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FBI file: National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), Part 01

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 25 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This FBI file on the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) holds records from 1956 to 1961. It includes press clippings, NICAP letters signed by Director Donald E. Keyhoe, and internal Bureau memoranda. It also contains Hoover's replies saying the FBI does not investigate UFO sightings and passes reports to the Air Force. Other items cover a 1960 Grand Blanc, Michigan moon photograph by Joe Perry, an Air Force officer's request to curb NICAP, and a citizen asking whether NICAP was Communist sponsored.

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# NATIONAL INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE ON AERIAL PHENOMENA

MAJOR DONALD E. KEYHOE, Director

1536 Connecticut Avenue Washington 6, D. C. NOrth 7-9434

Sept. August 22 1958

Rose Hackett

Richard

Boss Cl

Elizabeth An

Mr. Trou

Mr. W. Trou

Tele. Room

Mr. Honoman

Miss Gandy

National Invasion Committee on Aerial Phenomena

Mr. J. Edgar Hoover Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Mr. Hoover:

Some time ago I wrote to you about the subject of unidentified flying objects. I congratulated you and the FBI for the exposure of the so-called "Venus swindle"; at that time I told you that this committee is making a serious, factual investigation of UFOs; we have a mass of verified evidence which disproves suggestions that these sightings are caused by mirages, hallucinations, etc.

The standing and serious aim of our committee may be judged by examining a list of our Board members and Special Advisers. Among them are such distinguished citizens as: Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter, USN (Ret.), former director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Rear Admiral H. Knowles, USN (Ret.); Colonel Robert Emerson, USAR; Major Dewey Fournet, USAFR, formerly on the Air Force UFO project; Mr. J. B. Hartranft, president, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; and other citizens well known in the fields of education, religion, and science.

I am writing to ask what part, if any, the Federal Bureau of Investigation plays in the official investigation of UFOs. Some years ago, Air Force Intelligence officers once told me, FBI agents helped the Air Force interrogate witnesses on some occasions -- particularly when Air Force representatives were not immediately available. I understand that to a limited extent this has occurred in the last year or so. I have also been told that the FBI has a general directive to help the Air Force in its collection of any UFO information.

These of course would be normal functions of which anyone would approve. In this connection, however, we have received several reports which may or may not be correct. We have been told that on certain occasions FBI agents ordered,or warned to UFO sightings not to discuss what they had seen, nor to reveal that they had been interviewed officially.

Q Partis

91158 Essex

A PRIVATELY SUPPORTED FACT FINDING CIVILIAN COMMITTEE SERVING THE PUBLIC INTERESTS

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the fbi-vault collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 25 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.