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

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Of the sightings so far checked out, less than 2 percent of the total are listed
on Project Blue Book's file as unidentified. The Air Force officially concludes
that none of these has given any indication of posing a threat to national safety,
or offering new technological data, or of originating from some extraterrestial
source. However, some of these files remain officially open and the investigations
on them continue.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, director of Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern Uni-
versity, who is heading up the Ann Arbor investigation for the Air Force, is an
old hand at checking on flying saucers for Blue Book. Dr. Hynek notes that
sighting reports usually do not originate with persons who believe in outerspace
visitations. "Believers" don't need sightings to convince them, and are irritated
by the embarrassment and skepticism with which most UFO spotters, like Frank
Mannor, report what they believe they have seen.
"It is easy to dismiss the cases of birds, balloons, and the like," says Dr. Hynek,
"but when good solid citizens report something puzzling, I believe we have an
obligation to do as good a job as we can. I regard our `Unidentifieds' as a sort
of blot on the escutcheon. Somehow we scientists should be able to come up
with answers for these things."
Major Quintanella, although certain that no evidence turned up to date has
even hinted at spacecraft of unearthly origin, agrees that it is impossible to
prove that flying saucers do not exist. In any event, the Air Force is not about
to give up chasing UFO's.
"We are spending millions to develop our own rocket boosters to get our space-
craft to the moon and beyond," says the major, smiling. "Imagine what a great
help it would be to get our hands on a ship from another planet and examine its
powerplant."
The CHAIRMAN. What I want to ask you is, why do they always see
them in the nighttime?
Dr. HYNEK. There are a number of reports from the daytime al-
though it is true there are many more night sightings.
The CHAIRMAN. Then there is another thing, if anybody wanted to
spy on this country why would they go to this expense, when you can
go to any newsstand and get all the information you want, and if that
doesn't help you get a roadmap, and if that doesn't help you, hire
a Hertz car.
Dr. HYNEK. Maybe they don't know this.
The CHAIRMAN. If the Martians don't know this by this time they
will never know it.
Spying on this country is so simple, I cannot understand why the
Russians or anybody wants to put something up in the air to spy
on this country, when they have got so many avenues we don't police.
Dr. HYNEK. No comment on that, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, you ought to comment on it.
Dr. Chamberlain, we will hear from you.
Dr. CHAMBERLAIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really have no
questions, but I will say the sightings in Michigan were near my
area, but not within it. I am pleased to hear your recommendation and
to have the Secretary's statement that he intends to implement it.
I am further comforted to know he is giving it further thought and
he is going to, at such time as your recommendation is implemented,
we are going to have a panel that will consider these things in depth,
not just in town for a day, with a cursory look, and disposing of it,
because I feel we have other scientific achievements and advances, and
that there is going to be a growing importance of surveillance of this
phenomena.
I would say,further,the people in our area are concerned about this.
There has been considerable responsible editorial comment in our
newspapers. It should not be "poo-pooed," as you say.