life Science Division of OSI and OSWR officially devoted a small amount of their time to issues relating to UFOs. These included counterintelligence concerns that the Soviets and the KGB were using US citizens and UFO groups to obtain information on sensitive US weapons development programs (such as the Stealth aircraft), the vulnerability of the US air-defense network to penetration by foreign missiles mimicking UFOs, and evidence of Soviet advanced technology associated with UFO sightings.
CIA also maintained Intelligence Community coordination with other agencies regarding their work in parapsychology, psychic phenomena, and "remote viewing" experiments. In general, the Agency took a conservative scientific view of these unconventional scientific issues. There was no formal or official UFO project within the Agency in the 1980s, and Agency officials purposely kept files on UFOs to a minimum to avoid creating records that might mislead the public if released. (90)
The 1980s also produced renewed charges that the Agency was still withholding documents relating to the 1947 Roswell incident, in which a flying saucer supposedly crashed in New Mexico, and the surfacing of documents which purportedly revealed the existence of a top secret US research and development intelligence operation responsible only to the President on UFOs in the late 1940s and early 1950s. UFOlogists had long argued that, following a flying saucer crash in New Mexico in 1947, the government not only recovered debris from the crashed saucer but also four or five alien bodies. According to some UFOlogists, the government clamped tight security around the project and has refused to divulge its investigation results and research ever since. (91) In September 1994, the US Air Force released a new report on the Roswell incident that concluded that the debris found in New Mexico in 1947 probably came from a once top secret balloon operation, Project MOGUL, designed to monitor the atmosphere for evidence of Soviet nuclear tests. (92)
Circa 1984, a series of documents surfaced which some UFOlogists said proved that President Truman created a top secret committee in 1947, Majestic-12, to secure the recovery of UFO wreckage from Roswell and any other UFO crash sight for scientific study and to examine any alien bodies recovered from such sites. Most if not all of these documents have proved to be fabrications. Yet the controversy persists. (93)
Like the JFK assassination conspiracy theories, the UFO issue probably will not go away soon, no matter what the Agency does or says. The belief that we are not alone in the universe is too emotionally appealing and the distrust of our government is too pervasive to make the issue amenable to traditional scientific studies of rational explanation and evidence.
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Notes
(1) See the 1973 Gallup Poll results printed in The New York Times, 29 November 1973, p. 45 and Philip J. Klass, UFOs: The Public Deceived (New York: Prometheus Books, 1983), p. 3.
(2) See Klass, UFOs, p. 3; James S. Gordon, "The UFO Experience," Atlantic Monthly (August 1991), pp. 82-92; David Michael Jacobs, The UFO Controversy in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975); Howard Blum, Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990); Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up (New York: William Morrow, 1987); and Whitley Strieber, Communion: The True Story (New York: Morrow, 1987).
(3) In September 1993 John Peterson, an acquaintance of Woolsey's, first approached the DCI with a package of heavily sanitized CIA material on UFOs released to UFOlogist Stanton T. Friedman. Peterson and Friedman wanted to know the reasons for the redactions. Woolsey agreed to look into the matter. See Richard J. Warshaw, Executive Assistant, note to author, 1 November 1994; Warshaw, note to John H. Wright, Information and Privacy Coordinator, 31 January 1994; and Wright, memorandum to Executive Secretariat, 2 March 1994. (Except where noted, all citations to CIA records in this article are to the records collected for the 1994 Agency-wide search that are held by the Executive Assistant to the DCI).
(4) See Hector Quintanilla, Jr., "The Investigation of UFOs," Vol. 10, No. 4, Studies in Intelligence (fall 1966): pp.95-110 and CIA, unsigned memorandum, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952. See also Good, Above Top Secret, p. 253. During World War II, US pilots reported "foo fighters" (bright lights trailing US aircraft). Fearing they might be Japanese or German secret weapons, OSS investigated but could find no concrete evidence of enemy weapons and often filed such reports in the "crackpot" category. The OSS also investigated possible sightings of German V-1 and V-2 rockets before their operational use during the war. See Jacobs, UFO Controversy, p. 33. The Central Intelligence Group, the predecessor of the CIA, also monitored reports of "ghost rockets" in Sweden in 1946. See CIG, Intelligence Report, 9 April 1947.
(5) Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 156 and Quintanilla, "The Investigation of UFOs," p. 97.
(6) See US Air Force, Air Material Command, "Unidentified Aerial Objects: Project SIGN, no. F-TR 2274, IA, February 1949, Records of the US Air Force Commands, Activities and Organizations, Record Group 341, National Archives, Washington, DC.
(7) See US Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUEBOOK Reports 1- 12 (Washington, DC; National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1968) and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 50-54.
(8) See Cabell, memorandum to Commanding Generals Major Air Commands, "Reporting of Information on Unconventional Aircraft," 8 September 1950 and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 65.
(9) See Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 67.
(10) See Edward Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI, "Flying Saucers," 1 August 1952. See also United Kingdom, Report by the "Flying Saucer" Working Party, "Unidentified Flying Objects," no date (approximately 1950).
(11) See Dr. Stone, OSI, memorandum to Dr. Willard Machle, OSI, 15 March 1949 and Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum for DDI, "Recent Sightings of Unexplained Objects," 29 July 1952.
(12) Stone, memorandum to Machle. See also Clark, memorandum for DDI, 29 July 1952.
(13) See Klass, UFOs, p. 15. For a brief review of the Washington sightings see Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 269-271.
(14) See Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum to DDI Robert Amory, Jr., 29 July 1952. OSI and OCI were in the Directorate of Intelligence. Established in 1948, OSI served as the CIA's focal point for the analysis of foreign scientific and technological developments. In 1980, OSI was merged into the Office of Science and Weapons Research. The Office of Current Intelligence (OCI), established on 15 January 1951 was to provide all-source current intelligence to the President and the National Security Council.
(15) Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI (Philip Strong), 1 August 1952.
(16) On 2 January 1952, DCI Walter Bedell Smith created a Deputy Directorate for Intelligence (DDI) composed of six overt CIA organizations--OSI, OCI, Office of Collection and Dissemination, Office National Estimates, Office of Research and Reports, and the Office of Intelligence Coordination--to produce intelligence analysis for US policymakers.
(17) See Minutes of Branch Chief's Meeting, 11 August 1952.
(18) Smith expressed his opinions at a meeting in the DCI Conference Room attended by his top officers. See Deputy Chief, Requirements Staff, FI, memorandum for Deputy Director, Plans, "Flying Saucers," 20 August 1952, Directorate of Operations Records, Information Management Staff, Job 86-00538R, Box 1.
Because of the tense Cold War situation and increased Soviet capabilities, the CIA Study Group saw serious national security concerns in the flying saucer situation. The group believed that the Soviets could use UFO reports to touch off mass hysteria and panic in the United States. The group also believed that the Soviets might use UFO sightings to overload the US air warning system so that it could not distinguish real targets from phantom UFOs. H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of OSI, added that he considered the problem of such importance "that it should be brought to the attention of the National Security Council, in order that a communitywide coordinated effort towards it solution may be initiated." (22)
Chadwell briefed DCI Smith on the subject of UFOs in December 1952. He urged action because he was convinced that "something was going on that must have immediate attention" and that "sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major US defense installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles." He drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the National Security Council (NSC) and a proposed NSC Directive establishing the investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the intelligence and the defense research and development community. (23) Chadwell also urged Smith to establish an external research project of top-level scientists to study the problem of UFOs. (24) After this briefing, Smith directed DDI Amory to prepare a NSC Intelligence Directive (NSCID) for submission to the NSC on the need to continue the investigation of UFOs and to coordinate such investigations with the Air Force. (25)
The Robertson Panel, 1952-53
On 4 December 1952, the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) took up the issue of UFOs. (26) Amory, as acting chairman, presented DCI Smith's request to the committee that it informally discuss the subject of UFOs. Chadwell then briefly reviewed the situation and the active program of the ATIC relating to UFOs. The committee agreed that the DCI should "enlist the services of selected scientists to review and appraise the available evidence in the light of pertinent scientific theories" and draft an NSCID on the subject. (27) Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Director of Air Force Intelligence, offered full cooperation. (28)
At the same time, Chadwell looked into British efforts in this area. He learned the British also were active in studying the UFO phenomena. An eminent British scientist, R. V. Jones, headed a standing committee created in June 1951 on flying saucers. Jones' and his committee's conclusions on UFOs were similar to those of Agency officials: the sightings were not enemy aircraft but misrepresentations of natural phenomena. The British noted, however, that during a recent air show RAF pilots and senior military officials had observed a "perfect flying saucer." Given the press response, according to the officer, Jones was having a most difficult time trying to correct public opinion regarding UFOs. The public was convinced they were real. (29)
In January 1953, Chadwell and H. P. Robertson, a noted physicist from the California Institute of Technology, put together a distinguished panel of nonmilitary scientists to study the UFO issue. It included Robertson as chairman; Samuel A. Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist from the Brookhaven National Laboratories; Luis Alvarez, a high-energy physicist; Thornton Page, the deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Operations Research Office and an expert on radar and electronics; and Lloyd Berkner, a director of the Brookhaven National Laboratories and a specialist in geophysics. (30)
The charge to the panel was to review the available evidence on UFOs and to consider the possible dangers of the phenomena to US national security. The panel met from 14 to 17 January 1953. It reviewed Air Force data on UFO case histories and, after spending 12 hours studying the phenomena, declared that reasonable explanations could be suggested for most, if not all, sightings. For example, after reviewing motion-picture film taken of a UFO sighting near Tremonton, Utah, on 2 July 1952 and one near Great Falls, Montana, on 15 August 1950, the panel concluded that the images on the Tremonton film were caused by sunlight reflecting off seagulls and that the images at Great Falls were sunlight reflecting off the surface of two Air Force interceptors. (31)
The panel concluded unanimously that there was no evidence of a direct threat to national security in the UFO sightings. Nor could the panel find any evidence that the objects sighted might be extraterrestrials. It did find that continued emphasis on UFO reporting might threaten "the orderly functioning" of the government by clogging the channels of communication with irrelevant reports and by inducing "hysterical mass behavior" harmful to constituted authority. The panel also worried that potential enemies contemplating an attack on the United States might exploit the UFO phenomena and use them to disrupt US air defenses. (32)
To meet these problems, the panel recommended that the National Security Council debunk UFO reports and institute a policy of public education to reassure the public of the lack of evidence behind UFOs. It suggested using the mass media, advertising, business clubs, schools, and even the Disney corporation to get the message across. Reporting at the height of McCarthyism, the panel also recommended that such private UFO groups as the Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators in Los Angeles and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization in Wisconsin be monitored for subversive activities. (33)
The Robertson panel's conclusions were strikingly similar to those of the earlier Air Force project reports on SIGN and GRUDGE and to those of the CIA's own OSI Study Group. All investigative groups found that UFO reports indicated no direct threat to national security and no evidence of visits by extraterrestrials.
Following the Robertson panel findings, the Agency abandoned efforts to draft an NSCID on UFOs. (34) The Scientific Advisory Panel on UFOs (the Robertson panel) submitted its report to the IAC, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Federal Civil Defense Administration, and the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board. CIA officials said no further consideration of the subject appeared warranted, although they continued to monitor sightings in the interest of national security. Philip Strong and Fred Durant from OSI also briefed the Office of National Estimates on the findings. (35) CIA officials wanted knowledge of any Agency interest in the subject of flying saucers carefully restricted, noting not only that the Robertson panel report was classified but also that any mention of CIA sponsorship of the panel was forbidden. This attitude would later cause the Agency major problems relating to its credibility. (36)
The 1950s: Fading CIA Interest in UFOs
After the report of the Robertson panel, Agency officials put the entire issue of UFOs on the back burner. In May 1953, Chadwell transferred chief responsibility for keeping abreast of UFOs to OSI's Physics and Electronic Division, while the Applied Science Division continued to provide any necessary support. (37) Todos M. Odarenko, chief of the Physics and Electronics Division, did not want to take on the problem, contending that it would require too much of his division's analytic and clerical time. Given the findings of the Robertson panel, he proposed to consider the project "inactive" and to devote only one analyst part-time and a file clerk to maintain a reference file of the activities of the Air Force and other agencies on UFOs. Neither the Navy nor the Army showed much interest in UFOs, according to Odarenko. (38)
A nonbeliever in UFOs, Odarenko sought to have his division relieved of the responsibility for monitoring UFO reports. In 1955, for example, he recommended that the entire project be terminated because no new information concerning UFOs had surfaced. Besides, he argued, his division was facing a serious budget reduction and could not spare the resources. (39) Chadwell and other Agency officials, however, continued to worry about UFOs. Of special concern were overseas reports of UFO sightings and claims that German engineers held by the Soviets were developing a "flying saucer" as a future weapon of war. (40)
To most US political and military leaders, the Soviet Union by the mid-1950s had become a dangerous opponent. Soviet progress in nuclear weapons and guided missiles was particularly alarming. In the summer of 1949, the USSR had detonated an atomic bomb. In August 1953, only nine months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb, the Soviets detonated one. In the spring of 1953, a top secret RAND Corporation study also pointed out the vulnerability of SAC bases to a surprise attack by Soviet long-range bombers. Concern over the danger of a Soviet attack on the United States continued to grow, and UFO sightings added to the uneasiness of US policymakers.
Mounting reports of UFOs over eastern Europe and Afghanistan also prompted concern that the Soviets were making rapid progress in this area. CIA officials knew that the British and Canadians were already experimenting with "flying saucers." Project Y was a Canadian-British-US developmental operation to produce a nonconventional flying-saucer-type aircraft, and Agency officials feared the Soviets were testing similar devices. (41)
Adding to the concern was a flying saucer sighting by US Senator Richard Russell and his party while traveling on a train in the USSR in October 1955. After extensive interviews of Russell and his group, however, CIA officials concluded that Russell's sighting did not support the theory that the Soviets had developed saucerlike or unconventional aircraft. Herbert Scoville, Jr., the Assistant Director of OSI, wrote that the objects observed probably were normal jet aircraft in a steep climb. (42)
Wilton E. Lexow, head of the CIA's Applied Sciences Division, was also skeptical. He questioned why the Soviets were continuing to develop conventional-type aircraft if they had a "flying saucer." (43) Scoville asked Lexow to assume responsibility for fully assessing the capabilities and limitations of nonconventional aircraft and to maintain the OSI central file on the subject of UFOs.
CIA's U-2 and OXCART as UFOs
In November 1954, CIA had entered into the world of high technology with its U-2 overhead reconnaissance project. Working with Lockheed's Advanced Development facility in Burbank, California, known as the Skunk Works, and Kelly Johnson, an eminent aeronautical engineer, the Agency by August 1955 was testing a high-altitude experimental aircraft--the U-2. It could fly at 60,000 feet; in the mid-1950s, most commercial airliners flew between 10,000 feet and 20,000 feet. Consequently, once the U-2 started test flights, commercial pilots and air traffic controllers began reporting a large increase in UFO sightings. (44) (U)
The early U-2s were silver (they were later painted black) and reflected the rays from the sun, especially at sunrise and sunset. They often appeared as fiery objects to observers below. Air Force BLUE BOOK investigators aware of the secret U-2 flights tried to explain away such sightings by linking them to natural phenomena such as ice crystals and temperature inversions. By checking with the Agency's U-2 Project Staff in Washington, BLUE BOOK investigators were able to attribute many UFO sightings to U-2 flights. They were careful, however, not to reveal the true cause of the sighting to the public.
According to later estimates from CIA officials who worked on the U-2 project and the OXCART (SR-71, or Blackbird) project, over half of all UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights (namely the U-2) over the United States. (45) This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security project. While perhaps justified, this deception added fuel to the later conspiracy theories and the coverup controversy of the 1970s. The percentage of what the Air Force considered unexplained UFO sightings fell to 5.9 percent in 1955 and to 4 percent in 1956. (46)
At the same time, pressure was building for the release of the Robertson panel report on UFOs. In 1956, Edward Ruppelt, former head of the Air Force BLUE BOOK project, publicly revealed the existence of the panel. A best-selling book by UFOlogist Donald Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps major, advocated release of all government information relating to UFOs. Civilian UFO groups such as the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) immediately pushed for release of the Robertson panel report. (47) Under pressure, the Air Force approached CIA for permission to declassify and release the report. Despite such pressure, Philip Strong, Deputy Assistant Director of OSI, refused to declassify the report and declined to disclose CIA sponsorship of the panel. As an alternative, the Agency prepared a sanitized version of the report which deleted any reference to CIA and avoided mention of any psychological warfare potential in the UFO controversy. (48)
The demands, however, for more government information about UFOs did not let up. On 8 March 1958, Keyhoe, in an interview with Mike Wallace of CBS, claimed deep CIA involvement with UFOs and Agency sponsorship of the Robertson panel. This prompted a series of letters to the Agency from Keyhoe and Dr. Leon Davidson, a chemical engineer and UFOlogist. They demanded the release of the full Robertson panel report and confirmation of CIA involvement in the UFO issue. Davidson had convinced himself that the Agency, not the Air Force, carried most of the responsibility for UFO analysis and that "the activities of the US Government are responsible for the flying saucer sightings of the last decade." Indeed, because of the undisclosed U-2 and OXCART flights, Davidson was closer to the truth than he suspected. CI, nevertheless held firm to its policy of not revealing its role in UFO investigations and refused to declassify the full Robertson panel report. (49)
In a meeting with Air Force representatives to discuss how to handle future inquires such as Keyhoe's and Davidson's, Agency officials confirmed their opposition to the declassification of the full report and worried that Keyhoe had the ear of former DCI VAdm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter, who served on the board of governors of NICAP. They debated whether to have CIA General Counsel Lawrence R. Houston show Hillenkoetter the report as a possible way to defuse the situation. CIA officer Frank Chapin also hinted that Davidson might have ulterior motives, "some of them perhaps not in the best interest of this country," and suggested bringing in the FBI to investigate. (50) Although the record is unclear whether the FBI ever instituted an investigation of Davidson or Keyhoe, or whether Houston ever saw Hillenkoetter about the Robertson report, Hillenkoetter did resign from the NICAP in 1962. (51)
The Agency was also involved with Davidson and Keyhoe in two rather famous UFO cases in the 1950s, which helped contribute to a growing sense of public distrust of CIA with regard to UFOs. One focused on what was reported to have been a tape recording of a radio signal from a flying saucer; the other on reported photographs of a flying saucer. The "radio code" incident began innocently enough in 1955, when two elderly sisters in Chicago, Mildred and Marie Maier, reported in the Journal of Space Flight their experiences with UFOs, including the recording of a radio program in which an unidentified code was reportedly heard. The sisters taped the program and other ham radio operators also claimed to have heard the "space message." OSI became interested and asked the Scientific Contact Branch to obtain a copy of the recording. (52)
Field officers from the Contact Division (CD), one of whom was Dewelt Walker, made contact with the Maier sisters, who were "thrilled that the government was interested," and set up a time to meet with them. (53) In trying to secure the tape recording, the Agency officers reported that they had stumbled upon a scene from Arsenic and Old Lace. "The only thing lacking was the elderberry wine," Walker cabled Headquarters. After reviewing the sisters' scrapbook of clippings from their days on the stage, the officers secured a copy of the recording. (54) OSI analyzed the tape and found it was nothing more than Morse code from a US radio station.
The matter rested there until UFOlogist Leon Davidson talked with the Maier sisters in 1957. The sisters remembered they had talked with a Mr. Walker who said he was from the US Air Force. Davidson then wrote to a Mr. Walker, believing him to be a US Air Force Intelligence Officer from Wright-Patterson, to ask if the tape had been analyzed at ATIC. Dewelt Walker replied to Davidson that the tape had been forwarded to proper authorities for evaluation, and no information was available concerning the results. Not satisfied, and suspecting that Walker was really a CIA officer, Davidson next wrote DCI Allen Dulles demanding to learn what the coded message revealed and who Mr. Walker was. (55) The Agency, wanting to keep Walker's identity as a CIA employee secret, replied that another agency of the government had analyzed the tape in question and that Davidson would be hearing from the Air Force. (56) On 5 August, the Air Force wrote Davidson saying that Walker "was and is an Air Force Officer" and that the tape "was analyzed by another government organization." The Air Force letter confirmed that the recording contained only identifiable Morse code which came from a known US-licensed radio station. (57)
Davidson wrote Dulles again. This time he wanted to know the identity of the Morse operator and of the agency that had conducted the analysis. CIA and the Air Force were now in a quandary. The Agency had previously denied that it had actually analyzed the tape. The Air Force had also denied analyzing the tape and claimed that Walker was an Air Force officer. CIA officers, under cover, contacted Davidson in Chicago and promised to get the code translation and the identification of the transmitter, if possible. (58)
In another attempt to pacify Davidson, a CIA officer, again under cover and wearing his Air Force uniform, contacted Davidson in New York City. The CIA officer explained that there was no super agency involved and that Air Force policy was not to disclose who was doing what. While seeming to accept this argument, Davidson nevertheless pressed for disclosure of the recording message and the source. The officer agreed to see what he could do. (59) After checking with Headquarters, the CIA officer phoned Davidson to report that a thorough check had been made and, because the signal was of known US origin, the tape and the notes made at the time had been destroyed to conserve file space. (60)
Incensed over what he perceived was a runaround, Davidson told the CIA officer that "he and his agency, whichever it was, were acting like Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamster Union in destroying records which might indict them." (61) Believing that any more contact with Davidson would only encourage more speculation, the Contact Division washed its hands of the issue by reporting to the DCI and to ATIC that it would not respond to or try to contact Davidson again. (62) Thus, a minor, rather bizarre incident, handled poorly by both CIA and the Air Force, turned into a major flap that added fuel to the growing mystery surrounding UFOs and CIA's role in their investigation.
Another minor flap a few months later added to the growing questions surrounding the Agency's true role with regard to flying saucers. CIA's concern over secrecy again made matters worse. In 1958, Major Keyhoe charged that the Agency was deliberately asking eyewitnesses of UFOs not to make their sightings public. (63)
The incident stemmed from a November 1957 request from OSI to the CD to obtain from Ralph C. Mayher, a photographer for KYW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, certain photographs he took in 1952 of an unidentified flying object. Harry Real, a CD officer, contacted Mayher and obtained copies of the photographs for analysis. On 12 December 1957, John Hazen, another CD officer, returned the five photographs of the alleged UFO to Mayher without comment. Mayher asked Hazen for the Agency's evaluation of the photos, explaining that he was trying to organize a TV program to brief the public on UFOs. He wanted to mention on the show that a US intelligence organization had viewed the photographs and thought them of interest. Although he advised Mayher not to take this approach, Hazen stated that Mayher was a US citizen and would have to make his own decision as to what to do. (64)
Keyhoe later contacted Mayher, who told him his story of CIA and the photographs. Keyhoe then asked the Agency to confirm Hazen's employment in writing, in an effort to expose CIA's role in UFO investigations. The Agency refused, despite the fact that CD field representatives were normally overt and carried credentials identifying their Agency association. DCI Dulles's aide, John S. Earman, merely sent Keyhoe a noncommittal letter noting that, because UFOs were of primary concern to the Department of the Air Force, the Agency had referred his letter to the Air Force for an appropriate response. Like the response to Davidson, the Agency reply to Keyhoe only fueled the speculation that the Agency was deeply involved in UFO sightings. Pressure for release of CIA information on UFOs continued to grow. (65)
Although CIA had a declining interest in UFO cases, it continued to monitor UFO sightings. Agency officials felt the need to keep informed on UFOs if only to alert the DCI to the more sensational UFO reports and flaps. (66)
The 1960s: Declining CIA Involvement and Mounting Controversy
In the early 1960s, Keyhoe, Davidson, and other UFOlogists maintained their assault on the Agency for release of UFO information. Davidson now claimed that CIA "was solely responsible for creating the Flying Saucer furor as a tool for cold war psychological warfare since 1951." Despite calls for Congressional hearings and the release of all materials relating to UFOs, little changed. (67)
In 1964, however, following high-level White House discussions on what to do if an alien intelligence was discovered in space and a new outbreak of UFO reports and sightings, DCI John McCone asked for an updated CIA evaluation of UFOs. Responding to McCone's request, OSI asked the CD to obtain various recent samples and reports of UFO sightings from NICAP. With Keyhoe, one of the founders, no longer active in the organization, CIA officers met with Richard H. Hall, the acting director. Hall gave the officers samples from the NICAP database on the most recent sightings. (68)
After OSI officers had reviewed the material, Donald F. Chamberlain, OSI Assistant Director, assured McCone that little had changed since the early 1950s. There was still no evidence that UFOs were a threat to the security of the United States or that they were of "foreign origin." Chamberlain told McCone that OSI still monitored UFO reports, including the official Air Force investigation, Project BLUE BOOK. (69)
At the same time that CIA was conducting this latest internal review of UFOs, public pressure forced the Air Force to establish a special ad hoc committee to review BLUE BOOK. Chaired by Dr. Brian O'Brien, a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the panel included Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer from Cornell University. Its report offered nothing new. It declared that UFOs did not threaten the national security and that it could find "no UFO case which represented technological or scientific advances outside of a terrestrial framework." The committee did recommend that UFOs be studied intensively, with a leading university acting as a coordinator for the project, to settle the issue conclusively. (70)
The House Armed Services Committee also held brief hearings on UFOs in 1966 that produced similar results. Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown assured the committee that most sightings were easily explained and that there was no evidence that "strangers from outer space" had been visiting Earth. He told the committee members, however, that the Air Force would keep an open mind and continue to investigate all UFO reports. (71)
Following the report of its O'Brien Committee, the House hearings on UFOs, and Dr. Robertson's disclosure on a CBS Reports program that CIA indeed had been involved in UFO analysis, the Air Force in July 1966 again approached the Agency for declassification of the entire Robertson panel report of 1953 and the full Durant report on the Robertson panel deliberations and findings. The Agency again refused to budge. Karl H. Weber, Deputy Director of OSI, wrote the Air Force that "We are most anxious that further publicity not be given to the information that the panel was sponsored by the CIA." Weber noted that there was already a sanitized version available to the public. (72) Weber's response was rather shortsighted and ill considered. It only drew more attention to the 13-year-old Robertson panel report and CIA's role in the investigation of UFOs. The science editor of The Saturday Review drew nationwide attention to the CIA's role in investigating UFOs when he published an article criticizing the "sanitized version" of the 1953 Robertson panel report and called for release of the entire document. (73)
Unknown to CIA officials, Dr. James E. McDonald, a noted atmospheric physicist from the University of Arizona, had already seen the Durant report on the Robertson panel proceedings at Wright-Patterson on 6 June 1966. When McDonald returned to Wright-Patterson on 30 June to copy the report, however, the Air Force refused to let him see it again, stating that it was a CIA classified document. Emerging as a UFO authority, McDonald publicly claimed that the CIA was behind the Air Force secrecy policies and coverup. He demanded the release of the full Robertson panel report and the Durant report. (74)
Bowing to public pressure and the recommendation of its own O'Brien Committee, the Air Force announced in August 1966 that it was seeking a contract with a leading university to undertake a program of intensive investigations of UFO sightings. The new program was designed to blunt continuing charges that the US Government had concealed what it knew about UFOs. On 7 October, the University of Colorado accepted a $325,000 contract with the Air Force for an 18-month study of flying saucers. Dr. Edward U. Condon, a physicist at Colorado and a former Director of the National Bureau of Standards, agreed to head the program. Pronouncing himself an "agnostic" on the subject of UFOs, Condon observed that he had an open mind on the question and thought that possible extraterritorial origins were "improbable but not impossible." (75) Brig. Gen. Edward Giller, USAF, and Dr. Thomas Ratchford from the Air Force Research and Development Office became the Air Force coordinators for the project.
In February 1967, Giller contacted Arthur C. Lundahl, Director of CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), and proposed an informal liaison through which NPIC could provide the Condon Committee with technical advice and services in examining photographs of alleged UFOs. Lundahl and DDI R. Jack Smith approved the arrangement as a way of "preserving a window" on the new effort. They wanted the CIA and NPIC to maintain a low profile, however, and to take no part in writing any conclusions for the committee. No work done for the committee by NPIC was to be formally acknowledged. (76)
Ratchford next requested that Condon and his committee be allowed to visit NPIC to discuss the technical aspects of the problem and to view the special equipment NPIC had for photoanalysis. On 20 February 1967, Condon and four members of his committee visited NPIC. Lundahl emphasized to the group that any NPIC work to assist the committee must not be identified as CIA work. Moreover, work performed by NPIC would be strictly of a technical nature. After receiving these guidelines, the group heard a series of briefings on the services and equipment not available elsewhere that CIA had used in its analysis of some UFO photography furnished by Ratchford. Condon and his committee were impressed. (77)
Condon and the same group met again in May 1967 at NPIC to hear an analysis of UFO photographs taken at Zanesville, Ohio. The analysis debunked that sighting. The committee was again impressed with the technical work performed, and Condon remarked that for the first time a scientific analysis of a UFO would stand up to investigation. (78) The group also discussed the committee's plans to call on US citizens for additional photographs and to issue guidelines for taking useful UFO photographs. In addition, CIA officials agreed that the Condon Committee could release the full Durant report with only minor deletions.
