In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of
additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered
another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled
from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in
the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically
examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its
programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to
conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from
this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was
substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and
peripheral attention to the phenomena.
The Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command (AMC)
at Wright Field (later Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in Dayton,
Ohio, assumed control of Project SIGN and began its work on 23 January
1948. Although at first fearful that the objects might be Soviet
secret weapons, the Air Force soon concluded that UFOs were real but
easily explained and not extraordinary. The Air Force report found
that almost all sightings stemmed from one or more of three causes:
mass hysteria and hallucination, hoax, or misinterpretation of known
objects. Nevertheless, the report recommended continued military
intelligence control over the investigation of all sightings and did
not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena. (6)
Amid mounting UFO sightings, the Air Force continued to collect and
evaluate UFO data in the late 1940s under a new project, GRUDGE, which
tried to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs via a public relations
campaign designed to persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing
unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were explained as balloons,
conventional aircraft, planets, meteors, optical illusions, solar
reflections, or even "large hailstones." GRUDGE officials found no
evidence in UFO sightings of advanced foreign weapons design or
development, and they concluded that UFOs did not threaten US
security. They recommended that the project be reduced in scope
because the very existence of Air Force official interest encouraged
people to believe in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria"
atmosphere. On 27 December 1949, the Air Force announced the project's
termination. (7)
With increased Cold War tensions, the Korean war, and continued UFO
sightings, USAF Director of Intelligence Maj. Gen. Charles P. Cabell
ordered a new UFO project in 1952. Project BLUE BOOK became the major
Air Force effort to study the UFO phenomenon throughout the 1950s and
1960s. (8) The task of identifying and explaining UFOs continued to
fall on the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson. With a small
staff, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) tried to persuade
the public that UFOs were not extraordinary. (9) Projects SIGN,
GRUDGE, and BLUE BOOK set the tone for the official US Government
position regarding UFOs for the next 30 years.
A massive buildup of sightings over the United States in 1952,
especially in July, alarmed the Truman administration. On 19 and 20
July, radar scopes at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air
Force Base tracked mysterious blips. On 27 July, the blips reappeared.
The Air Force scrambled interceptor aircraft to investigate, but they
found nothing. The incidents, however, caused headlines across the
country. The White House wanted to know what was happening, and the
Air Force quickly offered the explanation that the radar blips might
be the result of "temperature inversions." Later, a Civil Aeronautics
Administration investigation confirmed that such radar blips were
quite common and were caused by temperature inversions. (13)
Although it had monitored UFO reports for at least three years, CIA
reacted to the new rash of sightings by forming a special study group
within the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and the Office of
Current Intelligence (OCI) to review the situation. (14) Edward Tauss,
acting chief of OSI's Weapons and Equipment Division, reported for the
group that most UFO sightings could be easily explained. Nevertheless,
he recommended that the Agency continue monitoring the problem, in
coordination with ATIC. He also urged that CIA conceal its interest
from the media and the public, "in view of their probable alarmist
tendencies" to accept such interest as confirming the existence of
UFOs. (15)
Upon receiving the report, Deputy Director for Intelligence (DDI)
Robert Amory, Jr. assigned responsibility for the UFO investigations
to OSI's Physics and Electronics Division, with A. Ray Gordon as the
officer in charge. (16) Each branch in the division was to contribute
to the investigation, and Gordon was to coordinate closely with ATIC.
Amory, who asked the group to focus on the national security
implications of UFOs, was relaying DCI Walter Bedell Smith's concerns.
(17) Smith wanted to know whether or not the Air Force investigation
of flying saucers was sufficiently objective and how much more money
and manpower would be necessary to determine the cause of the small
percentage of unexplained flying saucers. Smith believed "there was
only one chance in 10,000 that the phenomenon posed a threat to the
security of the country, but even that chance could not be taken."
According to Smith, it was CIA's responsibility by statute to
coordinate the intelligence effort required to solve the problem.
Smith also wanted to know what use could be made of the UFO phenomenon
in connection with US psychological warfare efforts. (18)
Led by Gordon, the CIA Study Group met with Air Force officials at
Wright-Patterson and reviewed their data and findings. The Air Force
claimed that 90 percent of the reported sightings were easily
accounted for. The other 10 percent were characterized as "a number of
incredible reports from credible observers." The Air Force rejected
the theories that the sightings involved US or Soviet secret weapons
development or that they involved "men from Mars"; there was no
evidence to support these concepts. The Air Force briefers sought to
explain these UFO reports as the misinterpretation of known objects or
little understood natural phenomena. (19) Air Force and CIA officials
agreed that outside knowledge of Agency interest in UFOs would make
the problem more serious. (20) This concealment of CIA interest
contributed greatly to later charges of a CIA conspiracy and coverup.
