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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.Documents1,073 records · page 19
This is a Washington Post article by Ward Sinclair from 3 November 1981, held in CIA files. It reports on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Citizens Against UFO Secrecy to force release of 131 secret National Security Agency documents on UFOs. Judge Gerhard Gesell had withheld them on national security grounds, and the case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The article also recounts retired sergeant Stephen Eichner's account of a 1975 object seen over Loring Air Force Base.
This Radio TV Reports transcript, prepared for the CIA's Public Affairs Staff, records a CBS Radio Network broadcast of November 3, 1981, with Bob Schieffer filling in for Dan Rather. The segment reports on Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUSE), led by Bronx lawyer Peter Gersten. The group sued under the Freedom of Information Act, and the CIA released 900 pages of UFO documents in 1979. CAUSE is now suing for National Security Agency files and argues that UFOs are a real military threat.
This Central Intelligence Agency foreign-documents report, distributed 23 August 1952, translates a Greek article published in an Athens daily newspaper on 9 July 1952. It relays the sworn statement of Oscar Linke, a former mayor of Gleimershausen who had fled the Soviet Zone. Linke said that he and his daughter Gabriella saw two men in shiny clothing beside a 13 to 15 meter object near Hasselbach. The object rose, spinning and ringed with flames, and flew off. The report marks the material as unevaluated.
This Central Intelligence Agency release, dated 2012-06-01, contains an English translation of a 1948 Soviet article by S. P. Tolstov and M. A. Orlov on archaeological aerial surveys in Khwarazm, Uzbekistan, during 1945 and 1946. It describes flight altitudes, lighting and camera methods for photographing ruins. The authors report flights of more than 9,000 kilometers that doubled the number of known monuments, located medieval cities and irrigation networks, and produced an archaeological map. It contains no UFO material.
This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA tasking record, case F-2012-01843, task 5217389, was produced for requester John Greenwald. The Defense Intelligence Agency referred documents to CIA for review of CIA equities in August 2012. The request asked for UFO documents released since FOIA request case 0292-97. The record holds the task details, a caution that the preliminary search is only a starting point, and an empty list of tasked documents. Much of it is redacted under exemptions (b)(3), (b)(5) and (b)(6).
This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA task record belongs to case F-2012-01843, requested by John Greenwald. It shows a referral from the Defense Intelligence Agency, sent on 15 August 2012 and returned on 11 September 2012. The subject is documents about UFOs released since FOIA request case 0292-97, and CIA was asked to review them for agency equities. The only comments are a forward for review and a concurrence. The document list and many details are redacted.
This Central Intelligence Agency file, declassified and approved for release on 2013/06/24, is a collection of published UFO photographs and captions. It includes images reported over Helsinki, Grenoble, Brazil, Bad Hersfeld, Upper Gornal, Hawthorne, Bulawayo and Salem, Massachusetts. It also has Cedric Allingham's 1954 Lossiemouth photographs, Palomar Gardens telescopic pictures from 13 December 1952, a Washington D.C. Airport radar plot, and Captain Jack Bicknell's sketch from near Mount Kilimanjaro. The file offers no analysis or conclusions.
This Central Intelligence Agency release, declassified and approved for release on 24 June 2013, is a collection of UFO photographs and pages from flying saucer books. It reproduces pictures including the Coniston saucer, the Trent photograph at McMinnville and a radar plot from Washington, D.C. Airport of 15 August 1952. The pages also discuss the Norwich sighting by F. W. Potter, the Bicknell sighting near Kilimanjaro, Maury Island and Farmington. The CIA adds no analysis of its own.
This CIA release, dated 2013-06-24, is an English translation of "UFOs: What Are They?", an article by F. Yu. Zigel' printed in the Soviet magazine Smena in February 1967. Zigel' reviews reported sightings, including the Mantell crash, Clyde Tombaugh's 1949 observation, Antarctic station reports and radar detections. He then weighs five explanations: hoaxes, optical illusions, secret aircraft, an unknown natural phenomenon and craft from other planets. He concludes that no hypothesis is final and that the phenomenon calls for careful scientific study.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency document with a release date of 2013-06-26. It is titled Guidance to UFO Photographers and gives ten steps for photographing a UFO. The steps cover camera settings, film, and shutter speed, and they ask for several pictures. The photographer should take shots from different spots to set a base line, then take a 360 degree series of the surrounding area and keep the original negatives safe. The document also includes a blank information sheet that asks for camera details, the date, time, direction, location and where the film was processed.