In April 1969, Condon and his committee released their report on UFOs. The report concluded that little, if anything, had come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years and that further extensive study of UFO sightings was unwarranted. It also recommended that the Air Force special unit, Project BLUE BOOK, be discontinued. It did not mention CIA participation in the Condon committee's investigation. (79) A special panel established by the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the Condon report and concurred with its conclusion that "no high priority in UFO investigations is warranted by data of the past two decades." It concluded its review by declaring, "On the basis of present knowledge, the least likely explanation of UFOs is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitations by intelligent beings." Following the recommendations of the Condon Committee and the National Academy of Sciences, the Secretary of the Air Force, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., announced on 17 December 1969 the termination of BLUE BOOK. (80)
The 1970s and 1980s: The UFO Issue Refuses To Die
The Condon report did not satisfy many UFOlogists, who considered it a coverup for CIA activities in UFO research. Additional sightings in the early 1970s fueled beliefs that the CIA was somehow involved in a vast conspiracy. On 7 June 1975, William Spaulding, head of a small UFO group, Ground Saucer Watch (GSW), wrote to CIA requesting a copy of the Robertson panel report and all records relating to UFOs. (81) Spaulding was convinced that the Agency was withholding major files on UFOs. Agency officials provided Spaulding with a copy of the Robertson panel report and of the Durant report. (82)
On 14 July 1975, Spaulding again wrote the Agency questioning the authenticity of the reports he had received and alleging a CIA coverup of its UFO activities. Gene Wilson, CIA's Information and Privacy Coordinator, replied in an attempt to satisfy Spaulding, "At no time prior to the formation of the Robertson Panel and subsequent to the issuance of the panel's report has CIA engaged in the study of the UFO phenomena." The Robertson panel report, according to Wilson, was "the summation of Agency interest and involvement in UFOs." Wilson also inferred that there were no additional documents in CIA's possession that related to UFOs. Wilson was ill informed. (83)
In September 1977, Spaulding and GSW, unconvinced by Wilson's response, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Agency that specifically requested all UFO documents in CIA's possession. Deluged by similar FOIA requests for Agency information on UFOs, CIA officials agreed, after much legal maneuvering, to conduct a "reasonable search" of CIA files for UFO materials. (84) Despite an Agency-wide unsympathetic attitude toward the suit, Agency officials, led by Launie Ziebell from the Office of General Counsel, conducted a thorough search for records pertaining to UFOs. Persistent, demanding, and even threatening at times, Ziebell and his group scoured the Agency. They even turned up an old UFO file under a secretary's desk. The search finally produced 355 documents totaling approximately 900 pages. On 14 December 1978, the Agency released all but 57 documents of about 100 pages to GSW. It withheld these 57 documents on national security grounds and to protect sources and methods. (85)
Although the released documents produced no smoking gun and revealed only a low-level Agency interest in the UFO phenomena after the Robertson panel report of 1953, the press treated the release in a sensational manner. The New York Times, for example, claimed that the declassified documents confirmed intensive government concern over UFOs and that the Agency was secretly involved in the surveillance of UFOs. (86) GSW then sued for the release of the withheld documents, claiming that the Agency was still holding out key information. (87) It was much like the John F. Kennedy assassination issue. No matter how much material the Agency released and no matter how dull and prosaic the information, people continued to believe in a Agency coverup and conspiracy.
DCI Stansfield Turner was so upset when he read The New York Times article that he asked his senior officers, "Are we in UFOs?" After reviewing the records, Don Wortman, Deputy Director for Administration, reported to Turner that there was "no organized Agency effort to do research in connection with UFO phenomena nor has there been an organized effort to collect intelligence on UFOs since the 1950s." Wortman assured Turner that the Agency records held only "sporadic instances of correspondence dealing with the subject," including various kinds of reports of UFO sightings. There was no Agency program to collect actively information on UFOs, and the material released to GSW had few deletions. (88) Thus assured, Turner had the General Counsel press for a summary judgment against the new lawsuit by GSW. In May 1980, the courts dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the Agency had conducted a thorough and adequate search in good faith. (89)
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the Agency continued its low-key interest in UFOs and UFO sightings. While most scientists now dismissed flying saucers reports as a quaint part of the 1950s and 1960s, some in the Agency and in the Intelligence Community shifted their interest to studying parapsychology and psychic phenomena associated with UFO sightings. CIA officials also looked at the UFO problem to determine what UFO sightings might tell them about Soviet progress in rockets and missiles and reviewed its counterintelligence aspects. Agency analysts from the Life Science Division of OSI and OSWR officially devoted a small amount of their time to issues relating to UFOs. These included counterintelligence concerns that the Soviets and the KGB were using US citizens and UFO groups to obtain information on sensitive US weapons development programs (such as the Stealth aircraft), the vulnerability of the US air-defense network to penetration by foreign missiles mimicking UFOs, and evidence of Soviet advanced technology associated with UFO sightings.
CIA also maintained Intelligence Community coordination with other agencies regarding their work in parapsychology, psychic phenomena, and "remote viewing" experiments. In general, the Agency took a conservative scientific view of these unconventional scientific issues. There was no formal or official UFO project within the Agency in the 1980s, and Agency officials purposely kept files on UFOs to a minimum to avoid creating records that might mislead the public if released. (90)
The 1980s also produced renewed charges that the Agency was still withholding documents relating to the 1947 Roswell incident, in which a flying saucer supposedly crashed in New Mexico, and the surfacing of documents which purportedly revealed the existence of a top secret US research and development intelligence operation responsible only to the President on UFOs in the late 1940s and early 1950s. UFOlogists had long argued that, following a flying saucer crash in New Mexico in 1947, the government not only recovered debris from the crashed saucer but also four or five alien bodies. According to some UFOlogists, the government clamped tight security around the project and has refused to divulge its investigation results and research ever since. (91) In September 1994, the US Air Force released a new report on the Roswell incident that concluded that the debris found in New Mexico in 1947 probably came from a once top secret balloon operation, Project MOGUL, designed to monitor the atmosphere for evidence of Soviet nuclear tests. (92)
Circa 1984, a series of documents surfaced which some UFOlogists said proved that President Truman created a top secret committee in 1947, Majestic-12, to secure the recovery of UFO wreckage from Roswell and any other UFO crash sight for scientific study and to examine any alien bodies recovered from such sites. Most if not all of these documents have proved to be fabrications. Yet the controversy persists. (93)
Like the JFK assassination conspiracy theories, the UFO issue probably will not go away soon, no matter what the Agency does or says. The belief that we are not alone in the universe is too emotionally appealing and the distrust of our government is too pervasive to make the issue amenable to traditional scientific studies of rational explanation and evidence.
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Notes
(1) See the 1973 Gallup Poll results printed in The New York Times, 29 November 1973, p. 45 and Philip J. Klass, UFOs: The Public Deceived (New York: Prometheus Books, 1983), p. 3.
(2) See Klass, UFOs, p. 3; James S. Gordon, "The UFO Experience," Atlantic Monthly (August 1991), pp. 82-92; David Michael Jacobs, The UFO Controversy in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975); Howard Blum, Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990); Timothy Good, Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up (New York: William Morrow, 1987); and Whitley Strieber, Communion: The True Story (New York: Morrow, 1987).
(3) In September 1993 John Peterson, an acquaintance of Woolsey's, first approached the DCI with a package of heavily sanitized CIA material on UFOs released to UFOlogist Stanton T. Friedman. Peterson and Friedman wanted to know the reasons for the redactions. Woolsey agreed to look into the matter. See Richard J. Warshaw, Executive Assistant, note to author, 1 November 1994; Warshaw, note to John H. Wright, Information and Privacy Coordinator, 31 January 1994; and Wright, memorandum to Executive Secretariat, 2 March 1994. (Except where noted, all citations to CIA records in this article are to the records collected for the 1994 Agency-wide search that are held by the Executive Assistant to the DCI).
(4) See Hector Quintanilla, Jr., "The Investigation of UFOs," Vol. 10, No. 4, Studies in Intelligence (fall 1966): pp.95-110 and CIA, unsigned memorandum, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952. See also Good, Above Top Secret, p. 253. During World War II, US pilots reported "foo fighters" (bright lights trailing US aircraft). Fearing they might be Japanese or German secret weapons, OSS investigated but could find no concrete evidence of enemy weapons and often filed such reports in the "crackpot" category. The OSS also investigated possible sightings of German V-1 and V-2 rockets before their operational use during the war. See Jacobs, UFO Controversy, p. 33. The Central Intelligence Group, the predecessor of the CIA, also monitored reports of "ghost rockets" in Sweden in 1946. See CIG, Intelligence Report, 9 April 1947.
(5) Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 156 and Quintanilla, "The Investigation of UFOs," p. 97.
(6) See US Air Force, Air Material Command, "Unidentified Aerial Objects: Project SIGN, no. F-TR 2274, IA, February 1949, Records of the US Air Force Commands, Activities and Organizations, Record Group 341, National Archives, Washington, DC.
(7) See US Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUEBOOK Reports 1- 12 (Washington, DC; National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1968) and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 50-54.
(8) See Cabell, memorandum to Commanding Generals Major Air Commands, "Reporting of Information on Unconventional Aircraft," 8 September 1950 and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 65.
(9) See Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 67.
(10) See Edward Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI, "Flying Saucers," 1 August 1952. See also United Kingdom, Report by the "Flying Saucer" Working Party, "Unidentified Flying Objects," no date (approximately 1950).
(11) See Dr. Stone, OSI, memorandum to Dr. Willard Machle, OSI, 15 March 1949 and Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum for DDI, "Recent Sightings of Unexplained Objects," 29 July 1952.
(12) Stone, memorandum to Machle. See also Clark, memorandum for DDI, 29 July 1952.
(13) See Klass, UFOs, p. 15. For a brief review of the Washington sightings see Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 269-271.
(14) See Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum to DDI Robert Amory, Jr., 29 July 1952. OSI and OCI were in the Directorate of Intelligence. Established in 1948, OSI served as the CIA's focal point for the analysis of foreign scientific and technological developments. In 1980, OSI was merged into the Office of Science and Weapons Research. The Office of Current Intelligence (OCI), established on 15 January 1951 was to provide all-source current intelligence to the President and the National Security Council.
(15) Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI (Philip Strong), 1 August 1952.
(16) On 2 January 1952, DCI Walter Bedell Smith created a Deputy Directorate for Intelligence (DDI) composed of six overt CIA organizations--OSI, OCI, Office of Collection and Dissemination, Office National Estimates, Office of Research and Reports, and the Office of Intelligence Coordination--to produce intelligence analysis for US policymakers.
(17) See Minutes of Branch Chief's Meeting, 11 August 1952.
(18) Smith expressed his opinions at a meeting in the DCI Conference Room attended by his top officers. See Deputy Chief, Requirements Staff, FI, memorandum for Deputy Director, Plans, "Flying Saucers," 20 August 1952, Directorate of Operations Records, Information Management Staff, Job 86-00538R, Box 1.
(19) See CIA memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 11 August 1952.
(20) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952.
(21) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 19 August 1952.
(22) See Chadwell, memorandum for Smith, 17 September 1952 and 24 September 1952, "Flying Saucers." See also Chadwell, memorandum for DCI Smith, 2 October 1952 and Klass, UFOs, pp. 23-26.
(23) Chadwell, memorandum for DCI with attachments, 2 December 1952. See also Klass, UFOs, pp. 26-27 and Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November 1952.
(24) See Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November 1952 and Chadwell, memorandum, "Approval in Principle - External Research Project Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects," no date. See also Philip G. Strong, OSI, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with Dr. Julius A. Stratton, Executive Vice President and Provost, MIT and Dr. Max Millikan, Director of CENIS." Strong believed that in order to undertake such a review they would need the full backing and support of DCI Smith.
(25) See Chadwell, memorandum for DCI, ""Unidentified Flying Objects," 2 December 1952. See also Chadwell, memorandum for Amory, DDI, "Approval in Principle - External Research Project Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects," no date.
(26) The IAC was created in 1947 to serve as a coordinating body in establishing intelligence requirements. Chaired by the DCI, the IAC included representatives from the Department of State, the Army, the Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the FBI, and the AEC.
(27) See Klass, UFOs, p. 27.
(28) See Richard D. Drain, Acting Secretary, IAC, "Minutes of Meeting held in Director's Conference Room, Administration Building, CIA," 4 December 1952.
(29) See Chadwell, memorandum for the record, "British Activity in the Field of UFOs," 18 December 1952.
(30) See Chadwell, memorandum for DCI, "Consultants for Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects," 9 January 1953; Curtis Peebles, Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994). pp. 73-90; and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 91-92.
(31) See Fred C. Durant III, Report on the Robertson Panel Meeting, January 1953. Durant, on contract with OSI and a past president of the American Rocket Society, attended the Robertson panel meetings and wrote a summary of the proceedings.
(32) See Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (the Robertson Report), 17 January 1953 and the Durant report on the panel discussions.
(33) See Robertson Report and Durant Report. See also Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 337-38, Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 95, and Klass, UFO's, pp. 28-29.
(34) See Reber, memorandum to IAC, 18 February 1953.
(35) See Chadwell, memorandum for DDI, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 10 February 1953; Chadwell, letter to Robertson, 28 January 1953; and Reber, memorandum for IAC, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 18 February 1953. On briefing the ONE, see Durant, memorandum for the record, "Briefing of ONE Board on Unidentified Flying Objects," 30 January 1953 and CIA Summary disseminated to the field, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 6 February 1953.
(36) See Chadwell, letter to Julius A. Stratton, Provost MIT, 27 January 1953.
(37) See Chadwell, memorandum for Chief, Physics and Electronics Division/OSI (Todos M. Odarenko), "Unidentified Flying Objects," 27 May 1953.
(38) See Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 3 July 1953. See also Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Current Status of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOB) Project," 17 December 1953.
(39) See Odarenko, memorandum, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 8 August 1955.
(40) See FBIS, report, "Military Unconventional Aircraft," 18 August 1953 and various reports, "Military-Air, Unconventional Aircraft," 1953, 1954, 1955.
(41) Developed by the Canadian affiliate of Britain's A. V. Roe, Ltd., Project Y did produce a small-scale model that hovered a few feet off the ground. See Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Flying Saucer Type of Planes" 25 May 1954; Frederic C. E. Oder, memorandum to Odarenko, "USAF Project Y," 21 May 1954; and Odarenko, T. M. Nordbeck, Ops/SI, and Sidney Graybeal, ASD/SI, memorandum for the record, "Intelligence Responsibilities for Non-Conventional Types of Air Vehicles," 14 June 1954.
(42) See Reuben Efron, memorandum, "Observation of Flying Object Near Baku," 13 October 1955; Scoville, memorandum for the record, "Interview with Senator Richard B. Russell," 27 October 1955; and Wilton E. Lexow, memorandum for information, "Reported Sighting of Unconventional Aircraft," 19 October 1955.
(43) See Lexow, memorandum for information, "Reported Sighting of Unconventional Aircraft," 19 October 1955. See also Frank C. Bolser, memorandum for George C. Miller, Deputy Chief, SAD/SI, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers, Check On;" Lexow, memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers, Follow Up On," 17 December 1954; Lexow, memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers," 1 December 1954; and A. H. Sullivan, Jr., memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers," 24 November 1954.
(44) See Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974 (Washington, DC: CIA History Staff, 1992), pp. 72-73.
(45) See Pedlow and Welzenbach, Overhead Reconnaissance, pp. 72-73. This also was confirmed in a telephone interview between the author and John Parongosky, 26 July 1994. Parongosky oversaw the day-to-day affairs of the OXCART program.
(46) See Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 135.
(47) See Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 128-146; Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Doubleday, 1956); Keyhoe, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (New York: Holt, 1955); and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 347-49.
(48) See Strong, letter to Lloyd W. Berkner; Strong, letter to Thorton Page; Strong, letter to Robertson; Strong, letter to Samuel Goudsmit; Strong, letter to Luis Alvarez, 20 December 1957; and Strong, memorandum for Major James F. Byrne, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence Department of the Air Force, "Declassification of the `Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,'" 20 December 1957. See also Berkner, letter to Strong, 20 November 1957 and Page, letter to Strong, 4 December 1957. The panel members were also reluctant to have their association with the Agency released.
(49) See Wilton E. Lexow, memorandum for the record, "Comments on Letters Dealing with Unidentified Flying Objects," 4 April 1958; J. S. Earman, letter to Major Lawrence J. Tacker, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Information Service, 4 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Berkner, 8 April 1958; Berkner, letter to Davidson, 18 April 1958; Berkner, letter to Strong, 21 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Tacker, 27 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Allen Dulles, 27 April 1958; Ruppelt, letter to Davidson, 7 May 1958; Strong, letter to Berkner, 8 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Berkner, 8 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Earman, 16 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Goudsmit, 18 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Page, 18 May 1958; and Tacker, letter to Davidson, 20 May 1958.
(50) See Lexow, memorandum for Chapin, 28 July 1958.
(51) See Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 346-47; Lexow, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with the Air Force Personnel Concerning Scientific Advisory Panel Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, dated 17 January 1953 (S)," 16 May 1958. See also La Rae L. Teel, Deputy Division Chief, ASD, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with Mr. Chapin on Replying to Leon Davidson's UFO Letter and Subsequent Telephone Conversation with Major Thacker, [sic]" 22 May 1958.
(52) See Edwin M. Ashcraft, Chief, Contact Division (Scientific), memorandum to Chief, Chicago Office, "Radio Code Recording," 4 March 1955 and Ashcraft, memorandum to Chief, Support Branch, OSI, 17 March 1955.
(53) The Contact Division was created to collect foreign intelligence information from sources within the United States. See the Directorate of Intelligence Historical Series, The Origin and Development of Contact Division, 11 July 1946¬1 July 1965 (Washington, DC; CIA Historical Staff, June 1969).
(54) See George O. Forrest, Chief, Chicago Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division for Science, 11 March 1955.
(55) See Support Division (Connell), memorandum to Dewelt E. Walker, 25 April 1957.
(56) See J. Arnold Shaw, Assistant to the Director, letter to Davidson, 10 May 1957.
(57) See Support (Connell) memorandum to Lt. Col. V. Skakich, 27 August 1957 and Lamountain, memorandum to Support (Connell), 20 December 1957.
(58) See Lamountain, cable to Support (Connell), 31 July 1958.
(59) See Support (Connell) cable to Skakich, 3 October 1957 and Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957.
(60) See Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957.
(61) See R. P. B. Lohmann, memorandum for Chief, Contact Division, DO, 9 January 1958.
(62) See Support, cable to Skakich, 20 February 1958 and Connell (Support) cable to Lamountain, 19 December 1957.
(63) See Edwin M. Ashcraft, Chief, Contact Division, Office of Operations, memorandum for Austin Bricker, Jr., Assistant to the Director, "Inquiry by Major Donald E. Keyhoe on John Hazen's Association with the Agency," 22 January 1959.
(64) See John T. Hazen, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, 12 December 1957. See also Ashcraft, memorandum to Cleveland Resident Agent, "Ralph E. Mayher," 20 December 1957. According to this memorandum, the photographs were viewed at "a high level and returned to us without comment." The Air Force held the original negatives. The CIA records were probably destroyed.
(65) The issue would resurface in the 1970s with the GSW FOIA court case.
(66) See Robert Amory, Jr., DDI, memorandum for Assistant Director/Scientific Intelligence, "Flying Saucers," 26 March 1956. See also Wallace R. Lamphire, Office of the Director, Planning and Coordination Staff, memorandum for Richard M. Bissell, Jr., "Unidentified Flying Saucers (UFO)," 11 June 1957; Philip Strong, memorandum for the Director, NPIC, "Reported Photography of Unidentified Flying Objects," 27 October 1958; Scoville, memorandum to Lawrence Houston, Legislative Counsel, "Reply to Honorable Joseph E. Garth," 12 July 1961; and Houston, letter to Garth, 13 July 1961.
(67) See, for example, Davidson, letter to Congressman Joseph Garth, 26 June 1961 and Carl Vinson, Chairman, House Committee on Armed Services, letter to Rep. Robert A. Everett, 2 September 1964.
(68) See Maxwell W. Hunter, staff member, National Aeronautics and Space Council, Executive Office of the President, memorandum for Robert F. Parkard, Office of International Scientific Affairs, Department of State, "Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question," 18 July 1963, File SP 16, Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59, National Archives. See also F. J. Sheridan, Chief, Washington Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, "National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)," 25 January 1965.
(69) Chamberlain, memorandum for DCI, "Evaluation of UFOs," 26 January 1965.
(70) See Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 199 and US Air Force, Scientific Advisory Board, Ad Hoc Committee (O'Brien Committee) to Review Project BLUE BOOK, Special Report (Washington, DC: 1966). See also The New York Times, 14 August 1966, p. 70.
(71) See "Congress Reassured on Space Visits," The New York Times, 6 April 1966.
(72) Weber, letter to Col. Gerald E. Jorgensen, Chief, Community Relations Division, Office of Information, US Air Force, 15 August 1966. The Durant report was a detailed summary of the Robertson panel proceedings.
(73) See John Lear, "The Disputed CIA Document on UFOs," Saturday Review (September 3, 1966), p. 45. The Lear article was otherwise unsympathetic to UFO sightings and the possibility that extraterritorials were involved. The Air Force had been eager to provide Lear with the full report. See Walter L. Mackey, Executive Officer, memorandum for DCI, "Air Force Request to Declassify CIA Material on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO)," 1 September 1966.
(74) See Klass, UFOs, p. 40, Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 214 and Everet Clark, "Physicist Scores `Saucer Status,'" The New York Times, 21 October 1966. See also James E. McDonald, "Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects," submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 29 July 1968.
(75) Condon is quoted in Walter Sullivan, "3 Aides Selected in Saucer Inquiry," The New York Times, 8 October 1966. See also "An Outspoken Scientist, Edward Uhler Condon," The New York Times, 8 October 1966. Condon, an outgoing, gruff scientist, had earlier become embroiled in a controversy with the House Unamerican Activities Committee that claimed Condon was "one of the weakest links in our atomic security." See also Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 169-195.
(76) See Lundahl, memorandum for DDI, 7 February 1967.
(77) See memorandum for the record, "Visit of Dr. Condon to NPIC, 20 February 1967," 23 February 1967. See also the analysis of the photographs in memorandum for Lundahl, "Photo Analysis of UFO Photography," 17 February 1967.
(78) See memorandum for the record, "UFO Briefing for Dr. Edward Condon, 5 May 1967," 8 May 1967 and attached "Guidelines to UFO Photographers and UFO Photographic Information Sheet." See also Condon Committee, Press Release, 1 May 1967 and Klass, UFOs, p. 41. The Zaneville photographs turned out to be a hoax.
(79) See Edward U. Condon, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Bantam Books, 1969) and Klass, UFOs, p. 41. The report contained the Durant report with only minor deletions.
(80) See Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, News Release, "Air Force to Terminate Project BLUEBOOK," 17 December 1969. The Air Force retired BLUEBOOK records to the USAF Archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. In 1976 the Air Force turned over all BLUEBOOK files to the National Archives and Records Administration, which made them available to the public without major restrictions. Some names have been withheld from the documents. See Klass, UFOs, p. 6.
(81) GSW was a small group of UFO buffs based in Phoenix, Arizona, and headed by William H. Spaulding.
(82) See Klass, UFOs, p. 8.
(83) See Wilson, letter to Spaulding, 26 March 1976 and GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859.
(84) GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859, p. 2.
(85) Author interview with Launie Ziebell, 23 June 1994 and author interview with OSI analyst, 21 July 1994. See also affidavits of George Owens, CIA Information and Privacy Act Coordinator; Karl H. Weber, OSI; Sidney D. Stembridge, Office of Security; and Rutledge P. Hazzard, DS&T; GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859 and Sayre Stevens, Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment, memorandum for Thomas H. White, Assistant for Information, Information Review Committee, "FOIA Litigation Ground Saucer Watch," no date.
(86) See "CIA Papers Detail UFO Surveillance," The New York Times, 13 January 1979; Patrick Huyghe, "UFO Files: The Untold Story," The New York Times Magazine, 14 October 1979, p. 106; and Jerome Clark, "UFO Update," UFO Report, August 1979.
(87) Jerome Clark, "Latest UFO News Briefs From Around the World," UFO Update, August 1979 and GSW v. CIA Civil Action No. 78-859.
(88) See Wortman, memorandum for DCI Turner, "Your Question, `Are we in UFOs?' Annotated to The New York Times News Release Article," 18 January 1979.
(89) See GSW v. CIA Civil Action 78-859. See also Klass, UFOs, pp. 10-12.
(90) See John Brennan, memorandum for Richard Warshaw, Executive Assistant, DCI, "Requested Information on UFOs," 30 September 1993; Author interviews with OSWR analyst, 14 June 1994 and OSI analyst, 21 July 1994. This author found almost no documentation on Agency involvement with UFOs in the 1980s.
There is a DIA Psychic Center and the NSA studies parapsychology, that branch of psychology that deals with the investigation of such psychic phenomena as clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, and telepathy. The CIA reportedly is also a member of an Incident Response Team to investigate UFO landings, if one should occur. This team has never met. The lack of solid CIA documentation on Agency UFO-related activities in the 1980s leaves the entire issue somewhat murky for this period.
Much of the UFO literature presently focuses on contactees and abductees. See John E. Mack, Abduction, Human Encounters with Aliens (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994) and Howard Blum, Out There (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
(91) See Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident (New York: Berkeley Books, 1988); Moore, "The Roswell Incident: New Evidence in the Search for a Crashed UFO," (Burbank, California: Fair Witness Project, 1982), Publication Number 1201; and Klass, UFOs, pp. 280-281. In 1994 Congressman Steven H. Schiff (R-NM) called for an official study of the Roswell incident. The GAO is conducting a separate investigation of the incident. The CIA is not involved in the investigation. See Klass, UFOs, pp. 279-281; John H. Wright, Information and Privacy Coordinator, letter to Derek Skreen, 20 September 1993; and OSWR analyst interview. See also the made-for-TV film, Roswell, which appeared on cable TV on 31 July 1994 and Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 245-251.
(92) See John Diamond, "Air Force Probes 1947 UFO Claim Findings Are Down to Earth," 9 September 1994, Associated Press release; William J. Broad, "Wreckage of a `Spaceship': Of This Earth (and U.S.)," The New York Times, 18 September 1994, p. 1; and USAF Col. Richard L. Weaver and 1st Lt. James McAndrew, The Roswell Report, Fact Versus Fiction in New Mexico Desert (Washington, DC: GPO, 1995).
(93) See Good, Above Top Secret; Moore and S. T. Friedman, "Philip Klass and MJ-12: What are the Facts," (Burbank California: Fair-Witness Project, 1988), Publication Number 1290; Klass, "New Evidence of MJ-12 Hoax," Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 14 (Winter 1990); and Moore and Jaime H. Shandera, The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report (Burbank, California: Fair-Witness Project, 1990), Publication Number 1500. Walter Bedell Smith supposedly replaced Forrestal on 1 August 1950 following Forrestal's death. All members listed were deceased when the MJ-12 "documents" surfaced in 1984. See Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 258-268.
Dr. Larry Bland, editor of The George C. Marshall Papers, discovered that one of the so-called Majestic-12 documents was a complete fraud. It contained the exact same language as a letter from Marshall to Presidential candidate Thomas Dewey regarding the "Magic" intercepts in 1944. The dates and names had been altered and "Magic" changed to "Majic." Moreover, it was a photocopy, not an original. No original MJ-12 documents have ever surfaced. Telephone conversation between the author and Bland, 29 August 1994.
(20) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952.
(21) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 19 August 1952.
(22) See Chadwell, memorandum for Smith, 17 September 1952 and 24 September 1952, "Flying Saucers." See also Chadwell, memorandum for DCI Smith, 2 October 1952 and Klass, UFOs, pp. 23-26.
(23) Chadwell, memorandum for DCI with attachments, 2 December 1952. See also Klass, UFOs, pp. 26-27 and Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November 1952.
