Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency memo, dated 31 August 1960 and addressed to G. L. Cary, answers a note about Congressman Gordon H. Scherer and a constituent, Mrs. Catherine Golden of Cincinnati. It says the Air Force judged a photo she cited to be false, taken by a freelance photographer known for trick photography. It also quotes a naval attache's joke about Trindade island. A draft reply attached to the memo states that the CIA does not investigate UFOs and refers such matters to the Air Force.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Mr. G. L. Cary Deputy Assistant Director for Collection/062 Reply to your Note Regarding Gordon H. Scherer 1. We have investigated this with the Air Force and find that Mrs. Golden telegramd the Secretary of State along the same lines. She has been carrying on correspondence with the Air Force for quite some time on the general subject of UFO's. (Attached is their reply to Mrs. Golden.) The State Department referred the telegram to the Air Force who, in turn, answered Mrs. Golden to the effect that the U.S. Kernel Attacke evaluation indicates that the picture was false. The photo was taken by a free lance photographer noted for his trick photography. It was not, as Mrs. Golden states, developed in the presence of anyone. 2. I do not believe we should concern ourselves with questions in his. Golden's letter that do not concern CIA; therefore, we have covered only those questions. The Air Force is responsible and is doing a very good job of public information in this field and it has been our past procedure to refer all matters to them when it does not implicate CLI. 3. I think our Kaval attache's final comment on the whole affair sums it up very well: "It is the reporting officer's private opinion that a flying causer sighting would be unlikely at the very barren island of Trindade, as everyone knows lartians are extremely comfort loving creatures." 4. Attached is a draft reply for Congressman Scherer per your request.
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.