Documents / FOIA release

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

Central Intelligence Agency · 2001-03-12 · 186 pages · text by OCR

This is a copy of "The UFO Evidence," a report published in May 1964 by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington, D.C. and edited by Richard H. Hall. The CIA released its copy in 2001. The report draws 746 sightings from more than 5,000 signed reports and argues that unexplained UFOs are real, artificial objects under intelligent control. It criticizes Air Force secrecy and calls for a Congressional inquiry into Project Blue Book and a larger scientific investigation.

  • p. 20 …Luminous disc Airline pilot Observed circling at sea level;UFO ascended"with incredible speed"to level…
  • p. 31 …way from Klagenfurt, Austria to the Adriatic Sea. This occurred on a "lone wolf" mission at…
  • p. 43 …Griffin, BOAC; also PAA crew; ship at sea Ring-like UFO, passed above plane and over…
  • p. 84 …s for three weeks, curving over Baltic Sea. 2000--3500 mph. 52 G, V September 4…
  • p. 89 …Many of the citizens of Alaska along the Bering Sea Coast have reported seeing missile-like…
  • p. 91 …In one movie I even saw Moses hold back the waters of the Red Sea. These…
  • p. 93 …The hypothesis that the objects were out of focus sea gulls was considered by the Air…
  • p. 104 …Two fishermen at sea, George Korkan and Jack Curry, said the substance settled on their boat…
  • p. 105 …I seemed to recall, far out to sea on occasion. "At the time I assumed that…
  • p. 113 …20, 1952; North Sea, three color photographs taken on board an aircraft carrier. Aug.12,1953…
  • p. 122 …Ships at sea have reported strange objects For example see Section II; U.S.S. Supply…
  • p. 123 …regularly over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Central America See December 6, 1952 Gulf…
  • p. 124 …The object maneuvered under the plane, hovered, then dove toward the sea. 21 July 14, 1959…
  • p. 125 …Mainbrace, extensive naval maneuvers in the North Sea on and about September 20, 1952, UFOs were…
  • p. 127 …Reports in southern Europe and over the Mediterranean Sea have been as frequent as in any…
  • p. 129 …OCEAN & ANTARCTIA UFOs have been sighted at sea, in the islands of the major oceans, and…
  • p. 130 …dry $ 7 4^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , wet $ 6 7^{\circ} \mathrm{F} $ , sea $ 7 9^{\circ…
  • p. 132 …over the front lines and out to sea. The UFO at one point passed in front…
  • p. 136 …cattle bolted. XII September 19, 1952--North Sea. Spherical UFO photographed from U. S. Navy aircraft…
  • p. 139 …Natives in small boat, saw UFO, descend vertically, hover about 20 feet above sea boat saw…
  • p. 141 …Cigar-shaped UFO with "portholes." XII May 22, 1960--Majorca Isle, Mediterranean Sea. Palma Observatory reported…
  • p. 151 …accelerated rapidly and pulled away out to sea. Section IV. 1-29-52 Wonsan, Korea Revolving…
  • p. 152 …of light around edge hovering just over sea about 40° off port bow; UFO then shot…
  • p. 153 …object, it darted away East toward the sea. Section X. 9-28-60 Arlington, Texas Star…
  • p. 161 …altitude is given as altitude above mean sea level. To convert to altitude above station level…
  • p. 162 …Coast Guardsman saw two discs circle station, head out to sea.
  • p. 164 …Force Pilots flying a formation of jets above the North Sea observed a shiny sphere approaching
## Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

In September, NICAP published an issue of the UFO Investigator (membership publication) containing an outline and preview of this report. Copies were sent to all Members of Congress. Sample reactions:

Congressman W. R. Poage (D. Tex.) - September 22, 1962 "I have long been disturbed by these UFOs. I would be very much interested in seeing the accumulation of facts which you have assembled. . ."

Congressman E. C. Gathings (D. Ark.) - September 24, 1962 "I shall be interested in seeing a copy of the report your Committee is preparing for Congressional distribution. . ."

