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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 5
This 1956 Central Intelligence Agency memorandum to the Deputy Director for Intelligence is signed by Herbert Scoville Jr., Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence. It answers questions about a UFO report in the French magazine Match, which it says lacks enough information for identification and appears exaggerated. The memo says Air Force Blue Book investigations cut unknown cases from 25 to 10 per cent, and it confirms liaison with the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center. It also expects a close approach of Mars in September 1956 to prompt more reports.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 26 March 1956, was sent by Deputy Director/Intelligence Robert Amory, Jr. to the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence. It points to an article in the 17 March 1956 issue of the French magazine MATCH about a radar photograph of a mysterious celestial object that an airline pilot also reported seeing. Amory asks whether the agency keeps in touch with the Air Force center on foreign sightings. Noting that Mars would soon make an unusually close approach to Earth, he urges the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) to keep following the subject so it can refute spectacular published reports.
This is a CIA memorandum, prepared in the Office of Scientific Intelligence and dated 13 April 1956, from H. Marshall Chadwell's office, signed by Herbert Scoville Jr., Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence. It answers a query about a flying saucer article in a French magazine. The article gave too little information to identify the object. The memo notes that the office keeps close liaison with the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center on foreign and domestic reports. It adds that Mars will make a close approach on 7 September 1956, which may bring a wave of sighting reports.
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, received 17 April 1956, concerns Hungary. It passes on a November 1955 letter that a source got from a niece in Budapest. According to the letter, fast "flying saucers (rockets)" had made people nervous for several weeks and kept scientific groups busy, with estimated speeds of 12 thousand per hour. A sketch of the objects' formation and suspected course came with the letter. The source noted that this was the first time the niece had mentioned such objects.
This Central Intelligence Agency release gathers financial records for MKULTRA Subproject 52, with dates running from 1955 to 1964. It includes invoices, certifications, vouchers, receipts, bank statements and expense notebooks for a chemical consultant who was paid to procure and prepare specified chemicals for TSD/BB. The project records describe novel chemicals that could not be obtained through normal channels, among them tetrahydroacridine, dimethyltryptamine and 4-hydroxytryptophan. The documents contain no UFO material.
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, dated 4 July 1956, relays a source's account of fast-moving flying objects over Stalingrad in spring 1954. While convalescing from jaundice at a military hospital near the Barrikady works, the source and other patients twice saw an unknown object cross from horizon to horizon, heading southeast to northwest and apparently climbing. The object itself was not visible. It caused strong air vibration, a screeching, whistling noise unlike an artillery shell, and a visible disturbance around it.
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, dated 2 August 1956, collects unevaluated accounts from a source. The source says that in spring 1954, while in a military hospital near Stalingrad, they twice saw an unseen object cross the sky with strong air vibration and a screeching noise. The report also describes a May 1956 radar observation of a fast high-altitude formation reported to Hungary's Ministry of Defense, along with a wave of Hungarian flying saucer reports that officials dismissed as a myth.
This CIA letter from Director Allen Dulles to Representative Gordon H. Scherer answers the congressman's letter of 15 September 1955, which enclosed a letter from Thomas Eickhoff about George Adamski's book Inside The Space Ships. Dulles says the questions fall largely outside CIA jurisdiction, because mail fraud is a law enforcement matter that the National Security Act bars the Agency from handling. He adds that CIA does not comment on the truth of published material or the authenticity of the book's pictures. He suggests the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation instead.
This Central Intelligence Agency file holds routing slips and a memo titled Report of Unidentified Flying Object, written by an agency employee. The employee saw a red flare-like object at night on 6 December 1956 while watching test 3018, the launch of a Viking rocket that was the first on the Vanguard program. The object flew north at an estimated 750 to 1000 miles per hour and then turned east. Comments added on 4 January 1957 say the Air Force ruled out aircraft and weather balloons, and camera plates showed nothing.
This CIA internal-use-only routing slip carries an attached memo dated 10 December 1956 titled Report of Unidentified Flying Object. A CIA employee reports that during a missile test launched from Cape Canaveral early on 8 December 1956, identified as a Viking rocket, the first on the Vanguard program, they saw a reddish light with two short tails. The light kept pace with the missile, then turned east. Added comments dated 1 January 1957 say the Air Force ruled out aircraft and weather balloons, and camera plates showed nothing.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 11 January 1957, went from the Chief of the Liaison Division, Office of Central Reference, to the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Air Force, for the attention of Colonel Charles E. Taylor. It forwarded attached correspondence about a reported sighting of an unidentified flying object for whatever action the Air Force considered appropriate. It also asked that the CIA receive a copy of any report produced if an investigation followed.
