UFOs: The Untold Story (NSA-held copy)

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

C.I.A. paper reveals an interest in NICA organizational structure and notes that "this group included some ex-C.I.A. and Defense Intelligence types who advise on investigative techniques and NICAP-Government relations." There are presently three former C.I.A. employees on the NICAP board of directors, including Charles Lombard, a congressional aide to Senator Barry Goldwater, who is himself a NICAP board member; and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Joseph Bryan III. Bryan feels, as he did back in 1959 when he joined the board, that U.F.O.'s are interplanetary. NICAP's current president is Alan Hall, a former C.I.A. covert employee for 30 years.

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In 1966, mounting discontent from members of the press. Congress and the scientific community compelled the Air Force to commission an 18month scientific study of U.F.O.'s under the direction of Edward U. Condon, professor of physics at the University of Colorado. The politically expedient study, in which one third of the 91 cases examined remained unidentified, reiterated official policy with one novel twist: U.F.O.'s "educationally harmed" schoolchildren who were allowed to use science study time to read books and magazine articles about U.F.O.'s. Condon wanted teachers to withhold credit from any student U.F.O. project. The Air Force took the cue and disbanded project "Blue Book" in 1969.

Less than a decade later, the White House, perhaps in an attempt to make good Jimmy Carter's campaign promise to tell all about U.F.O.'s, suggested via science advisor Frank Press that possibly NASA could undertake a review of any significant new findings since Condon's study. NASA examined the offer, but saw no way to attack the problem on a scientific basis without physical evidence. They envisioned a public-relations nightmare if they were to accept such a project, and so rejected it. A frank, in-house evaluation of NASA's options, however, noted that a hands-off attitude only begged the question. So in good spirit, the space agency offered to examine any piece of physical evidence brought to its attention. That position led one Federal aviation official to comment: "If you get a piece of the thing, fine. But don't bother me with anything else."

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These days, the Air Force admits to nothing more than a "transitory interest" in the phenomenon, although military directives still exist reporting U.F.O.'s.

The C.I.A. is still wary of the possibility that U.F.O.'s. may be of Soviet origin. "The agency's interest," says Katherine Pherson, a public-affairs officer for the C.I.A., "lies in its responsibility to forewarm principally of the possibility that a foreign power might develop a new weapons system that might exhibit phenomena that some might categorize as a U.F.O. But there is no program to actively collect information on U.F.O.'s." The agency's interest cannot be denied, however, as two 1976 memos reveal.

The first, dated April 26, states: "It does not seem that the Government has any formal program in progress for the identification/solution of the U.F.O. phenomena. Dr. [name deleted] feels that the efforts of independent researchers, [phrase deleted], are vital for further progress in this area. At the present time, there are offices and personnel within the agency who are monitoring the U.F.O. phenomena, but again, this is not currently on an official basis."

Another memo, dated July 14, and routed to the deputy chief in the Office of Development and Engineering, reads: "As you may recall, I mentioned my own interest in the subject as well as the fact that DCD [Domestic Collection Division] has been receiving U.F.O. related material from many of our S & T [Science and Technology] sources who are presently conducting related research. These scientists include some who have been associated with the Agency for years and whose credentials remove them from the 'nut' variety."

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If nothing else, the success of the U.F.O. paper chase may have lent U.F.O.'s a measure of respectability that has eluded the subject for the past third of a century. Though it appears that no U.F.O. sighting has ever represented an airborne Soviet or foreign threat, the possibility that such an event could occur remains foremost in the coldwar-conscious Government mind. Should that threat come to pass, military officials believe, our nation's sophisticated defense system would know about it before someone getting a glass of milk in the middle of the night sees the threat hovering outside the kitchen window. Or so we are made to understand the Air Force's seemingly nonchalant advice to the public: "If you see a U.F.O. and you feel the situation warrants it, call your local police."