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Official reports, hearing transcripts, case files and releases: the paper behind the cases. 2,872 documents, 2,610 mirrored with their text, 53,529 pages indexed, so a search reads inside them and lands on the page.
New in the library The PURSUE files The Department of War's UAP release, mirrored in full: the videos, recordings and images, each beside its case file.Documents1,049 records · page 17
This document package is a March 19, 2002 White House memorandum from Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card, Jr., released by the Central Intelligence Agency. It tells agencies to protect records on weapons of mass destruction and other sensitive homeland security information. Attached is guidance from the Information Security Oversight Office and the Justice Department on classifying such records and handling them under FOIA. The package also contains the CIA response from Chief Information Officer Alan C. Wade, which describes enhancements to its review and release procedures.
This Central Intelligence Agency document, approved for release on 2002/05/23, is a partly legible intelligence report on an investigation into UFO sightings over offshore islands and the Taiwan Strait. It says the UFOs stayed visible for anywhere from two minutes to five or ten minutes and flew unaffected by wind, with similar objects sighted elsewhere. The investigating team believed the objects were possibly satellites, flying saucers, electronic jamming devices or psychological warfare balloons, and called those seen on 13 August man-made satellites.
This Central Intelligence Agency release, dated 2002-04-08, reproduces an intelligence information report about UFO sightings on the South Korean east coast and north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. It says the ROK Air Force Chief of Staff briefed security unit commanders in Seoul on 10 and 11 February 1970. Since early 1970, radar stations in Kangwon-do had tracked large balloon-shaped objects, assumed to be dirigibles, that entered ROK airspace and exploded. The Chief of Staff speculated they might be used to drop agents, propaganda or germs.
This is a CIA Information Review and Release (IRR) weekly executive summary covering 8 to 12 April 2002. It lists upcoming Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel meetings, delays in manuscript mail to the Publications Review Board, and FOIA website statistics. According to those statistics, the CIA's UFO collection was by far the most popular of its frequently requested records, with almost 1,900 visits. It also notes a 1956 Suez Crisis bulletin and several unusual FOIA requests.
This Central Intelligence Agency executive summary covers Information Review and Release activities for 13 to 17 May 2002. It reports NARA's release of declassified CIA records on Nazi war crimes and describes several FOIA requests, including ones on the Mt. Ararat anomaly and Operation Cyclone. It also notes a 1953 Director's Log entry on convening the Robertson Panel, which found no evidence of UFOs but recommended controlling UFO information. It observes that the CIA's UFO collection is one of the most requested on its FOIA website.
This declassified 1968 intelligence report was released through the CIA in 2002. It came from the US Defense Attache Office in Buenos Aires, dated 1 August 1968, and forwards a La Razon newspaper article on alleged USAF and CIA activities regarding UFOs. The article cites an APRO report which claims the Robertson panel was a CIA instrument, criticizes the Condon committee, and mentions a 1966 radar sighting over a North Dakota missile base. It also attaches a USAF message that asks for copies of the article.
This Department of Defense Intelligence Information Report, released by the Central Intelligence Agency, is dated 19 December 1968 and was filed from Vientiane, Laos. It quotes a 7/13AF intelligence message on low, slow radar returns near Nakhon Phanom RTAFB in Thailand. Helicopter checks of those returns found nothing. The message attributes such returns to balloons, birds, kites, temperature inversions and unreported Thai flights, and says there is no evidence of hostile activity. The report also notes an unidentified aircraft seen over Ban Thatong, Laos.
This is a US Defense Attache intelligence report from Wellington, New Zealand, approved by Colonel Lewis H. Walker, USAF, covering January to February 1968. It is filed under the CIA and dated 2002. It records information volunteered by National Airways Corporation pilot Captain B. L. Cathie, including his forthcoming book "Harmonic 33" and his claim that Auckland air traffic control radar tracked four fast objects on 14 January 1968. The attache describes Cathie as sincere and above average in mathematics, and notes that he is trying to prove an alien master plan.
