Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency file from 1952 contains several related papers. A July 1952 memorandum from the Acting Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence notes recent radar and visual sightings and says a special study group is under way. A later memo from H. Marshall Chadwell says objects seen at high altitude near U.S. defense installations are not attributable to natural phenomena. The file also includes a draft memo to the National Security Council and a draft NSC directive making identification of unidentified flying objects a priority.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
MEMORANDUM TO: The Executive Secretary National Security Council SUBJECT Unidentified Flying Objects (Flying Saucers) 1. The Central Intelligence Agency has reviewed the current situation concerning unidentified flying objects which have caused extensive speculation in the press and have been the subject of concern to Government organizations. The Air Force, within the limitations of coverage which could be devoted to the subject, has thus carried the full responsibility for investigating and analyzing individual reports of sightings. Since 1947, approximately 2000 official reports of sightings have been received and, of these, about 205 are as yet unexplained. 2. It is my view that this situation has possible implications for our national security which transcend the interests of a single service. A broader, coordinated effort should be initiated to develop a firm scientific understanding of the several phenomena which apparently are involved in these reports, and to assure ourselves that the incidents will not hinder our present efforts in the Cold War or confuse our early warning system in case of an attack. 3. I therefore recommend that this Agency and the agencies of the Department of Defense be directed to formulate and carry out a program of intelligence and research activities required to solve the problem of instant positive identification of unidentified flying objects. A draft of an appropriate directive is attached. Nalter D. Smith Director
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. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.