Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum from W. E. Lexow, Chief of the Applied Science Division, responds to letters from Leon Davidson and Donald E. Keyhoe seeking the 1953 Scientific Advisory Panel report. It says Edward J. Ruppelt's book misstated the panel's mission, and it recommends sending the declassified version without revealing the panel's CIA link. The attached 17 January 1953 report says UFOs posed no direct threat to national security. It also recommends stripping them of their special status.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
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REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC PANEL ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 17 January 1953
17 The undersigned Panel of Scientific Consultants has not at the request of the Government to evaluate any possible threat to national security posed by Unidentified Flying Objects ("Flying Sancers"), and to make recommendation. The Panel has received the evidence as presented by cognizant Governmental agencies, primarily the United States Air Force, and has reviewed a selection of the best documented incidents:
2. As a result of its considerations, the Panel concludes:
That the evidence presented on Unidentified Flying Objects shows no indication that these phenomena constitute
a direct physical threat to national security. No firmly believe that there is no residua of cases which indicates phenomena which are attributable to foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts, and that there is no evidence that the phenomena indicate a need for the revision of current scientific concepts:
3. In the light of this conclusion, the Panel recommends:
That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired. 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. 5 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.