This secret Air Force OSI report was prepared by OSI District 51 at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, and dated 6 September 1969. The archive release is attributed to the CIA. It covers a pilot's sighting on 24 August 1969 of what looked like a helicopter with folded rotor blades, plus a bright light, near the base. Royal Thai Army searches found nothing. The report concludes that the object was probably a village religious procession carrying ceremonial drums on poles and a powerful lantern. It also notes that earlier UFO reports at the base had possible explanations.
This US Department of State airgram was sent by the American Ambassador in Paris to the Department of State on 8 May 1968, with a copy to the US Mission to NATO. It reports that no serious study of UFOs is being conducted in France, though many amateurs are interested. M. Salmon of ONERA said any government work would be coordinated through ONERA. General R. Lehagre of the Secretariat General de la Defense National stated that there were no ongoing French military contracts to study UFOs.
This Central Intelligence Agency executive summary, sent 9 July 2002, reports Information Review and Release activities for 1 to 5 July 2002. It lists upcoming ISCAP meetings and FOIA requests, including one from a Kokomo, Indiana requester seeking the CIA's public statement on UFOs and extraterrestrials. It also notes that a 1976 report on Chinese advanced weapons was denied, and that the CIA Declassification Center found about 300,000 pages of 25-year-old classified material at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
This is a Freedom of Information Act follow-up letter from the Central Intelligence Agency, dated 9 July 2002 and signed by Information and Privacy Coordinator Kathryn I. Dyer, replying to Porfirio Garcia's request F-2002-00503. On UFOs, the CIA says it already sent him "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90" on 12 April 2002. It encloses one 103-page map document (MORI 177294) and charges no fee.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 26 January 1965 and released in 2002, was sent by Donald F. Chamberlain, Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, to the Director of Central Intelligence. It reviews recent publicized reports, including the 1963 Sunnyvale incident, the 1964 Gemini launch and the December 1964 Patuxent radar case. It finds no evidence that UFOs are foreign or a security threat and concurs with Air Force conclusions. Attached Air Force statistics cover 1954 to 1964.
This is a weekly Central Intelligence Agency Information Review and Release news summary for 4 to 8 November 2002, approved for release in 2019. It lists upcoming meetings of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel and the Historical Review Panel. It reports that CIA's FOIA website drew over 1,000 users per weekday in October 2002, with declassified UFO documents the most popular collection. It also notes several FOIA requests and a Declassification Center item on Allen Dulles and the 1960 U-2 incident.
This is a FOIA request letter to CIA Director George J. Tenet, dated March 21, 2003, from a private requester. It asks for information on three subjects: the July 1947 Roswell, New Mexico crash reported by Mac Brazel and investigated by Major Jesse Marcel, the "Operation Majestic" (MJ-12) document, and the secret Nevada base Area 51 (S-4). The requester also asks for a picture of the Director. The letter carries CIA inspection stamps and redactions.
This is a final response letter the Central Intelligence Agency sent on 11 April 2003 to Katrina Taylor under the Freedom of Information Act. It answers her request for records on Roswell, MJ-12 and Area 51. The CIA says it has no information on the Roswell incident, found no Majestic 12 records in two earlier searches, and will neither confirm nor deny that Area 51 records exist. It offers 2,748 previously released UFO pages and describes the Robertson Report.
This CIA Information Review and Release newsletter covers the week of 14 to 18 April 2003. It lists upcoming meetings of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel and the Historical Review Panel. It also summarizes FOIA requests, including one about JFK Jr. from high school students and one from Stephen Aftergood, who had complained about UFO enthusiasts and Noah's Ark searchers using up FOIA resources. It closes with an External Referral Working Group meeting on Executive Order 13292 and a new automatic declassification deadline of 31 December 2006.
This is a weekly Central Intelligence Agency Information Review and Release newsletter for 28 April to 2 May 2003, released in 2019. It reports that CIA won a FOIA lawsuit brought by Inna Livshits and summarizes several FOIA requests. One came from a Woodland, California student asking about the alleged Roswell UFO crash, Majestic 12 and Area 51. CIA replied that it has no information on Roswell and found no Majestic 12 records, and it neither confirms nor denies that Area 51 exists.
