Documents / FOIA release

2d af 1

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 3 pages · text from the file's own layer

This undated Air Force UFO fact sheet, filed as Attachment 2 in an Office of the Secretary of Defense release, traces UFO investigations from Project Sign in 1948 through Grudge to Project Blue Book. It gives yearly sighting counts from 1947 to 1969: 12,618 reports in all, 701 of them still unexplained. It records that Blue Book was ended on December 17, 1969 and lists its three conclusions: no threat to national security, no technology beyond present knowledge, and no evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles. It also notes that NASA declined to resume investigations in 1977.

On December 17, 1969 the Secretary of the Air Force announced the
termination of Project Blue Book.
The decision to discontinue UFO investigations was based on an
evaluation or a report prepared by the Univarsity of Colorado entitled,
"Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects;" a review of the Univer-
sity or Colorado's report ~Y the National Academy of Sciences; past
UFO studies; and Air Force experience investigating UFO reports for
two decades.
As a result of these investigations and studies, and experience
gained from investigating UFO reports since i948, the conclusions of
Project Blue Book were: (1) no UFO reported, investigated, and evalu-
ated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our
national security; (2) there has been no evidence submitted to or dis-
covered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as "unidentified"
represent technological developments or principles beyond the range
of present day scientific knowledge; and (3) there has been no evidence
indicating that sightings categorized as "unidentified" are extrater-
restrial vehicles.
With the termination or Project Blue Book, the Air Force regulation
establishing and controlling the program for investigating and analyzing
UFOs was rescinded. All documentation regarding the former Blue Book
investigation was permanently transferred to the Modern Military Branch,
National Archives and Records Service, 8th and Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, D.C. 20408, and is available for public review and analysis.
In 1977, President Carter asked the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) to look into the possibility of resuming UFO investi-
gations. After-studying all the facts available, they decided that
nothing would be gained by further investigation. The Air Force agrees
with that decision. If, however, firm evidence is found justifying
further investigation, an appropriate agency will be directed to under-
take the effort.
There are a number of universities and professional scientific
organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, which have considered UFO phenomena during periodic meetings
and seminars. In addition, a list of private organizations interested
in aerial pben~mena may be found in Gale's Encyclopedia of Associations
(Edition 8, Vol I, pp. 432-3). Such timely review of the situation
by private groups insures that sound evidence will not be overlooked
by the scientific community.
For further reference material, two documents are available from
the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce,
Springfield, VA 22151:
2
Attachment 2, pg 2

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FOIA release, from the osd collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.