This CIA-released foreign broadcast report, dated November 2, 1954 and declassified in 2013, summarizes an October 30, 1954 Hungarian Home Service radio interview on flying saucers with Professor Jozsef Oveges and journalists Gomori and Tibor Peto. Oveges argued saucers could be neither earthly rockets nor probable spaceships, attributing sightings to atmospheric effects and a recent meteor over Hungary. Gomori and Peto described the saucer stories as mass hysteria organized for political purposes by imperialist forces.
This is a secret memorandum dated 17 February 1967 from the Chief of the Technical Intelligence Division to the Director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center. The CIA approved it for release in 2013. It reports a photo analysis of Polaroid pictures of an alleged UFO taken on the shore of Lake St. Clair, Michigan, which were supplied by the Air Force's Aerial Phenomena Office at Wright-Patterson AFB. It estimates the object's size from stated assumptions but calls the results inconclusive and says it found no definite evidence of a hoax.
This declassified CIA document, released in 2013, is F. C. Durant's memorandum of 16 February 1953 on the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects. The Office of Scientific Intelligence convened the panel from January 14 to 18, 1953, and Dr. H. P. Robertson chaired it. The memorandum gives a history of the meetings and the members' unofficial comments. The panel found no evidence of a direct threat to national security and rejected the Navy's analysis of the Tremonton film. It recommended an educational program to reduce public concern. The release also contains a later Air Force summary of a 1955 statistical study.
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum for the record, written by the Chief of NPIC's Technical Intelligence Division, describes a 5 May 1967 briefing for Dr. Edward Condon and colleagues on NPIC's analysis of the Zanesville, Ohio, UFO photographs. Condon called it the first scientific UFO analysis that would stand up to investigation. The group discussed moving future analysis to University of Colorado control, reviewing NICAP's photo files, and giving Polaroid cameras to police officers and pilots.
This CIA memorandum for the record, dated 23 February 1967 and written by the Chief of NPIC's Technical Intelligence Division, describes a 20 February 1967 visit by Dr. E.U. Condon and members of his University of Colorado UFO study team to NPIC. NPIC agreed to give only technical photogrammetric help, with no written reports or conclusions, and no reference to CIA. The group received briefings on photogrammetry, microdensitometry and analysis of UFO photographs.
This Central Intelligence Agency release, dated 2013-08-19, is a short excerpt from an article about UFOs. It reports that the government, perhaps the President, was expected before the end of the year to make "unsettling disclosures" about unidentified flying objects, based on CIA information. The text says such disclosures would reverse an official policy that had previously downplayed UFO incidents. The rest of the record is marked "Page Denied."
This newspaper article by Mort Young, Journal-American special writer, appears in a CIA release dated 2013. It reports that APRO of Tucson warned a Congressional investigation of UFOs might not be in the national interest and called for broader scientific study. House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford sought hearings on UFO sightings and Project Bluebook after Michigan reports, while NICAP and Donald Keyhoe accused the Air Force of suppressing evidence. A caption shows Kenneth Arnold's drawing of his 1947 sighting.
This Central Intelligence Agency release, dated 2014, contains a 1958 exchange between the National Security Council and Major Donald E. Keyhoe, Director of NICAP, about unidentified flying objects. In an October 14, 1958 memorandum, NSC Executive Secretary James S. Lay, Jr. forwards Keyhoe's October 1 letter and his reply to the Department of Defense, with copies to the CIA. Lay says he cannot discuss NSC policies. Keyhoe's letter asks whether the NSC controls UFO information policy and says NICAP has proof of CIA interest.
This is a letter to the editor of The Courant, signed by Neil J. Almquist and held in a Central Intelligence Agency release dated 2014-06-12. It quotes the revised Air Force Regulation 200-2 of 20 July 1962 on UFO interception, limits on releasing information to the press, and reporting to the Foreign Technology Division. The letter argues that UFOs are serious business, citing former CIA director Roscoe Hillenkoetter's call for open Congressional hearings, and refers readers to NICAP.