This Central Intelligence Agency letter, dated 8 January 1957 and signed by Director Allen W. Dulles, replies to Senator Margaret Chase Smith of the United States Senate. Dulles thanks her for her letter of 2 January 1957, which enclosed a letter from Mrs. Vincent J. Perry of Mexico, Maine. He says the CIA will forward Mrs. Perry's letter to the proper authorities for action. The text gives no details about what her letter contained.
This Central Intelligence Agency letter, dated January 1957, was signed by Herbert Scoville, Jr., Assistant Director, and sent to Mr. John P. Anderson of Cocoa Beach, Florida. It acknowledges receipt of Anderson's letter of 4 January 1957, which reported an unidentified flying object. Scoville thanks him for the report and for his additional comments. The letter says nothing about what was seen and gives no analysis or conclusion. It carries an Office of Scientific Intelligence routing notation dated 16 January 1957.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency letter dated 8 January 1957 from Director Allen W. Dulles to Senator Margaret Chase Smith. Dulles thanks the senator for her letter of 2 January 1957, which enclosed a letter from Mrs. Vincent J. Perry of Mexico, Maine. He says the CIA will make sure that letter is forwarded to the proper authorities for action. The reply does not describe what Mrs. Perry's letter contained.
This is a short Central Intelligence Agency letter dated 16 January 1957 from Herbert Scoville, Jr., Assistant Director, to Mr. John P. Anderson of Cocoa Beach, Florida. It acknowledges receipt of Anderson's letter of 4 January 1957, which reported an unidentified flying object, and thanks him for the report and for the additional comments he appended. The letter gives no details of the sighting and draws no conclusions. A distribution list shows copies routed within the agency, including to the Office of Scientific Intelligence.
This Central Intelligence Agency routing slip, dated 4 February 1957, carries an attached memorandum dated 11 January 1957. In the memo, Earlee A. James, Chief of the Liaison Division in Central Reference, forwards correspondence about a reported sighting of an unidentified flying object to the U.S. Air Force Director of Intelligence, attention Colonel Charles E. Taylor. It asks that the CIA receive a copy of any investigation report. The routing slip is marked "File UFO."
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, dated 1 March 1957, relays a source's account from Hungarian engineer associates. It describes a May 1950 alert in which air defense radar observed a formation of unknown objects flying east at about twenty-five thousand meters at extreme speed, which air defense had no weapons to intercept. It also notes near-daily Hungarian flying saucer reports in May and June 1950, which experts at the War Technical Institute judged nonexistent or US propaganda, and an official announcement called a myth.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable, dated 4 March 1957, reports that the Director of Central Intelligence received a letter from Leon Davidson of White Plains, New York. Davidson referred to earlier correspondence about a recording, asked for Agency cooperation in learning what a code message revealed, and said he had recently testified before the House Subcommittee on Government Information. The sender says copies of that testimony are being obtained and asks how the correspondence began and for any background on Davidson.
This undated-year cable, released by the Central Intelligence Agency and catalogued under 2 April 1957, is a short follow-up message sent from Chicago. It points to an earlier case and telephone conversation and asks what progress has been made. The sender says the correspondence is more than a month old and warns that delay adds "more fuel to the fire." It also says that people at Wright Field are waiting for advice, and it asks for a prompt reply.
This Central Intelligence Agency file, dated 1957, pairs a letter from Leon Davidson to the Director of Central Intelligence with a CIA reply addressed to Davidson in White Plains, New York. The reply, signed by an Assistant to the Director, refers to Davidson's 21 April 1957 letter to Mr. Dulles. It states that a survey of the intelligence community found the item in question was analyzed by another government agency, and that the Air Force would soon write to answer his query about the nature of the recording.
This is a short Central Intelligence Agency letter to Leon Davison of White Plains, New York, signed by J. Arnold Shaw, Assistant to the Director, on behalf of Allen Dulles. It is catalogued under 5 April 1957, and its distribution line is dated 9 May 1957. Shaw writes that the tape recording Davison mentioned was analyzed by another government agency. He adds that Davison will hear directly from that agency about the nature of the recording. The letter was approved for release in 1975.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable, dated 25 April 1957, reports that the Director of Central Intelligence received a letter from Leon Davidson of White Plains, New York. Davidson asked for information about a recording and for Agency cooperation in learning what its code message revealed. He also said he had recently testified before the House Subcommittee on Government Information. The sender asks the recipient how the correspondence with Davidson began and requests any background information on him.
