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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 nomena. TheRobertsonpanel report,according toWilson, was the summation ofAgencyinterest and involvement inUFOs. Wilson also inferred thattherewere noadditional documents inCIA spossession that related toUFOs.Wilson was ill informed. 83 InSeptember 1977,Spaulding and GSW,unconvinced byWilson s response, filed aFreedom ofInforma tion Act(FOIA)lawsuitagainst the Agency thatspecificallyrequested all UFOdocuments in CIA spossession. Deluged bysimilarFOIArequests for Agencyinformation onUFOs, CIA officialsagreed, aftermuch legal maneuvering, toconduct a reason ablesearch ofCIA files forUFO materials.84 Despite anAgency-wide unsympatheticattitudetoward the suit,Agencyofficials, led byLaunie Ziebell from theOffice ofGeneral Counsel,conducted athorough search forrecordspertaining to UFOs. Persistent,demanding, and eventhreatening attimes,Ziebell and hisgroupscoured theAgency. They eventurned up an oldUFO file under asecretary s desk. Thesearch finallyproduced 355documents total ingapproximately 900pages. On 14 December 1978, theAgencyreleased all but 57documents ofabout 100 pages toGSW. Itwithheld these 57 documents onnationalsecurity grounds and toprotectsources and methods.85 Although thereleaseddocuments pro duced nosmoking gun andrevealed only alow-levelAgencyinterest in the UFOphenomena after theRobertson panelreport of1953, the presstreated therelease in asensationalmanner. TheNew York Times, forexample, claimed that thedeclassifieddocu mentsconfirmedintensive governmentconcern overUFOs and that theAgency wassecretlyinvolved in thesurveillance ofUFOs.86 GSW then sued for therelease of thewith helddocuments,claiming that the Agency was stillholding out key information.87 It wasmuch like the John F.Kennedyassassination issue. Nomatter howmuchmaterial the Agencyreleased and nomatter how dull andprosaic theinformation, peo plecontinued tobelieve in aAgency coverup andconspiracy. DCIStansfieldTurner was so upset when he read TheNew York Times article that heasked hissenior offic ers, Are we inUFOs? After reviewing therecords, DonWortman, DeputyDirector forAdministration, reported toTurner that there was no organizedAgencyeffort to doresearch inconnection with UFOphenomena nor has there been anorganizedeffort tocollectintelligence onUFOs since the1950s. WortmanassuredTurner that theAgencyrecords held only sporadicinstances ofcorrespondence dealingwith thesubject, including variouskinds ofreports ofUFO sight ings. There was noAgencyprogram tocollectactivelyinformation on UFOs, and thematerialreleased to GSW had fewdeletions.88 Thus assured,Turner had theGeneral Counsel press for asummaryjudg mentagainst the newlawsuit by GSW. In May 1980, thecourts dis missed thelawsuit,finding that the Agency hadconducted athorough andadequatesearch ingoodfaith. 89 During the late 1970s and1980s, the Agencycontinued itslow-keyinterest inUFOs and UFOsightings. While mostscientists nowdismissedflying saucersreports as aquaint part of the 1950s and 1960s, some in the Agency and in theIntelligenceCorn- munityshifted theirinterest to studyingparapsychology andpsychic phenomenaassociated with UFO sightings. CIAofficials alsolooked at the UFOproblem todetermine what UFOsightingsmight tell themabout Sovietprogress inrockets and missiles andreviewed itscounterintel ligenceaspects. Agencyanalysts from the LifeScienceDivision ofOSI and OSWRofficiallydevoted asmall amount oftheir time to issues relat ing toUFOs. Theseincluded counterintelligenceconcerns that the Soviets and the KGB were using US citizens and UFOgroups toobtain information onsensitive USweapons developmentprograms (such as the Stealthaircraft), thevulnerability of the USair-defensenetwork to pene tration byforeignmissilesmimicking UFOs, andevidence ofSoviet advancedtechnologyassociated with UFOsightings. CIA alsomaintainedIntelligence Communitycoordination with other agenciesregarding theirwork in para psychology,psychicphenomena, and remoteviewing experiments. In general, theAgency took aconserva tivescientific view ofthese unconventionalscientificissues. There was noformal orofficial UFO projectwithin theAgency in the 1980s, andAgencyofficialspurposely kept files onUFOs to aminimum to avoidcreatingrecords thatmight mis lead thepublic ifreleased. 0 The 1980s alsoproducedrenewed charges that theAgency was stillwith holdingdocumentsrelating to the 1947Roswellincident, inwhich a flyingsaucersupposedlycrashed in NewMexico, and thesurfacing ofdoc umentswhichpurportedlyrevealed theexistence of a topsecret US research anddevelopmentintelligence 78
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