Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency letter, dated January 1959, replies to George Popowitch of the Unidentified Flying Objects Research Committee about his letter of 21 January 1959. He had asked about unidentified flying objects, national security, and whether the government was withholding information. The letter says a panel of experts earlier found nothing threatening to national security, and that this conclusion was made public. It adds that the U.S. Air Force holds sole government responsibility for UFO matters and that the CIA has no jurisdiction.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
H. George Fowcott The Validified Flying Objects Research Committee F. O. Lee 5442 Arizona, Ohio ## December. Foosev.tch: this is in reply to your letter of 21 January 1959 in which you gave an earlier letter to this Agency on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects. We have also reviewed the copy of the Fitzgerald Report which you evaluated. In your letter you have used a number of questions concerning the subject of unidentified flying objects, how these affect national security, and essentially whether information is being withheld from the public. From the years ago than there was a question as to whether the rush of reported sightings occurring at then the eight year since threat to national security, a penal of experts was called by higher authority to make an assessment of such possible threat. As you exclusively know from subsequent public information, this penal must be concluded that there was nothing inrical to our security in the matter. This conclusion was made public last year. The total responsibility for the Government in dealing with UFO matters is vested in the U. S. Air Force and that is the department and account and responsible for answering the questions posed by organization such as yours. This Agency has no jurisdiction or responsibility in this area and is therefore not in a position to supply the information you have requested. ## Very truly yours, ## LEB a a 12 HH, 23 SUNED ## Distribution: John 8. Ekrona Expertly Officer Orig - ailreasee 1. Mr. Earnai 1 - Exec. Register 1 - 101 1 - Chief ASD/SI / SI/PGStrong: (4 Feb. 1959) 7 B3 2 - AD/BI 56
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. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.