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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 randum toChief,ChicagoOffice, Radio CodeRecording, 4March 1955 andAshcraft,memorandum to Chief,SupportBranch, OSI, 17 March 1955. 53. TheContactDivision wascreated to collectforeignintelligenceinforma tion fromsourceswithin theUnited States. See theDirectorate ofIntelli genceHistoricalSeries, TheOrigin andDevelopment ofContactDivision, 11July1946 iJuly 1965(Washing ton, DC; CIAHistorical Staff, June 1969). 54. SeeGeorge 0.Forrest,Chief, Chi cagoOffice,memorandum toChief, ContactDivision forScience, 11 March 1955. memorandum forAustinBricker, Jr., Assistant to theDirector, Inquiry by MajorDonald E.Keyhoe onJohn Hazen sAssociationwith the Agency, 22January 1959. 64. SeeJohn T.Hazen,memorandum to Chief,ContactDivision, 12Decem ber 1957. See alsoAshcraft, memorandum toClevelandResident Agent, Ralph E.Mayher, 20Decem ber 1957.According to this memorandum, thephotographs were viewed at a high level andreturned to uswithoutcomment. The Air Force held theoriginalnegatives. The CIArecords wereprobablydestroyed. 65. The issuewouldresurface in the 1970swith theGSWFOJAcourtcase. See also F. J.Sheridan,Chief,Wash ingtonOffice,memorandum to Chief,ContactDivision, National InvestigationCommittee onAerial Phenomena(NICAP), 25January 1965. 69.Chamberlain,memorandum forDCI, Evaluation ofUFOs, 26January 1965. 70. SeeJacobs, The UFOControversy, p. 199 and US AirForce,ScientificAdvi soryBoard, Ad HocCommittee (O BrienCommittee) toReview ProjectBLUEBOOK,SpecialReport (Washington, DC: 1966). See also TheNew York Times, 14August 1966, p. 70. 55. SeeSupportDivision(Connell), mem orandum toDewelt E.Walker, 25 April 1957. 56. See J.ArnoldShaw,Assistant to the Director, letter toDavidson, 10 May 1957. 57. SeeSupport(Connell)memorandum to Lt. Col. V.Skakich, 27August 1957 andLamountain,memorandum to Support(Connell), 20December 1957. 58. SeeLamounrain, cable toSupport (Connell), 31 July 1958. 59. SeeSupport(Connell) cable toSkak ich, 3October 1957 andSkakich, cable toConnell, 9October 1957. 60. SeeSkakich, cable toConnell, 9Octo ber 1957. 61. See R. P. B.Lohmann,memorandum forChief,ContactDivision, DO, 9 January 1958. 62. SeeSupport, cable toSkakich, 20 Feb ruary 1958 andConnell(Support) cable toLamountain, 19December 1957. 63. SeeEdwin M.Ashcraft,Chief, Con tactDivision,Office ofOperations, 66. SeeRobertAmory, Jr., DDI,memo randum forAssistantDirector/ ScientificIntelligence, Flying Sau cers, 26March 1956. See also Wallace R.Lamphire,Office ofthe Director,Planning andCoordination Staff,memorandum forRichard M. Bissell, Jr., UnidentifiedFlying Sau cers(UFO), 11 June 1957; Philip Strong,memorandum for theDirec tor NPIC, ReportedPhotography of UnidentifiedFlyingObjects, 27 October 1958;Scoville,memorandum toLawrenceHouston,Legislative Counsel, Reply toHonorableJoseph E.Garth, 12 July 1961; andHous ton, letter toGarth, 13 July 1961. 67. See, forexample,Davidson, letter to CongressmanJosephGarth, 26 June 1961 and CarlVinson,Chairman, HouseCommittee onArmed Ser vices, letter to Rep.Robert A.Everett, 2September 1964. 68. SeeMaxwell W.Hunter, staffmem ber,NationalAeronautics andSpace Council,ExecutiveOffice of the Presi dent,memorandum forRobert F. Parkard,Office ofInternationalScien tificAffairs,Department ofState, Thoughts on theSpaceAlien Race Question, 18 July 1963, File SP 16, Records of theDepartment ofState, RecordGroup 59,NationalArchives. 71. See CongressReassured onSpace Vis its, TheNew York Times, 6April 1966. 72. Weber, letter to Col,Gerald E. Jor gensen,Chief,CommunityRelations Division,Office ofInformation, US AirForce, 15August 1966. The Durantreport was adetailedsummary of theRobertsonpanelproceedings. 73. SeeJohn Lear, TheDisputed CIA Document onUFOs, Saturday Review(September 3, 1966), p. 45. The Leararticle wasotherwiseunsym pathetic toUFOsightings and the possibility thatextraterrirorials were involved. The AirForce had been eager toprovide Learwith the full report. SeeWalter L.Mackey,Execu tiveOfficer,memorandum forDCI, AirForceRequest toDeclassify CIA Material onUnidentifiedFlying Objects(UFO), 1September 1966. 74. See Klass, UFOs, p. 40,Jacobs, The UFOControversy, p. 214 andEverer Clark, PhysicistScores Saucer Sta tus, TheNew YorkTimes, 21 October 1966. See alsoJames E. McDonald, Statement onUnidenti fiedFlyingObjects, submitted to the HouseCommittee onScience and Astronautics, 29 July 1968. 82
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