Documents / FOIA release
This is a Washington Star newspaper article held in Central Intelligence Agency files, with a release date of 1998-10-15. It reports that the Air Force signed a $330,000, 15-month contract with the University of Colorado for a UFO study directed by Dr. Edward U. Condon. The group would review Project Blue Book methods and investigate selected sightings, and a National Academy of Sciences panel would review the report. The Air Force said all but 655 of about 11,000 reports since 1948 had been explained, with no threat to national security found.
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# Force Contract Let ## CPYRGHT Star Stall Writer The Air Force, bewit bothered and bewildered UFOs for about 20 year farming out the flying sa business to the Universit Colorado. A $330,000, 15-month com between the Air Force and university was signed late terday at Boulder, Colo., the project's director, Dr. ward U. Condon, was to line plans for a UFO study news conference in New today. UFO stands for unidentified flying objects, which have been reported zipping around in curiously un-aerodynamic fashion for the last two decades. The Air Force has been investigating UFOs under a program code-named "Project Blue Book," which has been criticized by many UFO believers as lacking in candor. According to an Air F spokesman here, Con group will "analyze all the nomena associated with sightings and will review Air Force's methods of re ing, investigating and evaluating the reports." The Colorado group will "vestigate certain selected signings," and will have a "completely free hand" in this spect, the spokesman said. Asked whether the investigator will possess quasi-legal power such as that of subpoena as the taking of sworn testimony he said no. The contract was described "more or less open-ended meaning that the $330,000 not necessarily regarded as the total amount that may be spent in probing the saucer mystery The spokesman expressed the belief that an extension of the 15-month contract is quite possible. Work will begin Nov. 1, the Air Force said. A report is supposed to be rendered to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research by early 1968, "k may or may not be the fir report." ## CPYRGHT Condon was the center of scientific furor in 1948 after subcommittee of the House U American Activities Committee called him "one of the weakest links in our atomic security." His security clearance subsequently was lifted and then restored. An atomic scientist, he formerly was the director of the National Bureau of Standards and later research director for Corning Glass Works. There were pressures last spring for a congressional investigation of UFOs after a flurry of reported sightings of mysterious objects. A resolution authorizing the House Armed Services Committee to conduct an investigation and study of reports of unidentified flying objects was referred to the Rules Committee in May. House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan had called for a congressional study of the matter, and later Air Force officials promised that a scientific panel of civilians would be given the opportunity to make an independent investigation. The Rules Committee has given no indication whether it intends to act on the resolution before Congress adjourns. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Edward Hutchinson, R-Mich. In addition to the Colorado University study, the Air Force said the National Academy of Sciences has indicated its willingness to appoint a panel which would review the Colorado report when it is completed. "This panel will not be part of the investigating team, but will provide a further independent check on the scientific validity of the method of investigation," the Air Force said. Since 1948 the Air Force has received about 11,000 reports of UFO sightings. Of these, the Air Force says, it has been able to identify or otherwise explain the nature of all but 655. To date, the Air Force says its "firm conclusions" are that no UFO has ever given any indication of threat to national security. Nor, it says, has any evidence come forth that sightings which it categorized as unidentified are spacecraft from other planets. The Air Force said the university's research will not alter the Air Force's responsibilities of receiving, investigating and evaluating UFO reports.
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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.