The CIA Study Group also searched the Soviet press for UFO reports,
but found none, causing the group to conclude that the absence of
reports had to have been the result of deliberate Soviet Government
policy. The group also envisioned the USSR's possible use of UFOs as a
psychological warfare tool. In addition, they worried that, if the US
air warning system should be deliberately overloaded by UFO sightings,
the Soviets might gain a surprise advantage in any nuclear attack.
(21)
Because of the tense Cold War situation and increased Soviet
capabilities, the CIA Study Group saw serious national security
concerns in the flying saucer situation. The group believed that the
Soviets could use UFO reports to touch off mass hysteria and panic in
the United States. The group also believed that the Soviets might use
UFO sightings to overload the US air warning system so that it could
not distinguish real targets from phantom UFOs. H. Marshall Chadwell,
Assistant Director of OSI, added that he considered the problem of
such importance "that it should be brought to the attention of the
National Security Council, in order that a communitywide coordinated
effort towards it solution may be initiated." (22)
Chadwell briefed DCI Smith on the subject of UFOs in December 1952. He
urged action because he was convinced that "something was going on
that must have immediate attention" and that "sightings of unexplained
objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the
vicinity of major US defense installations are of such nature that
they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of
aerial vehicles." He drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the National
Security Council (NSC) and a proposed NSC Directive establishing the
investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the
intelligence and the defense research and development community. (23)
Chadwell also urged Smith to establish an external research project of
top-level scientists to study the problem of UFOs. (24) After this
briefing, Smith directed DDI Amory to prepare a NSC Intelligence
Directive (NSCID) for submission to the NSC on the need to continue
the investigation of UFOs and to coordinate such investigations with
the Air Force. (25)
(1) See the 1973 Gallup Poll results printed in The New York Times, 29
November 1973, p. 45 and Philip J. Klass, UFOs: The Public Deceived
(New York: Prometheus Books, 1983), p. 3.
(2) See Klass, UFOs, p. 3; James S. Gordon, "The UFO Experience,"
Atlantic Monthly (August 1991), pp. 82-92; David Michael Jacobs, The
UFO Controversy in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1975); Howard Blum, Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for
Extraterrestrials (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990); Timothy Good,
Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up (New York: William
Morrow, 1987); and Whitley Strieber, Communion: The True Story (New
York: Morrow, 1987).
(3) In September 1993 John Peterson, an acquaintance of Woolsey's,
first approached the DCI with a package of heavily sanitized CIA
material on UFOs released to UFOlogist Stanton T. Friedman. Peterson
and Friedman wanted to know the reasons for the redactions. Woolsey
agreed to look into the matter. See Richard J. Warshaw, Executive
Assistant, note to author, 1 November 1994; Warshaw, note to John H.
Wright, Information and Privacy Coordinator, 31 January 1994; and
Wright, memorandum to Executive Secretariat, 2 March 1994. (Except
where noted, all citations to CIA records in this article are to the
records collected for the 1994 Agency-wide search that are held by the
Executive Assistant to the DCI).
(4) See Hector Quintanilla, Jr., "The Investigation of UFOs," Vol. 10,
No. 4, Studies in Intelligence (fall 1966): pp.95-110 and CIA,
unsigned memorandum, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952. See also Good,
Above Top Secret, p. 253. During World War II, US pilots reported "foo
fighters" (bright lights trailing US aircraft). Fearing they might be
Japanese or German secret weapons, OSS investigated but could find no
concrete evidence of enemy weapons and often filed such reports in the
"crackpot" category. The OSS also investigated possible sightings of
German V-1 and V-2 rockets before their operational use during the
war. See Jacobs, UFO Controversy, p. 33. The Central Intelligence
Group, the predecessor of the CIA, also monitored reports of "ghost
rockets" in Sweden in 1946. See CIG, Intelligence Report, 9 April
1947.
(5) Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 156 and Quintanilla, "The
Investigation of UFOs," p. 97.
(6) See US Air Force, Air Material Command, "Unidentified Aerial
Objects: Project SIGN, no. F-TR 2274, IA, February 1949, Records of
the US Air Force Commands, Activities and Organizations, Record Group
341, National Archives, Washington, DC.
(7) See US Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUEBOOK Reports 1- 12
(Washington, DC; National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena, 1968) and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, pp. 50-54.
(8) See Cabell, memorandum to Commanding Generals Major Air Commands,
"Reporting of Information on Unconventional Aircraft," 8 September
1950 and Jacobs, The UFO Controversy, p. 65.
(9) See Air Force, Projects GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK and Jacobs, The UFO
Controversy, p. 67.
(10) See Edward Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI,
"Flying Saucers," 1 August 1952. See also United Kingdom, Report by
the "Flying Saucer" Working Party, "Unidentified Flying Objects," no
date (approximately 1950).