(24) See Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November 1952 and Chadwell, memorandum, "Approval in Principle - External Research Project Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects," no date. See also Philip G. Strong, OSI, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with Dr. Julius A. Stratton, Executive Vice President and Provost, MIT and Dr. Max Millikan, Director of CENIS." Strong believed that in order to undertake such a review they would need the full backing and support of DCI Smith.
(25) See Chadwell, memorandum for DCI, ""Unidentified Flying Objects," 2 December 1952. See also Chadwell, memorandum for Amory, DDI, "Approval in Principle - External Research Project Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects," no date.
(26) The IAC was created in 1947 to serve as a coordinating body in establishing intelligence requirements. Chaired by the DCI, the IAC included representatives from the Department of State, the Army, the Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the FBI, and the AEC.
(27) See Klass, UFOs, p. 27.
(28) See Richard D. Drain, Acting Secretary, IAC, "Minutes of Meeting held in Director's Conference Room, Administration Building, CIA," 4 December 1952.
(29) See Chadwell, memorandum for the record, "British Activity in the Field of UFOs," 18 December 1952.
(30) See Chadwell, memorandum for DCI, "Consultants for Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects," 9 January 1953; Curtis Peebles, Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994). pp. 73-90; and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 91-92.
(31) See Fred C. Durant III, Report on the Robertson Panel Meeting, January 1953. Durant, on contract with OSI and a past president of the American Rocket Society, attended the Robertson panel meetings and wrote a summary of the proceedings.
(32) See Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (the Robertson Report), 17 January 1953 and the Durant report on the panel discussions.
(33) See Robertson Report and Durant Report. See also Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 337-38, Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 95, and Klass, UFO's, pp. 28-29.
(34) See Reber, memorandum to IAC, 18 February 1953.
(35) See Chadwell, memorandum for DDI, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 10 February 1953; Chadwell, letter to Robertson, 28 January 1953; and Reber, memorandum for IAC, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 18 February 1953. On briefing the ONE, see Durant, memorandum for the record, "Briefing of ONE Board on Unidentified Flying Objects," 30 January 1953 and CIA Summary disseminated to the field, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 6 February 1953.
(36) See Chadwell, letter to Julius A. Stratton, Provost MIT, 27 January 1953.
(37) See Chadwell, memorandum for Chief, Physics and Electronics Division/OSI (Todos M. Odarenko), "Unidentified Flying Objects," 27 May 1953.
(38) See Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 3 July 1953. See also Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Current Status of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOB) Project," 17 December 1953.
(39) See Odarenko, memorandum, "Unidentified Flying Objects," 8 August 1955.
(40) See FBIS, report, "Military Unconventional Aircraft," 18 August 1953 and various reports, "Military-Air, Unconventional Aircraft," 1953, 1954, 1955.
(41) Developed by the Canadian affiliate of Britain's A. V. Roe, Ltd., Project Y did produce a small-scale model that hovered a few feet off the ground. See Odarenko, memorandum to Chadwell, "Flying Saucer Type of Planes" 25 May 1954; Frederic C. E. Oder, memorandum to Odarenko, "USAF Project Y," 21 May 1954; and Odarenko, T. M. Nordbeck, Ops/SI, and Sidney Graybeal, ASD/SI, memorandum for the record, "Intelligence Responsibilities for Non-Conventional Types of Air Vehicles," 14 June 1954.
(42) See Reuben Efron, memorandum, "Observation of Flying Object Near Baku," 13 October 1955; Scoville, memorandum for the record, "Interview with Senator Richard B. Russell," 27 October 1955; and Wilton E. Lexow, memorandum for information, "Reported Sighting of Unconventional Aircraft," 19 October 1955.
(43) See Lexow, memorandum for information, "Reported Sighting of Unconventional Aircraft," 19 October 1955. See also Frank C. Bolser, memorandum for George C. Miller, Deputy Chief, SAD/SI, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers, Check On;" Lexow, memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers, Follow Up On," 17 December 1954; Lexow, memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers," 1 December 1954; and A. H. Sullivan, Jr., memorandum, "Possible Soviet Flying Saucers," 24 November 1954.
(44) See Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974 (Washington, DC: CIA History Staff, 1992), pp. 72-73.
(45) See Pedlow and Welzenbach, Overhead Reconnaissance, pp. 72-73. This also was confirmed in a telephone interview between the author and John Parongosky, 26 July 1994. Parongosky oversaw the day-to-day affairs of the OXCART program.
(46) See Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 135.
(47) See Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 128-146; Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Doubleday, 1956); Keyhoe, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (New York: Holt, 1955); and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 347-49.
(48) See Strong, letter to Lloyd W. Berkner; Strong, letter to Thorton Page; Strong, letter to Robertson; Strong, letter to Samuel Goudsmit; Strong, letter to Luis Alvarez, 20 December 1957; and Strong, memorandum for Major James F. Byrne, Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence Department of the Air Force, "Declassification of the `Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,'" 20 December 1957. See also Berkner, letter to Strong, 20 November 1957 and Page, letter to Strong, 4 December 1957. The panel members were also reluctant to have their association with the Agency released.
(49) See Wilton E. Lexow, memorandum for the record, "Comments on Letters Dealing with Unidentified Flying Objects," 4 April 1958; J. S. Earman, letter to Major Lawrence J. Tacker, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Information Service, 4 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Berkner, 8 April 1958; Berkner, letter to Davidson, 18 April 1958; Berkner, letter to Strong, 21 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Tacker, 27 April 1958; Davidson, letter to Allen Dulles, 27 April 1958; Ruppelt, letter to Davidson, 7 May 1958; Strong, letter to Berkner, 8 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Berkner, 8 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Earman, 16 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Goudsmit, 18 May 1958; Davidson, letter to Page, 18 May 1958; and Tacker, letter to Davidson, 20 May 1958.
(50) See Lexow, memorandum for Chapin, 28 July 1958.
(51) See Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 346-47; Lexow, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with the Air Force Personnel Concerning Scientific Advisory Panel Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, dated 17 January 1953 (S)," 16 May 1958. See also La Rae L. Teel, Deputy Division Chief, ASD, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with Mr. Chapin on Replying to Leon Davidson's UFO Letter and Subsequent Telephone Conversation with Major Thacker, [sic]" 22 May 1958.
(52) See Edwin M. Ashcraft, Chief, Contact Division (Scientific), memorandum to Chief, Chicago Office, "Radio Code Recording," 4 March 1955 and Ashcraft, memorandum to Chief, Support Branch, OSI, 17 March 1955.
(53) The Contact Division was created to collect foreign intelligence information from sources within the United States. See the Directorate of Intelligence Historical Series, The Origin and Development of Contact Division, 11 July 1946¬1 July 1965 (Washington, DC; CIA Historical Staff, June 1969).
(54) See George O. Forrest, Chief, Chicago Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division for Science, 11 March 1955.
(55) See Support Division (Connell), memorandum to Dewelt E. Walker, 25 April 1957.
(56) See J. Arnold Shaw, Assistant to the Director, letter to Davidson, 10 May 1957.
(57) See Support (Connell) memorandum to Lt. Col. V. Skakich, 27 August 1957 and Lamountain, memorandum to Support (Connell), 20 December 1957.
(58) See Lamountain, cable to Support (Connell), 31 July 1958.
(59) See Support (Connell) cable to Skakich, 3 October 1957 and Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957.
(60) See Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957.
(61) See R. P. B. Lohmann, memorandum for Chief, Contact Division, DO, 9 January 1958.
(62) See Support, cable to Skakich, 20 February 1958 and Connell (Support) cable to Lamountain, 19 December 1957.
(63) See Edwin M. Ashcraft, Chief, Contact Division, Office of Operations, memorandum for Austin Bricker, Jr., Assistant to the Director, "Inquiry by Major Donald E. Keyhoe on John Hazen's Association with the Agency," 22 January 1959.
(64) See John T. Hazen, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, 12 December 1957. See also Ashcraft, memorandum to Cleveland Resident Agent, "Ralph E. Mayher," 20 December 1957. According to this memorandum, the photographs were viewed at "a high level and returned to us without comment." The Air Force held the original negatives. The CIA records were probably destroyed.
(65) The issue would resurface in the 1970s with the GSW FOIA court case.
(66) See Robert Amory, Jr., DDI, memorandum for Assistant Director/Scientific Intelligence, "Flying Saucers," 26 March 1956. See also Wallace R. Lamphire, Office of the Director, Planning and Coordination Staff, memorandum for Richard M. Bissell, Jr., "Unidentified Flying Saucers (UFO)," 11 June 1957; Philip Strong, memorandum for the Director, NPIC, "Reported Photography of Unidentified Flying Objects," 27 October 1958; Scoville, memorandum to Lawrence Houston, Legislative Counsel, "Reply to Honorable Joseph E. Garth," 12 July 1961; and Houston, letter to Garth, 13 July 1961.
(67) See, for example, Davidson, letter to Congressman Joseph Garth, 26 June 1961 and Carl Vinson, Chairman, House Committee on Armed Services, letter to Rep. Robert A. Everett, 2 September 1964.
(68) See Maxwell W. Hunter, staff member, National Aeronautics and Space Council, Executive Office of the President, memorandum for Robert F. Parkard, Office of International Scientific Affairs, Department of State, "Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question," 18 July 1963, File SP 16, Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59, National Archives. See also F. J. Sheridan, Chief, Washington Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, "National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)," 25 January 1965.
(69) Chamberlain, memorandum for DCI, "Evaluation of UFOs," 26 January 1965.
(70) See Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 199 and US Air Force, Scientific Advisory Board, Ad Hoc Committee (O'Brien Committee) to Review Project BLUE BOOK, Special Report (Washington, DC: 1966). See also The New York Times, 14 August 1966, p. 70.
(71) See "Congress Reassured on Space Visits," The New York Times, 6 April 1966.
(72) Weber, letter to Col. Gerald E. Jorgensen, Chief, Community Relations Division, Office of Information, US Air Force, 15 August 1966. The Durant report was a detailed summary of the Robertson panel proceedings.
(73) See John Lear, "The Disputed CIA Document on UFOs," Saturday Review (September 3, 1966), p. 45. The Lear article was otherwise unsympathetic to UFO sightings and the possibility that extraterritorials were involved. The Air Force had been eager to provide Lear with the full report. See Walter L. Mackey, Executive Officer, memorandum for DCI, "Air Force Request to Declassify CIA Material on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO)," 1 September 1966.
(74) See Klass, UFOs, p. 40, Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 214 and Everet Clark, "Physicist Scores `Saucer Status,'" The New York Times, 21 October 1966. See also James E. McDonald, "Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects," submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 29 July 1968.
(75) Condon is quoted in Walter Sullivan, "3 Aides Selected in Saucer Inquiry," The New York Times, 8 October 1966. See also "An Outspoken Scientist, Edward Uhler Condon," The New York Times, 8 October 1966. Condon, an outgoing, gruff scientist, had earlier become embroiled in a controversy with the House Unamerican Activities Committee that claimed Condon was "one of the weakest links in our atomic security." See also Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 169-195.
(76) See Lundahl, memorandum for DDI, 7 February 1967.
(77) See memorandum for the record, "Visit of Dr. Condon to NPIC, 20 February 1967," 23 February 1967. See also the analysis of the photographs in memorandum for Lundahl, "Photo Analysis of UFO Photography," 17 February 1967.
(78) See memorandum for the record, "UFO Briefing for Dr. Edward Condon, 5 May 1967," 8 May 1967 and attached "Guidelines to UFO Photographers and UFO Photographic Information Sheet." See also Condon Committee, Press Release, 1 May 1967 and Klass, UFOs, p. 41. The Zaneville photographs turned out to be a hoax.
(79) See Edward U. Condon, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (New York: Bantam Books, 1969) and Klass, UFOs, p. 41. The report contained the Durant report with only minor deletions.
(80) See Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, News Release, "Air Force to Terminate Project BLUEBOOK," 17 December 1969. The Air Force retired BLUEBOOK records to the USAF Archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. In 1976 the Air Force turned over all BLUEBOOK files to the National Archives and Records Administration, which made them available to the public without major restrictions. Some names have been withheld from the documents. See Klass, UFOs, p. 6.
(81) GSW was a small group of UFO buffs based in Phoenix, Arizona, and headed by William H. Spaulding.
(82) See Klass, UFOs, p. 8.
(83) See Wilson, letter to Spaulding, 26 March 1976 and GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859.
(84) GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859, p. 2.
(85) Author interview with Launie Ziebell, 23 June 1994 and author interview with OSI analyst, 21 July 1994. See also affidavits of George Owens, CIA Information and Privacy Act Coordinator; Karl H. Weber, OSI; Sidney D. Stembridge, Office of Security; and Rutledge P. Hazzard, DS&T; GSW v. CIA Civil Action Case 78-859 and Sayre Stevens, Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment, memorandum for Thomas H. White, Assistant for Information, Information Review Committee, "FOIA Litigation Ground Saucer Watch," no date.
(86) See "CIA Papers Detail UFO Surveillance," The New York Times, 13 January 1979; Patrick Huyghe, "UFO Files: The Untold Story," The New York Times Magazine, 14 October 1979, p. 106; and Jerome Clark, "UFO Update," UFO Report, August 1979.
(87) Jerome Clark, "Latest UFO News Briefs From Around the World," UFO Update, August 1979 and GSW v. CIA Civil Action No. 78-859.
(88) See Wortman, memorandum for DCI Turner, "Your Question, `Are we in UFOs?' Annotated to The New York Times News Release Article," 18 January 1979.
(89) See GSW v. CIA Civil Action 78-859. See also Klass, UFOs, pp. 10-12.
(90) See John Brennan, memorandum for Richard Warshaw, Executive Assistant, DCI, "Requested Information on UFOs," 30 September 1993; Author interviews with OSWR analyst, 14 June 1994 and OSI analyst, 21 July 1994. This author found almost no documentation on Agency involvement with UFOs in the 1980s.
There is a DIA Psychic Center and the NSA studies parapsychology, that branch of psychology that deals with the investigation of such psychic phenomena as clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, and telepathy. The CIA reportedly is also a member of an Incident Response Team to investigate UFO landings, if one should occur. This team has never met. The lack of solid CIA documentation on Agency UFO-related activities in the 1980s leaves the entire issue somewhat murky for this period.
Much of the UFO literature presently focuses on contactees and abductees. See John E. Mack, Abduction, Human Encounters with Aliens (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994) and Howard Blum, Out There (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
(91) See Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident (New York: Berkeley Books, 1988); Moore, "The Roswell Incident: New Evidence in the Search for a Crashed UFO," (Burbank, California: Fair Witness Project, 1982), Publication Number 1201; and Klass, UFOs, pp. 280-281. In 1994 Congressman Steven H. Schiff (R-NM) called for an official study of the Roswell incident. The GAO is conducting a separate investigation of the incident. The CIA is not involved in the investigation. See Klass, UFOs, pp. 279-281; John H. Wright, Information and Privacy Coordinator, letter to Derek Skreen, 20 September 1993; and OSWR analyst interview. See also the made-for-TV film, Roswell, which appeared on cable TV on 31 July 1994 and Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 245-251.
(92) See John Diamond, "Air Force Probes 1947 UFO Claim Findings Are Down to Earth," 9 September 1994, Associated Press release; William J. Broad, "Wreckage of a `Spaceship': Of This Earth (and U.S.)," The New York Times, 18 September 1994, p. 1; and USAF Col. Richard L. Weaver and 1st Lt. James McAndrew, The Roswell Report, Fact Versus Fiction in New Mexico Desert (Washington, DC: GPO, 1995).
(93) See Good, Above Top Secret; Moore and S. T. Friedman, "Philip Klass and MJ-12: What are the Facts," (Burbank California: Fair-Witness Project, 1988), Publication Number 1290; Klass, "New Evidence of MJ-12 Hoax," Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 14 (Winter 1990); and Moore and Jaime H. Shandera, The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report (Burbank, California: Fair-Witness Project, 1990), Publication Number 1500. Walter Bedell Smith supposedly replaced Forrestal on 1 August 1950 following Forrestal's death. All members listed were deceased when the MJ-12 "documents" surfaced in 1984. See Peebles, Watch the Skies, pp. 258-268.
Dr. Larry Bland, editor of The George C. Marshall Papers, discovered that one of the so-called Majestic-12 documents was a complete fraud. It contained the exact same language as a letter from Marshall to Presidential candidate Thomas Dewey regarding the "Magic" intercepts in 1944. The dates and names had been altered and "Magic" changed to "Majic." Moreover, it was a photocopy, not an original. No original MJ-12 documents have ever surfaced. Telephone conversation between the author and Bland, 29 August 1994.
An indepth probe into the shadow world and programs of CIA spooks and their connection to extraterrestrial beings, in infiltrating and manipulating society with continued cover ups, false information and propaganda regarding ufos and alien presents
CIA interest and involvement in extraterrestrial reality has been well documented through declassified documents, as well as classified documents. The extent and the degree of CIA involvement has not been well documented but is massive and beyond the comprehension and scope of most investigators . Of course the CIA is not only the only major player in the investigation and exploitation and suppression of extraterrestrial technology and reality. Other organizations like theNSA, National Security Agency, are very much involved, but what is unique about CIA involvement is the covert scope and breath of CIA operations throughout society not just in the United States but worldwide as well . The CIA both in Terrestrial and extraterrestrial operations is for all extents and purposes an agency owned and operated by entrenched special interest . It is a complete SHADOW GOVERNMENT in itself that creates and manages Shadow Governments in other countries around the World for entrenched special interest in business and politics.
The Church Commission investigations of CIA criminal wrongdoing barely scratched the surface of the CIA's Terrestrial unconstitutional and unethical operations, but never even laid a hand on the CIA's extraterrestrial operations .Church Committee. Today the CIA with its own private Army, Air Force, and Navy, its national and international death squads , its huge over trillion dollar off the record funding operations, its infiltration and control of mainstream media, its control not just over the military and press in the United States but in other nations as well is very staggering . While the CIA is a constitutional agency, many of its covert operations,
especially the extraterrestrial operations are very much un-consitutional or given only an appearance of legality through secret executive orders out of the White House, through many Administrations, both Republican and Democrat . In a classic case of the tail wagging the dog, the CIA's extraterrestrial operations are so ultra secret and deceptive that there is know control or oversight by legitimate constitutional Government. The CIA's extraterrestrial operations were created to get a handle on, exploit extraterrestrial technology, and propagandize the public but now seems to be completely under the control of the GLOBAL ELITE entrenched special interest in collaboration with predatory extraterrestrial races, namely the GREYS and REPTILIANS in other words the predatory extraterrestrials and their willing and not so willing human entrenched interests have somehow turned the tables in the process and now use the CIA's extraterrestrial operations against the interest of the WORLD PUBLIC and even the possible ethical extraterrestrials which some believe would be our allies.
Understanding of COVERT CIA extraterrestrial operations and the real threat they pose to society, of course the CIA often gets the blame for the faults of others and has been tasked with an impossible task that requires widespread criminal activity, their is certainly plenty of blame to go around, and as always the CIA is sure to be single out as the scapegoat and rightfully so. Many researchers, including myself believe CIA/NSA covert extraterrestrial operations have become a lynchpin to a worldwide shadow government resulting in a very dangerous and flawed extraterrestrial policy . ET OPERATIONS and POLICY should be in the hands of diplomats rather than military and clandestine services, and should be immediately transferred to the STATE DEPARTMENT so that an enlightened extraterrestrial policy can be created and implemented at the highest levels of Government Inside sources seem to be indicating that CIA extraterrestrial operations are to some degree in certain covert ways, melting down with the accelerating UFO/ET disclosure, this accelerating of full disclosure and turmoil in internalCIA/NSA/ET operations is causing the treat and intimidation levels to rise inside and outside of the Government asUFO/ET disclosure beckons .
AN AFFIDAVIT OF A CIA/NSA LOW LEVEL BLACK BAG COVERT FIELD AGENT
I Robert E Cotner, born 03/19/46, SS No # 441-44-4447, military number R.A 25731405, NG 25731405, andMKULTRA CIA No #1059, Tulsa Private Investigator Number 1059 (Until 1979) do hereby swear under oath that the following is true and correct to the best of my memory, that this should be accepted as a death bed statement, because I am dying and maybe murdered even before I can die of other causes. MUFON UFO JOURNAL "official publication of the manual UFO network since 1967, and in 1967 I had just gotten my private investigators License in Tulsa Oklahoma, (No#1059) and was contacted by the FBI, I went into the Army in 1963, and the CIA in 1964, and left, and left the CIA in 1972 . I was among other things involved in part of the MKULTRA project MISSION - Global Domination and as such seen my first UFO at Edwards Air Force base in 1964, The saucer from Roswell) with letters of a four thousand year old language on its controls, which I can duplicate .
There are three different types of UFO's I have personally seen . and three different types of races that built them . from 1967, when I decided to get out of the CIA, I started stealing copies of Top Secret files, and records on many different subjects including UFO's, and those stolen files are still hidden where I put them . Tesla, before he was murdered, invented most of the devices now a part of the STAR WARS, and a lot of it is in space right now . I maintained my informational contacts in intelligence and etc, up until 1990, so that is the newest date I can give you . Tulsa Oklahoma cable TV, channel 3 in 1986 had me on the DAZE show for an interview about my past CIA work, and they still maintain a tape of it . I still know right now how to access secret files of five governments on UFO's . The things I know about Government secret projects will get you put in prison, or killed as it has me .
Deep cover, Clandestine projects operations is what I mostly did, usually . The people in charge of these secret government projects do not urgue any moral rights or wrongs, justice and fair play never entered into their acts . some Extraterrestrials have already interbred with humans, these beings are multi-dimensional capable. Our Government employs them in many different fields including UFO's, and their ancestors came here in UFO's through Warps in the dimensions. Our Government has duplicated some Wrap devices. These beings have overwhelming national talents including psychic abilities, legend tells us about them . While I was with the CIA, I was sent many places including Russian ones. all these people should remember me : Semyon Kirion and his aura photo's that lead part of the way to research on dimensional warps, (KRASNODAR) Krasnodar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Dr Gennady on bio-energy research and powered weapons: Dr Felix Zigel showed me secret Russian UFO photos, including captured WW2 German ones on aTlantis and UFO's and Professor Pushkins on gravitational waves from living systems, all before 1972
When I had personally examined or stole copies of documents proving the United States and Russian joint projects on UFOs were true and had been taking place since 1917, I seen three different types of craft from three different races of extraterrestrials, one which was multi-dimensional, and in 1979 in China Lake navel base, I seen my last UFO. It is said our Government works with one race of extraterrestrials, U S Senators who have been in their positions more than four years are directly or indirectly involved in a conspiracy to prevent the public from finding out the truth and they will harm you if you get to close to the truth . Some UFO government projects are financed by illegal drug manufacturing, importation and sales in the United States today. It has been reputed that since 1964 any UFO investigator who gets to close to the truth has or will disappear or be placed in prison, a accident resulting in their death, thus any attempt to present any evidence to politicians will result in actions of this nature if it contains any truth, because harassment or intimidation is not done by real people involved in real projects.
The Second type, (from a different race) the UFO I seen was at a mountain complex owned by DOW, in the Tennessee or Georgia mountains, and the third type (from a third race of extraterrestrials I seen in a Colorado secret chemical warfare center. The Top secret U S, German and Russian files from 1917 to 1990 that I seen, and stole certain copies of, clearly show UFO evidence going back 13 000 years, and completely destroys all the established religions, and most of societies ideals, that is one of the reasons the Government can not release those records and files to the public. I do know one man who knows more than me, has seen more than me, and has stolen original as well as copies of the original files and evidence, and is now traveling in hiding in the U S as a homeless person because of what they know, he can draw from memory many things I can only identify after I see them again . At present only one hundred people really run this Government, the people do not, and can not, nor will they ever be allowed to run this country, elections are illusions. Further this affidavit sayeth not, except that I have not much longer to live and that my abilities to spell, write and in other areas gets worse each day, former U S Senator Barlet and U S speaker Carl Albert I once worked for on a special project also, signed Robert E Cotner. Sworn to be subscribed to before me this 3rd day of March 1993, Notary (unreadable signature) my commission expires 02/19/97 .
THE DAULITY OF DISCLOSURE AND THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL EXPOSURE LAW
What the global community is not aware of, especially within the United States is that on October 5th 1982, Dr Brain T Clifford of the Pentagon announced at a press conference that contact between U S citizens and extraterrestrials or their vehicles is strictly ILLEGAL, according to a law already on the books, (title 14 section 1211 of the code of federal regulations. FEDERAL ET LAW adopted on July 16th 1969, just four days before the Apollo Mission of July 20th 1969 NASA Apollo Lunar Missions However pertaining to the Federal ET exposure law, anyone guility of such alien contact automatically becomes a wanted criminal to be jail for ONE YEAR and fined Five Thousand dollars. The NASAadministrator is empowered to determine with or without a hearing that a person or object has been extraterrestrially exposed and imposed, an indeterminate quarantine, (imprisonment) under armed guards, which can not be broken even by a court order. There is know limit placed on the number of individuals, (people) who can be arbitrarily quarantined, (imprisoned) . Could this ET exposure law be one of the many mechanisms deployed/placed in full force in the event that there was a genuine alien invasion, or a false flag event, or none other than PROJECT BLUEBEAM .Project Blue Beam By Serge Monast (1994) deployed in full illusionary force ? once the U S population in massive numbers became exposed to UFO vehicles, (which some are ours) and aliens, could they automatically be in violation of the U S Federal ET exposure law. If a massive number of U S citizens were exposed, regardless if real or unreal, where could such a massive amount of people by the millions be quarantined, (imprisoned) none other than the awaiting FEMA CAMPS American Concentration Camps But before we discuss the FEMA CAMPS in a limited scope their is something equally if not more sinister happening which should be brought to the attention of the American People and every global citizen of every nation on the face of this planet .
The Church Commission investigations of CIA criminal wrongdoing barely scratched the surface of the CIA's Terrestrial unconstitutional and unethical operations, but never even laid a hand on the CIA's extraterrestrial operations .Church Committee. Today the CIA with its own private Army, Air Force, and Navy, its national and international death squads , its huge over trillion dollar off the record funding operations, its infiltration and control of mainstream media, its control not just over the military and press in the United States but in other nations as well is very staggering . While the CIA is a constitutional agency, many of its covert operations,
especially the extraterrestrial operations are very much un-consitutional or given only an appearance of legality through secret executive orders out of the White House, through many Administrations, both Republican and Democrat . In a classic case of the tail wagging the dog, the CIA's extraterrestrial operations are so ultra secret and deceptive that there is know control or oversight by legitimate constitutional Government. The CIA's extraterrestrial operations were created to get a handle on, exploit extraterrestrial technology, and propagandize the public but now seems to be completely under the control of the GLOBAL ELITE entrenched special interest in collaboration with predatory extraterrestrial races, namely the GREYS and REPTILIANS in other words the predatory extraterrestrials and their willing and not so willing human entrenched interests have somehow turned the tables in the process and now use the CIA's extraterrestrial operations against the interest of the WORLD PUBLIC and even the possible ethical extraterrestrials which some believe would be our allies.
Understanding of COVERT CIA extraterrestrial operations and the real threat they pose to society, of course the CIA often gets the blame for the faults of others and has been tasked with an impossible task that requires widespread criminal activity, their is certainly plenty of blame to go around, and as always the CIA is sure to be single out as the scapegoat and rightfully so. Many researchers, including myself believe CIA/NSA covert extraterrestrial operations have become a lynchpin to a worldwide shadow government resulting in a very dangerous and flawed extraterrestrial policy . ET OPERATIONS and POLICY should be in the hands of diplomats rather than military and clandestine services, and should be immediately transferred to the STATE DEPARTMENT so that an enlightened extraterrestrial policy can be created and implemented at the highest levels of Government Inside sources seem to be indicating that CIA extraterrestrial operations are to some degree in certain covert ways, melting down with the accelerating UFO/ET disclosure, this accelerating of full disclosure and turmoil in internalCIA/NSA/ET operations is causing the treat and intimidation levels to rise inside and outside of the Government asUFO/ET disclosure beckons .
AN AFFIDAVIT OF A CIA/NSA LOW LEVEL BLACK BAG COVERT FIELD AGENT
I Robert E Cotner, born 03/19/46, SS No # 441-44-4447, military number R.A 25731405, NG 25731405, andMKULTRA CIA No #1059, Tulsa Private Investigator Number 1059 (Until 1979) do hereby swear under oath that the following is true and correct to the best of my memory, that this should be accepted as a death bed statement, because I am dying and maybe murdered even before I can die of other causes. MUFON UFO JOURNAL "official publication of the manual UFO network since 1967, and in 1967 I had just gotten my private investigators License in Tulsa Oklahoma, (No#1059) and was contacted by the FBI, I went into the Army in 1963, and the CIA in 1964, and left, and left the CIA in 1972 . I was among other things involved in part of the MKULTRA project MISSION - Global Domination and as such seen my first UFO at Edwards Air Force base in 1964, The saucer from Roswell) with letters of a four thousand year old language on its controls, which I can duplicate .