This untitled Central Intelligence Agency cable from the Chicago office, dated April 26, 1957, reports on two letters received from Davidson asking for information on UFOs. In the first, dated March 6, he asked whether a tape had been analyzed at ATIC, Wright Field. The reply said the tape had gone to the proper authorities and that no results were available. When Davidson asked where to direct his enquiries, he was referred to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he was apparently stalled.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum from the Planning and Coordination Staff, dated 2 May 1957, answers three questions about CIA work on UFOs. It says the Air Force and CIA both still follow the subject, and that Phil Strong of OSI is responsible for it. It recounts the 1952 to 1953 OSI panel study and the small remaining ATIC Blue Book effort, and reports that little of importance has been received. It also mentions a British and Canadian flying saucer design project run by the Canadians.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency routing memorandum dated 10 May 1957, sent from the Chief of the Contact Division (Support) to the Chief of the Chicago Office. It forwards an OSI memorandum about attempts to recover an analysis of a tape. It also forwards a memorandum to the DCI and a suggested letter for him to send to Mr. Leon Davidson, which it says was found acceptable. The Chicago Office is asked to tell the Air Force about the action taken and to obtain a copy of their letter to Davidson.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency letter dated 9 to 10 May 1957 from J. Arnold Shaw, Assistant to the Director, to Mr. Leon Davison of White Plains, New York. Shaw writes on behalf of Mr. Dulles to answer Davison's letter of April 21. The letter says the tape Davison mentioned was analyzed by another government agency, and that Davison will hear directly from that agency about the nature of the recording. The document was approved for release in 1975.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable dated 14 May 1957 is a short routine message from the Chicago office. It asks what progress has been made on a case, which was discussed earlier by telephone, and on related correspondence that is now more than a month old. The sender warns that further delay adds fuel to the fire. They also say people at Wright Field are waiting for advice. The cable asks for a prompt reply.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, signed by Philip G. Strong, Deputy Assistant Director/Collection, Scientific Intelligence, and addressed to the Deputy Director for Coordination, reports on contacts with Dr. M. K. Jessup about meteor study in Mexico and flying saucers. Jessup referred the Agency to Wayne Aho, who met with two CIA specialists. The memo attaches notes of that conversation and a George Dixon Washington Post column, and concludes the Agency has nothing to gain from further follow-up.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated June 5, 1957, records an interview with a person whose name is deleted, on the subject of unidentified flying objects. The subject is described as a calm Oakland businessman and WWII intelligence officer. He claimed extrasensory powers, invisible space ships traveling in a fourth dimension, and an encounter during a May 1957 trip to a Yucaipa Valley convention. There, he said, a light landed in the desert. The memo notes that no classified information was given.
This 11 June 1957 Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, from the Planning and Coordination Staff, answers three questions about how UFOs are being followed. It says the Air Force and the CIA both still follow UFOs and that OSI's Phil Strong is responsible for the subject at the CIA. It recounts the 1952 OSI panel and its January 1953 report and describes the small remaining ATIC effort left from Project Blue Book. It also reports a British and Canadian saucer-shaped aircraft project.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable, dated 1 July 1957, is a short message about a flying saucer letter connected with someone named Davidson. The sender says a copy of an ATIC letter had not been received, so they called Colonel Baird again. Baird said the letter had been sent and a copy was in the mail. He also expected Davidson to make further inquiries, and the sender says they are not sure they agree. The document carries release approval stamps.
This one-page Central Intelligence Agency information report, numbered CS-3,325.4.7 and dated 1957, covers a flying object seen on 12 June from Iranian Julfa on the Iran/USSR border. The object looked like a ball about half a meter across with a half-meter tail. It flew at high speed from Nakhichevan toward Soviet territory and was visible for only a few seconds. A field comment adds a second witness, who described the object as football-sized and said its smoke trail stayed visible for about 15 minutes.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable from Support, dated 2 July 1957 and marked case closed, is a short routine message about a reply owed to someone named Davidson. It says that, based on a conversation with ATIC, the DCI's office had been told Davidson would receive a reply. The cable asks whether the recipient got a copy of the letter to Davidson or was told it had been written. The sender wants to close the matter knowing for certain that the letter was sent.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 26 July 1957 and addressed to the Deputy Assistant Director for Collection, records an interview with a person whose name is deleted. The man worked in the lumber business in Oakland, California. He said he had extra sensory perception and could travel in the fourth dimension. He described saucer encounters, including a desert light seen during a May 1957 flight to attend a spacecraft convention. The memo notes that no classified information was given.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 31 July 1957, went from the Deputy Assistant Director for Collection, Scientific Intelligence, to the Deputy Director for Coordination about flying saucers. Staff contacted Dr. M. K. Jessup. He saw little agency interest in his meteor study in Mexico and referred them to Wayne Aho, who then met with CIA aircraft and geophysics specialists. The memo attaches notes of that conversation and a Washington Post column by George Dixon, and it concludes that further follow-up offers nothing to gain.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable dated 5 August 1957 concerns a flying saucer letter from Davidson. The sender reports that a copy of an ATIC letter had not been received, so they called Col. Daird again. Daird said the letter had gone out and a copy was in the mail, and that he expected Davidson to make further enquiry. The sender says they are not sure they agree. The document was approved for release on 24 March 1978.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum to the Acting Director, signed by Herbert Scoville Jr., assesses a UFO tracked by US radars on 20 September 1957 from eastern Long Island toward Buffalo at a reported 50,000 feet and 2,000 knots. It notes a break in the track, weather conditions known to produce false radar returns, and SAC training flights. It concludes that a Soviet operation is highly improbable and recommends that no IAC meeting be called.
