Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 1 September 1966 and signed by an OSI executive officer, reviews Air Force requests to declassify CIA material on unidentified flying objects. It recounts how OSI convened a panel of scientists in 1953, chaired by Dr. H. P. Robertson, whose report was classified secret. A sanitized version of its conclusions went to the USAF in 1957. After further 1966 requests citing prior publicity, a declassified version of the complete report was forwarded to the Air Force on 15 August.
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Subject: Air Force Request to Declassify CIA Material on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) 1. The following is a brief review of events pertinent to the subject matter. 2. In 1953 OSI convened a panel of scientists to consider reports on unidentified flying objects and to advise us on the potential threat to national security. This resulted in a report classified "secret." 3. In 1957 following some publicity on CIA involvement in the UFO problem, the USAF requested and obtained an unclassified version of the conclusions of the 1953 report. That version avoided mentioning CIA involvement. (See attachment A) 4. Dr. H. P. Robertson, the Chairman of the 1953 panel, was reported to have appeared on the "CES Reports" TV program on 12 May 1956 and to have refoured to the CIA sponsored panel on UFO's. 5. On 12 July 1966 USAF again requested declassification of the 1953 report. (See attachment B) Prior publicity was given as justification for downgrading. 6. In as much as a sanitized version of the 1953 report had been released to the Air Force in 1957, we requested clarification in a meeting with an Air Force representative on 19 July. (See attachment C) During this meeting the Air Force representative showed us a USAF copy of the 1953 CTA report. It was stamped unclassified, indicating that the classification had been changed sometime prior to 19 July. 7. A new request dated 27 July was prepared by USAF. (See attachment D)
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.