This CIA Information Review and Release newsletter covers the week of 23 to 27 June 2003. It lists upcoming meetings of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel and notes the 31 December 2006 automatic declassification date. It describes a FOIA request from a New Jersey eighth grader researching UFOs, who was referred to 2,748 pages of released UFO material and sent the Studies in Intelligence article on CIA's role in studying UFOs. It also covers archival items, including a 1975 memo that warned Laos could fall and letters to DCI Hillenkoetter.
This CIA-released item, approved for release on 2003/07/08, is a 1959 mailing from Dr. Leon Davidson of White Plains, New York, addressed to Allen W. Dulles at the Central Intelligence Agency. It is a flyer that advertises a planned serial book called "Flying Saucers: Weapons of the Cold War," to run to 25 chapters, and includes the chapter list and a subscription form. The chapter titles describe the saucer story as psychological warfare shaped by the CIA. The mailing also offers copies of Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum for record, released in 2003, was written by the Deputy Division Chief of the Applied Science Division, Scientific Intelligence. It describes a 22 May 1958 meeting about how to answer two letters from Leon Davidson on UFOs. The reply would acknowledge receipt and say the matter was an Air Force concern. It also records a 23 May telephone call with Major L. J. Tacker, USAF, who said he had already answered Davidson and asked whether Admiral Hillenkoetter had been contacted.
This CIA release, approved in 2003, holds the report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, dated 17 January 1953 and signed by H.P. Robertson as chairman along with Berkner, Goudsmit, Alvarez and Page. The panel concluded that UFOs posed no direct physical threat to national security and gave no evidence of hostile foreign artifacts. It recommended stripping UFOs of their special status and reassuring the public. The copy was mailed to Allen Dulles by Leon Davidson in 1958.
This CIA memorandum to the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, released in 2003, answers a question from Major Keyhoe about claims that CIA agents stopped UFO witnesses from making their sightings public. It says the claim probably misreads Agency policy. Sources are asked to keep their relationship with the Agency confidential, but the information they hold belongs to them, and they may reveal or withhold it as they judge best.
This CIA file, released in 2003, holds a newspaper reprint, stamped September 1967, of talks given at an American Society of Newspaper Editors meeting. Dr. James E. McDonald of the University of Arizona argued that the Air Force had mishandled UFOs for 20 years, criticized the Robertson Panel's debunking recommendation, and called for a congressional inquiry. Dr. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard replied that sightings have optical, radar mirage and psychological explanations and that Project Blue Book should be closed.
This file comes from the Central Intelligence Agency and carries a date of 2003-11-14. It holds a letter to the editor by Robert Barrow of Syracuse, printed in the Syracuse Post-Standard in January 1967. The letter looks back on UFO activity in 1966. It mentions the March Michigan sightings, a pilot paced by a UFO over Sebring, Florida, RCAF witnesses on Prince Edward Island and repeat sightings at Wanaque, New Jersey. It also notes James McDonald's criticism of the Air Force, a 1953 CIA report and the start of the University of Colorado study.
This is a Baltimore Sun wire story from Tucson, dated October 7, and kept in the CIA's files, where it was approved for release in 2004. It reports a charge by University of Arizona physicist Dr. James E. McDonald that the CIA ordered the Air Force to "debunk" UFO stories, an order he said he found attached to the 1953 Robertson Report at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Maj. Hector Quintanilla of Project Blue Book rejected the charge. The article also notes a University of Colorado UFO research grant of about $300,000.
This is a short Washington Daily News item dated March 2, 1967, kept in CIA files and approved for release on February 10, 2004. It reports that Dr. James E. McDonald, a physicist at the University of Arizona, said in Tucson that the Air Force team investigating UFO reports had whitewashed the subject. He estimated there are probably 10 times as many unexplained UFOs as the study indicated and called the Air Force probe superficial and incompetent.
This is a UPI news article dated October 8 from Tucson, Arizona, kept in a CIA file and approved for release in 2004. It reports that University of Arizona physicist James McDonald believes some UFOs come from outside the atmosphere and are controlled by thinking beings. He rejected Air Force explanations such as swamp gas and ball lightning and called the Air Force investigation method a scientific scandal. The article also notes that the Air Force commissioned Colorado University to run a UFO study.
