Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA memorandum from Herbert Scoville Jr., Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, to the Deputy Director for Intelligence, dated 13 April 1956 and released in 2001. It answers questions about a UFO sighting reported in the French magazine Match and says the article lacked enough detail to identify the object and seemed exaggerated. The memo notes the CIA's liaison with the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center and says Mars's close approach on 7 September 1956 may prompt many saucer reports.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director/Intelligence SUBJECT Flying Saucers REFERENCE : DD/I Memo, 26 March 1955, same Subject 1. The article in the French magazine Match does not give sufficient reformation to permit classification or identification of the U. F. 0. The tone of the article gives the impression that the sighting has been considerably exaggerated in order to produce a more sensational story. In most cases of foreign sightings it has not been possible to thoroughly interrogate all the people involved, so in many instances no identification has been possible. In the U. 8. during the Blue Book investigation, a concentrated effort was made to track down all information possible on each reported sighting; and, as a result, the percentage of unknown and insufficient information cases dropped from 26 per cent to 10 per cent. If a thorough investigation of the U. F. O. reported in Match were made it would undoubtedly disclose additional data that would permit it to be classified in one of the Blue Book categories, and most likely an identification could be made just as has happened in a number of very similar cases. 2. We do maintain close liaison with the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center on reports of unidentified flying objects. This includes those reports originating in foreign countries as well as the United States. 3. It is true that on 7 September 1956 Mars will be 35.2 million miles from the earth, its nearest position in a long period. Thus, astronomers will have a rare opportunity to study Mars at close range with new electronic equipment now available. Personnel at the Naval Observatory, Washington, attach no important implications to this proximity other than the opportunity for routine scientific study. However, as you suggest, this unusual
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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. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.