Unidentified flying objects: hearing before the Committee on Armed Forces of the House of Representatives, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session, April 5, 1966 ...

6008
jump
to
the
far-out conclusion
that
the
earth
is
host to
space
visitors.
Surely,
in
scientific
fairness,
we
must
examine
other hypotheses.
As
early
as 1952,
in
a
paper
written
for
the
journal
of
the
Optical
Society
of
America,
I
called
for
scientific
attention
to
the
problem,
pointing
out
that
"ridicule
is
not
a
part
of
the
scientific
method and
the
public
should not
be
taught
that
it
is."
In
1953,
I
had
further
recommendations
to
make,
when
I
wrote
in
a
report to
the
Air
Force:
It
occurs to
me
that the
public
interest
in
"flying
saucers"
may
be
dormant,
but
can
be
excited
with small
provocation.
I
would
recommend
that:
(1)
se-
lected
"unknowns"
continue
to
be
worked upon
and due
publicity
be
given
them
when
a
satisfactory solution
is
reached;
(2)
an
announcement
be
made
that
the
Air
Force
is
interested in
the
phenomena
which
cause
reports
on
a
scientific
basis;
(3)
use
of
a
small
civilian
scientific
panel
to
examine a few
selected
"unknowns."
And
this,
I
repeat,
was
my
recommendation
in
1953.
In
1965,
in
my
capacity
as
scientific
consultant,
I
again
advised that
the
reports
be
studied
by a
civilian
scientific
group,
in
a
letter
to the
Office
of
theSecretary
of
the
Air
Force:
If there
be
any
potential
scientific
value
in
the
fragmentary
UFO
reports,
as
scientific
consultant
it
is
clearly
my
duty
to
point
this
out.
I have done
so,
in
the past
on
a
less
formal
basis,
in private
conservation with,
and
informal
reports
to,
Air
Force
officials—'I
feel
it
is
my
responsibility
to
point
out
that
enough
puzzling
sightings
have
been
reported
by
intelligent
and
often
technically
com-
petent
people,
to
warrant
closer
attention
than
Project
Blue
Book
can
possibly
encompass
at
the present time.
*
* *
If
the
preliminary
survey of the
problemshould bear
me
out;
namely,
that
there
exists
the
possibility
of
new
scientific
information
in
the
UFO
phenomenon,
then
definitely let
the
recommendation be
made
to
have
the
National
Academy
of
Sciences,
or
some
other
civilian
group
ofrecognized
stature,
undertake
a
longer
study
of the
reported
phenomena.
I am
happy
that
my
appearance
before
this
committee
affords
me
a
chance
to once again
reiterate
my
recommendations.
Specifically,
it
is
my
opinion that the
body
of
data accumulated
since
1948 through
the
Air Force
investigations
deserves
close
scrutiny
by
a
civilian
panel of
physical
and
social
scientists,
and
that
this
panel
should
be asked to
examine
the
UFO
problem
critically
for the
express
purpose of determining whether a major
problem
really
exists.
I
would,
of
course,
be
willing
to
assist
such
a
panel
in
whatever
way
I
might and would
even be
willing
to take
a
short leave
of
absence
from
my
university
if
it
would
help
place
this
problem
in
its
proper
perspective.
Thank
you.
The CHAIRMAN.
You
say
you
can't
write these reports
off.
You
can't ridicule
those
who
have
made
them.
They
are highly
responsible
people, in various
walks of
life,
that
have
reported
them.
And
that
sometime
in the past
you recommended
that a panel be
set
up
to
clear
these things,
a
civilian
panel, to
obviate the
accusation
that the
Air
Force
is
or has been hiding
their reports.
Now,
are
you
saying to us
this
morning
that there
should be a
panelset
up
of
scientists
authorized
by
the
Air Force
before
whom
these
things
may
be brought,
and from
whom
a
report could
come?
Dr.
HYNEK.
Yes,
sir.
I am
saying
that.
This would be the
gist
of
my
statement.
However,
I
have been scooped by
Secretary
Brown who
has men-tioned that the
Scientific
Advisory Board has recommended the samething.