Documents / Hearing transcript
This declassified transcript, released by the Office of the Under Secretary of War, records a March 1952 presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt on the U.S. Air Force's reorganized UFO investigation. Ruppelt says that of about 800 cases reviewed, roughly 20 percent were good reports from reliable observers that stayed unexplained. He notes clusters of reports near Los Alamos, Albuquerque and Oak Ridge and describes the Lubbock lights and their photographs in detail. He also covers reporting directives, classification and the upcoming Life magazine article.
“The Pentagon”1 page
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR 5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 20301 -5000 INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY Transcript of a Presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, 1952 This document is a transcript of a March 1952 presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt outlining the U.S. Air Force’s reorganized investigation into unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The presentation previews prospective technical methodologies, such as diffraction-grating photography and radar-scope synchronization, that were subsequently incorporated into Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force program active from 1952 to 1969 that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs. Ruppelt explains that out of approximately 800 historical cases reviewed by the Air Force, approximately 20% remained unexplained after technical analysis. These unresolved reports were sourced from credible military personnel, commercial pilots, and other qualified technical observers. He highlights geographic report concentrations around sensitive national security and nuclear weapons installations (including Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories) and notes recurring anomalous characteristics, including silent high- speed flight and radar detections indicating unconfirmed air speeds between 1,000 and 3,500 miles per hour. Emphasizing that the Air Force found no conclusive evidence regarding the nature or origin of the phenomena, Ruppelt underscores the national security need for a systematic physical data collection effort to better evaluate these sightings. Beginning of transcript. This medium has been declassified in compliance with applicable executive orders, statutes, and regulations. (Recording test) ...for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Now is the time for all good men... (Recording test) ...addressing them was by voice straight at the microphone and my mouth separated from the microphone by a distance of about 15 inches. I expect that the speaker will put out approximately this volume. And I will now, as before, turn around slowly and address my words toward the blackboard. This I am now doing, talking straight into the blackboard as if I were drawing some diagrams. I'm then going to turn around slowly again now to face the audience. I am separated from the microphone by a somewhat greater distance, as if I were slightly leaning backwards. (Recording test) ...play around the zero, that's the desirable level. If, for example, we turn the gain down... Now, now. So you see it's just about wide open and that'll pick everything in the room up. See how it jumps and is... Now let's see if we play it back. (Conversation) • "I can't hear you." • "Is there anything already on that tape now?"
Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 19 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.