Documents / FOIA release

Flying Saucers (PUBD Is Unknown)

Central Intelligence Agency · 1952-06-02 · 26 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This CIA file on flying saucers includes a memorandum from Director Walter B. Smith to the Director of the Psychological Strategy Board. Smith says unidentified flying objects may matter for psychological warfare as well as intelligence and operations. The file also holds an Office of Scientific Intelligence study, draft NSC and Secretary of Defense papers proposing a centrally run research program, a briefing on the Air Force's small ATIC section under Captain Ruppelt, and a Project Blue Book paper on weather and research balloons.

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

Mr. Strong has discussed with you some of the general features of this problem, and now I should like to describe briefly how the Air Force has organized its study of reports on unidentified flying objects and outline its methods.

The administrative unit now handling the Air Force inquiry on these

phenomena is the unidentified Flying Objects Section of the Aircraft Propulsion Branch of the Technical Analysis Division of Air Technical Intelligence Center, Wright Field.

This small section is headed by an Air Force Reserve Captain, E. J. Ruppelt at Air Technical Intelligence Center, and assisted by two lieutenants and two secretaries. It is from this small group

that the controlling collection directive to the entire Air Force originated flying squadrons and it is to this small group that the flood of reports on unidentified flying

objectives for collation and analysis.

The strength and position of this central administrative group clearly

indicates a low level of support, and, presumably, serious reservations in the

Air Force regarding the value of extensive inquiry into the subject, Paradoxcall

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

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. 26 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.