There are three different types of UFO's I have personally seen . and three different types of races that built them . from 1967, when I decided to get out of the CIA, I started stealing copies of Top Secret files, and records on many different subjects including UFO's, and those stolen files are still hidden where I put them . Tesla, before he was murdered, invented most of the devices now a part of the STAR WARS, and a lot of it is in space right now . I maintained my informational contacts in intelligence and etc, up until 1990, so that is the newest date I can give you . Tulsa Oklahoma cable TV, channel 3 in 1986 had me on the DAZE show for an interview about my past CIA work, and they still maintain a tape of it . I still know right now how to access secret files of five governments on UFO's . The things I know about Government secret projects will get you put in prison, or killed as it has me .
Deep cover, Clandestine projects operations is what I mostly did, usually . The people in charge of these secret government projects do not urgue any moral rights or wrongs, justice and fair play never entered into their acts . some Extraterrestrials have already interbred with humans, these beings are multi-dimensional capable. Our Government employs them in many different fields including UFO's, and their ancestors came here in UFO's through Warps in the dimensions. Our Government has duplicated some Wrap devices. These beings have overwhelming national talents including psychic abilities, legend tells us about them . While I was with the CIA, I was sent many places including Russian ones. all these people should remember me : Semyon Kirion and his aura photo's that lead part of the way to research on dimensional warps, (KRASNODAR) Krasnodar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Dr Gennady on bio-energy research and powered weapons: Dr Felix Zigel showed me secret Russian UFO photos, including captured WW2 German ones on aTlantis and UFO's and Professor Pushkins on gravitational waves from living systems, all before 1972
When I had personally examined or stole copies of documents proving the United States and Russian joint projects on UFOs were true and had been taking place since 1917, I seen three different types of craft from three different races of extraterrestrials, one which was multi-dimensional, and in 1979 in China Lake navel base, I seen my last UFO. It is said our Government works with one race of extraterrestrials, U S Senators who have been in their positions more than four years are directly or indirectly involved in a conspiracy to prevent the public from finding out the truth and they will harm you if you get to close to the truth . Some UFO government projects are financed by illegal drug manufacturing, importation and sales in the United States today. It has been reputed that since 1964 any UFO investigator who gets to close to the truth has or will disappear or be placed in prison, a accident resulting in their death, thus any attempt to present any evidence to politicians will result in actions of this nature if it contains any truth, because harassment or intimidation is not done by real people involved in real projects.
The Second type, (from a different race) the UFO I seen was at a mountain complex owned by DOW, in the Tennessee or Georgia mountains, and the third type (from a third race of extraterrestrials I seen in a Colorado secret chemical warfare center. The Top secret U S, German and Russian files from 1917 to 1990 that I seen, and stole certain copies of, clearly show UFO evidence going back 13 000 years, and completely destroys all the established religions, and most of societies ideals, that is one of the reasons the Government can not release those records and files to the public. I do know one man who knows more than me, has seen more than me, and has stolen original as well as copies of the original files and evidence, and is now traveling in hiding in the U S as a homeless person because of what they know, he can draw from memory many things I can only identify after I see them again . At present only one hundred people really run this Government, the people do not, and can not, nor will they ever be allowed to run this country, elections are illusions. Further this affidavit sayeth not, except that I have not much longer to live and that my abilities to spell, write and in other areas gets worse each day, former U S Senator Barlet and U S speaker Carl Albert I once worked for on a special project also, signed Robert E Cotner. Sworn to be subscribed to before me this 3rd day of March 1993, Notary (unreadable signature) my commission expires 02/19/97 .
THE DAULITY OF DISCLOSURE AND THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL EXPOSURE LAW
What the global community is not aware of, especially within the United States is that on October 5th 1982, Dr Brain T Clifford of the Pentagon announced at a press conference that contact between U S citizens and extraterrestrials or their vehicles is strictly ILLEGAL, according to a law already on the books, (title 14 section 1211 of the code of federal regulations. FEDERAL ET LAW adopted on July 16th 1969, just four days before the Apollo Mission of July 20th 1969 NASA Apollo Lunar Missions However pertaining to the Federal ET exposure law, anyone guility of such alien contact automatically becomes a wanted criminal to be jail for ONE YEAR and fined Five Thousand dollars. The NASAadministrator is empowered to determine with or without a hearing that a person or object has been extraterrestrially exposed and imposed, an indeterminate quarantine, (imprisonment) under armed guards, which can not be broken even by a court order. There is know limit placed on the number of individuals, (people) who can be arbitrarily quarantined, (imprisoned) . Could this ET exposure law be one of the many mechanisms deployed/placed in full force in the event that there was a genuine alien invasion, or a false flag event, or none other than PROJECT BLUEBEAM .Project Blue Beam By Serge Monast (1994) deployed in full illusionary force ? once the U S population in massive numbers became exposed to UFO vehicles, (which some are ours) and aliens, could they automatically be in violation of the U S Federal ET exposure law. If a massive number of U S citizens were exposed, regardless if real or unreal, where could such a massive amount of people by the millions be quarantined, (imprisoned) none other than the awaiting FEMA CAMPS American Concentration Camps But before we discuss the FEMA CAMPS in a limited scope their is something equally if not more sinister happening which should be brought to the attention of the American People and every global citizen of every nation on the face of this planet .
INS IMMIGRATION NATURALIZATION SERVICE AND THE CIA & NSA REPLACING HUMANS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS
The following information came from an INS, IMMIGRATION NATURALIZATION SERVICE worker in San Francisco California, who claims his life ha been threatened and torn apart, because he believes he has been targeted for elimination by unknown CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, Government agents because of the knowledge he possesses concerning an alien agenda taking place at the San Francisco INS operations, his story is as follows, believe it or not .
This is going to be hard to swallow, it is going to be hard to believe and yet it is all true, there is one piece of the puzzle that everyone is missing, I know about it because I screwed up a conspiracy happening at the Department of Immigration in San Francisco, a conspiracy involving the CIA and NSA, a conspiracy which when they were finished they would erase thousands of American citizens and seize there properties through the INS, illegally, a conspiracy that when finished there would be know bodies, a conspiracy involving a race of people that are not from here.
A race of beings that are not from here, a race of beings who can replicate us, each and everyone of us, a race which has created an infrastructure on our planet to get here and an agenda to get rid of us, there is an alien agenda taking place and I can prove it. Read all of it including the CON JOB happening at the INS, the notes on aliens and the infrastructure and the list of screwed up CIA and NSA officials involved in this CON, then they are going to take this ultra secret program of replacing us with them everywhere, in fact the operation is already in motion. Why are there PARTICLE ACCELERATORS in our new government buildings like the Mark O Hatfield in Portland Oregon, and these buildings are in every major city on the planet and the hundreds of new jails and correctional facilities, answer, there is an alien agenda, and it is nothing nice.
What if you woke up one day to find out that there was someone else living your life. someone else who looks just like you and you realize that your family had been murdered, bank accounts wiped out, many records erased and to top things off you could prove there is an alien agenda taking place, what would you do ? When the CIA and the NSA set up large American families for immigration fraud and erase thousands of people at a time, stealing their properties, through the Department of Immigration, cases based on invalid video evidence, that is time to stand up and scream murder, however when they use extraterrestrials who can become us to do there CON that is to say replace us, then this information has to be known by the American people > This alien race has created a infrastructure to arrive and not be noticed, and a infrastructure to get rid of us.
This is a sinister work in progress , all of this is sitting with my attorneys office and more, describing the conspiracy happening at the Department of Immigration . I Kevin Rush was never into conspiracies or UFO's or any other kind of government cover ups until the Central Intelligence Agency murdered my family in a conspiracy to set up large families for immigration fraud, before 1992 I was a photographer in San Francisco, then I got selected for a heinous crime and it changed my entire life . In the United States when convicted of immigration fraud the Federal Government can take everything, when the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency work in collusion to set up large American families and then replace them with extraterrestrials, then erase them and steal billions of dollars in personal property then it is time to let the world know, when there is a hostile covert takeover by an alien race that can replaced everyone of us, and the technology everyone is missing is actually visible, did you know the Federal Government , The Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency know about well over one hundred different species of alien life spread through out the galaxy on over seven thousand planets .
Keep in mind that the internet was designed by the National Security Agency and was given to the public to open your mail, GPS was created for the military and given to the public to watch where you go, it is in your lab top computer, cell phone and vehicle . Digital television is the one technology where you can look both ways as long as there is a internal camera built into your television, which guess what there is ? chemical trails are being placed into our atmosphere over major cities daily, and try and stop them ! or find out all about them ! it will not happen ! understand ? If you knew you had information which could probably get you killed but that could possibly help save mankind, would you place it out there on the world wide web ?
The next step is to crash the global economy and empty the federal reserve, all these companies supposedly crashing are really solvent and their profit and loss statements are being changed to make it look like the international markets are crashing, as this is a global conspiracy. The next step is to raise the price of fuel and food from 300% to 500% percent globally, after that the next step is to start World War three with the Russian Federation easily destroy them, then the next step is martial law to eliminate the human race. could these events actually happen ? there are certain indicators which conclude it is, but the future IS NOT set in stone, the final chapter to the story of the human race has not been played out, if enough people are made aware and take action, this process can be reversed if not stopped in its tracks.
The following information came from an INS, IMMIGRATION NATURALIZATION SERVICE worker in San Francisco California, who claims his life ha been threatened and torn apart, because he believes he has been targeted for elimination by unknown CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, Government agents because of the knowledge he possesses concerning an alien agenda taking place at the San Francisco INS operations, his story is as follows, believe it or not .
This is going to be hard to swallow, it is going to be hard to believe and yet it is all true, there is one piece of the puzzle that everyone is missing, I know about it because I screwed up a conspiracy happening at the Department of Immigration in San Francisco, a conspiracy involving the CIA and NSA, a conspiracy which when they were finished they would erase thousands of American citizens and seize there properties through the INS, illegally, a conspiracy that when finished there would be know bodies, a conspiracy involving a race of people that are not from here.
A race of beings that are not from here, a race of beings who can replicate us, each and everyone of us, a race which has created an infrastructure on our planet to get here and an agenda to get rid of us, there is an alien agenda taking place and I can prove it. Read all of it including the CON JOB happening at the INS, the notes on aliens and the infrastructure and the list of screwed up CIA and NSA officials involved in this CON, then they are going to take this ultra secret program of replacing us with them everywhere, in fact the operation is already in motion. Why are there PARTICLE ACCELERATORS in our new government buildings like the Mark O Hatfield in Portland Oregon, and these buildings are in every major city on the planet and the hundreds of new jails and correctional facilities, answer, there is an alien agenda, and it is nothing nice.
What if you woke up one day to find out that there was someone else living your life. someone else who looks just like you and you realize that your family had been murdered, bank accounts wiped out, many records erased and to top things off you could prove there is an alien agenda taking place, what would you do ? When the CIA and the NSA set up large American families for immigration fraud and erase thousands of people at a time, stealing their properties, through the Department of Immigration, cases based on invalid video evidence, that is time to stand up and scream murder, however when they use extraterrestrials who can become us to do there CON that is to say replace us, then this information has to be known by the American people > This alien race has created a infrastructure to arrive and not be noticed, and a infrastructure to get rid of us.
This is a sinister work in progress , all of this is sitting with my attorneys office and more, describing the conspiracy happening at the Department of Immigration . I Kevin Rush was never into conspiracies or UFO's or any other kind of government cover ups until the Central Intelligence Agency murdered my family in a conspiracy to set up large families for immigration fraud, before 1992 I was a photographer in San Francisco, then I got selected for a heinous crime and it changed my entire life . In the United States when convicted of immigration fraud the Federal Government can take everything, when the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency work in collusion to set up large American families and then replace them with extraterrestrials, then erase them and steal billions of dollars in personal property then it is time to let the world know, when there is a hostile covert takeover by an alien race that can replaced everyone of us, and the technology everyone is missing is actually visible, did you know the Federal Government , The Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency know about well over one hundred different species of alien life spread through out the galaxy on over seven thousand planets .
Keep in mind that the internet was designed by the National Security Agency and was given to the public to open your mail, GPS was created for the military and given to the public to watch where you go, it is in your lab top computer, cell phone and vehicle . Digital television is the one technology where you can look both ways as long as there is a internal camera built into your television, which guess what there is ? chemical trails are being placed into our atmosphere over major cities daily, and try and stop them ! or find out all about them ! it will not happen ! understand ? If you knew you had information which could probably get you killed but that could possibly help save mankind, would you place it out there on the world wide web ?
The next step is to crash the global economy and empty the federal reserve, all these companies supposedly crashing are really solvent and their profit and loss statements are being changed to make it look like the international markets are crashing, as this is a global conspiracy. The next step is to raise the price of fuel and food from 300% to 500% percent globally, after that the next step is to start World War three with the Russian Federation easily destroy them, then the next step is martial law to eliminate the human race. could these events actually happen ? there are certain indicators which conclude it is, but the future IS NOT set in stone, the final chapter to the story of the human race has not been played out, if enough people are made aware and take action, this process can be reversed if not stopped in its tracks.
ConspiracyCards - FEMA
Another way in which to eliminate the global population on a massive scale while the remaining population remains unaware that the replacement of humans is taking place by an alien race would be infiltration camps like the operational death camps in Nazi Germany during the second World War . Whatever situation or conditions which could occur that would bring about MARTIAL LAW in combination with an alien invasion, authentic or a false alien invasion being implemented through optical illusions such as PROJECT BLUEBEAM Blue Beam Project could play a major role in human affairs .
What if within these FEMA CAMPS within certain structures were ION PARTICLE ACCELERATORS, the original human beings would experience complete annihilation but the (look a like) would via exit once the procedure had been completed . Know one in the outside world would be aware that the original human being had been destroyed and thus replaced with an exact look alike, only those operating the FEMA CAMPS American Concentration Camps and operating the ION PARTICLE ACCELERATORS would be aware of the sinister switch of the actual human being replaced with the extraterrestrial . what most unaware American Citizens and patriots are not aware of is that the necessary executive orders American Concentration Camps are already in place to set the stage and place in motion this possible future occurrence. FOCUSING UPON REALITY
There are some aspects to the Fema conspiracies that are very true and frightening, but a lot of dis-information . having tried to debunk all of the intel on my site, diversions are being deployed to keep researchers and investigators like me, guessing, this is an easy way to make us all look like right wing con jobs. all the real legitimate issues are presented in the links below, do your own research, some claim infiltration camps are not needed for interment, (I disagree) . A lot of places such as fenced in schools, and other public places could be used, however I still believe facilities have been created for internment, the only question is when will these plans of action be implemented ? many things that people believe about the FEMA CAMPS are not true, and many things people do not want to believe are very true . look into
Another way in which to eliminate the global population on a massive scale while the remaining population remains unaware that the replacement of humans is taking place by an alien race would be infiltration camps like the operational death camps in Nazi Germany during the second World War . Whatever situation or conditions which could occur that would bring about MARTIAL LAW in combination with an alien invasion, authentic or a false alien invasion being implemented through optical illusions such as PROJECT BLUEBEAM Blue Beam Project could play a major role in human affairs .
What if within these FEMA CAMPS within certain structures were ION PARTICLE ACCELERATORS, the original human beings would experience complete annihilation but the (look a like) would via exit once the procedure had been completed . Know one in the outside world would be aware that the original human being had been destroyed and thus replaced with an exact look alike, only those operating the FEMA CAMPS American Concentration Camps and operating the ION PARTICLE ACCELERATORS would be aware of the sinister switch of the actual human being replaced with the extraterrestrial . what most unaware American Citizens and patriots are not aware of is that the necessary executive orders American Concentration Camps are already in place to set the stage and place in motion this possible future occurrence. FOCUSING UPON REALITY
There are some aspects to the Fema conspiracies that are very true and frightening, but a lot of dis-information . having tried to debunk all of the intel on my site, diversions are being deployed to keep researchers and investigators like me, guessing, this is an easy way to make us all look like right wing con jobs. all the real legitimate issues are presented in the links below, do your own research, some claim infiltration camps are not needed for interment, (I disagree) . A lot of places such as fenced in schools, and other public places could be used, however I still believe facilities have been created for internment, the only question is when will these plans of action be implemented ? many things that people believe about the FEMA CAMPS are not true, and many things people do not want to believe are very true . look into
Federal Emergency Management Agency, simply put, a secret government, this agency has powers and authority that go beyond other agencies in the nation. What can FEMA do, it can suspend laws, it can move populations, arrest and detain citizens without warrant, and hold them with trial. It can seize property, food, supplies, and transportation systems, and it can even suspend the constitution of the United States. When the first concept had been presented, its original mission was to assure the survivability of the United States Government in the event of a nuclear attack, its second function was to be a federal coordinating body during times of domestic disasters consisting of earthquakes, floods and hurricanes .
The secret black helicopters that are reported throughout the U S mainly in West California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado areas are flown by FEMA personnel that have been given the responsibility for many natural disasters, such as forest fires, home heating emergencies, refugee situations, riots, and emergency planning for nuclear and toxic incidents, it works together with the sixth army in the west, as stated earlier, a series of exective orders, (EO) was used to create FEMA, it dose not matter whether if the (EO) is constitutional or not, it becomes a law simply by being published in the federal registery, these orders go around congress.
There has always been agenda's and secretive designs to eliminate the human population or at least minimize the population all through out human history . Do I believe that such devices such as Ion Particle Accelerators exist to replace human beings with extraterrestrials, Yes I do . investigations by the EIR have uncovered a planning apparatus operating outside the control of the White House , whose sole purpose is to reduce the worlds population by two to six billion people through war, famine, disease and any other means necessary. This apparatus, which includes various levels of the Government is determining U S foreign policy . In every political hot spot, El Salvador, the so called arc of crisis in the Persian Gulf, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa . The goal of U S Foreign policy is population reduction .
The Depopulation Bomb
The targeting agency for the operation is the National Security Councils Ad Hoc Group on population policy, its policy planning group is in the U S State Departments Office of population affairs established in 1975 by Henry Kissinger . This group drafted the Carter Administrations Global 2000 Report Global 2000 - Depopulation file which called for global population reduction, and the same apparatus is conducting the civil war in EL Salvador as a conscious depopulation project . There is a single theme behind all our work, we must reduce population levels, stated Thomas Ferguson, the Latin American case officer for the state departments office of population affairs, (OPA) . There are multiple depopulation programs conducted out of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and National Security Council, these programs are occurring around the globe, the El Salvador situation is only one case example, Ferguson further stated, either they, (Governments) do it our way, through nice clear methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran, or Beirut . Population is a political problem, once the population is out of control it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce population .
Civil Wars are some what drawn out ways to reduce the population, The OPA official added, the quickest way to reduce population is through famine like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death, Ferguson's OPA monitors populations in the third world and maps strategies to reduce them, the OPA budget for that specific project alone some 31 years earlier was 190 million U S dollars . for those avid researchers on depopulation control, you should also look into the Club of Rome The Club of Rome - El Club de Roma there are many methods and means in which to depopulate Earths human masses, many of which is being currently conducted, such examples are Influenza - Virus H1N1 - Unintentional Contamination or Bioterrorism? the 2009 swine flu outbreak, which was said to be caused by a variant influenza A Virus, however certain intelligence sources claim this specific strain of virus would only effect certain extraterrestrial species and their off spring, (hybrids) meaning it was really an alien virus. But as the plot of depopulation by sinister intelligence agencies thickens we begin to see the entire spectrum to replace human beings, not only with extraterrestrials but synthetic life, A.I Artificial Intelligence, or artificial humans Synthetic Life - Robotoids, Parasites and Artificial Humans robotoid parasites
Focusing upon the many viruses which could and has wrecked havoc upon earths population in decades past, many of these viruses have been man made such as AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIDS - Man-Made / SIDA - Hecho Por El Hombre Anthrax, there is today a stockpile ConspiracyCards - Anthrax of super grade Anthrax, that can and could be used when the masters of the New World Order decide when it would be politically convenient to scare and terrorize the American people . There are a verity of threats which could pose danger to human life which can be delivered by biological and chemical means, ConspiracyCards - Chemtrails such as Chemtrails, a purported government program to deliver poisonous or mind controlling substances to the general population by spraying from airplanes .
Please be advised there as a difference between a clandestine operation and a covert intelligence operation as well as an overt operation . The following article may help make this crystal clear for those who may not have a full scope of understanding
The secret black helicopters that are reported throughout the U S mainly in West California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado areas are flown by FEMA personnel that have been given the responsibility for many natural disasters, such as forest fires, home heating emergencies, refugee situations, riots, and emergency planning for nuclear and toxic incidents, it works together with the sixth army in the west, as stated earlier, a series of exective orders, (EO) was used to create FEMA, it dose not matter whether if the (EO) is constitutional or not, it becomes a law simply by being published in the federal registery, these orders go around congress.
There has always been agenda's and secretive designs to eliminate the human population or at least minimize the population all through out human history . Do I believe that such devices such as Ion Particle Accelerators exist to replace human beings with extraterrestrials, Yes I do . investigations by the EIR have uncovered a planning apparatus operating outside the control of the White House , whose sole purpose is to reduce the worlds population by two to six billion people through war, famine, disease and any other means necessary. This apparatus, which includes various levels of the Government is determining U S foreign policy . In every political hot spot, El Salvador, the so called arc of crisis in the Persian Gulf, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa . The goal of U S Foreign policy is population reduction .
The Depopulation Bomb
The targeting agency for the operation is the National Security Councils Ad Hoc Group on population policy, its policy planning group is in the U S State Departments Office of population affairs established in 1975 by Henry Kissinger . This group drafted the Carter Administrations Global 2000 Report Global 2000 - Depopulation file which called for global population reduction, and the same apparatus is conducting the civil war in EL Salvador as a conscious depopulation project . There is a single theme behind all our work, we must reduce population levels, stated Thomas Ferguson, the Latin American case officer for the state departments office of population affairs, (OPA) . There are multiple depopulation programs conducted out of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and National Security Council, these programs are occurring around the globe, the El Salvador situation is only one case example, Ferguson further stated, either they, (Governments) do it our way, through nice clear methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran, or Beirut . Population is a political problem, once the population is out of control it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce population .
Civil Wars are some what drawn out ways to reduce the population, The OPA official added, the quickest way to reduce population is through famine like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death, Ferguson's OPA monitors populations in the third world and maps strategies to reduce them, the OPA budget for that specific project alone some 31 years earlier was 190 million U S dollars . for those avid researchers on depopulation control, you should also look into the Club of Rome The Club of Rome - El Club de Roma there are many methods and means in which to depopulate Earths human masses, many of which is being currently conducted, such examples are Influenza - Virus H1N1 - Unintentional Contamination or Bioterrorism? the 2009 swine flu outbreak, which was said to be caused by a variant influenza A Virus, however certain intelligence sources claim this specific strain of virus would only effect certain extraterrestrial species and their off spring, (hybrids) meaning it was really an alien virus. But as the plot of depopulation by sinister intelligence agencies thickens we begin to see the entire spectrum to replace human beings, not only with extraterrestrials but synthetic life, A.I Artificial Intelligence, or artificial humans Synthetic Life - Robotoids, Parasites and Artificial Humans robotoid parasites
Focusing upon the many viruses which could and has wrecked havoc upon earths population in decades past, many of these viruses have been man made such as AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIDS - Man-Made / SIDA - Hecho Por El Hombre Anthrax, there is today a stockpile ConspiracyCards - Anthrax of super grade Anthrax, that can and could be used when the masters of the New World Order decide when it would be politically convenient to scare and terrorize the American people . There are a verity of threats which could pose danger to human life which can be delivered by biological and chemical means, ConspiracyCards - Chemtrails such as Chemtrails, a purported government program to deliver poisonous or mind controlling substances to the general population by spraying from airplanes .
Please be advised there as a difference between a clandestine operation and a covert intelligence operation as well as an overt operation . The following article may help make this crystal clear for those who may not have a full scope of understanding
Classic UFO Government Cover-up.
Summary: Discussion of a possible government cover-up of the Hudson Valley sightings.
What ever UFOs are they do exist and the phenomenon is world wide! Over the past thirty-five years most un-biased UFO research that has been made available to the general public has been by civilian organizations and individual investigators. A question often asked by members of the media to UFO researchers is" After all these years what have you found out?" The answer to this question is we found out plenty. We have proven by the great number of case studies, video tapes, and Government documents that UFOs are real! A recent Gallop pole showed that most Americans believe that UFOs exist. It has also been shown, due to the great efforts of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) that when it comes to UFOS, our Government knows more than it's telling. This is apparent in the multitude of documents that CAUS was able to obtain under the Freedom Of Information Act. Still, quite a few documents were withheld because of reasons of National Security.
During September of 1987,just before the publication of my book NIGHT SIEGE THE HUDSON VALLEY UFO SIGHTINGS, I received a certified letter from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The letter stated that I would be contacted very shortly by an officer of the Air force in regards to my investigations into the UFO phenomenon in the Hudson Valley. The letter went on to say that I would be contacted by a Lt. Col. Bennet whose official title was the officer in charge to the Air force's representative branch to the Federal Aviation Administration.
About one week later I received a call from a Major Andrews of the Air force from Burlington Mass. He told me that the Air force was well aware of the sightings in the Hudson Valley and that they have been collecting reports over the past ten years. He said that there was no official investigation into the sightings, but still they do check out reports of unknown aircraft reported by the FAA. I talked with Major Andrews for over forty minutes and the main concern of the Air force seemed to be that the publication of NIGHT SIEGE might cause a UFO panic in the Hudson Valley and nearby area. Major Andrews informed me that there were secret military flights over the area, the purpose of these missions he did not know. He then agreed to send me information that he had in his files about UFO reports in the area. He then asked if I would keep him updated on the locations of new sightings. His interest, he said was just personal. This seemed a little strange to me, since when does the Air force call a UFO investigator regarding a UFO case. I believe that I was one of the first civilians in a very long time that was contacted by the Air force via telephone in the past twenty years. This must mean that what ever the Hudson Valley UFO was, the Air force was very interested in it.
About five days later I received the packet of UFO material from Major Andrews. In it were some documents from local bases and the FAA regarding UFO sightings. There were also quite a few letters sent to the FAA and the Air force from residents in the New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts area who have had UFO sightings. The oldest of these reports dated back to 1972. What was puzzling was the fact that some of the letters were addressed to local newspapers, several of the national tabloids and a well known author on the UFO phenomena, but how did they get into the hands of the Air force? I contacted this well known author who informed me that he never got the letter.
There was one curious memo dated August of 1983 from the FAA at Kennedy Airport asking where they should send a UFO report. The bottom of the memo indicated that the report was sent to the Department of the Air force in Washington D.C. I called them and was told that reports of "UNKNOWNS" are channeled to other" concerned agencies" and that procedure is protected under National Security. Then the woman who I was talking to after taking my name and address politely hung up on me.
Was there a connection between our Government and the UFO sightings in the New York area? If so what was the connection? Was there an experimental craft belonging to the Air force being tested in the area, or was the UFO that has been now spotted over most of New England the product of an alien intelligence? I was not sure, but it was quite clear there was some type of Government involvement. This was to be more evident as the months went on.
There have been literly thousands of UFO sightings in the Northeast since 1982.The center of concentration of the sightings seems to be around the Hudson Valley of New York. Here my research team and I centered our investigation. We have been researching these sightings since 1982 and by 1987 we had hundreds of reports entered on our computer's floppy disks. We found out that the majority of reports took place on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night from 8-11 PM. The center of activity within the high concentration of reports in the Hudson Valley was around the Kent New York area. Interesting enough, highway I-84 was right in the middle of this area. This information was made available by use of the computer, without it, this would have taken months to figure out.
For the past several years the UFO sightings seemed to have taken somewhat of a pattern. On certain days of the month it would appear in an area at a certain time, then disappear in another location. We thought we did indeed spot some type of pattern and with the help of our computer predicted the next sighting date to be on October 29 1987 at about 8:20 Pm around the Kent-Brewster New York area. This information was obtained on October 15th,plently of time to prepare and check our data.
We prepared four cars, all equipped with CB radios and decided to use highway I-84 as the center of our operations. We also had one car with a police scanner so that we can listen in to police in the area. in the past local and State police were the first to get reports of the UFO.
