Documents / FOIA release
This newspaper clipping, released by the Central Intelligence Agency and dated 2014-06-12 in the archive, is a Washington news article by Robert Serling. It reports claims by the National Investigating Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) that congressional committees held secret hearings on flying saucers without publishing their findings. As evidence, NICAP quoted a letter from Rep. William H. Ayres. Retired Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter and other board members said the Air Force was withholding UFO information and called that policy dangerous.
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Circ.: e. 297,902 S. 501,537 Front Edit Other Page Page Page ## Date: # Saucer Data Suppressed, Admiral Says Congrossman Admits Secret Hearings Hold BY ROBERT 2. SERLING WASHINGTON, Aug. 2-A group which includes a former Central Intelligence chief reported today that congressional committees have conducted super-secret hearings on "flying saucers" but have never made their findings public. The claim was made by the National Investigating Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), which insists the Air Force is withholding evidence which would prove that flying sancers actually exist. Retired Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter, who once headed the Central Intelligence Agency, is a committee member. ## Congressman Quoted NICAP quoted a letter from Rep. William H. Ayres, Ohio Republican, as proof that hush-hush congressional hearings had been held. An aide confirmed that Mr. Ayres wrote the letter last January to Melvin.V. Knopp of West Richfield, Ohio. The congressman said: "Congressional investigations have been held and are still being held on the problem of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). Since most of the material presented to the committees is classified, the hearings are never printed. When conclusions are reached, they will be released if possible." The NICAP said this refuted Force claims that no congressional hearings had been held. The Air Force says that thorough investigation has shown there is nothing to bear out claims that reported flying alphers are man-made or piloted. Officials contend that mysterious objects in the sky are natural phenomena such as strange cloud formations, northern lights or optical illusions. NICAP differs. Admiral Hillenkoetter and other.. board members issued a statement which said: "From evidence in NICAP's possession, it is clear the Air force is still withholding information on unidentified flying objects—including sighting reports. We believe this policy to be dangerous. It makes it possible for the Soviet government to claim ownership of UFO's or flying saucers. Such a claim, especially at this time, might create a serious situation in this country." ## Scott Vlows Given The group, which includes Donald E. Kehoe who has written extensively on flying snucers, quoted Rep. Ralph H. Skitt, North Carolina Democrat, in support of the demand for more information. Mr. Scott said: "The general public should be allowed information thus far known about flying objects except, of cepuran, in the case where they might become unduly alarmed or panicked by such a revelation. . . If this information could be presented to the American people in such a way as to appeal to reason and not to emotion, I think it would be a good thing.
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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. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.