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The Panel began its review immediately after the Report became
available on November 15, 1968, by an initial reading of the Report
by each member of the Panel during a two-week period. The Panel convened
on December 2 for a discussion of members' initial assessments, for
consideration of the Panel's charge (scope, methodology, and findings
in the Report), and for delineatioh of further steps in its review.
The latter included the study of other documents presenting views and
findings of technically trained persons (e.g., the documents cited above),
further examination of the Report's summary and findings, and further
directed study of specialized chapters of the Report by appropriate
members of the Panel. Extensive discussion, both by correspondence
and by telellbone, occurred during this period. The Panel met again
on January 6, 1969, to conclude its deliberations and to trepa.re its
findings, which are presented below.
I. SCDPE
The study by the University of Colorado commenced in October 1966
and continued for about two years. Case studies of 59 reports of UFOs
are presented in detail, with 68 plates; of these, ten reports predated
the project, but were so well documented that they were included. A
chapter is devoted to UFOs in history, one to UFO study programs in
foreign countries, and one to UFOs reported in the 20 years preceding
the study. Ten chapters are devoted to perceptual problems, processes
of perception and reporting, psychological aspects of UFO reports, optics,
radar, sonic boom, atmospheric electric! ty and plasma interpretations, f~
balloons, instrumentation for UFO searches, and statistical analyses.
(Twenty-four appendixes add detailed technical background to the study.
Volume 4 concludes with an index of 27 pages.)
In our opinion the scope of the study was adequate to its purwse:
a scientific study of UFO phenomena.
II. METHODOLOGY
As a rule, field trips were made to investigate UFO reports only
if they were less than a year old. The Report states that nearly all
UFO sighting are of short duration, seldom last an hour and usually
for a few minutes. Thus most investigations consisted of interviews
with persons who made reports. Three teams, usually consisting of two
persons each (a physical scientist and a psychologist, were employed
in field investigations where telephonic comunication with UFO-sighting
individuals gave hope of gaining added information. The aim was to
get a team to the site as quickly as possible after a reported sighting.
(It was fotmd that nearly all cases could be classified in such categories
as pranks, hoaxes, naive interpretations, and various types of misinterpretations.
A few events, which did not fit these categories, are left unexplained.)
Materials and conditions amenable to laboratory approaches were_
investigated - e.g., alleged UFO ):Brts by chemical analysis, automobile
ignition failure by simulation studies, and UFO photography by photogrammetrir
analyses. (Of 35 photographic cases investigated, nine are said to
give evidence of probable fabrication, seven are classified as natural
Attachment 2, pg 6