This is a routine Central Intelligence Agency cable dated 20 August 1957 and marked as a closed case. It says that, after a conversation with ATIC, the sender told the office of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) that Davidson would receive a reply. The cable asks whether the recipient got a copy of the letter to Davidson or was told it had been written. The sender wants to close the matter knowing for sure that the letter was sent.
This Office Memorandum from the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence, dated 26 October 1957, was sent from the Chief of a division of OSI to the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence. It records that Robertson called to report an Air Force request for permission to declassify the conclusions of the "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects," which OSI organized in January 1953. The writer says the matter will be examined and that Maj. James F. Byrne should make direct contact.
This CIA memorandum to the Acting Director of Central Intelligence, signed by Herbert Scoville Jr., covers an unidentified flying object that US Air Defense Command radars tracked on 20 September 1957. The radars followed it from the eastern tip of Long Island toward Buffalo at a reported 50,000 feet and 2,000 knots. The Air Force pointed to a break in the track, weather that can produce false returns, and SAC B-47 jamming training. The memo concludes that a Soviet operation is highly improbable and recommends against calling an IAC meeting.
This 1957 Central Intelligence Agency letter from Deputy Assistant Director Philip G. Strong to Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner concerns an Air Force request to declassify the conclusions of the January 1953 Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects so the press could use them. Strong says Robertson and Goudsmit agree to release only paragraphs 2 and 4a. The Agency's link to the Panel would stay undisclosed. He asks whether Berkner agrees and whether his name may be used.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 1957 and released in 1975, forwards photographs of an unidentified flying object filmed by Ralph L. Mayher in 1952 on 16 mm movie film. It describes how the enlarged prints were processed and gives background from the source: a bright orange, saucer-shaped rotating object at an estimated 2,000 feet, in view for about three minutes. It notes that the original negatives are in Air Force hands.
This CIA office memorandum, dated 26 October 1957 and addressed to AD/SI, records a call from Robertson. The Air Force had asked him for permission to declassify the conclusions of the "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects," which OST organized in January 1953. The request came from Maj. James F. Byrne of AFCIN-X1A. The writer told Robertson the matter would be examined, asked that Byrne make direct contact, and planned to act on it on returning.
This undated Central Intelligence Agency cable, released in 1978, deals with Dr. Leon Davidson's demand for a verbatim translation of a supposed "space" message and the name of the transmitter that sent it. An ATIC letter from Captain Wallace W. Elwood had told Davidson the signal was identifiable Morse code from a known US licensed station. Davidson rejected that answer. The sender asks for the translation from ATIC to dismiss him and remarks that Davidson is no fool.
This Central Intelligence Agency memo, dated 1957 and approved for release on 24 Nov 78, records that on 10 Dec 57 an officer returned five flying saucer photographs to an unnamed person. That person asked for any evaluations of the photos and for permission to say on a planned TV show that an intelligence organization had found them of interest. The officer refused the second request and said the first was doubtful. The memo was forwarded to prevent any repercussions or flaps.
This Central Intelligence Agency cable, dated 4 November 1957, is a short internal message from a support office. It says no translation or further record exists beyond what the recipient already knows. It reports that a man named Davidson approached ATIC, was given the same answer, and asked for it in writing, which was refused. It notes that he has already received letters from ATIC and the DCI's office. It advises ignoring his letter unless it was registered.
This 1957 Central Intelligence Agency cable from the Chicago office reports a face-to-face contact with Leon Davidson, who was in Chicago for a scientific meeting. Davidson was writing an article for a space magazine and wanted either a translation of a message and its emitting station, proving a space message to be a hoax, or permission to show CIA and ATIC letterheads as proof that the government was avoiding his inquiries. The Chicago office asked to withdraw and urged headquarters and ATIC to satisfy him.
This is a cover letter dated November 5, 1957, from Philip G. Strong, a Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Assistant Director, to Dr. H. P. Robertson, Chairman of the Defense Science Board at the Pentagon. Following up on an earlier conversation about Unidentified Flying Objects, Strong sends Robertson a copy of a letter to the Air Force and the declassified version of the Panel Report. The release contains two nearly identical copies of the letter.