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Approved For Re!se2001/08/or-f?ta-RI:I'I'S:fRo46cl«fooff/t:1/vf/tU- fl1(-5.1/-~~-~t·~~~REPORT OF MEEI'INOO OF SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL
ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECI'SCONVENED BY OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, CIA
January 14 - 18,

1953

25X1A

Declassified b}' _ ooees'1_gat~ .. 2 1 JAtL 19ZS..

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INDEX

Page
Purpose1

Part I:

History of Meetings of Panel

1

Part II:

Comments and Suggestions of Panel

7

General7

On Lack of Danger

8

Air Force Reporting System

9

Artifacts of Extraterrestial Origin

10

Tremonton, Utah, Sighting

11

Potential Related Dangers

15

Geographic Locations of Unexplained
Sightings

15

Instrumentation to Obtain Data

16

Radar Problem of Mutual Intereference18

Unexplained Cosmic Ray Phenomena

19

Educational Program

19

Unofficial Investigating Groups

23

Increase in Number of Sightings

24

Report of Panel

Tab A

List of Personnel Concerned with Meetings

Tab B

List of Documentary EVidence Presented

Tab C

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16 February 1953
Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence

MEMORANDUM FOR:

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FROM

Report of Meetings of the Office of ScientificIntelligence Scientific Advisory Panel 6nUnidentified Flying Objects, January 14 - 18, 1953

SUBJEarPURPOSEThe purpose of this memorandum is to present:a.

A brief history of the meetings of the 0/SI Advisory PanelOn Unidentified Flying Objects (Part I),b.

An unofficial supplement to the offic!IAl Panel Report to

AD/SI setting forth comments and suggestions of the Panel
Members which they believed were inappropriate for inclusionin the formal report (Part II).
PART I:HISTORY OF MEETINGS

GENERAL

After consideration of the subject of "unidentified flying
objectsn at the 4 December meeting of the Intelligence Advisory
C~mnittee,

the following action was agreed:"The Director of Central Intelligence will:a.

Enlist the services of selected scientists toreview and appraise the available evidence in thelight of pertinent scientific theories •••• "Following the delegation of this action to the Assistant
DirectDr for Scientific Intelligence and preliminary investigation,
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In

cooperation 1vith the Air Technical Intelligence Center, casehistories of reported sightings and related material weremade available for their study and consideration•
Present at the initial meeting (0930 Wednesday, 14 January)
25X1A
25X1A
(1V&E Division), and the writer •

25X1A

25X1A

Panel Member 1

25X1A

absent until Friday afternoon.
present throughout the sessions to familiarize themselveswith the subject, represent the substantive interest of their Divisions,and assist in administrative support of the meetings.

(A list of

personnel concerned with the meetings is given in Tab A).
WEDNESDAY MORNING
The AD/SI opened the meeting, reviewing CIA interest in thesubject and action taken.

This review included the mention of

the 0/SI Study Group of August 1952

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culminating in the briefing of the DCI, the ATIC November 21
briefing, 4 December IAC consideration, visit to ATIC (m1adwell 1, and 0/SI concern over potential dangers to

25X1A

national security indirectly related to these sightings.
25X1A~~,,m~·~~tedthese potential dangers.

~~.

Following this intvo-

duction, Dr. Chadwell turned the meeting over to-;Approved· For Release 2001/08/07_~~1A-RDP81 R00560R0001 00030027-0

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·'

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as Chairw~n of the Panel•availabl~

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and requested consideration of specific reports andletters be taken by certain individuals present (Tab B).

For

example, case histories involving radar or radar and visual
while reports of Greensightings were selected for

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Fireball phenomena, nocturnal lights, and suggested programs of
25X1A

Following these remarks,

investigations were routed tothe motion pictures of the sightings at Tremonton, Utah (2 July 1952)
and Great Falls, Hontana (15 August 1950) were shown.

The meeting

adjourned at 1200.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONThe second meeting of the Panel opened at 1400.

Lt. R. S.

Neasham, USN, and Mr. Harry Woo of the USN Photo Interpretation
Laboratory, Anacostia, presented the results of their analyses ofthe films mentioned above.

