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 rule out thepossibility ofextraterres trialphenomena.6 AmidmountingUFOsightings, the AirForcecontinued tocollect and evaluateUFO data in the late 1940s under a newproject,GRUDGE, which tried toalleviatepublicanxiety overUFOs via apublicrelations cam paigndesigned topersuade thepublic thatUFOsconstitutednothing unusual orextraordinary. UFOsight ingswereexplained asballoons, conventionalaircraft,planets, mete ors,opticalillusions, solarreflections, or even largehailstones. GRUDGE officialsfound noevidence in UFO sightings ofadvancedforeignweapons design ordevelopment, and they con cluded thatUFOs did notthreaten USsecurity. Theyrecommended that theproject bereduced inscope because the veryexistence ofAir Forceofficialinterestencouraged peo ple tobelieve inUFOs and contributed to a warhysteria atmo sphere. On 27December 1949, the AirForceannounced theproject s termination. ~ Withincreased Cold Wartensions, theKorean war, andcontinued UFO sightings,USAFDirector ofIntelli gence Maj. Gen.Charles P.Cabell ordered a newUFOproject in 1952. ProjectBLUEBOOKbecame the major AirForceeffort tostudy the UFOphenomenonthroughout the 1950s and1960s.8 The task ofidenti fying andexplainingUFOscontinued to fall on the AirMaterialCommand atWright-Patterson. With asmall staff, the AirTechnicalIntelligence Center(ATIC) tried topersuade the public thatUFOswere notextraordi nary.9 ProjectsSIGN,GRUDGE, andBLUEBOOK set the tone for theofficial USGovernmentposition regardingUFOs for the next 30years. Early CIAConcerns,1947-52 CIAcloselymonitored the AirForce effort, aware of themountingnumber ofsightings andincreasingly con cerned thatUFOsmight pose a potentialsecuritythreat. 10Given the distribution of thesightings, CIA offi cials in 1952questionedwhether they mightreflect midsummer madness. 11 Agencyofficialsaccepted the AirForce sconclusionsabout UFOreports,although they con cluded that since there is aremote possibility that they may beinterplan etaryaircraft, it isnecessary to investigate eachsighting. 12 Amassivebuildup ofsightings over theUnitedStates in 1952,especially inJuly,alarmed theTrumanadminis tration. On 19 and 20July, radar scopes atWashingtonNational Air port andAndrews AirForce Base trackedmysterious blips. On 27July, the blipsreappeared. The AirForce scrambledinterceptoraircraft toinves tigate, but theyfoundnothing. The incidents,however,causedheadlines across thecountry. TheWhiteHouse wanted to knowwhat washappening, and the AirForcequicklyoffered the explanation that the radar blipsmight be theresult of temperature inversions. Later, a CivilAeronautics Administrationinvestigation con firmed that such radar blipswere quitecommon andwerecaused by temperatureinversions. 13 Although it hadmonitoredUFO reports for at least threeyears, CIA reacted to the new rash ofsightings by forming aspecialstudygroupwithin theOffice ofScientificIntelligence (OSI) and theOffice ofCurrentIntel ligence(OCI) toreview the situation.!4 EdwardTauss,acting chief ofOSI sWeapons andEquip mentDivision,reported for thegroup that mostUFOsightingscould be eas ilyexplained.Nevertheless, he recommended that theAgency con tinuemonitoring theproblem, in coordination withATIC. He also urged that CIAconceal itsinterest from themedia and thepublic, in view oftheirprobablealarmisttenden cies toaccept suchinterest as confirming theexistence ofUFOs. 15 Uponreceiving thereport,Deputy Director forIntelligence(DDI) Rob ertAmory, Jr.assignedresponsibility for the UFOinvestigations to OSI s Physics andElectronicsDivision, with A. RayGordon as theofficer in charge. 16 Eachbranch in thedivision was tocontribute to theinvestigation, andGordon was tocoordinateclosely withATIC. Amory, whoasked the group to focus on thenational secu rityimplications ofUFOs, was relaying DCIWalterBedellSmith s concerns.17 Smithwanted to know whether or not the AirForceinvestiga tion offlyingsaucers wassufficiently objective and howmuch moremoney andmanpowerwould benecessary to determine the cause of the small per centage ofunexplainedflyingsaucers. Smithbelieved there was only one chance in10,000 that thephenome nonposed athreat to thesecurity of thecountry, but even thatchance could not betaken. According to Smith, it wasCIA sresponsibility by statute tocoordinate theintelligence effortrequired to solve theproblem. Smith alsowanted to knowwhat use could bemade of the UFOphenome non inconnection with US psychologicalwarfareefforts. 18 Led byGordon, the CIAStudy Group met with AirForceofficials at Wright-Patterson andreviewed their data andfindings. The AirForce claimed that 90percent of the reportedsightingswereeasily 68
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.