We then started driving on Highway I-84 West bound at about 8:10 pm. Each car was spaced about two miles apart. I was in the second car and at 8:20 PM I lost communication with our lead car. As I approached a rest stop just before the Taconic Parkway turn off I saw our lead car pulled over to the side of the road. The driver was Chris Clark and he was already out of the car looking at a group of lights in the northern section of the sky. I stopped the car and got on my radio to inform the others "That we had something strange here" I then instructed the other cars to pull off to the side of the road since the lights seemed as if they were going to head east, in their direction.
I then got out of the car and saw a formation of about eight yellowish white lights, very bright heading straight for our location. Chris said that he had been observing them for five minutes and they did a kind of "dance" in the sky before they took on the present shape. The lights appeared now like a straight line, Much brighter than the landing lights of a plane. They were about forty degrees above the horizon and moving very slow in our direction.
As we watched the lights we heard no sound at all. It was then I realized that this was the Hudson Valley UFO, the one I had been tracking for the past five years. The lights continued to approach, then they moved sideways, then began heading east. At no time did I see a physical structure connecting the lights, but they moved so smoothly and in such perfect order that I could not imagine them being separate objects. At this point I could see the back of it and it appeared to be in a boomerang shape., I then saw about eighteen other lights of various colors, The purest reds, Greens and ambers that I ever saw. The back seemed to be made up of red lights only, while the middle had red lights, green and amber and blue. The front was composed of these very bright yellowish-white lights.
I then called on the radio to Fred Dennis who was about two miles east of my position on I-84. There was also another car between Fred and myself. I Said "Fred, Its heading in your direction" At that time I lost the object over a hill. Fred then got out of the car with his binoculars looking all around for something. He said to himself" What are they seeing, there's nothing here" He radioed back to inform us that he saw nothing in the sky. Then his voice went silent. About forty seconds later Fred got back on the radio and yelled," I SEE IT, It's HUGE". It seems as Fred was scanning the skies the UFO came out from behind a hill that was blocking the North west. Fred then observed it with his binoculars. The object was so huge, he said that it spilled out of the field of view. This would make it an enormous object since the field of view with those binoculars is 500 feet at a thousand yards.
The object was observed by every member of our team. One of our researchers also had it in binoculars as it passed right over his car. He reported a series of multicolored lights attached to some type of dark grey structure. The object was so colorful against the clear night sky that it looked like a Christmas Tree.
The UFO continued to head toward the east, to Danbury Connecticut. We were still all heading West, so we had to get off the exit and get back on the other side of I-84 and head east. We did this and started heading east. The time was now 8:55 pm. We drove for about five minutes and then saw the object again, this time it was going west! We stopped our cars and watched it drift slowly ,just above the hills at an estimated distance of three miles from the highway. We watched it for about five more minutes. We saw a multitude of red lights which made up the back of the object. As we watched it all the lights went out and the UFO simply vanished before our eyes.
We were all quite excited by what we saw. At the time of the sighting there were also other cars pulling over to the shoulder of the highway also observing the object. We could also hear the Truck drivers talking about it over the CB radio. We learned later that the object was seen in the Danbury Connecticut area and hovered above a main road for several minutes. Most of the people who saw it in Danbury indicate it was at least the size of a 747 and was no more than 1,000 feet in the air. One couple in Danbury Connecticut reported that as it hovered above their car, the UFO began to descend, this really upset them. As they watched it, the UFO then slowly gained altitude then it moved away to the west. A for our team we did have a video camera and still cameras, but were disappointed the way the pictures came out.
It is not common for UFO investigators to see the UFO that they are researching. With all the sightings in the Hudson Valley and the entire northeast it was only a matter of time before we got a real good look at the UFO, and we did! We had thought we had found a real pattern to the appearance of the Hudson Valley UFO, but when we tried to predict later sightings we saw nothing. Therefore we must assume that our sighting was a coincidence and if there was a real pattern to the UFO we had not yet found it.
In the days to follow we received dozens of letters and many phone calls from people in the area who also saw it that same night. We got one report that was to provide a lead to a possible cover-up of the UFO sightings. This report indicated that after the UFO disappeared about twenty minutes later a formation of planes was seen tracing the exact same route that the UFO took.
Cover-up
---------
Make no mistake about it, there is a real unknown object in New York's Hudson Valley. Since the publication of NIGHT SIEGE there has been a regular appearance of a formation of planes over New York and Connecticut. Members of our research team have spotted them on numerous occasions. These planes were also observed in binoculars by several independent witnesses. We had these people draw the outline of the shapes of the planes that they saw. The drawings were all very similar, o we sent them to two pilots that we know. One is a ex-military pilot, the other a ex-commercial pilot who used to fly missions for the CIA. All of our aircraft experts and our two pilots agree that the design was that of an O-2 type aircraft. The O-2 is a medium duty aircraft with a single engine. It is made by Cessna Aircraft. It is capable of long range and is used by the CIA for surveillance missions. It has a very quiet "souped up" engine and the newer models have on board flight computers in them for greater stability in the air. We have reports that as many as eight planes were seen flying together in a tight formation with the winds gusting up to twenty-five miles an hour!
They seem to be trying to fake a UFO and many people feel that it is an attempt to discredit the sightings and to try to convince everyone that all they saw was a bunch of planes. These planes have been seen only on a Thursday night, the official night the Air force flies night maneuvers. They have been seen all over Southern New York and most of Connecticut.
They fly for about two hours and then they land, but where? They have been seen circling Stormville Airport in Stormville, New York giving the impression that they are going to land there. They then break formation and head West (One plane has been reported landing at Stormville then taking off again). On more than one occasion they have been tracked to Stewart International airport (an old air force SAC base) in Newburgh New York. Stewart is located West of the Hudson River not far from I-84. The base is official operated by the Air National Guard and the Marine Corps. The planes then land, one at a time over a period of one hour, but not on the main part of the base. They seem to lad on a isolated section of Stewart which is a very large airport.
Our research team visited Steward airport and found an isolated fenced off large airfield away from the main landing area marked "RESTRICTED" The Restricted area had a well kept flight line and grounds. On the grounds were several buildings which looked like hangers large enough to harbor several planes of medium size. For the several hours that we were there we saw no activity at all.
We filed a Freedom Of Information Act request( FOIA) with the CIA to find out if the CIA was in fact using this area for some type of operation using small aircraft. We received an answer several weeks later from the CIA. In a lengthy double talking letter the CIA denied our request for information about their activities at Stewart. The reason they gave was National Security. This denial in our eyes is an admission that the planes do in fact belong to the CIA. It is also apparent that the pilots who fly these planes are expert military type pilots with years of experience in formation flying.
What was going on in this restricted area? I was contacted by a member of the local Newburgh New York media. This person told me that about six months before our visit to Stewart he found the restricted area on the base, became curious and started to walk toward the inside perimeter. Out of no where a jeep came screaming to a halt and three military police (Airforce) got out of the jeep and took him by force to a building just inside the gate. He was placed in a room that was dimly lit with just a table and chair. After about fifteen minutes two men entered the room dressed in dark suits and began to question him. They had a computer print out in their hands and it had his name on it. He told me that they knew everything about him.
After about one hour of questions, they then called his supervisor at his Job to pick him up. They then placed him in a jeep and took him to the public area of Stewart Airfield. This member of the media is a newsperson in the Newburgh area and does not want his name used at all in regards to the experience he had at the restricted area at Stewart. He is still fearful that who ever they were that questioned him might be keeping an eye on him. He told me that he felt they were with the CIA and they meant business.
During our investigation concerning this restricted area at Stewart we found out that the base now harbors several C-5A's the largest transport jet that our Air force has. We also found out from personnel at the base that these C-5A's landed on the restricted airfield several years ago and cargo was unloaded. We also found out through a document search that the Air National Guard is no longer officially running the un-restricted area of the base. It is now under the command of the Navy and the Marines are running it and have been since 1973! This was strange since when we visited Stewart we saw Air force personnel there and even had a talk with a Master Sergeant.
We also found out that the Department of Agriculture was also using a section of the restricted area. After a great deal of getting the run around we found out that they are using the area for a holding place for animals. We found out that a great deal of cattle and other animals were flown in to this area. We are still waiting for documents from the USDA explaining where the animals are coming from, why cattle and where are they going from there. Of course when we found out that cattle were being flown into this area the thought of cattle mutilations crossed our minds. What was the strange connection with the mutilations and the UFOS. What was the connection between the restricted area at Stewart, the CIA, the mystery planes and the USDA and the cattle.
North Putnam County and parts of Westchester county are the site of many old abandoned iron ore mines. Most of the mines have been closed down with the openings sealed. Many of these openings are located in miles of thick woods overgrown with brush, almost impossible to find. I received a phone call from a well known UFO investigator who suggested that these old mines might be the location of an alien base and that the CIA as well as other agencies were operating out of Stewart to keep "an eye" on their operations. I don't know about this theory, but can only relate the facts. There are and have been thousands of UFO reports in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut since 1982. Aircraft have been seen on a regular basis since the publication of NIGHT SIEGE. These Air craft are without a doubt trying to discredit the sightings. These aircraft have been tracked to Stewart Airfield where they land in a restricted area. These aircraft are of the O-2 type used by the CIA. The CIA will not provide any information about their activities at Stewart because of reasons of National Security.
In September of 1988 I did a number of TV shows ,newspaper and radio interviews I talked about the possibility that the CIA was trying to cover-up the UFO sightings by flying special aircraft with non-regulation lighting. In the days to follow the mystery aircraft were no longer reported in the skies over the Hudson Valley and have not been seen since. Our investigation still continues.
Summary: Discussion of a possible government cover-up of the Hudson Valley sightings.
What ever UFOs are they do exist and the phenomenon is world wide! Over the past thirty-five years most un-biased UFO research that has been made available to the general public has been by civilian organizations and individual investigators. A question often asked by members of the media to UFO researchers is" After all these years what have you found out?" The answer to this question is we found out plenty. We have proven by the great number of case studies, video tapes, and Government documents that UFOs are real! A recent Gallop pole showed that most Americans believe that UFOs exist. It has also been shown, due to the great efforts of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) that when it comes to UFOS, our Government knows more than it's telling. This is apparent in the multitude of documents that CAUS was able to obtain under the Freedom Of Information Act. Still, quite a few documents were withheld because of reasons of National Security.
During September of 1987,just before the publication of my book NIGHT SIEGE THE HUDSON VALLEY UFO SIGHTINGS, I received a certified letter from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The letter stated that I would be contacted very shortly by an officer of the Air force in regards to my investigations into the UFO phenomenon in the Hudson Valley. The letter went on to say that I would be contacted by a Lt. Col. Bennet whose official title was the officer in charge to the Air force's representative branch to the Federal Aviation Administration.
About one week later I received a call from a Major Andrews of the Air force from Burlington Mass. He told me that the Air force was well aware of the sightings in the Hudson Valley and that they have been collecting reports over the past ten years. He said that there was no official investigation into the sightings, but still they do check out reports of unknown aircraft reported by the FAA. I talked with Major Andrews for over forty minutes and the main concern of the Air force seemed to be that the publication of NIGHT SIEGE might cause a UFO panic in the Hudson Valley and nearby area. Major Andrews informed me that there were secret military flights over the area, the purpose of these missions he did not know. He then agreed to send me information that he had in his files about UFO reports in the area. He then asked if I would keep him updated on the locations of new sightings. His interest, he said was just personal. This seemed a little strange to me, since when does the Air force call a UFO investigator regarding a UFO case. I believe that I was one of the first civilians in a very long time that was contacted by the Air force via telephone in the past twenty years. This must mean that what ever the Hudson Valley UFO was, the Air force was very interested in it.
About five days later I received the packet of UFO material from Major Andrews. In it were some documents from local bases and the FAA regarding UFO sightings. There were also quite a few letters sent to the FAA and the Air force from residents in the New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts area who have had UFO sightings. The oldest of these reports dated back to 1972. What was puzzling was the fact that some of the letters were addressed to local newspapers, several of the national tabloids and a well known author on the UFO phenomena, but how did they get into the hands of the Air force? I contacted this well known author who informed me that he never got the letter.
There was one curious memo dated August of 1983 from the FAA at Kennedy Airport asking where they should send a UFO report. The bottom of the memo indicated that the report was sent to the Department of the Air force in Washington D.C. I called them and was told that reports of "UNKNOWNS" are channeled to other" concerned agencies" and that procedure is protected under National Security. Then the woman who I was talking to after taking my name and address politely hung up on me.
Was there a connection between our Government and the UFO sightings in the New York area? If so what was the connection? Was there an experimental craft belonging to the Air force being tested in the area, or was the UFO that has been now spotted over most of New England the product of an alien intelligence? I was not sure, but it was quite clear there was some type of Government involvement. This was to be more evident as the months went on.
There have been literly thousands of UFO sightings in the Northeast since 1982.The center of concentration of the sightings seems to be around the Hudson Valley of New York. Here my research team and I centered our investigation. We have been researching these sightings since 1982 and by 1987 we had hundreds of reports entered on our computer's floppy disks. We found out that the majority of reports took place on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night from 8-11 PM. The center of activity within the high concentration of reports in the Hudson Valley was around the Kent New York area. Interesting enough, highway I-84 was right in the middle of this area. This information was made available by use of the computer, without it, this would have taken months to figure out.
For the past several years the UFO sightings seemed to have taken somewhat of a pattern. On certain days of the month it would appear in an area at a certain time, then disappear in another location. We thought we did indeed spot some type of pattern and with the help of our computer predicted the next sighting date to be on October 29 1987 at about 8:20 Pm around the Kent-Brewster New York area. This information was obtained on October 15th,plently of time to prepare and check our data.
We prepared four cars, all equipped with CB radios and decided to use highway I-84 as the center of our operations. We also had one car with a police scanner so that we can listen in to police in the area. in the past local and State police were the first to get reports of the UFO.
We then started driving on Highway I-84 West bound at about 8:10 pm. Each car was spaced about two miles apart. I was in the second car and at 8:20 PM I lost communication with our lead car. As I approached a rest stop just before the Taconic Parkway turn off I saw our lead car pulled over to the side of the road. The driver was Chris Clark and he was already out of the car looking at a group of lights in the northern section of the sky. I stopped the car and got on my radio to inform the others "That we had something strange here" I then instructed the other cars to pull off to the side of the road since the lights seemed as if they were going to head east, in their direction.
I then got out of the car and saw a formation of about eight yellowish white lights, very bright heading straight for our location. Chris said that he had been observing them for five minutes and they did a kind of "dance" in the sky before they took on the present shape. The lights appeared now like a straight line, Much brighter than the landing lights of a plane. They were about forty degrees above the horizon and moving very slow in our direction.
As we watched the lights we heard no sound at all. It was then I realized that this was the Hudson Valley UFO, the one I had been tracking for the past five years. The lights continued to approach, then they moved sideways, then began heading east. At no time did I see a physical structure connecting the lights, but they moved so smoothly and in such perfect order that I could not imagine them being separate objects. At this point I could see the back of it and it appeared to be in a boomerang shape., I then saw about eighteen other lights of various colors, The purest reds, Greens and ambers that I ever saw. The back seemed to be made up of red lights only, while the middle had red lights, green and amber and blue. The front was composed of these very bright yellowish-white lights.
I then called on the radio to Fred Dennis who was about two miles east of my position on I-84. There was also another car between Fred and myself. I Said "Fred, Its heading in your direction" At that time I lost the object over a hill. Fred then got out of the car with his binoculars looking all around for something. He said to himself" What are they seeing, there's nothing here" He radioed back to inform us that he saw nothing in the sky. Then his voice went silent. About forty seconds later Fred got back on the radio and yelled," I SEE IT, It's HUGE". It seems as Fred was scanning the skies the UFO came out from behind a hill that was blocking the North west. Fred then observed it with his binoculars. The object was so huge, he said that it spilled out of the field of view. This would make it an enormous object since the field of view with those binoculars is 500 feet at a thousand yards.
The object was observed by every member of our team. One of our researchers also had it in binoculars as it passed right over his car. He reported a series of multicolored lights attached to some type of dark grey structure. The object was so colorful against the clear night sky that it looked like a Christmas Tree.
The UFO continued to head toward the east, to Danbury Connecticut. We were still all heading West, so we had to get off the exit and get back on the other side of I-84 and head east. We did this and started heading east. The time was now 8:55 pm. We drove for about five minutes and then saw the object again, this time it was going west! We stopped our cars and watched it drift slowly ,just above the hills at an estimated distance of three miles from the highway. We watched it for about five more minutes. We saw a multitude of red lights which made up the back of the object. As we watched it all the lights went out and the UFO simply vanished before our eyes.
We were all quite excited by what we saw. At the time of the sighting there were also other cars pulling over to the shoulder of the highway also observing the object. We could also hear the Truck drivers talking about it over the CB radio. We learned later that the object was seen in the Danbury Connecticut area and hovered above a main road for several minutes. Most of the people who saw it in Danbury indicate it was at least the size of a 747 and was no more than 1,000 feet in the air. One couple in Danbury Connecticut reported that as it hovered above their car, the UFO began to descend, this really upset them. As they watched it, the UFO then slowly gained altitude then it moved away to the west. A for our team we did have a video camera and still cameras, but were disappointed the way the pictures came out.
It is not common for UFO investigators to see the UFO that they are researching. With all the sightings in the Hudson Valley and the entire northeast it was only a matter of time before we got a real good look at the UFO, and we did! We had thought we had found a real pattern to the appearance of the Hudson Valley UFO, but when we tried to predict later sightings we saw nothing. Therefore we must assume that our sighting was a coincidence and if there was a real pattern to the UFO we had not yet found it.
In the days to follow we received dozens of letters and many phone calls from people in the area who also saw it that same night. We got one report that was to provide a lead to a possible cover-up of the UFO sightings. This report indicated that after the UFO disappeared about twenty minutes later a formation of planes was seen tracing the exact same route that the UFO took.
Cover-up
---------
Make no mistake about it, there is a real unknown object in New York's Hudson Valley. Since the publication of NIGHT SIEGE there has been a regular appearance of a formation of planes over New York and Connecticut. Members of our research team have spotted them on numerous occasions. These planes were also observed in binoculars by several independent witnesses. We had these people draw the outline of the shapes of the planes that they saw. The drawings were all very similar, o we sent them to two pilots that we know. One is a ex-military pilot, the other a ex-commercial pilot who used to fly missions for the CIA. All of our aircraft experts and our two pilots agree that the design was that of an O-2 type aircraft. The O-2 is a medium duty aircraft with a single engine. It is made by Cessna Aircraft. It is capable of long range and is used by the CIA for surveillance missions. It has a very quiet "souped up" engine and the newer models have on board flight computers in them for greater stability in the air. We have reports that as many as eight planes were seen flying together in a tight formation with the winds gusting up to twenty-five miles an hour!
They seem to be trying to fake a UFO and many people feel that it is an attempt to discredit the sightings and to try to convince everyone that all they saw was a bunch of planes. These planes have been seen only on a Thursday night, the official night the Air force flies night maneuvers. They have been seen all over Southern New York and most of Connecticut.
They fly for about two hours and then they land, but where? They have been seen circling Stormville Airport in Stormville, New York giving the impression that they are going to land there. They then break formation and head West (One plane has been reported landing at Stormville then taking off again). On more than one occasion they have been tracked to Stewart International airport (an old air force SAC base) in Newburgh New York. Stewart is located West of the Hudson River not far from I-84. The base is official operated by the Air National Guard and the Marine Corps. The planes then land, one at a time over a period of one hour, but not on the main part of the base. They seem to lad on a isolated section of Stewart which is a very large airport.
Our research team visited Steward airport and found an isolated fenced off large airfield away from the main landing area marked "RESTRICTED" The Restricted area had a well kept flight line and grounds. On the grounds were several buildings which looked like hangers large enough to harbor several planes of medium size. For the several hours that we were there we saw no activity at all.
We filed a Freedom Of Information Act request( FOIA) with the CIA to find out if the CIA was in fact using this area for some type of operation using small aircraft. We received an answer several weeks later from the CIA. In a lengthy double talking letter the CIA denied our request for information about their activities at Stewart. The reason they gave was National Security. This denial in our eyes is an admission that the planes do in fact belong to the CIA. It is also apparent that the pilots who fly these planes are expert military type pilots with years of experience in formation flying.
What was going on in this restricted area? I was contacted by a member of the local Newburgh New York media. This person told me that about six months before our visit to Stewart he found the restricted area on the base, became curious and started to walk toward the inside perimeter. Out of no where a jeep came screaming to a halt and three military police (Airforce) got out of the jeep and took him by force to a building just inside the gate. He was placed in a room that was dimly lit with just a table and chair. After about fifteen minutes two men entered the room dressed in dark suits and began to question him. They had a computer print out in their hands and it had his name on it. He told me that they knew everything about him.
After about one hour of questions, they then called his supervisor at his Job to pick him up. They then placed him in a jeep and took him to the public area of Stewart Airfield. This member of the media is a newsperson in the Newburgh area and does not want his name used at all in regards to the experience he had at the restricted area at Stewart. He is still fearful that who ever they were that questioned him might be keeping an eye on him. He told me that he felt they were with the CIA and they meant business.
During our investigation concerning this restricted area at Stewart we found out that the base now harbors several C-5A's the largest transport jet that our Air force has. We also found out from personnel at the base that these C-5A's landed on the restricted airfield several years ago and cargo was unloaded. We also found out through a document search that the Air National Guard is no longer officially running the un-restricted area of the base. It is now under the command of the Navy and the Marines are running it and have been since 1973! This was strange since when we visited Stewart we saw Air force personnel there and even had a talk with a Master Sergeant.
We also found out that the Department of Agriculture was also using a section of the restricted area. After a great deal of getting the run around we found out that they are using the area for a holding place for animals. We found out that a great deal of cattle and other animals were flown in to this area. We are still waiting for documents from the USDA explaining where the animals are coming from, why cattle and where are they going from there. Of course when we found out that cattle were being flown into this area the thought of cattle mutilations crossed our minds. What was the strange connection with the mutilations and the UFOS. What was the connection between the restricted area at Stewart, the CIA, the mystery planes and the USDA and the cattle.
North Putnam County and parts of Westchester county are the site of many old abandoned iron ore mines. Most of the mines have been closed down with the openings sealed. Many of these openings are located in miles of thick woods overgrown with brush, almost impossible to find. I received a phone call from a well known UFO investigator who suggested that these old mines might be the location of an alien base and that the CIA as well as other agencies were operating out of Stewart to keep "an eye" on their operations. I don't know about this theory, but can only relate the facts. There are and have been thousands of UFO reports in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut since 1982. Aircraft have been seen on a regular basis since the publication of NIGHT SIEGE. These Air craft are without a doubt trying to discredit the sightings. These aircraft have been tracked to Stewart Airfield where they land in a restricted area. These aircraft are of the O-2 type used by the CIA. The CIA will not provide any information about their activities at Stewart because of reasons of National Security.
In September of 1988 I did a number of TV shows ,newspaper and radio interviews I talked about the possibility that the CIA was trying to cover-up the UFO sightings by flying special aircraft with non-regulation lighting. In the days to follow the mystery aircraft were no longer reported in the skies over the Hudson Valley and have not been seen since. Our investigation still continues.
Thanks to Dedicated Hard work & the Net for making this page possible
Project Sign
The Army Air Force was, in one form or another, involved in investigating UFOs beginning with the 8th Army's investigation of foo fighter reports during World War II. The AAF also sent intelligence officers to investigate many of the early sightings, but did not, at that point, take them very seriously. However, sightings in 1947 by military personnel of UFOs over Muroc AFB, White Sands Proving Grounds, and other sensitive installations got the AAF's attention quickly. Classified orders went out that all UFO reports were to be sent to the Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Field.
In the late summer of 1947, when the Air Force had become an independent branch of the military, Air Intelligence at the Pentagon requested a report from Air Materiel Command regarding what was known about "flying disks". The Commander of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson, Lt. General Nathan F. Twining, held a conference with persons from the Air Institute of Technology, Intelligence T-2, the Office of Chief Engineering Division, and the Aircraft, Power Plant, and Propeller Laborotories of Engineering Division T-3. As a result of this conference, on September 23, 1947, Twining sent a secret memorandum to Brig. General George Schulgen, Chief of the Air Intelligence Requirements Division that concluded:
a. The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.
b. There are objects probably approximating the shape of a disk, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as man-made aircraft.
c. There is a possibility that some of the incidents may be caused by natural phenomena,such as meteors.
d. The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, maneuverability, and actions which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar, lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled either manually, automatically, or remotely.
e. The apparent common description of the objects is as follows:
(1) Metallic or light reflecting.
(2) Absence of trail, except in a few instances when the object apparently was operating under high performance conditions
(3) Circular or elliptical in shape, flat on bottom and domed on top.
(4) Several reports of well kept formation flights varying from three to nine objects.
(5) Normally no associated sound, except in three instances a substantial rumbling roar was noted.
(6) Level flight speeds normally above 300 knots are estimated.
f. It is possible within the present U.S. knowledge - provided extensive detailed development is undertaken - to construct a piloted aircraft which has the general description of the object in subparagraph (e) above which would be capable of anapproximate range of 7,000 miles at subsonic speeds.
g. Any development in this country along the lines indicated would be extremely expensive, time consuming, and at the considerable expense of current projects and therefore, if directed, should be set up independently of existing projects.
h. Due consideration must be given to the following:
(1) The possibility that these objects are of domestic origin - the product of some high security project not known to AC/AS-2 or this Command.
(2) The lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits which would undeniably prove the existence of these objects.
(3) The possibility that some foreign nation has a form of propulsion, possibly nuclear, which is outside of our domestic knowledge.
The Air Materiel Command concluded by requesting that the Air Force issue a directive assigning a permanent project to study the phenomenon.
From this report, since declassified, one can make some interesting inferences:
1. The Air Force Air Materiel Command, presumably with access to all of the available information about UFOs that was in existence at the time, had come to the conclusion that they were real, and not all were explainable as natural phenomena or illusions.
2. Although this was almost three months after Roswell, and Twining was at Wright-Patterson, where the Roswell debris was supposed to have been sent, he states that there is a ...lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits...
By this time, U. S. intelligence had completed its analysis of German projects that were in existence during the War, and had found nothing that could account for UFO sightings, even with post-war continued development in the Soviet Union.
At the same time, the Air Force determined that there was no aircraft construction material in existence at that time that could withstand the stresses resulting from the high speeds and the reported maneuvers of UFOs. In addition, even if the material could be found, the human body could not withstand the g-forces involved.
On December 30, 1947, Major General L. C. Craigie, Director of Research and Development, issued an order establishing Project Sign (aka Project Saucer):
...to collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government agencies and contractors all information concerning sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere which can be construed to be of concern to the national security.
There is reliable testimony that in August, 1948, the Technical Intelligence Division at Wright-Patterson and Project Sign, decided to make a formal Estimate of the Situation. The Estimate was a top secret document that contained unexplained sightings by pilots, scientists, and other reliable witnesses. The report concluded that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin.
The Estimate of the Situation was promptly rejected by Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt S. Vandenburg. It is said that he deleted the strongest parts of the original report, sent it back, and then, when he received the revised report, he rejected it on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to support the conclusions. Then, after rejecting it, he ordered all copies destroyed. Those inside Project Sign said that their morale and enthusiasm for the project declined sharply after this. Project Sign would soon have its name fittingly changed to Project Grudge.
The Army Air Force was, in one form or another, involved in investigating UFOs beginning with the 8th Army's investigation of foo fighter reports during World War II. The AAF also sent intelligence officers to investigate many of the early sightings, but did not, at that point, take them very seriously. However, sightings in 1947 by military personnel of UFOs over Muroc AFB, White Sands Proving Grounds, and other sensitive installations got the AAF's attention quickly. Classified orders went out that all UFO reports were to be sent to the Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Field.
In the late summer of 1947, when the Air Force had become an independent branch of the military, Air Intelligence at the Pentagon requested a report from Air Materiel Command regarding what was known about "flying disks". The Commander of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson, Lt. General Nathan F. Twining, held a conference with persons from the Air Institute of Technology, Intelligence T-2, the Office of Chief Engineering Division, and the Aircraft, Power Plant, and Propeller Laborotories of Engineering Division T-3. As a result of this conference, on September 23, 1947, Twining sent a secret memorandum to Brig. General George Schulgen, Chief of the Air Intelligence Requirements Division that concluded:
a. The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.
b. There are objects probably approximating the shape of a disk, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as man-made aircraft.
c. There is a possibility that some of the incidents may be caused by natural phenomena,such as meteors.
d. The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, maneuverability, and actions which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar, lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled either manually, automatically, or remotely.
e. The apparent common description of the objects is as follows:
(1) Metallic or light reflecting.