This analysis evolved considerable

discussion as elaborated upon below.

Besides Panel members andCIA personnel, Capt. E. J. Ruppelt, Dr. J. Allen Nynak,
25X1A

Capt. Harry B. Smith (2-e-2), and Dr. Stephen Possony
were present.
Following the Photo Interpretation Lab presentation, Mr. E.
J. Ruppelt spoke for about 40 minutes on ATIC methods of handlingand evaluating reports of sighting and their efforts to improve
the quality of reports.

The meeting was adjourned at 1715.
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THU'RSDAY MORNING
The third and fourth meetings of the Panel were held;Thw.sday,
15 Januaxy, commencing at 0900 with a two-hour break for luncheon.
Besides Panel members.and CIA personnel, Mr. Ruppelt and Dr. Hynek
were present for both sessions.

In the morning,

Mr. Ruppelt con-tinued his briefing on ATIC collection and analysis procedures.
The Project STORK support at Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus,
was described by Dr. Hynek.

A number of case histories were dis-cussed in detail and a motion picture film of seagulls was shown.
A two hour break for lunch was taken at 1200.
THURSDAY AFTERNOONAt 1400 hours

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gave a 40-minute briefing ofProject TWINKLE, the investigatory project conducted by the Air
Force Meteorological Research Center at Cambridge, ~~ss.

In thisbriefing he pointed out the ~~y problems of setting up and manning
24-hour instrumentation watches of patrol cameras searching forsightings of U.F.O.'s.
At 1615 Brig. Gen. William M. Garland joined the meeting with
AD/SI.

General Garland expressed his support of the Panel's

efforts and stated three personal opinions:a.

That greater use of Air Force intelligence officers in
the field (for follow-up investigation) appeared desirable,
but that they required thorough briefing.
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~~n

b•

That vigorous effort should be made to declassify as manyof the reports as possible.

c.

That some increase in the ATIC section devoted to U.F.o.
analysis was indicated.

This meeting 1vas adjourned at 1700.
FRIDAY MORNING

The fifth session of the Panel convened at 0900 with the same
personnel present as enumerated for Thursday (vnth the exceptionof Brig. Gen. Garland) •From 0900 - 100 there was general discussion and study ofreference material•

Also, Dr. Hynek read a prepared paper making

certain observations and conclusions.

gave aAt

25X1A

briefing on his fifteen months experience in Washington as Project
Office for U.F.O.'s and his personal conclusions.

There wasconsiderable discussion of individual case histories of siggtings
to which he referred.

presentation, aFollowing

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number of additional case histories were examined and discussed

25X1A

with Messrs. -Ruppelt, and Hynek.

The meeting adjourned

at 1200 for luncheon.
FRIDAY AFTERNOONThis session opened at 1400.

Besides Panel members and CIA

personnel, Dre Hynek was present.

as Panel

Member, was present at this meeting for the first time.

Progressof the meetings was reviewed by the Panel Chairman and tentative.s & ~.ii··•'

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A general discussion followed and tentative

reconnnendations considered•

It vras agreed that the Chairman should

draft a report of the Panel to AD/SI that evening for review by the
Panel the next morning.

The meeting adjourned at 1715.

SATURDAY HORNING

At 0945 the Chairman opened the seventh session and submitted
a rough draft of the Panel Report to the members.

This draft had

been revievred and approved earlier by

The next t;.m25X1Aand one-half hours were consumed in discussion and revision of thedraft.

At 1100 the AD/SI joined the meeting and reported. that hehad shown and discussed a copy of the initial rough draft tothe Director of Intelligence, USAF, whose reaction was favorable.

At

1200 the meeting was adjourned.
SATURDAY AFrERNOONAt 1400 the eighth and final meeting of' the Panel >vas opened.
Discussions and rewording of certain sentences of the Report occupied
the first hour.

(A copy of the final report is appended as Tab c.)

This was followed by a review of work accomplished by the Panel,and restatement of individual Panel Member's opinions and suggestions
on details that were felt inappropriate for inclusion inthe formal
report.

It was agreed that the writer would incorporate thesecomments in an internal report to the AD/SI.

