Documents / FOIA release
This Office of Scientific Intelligence memorandum from Dr. Stone to Dr. Machle, dated 15 March 1949, is on the subject of flying saucers. Stone writes that the survey documents leave the reader confused and lists points he thinks the survey missed. These include the chance that many objects are free meteorological sounding balloons and the unlikelihood of domestic or foreign craft being tested over the United States. He also raises the psychological tendency to see brief objects as circular and the odd time distribution of the observations.
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# Office Memorandum • UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO : Dr. Machle, OSI DATE: 15 March 1949 FROM : Dr. Stone, OSI ans SUBJECT: Flying Saucers 1. A rapid perusal of your documents leaves one confused and inclined to supineness. 2. The following considerations seen not to have been included in the survey: a. No suggestion is noted that there is a possibility that many of the objects may be "free" meteorological sounding balloons. b. If a tane "flying saucer" is to be involved, it is extremely unlikely that they be found over the U. S. because: (1) U.S. developments would be closely coordinated with USAF or commercial designers. (2) Foreign aircraft development would hardly be tested at such a range from home areas, even if fuel could be supplied (3) Guided aircraft at a range of several thousand miles are beyond any known capabilities, including ours. c. What is the psychological probability that any object seen briefly against "zero" background will be circular, or oval, in appearance? d. Has any one commented on the curious time distribution of the observations? Note that below:
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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.