Documents / Document
This 1997 study by Gerald K. Haines, National Reconnaissance Office historian, traces CIA interest in UFOs from the late 1940s to 1990 using Agency records compiled after DCI R. James Woolsey ordered a 1993 file review. It covers Air Force projects SIGN, GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK, the 1953 Robertson panel, U-2 and OXCART flights mistaken for UFOs, and disputes with Keyhoe and Davidson. It concludes that Agency concern was substantial until the early 1950s and limited and peripheral since.
UFOs Additionalsightings in the early1970s alsofueled beliefs that the CIAwas Director of theNationalBureau of Standards,agreed to head the pro gram.Pronouncinghimself an agnostic on thesubject ofUFOs, Condonobserved that he had an open mind on thequestion and thought thatpossibleextraterritorial originswere improbable but not impossible. 75 Brig. Gen.Edward Giller,USAF, and Dr.Thomas Ratchford from the AirForce Research andDevelopmentOffice became the AirForcecoordinators for theproject. InFebruary 1967,Gillercontacted Arthur C.Lundahl,Director of CIA sNationalPhotographicInter pretationCenter(NPIC), and proposed aninformalliaisonthrough whichNPICcouldprovide the Con- donCommittee withtechnical advice andservices inexaminingpho tographs ofallegedUFOs. Lundahl and DDI R. JackSmithapproved thearrangement as a way of preserv ing awindow on the neweffort. Theywanted the CIA andNPIC to maintain a lowprofile,however, and to take no part inwriting anyconclu sions for thecommittee. Nowork done for thecommittee byNPIC was to beformallyacknowledged. 76 Ratchford nextrequested thatCon- don and hiscommittee beallowed to visitNPIC todiscuss thetechnical aspects of theproblem and to view thespecialequipmentNPIC had for photoanalysis. On 20February 1967, Condon and fourmembers ofhis committeevisitedNPIC. Lundahl emphasized to thegroup that any NPICwork to assist thecommittee must not beidentified as CIAwork. Moreover,workperformed byNPIC would bestrictly of atechnical nature. Afterreceivingtheseguide lines, thegroupheard aseries of briefings on theservices andequip- ment notavailableelsewhere that CIA had used in itsanalysis ofsomeUFO photographyfurnished byRatchford. Condon and hiscommitteewere impressed. Condon and the samegroup met again in May 1967 atNPIC to hear ananalysis ofUFOphotographs taken atZanesville, Ohio. Theanaly sisdebunked thatsighting. The committee was againimpressedwith thetechnicalworkperformed, and Condonremarked that for the first time ascientificanalysis of aUFO wouldstand up toinvestigation. 78 Thegroup alsodiscussed thecom mittee s plans to call on UScitizens foradditionalphotographs and to issueguidelines fortakinguseful UFOphotographs. Inaddition, CIA officialsagreed that theCondon Committeecouldrelease the full Durantreportwith onlyminor deletions. InApril 1969,Condon and his com mitteereleased theirreport on UFOs. Thereportconcluded that little, ifanything, hadcome from the study ofUFOs in the past 21 years and thatfurtherextensivestudy of UFOsightings wasunwarranted. It alsorecommended that the AirForce special unit,ProjectBLUEBOOK, bediscontinued. It did notmention CIAparticipation in theCondon committee sinvestigation.79 A spe cial panelestablished by theNational Academy ofSciencesreviewed the Condonreport andconcurred with itsconclusion that no highpriority in UFOinvestigations iswarranted by data of the past twodecades. It concluded itsreview bydeclaring, On the basis ofpresentknowledge, the leastlikelyexplanation ofUFOs is thehypothesis ofextraterrestrial visitations byintelligentbeings. Following therecommendations of theCondonCommittee and the NationalAcademy ofSciences, the Secretary of the AirForce,Robert C. Seamans, Jr.,announced on 17 December 1969 thetermination of BLUEBOOK. 80 The1970s and1980s: The UFO IssueRefuses To Die TheCondonreport did notsatisfy manyUFOlogists, whoconsidered it acoverup for CIAactivities inUFO research.Additionalsightings in the early 1970sfueledbeliefs that the CIA wassomehowinvolved in a vast conspiracy. On 7June 1975,Will iamSpaulding, head of asmall UFO group,GroundSaucerWatch (GSW),wrote to CIArequesting a copy of theRobertsonpanelreport and allrecordsrelating toUFOs.8 Spaulding wasconvinced that the Agency waswithholdingmajor files onUFOs. Agencyofficialsprovided Spauldingwith acopy of theRobert sonpanelreport and of theDurant report. 82 On 14 July 1975,Spauldingagain wrote theAgencyquestioning the authenticity of thereports he had received andalleging a CIAcoverup of itsUFOactivities. GeneWilson, CIA sInformation andPrivacy Coordinator,replied in anattempt tosatisfySpaulding, At no time prior to theformation of theRobert son Panel andsubsequent to the issuance ofthepanel sreport has CIA engaged in thestudy of theUFO phe somehowinvolved in avast conspiracy. 77
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 18 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.