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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 Like theJFKassassination operationresponsible only to the President on UFOs in the late 1940s and early1950s.UFOlogists had longargued that,following aflying saucercrash in NewMexico in 1947, thegovernment not onlyrecovered debris from thecrashedsaucer but also four or five alienbodies. Accord ing to someUFOlogists, the governmentclamped tightsecurity around theproject and hasrefused to divulge itsinvestigationresults and research eversince.9 InSeptember 1994, the US AirForcereleased a newreport on theRoswellincident thatconcluded that thedebrisfound in NewMexico in 1947probably came from a once topsecretballoon operation,ProjectMOGUL, designed tomonitor theatmosphere forevidence ofSovietnuclear tests. 92 Circa 1984, aseries ofdocuments surfacedwhich someUFOlogists said proved thatPresidentTruman cre ated a topsecretcommittee in 1947, Majestic-12, tosecure therecovery of UFOwreckage fromRoswell and anyotherUFO crash sight forscien tificstudy and toexamine any alien bodiesrecovered from such sites. Most ifnot all ofthesedocuments haveproved to befabrications. Yet thecontroversypersists.93 Like the JFKassassinationconspiracy theories, theUFO issueprobably will not go awaysoon, nomatter what theAgency does or says. The beliefthat we are not alone in the universe is tooemotionallyappealing and thedistrust ofourgovernment is toopervasive to make the issue ame nable totraditionalscientificstudies ofrationalexplanation andevidence. conspiracytheories, the UFO issueprobablywill not goawaysoon, no matterwhat theAgency NOTES does orsays. 9 1. See the 1973Gallup Pollresults printed in TheNew York Times, 29 November 1973, p. 45 andPhilip J. Klass, UFOs: ThePublicDeceived (NewYork:PrometheusBooks, 1983), p. 3. 2. See Klass, UFOs, p. 3;James S. Gor don, TheUFOExperience, Atlantic Monthly(August 1991), pp.82-92; DavidMichaelJacobs, The UFO Con troversy inAmerica(Bloomington: IndianaUniversityPress, 1975); HowardBlum, OutThere: The Gov ernment sSecretQuestfor Extraterrestrials(NewYork:Simon andSchuster, 1990);TimothyGood, Above TopSecret: TheWorldwide UFOCover-Up (NewYork: William Morrow, 1987); andWhitleyStrieber, Communion: The TrueStoiy(New York: Morrow, 1987). 3. InSeptember 1993JohnPeterson, an acquaintance ofWoolsey s, first approached the DCI with apackage ofheavilysanitized CIAmaterial on UFOsreleased toUFOlogistStanton T.Friedman. Peterson andFriedman wanted toknow thereasons for the redactions. Woolseyagreed to look into thematter. SeeRichard J. War shaw,ExecutiveAssistant, note to author, 1November 1994;Warshaw, note toJohn H.Wright,Information andPrivacyCoordinator, 31January 1994; andWright,memorandum to ExecutiveSecretariat, 2March 1994. (Exceptwherenoted, allc,tations to CIArecords in thisarticle are to the recordscollected for the 1994Agency- widesearch that are held by theExecu tiveAssistant to theDCI). 4. SeeHectorQuintanilla, Jr., The Investigation ofUFOs, Vol. 10, No. 4,Studies inIntelligence (fall 1966): pp.95-110 and CIA,unsignedmemo randum, FlyingSaucers, 14August 1952. See alsoGood,Above Top Secret, p. 253.DuringWorld War II, US pilotsreported foofighters (brightlightstrailing USaircraft). Fearing theymight beJapanese or Germansecretweapons, OSSinvesti gated butcould find noconcrete evidence ofenemyweapons and often filed suchreports in the crackpot category. The OSS alsoinvestigated possiblesightings ofGerman V-i and V-2rocketsbefore theiroperational useduring the war. SeeJacobs, UFO Controversy, p. 33. TheCentral Intel ligenceGroup, thepredecessor of the CIA, alsomonitoredreports of ghost rockets inSweden in 1946. See CIG,IntelligenceReport, 9April 1947. 5. Jacobs, The UFOControversy, p. 156 andQuintanilla, TheInvestigation ofUFOs, p. 97. 6. See US AirForce, AirMaterialCom mand, UnidentifiedAerialObjects: ProjectSIGN, no. F-TR2274, IA, February 1949,Records of the US Air ForceCommands,Activities and Organizations,RecordGroup 341, NationalArchives,Washington, DC. 7. See US AirForce,ProjectsGRUDGE andBLUEBOOKReports 1- 12(Wash ington, DC;NationalInvestigations Committee onAerialPhenomena, 1968) andJacobs, The UFOContro versy, pp.50-54. 8. SeeCabell,memorandum toCom mandingGeneralsMajor Air Commands, Reporting ofInforma tion onUnconventionalAircraft, 8 September 1950 andJacobs, The UFOControversy, p. 65. 9. See AirForce,ProjectsGRUDGEand BLUEBOOKandJacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 67. 79
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