(2) Absence of trail, except in a few instances when the object apparently was operating under high performance conditions
(3) Circular or elliptical in shape, flat on bottom and domed on top.
(4) Several reports of well kept formation flights varying from three to nine objects.
(5) Normally no associated sound, except in three instances a substantial rumbling roar was noted.
(6) Level flight speeds normally above 300 knots are estimated.
f. It is possible within the present U.S. knowledge - provided extensive detailed development is undertaken - to construct a piloted aircraft which has the general description of the object in subparagraph (e) above which would be capable of anapproximate range of 7,000 miles at subsonic speeds.
g. Any development in this country along the lines indicated would be extremely expensive, time consuming, and at the considerable expense of current projects and therefore, if directed, should be set up independently of existing projects.
h. Due consideration must be given to the following:
(1) The possibility that these objects are of domestic origin - the product of some high security project not known to AC/AS-2 or this Command.
(2) The lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits which would undeniably prove the existence of these objects.
(3) The possibility that some foreign nation has a form of propulsion, possibly nuclear, which is outside of our domestic knowledge.
The Air Materiel Command concluded by requesting that the Air Force issue a directive assigning a permanent project to study the phenomenon.
From this report, since declassified, one can make some interesting inferences:
1. The Air Force Air Materiel Command, presumably with access to all of the available information about UFOs that was in existence at the time, had come to the conclusion that they were real, and not all were explainable as natural phenomena or illusions.
2. Although this was almost three months after Roswell, and Twining was at Wright-Patterson, where the Roswell debris was supposed to have been sent, he states that there is a ...lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits...
By this time, U. S. intelligence had completed its analysis of German projects that were in existence during the War, and had found nothing that could account for UFO sightings, even with post-war continued development in the Soviet Union.
At the same time, the Air Force determined that there was no aircraft construction material in existence at that time that could withstand the stresses resulting from the high speeds and the reported maneuvers of UFOs. In addition, even if the material could be found, the human body could not withstand the g-forces involved.
On December 30, 1947, Major General L. C. Craigie, Director of Research and Development, issued an order establishing Project Sign (aka Project Saucer):
...to collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government agencies and contractors all information concerning sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere which can be construed to be of concern to the national security.
There is reliable testimony that in August, 1948, the Technical Intelligence Division at Wright-Patterson and Project Sign, decided to make a formal Estimate of the Situation. The Estimate was a top secret document that contained unexplained sightings by pilots, scientists, and other reliable witnesses. The report concluded that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin.
The Estimate of the Situation was promptly rejected by Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt S. Vandenburg. It is said that he deleted the strongest parts of the original report, sent it back, and then, when he received the revised report, he rejected it on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to support the conclusions. Then, after rejecting it, he ordered all copies destroyed. Those inside Project Sign said that their morale and enthusiasm for the project declined sharply after this. Project Sign would soon have its name fittingly changed to Project Grudge.
The Robertson Panel
The Robertson Panel was a committee commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952 in responses to widespread Unidentified Flying Object reports, especially in the Washington DC area. The panel was briefed on U.S. military activities and intelligence, hence the report was originally classified Secret.
Later declassified, the Robertson Panel's report concluded that most UFO reports could be explained as misidentification of mundane aerial objects, and the remaining minority could, in all likelihood, be similarly explained with further study.
The Robertson Panel concluded that a public relations campaign should be undertaken in order to "debunk" UFOs, and reduce public interest in the subject, and that civial UFO groups should be monitored. There is evidence this was carried out more than two decades after the Panel's conclusion.
Critics (including a few panel members) would later lament the Robertson Panel's role in making UFO's a somewhat disreputable field of study.
The Robertson Panel was a committee commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952 in responses to widespread Unidentified Flying Object reports, especially in the Washington DC area. The panel was briefed on U.S. military activities and intelligence, hence the report was originally classified Secret.
Later declassified, the Robertson Panel's report concluded that most UFO reports could be explained as misidentification of mundane aerial objects, and the remaining minority could, in all likelihood, be similarly explained with further study.
The Robertson Panel concluded that a public relations campaign should be undertaken in order to "debunk" UFOs, and reduce public interest in the subject, and that civial UFO groups should be monitored. There is evidence this was carried out more than two decades after the Panel's conclusion.
Critics (including a few panel members) would later lament the Robertson Panel's role in making UFO's a somewhat disreputable field of study.
History
In 1952, so many civilians contacted various government agencies regarding UFO reports that daily governmental duties were impacted; the New York Times reported on August 1, 1952 that the many UFO reports had "regular intelligence work has been affected." Various newspapers, such as the Baltimore Sun, Washington Star, Denver Post, and Los Angeles Times, reported on July 31 that Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt S. Vandenberg's views that the recent spate of UFO sightings and reports had generated "mass hysteria". There was a general concern among the military that the hysteria and confusion generated by UFO reports could be utilized by the United States' enemies, primarily the weak and feeble Soviet Union.
The Air Force had earlier commissioned the Battelle Memorial Institute to scientifically study the various UFO reports collected by Project Sign, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book, but Battelle insisted they needed more time to conduct a proper study. The CIA thought the question so pressing that they authorized an ad hoc committee in late 1952.
The 'Robertson Panel'' first met formally on January 14, 1953 under the direction of Howard Percy Robertson. He was a physicist, a CIA employee and director of the Defense Department Weapons Evaluation Group.
Other panel members were respected scientists and military personnel who had worked on other classified military projects or studies. All were then skeptical of UFO reports, though to varying degrees:
Louis Alvarez, physicist (and later, a Nobel Prize winner)
Frederick C. Durant, missile expert
Samuel A. Goudsmit, Brookhaven National Laboratories physicist
Thornton Page, astrophysicist, deputy director of Johns Hopkins' Operations Research Office.
Lloyd Berkner, physicist and J. Allen Hynek, astronomer, were associate panel members.
Formal Meetings
The Panel had four consecutive days of formal meetings.
The first day, they viewed two amateur motion pictures of UFO's: the 1950 Montana UFO Film and 1952 Utah UFO Film (the latter was taken by Navy Chief Petty Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, who had extensive experience with aerial photography). Two Navy photograph and film analysts (Lieutenants R.S. Neasham and Harry Woo) then reported their conclusions: the two films depicted objects that were not any known aircraft, creature or weather phenomena. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt then began a summary of Air Force efforts regarding UFO studies.
The second day, Ruppelt finished his presentation. Hynek then discussed the Battelle study, and the panel discussed with Air Force personnel the problems inherent in monitoring UFO sightings. (For more on the results of the Battelle study, see Project Blue Book)
The third day, Dewey J. Fournet spoke to the panel; for over a year he had coordinated UFO affairs for The Pentagon. Fournett supported the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the best explanation for some puzzling UFO reports. For the remainder of the third day, the panel discussed their conclusions, and Robertson agreed to draft a preliminary report.
The fourth and final day, the panel rewrote and finalized their report.
The Robertson Panel's official report concluded that 90 percent of UFO sightings could be readily identified with meteorological, astronomical, or natural phenomena, and that the remaining 10 percent of UFO reports could, in all likelyhood, be similarly explained with detailed study. It was suggested that witnesses had misidentified bright stars and planets, meteors, auroras, mirages, atmospheric temperature inversions, and lenticular clouds; other sightings were judged as likely misinterpretation of conventional aircraft, weather balloons, birds, searchlights, kites, and other phenomena.
Furthermore, the Panel suggested the Air Force should begin a "debunking" effort to reduce "public gullibility" and demystify UFO reports. The panel suggested a public relations campaign, using psychiatrists, astronomers and assorted celebrities to significantly reduce public interest in UFO's. It was also recommended that the mass media be used for the debunking, including influential media giants like Walt Disney Corporation.
Their formal recommendation stated "That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired."
Also recommended was that the government monitor civilian groups studying or researching UFO's "because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking ... the apparent irresponsibility and possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind.'
The Robertson Panel's conclusions and recommendations had a great influence on official United States policy regarding UFO's for many decades.
The Robertson Panel's study was classified for five years. In 1956, however, Ruppelt made the first public statements regarding the panel, when he offered a brief summary of its proceedings. Ruppelt did not, however, note the panel members' names, nor the government agencies represented.
source and references:
Jerome Clark, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, ISBN 1578590299
Jenny Randles and Peter Houghe; The Complete Book of UFOs: An Investigation into Alien Contact and Encounters;
Sterling Publishing Co, Inc, 1994; ISBN 0806981326
Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956,
Terry Hansen, The Missing Times: News media complicity in the UFO cover-up, 2000, ISBN 0-7388-3612-5
In 1952, so many civilians contacted various government agencies regarding UFO reports that daily governmental duties were impacted; the New York Times reported on August 1, 1952 that the many UFO reports had "regular intelligence work has been affected." Various newspapers, such as the Baltimore Sun, Washington Star, Denver Post, and Los Angeles Times, reported on July 31 that Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt S. Vandenberg's views that the recent spate of UFO sightings and reports had generated "mass hysteria". There was a general concern among the military that the hysteria and confusion generated by UFO reports could be utilized by the United States' enemies, primarily the weak and feeble Soviet Union.
The Air Force had earlier commissioned the Battelle Memorial Institute to scientifically study the various UFO reports collected by Project Sign, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book, but Battelle insisted they needed more time to conduct a proper study. The CIA thought the question so pressing that they authorized an ad hoc committee in late 1952.
The 'Robertson Panel'' first met formally on January 14, 1953 under the direction of Howard Percy Robertson. He was a physicist, a CIA employee and director of the Defense Department Weapons Evaluation Group.
Other panel members were respected scientists and military personnel who had worked on other classified military projects or studies. All were then skeptical of UFO reports, though to varying degrees:
Louis Alvarez, physicist (and later, a Nobel Prize winner)
Frederick C. Durant, missile expert
Samuel A. Goudsmit, Brookhaven National Laboratories physicist
Thornton Page, astrophysicist, deputy director of Johns Hopkins' Operations Research Office.
Lloyd Berkner, physicist and J. Allen Hynek, astronomer, were associate panel members.
Formal Meetings
The Panel had four consecutive days of formal meetings.
The first day, they viewed two amateur motion pictures of UFO's: the 1950 Montana UFO Film and 1952 Utah UFO Film (the latter was taken by Navy Chief Petty Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, who had extensive experience with aerial photography). Two Navy photograph and film analysts (Lieutenants R.S. Neasham and Harry Woo) then reported their conclusions: the two films depicted objects that were not any known aircraft, creature or weather phenomena. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt then began a summary of Air Force efforts regarding UFO studies.
The second day, Ruppelt finished his presentation. Hynek then discussed the Battelle study, and the panel discussed with Air Force personnel the problems inherent in monitoring UFO sightings. (For more on the results of the Battelle study, see Project Blue Book)
The third day, Dewey J. Fournet spoke to the panel; for over a year he had coordinated UFO affairs for The Pentagon. Fournett supported the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the best explanation for some puzzling UFO reports. For the remainder of the third day, the panel discussed their conclusions, and Robertson agreed to draft a preliminary report.
The fourth and final day, the panel rewrote and finalized their report.
The Robertson Panel's official report concluded that 90 percent of UFO sightings could be readily identified with meteorological, astronomical, or natural phenomena, and that the remaining 10 percent of UFO reports could, in all likelyhood, be similarly explained with detailed study. It was suggested that witnesses had misidentified bright stars and planets, meteors, auroras, mirages, atmospheric temperature inversions, and lenticular clouds; other sightings were judged as likely misinterpretation of conventional aircraft, weather balloons, birds, searchlights, kites, and other phenomena.
Furthermore, the Panel suggested the Air Force should begin a "debunking" effort to reduce "public gullibility" and demystify UFO reports. The panel suggested a public relations campaign, using psychiatrists, astronomers and assorted celebrities to significantly reduce public interest in UFO's. It was also recommended that the mass media be used for the debunking, including influential media giants like Walt Disney Corporation.
Their formal recommendation stated "That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired."
Also recommended was that the government monitor civilian groups studying or researching UFO's "because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking ... the apparent irresponsibility and possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind.'
The Robertson Panel's conclusions and recommendations had a great influence on official United States policy regarding UFO's for many decades.
The Robertson Panel's study was classified for five years. In 1956, however, Ruppelt made the first public statements regarding the panel, when he offered a brief summary of its proceedings. Ruppelt did not, however, note the panel members' names, nor the government agencies represented.
source and references:
Jerome Clark, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, ISBN 1578590299
Jenny Randles and Peter Houghe; The Complete Book of UFOs: An Investigation into Alien Contact and Encounters;
Sterling Publishing Co, Inc, 1994; ISBN 0806981326
Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956,
Terry Hansen, The Missing Times: News media complicity in the UFO cover-up, 2000, ISBN 0-7388-3612-5
Project Bluebook
The Condon Report: Introduction
The "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" (Condon & Gillmor 1969; often referred to as the "Condon Report") presents the findings of the Colorado Project regarding a scientific study of unidentified flying objects. It remains the most influential public document concerning the current scientific status of the UFO issue.
Following is a short chronology of events that led to the Air Force contract with the University of Colorado to initiate the study. This extract is from: "An Analysis of the Condon Report on the Colorado UFO Project," by P.A. Sturrock, Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, Stanford University. Dr. Sturrock's analysis is highly recommended as a comprehensive introduction to the text. Additionally, we have included many relevant links that offer further context for the reader.
The history of the UFO phenomenon in the United States is long and complex. Historian David M. Jacobs has provided a comprehensive account of this history in his book "The UFO Controversy in America," (1975). The book presents a detailed account of the origin of the Colorado UFO Project, of which the following is a brief encapsulation.
The United States Air Force carried out three consecutive studies of the UFO phenomenon over a 22-year period:
1 )Project Sign (1948),
2) Project Grudge (1948 to 1952),
3) Project Blue Book (1952 to 1970).
Although these studies and subsequent reports were initially classified, it appears that all reports (except "Blue Book Special Report No. 13," if it ever existed) have now been declassified and are publicly available. An exception to this general rule is the "Estimate of the Situation" drafted by Project Sign and referred to by Ruppelt (1956) and Hynek (1972). Blue Book Special Report No. 13 may have been an initial draft of the Battelle study. (Special Report 14)
Two additional scientific studies that occurred within this timeframe deserve mention.
1) For a period of four days in 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency convened a panel of scientific consultants to consider whether UFOs constitute a threat to national defense. This panel included H. P. Robertson (chairman), Luis Alvarez, Lloyd Berkner, Samuel A. Goudsmit and Thornton Page; with Frederick C. Durant and J. Allen Hynek serving as associate members. The panel concluded that there was "no evidence that the phenomena indicate a need for the revision of current scientific concepts," and that "the evidence . . . shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat to national security" (Jacobs, 1975).
2) The Battelle Memorial Institute, under contract to the Air Force from 1951 to 1954, conducted the second study. It was primarily a statistical analysis of the conditions and characteristics of UFO reports, though it also provided scientific services and included transcripts of several notable sightings. The subsequent report was initially classified, though later released as "Blue Book Special Report No. 14" in 1955. It contains a wealth of information and arrives at the notable conclusion that the more complete the data and the better the report; the more likely it was that the report would remain unidentified (Jacobs, 1975).
On February 3, 1966, the Air Force convened an "Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book." Its members included Brian O'Brien (chairman), Launor Carter, Jesse Orlansky, Richard Porter, Carl Sagan, and Willis A. Ware. The committee recommended that the Air Force negotiate contracts "with a few selected universities to provide selected teams to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sightings of UFOs." This led eventually to the Air Force contract with the University of Colorado in October 1966. The project director was Professor Edward U. Condon, a very distinguished physicist and a man of strong and independent character. Work on this contract was carried out over a two-year period with a substantial scientific staff, resulting in the publication of the "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" in January 1969.
Consequently, on December 17, 1969, Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr., announced the closure of Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book officially closed on Jan 30, 1970.
In the features Project Sign, and Project Grudge, we saw that, after General Hoyt Vandenburg rejected the conclusions of Project Sign's 1948 "Estimate of the Situation" as being unfounded, the attitude of the Air Force toward UFOs changed. The name change of its official agent for UFO investigation changed on 16 December 1948 from Project Sign to Project Grudge reflected this change in attitude, as did the final report of Project Sign. On 27 December 1949, a year after its creation, Project Grudge was officially closed and its final report was issued shortly thereafter. It was claimed that the 23 percent of UFO reports that could not be explained by ordinary phenomena could be explained by psychological phenomena.
Project Grudge, however, while "officially" closed, was still functioning at a reduced level. This reduced level consisted of a solitary investigator, Lt. Jerry Cummings. The Project might have faded away altogether except for a series of sightings at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, which resulted in the military itself criticizing the Air Force for its poorinvestigation of something that seemed to be a threat to national security.
As a result, when Lt. Cummings left the Air Force in 1951, Captain Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force intelligence officer, was appointed to take over the project, which was renamed Project Bluebook. Ruppelt took the task seriously and completely reorganized the project. He established means for speeding the receipt of reports, established liaisons with other agencies, systematized reporting procedures, and obtained the services of a scientific consultant in the person of astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek. A standard reporting form was developed by Ohio State University, and the Battelle Memorial Institute was commissioned to do a statistical study known as Project Stork. By April, 1952, after an increase in sighting reports, clearance was given for all intelligence officers at all U.S. Air Force bases to send reports directly to Bluebook by teletype. It seemed that at last the Air Force was truly serious about UFOs. It was just in time for the "flap" of 1952.
The "Flap of 1952" was a huge increase in sightings peaking in July with massive sightings both visual and on radar over Washington, D.C. These sightings were so numerous that they became known as the Washington Nationals. Even the CIA became concerned, so much so that they ordered the Office of Scientific Intelligence to review the data collected by Bluebook and the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB and to make recommendations based on their findings.
The OSI review of the existing data resulted in a recommendation, predictably, that the phenomena required more study. The main concern of the CIA was not that UFOs were a direct threat to the U.S., but that they were an indirect one. During this period, they heyday of the Cold war, the fear was that the many UFO sighting reports might obscure a very real threat from the Soviet Union. One example was that, during a wave of UFO sightings, a Soviet attack or an overflight by a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft might not be recognized as such until it was too late.
So, the CIA asked a Cal-Tech physicist, Dr. H.P. Robertson, to assemble a panel of respected scientists to study the UFO phenomenon. These included Dr. Samuel A Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist with the Brookhaven National Laboratories, geophysicist Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner, radar & electronics expert Dr. Luis Alvarez of the University of California, and Johns Hopkins University astronomer Dr. Thornton L. Page. Astronomer and Project Bluebook consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Frederick C. Durant, president of the International Astronautical Foundation, were associate members of the panel.
This distinguished panel, which would become known as the Robertson Panel, spent four days, 14 January, 1953 through 17 January, 1953, reviewing the existing evidence. At the end of this time, they issued a report, known as the "Durant Report", which merely restated that UFOs were not a direct threat to U.S. security , but which reiterated the fears of the CIA that the Soviets might somehow use the phenomenon to mask an invasions of the United States:
We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.
Further, the Panel recommended a policy of debunking UFO sightings in order to quell the growing public preoccupation with the phenomenon:
...the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status that they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired;
The conclusions of the Robertson Panel, as hasty and obviously disinforming as they were, dampened military and government enthusiasm for the study of UFOs. Captain Ruppelt left active duty in August, 1953, and Project Bluebook was turned over to an enlisted man, Airman First Class Max Futch. Additionally, an order called JANAP-146 was issued in December, 1953, which made the reporting of unidentified flying objects by military personnel a National Security Issue, with possible prosecution for its violation. The Air Force was publicly debunking UFOs, while privately drawing a veil of secrecy around their investigations. Personnel changes at Bluebook over the years reflect the decline in interest of the Air Force.
In March of 1954, Major Charles Hardin was put in charge of Project Bluebook, and the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron began training as field investigators. In 1955, the results of the Battelle Memorial Institute study were finally released as Bluebook Special Report Number 14. The study had a number of flaws, and concluded that improved methods of investigation and reporting would result in all UFO sightings being explained as ordinary phenomena.
In April, 1956, Captain George T. Gregory took over the helm of Bluebook and he began a concerted effort to "explain" every sighting, even if he had to make wide stretches to fit a sighting into an "explained" category.
In July, 1957, the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron was disbanded, and the 1006th AISS took over investigation duties. In July, 1959, investigative responsibilities were passed on again, to the 1127th Field Activities Group.
In October, 1958, Gregory was replaced by Major Robert J. Friend. By this time, the Air Force considered Project Bluebook to be a burden, and tried to find a way to either transfer it out of the intelligence section or to close it down altogether.
In 1963, Friend was replaced by Major Hector Quintanilla. Bluebook personnel had dropped to just two:, Quintanilla and an enlisted man.
The Condon Report: Introduction
The "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" (Condon & Gillmor 1969; often referred to as the "Condon Report") presents the findings of the Colorado Project regarding a scientific study of unidentified flying objects. It remains the most influential public document concerning the current scientific status of the UFO issue.
Following is a short chronology of events that led to the Air Force contract with the University of Colorado to initiate the study. This extract is from: "An Analysis of the Condon Report on the Colorado UFO Project," by P.A. Sturrock, Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, Stanford University. Dr. Sturrock's analysis is highly recommended as a comprehensive introduction to the text. Additionally, we have included many relevant links that offer further context for the reader.
The history of the UFO phenomenon in the United States is long and complex. Historian David M. Jacobs has provided a comprehensive account of this history in his book "The UFO Controversy in America," (1975). The book presents a detailed account of the origin of the Colorado UFO Project, of which the following is a brief encapsulation.
The United States Air Force carried out three consecutive studies of the UFO phenomenon over a 22-year period:
1 )Project Sign (1948),
2) Project Grudge (1948 to 1952),
3) Project Blue Book (1952 to 1970).
Although these studies and subsequent reports were initially classified, it appears that all reports (except "Blue Book Special Report No. 13," if it ever existed) have now been declassified and are publicly available. An exception to this general rule is the "Estimate of the Situation" drafted by Project Sign and referred to by Ruppelt (1956) and Hynek (1972). Blue Book Special Report No. 13 may have been an initial draft of the Battelle study. (Special Report 14)
Two additional scientific studies that occurred within this timeframe deserve mention.
1) For a period of four days in 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency convened a panel of scientific consultants to consider whether UFOs constitute a threat to national defense. This panel included H. P. Robertson (chairman), Luis Alvarez, Lloyd Berkner, Samuel A. Goudsmit and Thornton Page; with Frederick C. Durant and J. Allen Hynek serving as associate members. The panel concluded that there was "no evidence that the phenomena indicate a need for the revision of current scientific concepts," and that "the evidence . . . shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat to national security" (Jacobs, 1975).
2) The Battelle Memorial Institute, under contract to the Air Force from 1951 to 1954, conducted the second study. It was primarily a statistical analysis of the conditions and characteristics of UFO reports, though it also provided scientific services and included transcripts of several notable sightings. The subsequent report was initially classified, though later released as "Blue Book Special Report No. 14" in 1955. It contains a wealth of information and arrives at the notable conclusion that the more complete the data and the better the report; the more likely it was that the report would remain unidentified (Jacobs, 1975).
On February 3, 1966, the Air Force convened an "Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book." Its members included Brian O'Brien (chairman), Launor Carter, Jesse Orlansky, Richard Porter, Carl Sagan, and Willis A. Ware. The committee recommended that the Air Force negotiate contracts "with a few selected universities to provide selected teams to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sightings of UFOs." This led eventually to the Air Force contract with the University of Colorado in October 1966. The project director was Professor Edward U. Condon, a very distinguished physicist and a man of strong and independent character. Work on this contract was carried out over a two-year period with a substantial scientific staff, resulting in the publication of the "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" in January 1969.
Consequently, on December 17, 1969, Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr., announced the closure of Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book officially closed on Jan 30, 1970.
In the features Project Sign, and Project Grudge, we saw that, after General Hoyt Vandenburg rejected the conclusions of Project Sign's 1948 "Estimate of the Situation" as being unfounded, the attitude of the Air Force toward UFOs changed. The name change of its official agent for UFO investigation changed on 16 December 1948 from Project Sign to Project Grudge reflected this change in attitude, as did the final report of Project Sign. On 27 December 1949, a year after its creation, Project Grudge was officially closed and its final report was issued shortly thereafter. It was claimed that the 23 percent of UFO reports that could not be explained by ordinary phenomena could be explained by psychological phenomena.
Project Grudge, however, while "officially" closed, was still functioning at a reduced level. This reduced level consisted of a solitary investigator, Lt. Jerry Cummings. The Project might have faded away altogether except for a series of sightings at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, which resulted in the military itself criticizing the Air Force for its poorinvestigation of something that seemed to be a threat to national security.
As a result, when Lt. Cummings left the Air Force in 1951, Captain Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force intelligence officer, was appointed to take over the project, which was renamed Project Bluebook. Ruppelt took the task seriously and completely reorganized the project. He established means for speeding the receipt of reports, established liaisons with other agencies, systematized reporting procedures, and obtained the services of a scientific consultant in the person of astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek. A standard reporting form was developed by Ohio State University, and the Battelle Memorial Institute was commissioned to do a statistical study known as Project Stork. By April, 1952, after an increase in sighting reports, clearance was given for all intelligence officers at all U.S. Air Force bases to send reports directly to Bluebook by teletype. It seemed that at last the Air Force was truly serious about UFOs. It was just in time for the "flap" of 1952.
The "Flap of 1952" was a huge increase in sightings peaking in July with massive sightings both visual and on radar over Washington, D.C. These sightings were so numerous that they became known as the Washington Nationals. Even the CIA became concerned, so much so that they ordered the Office of Scientific Intelligence to review the data collected by Bluebook and the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB and to make recommendations based on their findings.
The OSI review of the existing data resulted in a recommendation, predictably, that the phenomena required more study. The main concern of the CIA was not that UFOs were a direct threat to the U.S., but that they were an indirect one. During this period, they heyday of the Cold war, the fear was that the many UFO sighting reports might obscure a very real threat from the Soviet Union. One example was that, during a wave of UFO sightings, a Soviet attack or an overflight by a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft might not be recognized as such until it was too late.
So, the CIA asked a Cal-Tech physicist, Dr. H.P. Robertson, to assemble a panel of respected scientists to study the UFO phenomenon. These included Dr. Samuel A Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist with the Brookhaven National Laboratories, geophysicist Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner, radar & electronics expert Dr. Luis Alvarez of the University of California, and Johns Hopkins University astronomer Dr. Thornton L. Page. Astronomer and Project Bluebook consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Frederick C. Durant, president of the International Astronautical Foundation, were associate members of the panel.
This distinguished panel, which would become known as the Robertson Panel, spent four days, 14 January, 1953 through 17 January, 1953, reviewing the existing evidence. At the end of this time, they issued a report, known as the "Durant Report", which merely restated that UFOs were not a direct threat to U.S. security , but which reiterated the fears of the CIA that the Soviets might somehow use the phenomenon to mask an invasions of the United States:
We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.
Further, the Panel recommended a policy of debunking UFO sightings in order to quell the growing public preoccupation with the phenomenon:
...the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status that they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired;
The conclusions of the Robertson Panel, as hasty and obviously disinforming as they were, dampened military and government enthusiasm for the study of UFOs. Captain Ruppelt left active duty in August, 1953, and Project Bluebook was turned over to an enlisted man, Airman First Class Max Futch. Additionally, an order called JANAP-146 was issued in December, 1953, which made the reporting of unidentified flying objects by military personnel a National Security Issue, with possible prosecution for its violation. The Air Force was publicly debunking UFOs, while privately drawing a veil of secrecy around their investigations. Personnel changes at Bluebook over the years reflect the decline in interest of the Air Force.
In March of 1954, Major Charles Hardin was put in charge of Project Bluebook, and the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron began training as field investigators. In 1955, the results of the Battelle Memorial Institute study were finally released as Bluebook Special Report Number 14. The study had a number of flaws, and concluded that improved methods of investigation and reporting would result in all UFO sightings being explained as ordinary phenomena.
In April, 1956, Captain George T. Gregory took over the helm of Bluebook and he began a concerted effort to "explain" every sighting, even if he had to make wide stretches to fit a sighting into an "explained" category.
In July, 1957, the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron was disbanded, and the 1006th AISS took over investigation duties. In July, 1959, investigative responsibilities were passed on again, to the 1127th Field Activities Group.
In October, 1958, Gregory was replaced by Major Robert J. Friend. By this time, the Air Force considered Project Bluebook to be a burden, and tried to find a way to either transfer it out of the intelligence section or to close it down altogether.