The material below

represents this information.

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PARr VI:

COM~·:lENTS A.TID SUGGESTIONSOF PANEL

GENERAL

The Panel Members -vrere impressed (as have been others, including o/SI personnel) in the lack of sound data in the great majorityof case histories; also, in the lack of speedy follovr-up due primarily
to the modest size and limited facilities of the ATIC section concerned.
Among the case histories of significant sightings discussed in detail"ivere the follmving:
Bellefontaine, Ohio (1 August 1952); Tremonton, Utah (2 July 1952);
Great Falls, Montana (15 August 1950); Yaa..~, Montana (1 September
1952); Washington, D.C. area (19 July 1952); and Haneda A.F.B.,
Japan (5 August 1952), Port Huron, Michigan (29 July 1952); andPresque Isle, Maine (10 October 1952)•
After review and discussion of these cases (and about 15 others,in less detail), the Panel concluded that reasonable explanations
could be suggested for most sightings and '~y deduction and scientific method it could be induced {given additional data) that othercases might be explained in a similar manner •"The Panel pointed

out that because of the brevity of some sightings {e.g. 2-3 seconds)
and the inability 6~ the "iv:i.tnesses to express themselves clearly{sometimes) that conclusive explanations could not be expected forevery case reported•

Furthermore, it was considered that, normally,

it would be a great waste of effort to try to solve most of thesightings, unless such action would benefit a training and educational
program (see below).

The writings of Charles Fort were referenced~--

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to show that ustra.nge things in the sky" had been recorded for hundredsof years.

It appeared obvious that there was no single explanation

for a m~jority of the things seen.

The presence of radar and astro-

nomicsl specialists on the Panel proved of value at once in theirconfident recognition of phenomena related to their fields•

It wasapparent that specialists in such additional fields as psychology,
meteorology, aerodynamics, ornithology and military air operations
would extend the ability of the Panel to recognize many more categories of little-known phenomena.
ON lACK OF DANGE.:R

The Panel concluded unanimously that there 1vas no evidence ofa direct threat to national security in the objects sighted•
Instances of nFoo Fighters 11 were cited•

These were unexplained

phenomena sighted by aircraft pilots during World War II in both
European and Fa..r East theaters of operation wherein t'balls of light nwould fly near or 1-Tith the aircraft and maneuver rapidly.

They were

believed to be electrostatic (similar to st. Elmo's fire) or electron~gnetic

phenomena or possibly light reflections from ice crystals

in the air, but their exact cause or nature was never defined.
25X1A

Both

had been concerned in the investigation ofthese phenomena, but David T. Griggs (Professor of Geophysics at
the University of California at Los Angeles) is believed to havebeen the most knowledgeable person on this subject.

If the term

"flying saucers" had been pop!llar in 1943 - 1945, these objects would··~:@!W~:~f·~·,Si!t~~~-8-

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. Approved For Reise 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R00560Ra00030027-0~.J'~'~'Moahave been so labeled.

It was interesting that in at least two

25X1A

cases reviewed that the object sighted was categorized by

25X1A

as probably "Foo Fighters" to date unexplained but notdangerous; they were not happy thus to dismiss the sightings becalling them names.

It 'lvas their feeling that these phenomena are

not beyond the domain of present knowledge of physical science, however.
AIR FORCE REPORTING SYSTEM

It was the Panel's opinion that some of the Air Force concern
over U.F.O.'s (notwithstanding Air Defense Command anxiety over fastradar tracks) was probably caused by public pressure.

The result

today is that the Air·FOrce has instituted a fine channel forreceiving reports of nearly anything anyone sees in the sky andfails to understand•This has been particularly encouraged in popu-

lar articles on this and other subjects, such as space travel andscience fiction.

The result is the mass receipt of lo1-r-grade reports

which tend to overload channels of communication with material quite
irrelevant to hostile objects that might some day appear •The Panel

agreed generally that this mass of poor-quality reports containing
little, if any, scientific data was of no value.

Quite the opposite,

it was possibly dangerous in having a military service foster publicconcer-.a in "nocturnal meandering lights. 11

The implication being,

since the interested agency 1ras military, that these objects wereor might be potential direct threats to national security.