This CIA file, released 2014-06-12, is a UPI newspaper clipping from the Times-West Virginian dated February 28, 1960. It says the Air Force Inspector General sent its commands a directive on December 24 telling them to treat UFO sightings as "serious business" tied to national defense. The private group NICAP made the directive public, and NICAP board member Vice-Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter accused the Air Force of secrecy and called for open congressional hearings.
This North American Newspaper Alliance article, released by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2014, reports that civilian UFO groups were pressing Congress to investigate flying saucers. It covers the earlier House space committee subcommittee under Rep. Joseph E. Karth, whose hearings ended after Chairman Overton Brooks refused to hold them in public. It quotes former CIA director Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter, Albert W. Chop, Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh and Rep. John W. McCormack, who all favored a congressional inquiry or took UFOs seriously.
This is a newspaper article by Bulkley Griffin, chief of the Evening Gazette Washington Bureau, held in Central Intelligence Agency files with a 2014 date. It reports that Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter, CIA director from 1947 to 1950, said UFOs operate under intelligent control and called for a Congressional investigation. The article uses the U-2 cover story to ask whether the Air Force is misleading the public about UFOs. It also mentions an early 1950s CIA-arranged scientific meeting at the Pentagon.
This file, released by the Central Intelligence Agency with a date of 2014-06-12, holds a newspaper editorial titled "Flying Saucer Alert." It reports that the Air Force told its commands to treat unidentified flying objects as "serious business." It quotes retired Vice Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter, a former CIA director and spokesman for a private saucer research group, who called for congressional hearings and accused the Air Force of hiding facts. It notes the Air Force had investigated 6,312 UFO reports since 1947.
This is a newspaper editorial titled "Flying Saucers Again," found in Central Intelligence Agency records released in 2014; the clipping's own date is left blank. It disputes retired Vice Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter's claim that the Air Force deceives the public about flying saucers. The editorial cites Air Force figures of 6,312 reports since 1947 with no physical evidence. It notes Hillenkoetter sits on the board of NICAP and has asked the Senate Space Committee to investigate, and it doubts such an inquiry would be productive.
This is a newspaper clipping dated July 12, 1957, held in Central Intelligence Agency files. It reports an INS wire story saying the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) claimed Civil Aeronautics Administration tower operators near Los Angeles tracked four UFOs on radar at speeds up to 3,600 mph. The story also says NICAP named new board members, including former CIA director R. H. Hillenkoetter, and proposed an eight-point cooperation plan to the Air Force.
This is a UPI newspaper article about flying saucers, released by the Central Intelligence Agency. Donald E. Keyhoe of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena says Senator Lyndon B. Johnson has told the Senate Preparedness subcommittee to keep a close watch on UFO developments and to report significant sightings. Keyhoe accuses the Air Force of suppressing UFO information. He cites support from former CIA head R. H. Hillenkoetter and warns that UFOs could accidentally set off a war.
This is a newspaper column held in Central Intelligence Agency files, with a release date of 2014-06-12. Bulkley Griffin, chief of the Evening Gazette Washington Bureau, wrote it. The column argues that a Congressional inquiry into UFOs is still needed. It says the CIA and the Air Force are shielding the public from the fact that some objects remain unidentified. It quotes an Air Force Policy Letter for Commanders about space surveillance and UFO study, cites Admiral Hillenkoetter, and criticizes the explanations given by consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek.
This CIA file, dated 2014-06-12, holds a letter to the editor of The Courant from July 26, 1965. The writer suggests that the delay in releasing the Mariner Mars photos may be linked to UFO reports. The letter also accuses the Air Force of covering up UFOs, possibly on behalf of a higher agency. It quotes former CIA director Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter calling for open congressional hearings. Readers are urged to write to their congressmen asking for hearings.
This CIA-released file, dated 2014-06-12, preserves an Evening Gazette newspaper article by Bulkley Griffin. It reports that House Leader John W. McCormack suggested House hearings on Unidentified Flying Objects. McCormack said he believed some UFOs are real and that the Air Force had not released all its information. He noted objects seen on visual and radar at once. The article also says Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter called for an urgent Congressional investigation.
This newspaper clipping is held in Central Intelligence Agency records and carries a date of 2014-06-12. It reports on the book "The Challenge of Unidentified Flying Objects" by Prof. Charles A. Muncy, a physicist at The Defiance College, and Richard Hall, secretary of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). The book presents the NICAP Board's majority opinion that reliably reported unknown devices are intelligently controlled machines from outer space. It also criticizes the secrecy and debunking it says mark the Air Force's handling of UFO reports.
