Documents / FOIA release
This undated Central Intelligence Agency letter from Deputy Assistant Director Philip G. Strong to Dr. Thornton Page of Johns Hopkins University concerns an Air Force request to declassify the conclusions of the January 1953 Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, chaired by H. P. Robertson. Strong writes that Robertson and Goudsmit agree to release only the conclusion in paragraph 2 and the recommendation in paragraph 4a. He adds that the Panel's link to the Agency should not be disclosed, and he asks for Page's views, including on whether panel members' names may be used.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Dr. Thorton Page Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland Dear Dr. Page: You will recall in January 1953, we constituted a Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects with Drs. H. P. Robertson as Chairman, Samuel Goudsuit, Luis W. Alvarez, Lloyd V. Berkner, 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. Coudsmit 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. But, as 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.