(11) See Dr. Stone, OSI, memorandum to Dr. Willard Machle, OSI, 15
March 1949 and Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI,
memorandum for DDI, "Recent Sightings of Unexplained Objects," 29 July
1952.
(12) Stone, memorandum to Machle. See also Clark, memorandum for DDI,
29 July 1952.
(13) See Klass, UFOs, p. 15. For a brief review of the Washington
sightings see Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 269-271.
(14) See Ralph L. Clark, Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum to
DDI Robert Amory, Jr., 29 July 1952. OSI and OCI were in the
Directorate of Intelligence. Established in 1948, OSI served as the
CIA's focal point for the analysis of foreign scientific and
technological developments. In 1980, OSI was merged into the Office of
Science and Weapons Research. The Office of Current Intelligence
(OCI), established on 15 January 1951 was to provide all-source
current intelligence to the President and the National Security
Council.
(15) Tauss, memorandum for Deputy Assistant Director, SI (Philip
Strong), 1 August 1952.
(16) On 2 January 1952, DCI Walter Bedell Smith created a Deputy
Directorate for Intelligence (DDI) composed of six overt CIA
organizations--OSI, OCI, Office of Collection and Dissemination,
Office National Estimates, Office of Research and Reports, and the
Office of Intelligence Coordination--to produce intelligence analysis
for US policymakers.
(17) See Minutes of Branch Chief's Meeting, 11 August 1952.
(18) Smith expressed his opinions at a meeting in the DCI Conference
Room attended by his top officers. See Deputy Chief, Requirements
Staff, FI, memorandum for Deputy Director, Plans, "Flying Saucers," 20
August 1952, Directorate of Operations Records, Information Management
Staff, Job 86-00538R, Box 1.
(19) See CIA memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 11 August 1952.
(20) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 14 August 1952.
(21) See CIA, memorandum, unsigned, "Flying Saucers," 19 August 1952.
(22) See Chadwell, memorandum for Smith, 17 September 1952 and 24
September 1952, "Flying Saucers." See also Chadwell, memorandum for
DCI Smith, 2 October 1952 and Klass, UFOs, pp. 23-26.
(23) Chadwell, memorandum for DCI with attachments, 2 December 1952.
See also Klass, UFOs, pp. 26-27 and Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November
1952.
(24) See Chadwell, memorandum, 25 November 1952 and Chadwell,
memorandum, "Approval in Principle - External Research Project
Concerned with Unidentified Flying Objects," no date. See also Philip
G. Strong, OSI, memorandum for the record, "Meeting with Dr. Julius A.
Stratton, Executive Vice President and Provost, MIT and Dr. Max
Millikan, Director of CENIS." Strong believed that in order to
undertake such a review they would need the full backing and support
of DCI Smith.
(25) See Chadwell, memorandum for DCI, ""Unidentified Flying Objects,"
2 December 1952. See also Chadwell, memorandum for Amory, DDI,
"Approval in Principle - External Research Project Concerned with
Unidentified Flying Objects," no date.
CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90
By Gerald K. Haines
Part One
An extraordinary 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or
read something about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), and 57
percent believe they are real. (1) Former US Presidents Carter and
Reagan claim to have seen a UFO. UFOlogists--a neologism for UFO
buffs--and private UFO organizations are found throughout the United
States. Many are convinced that the US Government, and particularly
CIA, are engaged in a massive conspiracy and coverup of the issue. The
idea that CIA has secretly concealed its research into UFOs has been a
major theme of UFO buffs since the modern UFO phenomena emerged in the
late 1940s. (2)Background
The emergence in 1947 of the Cold War confrontation between the United
States and the Soviet Union also saw the first wave of UFO sightings.
The first report of a "flying saucer" over the United States came on
24 June 1947, when Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and reputable
businessman, while looking for a downed plane sighted nine disk-shaped
objects near Mt. Rainier, Washington, traveling at an estimated speed
of over 1,000 mph. Arnold's report was followed by a flood of
additional sightings, including reports from military and civilian
pilots and air traffic controllers all over the United States. (4) In
1948, Air Force Gen. Nathan Twining, head of the Air Technical Service
Command, established Project SIGN (initially named Project SAUCER) to
collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute within the government all
information relating to such sightings, on the premise that UFOs might
be real and of national security concern. (5)Early CIA Concerns, 1947-52
CIA closely monitored the Air Force effort, aware of the mounting
number of sightings and increasingly concerned that UFOs might pose a
potential security threat. (10) Given the distribution of the
sightings, CIA officials in 1952 questioned whether they might reflect
"midsummer madness.'' (11) Agency officials accepted the Air Force's
conclusions about UFO reports, although they concluded that "since
there is a remote possibility that they may be interplanetary
aircraft, it is necessary to investigate each sighting." (12)
Notes
