Documents / FOIA release
This undated Central Intelligence Agency document, filed with a date of 4 January 1953, assesses the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). It describes the group as a loose but efficient structure led by Executive Director Stuart Nixon. The group has an Editorial Review Board, an advisory group that includes some ex-CIA and Defense Intelligence members, and about 35 regional investigators. It also notes NICAP's $40,000 budget, its 3,500 members and a planned computer pattern-analysis effort called Project Access, meant to cover its 15,000 or more reports.
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Appears to be a fairly loose structure but rather efficient. Stuart Nixon ( background in investigative journalism) is currently Executive Director. He along with John Acuff and Charles Miller ( backgrounds unknown) make up the organizations Editorial Review Board which is responsible for policy, including the newsletter, xx press and other media relations as well as special xx xx reports and xx programs. This board relies heavily on both a loosely structured advisory group and a fairly well developed and well placed network of investigators. The advisory group is made up of experts in many disciplines including physics, astronomy, anthropology, medicine and psychology. This group also includes some ex-CIA and Defense Intelligence types who advise on investigative techniques and NICAP Government relations. There does not seem to be any logical or systematic program by which these advisors are chosen, but rather the procedure seems to be to simply offer one's services to the organization through either Nixon or the Review Board. Often the advisors simply joined NICAP (a rather easy task since all it takes is a specified membership fee) found something out about the organization and then made their qualifications known to the Review Board. The xk system of investigators is a good one. Nxon has divided the country into regions and has established "investigators" in each of the regions. Any member of NICAP is encouraged to xkxxxx request a form by which one can apply for this position. The requirements for the position xkxxxxxxxx include a minimum age of 25, formal training or experience in some branch of science, or other specialized background applicable to systematic collection of information, the ability to cover an area of at least 50 miles in diameter or one hour of driving time. As of a few months ago some 35 investigators were located throughout the country, with NICAP in the process of establishing even more. A breakdown of their backgrounds looked like the following: 7 PhDs, 2MAs or MS, 23 BAspr ES, 1AA and 2 with college training but no degrees. Occupationally they included 4 physical scientists, 13 engineers, 3 college profs, 13 specialists, including doctor, technician, computer programmer and businessman. Five of the 35 are pilots. Also xkxxxx utilized as "legmen" for the investigators are investigator xkxxxx assistants. All investigators carry xk credentials xk identifying them as investigators for NICAP.
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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. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.