This item, released by the Central Intelligence Agency with a 2014 date, is a newspaper article by NEA staff correspondent Douglas Larsey. It reports the view of Adm. Hillenkoetter that satellite and space programs, along with Moonwatch tracking observers, should provide definite evidence about UFOs. NICAP board members, including Maj. Dewey Fournet and Maj. Keyhoe, suggest satellites could detect, photograph or even communicate with UFOs. The article also describes a jet pilot's disk sighting over Washington and carries a 1952 Coast Guard photograph from Salem, Massachusetts.
This newspaper clipping, released by the Central Intelligence Agency and dated 2014-06-12 in the archive, is a Washington news article by Robert Serling. It reports claims by the National Investigating Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) that congressional committees held secret hearings on flying saucers without publishing their findings. As evidence, NICAP quoted a letter from Rep. William H. Ayres. Retired Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter and other board members said the Air Force was withholding UFO information and called that policy dangerous.
This CIA file, released on 2014-06-12, holds a Richmond News Leader editorial titled "Saucers Are Still Around." Citing The World newsmagazine, it says the Air Technical Intelligence Center in Dayton received 276 initially unidentified flying object reports between January and August. Most were explained, 20 percent were set aside for insufficient information, and ten stayed unidentified. The editorial also describes NICAP's view that saucers are real and says a House subcommittee plans hearings next spring.
This is a newspaper article titled "See Flying Saucer?", released by the Central Intelligence Agency on 2014-06-12. It announces the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (N.I.C.A.P.), a non-profit group that takes UFO reports and lets witnesses keep them secret. It names Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, a former CIA head, as a board member and Donald Keyhoe as director. It also cites a report of four UFOs tracked over California at up to 3,600 m.p.h.
This item, released by the Central Intelligence Agency with a 2014 date, is a newspaper letter to the editor signed by Fred A. Kirsch under the headline "Seeks More Data On UFOs." Kirsch defends Dr. Carl Jung's view that UFOs are real and that the Air Force has hidden the truth. He cites similar charges from Admiral Delmar Fahrney and former CIA chief R. M. Hillenkoetter. He also reports that the House Armed Services Committee is holding a secret investigation of the Air Force and UFOs.
This is a newspaper article by NEA staff correspondent Douglas Larsen, held in CIA files with a release date of 2014-06-12. It describes the new National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), directed by retired Marine major Donald Keyhoe. The article notes that members can stay anonymous and that former CIA head Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter sits on its board. It reports a CAA radar operator tracking four UFOs over California. It also quotes Keyhoe's aim of getting the Air Force to open its saucer files.
This 2014 CIA release reproduces a newspaper aviation column by Times Aviation Editor Dave Gibson titled "UFO's: Visitors from Space? Food for Future Thought." It reports former CIA head Vice Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter's view, issued through NICAP, that UFOs operate under intelligent control. It also describes a NICAP report to Congress alleging an Air Force cover-up, including Major Dewey Fournet's claim of a 1948 estimate that UFOs were interplanetary spaceships. The column closes with notes on the nuclear aircraft program.
This CIA-released item is a newspaper article by Douglas Larsen reporting the views of former CIA director Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter, a NICAP board member. Hillenkoetter says satellite and space exploration programs should give new information on UFOs and definite evidence of their reality through greatly increased radar, telescope and naked-eye observation of the sky. NICAP director Donald E. Keyhoe reports more UFO reports since Sputnik, including a jet pilot's disk sighting over Washington, and speculates about alien bases on the moon.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency email exchange dated July 2, 2014, approved for release in 2017. A CIA staff member notes that it is World UFO Day and proposes linking it to the agency's U-2 Week social media campaign. The suggested post reads "Reports of unusual activity in the sky in the '50s? That was just us," with a link to a U-2 document attached. A colleague replies approving the idea as good to go.
This is a report of investigation by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Inspector General, dated 18 July 2014. It covers Agency access to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff files on RDINet, the network built for the Senate review of the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The report found that five Agency employees improperly accessed the SSCI Majority shared drive and that three IT staff lacked candor. It also found no factual basis for the CIA crimes report against SSCI staff.
