Documents / FOIA release

Unidentified Flying Objects

Central Intelligence Agency · 1952-12-18 · 6 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 18 December 1952 and issued by the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, reports on unidentified flying objects. It summarizes lab analysis of a 2 July 1952 film from Utah that shows about ten bright objects, which the analysts judged very unlikely to be birds or balloons. It also covers a sighting that was matched to the planet Jupiter and a scoutmaster's disputed report from West Palm Beach. It concludes that the sightings pose no direct threat but carry potential dangers, including mass hysteria and overloaded communications systems.

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Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 C02917087 '
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ffiais cam Linvnlhma an sighting ma. phewwaphim (mmwnwm rm) ~ _
or tan bright» mm mowing am-an the sky an E July 1953 in we: "I'M-"
um. ficuree in a mm: mctogrng1:a¢r's Fish, U81, with 1'1 years ;ph0i-6- -
Q-npaic experience. “fine lean fixes ‘mu 13.10; weather wnditima ‘bright,
clear, no ale-udn. »>;%b,$ceta apparent tn be “mil-line B‘bfi\1*=“ W118 trlwliflfi
in Q» masterly dinction sum» the sky. smu-cc was ax-wing alma the
the sighting aemn-ma. E0 owypcd the an and phowfilfififi
the um hm zaenuml omen. rwnrd the and at the nignting, we
obéeat. aeypsmtefi the rut and nvennd cnurse mamas the my.
fihww fi‘1‘I¢ ?iwW¥;blph1¢ Lnboratory Ixaminatiau of the film mumin fallzrwing isaaclmimaz
Q. 10 ¢‘:a,3acta, all alike in wverwnt and size.
b. Kvauiécdly iaprebnible that they an bird»: or ‘bellows.
r;§e, mesa objects. They mam to awe in fermationa which are
§:‘£;>’bak:;i;)¢' in
e. Tina mvnmnta auggeat flight paths tmnliltimg of skew
cu:-van in apnea.
5. mingle ebgmt whxah xeverau nurse mmineét
wufom 1:1 "br1@.tn¢t3» It followd. a. nearly nu:-eight
line yaw with raaa~an5bIia uniformity or maiden at an nngular
ef abmxt 2.3. _/um. (This is equivalent "ta the
fiumlwsizzg npcedsz 31' mph f§:“>§<>Q Yards; ’?§ 113*‘; $ 100% yarfla;
iii; aw-11 ywdss ‘I56 mph mm; u.e.)..
5. It wuuifi probably be mxtmmly fiirficult w imitate
this pkxcw-0g1?a.phy for fraudulent pin-‘p0l$$¢
5511: film is ¢:m~x-antly mam: exmimtim by time 6. Sn Ham Pham 1:1ter-
_pret.ati.c>n Lubnmtary, Axwmuma. Eiatimateci cfimgalaticn date: 15 Januazzi
1953.
for Release: 2019/10/21 C02917087

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.