Documents / Official release

Congressional, White House, UFO-related Constituent Correspondence, 1998

U.S. Government · 1998 · 86 pages · text from the file's own layer

This 1998 NASA file holds UFO-related letters from constituents that were forwarded by members of Congress, together with NASA's handling records. Senator Olympia Snowe forwarded letters from Maine residents, including a 12-year-old who asked for Roswell documents and listed a number of reported sightings. Senator Charles Grassley forwarded a question about astronaut UFO sightings. NASA's reply says it has no UFO program and has not withheld anything. The reply enclosed a NASA fact sheet and James Oberg's article, which explains the Gemini-4 McDivitt object as the spacecraft's own booster.

From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Released with redactions. This collection of documents, primarily from 1998, contains draft and final correspondence from the White House and the offices of members of Congress responding to constituent inquiries about Unidentified Flying Objects, or “UFOs.” These inquiries cover a diverse range of topics, including alleged UFO sightings by NASA astronauts, questions regarding the authenticity of photos collected during U.S. missions to Mars, alleged improper withholding of information by the U.S. Government, questions regarding the appropriateness of “UFO-related” governmental spending, and calls for congressional hearings regarding the nature and existence of “UFOs.” The official responses consistently state that, circa 1998, the U.S. Government is not aware of evidence supporting the existence of extraterrestrial technology, and that NASA does not actively investigate “UFOs.” The collection includes references to materials of both confirmed and unconfirmed authenticity, as provided by constituents, as well as references to historical, scientific literature addressing specific “UFO” sighting claims.

  • p. 66 …review of the University of Colorado's report by the National Academy of Sciences; previous UFO…
  • p. 80 …review ofthe University of Colorado's report by the National Academy of Sciences; previous UFO studies…
NASA FactsNational Aeronautics and
Space Administration
NASA Headquarters
Public Affairs Office
Code P
300 E Street SW
Washington DC 20546 FS-1997-01-017-HQ
The US Government and Unidentified Flying Objects
No branch of the United States Government is cwrently in
volved with or responsible for investigations into the possi
bility ofalien life on other planets or for investigating Uni
dentifiedFlyingObjects (UFO's). The US Air Force (USAF)
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) have had intennittent, independent investigations
ofthe possibility ofalien life onother planets; however, none
of these has produced factual evidence that life exists on
other planets, nor that UFO's are related to aliens. From
1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated UFO's; then in1977,
NASA was asked to examine the possibility of resuming
UFO investigations. After studying all of the facts avail
able, it was determined that nothing would be gained by
further investigation, since there was an absence oftangiole
evidence.
In October 1992, NASA was directed by Congress to begin
a detailed search for artificial radio signals from other civi
lizations under the NASA Towards Other Planetary Systems
(TOPS)/High Resolution Microwave Swvey (HR.MS) pro
gram (also known as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelli
gence project). Congress directed NASA to end this project
in October 1993, citing pressures on the US Federal budget
The HRMS did not detect any confmned signal before it
was stopped. However, similar work will continue in a more
limited manner through efforts ofprivate groups and through
academic institutions. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intel
ligence Institute (SETI Institute) in Mountain View, CA,
effectively replaced the Government project, borrowing the
signal processing system from NASA: The SETI Institute
is a nonprofit corporation conducting research in a number
offields including all science and technology aspects of as
tronomy and planetary sciences, chemical evolution, the ori
gin of life, biological evolution, and cultural evolution.
During several space missions, NASA astronauts have re
ported phenomena not immediately explainable; however,
in every instance NASA determined that the observations
could not be tenned "abnormal" in the space environment.
The 1947 to 1969 USAF investigations studied UFO's un
derProject Blue Book. The project, headquartered atWright
Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was terminated December
17, 1969. Ofthe total of12,618 sightings reported to Project
Blue Book, 701 remain "unidentified."
The decision to discontinue UFO investigations was based
on an evaluation of a report prepared by the University of
Colorado entitled, "Scientific Study ofUnidentified Flying
Objects;" a review ofthe University of Colorado's report by
the National Academy of Sciences; previous UFO studies;
and Air Force experience investigating UFO reports during
the 1940's, '50's and '60's. As a result ofexperience, inves
tigations, and studies since 1948, the conclusions ofProject
Blue Book were: (1) no UFO reported, investigated, and
evaluated by the Air Force was ever a threat to our national
security; (2) there was no evidence submitted to, or discov
ered by, the Air Force that sightings categorized as "uniden
tified" represented technological developments orprinciples
beyond the range of modem scientific knowledge; and (3)
there was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized
as "unidentified" were extraterrestrial vehicles.
With the termination ofProject Blue Book, the USAF regu
lation establishing and controlling the program for investi
gating and analyzing UFO's was rescinded. Documentation
regarding the former Project Blue Book investigation was
permanently transferred to the Modem Military Branch,
National Archives and Records Service, in Washington, DC
20408, and is available for public review and analysis.
Since the termination ofProject Blue Book, nothing has oc
cwred that would support a resumption of UFO investiga
tions by the USAF or NASA. Given the cwrent environ
ment of steadily decreasing defense and space budgets, it is
unlikely that the Air Force or NASA will become involved
in this type of costly project in the foreseeable future.

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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 86 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.