Accord~ingly, the need for deemphasization made itself apparent.

Comments

on a possible educational program are enumerated belmv ~
~~w

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that the "saucer" problem

It was the opinion of

had been found to be different in nature from the detection andinvestigation of German V-l and V-2 guided missiles prior to theiroperational use in World War II.

In this 1943-1944 intelligence

operation (CROSSBOW), there was excellent intelligence and by June

1944 there "\vas material evidence of the existence of 'trlardware nThis evidence gave theobtained from crashed vehicles

investigating team a basis upon which to operate.

The absence of any"hardware'' resulting from unexplained U.F .o. sightings lends a "willof-the-wisp) nature to the ATIC problem.

The results of their investi-

gation, to date, strongly indicate that no evidence of hostile act
or danger exists.

Furthermore, the current reporting system would

have little value in the case of detection of enemy attack by conventional
aircraft or guided missiles; under such conditions 'trlardware" would
be available almost at once.
ARTJ:F.A.Cl'S OF E:zl!RATERRESTIAL ORIGm

It was interesting to note that none of the members of the
Panel w·ere loath to accept that this earth might be visited by extraterrestial intelligent beings of some sont, some day.

Hhat they did

not find vras any evidence that related the objects sighted to space

25X1A

travelers.

in his presentation, sh01ved how he had elim-

inated each of the knovm and probable causes of sightings leaving him
nextra-terrestial" as the only one remaining in many cases.
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officer (Project Officer, BLUEBOOK for 15 months) could not beslighted.

However, the Panel could not accept any of the casessighted by him because they were raw·, 1.mevaluated reports.
Terrestial explanations of the sightings were suggested in somecases and in others the time of sighting was so short as to cause
suspicion of visual impressions.

It was noted by

25X1A
and

others that extraterrestrial artifacts, if they did exist, are nocause for alarm; rather, they are in the realm of natural phenomena
subject to scientific study, just as cosmic rays were at the timeof their discovery 20 to 30 years ago.

25X1A

whi6h

This was an attitude in

did not concur, as he felt that such artifacts

ivould be of inunediate and great concern not only to the U. S. but
to all countries.

25X1A(Nothing like a common threat to unite peoplesl)

lllllllllnoted that present astronomical knowledge of the solar
system m~~es the eixstence of intelligent beings (as we know theterm) elsewhere than on the earth extremely unlikely, and theconcentration of their attention by any controllable means confined
to any one continent of the earth quite preposterous.
TREMONTON, UTAH, SIGHTINGThis case was considered significant because of the excellent
documentary evidence in the form of Kodachrome motion picture films(about 1600 frames).

The Panel studied these films, the case history,

ATIC's interpretation, and received a briefing by representatives of
the USN Photo Interpretation Laboratory on their analysis of thefilm.

This term had expend«d (at Air Force request) approximately-11Approved For Release 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R00560R000100030027-0

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1000 man-hours of professional and sub-professional time in the

preparation of graph plots of individual frames of the film, showing apparent and relative motion of objects and variation in theirlight intensity.

It was the opinion of the P.I.L. representatives

that the objects sighted were not birds, balloons or aircraft, were
nnot reflections because there 1ras no blinking while passing through60° of arc" and were, therefore,

11

self-luminous".

Plots of motion

and variation in light intensity of the objects were displayed,
While the Panel Members were impressed by the evident enthusiasm,
industry and extent of effort of the P.I.L. team, they could not
accept the conclusions reached.

Some of the reasons for this were•as follows:a.

A semi-spherical object can readily produce a reflectionof sunlight without ''blinking" through 60° of arc travel.

b.

Although no data was available on the ttalbedo" of birds orpolyethylene ballons in bright sunlight, the apparent
motions, sizes and brightnesses of the objects vrere
considered strongly to suggest birds, particularly after
the Panel viewed a short film sho\nng high reflectivityof seagulls in bright sunlight.

c.

