The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# Approved For Release 2001/04/02

in 1951 when the situation was reviewed partly due to public protests.

## UFO PROJECT CHIEFS

After reorganization of the UFO project during 1951, it became an organization in its own right, at ATIC, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Summer 1951: Lt. Jerry Cummings

Sept. 1951-Sept. 1953: Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt

(Ruppelt's assistants at various times during this period were Lt. Bob Olsson, Lt. Henry Metscher, Lt. Andy Flues, and Lt. Kerry Rothstien. From May to July 1953, Lt. Olsson was acting chief while Ruppelt was away on temporary duty. The position devolved on A/1C Max Futch briefly in July 1953, when Lt. Olsson was discharged).

1954-1956 (approx): Capt. Charles A. Hardin

1957-1959 (approx.): Capt. George Gregory

1959-early 1964: Lt. Col. Robert Friend

Early 1964 to date: Capt. Hector Quintanilla

## PENTAGON UFO SPOKESMEN

April 1952-March 1953: Al Chop

1953-1957: Various officers including Capt. Robert White (circa 1955), Maj. Robert F. Spence (circa 1957).

1958-March 1961: Lt. Col. Lawrence J. Tacker

April 1961-January 1962: Maj. William T. Coleman

Feb. 1962-Summer 1963: Maj. Carl R. Hart

Summer 1963 to date: Maj. Maston M. Jacks

September 15,1951: Lt. Jerry Cummings, and a Lt. Col. from ATIC, were called to Washington to brief a General (and a disgruntled group of industrialists and scientists) about the conduct of the investigation. Received orders to set up a new project. (ppg.128-130)

October 27,1951: New project officially established. (p. 154).

October 27, 1951: New project officially established. (p. 154). March 1952: Project Grudge had become a full-fledged organization, the "Aerial Phenomena Group." Soon thereafter, the code name was changed to "Blue Book." (p. 176)

April 1952: Al Chop appointed public information officer for UFOs.

Air Force Letter 200-5 gave Project Blue Book authority to cut red tape, contact any Air Force unit in the U.S. without going through channels; provided for wire transmission of reports to ATIC, followed with details via Air Mail.

Life article "Have We Visitors From Space?", inspired by several top officers in the Pentagon. (ppg. 177-178)

May 8, 1952: Capt. Ruppelt and a Lt. Col. from ATIC briefed Air Force Secretary Thomas K. Finletter for one hour. (p. 185) Mid-June 1952: Capt. Ruppelt briefed General Samford, Director

of Intelligence, others; given directive to take further steps to obtain positive identification of UFOs. (ppg. 196-199)

Mid-July 1952: Every Air Force installation in U.S. swamped with UFO reports. (p. 205)

August 1952: Study of UFO maneuvers initiated, to determine whether objects displayed intelligent control. (ppg. 250-251)

November 1952: Panel of four scientists convened at ATIC to make preliminary review of accumulated reports. Recommended convening panel of top scientists. (p. 264)

January 12, 1953: The Air Force (reportedly with the assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency) convened a panel of top scientists to weigh the accumulated evidence. The panel was to decide whether the evidence indicated UFOs were interplanetary, whether it was all explainable, or whether the project should continue and seek better data. (p. 275). A study of UFO maneuvers concluding the objects were interplanetary was presented to the panel by Maj. Dewey Fournet. (p. 285)

January 17, 1953: The conclusions of the scientific panel were not made public at the time. Since then, two conflicting versions have been released:

## Conclusions Reported by Ruppelt, 1956

The panel recommended that the UFO project be expanded, the investigative force quadrupled in size and staffed by trained scientists; that tracking instruments be established all over the

## : CLARDP81R00560R0001000100010 every phase"

of the investigation. The scientists believed this program would "dispel any of the mystery" created by military security procedures, and also keep the investigation on a scientific basis. The recommendations were not adopted. (ppg. 293-298)

## Summary Released by Air Force, 1958

The panel concluded that UFOs constituted no "direct physical threat to national security," there was no evidence of "foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts," and no "need for the revision of current scientific concepts." The panel recommended "immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired." The panel suggested "an integrated program designed to reassure the public of the total lack of evidence of inimical forces behind the phenomena."

## Phase Three

The 1958 summary issued by the Air Force Office of Public Information--five years after the fact--first released the names of the scientists on the panel: H. P. Robertson, Luis W. Alvarez, Lloyd V. Berkner, S. A. Goudsmit, and Thornton Page.

Exactly what transpired at the conclusion of this meeting is not clear, though it is strongly suggested that the whole story has not been told. If the decision of the panel had been clearly negative, as the 1958 summary implies, there would have been no reason to be so secretive about it. On the contrary, there would have been every reason to make an immediate public announcement.

What is known about the affair is the public manifestation of the UFO project following the meeting. After a period of apparent serious interest in gathering better data (which supports Ruppelt's version of the panel conclusions), the Air Force began debunking UFOs. Since then the Air Force does not admit to having the slightest shred of evidence that anything at all out of the ordinary is taking place. Concurrently, a noticeable public relations policy has been adhered to by the Air Force through the Public Information Office: A policy of public reassurance. Members of Congress or citizens who request current information on the subject are told repeatedly that UFOs do not present any danger, or threat to the national security.

About the same time as the panel meeting, or shortly thereafter, the Air Force (reportedly through its own RAND Corporation) had an independent study conducted. This resulted in the Project Blue Book "Special Report No.14." What relationship this had to the scientific panel meeting is not known. However, the introduction to the Blue Book report states (p. vii): "The special study which resulted in this report started in 1953. . . the information cut-off date was established as of the end of 1952."

August 26, 1953: AF Regulation 200-2 issued by Secretary of Air Force; procedures for reporting UFOs, restrictions on public discussion.

December 1, 1953: The Air Force announced in Washington it had set up cameras around the country equipped with diffraction gratings to analyze the nature of light from UFOs.

January 6, 1954: Reporters seeking information on UFOs were banned from Wright-Patterson AFB. [Cleveland Press]

February 23, 1954: Scripps-Howard papers said the Air Force had worked out a plan with commercial airline companies to report sightings quickly.

May 15, 1954: General Nathan F. Twining, Air Force Chief of Staff, stated the best brains in the country were working on the UFO problem; Air Force could not explain 10 per cent of the sightings. [Quoted by United Press; Amarillo, Texas].

May 5, 1955: Project Blue Book "Special Report No. 14" declassified.

October 25, 1955: Summary of Blue Book report released to press; linked with statement that Air Force would soon have its own saucer-shaped aircraft, the AVRO disc. (The AVRO disc project subsequently was scrapped without producing a flying model). Reported no evidence that UFOs "constituted a threat to the security of the United States. . ."

1956-1957: UFOs all but faded out of the news. Queries to the Air Force were answered by a "fact sheet" referring back to the 1955 report. A 1957 "fact sheet" stated the unexplained cases had been reduced "from approximately 10% in 1954 to 3%, as of now."

November 1957: When the "flap" of UFO reports began about November 1 [See Section XII; November 1957 Chronology], "fact sheets" were issued on the letterhead of the Department of Defense, Office of Public Affairs. These emphasized the percentages of explained cases, and again the lack of evidence of "a threat to the security of the country."

1958-1959: "Fact sheets" were issued approximately semiannually reiterating the above position.