This CIA file holds a UPI news article datelined Tucson, Arizona, October 8, and carries a 2004 date. It reports that James McDonald, a senior physicist at the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Physics, believes some UFOs come from outside the atmosphere and are controlled by thinking beings. McDonald rejects Air Force explanations such as swamp gas and ball lightning and calls its investigation method a scientific scandal. The article also notes the Air Force commissioned a Colorado University flying saucer study.
This CIA-held clipping is a Reuters article from the Philadelphia Inquirer of July 9, 1967, datelined Sydney. Physicist James McDonald said flying saucers were visiting Earth and that governments, backed by the CIA, ran a program to debunk them. He added that he did not see a CIA cover-up, only an effort to sweep the problem under the carpet. McDonald had recorded 70 Australian witnesses and cited cases he considered authentic, including a New Guinea sighting by a clergyman and 30 others.
This Washington Star article by Robert Walters is held in CIA files and dated 2004-01-06. It reports that physicist James E. McDonald told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that a 1953 CIA proposal to debunk flying saucers was adopted by the Robertson committee and still sits in a classified report. McDonald called the Air Force's handling of UFOs superficial and asked for a congressional inquiry. Project Blue Book head Maj. Hector Quintanilla disputed him, citing Blue Book's conclusions.
This newspaper article, held in the files of the Central Intelligence Agency and dated 2004-01-06 in the archive, reports claims by Dr. James E. McDonald, a University of Arizona physicist. McDonald says the CIA ordered the Air Force to debunk UFO reports, and that the order was attached to the 1953 Robertson Report and signed by Philip G. Strong. He argues that no real scientific investigation has been done. He cites a police pursuit from Ravenna, Ohio, to Conway, Pennsylvania, and says Air Force regulation 200-2 blocks the release of reports.
This item, released by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2004, is a 24 April 1967 John Herald piece titled "UFO's and the CIA." It reports Dr. James E. McDonald's charge that in 1953 the CIA asked the Air Force to debunk flying saucers, based on CIA testimony before the Robertson Panel. McDonald linked this to Air Force Regulation 200-2 and to limits on releasing radar data. The piece argues that the CIA disregarded legal limits on domestic activity and that Congress must regulate the agency.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency Information Review and Release (IRR) weekly newsletter covering 19 to 23 January 2004. It summarizes a meeting of the External Referral Working Group on declassification plans and a planned expansion of the NARA Referral Center. It also lists new FOIA requests and archival items, including Richard Nixon's 1953 speech to a CIA orientation course. A short item notes that in 1978 the Agency regularly sent requesters a UFO information package for $11.80 in copying charges.
This Central Intelligence Agency release contains the report of a Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects. The panel met at the request of the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence and reviewed evidence, mainly from the Air Technical Intelligence Center. It concluded that UFOs posed no direct physical threat to national security, but that continued emphasis on reporting them could clog communications and invite hysteria. It recommended stripping UFOs of their special status and educating the public. Three further pages are exempt.
This is a secret Intelligence Advisory Committee memorandum, IAC-D-67, dated 18 February 1953 and signed by Secretary James Q. Reber. The CIA approved it for release in 2004. It sends the committee the report of a scientific panel on unidentified flying objects, along with a summary of the evidence and a list of the participants. It proposes giving copies to the Secretary of Defense and civil defense officials, and states that CIA concluded no National Security Council Intelligence Directive on the subject is warranted.
This Central Intelligence Agency Information Review and Release newsletter covers the week of 19 to 23 April 2004. It reports on an External Referral Working Group meeting at NARA, a new Joint Referral Center, and declassification work at the Presidential Libraries. It also notes that the CIA FOIA website passed one million hits, with "UFO" the top search keyword. It summarizes several FOIA requests and archival items, including 1947 to 1949 letters with the Nuremberg war crimes counsel and a 1978 NSC memo.
This CIA memorandum for the record, dated 16 May 1958 and written by the Assistant to the Legislative Counsel, describes a meeting between CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and Air Force representatives about unidentified flying objects. The Air Force planned a press release to dispel the mystery around the 1953 flying saucer report and a reply to Dr. Leon Davidson, with references to CIA convening the panel deleted. The Air Force also raised concern about Admiral Hillenkoetter's association with Major Kehoe's group.
