Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA memorandum dated 31 March 1953 from F. C. Durant of the Office of Scientific Intelligence about who should handle reports of unidentified flying objects. It notes that the Office of Current Intelligence had stopped following UFO reports. Durant proposes naming David Stevenson of the Applied Science Division as the action officer for all future UFO messages. He also recommends keeping only sample reports from the old file and destroying the rest.
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DATM 31 March 1953 SUBJECT: Unidentified Flying Objects 1. Jack Hookert telephoned yesterday and told me that O/CI is no longer following reports of U. F. O.'s. Jack has the O/CI file of U. F. O. dispatches and wanted suggestions as to where to send it. 2. O/SI interart in J. F. O.'s is currently centered on Dave Stevenson (Air Branch/Applied Science Division). He is back-stopped by Lt. Col. Fritz Cder (Geophys Br/122 Division). Stevenson has all O/SI files with exception of key documents, Panel Reports, etc. which are in the Operations Staff office. 3. It would seem wise for O/SI to keep a watch on U. F. O. reports in view of possibly greater activity this summer. The following steps are suggested to assign responsibility and nature receipt of intelligent information: a. Designate Chief, Applied Science Division as coordinator of reports on U. F. O.'s with the suggestion that David E. Stevenson be named "action man". Carbon copy to Chief. F&E Division would request division support to Stevenson be coordinated by Lt. Col. F. O. Cdor. b. Request C/31 turn files now in custody of John Reckort over to Stevenson for perusal. I believe very little material would be worth saving except as samples of indicative or unusual reports. The rest I recommend be destroyed. c. Request C/CI Screening Panel (Kiss Lowry, I believe) route all future messages pertaining to U. F. O.'s to the Applied Science Division, Attention: D. B. Stevenson, for review. 4. The above method is believed the simplest method for O/SI effectively keeping tabs on the subject. There would be little time required on Stevenson's part to keep himself up to date. In the event of a future flap, his continuing watch should prove valuable in a critical analysis. From time to time he might report orally to you or to me on the status quo but no formal reports been indicated.
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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.