Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency filing is a declaration by Delores M. Nelson, the CIA's Information and Privacy Coordinator, in Bryant v. CIA, Civil Action No. 09-0940 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It supports the CIA's motion for summary judgment. It traces Larry W. Bryant's 2008 FOIA request for records of a 1987 FAA meeting on the November 17, 1986 Japanese 747 encounter over Alaska and records of similar airborne UFO encounters. It also describes the fee dispute and the searches the CIA ran. No records of the meeting were found, and three documents from other agencies were referred to them.
“National Academy of Sciences”1 page
Approved for Release: 2025/06/11 C07083374 _ Director of the National Bureau of ~ Standards, agreed to head the pro- gtam. Pronouncing himself an "agnostic" on the subjectof UFOs, Condon observed that he had an open mind on the question and thought that possible extrarerritorial origins were "improbable but not impossible."" Brig. Gen. Edward Giller, USAF, and Dr. Thomas Ratchford from the Air Force - Research and Development Office became the Air Force coordinators For the profect. ' In February 1967, Giller contacted Arthur C. Lundahl. Director of CIA's National Photographic Inter- pretation Center (N PIC), and proposed an informal liaison through which NPIC could provide the Con- don_Cornrnitree with technical advice and services in examining pho- tographs of alleged UFOs. Lundahl and DDI R Jack Smith approved the arrangement as a way oi'“preserv- ing a window” on the new cH"ort. They wanted the Clziland NPIC to maintain a low profile, however. and to take no "part in writing any conclu- sions For the committee. No work done for the committee by NPIC was to be Formally acknowledged. 7‘ Ratchford next requested that Con- don and his committee be allowed to visit NPIC to discuss the technical aspects ofrhe problem and to view the special equipment N PIC had For phoroanalysis. On 20 February 1967, Condom and Four members of his Committee visited NPIC. Lundahl emphasized to the group that any NPIC worlt to assist the committee must not be identified as CIA work. Moreover, work performed by NPIC would be strictly of a technical nature. After receiving these guide-i lines, the group heard a series of briefings on the services and equip- 66-Additional sightings in the early 1970s also fueled beliefs that the CIA was somehow involved in a vast conspiracy. ' 99 men: not available elsewhere that CIA had used in its analysis of some UFO photography firrnished by Rarchford. Condor: and his committee were imprssed.” _ Condon and the same group met again in May i967 at NPIC to hear an analysis of UFO photographs taken at Zancsville, Ohio. The analy- sis debunked that sighting. The committee was again impressed with the technical work performed, and Condon remarked that For the first time a scientific analysis of a UFO _ would stand up to investigation.“ The group also discussed the com- mittee’: plans to call on US citizens for additional phorographsand to issue guidelines For taking useful UFO photographs. In addition, CIA officials agreed that the Condon Committee could relase the Full Durant report with only minor deletions.‘ ln April 1969, Condon and his com~ rnittce released their report on _ UFOs. The report concluded that little, ifanything, had come From the study oFUFOs in the past 21 years and that Further extensive study of UFO sightings was unwarranted. It also recommended that the Air Force special unit, Project BLUE BOOK, be discontinued. It did nor mention CIA participation in the Condon committee's investigation." A spe- cial panel established by the National Academy of Sciences reviewed the Condon report and concurred with its c_g_n§:_lusi9n_gl1ac “no high priority- UFOs in UFO investigations is warranted by data of the past two decades." Ir concluded its review by declaring, “On the basis of present knowledge, the least likely explanation oFUFOs is the hypothesis ofextrarerrestrial visitations by intelligent beings.” Following the recommendations of rhe Condon Committee and the National Academy of Sciences, the Secretary of the Air Force. Robert C. Seamans. jr., announced on 17 December 1969 the termination of B LUE BOOK. ‘° The 1970: and 1980s: The UFO Issue Refiisa To Die The Condon report did not satisfy many UFOlogists, who considered it a coverup for CIA activities in UFO raearch. Additional sightings in the early £970: Fueled beliefs that the CIA was somehow involved in a vast conspiracy. On 7 June 1975, \X’ill- iam Spauiding, head of a small UFO group. Ground Saucer ‘Watch (GSW), wrote to CIA requesting a copy of the Robertson panel report and all records relating to UFOs.“ a Spaulding was convinced that the Agency was withholding major files on UFOs. Agency officials provided Spaulding with a copy of the Robert- son panel report and of the Durant report." _ On I4 July 1975. Spaulding again. wrote the Agency questioning the authenticity of thercports he had received and alleging a CIA coverup ofirs UFO activities. Gene W/ilson, CIA’: lniiormarion and Privacy Coordinator, replied in an attempt to satishy Spaulding, “At no“ time prior to the Formation ofthe Robert- son Panel and subsequent to the issuance 0F the panel's report has CIA 3~<'7‘*'§;.:-2?.-gagcd in the study of the UFO phe- - 77 Approved for Release: 2025/06/11 C07083374
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 58 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.