P.I.L. description of the objects sighted as "circular,
bluish-white" in color would be expected in cases ofspectacular reflections of sunlight from convex surfaces
where the brilliance of the reflection would obscure otherportions of the object.
~~.!lW'~fllli:!-<t~-"D"""'·l5't-"C"' "l'f',..l!i "'"''!"~~~.,.,.~ ..

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"''

..

·.

•.•

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d•- . "' ·-,'. ..

Objects in the Great Falls case vrere believed to haveprobably been aircraft, and the bright lights such reflections•e.

There was no valid reason for the attempt to relate theobjects
in the Tremonton sighting to those in the Great Falls sighting.

This may have been due to misunderstanding in theirdirective.

The objects in the Great Falls sighting arestrongly suspected of being reflections of aircraft kno'vn tohave been in the area.
f•

The intensity change in the Trementon lights was too great
for acceptance of the P.I.L. hypothesis that the apparent
motion and changing intensity of the lights indicated eA~remely
high speed in small orbital paths.

g.

Apparent lack of guidance of investigators by those familiar
with U.F.O• reports and explanations.

h•.Analysis of light intensity of objects made from duplicate
rather than original film•

The original film was noted tohave a much lighter background (affecting relative brightnessof object) and the objects appeared much less bright.
i.

Method of obtaining data of light intensity appeared faulty
because of unsuitability of equipment and questionableassumptions in making averages of readings.

j.

No data had been obtained on the sensitivity of Kodachrome
film to light of various intensities using the sarae camera
type at the same lens openings.

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k.

Hand "jitter 11 frequencies (obtainable from early part ofTremonton film) were not removed from the plots of the"single pass plots" at the end of the film.

The Panel believed strongly that the data available on thissighting was sufficient for positive identification if further data
is obtained by photographing polyethylane "pillow" balloons released
near the site under similar weather conditions, checking bird flightand relfection characteristics with competent ornithologists andcalculating apparent "G" fo\-ces acting upon objects from their apparent
tracks.

It \vas concluded that the results of such tests would prob-

ably lead to creditable explanations of value in an educational ortraining program.

However, the Panel noted that the cost in technicalmanpovrer effort required to follm·r up and explain every one of thethousand or more reports received through channels each year (1 1 900 in
1952) could not be justified.

It was felt that there ~<rill allvays besightsings, for -.;.;hich complete data is lacking, that can only be
explained with disproportionate effort and with a long time delay, if
at all.

The long delay in explaining a sighting tends to eliminate

any intelligence value.

The educational or training program shouldhave as a major purpose the elimination of popular feeling that every
sighting, no matter how poor the data, must be explained in detail•Attention should be directed to the requirement among scientists thata new phenomena, to be accepted, must be completely and convincingly
docun1ented•