In 1963, Friend was replaced by Major Hector Quintanilla. Bluebook personnel had dropped to just two:, Quintanilla and an enlisted man.
Bluebook Staff Photo
The death knell for Project Bluebook was heard in April, 1966, when the House Armed Services Committee recommended that the Air Force contract with a University for a scientific study of UFOs. On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced that a program to study UFOs would be conducted by the University of Colorado and headed by Dr. Edward Condon. In reality, the Condon Committee, as it was called, had one task, and that was to provide a reason for the Air Force to end its official investigation of UFOs.
A speech given at the Corning Glass Works by Dr. Condon soon after the study began is revealing:
"It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there's nothing to it." "...but I'm not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year."
That final conclusion of the "Condon Report", released 9 January, 1969 was:
Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.
On December 17, 1969, Project Bluebook was closed and the veil of secrecy had been completely drawn around whatever investigation of UFOs was being conducted by the military.
The death knell for Project Bluebook was heard in April, 1966, when the House Armed Services Committee recommended that the Air Force contract with a University for a scientific study of UFOs. On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced that a program to study UFOs would be conducted by the University of Colorado and headed by Dr. Edward Condon. In reality, the Condon Committee, as it was called, had one task, and that was to provide a reason for the Air Force to end its official investigation of UFOs.
A speech given at the Corning Glass Works by Dr. Condon soon after the study began is revealing:
"It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there's nothing to it." "...but I'm not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year."
That final conclusion of the "Condon Report", released 9 January, 1969 was:
Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.
On December 17, 1969, Project Bluebook was closed and the veil of secrecy had been completely drawn around whatever investigation of UFOs was being conducted by the military.
Project Blue Book, A History
In the features Project Sign,and Project Grudge,we saw that, after General Hoyt Vandenburg rejected the conclusions of Project Sign's 1948 "Estimate of the Situation" as being unfounded, the attitude of the Air Force toward UFOs changed. The name change of its official agent for UFO investigation changed on 16 December 1948 from Project Sign to Project Grudge reflected this change in attitude, as did the final report of Project Sign. On 27 December 1949, a year after its creation, Project Grudge was officially closed and its final report was issued shortly thereafter. It was claimed that the 23 percent of UFO reports that could not be explained by ordinary phenomena could be explained by psychological phenomena.
Project Grudge, however, while "officially" closed, was still functioning at a reduced level. This reduced level consisted of a solitary investigator, Lt. Jerry Cummings. The Project might have faded away altogether except for a series of sightings at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, which resulted in the military itself criticizing the Air Force for its poor investigation of something that seemed to be a threat to national security.
As a result, when Lt. Cummings left the Air Force in 1951, Captain Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force intelligence officer, was appointed to take over the project, which was renamed Project Bluebook. Ruppelt took the task seriously and completely reorganized the project. He established means for speeding the receipt of reports, established liaisons with other agencies, systematized reporting procedures, and obtained the services of a scientific consultant in the person of astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek. A standard reporting form was developed by Ohio State University, and the Battelle Memorial Institute was commissioned to do a statistical study known as Project Stork. By April, 1952, after an increase in sighting reports, clearance was given for all intelligence officers at all U.S. Air Force bases to send reports directly to Bluebook by teletype. It seemed that at last the Air Force was truly serious about UFOs. It was just in time for the "flap" of 1952.
The "Flap of 1952" was a huge increase in sightings peaking in July with massive sightings both visual and on radar over Washington, D.C. These sightings were so numerous that they became known as the Washington Nationals. Even the CIA became concerned, so much so that they ordered the Office of Scientific Intelligence to review the data collected by Bluebook and the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB and to make recommendations based
on their findings.
The OSI review of the existing data resulted in a recommendation, predictably, that the phenomena required more study. The main concern of the CIA was not that UFOs were a direct threat to the U.S., but that they were an indirect one. During this period, they heyday of the Cold war, the fear was that the many UFO sighting reports might obscure a very real threat from the Soviet Union. One example was that, during a wave of UFO sightings, a Soviet attack or an overflight by a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft might not be recognized as such until it was too late.
So, the CIA asked a Cal-Tech physicist, Dr. H.P. Robertson, to assemble a panel of respected scientists to study the UFO phenomenon. These included Dr. Samuel A Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist with the Brookhaven National Laboratories, geophysicist Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner, radar & electronics expert Dr. Luis Alvarez of the University of California, and Johns Hopkins University astronomer Dr. Thornton L. Page. Astronomer and Project Bluebook consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Frederick C. Durant, president of the International Astronautical Foundation, were associate members of the panel.
This distinguished panel, which would become known as the Robertson Panel, spent four days, 14 January, 1953 through 17 January, 1953, reviewing the existing evidence. At the end of this time, they issued a report, known as the "Durant Report", which merely restated that UFOs were not a direct threat to U.S. security , but which reiterated the fears of the CIA that the Soviets might somehow use the phenomenon to mask an invasions of the United States:
We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.
Further, the Panel recommended a policy of debunking UFO sightings in order to quell the growing public preoccupation with the phenomenon:
...the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status that they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired;
The conclusions of the Robertson Panel, as hasty and obviously disinforming as they were, dampened military and government enthusiasm for the study of UFOs. Captain Ruppelt left active duty in August, 1953, and Project Bluebook was turned over to an enlisted man, Airman First Class Max Futch. Additionally, an order called JANAP-146 was issued in December, 1953, which made the reporting of unidentified flying objects by military personnel a National Security Issue, with possible prosecution for its violation. The Air Force was publicly debunking UFOs, while privately drawing a veil of secrecy around their investigations. Personnel changes at Bluebook over the years reflect the decline in interest of the Air Force.
In March of 1954, Major Charles Hardin was put in charge of Project Bluebook, and the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron began training as field investigators. In 1955, the results of the Battelle Memorial Institute study were finally released as Bluebook Special Report Number 14. The study had a number of flaws, and concluded that improved methods of investigation and reporting would result in all UFO sightings being explained as ordinary phenomena.
In April, 1956, Captain George T. Gregory took over the helm of Bluebook and he began a concerted effort to "explain" every sighting, even if he had to make wide stretches to fit a sighting into an "explained" category.
In July, 1957, the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron was disbanded, and the 1006th AISS took over investigation duties. In July, 1959, investigative responsibilities were passed on again, to the 1127th Field Activities Group.
In October, 1958, Gregory was replaced by Major Robert J. Friend. By this time, the Air Force considered Project Bluebook to be a burden, and tried to find a way to either transfer it out of the intelligence section or to close it down altogether.
In 1963, Friend was replaced by Major Hector Quintanilla. Bluebook personnel had dropped to just two: Quintanilla and an enlisted man.
The death knell for Project Bluebook was heard in April, 1966, when the House Armed Services Committee recommended that the Air Force contract with a University for a scientific study of UFOs. On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced that a program to study UFOs would be conducted by the University of Colorado and headed by Dr. Edward Condon. In reality, the Condon Committee, as it was called, had one task, and that was to provide a reason for the Air Force to end its official investigation of UFOs.
A speech given at the Corning Glass Works by Dr. Condon soon after the study began is revealing:
"It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there's nothing to it."
"...but I'm not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year."
That final conclusion of the "Condon Report", released 9 January, 1969 was:
Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.
On December 17, 1969, Project Bluebook was closed and the veil of secrecy had been completely drawn around whatever investigation of UFOs was being conducted by the military.
In the features Project Sign,and Project Grudge,we saw that, after General Hoyt Vandenburg rejected the conclusions of Project Sign's 1948 "Estimate of the Situation" as being unfounded, the attitude of the Air Force toward UFOs changed. The name change of its official agent for UFO investigation changed on 16 December 1948 from Project Sign to Project Grudge reflected this change in attitude, as did the final report of Project Sign. On 27 December 1949, a year after its creation, Project Grudge was officially closed and its final report was issued shortly thereafter. It was claimed that the 23 percent of UFO reports that could not be explained by ordinary phenomena could be explained by psychological phenomena.
Project Grudge, however, while "officially" closed, was still functioning at a reduced level. This reduced level consisted of a solitary investigator, Lt. Jerry Cummings. The Project might have faded away altogether except for a series of sightings at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, which resulted in the military itself criticizing the Air Force for its poor investigation of something that seemed to be a threat to national security.
As a result, when Lt. Cummings left the Air Force in 1951, Captain Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force intelligence officer, was appointed to take over the project, which was renamed Project Bluebook. Ruppelt took the task seriously and completely reorganized the project. He established means for speeding the receipt of reports, established liaisons with other agencies, systematized reporting procedures, and obtained the services of a scientific consultant in the person of astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek. A standard reporting form was developed by Ohio State University, and the Battelle Memorial Institute was commissioned to do a statistical study known as Project Stork. By April, 1952, after an increase in sighting reports, clearance was given for all intelligence officers at all U.S. Air Force bases to send reports directly to Bluebook by teletype. It seemed that at last the Air Force was truly serious about UFOs. It was just in time for the "flap" of 1952.
The "Flap of 1952" was a huge increase in sightings peaking in July with massive sightings both visual and on radar over Washington, D.C. These sightings were so numerous that they became known as the Washington Nationals. Even the CIA became concerned, so much so that they ordered the Office of Scientific Intelligence to review the data collected by Bluebook and the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB and to make recommendations based
on their findings.
The OSI review of the existing data resulted in a recommendation, predictably, that the phenomena required more study. The main concern of the CIA was not that UFOs were a direct threat to the U.S., but that they were an indirect one. During this period, they heyday of the Cold war, the fear was that the many UFO sighting reports might obscure a very real threat from the Soviet Union. One example was that, during a wave of UFO sightings, a Soviet attack or an overflight by a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft might not be recognized as such until it was too late.
So, the CIA asked a Cal-Tech physicist, Dr. H.P. Robertson, to assemble a panel of respected scientists to study the UFO phenomenon. These included Dr. Samuel A Goudsmit, a nuclear physicist with the Brookhaven National Laboratories, geophysicist Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner, radar & electronics expert Dr. Luis Alvarez of the University of California, and Johns Hopkins University astronomer Dr. Thornton L. Page. Astronomer and Project Bluebook consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Frederick C. Durant, president of the International Astronautical Foundation, were associate members of the panel.
This distinguished panel, which would become known as the Robertson Panel, spent four days, 14 January, 1953 through 17 January, 1953, reviewing the existing evidence. At the end of this time, they issued a report, known as the "Durant Report", which merely restated that UFOs were not a direct threat to U.S. security , but which reiterated the fears of the CIA that the Soviets might somehow use the phenomenon to mask an invasions of the United States:
We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.
Further, the Panel recommended a policy of debunking UFO sightings in order to quell the growing public preoccupation with the phenomenon:
...the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status that they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired;
The conclusions of the Robertson Panel, as hasty and obviously disinforming as they were, dampened military and government enthusiasm for the study of UFOs. Captain Ruppelt left active duty in August, 1953, and Project Bluebook was turned over to an enlisted man, Airman First Class Max Futch. Additionally, an order called JANAP-146 was issued in December, 1953, which made the reporting of unidentified flying objects by military personnel a National Security Issue, with possible prosecution for its violation. The Air Force was publicly debunking UFOs, while privately drawing a veil of secrecy around their investigations. Personnel changes at Bluebook over the years reflect the decline in interest of the Air Force.
In March of 1954, Major Charles Hardin was put in charge of Project Bluebook, and the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron began training as field investigators. In 1955, the results of the Battelle Memorial Institute study were finally released as Bluebook Special Report Number 14. The study had a number of flaws, and concluded that improved methods of investigation and reporting would result in all UFO sightings being explained as ordinary phenomena.
In April, 1956, Captain George T. Gregory took over the helm of Bluebook and he began a concerted effort to "explain" every sighting, even if he had to make wide stretches to fit a sighting into an "explained" category.
In July, 1957, the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron was disbanded, and the 1006th AISS took over investigation duties. In July, 1959, investigative responsibilities were passed on again, to the 1127th Field Activities Group.
In October, 1958, Gregory was replaced by Major Robert J. Friend. By this time, the Air Force considered Project Bluebook to be a burden, and tried to find a way to either transfer it out of the intelligence section or to close it down altogether.
In 1963, Friend was replaced by Major Hector Quintanilla. Bluebook personnel had dropped to just two: Quintanilla and an enlisted man.
The death knell for Project Bluebook was heard in April, 1966, when the House Armed Services Committee recommended that the Air Force contract with a University for a scientific study of UFOs. On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced that a program to study UFOs would be conducted by the University of Colorado and headed by Dr. Edward Condon. In reality, the Condon Committee, as it was called, had one task, and that was to provide a reason for the Air Force to end its official investigation of UFOs.
A speech given at the Corning Glass Works by Dr. Condon soon after the study began is revealing:
"It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there's nothing to it."
"...but I'm not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year."
That final conclusion of the "Condon Report", released 9 January, 1969 was:
Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.
On December 17, 1969, Project Bluebook was closed and the veil of secrecy had been completely drawn around whatever investigation of UFOs was being conducted by the military.
Witnesses to UFOs report many different shapes and sizes.
From discs to cigars to triangles and almost anything you could imagine.
Despite the varied shapes and sizes, researchers have tried to organize these sightings into neat little boxes.
In reality, this can't be done.
However, there have been two systems developed which are as close as we can get to categorizing sighting reports.
One is these is the Jacques Vallee system, which is quite extensive. The other is the Dr. J. Allen Hynek system, which is by far the most widely used, and from which the term, "close encounters" was coined.
According to Dr. Hynek:
This is the traditional method of describing an event as a distant or close encounter of the first, second or third kind. The investigator should be aware that, unless the case report can reasonably rule out natural and man-made sources, the HYNEK rationale declares it to be a non-case, and so no value is given.
DE-1 - Nocturnal Light
DE-2 - Daylight Disc
DE-3 - Radar-visual
CE-1 - Light/object in Proximity
CE-2 - Physical Trace
CE-3 - Occupant
UFO reports differ in many details. But there are a number of similarities that recur in such features as shape, maneuverability, appearance, disappearance, sound and color. There are several basic observational categories into which sighting reports may be classified.
A. Relatively Distant Sightings
1. Nocturnal Lights. These are sightings of well-defined lights in the night sky whose appearance and/or motion are not explainable in terms of conventional light sources. The lights appear most often as red, blue, orange or white. They form the largest group of UFO reports.
2. Daylight Discs. Daytime sightings are generally of oval or disc- shaped, metallic-appearing objects. They can appear high in the sky or close to the ground, and they are often reported to hover. They can seem to disappear with astounding speed.
3. Radar-Visual cases. Of special significance are unidentified "blips" on radar screens that coincide with and confirm simultaneous visual sightings by the same or other witnesses. These cases are infrequent.
B. Relatively Close Sightings (within 200 yards)
1. Close Encounters of the First Kind (CE-I). Though the witness observes a UFO nearby, there appears to be no interaction with either the witness or the environment.
2. Close Encounters of the Second Kind (CE-II). These encounters include details of interaction between the UFO and the environment which may vary from interference with car ignition systems and electronic gear to imprints or burns on the ground and physical effects on plants, animals and humans.
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE-III). In this category, occupants of a UFO - entities that are human-like ("humanoid") or not humanlike in appearance - have been reported. There is usually no direct contact or communication with the witness. However, in recent years, reports of incidents involving very close contact - even detainment of witnesses - have increased.
4. Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind (CE-IV). This category has only recently been created, and is one step beyond Hynek's "Third Kind." This category deals with alien abduction, and/or direct communication with an alien being.
The Kinds of Evidence
In addition to eyewitness reports, scientific evidence for the presence of something very unusual falls in these categories:
1. Physical Traces. Compressed and dehydrated vegetation, broken tree branches, and imprints in the ground have all been reported. Sometimes a soil sample taken from an area where a UFO had been seen close to the ground will be determined, through laboratory analysis, to have undergone heating or other chemical changes not true of control sample.
2. Medical Records. Medical verification of burns, eye inflammations, temporary blindness, and other physiological effects attributed to encounters with UFOs - even the healing of previous conditions - can also constitute evidence, especially when no other cause for the effect can be determined by the medical examiner.
3. Radarscope Photos. A tape of traces from a radar screen on which a "blip" of a UFO is appearing is a powerful adjunct to a visual sighting, because it can be studied at leisure instead of during the heat of the moment of the actual sighting.
4. Photographs. While it might seem that photographs would be the best evidence for UFOs, this has not been the case. Hoaxes can be exposed very easily. But even those photos that pass the test of instrumented analysis and/or computer enhancement often show nothing more than an object of unknown nature, usually some distance from the camera, and very often out of focus.
For proper analysis of a photo, the negative must be available and the photographer, witnesses and circumstances must be known. In a few exceptional cases, photos do exist that have been thoroughly examined and appear to show a structured craft.
source:
Dr. J. Allen Hynek
From discs to cigars to triangles and almost anything you could imagine.
Despite the varied shapes and sizes, researchers have tried to organize these sightings into neat little boxes.
In reality, this can't be done.
However, there have been two systems developed which are as close as we can get to categorizing sighting reports.
One is these is the Jacques Vallee system, which is quite extensive. The other is the Dr. J. Allen Hynek system, which is by far the most widely used, and from which the term, "close encounters" was coined.
According to Dr. Hynek:
This is the traditional method of describing an event as a distant or close encounter of the first, second or third kind. The investigator should be aware that, unless the case report can reasonably rule out natural and man-made sources, the HYNEK rationale declares it to be a non-case, and so no value is given.
DE-1 - Nocturnal Light
DE-2 - Daylight Disc
DE-3 - Radar-visual
CE-1 - Light/object in Proximity
CE-2 - Physical Trace
CE-3 - Occupant
UFO reports differ in many details. But there are a number of similarities that recur in such features as shape, maneuverability, appearance, disappearance, sound and color. There are several basic observational categories into which sighting reports may be classified.
A. Relatively Distant Sightings
1. Nocturnal Lights. These are sightings of well-defined lights in the night sky whose appearance and/or motion are not explainable in terms of conventional light sources. The lights appear most often as red, blue, orange or white. They form the largest group of UFO reports.
2. Daylight Discs. Daytime sightings are generally of oval or disc- shaped, metallic-appearing objects. They can appear high in the sky or close to the ground, and they are often reported to hover. They can seem to disappear with astounding speed.
3. Radar-Visual cases. Of special significance are unidentified "blips" on radar screens that coincide with and confirm simultaneous visual sightings by the same or other witnesses. These cases are infrequent.
B. Relatively Close Sightings (within 200 yards)
1. Close Encounters of the First Kind (CE-I). Though the witness observes a UFO nearby, there appears to be no interaction with either the witness or the environment.
2. Close Encounters of the Second Kind (CE-II). These encounters include details of interaction between the UFO and the environment which may vary from interference with car ignition systems and electronic gear to imprints or burns on the ground and physical effects on plants, animals and humans.
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE-III). In this category, occupants of a UFO - entities that are human-like ("humanoid") or not humanlike in appearance - have been reported. There is usually no direct contact or communication with the witness. However, in recent years, reports of incidents involving very close contact - even detainment of witnesses - have increased.
4. Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind (CE-IV). This category has only recently been created, and is one step beyond Hynek's "Third Kind." This category deals with alien abduction, and/or direct communication with an alien being.
The Kinds of Evidence
In addition to eyewitness reports, scientific evidence for the presence of something very unusual falls in these categories:
1. Physical Traces. Compressed and dehydrated vegetation, broken tree branches, and imprints in the ground have all been reported. Sometimes a soil sample taken from an area where a UFO had been seen close to the ground will be determined, through laboratory analysis, to have undergone heating or other chemical changes not true of control sample.
2. Medical Records. Medical verification of burns, eye inflammations, temporary blindness, and other physiological effects attributed to encounters with UFOs - even the healing of previous conditions - can also constitute evidence, especially when no other cause for the effect can be determined by the medical examiner.
3. Radarscope Photos. A tape of traces from a radar screen on which a "blip" of a UFO is appearing is a powerful adjunct to a visual sighting, because it can be studied at leisure instead of during the heat of the moment of the actual sighting.
4. Photographs. While it might seem that photographs would be the best evidence for UFOs, this has not been the case. Hoaxes can be exposed very easily. But even those photos that pass the test of instrumented analysis and/or computer enhancement often show nothing more than an object of unknown nature, usually some distance from the camera, and very often out of focus.
For proper analysis of a photo, the negative must be available and the photographer, witnesses and circumstances must be known. In a few exceptional cases, photos do exist that have been thoroughly examined and appear to show a structured craft.
source:
Dr. J. Allen Hynek
The Hynek Classification Sytem
Commentary on DSI/JTIC Report No 7 (Working Party)
The report begins with a history of the UFO phenomenon, covering the Scandinavian "Ghost Rocket" wave of 1946, Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the death of Captain Thomas Mantell and the work of Projects Sign and Grudge. Curiously, Foo Fighters were not mentioned at all. Through our study of various DSI/JTIC minutes it seems that this oversight occurred because while Fighter Command were invited to submit views to the Flying Saucer Working Party, Bomber Command were not.
Roswell is not mentioned, although there is reference to a report of a "crashed flying saucer full of the remains of very small beings". But the Report states that the author of these claims had admitted that it had been a fabrication and it is clear that this is a reference not to Roswell but to Frank Scully's claims about the recovery of a UFO at Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948.
The report then details some British UFO sightings, concentrating on three cases involving military witnesses. But in each case, the sightings are dismissed as either optical illusions or misidentifications of ordinary aircraft or meteorological balloons. One visual sighting from a pilot had apparently been correlated by radar, but this was attributed to interference from another radar system.
The report concludes that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological delusions or hoaxes. The main body of the report ends with the following statement:
"We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available".
The report was duly considered by the DSI/JTIC and Mr Turney recommended that in view of the its sceptical conclusions, it should be regarded as a final report. He further suggested that the working party be dissolved with immediate effect. This was agreed by the meeting, thus bringing to an end the MOD's first UFO research project.
The DSI/JTIC minutes of the meeting that agreed to dissolve the working party contain the following telling quote, recording Mr Turney's views:
"He went on to say, that following the lead given by the Americans on this subject, the Report should he thought, have as little publicity as possible and outside circulation should be confined to one copy to Sir Henry Tizard".
We should point out that in this context the terms "publicity" and "outside circulation" refer to publicity and distribution of the report within the MOD. There was certainly no question of informing the public.
The report begins with a history of the UFO phenomenon, covering the Scandinavian "Ghost Rocket" wave of 1946, Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the death of Captain Thomas Mantell and the work of Projects Sign and Grudge. Curiously, Foo Fighters were not mentioned at all. Through our study of various DSI/JTIC minutes it seems that this oversight occurred because while Fighter Command were invited to submit views to the Flying Saucer Working Party, Bomber Command were not.
Roswell is not mentioned, although there is reference to a report of a "crashed flying saucer full of the remains of very small beings". But the Report states that the author of these claims had admitted that it had been a fabrication and it is clear that this is a reference not to Roswell but to Frank Scully's claims about the recovery of a UFO at Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948.
The report then details some British UFO sightings, concentrating on three cases involving military witnesses. But in each case, the sightings are dismissed as either optical illusions or misidentifications of ordinary aircraft or meteorological balloons. One visual sighting from a pilot had apparently been correlated by radar, but this was attributed to interference from another radar system.
The report concludes that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological delusions or hoaxes. The main body of the report ends with the following statement:
"We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available".
The report was duly considered by the DSI/JTIC and Mr Turney recommended that in view of the its sceptical conclusions, it should be regarded as a final report. He further suggested that the working party be dissolved with immediate effect. This was agreed by the meeting, thus bringing to an end the MOD's first UFO research project.
The DSI/JTIC minutes of the meeting that agreed to dissolve the working party contain the following telling quote, recording Mr Turney's views:
"He went on to say, that following the lead given by the Americans on this subject, the Report should he thought, have as little publicity as possible and outside circulation should be confined to one copy to Sir Henry Tizard".
We should point out that in this context the terms "publicity" and "outside circulation" refer to publicity and distribution of the report within the MOD. There was certainly no question of informing the public.
The American Influence
In looking at the activities of the Flying Saucer Working Party one cannot overstate the influence of the Americans. The phrase "following the lead given by the Americans on this subject" which we quote in the previous paragraph is extremely revealing and it is clear from the report itself that much of the material comes from liaison with those involved with Projects Sign and Grudge. There are other clues. As we have said, R. V. Jones forged extremely close links with the Americans on a range of intelligence issues and it is interesting to note that the fourth item of the Flying Saucer Working Party's terms of reference (requiring them to liaise with US authorities) was a late - though undoubtedly sensible - addition to the original remit.
Once the terms of reference included a requirement to get alongside the Americans on the UFO question, active liaison began. A member of the Flying Saucer Working Party duly travelled to America to meet with US authorities. It is also known that H. Marshall Chadwell was consulted and sat in on at least one of the Flying Saucer Working Party's meetings.
Chadwell was Assistant Director of the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and in 1952 and 1953 was one of the key figures in the Scientific Panel on UFOs, better known as the Robertson Panel, after its chairman H. P. Robertson, an eminent physicist from the California Institute of Technology.
Robertson had been President Eisenhower's Scientific Adviser during the war, holding the rank of a four-star General. He had worked closely with R. V. Jones on various scientific intelligence matters and moved seamlessly between government service and academia. His post-war appointments included a post as theoretical physicist in Pasadena, associated with the Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar Observatories, and a spell as head of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group at the Pentagon.
The Robertson Panel's sceptical report concluded that further study of the UFO phenomenon was not warranted, though as CIA Chief Historian Gerald Haines has confirmed, the CIA did not abandon their interest in the phenomenon.
It is also interesting to note what Edward Ruppelt (former head of the USAF's Project Blue Book) says about the British UFO research effort. Writing in his 1956 book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects he makes a number of specific references to the UK.
In chapter 3 he states that the 1948 document Estimate of the Situation (prepared by staff on the USAF's Project Sign, initially classified Top Secret and concluding that some UFOs were extraterrestrial) mentioned that "Ghost Aeroplanes" had been detected on British radar early in 1947.
In chapter 10 there is a sentence that reads as follows:
"Two RAF intelligence officers who were in the US on a classified mission brought six single-spaced typed pages of questions they and their friends wanted answered".
Chapter 14 mentions the September 1952 UFO sightings during Operation Mainbrace (including the sightings at RAF Topcliffe). Ruppelt comments:
"It was these sightings, I was told by an RAF exchange intelligence officer in the Pentagon, that caused the RAF to officially recognise the UFO".
In chapter 17 Ruppelt reveals that even after he had left Project Blue Book and the USAF, friends in RAF intelligence kept him informed about latest developments, on a private basis.
Another indication of the strong US influence on the Flying Saucer Working Party is the fact that their June 1951 final report was entitled Unidentified Flying Objects. This term had been devised by Ruppelt himself, early in 1951, but was not at the time in use outside US Government circles.
To put the above remarks about US influence into context, it is worth noting the extent to which Britain was in thrall to America more generally by the early Fifties. This process had started during the Second World War with the Lend-Lease Bill, the terms of which had contributed to the decline of British power and influence. By the end of the war it was clear that in a very real sense the British Empire had been supplanted by an American one. In intelligence matters too, the historic position had been reversed and in post-war years Britain was very much the junior partner to the US.
Revenge of the Saucers
The Flying Saucer Working Party had been dissolved in 1951 amidst a frenzy of scepticism that had clearly been fuelled by the Americans. The response that Churchill received to his 1952 enquiry showed that the sceptics still had the upper hand within the MOD. But this was soon to change. During the period 1952 to 1957 there were a series of UFO sightings involving the military, which forced the MOD to rethink and then reverse its policy. These included sightings during Operation Mainbrace in September 1952 (including those at RAF Topcliffe), the West Malling incident on 3 November 1953, Flight Lieutenant Salandin's near-collision with a UFO on 14 October 1954, the Lakenheath/Bentwaters radar/visual sightings on 13 and 14 August 1956 and the RAF West Freugh incident on 4 April 1957.
High-profile sightings such as these, together with the increasing number of reports from the general public, pushed the sceptics within MOD onto the defensive. The Flying Saucer Working Party's recommendation that UFO sightings should not be investigated was overturned and by the mid-Fifties two Air Ministry Divisions were actively involved in investigating UFO sightings. The divisions concerned were S6, a civilian secretariat division on the air staff, and DDI(Tech), a technical intelligence division. Their brief was to research and investigate the UFO phenomenon looking for evidence of any threat to the UK.