The CIA Declassification Center issued this weekly report on 9 January 2015, covering activity from 1 to 7 January 2015. The memo reports that the CIA met its 31 December 2014 Executive Order declassification deadline with no records at risk, finished reviewing the second tranche of President's Daily Brief records (1969 through 1974), and gives FY 2015 production status. It also describes a circa 1942 OSS report on German war aims, along with personnel changes, team activities and help desk notes. The report does not mention UFOs.
This is an unclassified, For Official Use Only news compilation produced by the US Embassy Kabul Public Affairs Office and distributed by the Open Source Center on 15 August 2015. It was later approved for release by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2018. It gathers Afghan, Pakistani and international press reports on an anti-Pakistan protest in Washington, China's support for Afghan peace talks, the combat debut of Afghan MD-530 helicopters, hostage releases in Ghazni and unemployment in Kunduz. It contains nothing about UFOs.
This is a Freedom of Information Act request from Timothy S. Cooper to the Central Intelligence Agency, dated March 2, 2018 and logged as F-2018-01132. Cooper asks for DCI General Walter B. Smith's weekly Black Book briefing to President Truman on "flying saucers" for 19 December 1952, plus related records. He cites the declassified DCI Deputies' Meeting Log DM-68 of 12 December 1952. That log recommended the Director delay reporting to the President on flying saucers until 19 December, and the DCI approved.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency letter dated 20 March 2018 acknowledging FOIA request F-2018-01132 from Timothy S. Cooper. Cooper asked for DCI General Walter B. Smith's Weekly Friday Black Book Briefing to President Truman for 19 December 1952 on "flying saucers," along with any related documents. Information and Privacy Coordinator Allison Fong signed the letter. It places the request in the "all other" fee category and says staff will review it and report any problems.
This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA case record for request F-2018-01132 logs a search task sent on 20 March 2018 for requester Timothy Cooper. The request asked for DCI General Walter B. Smith's weekly Friday black book briefing to President Truman on "flying saucers" for 19 December 1952. The task was returned on 2 January 2019. The response, comments and list of tasked documents are almost entirely redacted under exemptions (b)(3), (b)(5) and (b)(6), so no documents are identified.
This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA case record covers request F-2018-01132 from Timothy Cooper. Its search task was sent on March 20, 2018, and returned on September 12, 2019, and the pages were approved for release on April 14, 2023. The request sought the weekly Friday Black Book briefing on flying saucers that DCI General Walter B. Smith gave President Truman for December 19, 1952. The record logs the tasking and first, second and senior review steps, and its list of tasked documents is redacted.
This is a Freedom of Information Act request to the Central Intelligence Agency, dated June 1, 2018 and logged as F-2018-01809. The requester, Timothy S. Cooper, asks for records of a meeting on Tuesday, January 6, 1953, from 4:15 to 7:30 pm. At that meeting DCI Walter B. Smith briefed President Truman on "flying saucers." The request covers any briefing documents, notes and related material. The CIA approved the letter for release in 2022.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency acknowledgment letter dated 25 June 2018 and signed by Information and Privacy Coordinator Allison Fong. It confirms receipt of Timothy S. Cooper's Freedom of Information Act request, reference F-2018-01809. Cooper asked for records of DCI Walter B. Smith's meeting with President Truman on January 6, 1953, which was held to brief Truman on "flying saucers". The letter says the Agency will search for records covering that date range and has waived the fees.
This is a Freedom of Information Act request to the Central Intelligence Agency, dated August 4, 2018 and released by the CIA in 2024. The requester asks for the agency's special briefing document and notes on UFOs and the United States Government UFO Program. The request says DCI Allen W. Dulles and DDP Richard Bissell, Jr. gave that briefing to President-Elect John F. Kennedy at Palm Beach, Florida, on 18 November 1960. It cites a passage in James Srodes's biography of Dulles as its source for the briefing.
This is a Central Intelligence Agency acknowledgment letter dated 30 August 2018, signed by Information and Privacy Coordinator Allison Fong and sent to Timothy S. Cooper under reference F-2018-02317. It confirms receipt of his Freedom of Information Act request for a DCI special briefing document and notes on UFOs and a United States Government UFO program. The request says DCI Allen W. Dulles and DDP Richard Bissell gave this briefing to President-Elect John F. Kennedy at Palm Beach on 18 November 1960. The CIA waived fees and said a search would follow.