Documents / Report
This declassified 1949 Army General Staff file collects Plans and Operations Division routing sheets and memoranda about flying saucers. On 24 February 1949, prompted by radios from Kirtland AFB, P&O asked the Intelligence Division for an evaluation. The ID study found about 20 percent of some 210 incidents explained, mostly as weather balloons. It found no evidence of foreign activity and said the rest were probably natural phenomena. In April the ID said it could not verify Walter Winchell's broadcast claim that the saucers were Russian guided missiles.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This file contains an Evaluation Study of the Phenomenon (Flying Saucers) prepared at the request of the Plans & Operations Divisions of the General Staff, U.S. Army (P&O, GSUSA) to determine if the origin could be traced to natural phenomena or the activities of a foreign power.
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being chosen as the new Military Governor of Russian Germany. Western observers here feel the switch means that from now on the real executive power in the Russian occupation will be wielded by civilians. It's expected that the Soviet Union's highest civilian representative here, Ambassador W.S. (Seminov ?), will be the Politburo's key man in Germany. Heretofore, he served as Sokolovsky's political adviser, but his office has gradually been given more importance, and he has taken over a number of the functions formerly exercised by Sokolovsky. American political experts think Sokolovsky's replacement is closely tied up with the formation of an Eastern Germany Communist state. They point out that it would be decidedly advantageous to the Russians, for propaganda purposes, to have control of such a state in the hands of an ambassador rather than a military man. A minority group here feels that the Russians want to call off the blockade. These observers think Sokolovsky's recall really means the Soviets are getting out of Germany--the man most closely associated with a policy that failed. DREW PEARSON(ABC): Berlin, exclusive--Gen. Clay has sent a very discouraging report to Washington. He says that American efforts to make the Germans more democratic have failed, almost completely, that the Germans are openly talking about the need of a new leader to restore Germany to its former power. What is even more tragic, anti-Semitism and strong-arm tactics are on the increase. Gen. Clay's report is so gloomy it probably will never be published. 3 April 149-8 ROBERT S. ALLEN(MBS):...One of the questions being discussed in the secret Foreign Ministers' Conference in Washington is increasing industrial production in Germany...The new plan is to raise that (limitation of German output to the 1936 production) to the 1938 level--the year before Hitler ran amok. France is strongly against this scheme which is being urged by U.S. military and financial interests. 3 April 149-8 H.V. KALTENBORN(NBC):...Schuman, more than Bevin or Acheson, will determinethe success or failure of these (Washington) discussions. For good historic reasons France fears Germany...If we go on destroying German industrial plants because they might some time produce arms, we will prevent German and European recovery. The six billions we spent last year, and the five billions we propose to spend this year to restore Europe could easily be wasted if 50 million Germans in the heart of Europe could not become self-supporting. With all the food and minera resources of Eastern Germany in Russian hands, Western Germany must become a strong industrial state to live. 1 April 149-10 WALTER WINCHELL(ABC): The State Department--Jack McCloy can have the top job at Berlin. "Chips" Bohlen is slated for Minister to Paris, the number two spot. Nobody wants to be the Ambassador to Moscow. The latest to turn it down is Ambassador Caffery, now in Paris. DREW PEARSON(ABC): New York--A display of German-manufactured goods, many sponsored by former Nazis, will open in New York on Saturday--much worse than the music of Walter Geiseking. 3 April 149=12 WILLIAM L. SHIRER(MBS):...For the first time since before the war there will be an exhibition in this country of German industrial products. The German industrial exhibit, under the auspices of the Military Government, opens here, in New York, Saturday. A lot of people here don't like the idea, and there may be some trouble. They say they don't object to the Germans trying to do a little honest business like everyone else, but they hate to see the Nazis coming back under our auspices. Gen. Clay has said not a Nazi will be allowed to go to New York to show his wares, but there's no doubt, either, that many of these German firms exhibiting here are run by the Nazis, either openly or secretly...This may surprise you, but your Government will support Fascist Dictator Franco at the meeting of the U.N. Assembly which opens Tuesday... WALTER WINCHELL(ABC): Lt. Col. Paul T. Graves goes on trial next Tuesday at Ft. Dix. The charge is embezzlement. Many top generals will testify for him. It will be another battle of the brass which the U.S. Army would like to keep quiet--very much. 3 April 1914 ROBERT S. ALLEN(MBS): Military Meddler: Two U.S. Senators are quietly
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Report, from the pursue 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.