Conclusion
This article gives what we believe is the most comprehensive overview yet written concerning the early years of official British interest in UFOs. We hope that the information and references will encourage other researchers to follow some of the leads given here.
Some time in the future, it may be that the MOD writes an Official History of its involvement in the UFO issue, in much the same way as such accounts are produced on major events such as the Falklands Conflict or the Gulf War. If and when such an Official History is written, it will doubtless cover much of the material in this article, as well as more recent events such as the Rendlesham Forest incident.
But any Official History must also focus on the personalities involved in official research and investigation into UFOs. In looking at the story told in this article it is clear that the same names crop up repeatedly and that there are some intriguing links between some of these key players. It is also intriguing to see the way in which the sceptic versus believer debate about the extraterrestrial hypothesis has been conducted at the very highest levels of government and military. This is as much a part of the story as the incidents themselves.
by Nick Pope
In looking at the activities of the Flying Saucer Working Party one cannot overstate the influence of the Americans. The phrase "following the lead given by the Americans on this subject" which we quote in the previous paragraph is extremely revealing and it is clear from the report itself that much of the material comes from liaison with those involved with Projects Sign and Grudge. There are other clues. As we have said, R. V. Jones forged extremely close links with the Americans on a range of intelligence issues and it is interesting to note that the fourth item of the Flying Saucer Working Party's terms of reference (requiring them to liaise with US authorities) was a late - though undoubtedly sensible - addition to the original remit.
Once the terms of reference included a requirement to get alongside the Americans on the UFO question, active liaison began. A member of the Flying Saucer Working Party duly travelled to America to meet with US authorities. It is also known that H. Marshall Chadwell was consulted and sat in on at least one of the Flying Saucer Working Party's meetings.
Chadwell was Assistant Director of the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and in 1952 and 1953 was one of the key figures in the Scientific Panel on UFOs, better known as the Robertson Panel, after its chairman H. P. Robertson, an eminent physicist from the California Institute of Technology.
Robertson had been President Eisenhower's Scientific Adviser during the war, holding the rank of a four-star General. He had worked closely with R. V. Jones on various scientific intelligence matters and moved seamlessly between government service and academia. His post-war appointments included a post as theoretical physicist in Pasadena, associated with the Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar Observatories, and a spell as head of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group at the Pentagon.
The Robertson Panel's sceptical report concluded that further study of the UFO phenomenon was not warranted, though as CIA Chief Historian Gerald Haines has confirmed, the CIA did not abandon their interest in the phenomenon.
It is also interesting to note what Edward Ruppelt (former head of the USAF's Project Blue Book) says about the British UFO research effort. Writing in his 1956 book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects he makes a number of specific references to the UK.
In chapter 3 he states that the 1948 document Estimate of the Situation (prepared by staff on the USAF's Project Sign, initially classified Top Secret and concluding that some UFOs were extraterrestrial) mentioned that "Ghost Aeroplanes" had been detected on British radar early in 1947.
In chapter 10 there is a sentence that reads as follows:
"Two RAF intelligence officers who were in the US on a classified mission brought six single-spaced typed pages of questions they and their friends wanted answered".
Chapter 14 mentions the September 1952 UFO sightings during Operation Mainbrace (including the sightings at RAF Topcliffe). Ruppelt comments:
"It was these sightings, I was told by an RAF exchange intelligence officer in the Pentagon, that caused the RAF to officially recognise the UFO".
In chapter 17 Ruppelt reveals that even after he had left Project Blue Book and the USAF, friends in RAF intelligence kept him informed about latest developments, on a private basis.
Another indication of the strong US influence on the Flying Saucer Working Party is the fact that their June 1951 final report was entitled Unidentified Flying Objects. This term had been devised by Ruppelt himself, early in 1951, but was not at the time in use outside US Government circles.
To put the above remarks about US influence into context, it is worth noting the extent to which Britain was in thrall to America more generally by the early Fifties. This process had started during the Second World War with the Lend-Lease Bill, the terms of which had contributed to the decline of British power and influence. By the end of the war it was clear that in a very real sense the British Empire had been supplanted by an American one. In intelligence matters too, the historic position had been reversed and in post-war years Britain was very much the junior partner to the US.
Revenge of the Saucers
The Flying Saucer Working Party had been dissolved in 1951 amidst a frenzy of scepticism that had clearly been fuelled by the Americans. The response that Churchill received to his 1952 enquiry showed that the sceptics still had the upper hand within the MOD. But this was soon to change. During the period 1952 to 1957 there were a series of UFO sightings involving the military, which forced the MOD to rethink and then reverse its policy. These included sightings during Operation Mainbrace in September 1952 (including those at RAF Topcliffe), the West Malling incident on 3 November 1953, Flight Lieutenant Salandin's near-collision with a UFO on 14 October 1954, the Lakenheath/Bentwaters radar/visual sightings on 13 and 14 August 1956 and the RAF West Freugh incident on 4 April 1957.
High-profile sightings such as these, together with the increasing number of reports from the general public, pushed the sceptics within MOD onto the defensive. The Flying Saucer Working Party's recommendation that UFO sightings should not be investigated was overturned and by the mid-Fifties two Air Ministry Divisions were actively involved in investigating UFO sightings. The divisions concerned were S6, a civilian secretariat division on the air staff, and DDI(Tech), a technical intelligence division. Their brief was to research and investigate the UFO phenomenon looking for evidence of any threat to the UK.
Conclusion
This article gives what we believe is the most comprehensive overview yet written concerning the early years of official British interest in UFOs. We hope that the information and references will encourage other researchers to follow some of the leads given here.
Some time in the future, it may be that the MOD writes an Official History of its involvement in the UFO issue, in much the same way as such accounts are produced on major events such as the Falklands Conflict or the Gulf War. If and when such an Official History is written, it will doubtless cover much of the material in this article, as well as more recent events such as the Rendlesham Forest incident.
But any Official History must also focus on the personalities involved in official research and investigation into UFOs. In looking at the story told in this article it is clear that the same names crop up repeatedly and that there are some intriguing links between some of these key players. It is also intriguing to see the way in which the sceptic versus believer debate about the extraterrestrial hypothesis has been conducted at the very highest levels of government and military. This is as much a part of the story as the incidents themselves.
by Nick Pope
French COMETA Report
On Friday July 16, 1999 an important document was published in France entitled "UFOs and Defense: What must we be prepared for?" ("Les Ovni Et La Défense: A quoi doit-on se préparer?"). This ninety-page report is the result of an in-depth study of UFOs, covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of national defense. The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of former "auditors" at the Institute of Advanced Studies for National Defense, or IHEDN, and by qualified experts from various fields. Before its public release, it has been sent to French President Jacques Chirac and to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
On Friday July 16, 1999 an important document was published in France entitled "UFOs and Defense: What must we be prepared for?" ("Les Ovni Et La Défense: A quoi doit-on se préparer?"). This ninety-page report is the result of an in-depth study of UFOs, covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of national defense. The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of former "auditors" at the Institute of Advanced Studies for National Defense, or IHEDN, and by qualified experts from various fields. Before its public release, it has been sent to French President Jacques Chirac and to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
THE ESSENTIAL:
In its conclusion, COMETA claims that the physical reality of UFOs, under control of intelligent beings, is "quasi-certain." Only one hypothesis takes into account the available data: the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is of course unproven, but has far-reaching consequences. The goals of these alleged visitors remain unknown but must be the subject of speculations and prospective scenarios.
In its conclusion, COMETA claims that the physical reality of UFOs, under control of intelligent beings, is "quasi-certain." Only one hypothesis takes into account the available data: the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is of course unproven, but has far-reaching consequences. The goals of these alleged visitors remain unknown but must be the subject of speculations and prospective scenarios.
COMETA MEMBERS:
The report is prefaced by General Bernard Norlain of the Air Force, former Director of IHEDN, and it begins with a preamble by André Lebeau, former President of the National Center for Space Studies (Centre National D'études Spatiales), or CNES, the French equivalent of NASA. The group itself, collective author of the report, is an association of experts, many of whom are or have been auditors of IHEDN, and it is presided over by General Denis Letty of the Air Force, former auditor (FA) of IHEDN.
Its name "COMETA" stands for "Committee for in-depth studies." A non-exhaustive list of members is given at the beginning which is quite impressive. It includes:
General Bruno Lemoine, of the Air Force (FA of IHEDN).
Admiral Marc Merlo, (FA of IHEDN).
Michel Algrin, Doctor in Political Sciences, attorney at law (FA of IHEDN).
General Pierre Bescond, engineer for armaments (FA of IHEDN).
Denis Blancher, Chief National Police superintendent at the Ministry of the Interior.
Christian Marchal, chief engineer of the national Corps des Mines and Research Director at the National Office of Aeronautical Research (ONERA).
General Alain Orszag, Ph.D. in physics, armaments engineer.
The committee also expresses its gratitude to outside contributors including Jean-Jacques Vélasco, head of SEPRA at CNES, François Louange, President of Fleximage, specialist in photo analysis, and General Joseph Domange, of the Air Force, general delegate of the Association of Auditors at IHEDN.
The report is prefaced by General Bernard Norlain of the Air Force, former Director of IHEDN, and it begins with a preamble by André Lebeau, former President of the National Center for Space Studies (Centre National D'études Spatiales), or CNES, the French equivalent of NASA. The group itself, collective author of the report, is an association of experts, many of whom are or have been auditors of IHEDN, and it is presided over by General Denis Letty of the Air Force, former auditor (FA) of IHEDN.
Its name "COMETA" stands for "Committee for in-depth studies." A non-exhaustive list of members is given at the beginning which is quite impressive. It includes:
General Bruno Lemoine, of the Air Force (FA of IHEDN).
Admiral Marc Merlo, (FA of IHEDN).
Michel Algrin, Doctor in Political Sciences, attorney at law (FA of IHEDN).
General Pierre Bescond, engineer for armaments (FA of IHEDN).
Denis Blancher, Chief National Police superintendent at the Ministry of the Interior.
Christian Marchal, chief engineer of the national Corps des Mines and Research Director at the National Office of Aeronautical Research (ONERA).
General Alain Orszag, Ph.D. in physics, armaments engineer.
The committee also expresses its gratitude to outside contributors including Jean-Jacques Vélasco, head of SEPRA at CNES, François Louange, President of Fleximage, specialist in photo analysis, and General Joseph Domange, of the Air Force, general delegate of the Association of Auditors at IHEDN.
THE ASSOCIATION:
General Norlain explains in a short preface how this committee was created. General Letty came to see him in March 1995, when he was Director of IHEDN, to discuss his idea of a committee on UFOs. Norlain assured him of his interest and referred him to the Association of Auditors of IHEDN, which in turn gave him its support. As a result, several members of the committee come from the Association of Auditors of IHEDN, joined by other experts.
It is interesting to recall here that, twenty years ago, it was a report of that same Association which led to the creation of GEPAN, the first unit for UFO study, at CNES.
Most of the committee hold, or have held, important functions in defense, industry, teaching, research, or various central administrations. General Norlain expresses hope that this report will help develop new efforts in France and lead to indispensable international cooperation.
General Norlain explains in a short preface how this committee was created. General Letty came to see him in March 1995, when he was Director of IHEDN, to discuss his idea of a committee on UFOs. Norlain assured him of his interest and referred him to the Association of Auditors of IHEDN, which in turn gave him its support. As a result, several members of the committee come from the Association of Auditors of IHEDN, joined by other experts.
It is interesting to recall here that, twenty years ago, it was a report of that same Association which led to the creation of GEPAN, the first unit for UFO study, at CNES.
Most of the committee hold, or have held, important functions in defense, industry, teaching, research, or various central administrations. General Norlain expresses hope that this report will help develop new efforts in France and lead to indispensable international cooperation.
A SUMMARY OF THE REPORT'S CONTENT:
General Letty, as president of COMETA, points to the main theme of the report, which is that the accumulation of well documented observations compels us now to consider all hypotheses as to the origin of UFOs, especially extraterrestrial hypotheses. The committee then presents the contents of the study. The first part consists of the presentation of some remarkable cases from both France and other countries.
In a second part, they describe the present organization of research, in France and abroad, and studies made by scientists worldwide which may provide partial explanations of the UFO phenomenon, in accordance with known laws of physics. The main global explanations are then reviewed, from secret crafts to extraterrestrial manifestations.
In a third part, measures to be taken regarding defense are considered, based on information from both civilian and military pilots. Strategic, political and religious consequences, should the extraterrestrial hypothesis be confirmed, are then discussed.
Part I :
Many of the cases selected are well known by most researchers, and need only be mentioned here.
Testimonies of French pilots:
M. Giraud, pilot of Mirage IV (1977) .
Colonel Bosc, fighter pilot> (1976).
Air France flight AF 3532 (January 1994).
Aeronautical cases worldwide.
Lakenheath (U.K., 1956).
RB-47 (U.S., 1957).
Teheran (1976).
Russia (1990).
San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina, 1995).
Observations from the ground:
Tanarive (1954) Observation of a saucer near the ground by a French pilot, J.-P. Fartek (1979).
Observation at close range over a Russian missile site by several witnesses (1989).
Close encounters in France:
Valensole (Maurice Masse, 1965).
Cussac, Cantal (1967).
Trans-en-Provence (1981).
Nancy (the "Amarante" case, 1982).
Counter-examples of explained phenomena (two cases).
Although the selection is limited, it seems to be sufficient to convince an uninformed but open-minded reader of the reality of UFOs.
Part II The Present State of Knowledge":
The second part begins with a survey of the organization of official UFO research in France, from the first instructions given to the gendarmerie in 1974 for the recording of reports, to the creation of GEPAN in 1977, its organization and its results, including collection of more than 3,000 reports from the gendarmerie, cases studies, and statistical analyses.
It then surveys agreements passed by GEPAN and, later, SEPRA, with the air force and the army, the civilian aviation and other organizations, such as civilian and military laboratories, for the analysis of samples and photographs.
Regarding SEPRA's methods and results, we are reminded of some famous cases (Trans-en-Provence, l'Amarante), and emphasis is placed on catalogues of cases, notably of pilots (Weinstein catalogue), and radar/visual reports world wide.
A historical note appears here with a quotation of the famous letter of General Twining, of September 1947, which even then asserted the reality of UFOs.
The following chapter, called "UFOs: Hypotheses and attempts at modeling" ("OVNI: hypothèses,essais de modélisation") discusses some models and hypotheses which are under study in several countries. Partial simulations have already been made for UFO propulsion, based on observations of aspects such as: speed, movements and accelerations, engine failure of nearby vehicles, and paralysis of witnesses. One model is MHD propulsion, already tested successfully in water, and which might be achieved in the atmosphere with superconducting circuits, in a few decades. Other studies are briefly mentioned regarding both atmospheric and space propulsion, such as particle beams, antigravity, or reliance on planetary and stellar impulsion.
It is suggested that the failure vehicle engines may be explained by microwave radiation. In fact, high power hyperfrequency generators are under study in France and other countries. One application is microwave weapons. Particle beams, such as proton beams, which ionize the air and therefore become visible, might explain the observation of truncated luminous beams. Microwaves might explain body paralysis.
In the same chapter global explanatory hypotheses are studied next. Hoaxes are rare and easily detected. Some nonscientific theories are discarded, such as conspiracy and manipulation by very secret, powerful groups. Also rejected are parapsychological phenomena, and collective hallucinations. The hypothesis of secret weapons is also regarded as very improbable, as is "intoxication" or hysteria at the time of the Cold War, along with natural phenomena.
We are then left with various extraterrestrial hypotheses. One version has been developed in France by astronomers Jean-Claude Ribes and Guy Monnet, based on the concept of "space islands" of American physicist O'Neill, and it is compatible with present-day physics.
The organization of UFO research in the United States, Great Britain and Russia is rapidly surveyed. In the United States, the media and the polls show a marked interest and concern of the public, but the official position, especially of the Air Force, is still one of denial, more precisely that there is no threat to national security. Actually, declassified documents, released under FOIA, show another story, one of surveillance of nuclear installations by UFOs, and the continued study of UFOs by the military and intelligence agencies.
The report stresses the importance, in the United States, of private independent associations. It mentions the briefing document Best Available Evidence sent in 1995 to a thousand personalities worldwide, and the Sturrock workshop in 1997, both sponsored by Lawrence Rockefeller. The Best Available Evidence has obviously been welcomed by the authors of the COMETA report.
The committee also notes the public emergence of alleged insiders such as Colonel Philip Corso, and concludes that his testimony might be partially revealing as to the real situation in the U.S., despite its many critics.
The report briefly describes the situation in Great Britain, with a special mention of Nick Pope, and poses the question of the possible existence of secret studies pursued jointly with American services. It mentions as well research in Russia, and the release of some information, notably by the KGB in 1991.
Part III UFOs and Defense:
In the third part the report states that if it is true that no hostile action has been proven yet, at least some acts of intimidation have been recorded in France (the Mirage IV case, for instance). Since the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs cannot be ruled out, it is therefore necessary to study the consequences of that hypothesis at the strategic level, but also at the political, religious and media/public information levels.
The first chapter of Part III is devoted to prospective strategies and it begins with fundamental questions. What if UFOs are extraterrestrial? What intentions and what strategy can we deduce from their behavior?
Such questions open a more controversial part of the report. Possible motivations of extraterrestrial visitors are explored here, such as protection of planet Earth against the dangers of nuclear war, suggested for instance by repeated flying over nuclear missile sites. The committee then ponders the possible repercussion on the behavior, official or not, of different nations and focuses on the possibility of secret, privileged contacts which might be "attributed to the United States." The attitude of the U.S. is seen as "most strange" since the 1947 wave and the Roswell event. Since that time, a policy of increasing secrecy seems to have been applied, which might be explained by the protection at all cost of military technological superiority to be acquired from the study of UFOs.
Next, the report tackles the question "What measures must we take now?" At the least, whatever the nature of UFOs, they require "critical vigilance," in particular regarding the risk of "destabilizing manipulations." A kind of "cosmic vigilance" should be applied by the elites, nationally and internationally, in order to prevent any shocking surprise, erroneous interpretation and hostile manipulation.
Nationally, COMETA urges the strengthening of SEPRA, and recommends the creation of a committee at the highest level of government, entrusted with the development of hypotheses, strategy, and preparation of cooperative agreements with European and other foreign countries. A further step would be that European states and the European Union undertake diplomatic action with the Unites States within the framework of political and strategic alliances.
A key question of the report is "What situations must we be prepared for?" It mentions such scenarios as an extraterrestrial move for official contact; discovery of a UFO/alien base on Earth; invasion (deemed improbable) and localized or massive attack; manipulation or deliberate disinformation aiming at destabilizing other states.
COMETA devotes special attention to "aeronautical implications," with detailed recommendations aimed at various personnel, such as air staffs, controllers, weathermen and engineers. It also makes recommendations at the scientific and technical levels, aimed at developing research with potential benefits for defense and industry. The report further explores the political and religious implications of UFOs, using as a model the perspective of our own exploration of space: How would we do it, how would we handle contacts with less advanced civilizations?
Such an approach is not new to the well-informed readers of the abundant ufological literature, but it has a special value here, being treated seriously at such a level. The implications for the media and public opinion are not neglected, with the problems of disinformation, fear of ridicule, and manipulation by certain groups.
In its conclusion, COMETA claims that the physical reality of UFOs, under control of intelligent beings, is "quasi-certain." Only one hypothesis takes into account the available data: the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is of course unproven, but has far-reaching consequences. The goals of these alleged visitors remain unknown but must be the subject of speculations and prospective scenarios.
In its final recommendations, COMETA stresses again the need to:
Inform all decision-makers and persons in positions of responsibility.
Reinforce means of investigation and study at SEPRA.
Consider whether UFO detection been taken into account by agencies engaged in surveillance of space.
Create a strategic committee at the highest state level.
Undertake diplomatic action with the Unites States for cooperation on this most important question.
Study measures which might be necessary in case of emergencies.
Finally, this document is accompanied by seven (7) appendices.
Radar detection in France.
Observations by astronomers.
Life in the Universe.
Colonization of space.
The Roswell case and possible disinformation.
Antiquity of the UFO phenomenon and elements for a chronology.
Reflection on various psychological, sociological and political aspects of the UFO phenomenon.
General Letty, as president of COMETA, points to the main theme of the report, which is that the accumulation of well documented observations compels us now to consider all hypotheses as to the origin of UFOs, especially extraterrestrial hypotheses. The committee then presents the contents of the study. The first part consists of the presentation of some remarkable cases from both France and other countries.
In a second part, they describe the present organization of research, in France and abroad, and studies made by scientists worldwide which may provide partial explanations of the UFO phenomenon, in accordance with known laws of physics. The main global explanations are then reviewed, from secret crafts to extraterrestrial manifestations.
In a third part, measures to be taken regarding defense are considered, based on information from both civilian and military pilots. Strategic, political and religious consequences, should the extraterrestrial hypothesis be confirmed, are then discussed.
Part I :
Many of the cases selected are well known by most researchers, and need only be mentioned here.
Testimonies of French pilots:
M. Giraud, pilot of Mirage IV (1977) .
Colonel Bosc, fighter pilot> (1976).
Air France flight AF 3532 (January 1994).
Aeronautical cases worldwide.
Lakenheath (U.K., 1956).
RB-47 (U.S., 1957).
Teheran (1976).
Russia (1990).
San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina, 1995).
Observations from the ground:
Tanarive (1954) Observation of a saucer near the ground by a French pilot, J.-P. Fartek (1979).
Observation at close range over a Russian missile site by several witnesses (1989).
Close encounters in France:
Valensole (Maurice Masse, 1965).
Cussac, Cantal (1967).
Trans-en-Provence (1981).
Nancy (the "Amarante" case, 1982).
Counter-examples of explained phenomena (two cases).
Although the selection is limited, it seems to be sufficient to convince an uninformed but open-minded reader of the reality of UFOs.
Part II The Present State of Knowledge":
The second part begins with a survey of the organization of official UFO research in France, from the first instructions given to the gendarmerie in 1974 for the recording of reports, to the creation of GEPAN in 1977, its organization and its results, including collection of more than 3,000 reports from the gendarmerie, cases studies, and statistical analyses.
It then surveys agreements passed by GEPAN and, later, SEPRA, with the air force and the army, the civilian aviation and other organizations, such as civilian and military laboratories, for the analysis of samples and photographs.
Regarding SEPRA's methods and results, we are reminded of some famous cases (Trans-en-Provence, l'Amarante), and emphasis is placed on catalogues of cases, notably of pilots (Weinstein catalogue), and radar/visual reports world wide.
A historical note appears here with a quotation of the famous letter of General Twining, of September 1947, which even then asserted the reality of UFOs.
The following chapter, called "UFOs: Hypotheses and attempts at modeling" ("OVNI: hypothèses,essais de modélisation") discusses some models and hypotheses which are under study in several countries. Partial simulations have already been made for UFO propulsion, based on observations of aspects such as: speed, movements and accelerations, engine failure of nearby vehicles, and paralysis of witnesses. One model is MHD propulsion, already tested successfully in water, and which might be achieved in the atmosphere with superconducting circuits, in a few decades. Other studies are briefly mentioned regarding both atmospheric and space propulsion, such as particle beams, antigravity, or reliance on planetary and stellar impulsion.
It is suggested that the failure vehicle engines may be explained by microwave radiation. In fact, high power hyperfrequency generators are under study in France and other countries. One application is microwave weapons. Particle beams, such as proton beams, which ionize the air and therefore become visible, might explain the observation of truncated luminous beams. Microwaves might explain body paralysis.
In the same chapter global explanatory hypotheses are studied next. Hoaxes are rare and easily detected. Some nonscientific theories are discarded, such as conspiracy and manipulation by very secret, powerful groups. Also rejected are parapsychological phenomena, and collective hallucinations. The hypothesis of secret weapons is also regarded as very improbable, as is "intoxication" or hysteria at the time of the Cold War, along with natural phenomena.
We are then left with various extraterrestrial hypotheses. One version has been developed in France by astronomers Jean-Claude Ribes and Guy Monnet, based on the concept of "space islands" of American physicist O'Neill, and it is compatible with present-day physics.
The organization of UFO research in the United States, Great Britain and Russia is rapidly surveyed. In the United States, the media and the polls show a marked interest and concern of the public, but the official position, especially of the Air Force, is still one of denial, more precisely that there is no threat to national security. Actually, declassified documents, released under FOIA, show another story, one of surveillance of nuclear installations by UFOs, and the continued study of UFOs by the military and intelligence agencies.
The report stresses the importance, in the United States, of private independent associations. It mentions the briefing document Best Available Evidence sent in 1995 to a thousand personalities worldwide, and the Sturrock workshop in 1997, both sponsored by Lawrence Rockefeller. The Best Available Evidence has obviously been welcomed by the authors of the COMETA report.
The committee also notes the public emergence of alleged insiders such as Colonel Philip Corso, and concludes that his testimony might be partially revealing as to the real situation in the U.S., despite its many critics.
The report briefly describes the situation in Great Britain, with a special mention of Nick Pope, and poses the question of the possible existence of secret studies pursued jointly with American services. It mentions as well research in Russia, and the release of some information, notably by the KGB in 1991.
Part III UFOs and Defense:
In the third part the report states that if it is true that no hostile action has been proven yet, at least some acts of intimidation have been recorded in France (the Mirage IV case, for instance). Since the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs cannot be ruled out, it is therefore necessary to study the consequences of that hypothesis at the strategic level, but also at the political, religious and media/public information levels.
The first chapter of Part III is devoted to prospective strategies and it begins with fundamental questions. What if UFOs are extraterrestrial? What intentions and what strategy can we deduce from their behavior?
Such questions open a more controversial part of the report. Possible motivations of extraterrestrial visitors are explored here, such as protection of planet Earth against the dangers of nuclear war, suggested for instance by repeated flying over nuclear missile sites. The committee then ponders the possible repercussion on the behavior, official or not, of different nations and focuses on the possibility of secret, privileged contacts which might be "attributed to the United States." The attitude of the U.S. is seen as "most strange" since the 1947 wave and the Roswell event. Since that time, a policy of increasing secrecy seems to have been applied, which might be explained by the protection at all cost of military technological superiority to be acquired from the study of UFOs.
Next, the report tackles the question "What measures must we take now?" At the least, whatever the nature of UFOs, they require "critical vigilance," in particular regarding the risk of "destabilizing manipulations." A kind of "cosmic vigilance" should be applied by the elites, nationally and internationally, in order to prevent any shocking surprise, erroneous interpretation and hostile manipulation.
Nationally, COMETA urges the strengthening of SEPRA, and recommends the creation of a committee at the highest level of government, entrusted with the development of hypotheses, strategy, and preparation of cooperative agreements with European and other foreign countries. A further step would be that European states and the European Union undertake diplomatic action with the Unites States within the framework of political and strategic alliances.
A key question of the report is "What situations must we be prepared for?" It mentions such scenarios as an extraterrestrial move for official contact; discovery of a UFO/alien base on Earth; invasion (deemed improbable) and localized or massive attack; manipulation or deliberate disinformation aiming at destabilizing other states.
COMETA devotes special attention to "aeronautical implications," with detailed recommendations aimed at various personnel, such as air staffs, controllers, weathermen and engineers. It also makes recommendations at the scientific and technical levels, aimed at developing research with potential benefits for defense and industry. The report further explores the political and religious implications of UFOs, using as a model the perspective of our own exploration of space: How would we do it, how would we handle contacts with less advanced civilizations?
Such an approach is not new to the well-informed readers of the abundant ufological literature, but it has a special value here, being treated seriously at such a level. The implications for the media and public opinion are not neglected, with the problems of disinformation, fear of ridicule, and manipulation by certain groups.
In its conclusion, COMETA claims that the physical reality of UFOs, under control of intelligent beings, is "quasi-certain." Only one hypothesis takes into account the available data: the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors. This hypothesis is of course unproven, but has far-reaching consequences. The goals of these alleged visitors remain unknown but must be the subject of speculations and prospective scenarios.
In its final recommendations, COMETA stresses again the need to:
Inform all decision-makers and persons in positions of responsibility.
Reinforce means of investigation and study at SEPRA.
Consider whether UFO detection been taken into account by agencies engaged in surveillance of space.
Create a strategic committee at the highest state level.
Undertake diplomatic action with the Unites States for cooperation on this most important question.
Study measures which might be necessary in case of emergencies.
Finally, this document is accompanied by seven (7) appendices.
Radar detection in France.
Observations by astronomers.
Life in the Universe.
Colonization of space.
The Roswell case and possible disinformation.
Antiquity of the UFO phenomenon and elements for a chronology.
Reflection on various psychological, sociological and political aspects of the UFO phenomenon.
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