Documents / FOIA release
This undated CIA letter from Deputy Assistant Director Philip G. Strong to Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner concerns the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, which the Agency set up in January 1953 with H. P. Robertson as chairman. The Air Force had asked for the panel's conclusions to be declassified for press use. Strong says the CIA and panel members agree to release only some paragraphs, and that the Agency's link to the panel should not be disclosed. He asks Berkner whether his name may be used.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner President Associated Universities, Incorporated Room 6920 350 Fifth Avenue New York 1, New York Dear Lloyd: You will recall in January 1953, we constituted a Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects with Drs. H. P. Robertson as Chairman, Samuel Coudsmit, Luis W. Alvarez, Thorton Page, and yourself as members. After its deliberation, the Panel reached two conclusions and made two recommendations which were included as Tab A of the report. Very recently, the Air Force has requested that the conclusions of this report be declassified so that they may be used in the press. A copy of the report is enclosed herewith for your information. I have discussed this matter with Dr. Robertson and Dr. Coudamit who agree that the conclusion contained in paragraph 2 and the recommendation contained in paragraph 4a can be declassified. But, they, as well as this Agency, will not agree to a declassification of the conclusion in paragraph 3 or the recommendation in paragraph 4b. It is our feeling that the association of the Panel with this Agency should not be disclosed; that paragraph 1 could be rewritten to eliminate this connection; and that the final six lines of paragraph 4 can stand as written. I have queried the Air Force as to whether the names of the Panel members would be used. They have replied that names would be used only within official circles and would not be given to the press. Such information has a tendency at times to filter out, it should be recognized that, if approval is given for use of the names, they may well become common knowledge.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.