U.F.O. Files: The Untold Story

,•
:.·
...
~-
...,
;
.,_.
l
j
1
J
C.l.A. paper:"'»:WCDIS an Inter•
e5t in NICA .:;•.orpnizat6-I
stNCture ariil•notea that "this
group included - n.C..l.A.
and Derense lmellla- types
who advise on lnveatipllve
techniqua and NICAP-Gov-
emment relations." There are
presently three former C.l.A.
employ.- on lhe NICAP
board of directors, lncludln&
Charles 1-tbard, a congrw-
si-1 aide to Smlalor Barry
Goldwater, wbo Is himself a
NICAP board member; and
retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jo-
seph Beyan Ill. Bryan feels, as
he did back in 1959 when •1joined the board, thal U.F.0.'1
are inlerplaneiary. NICAP's
CUIT'elll presldenl Is Alan Hall,
a former C.l.A. coven -
p&oyeefor30years.
0
In 1166. mounlln& en-tent
from members of the press,•
Congaws and the scientific
community compelled the Air
Force to commillion an J8.
momh scientific study of
U.F.O.'s Wider lhecllrection of
Edward U. Condon. prof-r
of physics at lhe University of
Colorado. Tbe politically ex-
pedient lludy, in which -
third of the 91 cases examined
remained unidentified, relier·
ated official policy wilh -
-I twist: U.F.O. 's "educa-
ti-lly banned" scl-'c:llil-
clren wbo.,..... allowed to -
Kie.- lllldy lime to reed
books and .mapzine articles
about U.F.O.'s. Candon
wamed teachen to withhold
cncllt from any student
U.F.O. project. The Air Force
took the cue and dilbanded
project "Blue llocik" in 1•.
&.as than a decade later, Ille
White e-, perhaps In an at-
tempt to make pod Jimmy
caner's campeip promiM to
tell all allout U.F.O.'s, 11111-
pstecl via --- advisor
Frank Paws that pmllbly
NASA c:uulcl undertake a ....
vi- of any lllpiftcant new
findlnp since Condon'• study.
NASA examined the offer, but
AW no way to attack the pr•
lem on a sc:lelltlflc buts wi&ll-
out physical evidence. Tiiey
envisioned a public-relations
nighUnare If &hey were to ac-
cept IUCh a project, and 10 ....
jected ll. A frank, ift.houle
evaluation of NASA's opticms,
--... naced that a bands-
ofl altitude only beaaecl the
qumion. So in pod spirit. the
space qency offered 10 exam-
ine any piece of physical evi-
dence brvu&hl to II.I attention.
Thllt position led one Federal
aviation official to comment:
"II you aet a piece of the thin&,
fine. But don't botber me with
anythJn&elle.''
0
Ti- clays, the Air Force
admits to nothing more than a
"transitory Interest" in &be
~. althou&h mili-
~.
tary directives still ex1s1-· "F
reportin& U.F.O.'s. '"•..!
The C.l.A. is still -ry of'Gie
possibility that U.F.O. •s. may
be of Soviet origin. ''Tiie agen.
cy•s interest," Mys Katherine
Pherson. a public-affairs offi·
cer for tbe C.l.A., "'lies in Ill
responsibility to forewam
principally of the possibility
that a foreign power might de-
velop a - weapons .,.iem
that might exhibit pheucmena
that some might categorize as
a U.F.O. But there Is no pro-
gram to actively collect infor.
malion on U.F.0.'1." The
agency's interest cannot ~
denied, however, as two 1976
memos reveal.
The first, dated April 26.
states: "It does not seem lbat
the Government has any for.
mal program in progress for
the identification/solutian of
the U.F.O. phenomena. Dr.
(name deleted] feels that &hf!
efforts of independent re-
searchers, (phrase deleted). ·
are vital for further progrms :
in this area. At the sw-it 1·
time, there are offices and per·
-· within the apncy who
are monitoring lhe U.F.O.
phenomena, but apin, this is
not currently on an official
basis."
Another memo, dated July
14, and routed to the deputy
chief In the Office of Dewlap.
ment and Engineenna, rads:
"As you may recall, J men.
· tioned my own interwt in the
subject as well as the fact that
DCD [Domeslic Collection
Division) has been receiving
U.F.O. related material from
many of our S I< T (Science
and Technolol)r) sources who
a re presently conduclin& re.
lated research. T1-e scien-
tists include some who have
been associated with the
AaencY for years and whose
credentials remove them from
tbe'DUl~variety." . ~·. ; , :
0 ,............
If nothing else, the suc:cms
or the U.F.o. paper c:bue may
have lent U.F.O.'s a -...
or respectability tbat bas
eluded the subject for the past
lh1rd of a century. Thou&h It
appears that DO U.F.O. si&ht·
ing has ever rep..-lecl an
airborne Soviet or fanrian
threat, the pmsibillty lbat
such an event could occur re-
mains foremost in the cold-
war.conscious Government
mind. Should that threat come
to pus, military officials be-
lieve, our nation's sophisti·
cated defense system would
know about it before someone
gelling a glass of milk in the
middle of the night sees the
threat hovering outside the
kitchen window. Or so we are
made w understand the Air
Force's SMmingly nonchalant
advice·to the public: "If you
see a U.F.O. and you feel the
situation warrants it, call your
local police."•
.. :
. •\.
... '
.. ··.: 'J
....