This Central Intelligence Agency excerpt, dated 28 June 2004, comes from the agency history The CIA and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs. It says that U-2 flights above 60,000 feet caused a sharp rise in UFO reports, mostly from airline pilots who saw sunlight glinting off the planes' silver wings. According to the text, Air Force Operation BLUE BOOK investigators compared these reports with CIA U-2 flight logs. The history concludes that U-2 and OXCART flights accounted for more than half of all UFO reports in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s.
This is an internal Central Intelligence Agency newsletter, Information Review and Release (IRR) News, covering the week of 26 to 30 July 2004. It lists upcoming classification appeals panel meetings and recaps FOIA requests: one about the Lumumba murder, one questioning CIA electronic information gathering, and one on how the CIA defines operational files. It also reports a CREST-like system installed at the Ford Presidential Library and includes archive excerpts on Pope John Paul II's 1979 visit to Poland and on Soviet interrogation methods. It does not discuss UFOs.
This CIA file, dated 2004-09-17, holds a clipping from the St. Paul Pioneer Press of 18 January 1979. The article reports a claim by William Spaulding, director of Ground Saucer Watch in Phoenix, Arizona, that the CIA and the Air Force conspired to cover up UFO surveillance of military bases. Spaulding says 1,000 pages of CIA documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act suit support the charge. He also says five former intelligence officers will testify.
This item, released by the Central Intelligence Agency with a 2004 release stamp, is a tabloid article from MIDNIGHT/GLOBE titled "Revealed: the CIA's Secret UFO File." It reports claims by Bill Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch that the CIA, rather than the Air Force, is suppressing UFO evidence, and describes the group's Freedom of Information Act suit. It recounts an Iranian jet intercept of a UFO near Teheran and a NORAD directive on 1975 UFO overflights of Strategic Air Command bases.
This Central Intelligence Agency file, dated 2004-09-17, contains a short news brief headed "National and International News in Brief." It reports an accusation by William H. Spaulding, a Phoenix aerospace engineer and director of the UFO study group Ground Saucer Watch. Spaulding says the CIA and the Air Force conspired to cover up UFO surveillance of military bases. He says 1,000 pages of documents, obtained from the CIA the previous month through a Freedom of Information Act suit, prove the government suppressed significant findings.
This is a newspaper article held in Central Intelligence Agency files and approved for release in 2004. It reports from Acapulco on the First International Congress on the UFO Phenomenon, where researchers said scientific respect for UFO study was growing. The article quotes J. Allen Hynek on a survey of astronomers and on Project Blue Book as a public-relations effort. It also quotes Ground Saucer Watch's William Spaulding, who alleged CIA suppression of UFO data, and Jacques Vallee on a destroyed satellite-tracking tape.
This is a September 18, 2004 appeal letter from researcher Larry W. Bryant to the Central Intelligence Agency's Agency Release Panel, released by the CIA in 2025. It challenges FOIA manager Scott Koch's September 9, 2004 denial of a records-search fee waiver under reference F-2004-01956, which placed Bryant in the commercial requester category. Bryant cites his writing credits, including a book on UFO politics at the White House. He says he will seek judicial relief in federal court if the denial stands.
This CIA release, approved on 22 July 2010, contains a 18 September 2004 email from researcher Larry W. Bryant to the CIA Agency Release Panel. In it he appeals CIA FOIA manager Scott Koch's 9 September 2004 denial of his request for a waiver of records-search fees. Bryant argues that he is an independent writer-researcher and news-media requester, not a commercial one, and cites his work for FATE magazine and a forthcoming book on UFO politics. He says his attorney, Mark S. Zaid, would file suit if the denial stands.
This CIA FOIA release, received in December 2004, holds two emails from researcher Larry W. Bryant to the CIA Director about FOIA request F-2004-01956. On September 18, 2004, Bryant appealed the denial of his request for a records-search fee waiver, which he had sought as an independent writer researching the "McCarthy Saga". His December 5, 2004 follow-up said his attorney, Mark S. Zaid, would file a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia around December 27, 2004.