Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency document, dated 21 January 1953, records the comments and suggestions of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, which met from 14 to 17 January 1953. The panel found no evidence of a direct threat to national security and no evidence linking sightings to space travelers. It rejected the Navy's analysis of the Tremonton film and recommended an educational program of training and debunking. It also listed the evidence the panel reviewed.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
The use of true cases showing first the "mystery" and then the "explanations" would be forceful. To plan and execute such a program, the Panel believed was no mean task. The current investigatory group at ATIC would, of necessity, have to be closely integrated for support with respect to not only the historical cases but the current ones. Recent cases are probably much more susceptible to explanation than older ones; first, because of ATIC's experience and, secondly, their knowledge of most plausible explanations. The Panel believed that some expansion of the ATIC effort would certainly be required to support such a program. It was believed inappropriate to state exactly how large a Table of Organization would be required. The Panel believed that, with ATIC's support, the educational program of "training and debunking" outlined above might be required for a minimum of one and one-half to two years. At the end of this time, the dangers related to "flying saucers" should have been greatly reduced if not eliminated. Cooperation from other military services and agencies concerned (e.g., Federal Civil Defense Administration) would be a necessity. In investigating significant cases (such as the Tremonton, Utah, sighting), controlled experiments might be required. An example would be the
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. 21 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.