Congressman F. Edward Hebert (D. La.) - September 24, 1962 "I shall certainly appreciate receiving a copy of your report when it becomes available. . ."

Congressman Thomas N. Downing (D. Va.) - September 24, 1962 "Thank you for writing to enclose a copy of the "UFO Investigator", and to also bring to my attention your plans to submit a report on your Committee's five-year investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects. I very much appreciate your thoughtfulness. . ."

Congressman Charles Raper Jonas (R. N.C.) - September 25, 1962 "If you care to send me the 128-page report on your five-year investigation, I will be glad to have it. . ."

Senator Jacob K. Javits (R. N.Y.) - October 25, 1962

"I appreciate your views regarding the aerial phenomena. As you know, the Department of Defense and NASA have repeatedly denied the existence of such objects."

Congressman John E. Moss (D. Calif.) - Chairman, Government Information Subcommittee - December 19, 1962

"The Subcommittee has no authority to go into the over-all question of unidentified flying objects, but other Congressional committees may well look into it."

Congressman Richard H. Poff (R. Va.) - December 31, 1962 "I am not satisfied that the Air Force has disclosed all the information which it has assembled, and I am hopeful that the Armed Forces Committee (of which I am not a member) will see fit to conduct an appropriate investigation. . ."

## 1963

Senator Milward L. Simpson (R. Wyo.) - January 8, 1962

"I have not yet been able to determine that any Congressional Committee plans to hold hearings on the UFO problem, but something may develop after the 88th Congress convenes. I do know that the Senate Armed Services Committee plans early hearings on the entire defense posture and it is possible that the question of unidentified flying objects will be brought up during this investigation. . ."

Senator Gaylord Nelson (D. Wis.) - January 14, 1963

"I share your belief that there should be no unnecessary secrecy surrounding the matter [of UFOs] and will do what I can to see to it that relevant facts are brought out and made available to the public."

Congressman John F. Shelley (D. Calif.) - January 28, 1963 "I share the concern of my colleagues in Congress about the gravity of the UFO problem. . .my genuine desire to see positive action taken to lessen the danger caused by UFOs to air travel and our national security."

Senator William Proxmire (D. Wis.) - January 31, 1963

"The NICAP report [outline] is a fine document which does much to substantiate the allegation made. You probably noted my remarks that 'The very fact that so many inexplicable incidents have occurred is reason enough for a thorough investigation.' I am going to contact the Department of Defense on this matter..."

Congressman Clark MacGregor (R. Minn.) - May 28, 1963 "I would certainly agree with Senator Keating that more information should be available to the public. I would favor Congressional hearings [on UFOs] which, of course, would require action by the Congressional majority leadership. . ."

Senator Birch Bayh (D. Ind.) - May 29, 1963

"I too am interested in these aerial phenomena. Some people tend to discount UFOs, but I feel that any such unknown objects bear investigation. . ."

Senator Vance Hartke (D. Ind.) - June 5, 1963

"I agree. . .that a full explanation of the 'Flying Saucers' seems due. . ."

Senator Kenneth B. Keating (R. N.Y.) - June 28, 1963

"I want to assure you that as a high officer in the military myself, I am not overawed or overimpressed by some of the conclusions reached by Air Force officers. As you know, I have no hesitancy in taking issue with other government agencies as to the dangers facing our country. . . I am sorry that there seems to be nothing which I can add to the UFO situation at the present time."

Congressman Glenn Cunningham (R. Nebr.) - August 8, 1963 "I think it quite possible that the Air Force is withholding information about at least a certain number of these [sightings] because I have found that the military services in the past have sometimes acted in a secretive way in other matters when there was really no justification for it. . ."

Senator Len B. Jordan (R. Idaho) - August 16, 1963

"Since you are a member of NICAP, I would welcome any information you might provide me which would improve my knowledge of this very mysterious phenomenon. . ."

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 186 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.