Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency study by Gerald K. Haines traces the Agency's involvement with UFOs from 1947 to 1990. It draws on records from a file review that DCI R. James Woolsey ordered in 1993. According to the study, CIA concern was substantial until the early 1950s, and after that the Agency paid only limited attention. The study covers the 1953 Robertson panel and its finding that UFOs posed no threat. It also reports that U-2 and OXCART flights accounted for many sightings, and it describes CIA efforts to conceal its role.
“James Russell”1 page
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randum to Chief, Chicago Office. "Radio Code Recording." 4 March 1955 and Ashcraft, memorandum to Chief, Support Branch, OSI, 17 March 1955. 53. The Contact Division was created to collect foreign intelligence information from sources within the United States. See the Directorate of Intelligence Historical Series, The Origin and Development of Contact Division, 11 July 1946-1 July 1965 (Washington, DC; CIA Historical Staff, June 1969). 54. See George O. Forrest, Chief, Chicago Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division for Science, 11 March 1955. 57. See Support (Connell) memorandum to Lt. Col. V. Skakich, 27 August 1957 and Lamountain, memorandum to Support (Connell), 20 December 1957. 56. See J. Arnold Shaw, Assistant to the Director, letter to Davidson, 10 May 1957. 55. See Support Division (Connell), memorandum to Dewelt E. Walker, 25 April 1957. 58. See Lamountain, cable to Support (Connell), 31 July 1958. 59. See Support (Connell) cable to Skakich, 3 October 1957 and Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957. 60. See Skakich, cable to Connell, 9 October 1957. 61. See R. P. B. Lohmann, memorandum for Chief, Contact Division, DO, 9 January 1958. 62. See Support, cable to Skakich, 20 February 1958 and Connell (Support) cable to Lamountain, 19 December 1957. 63. See Edwin M. Ashcraft, Chief, Contact Division, Office of Operations, memorandum for Austin Bricker, Jr., Assistant to the Director, "Inquiry by Major Donald E. Keyhoe on John Hazen's Association with the Agency." 22 January 1959. 64. See John T. Hazen, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, 12 December 1957. See also Ashcraft, memorandum to Cleveland Resident Agent, "Ralph E. Mayher," 20 December 1957. According to this memorandum, the photographs were viewed at "a high level and returned to us without comment." The Air Force held the original negatives. The CIA records were probably destroyed. 65. The issue would resurface in the 1970s with the GSW FOIA court case. 66. See Robert Amory, Jr., DDI, memorandum for Assistant Director/ Scientific Intelligence, "Flying Saucers," 26 March 1956. See also Wallace R. Lamphire, Office of the Director, Planning and Coordination Staff, memorandum for Richard M. Bissell, Jr., "Unidentified Flying Saucers (UFO)," 11 June 1957; Philip Strong, memorandum for the Director, NPIC, "Reported Photography of Unidentified Flying Objects," 27 October 1958; Scoville, memorandum to Lawrence Houston, Legislative Counsel, "Reply to Honorable Joseph E. Garth." 12 July 1961; and Houston, letter to Garth, 13 July 1961. 67. See, for example, Davidson, letter to Congressman Joseph Garth, 26 June 1961 and Carl Vinson, Chairman, House Committee on Armed Services, letter to Rep. Robert A. Everett, 2 September 1964. 68. See Maxwell W. Hunter, staff member. National Aeronautics and Space Council. Executive Office of the President. memorandum for Robert F. Parkard. Office of International Scientific Alliairs, Department of State. "Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question." 18 July 1963, File SP 16. Records of the Department of State. Record Group 59. National Archives. See also F. J. Sheridan, Chief, Washington Office, memorandum to Chief, Contact Division, "National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)," 25 January 1965. 69. Chamberlain, memorandum for DCI, "Evaluation of UFOs," 26 January 1965. 70. See Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 199 and US Air Force, Scientific Advisory Board, Ad Hoc Committee (O'Brien Committee) to Review Project BLUE BOOK, Special Report (Washington, DC: 1966). See also The New York Times, 14 August 1966, p. 70. 71. See "Congress Reassured on Space Visits," The New York Times, 6 April 1966. 72. Weber, letter to Col. Gerald E. Jorgensen, Chief, Community Relations Division, Office of Information, US Air Force, 15 August 1966. The Durant report was a detailed summary of the Robertson panel proceedings. 73. See John Lear, "The Disputed CIA Document on UFOs," Saturday Review (September 3, 1966), p. 45. The Lear article was otherwise unsympathetic to UFO sightings and the possibility that extraterritorials were involved. The Air Force had been eager to provide Lear with the full report. See Walter L. Mackey, Executive Officer, memorandum for DCI, "Air Force Request to Declassify CIA Material on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO)," 1 September 1966. 74. See Klass, UFOs, p. 40, Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 214 and Everet Clark, "Physicist Scores 'Saucer Status,'" The New York Times, 21 October 1966. See also James E. McDonald, "Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects," submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 29 July 1968.
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. 18 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.