In other words, the burden of proof is on the sig~r,

not the explainer.
~~~~"!''--~-llwi~.-i'Ji""e';-:-.n:lr"-E' -~.r~~;~~!ton

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Approved For Re.e 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R00560R-00030027-0;porENTIAL RELATED DANGERS

The Panel Members vTere in agreement with 0/SI opinion that,
although evidence of' any direct threat :from these sightings ivas
vmolly lacking, related dangers might well exist resulting from:a.

ltisidentification of actual enemy artifacts by defense
personnel•b•Overloading of emergency reporting channels with nfalsen
information (nnoise to signal ratio" analogy-

c.

25X1A

Subjectivity of' public to mass hysteria and greater vul~erability

to possible enemy ~sychological warfare.

Although not the concern of CIA, the first two of' these problems
may seriously affect the Air Defense intelligence system, and should
be studied by experts, possibly under ADC.

If. U.F.O.'s become dis-credited in o. reaction to the nflying saucer" scare, or if reporting channels are saturated with false and poorly documented reports,
our capability of detecting hostile activity will be reduced.

nr. Page noted that more competent screening or filtering of reported
sightings at or near the source is required, and that this can best
be accomplished by an educational program.
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS OF UNEXPLAINED SIGRTINGS

The map prepared by ATIC showing geogr~phic locations of officiallyreported unexplained sightings (1952 only) was ex8mined by the Panel.
This map shol·red clusters in certain strategic areas such as Los Alamos.
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S@"~i~r,~awareness of security measures near such locations.

On theother

hand, there had been no sightings in the vicinity of sensitive
related AE establishments while there were occasionally multiple
cases of unexplained sightings in non-strategic areas.

FV.rthermore,

there appeared to be no logical relationship to population centers.
The Panel could find no ready explanation for these clusters.

It

wo.s noted, however, that if terrestrial n.rtifacts were to be observed
it would be likely that they would be seen first near foreign areas
rather than central U. S.

INSTRUHENTATION'TO OBTAIN DATAThe Panel was of the opinion that the present ATIC program toplace 100 inexpensive 35 mm. stereo cameras in the hands of various
airport control tower operators 1vould probably produce little valuable data related to U.F.o. 's.

HoweverJ it was recognized thatsuch action 1-rould tend to allay public concern in the !!Ubject until
an educational program had taken effect.

It was believed that pro-curement of these cameras was partly the result of public pressurein July 1952.

With the poor results of the year-long Project

TWINKLE program of 24-hour instrumentation watch (two frames offilm showing nothing distinguishable) J a widespread program of skywatching 1-rould not be expected to yeild much direct data of value.
There ~>ras considerable discussion of a possible "sky patrol 11 byamateur astronomers (Hynek) and by ivide-angle cameras
andpointed out that at present a considerable fraction

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of the sky is now--and has been for many years--under surveillance
every clear night in several meteor and aurora observing pro~s asvell as sky mapping programs at the various locations listed below.
Although the attention of those astronomers is largely directed
toward identified rather than unidentified objects, no case of any
striking unidentified object is known to

Dr. Hynek,Suchan object would most certainly be reported if found on patrol plates;
A case was cited where an astronomer refused to interrupt his
exposure in order to photograph an alleged sighting in a different
part of the sky;This led Dr. Hynek to say that, if a program ofwatching could be an adjunct of planned astronomical programs, little
cost would be involved and that the trained astronomical personnel
might photograph a sighting of an unidentified object.
The location of same of these progr.5ms ru1d their directors are
believed to be :a.

Harvard University,

Cru~bridge

and New Mexico (meteor patrol) -Whipple.
b,

Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago and Fort Davis, Texas(several programs)--Meinel (aurorae), Kuiper (asteroids),
Morgan ('vide angle camera) •c,

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (aurorae) - Elveydo

Dominion Observatory, otta-vra (meteors) - Millmane.

Palomar Observatory, California (sky map) - Minkowskif•Lick Observatory, California (sky map) - Shane~
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25X1A

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S..~·ro@>~·!lr ·~ ..........,..S&&w:J411'.F·~e!!J$<It was agreed by the Panel that no government-sponsored programof optical nation-wide sky patrol is worthwhile at the present time,
and that the encouragement of amateur astronomers to undertake sucha program might have the adverse effect of' over-emphasizing rrflying
sauceru stories in the public mind.

However, the issue of radar'scopecameras for recording peculiar radar echoes would serve peveral purposes, including the better understanding of' radar interference aswell ac ±dentif'ication of U.F.O.'s.
RADAR PROBLm·1 OF .MUTUAL INTERFERENCE

This characteristic problem of radar operation wherein the pulse
signal (of approximately the same frequency) from station A may be
picked up on the screen of station B and show as a high-speed trackor series of dots was recognized to have probably caused a number of
U.F.o. reports.

This problem was underlined by inf'orw~tion received

indicating ADC concern in solving this problem of signal identif'ication
before service use of very high-speed aircraft or guided missiles

25X1A(1955-1956).
~ra.sbelieved that one answer to this problem

25X1A

the uoe of a rrdoppler f'ilter't in the receiving circuit•suggested that the problem might be better solved by the use of attcontrolled jitter" wherein the operator receiving rrvery fast tracl{S 11(on the order of 1000 - 10,000 m.p.h.) ~rould operate a circuit iihich
would alter slightly his station's pulse frequency rate.

If the signal

received on the screen had been caused by mutual interference vdth
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25X1A
from the center of the screen,-if it still appeared at all.
felt such a technical solution was simpler and would cost much less thana "Doppler filter.rr
UNEXPLAINED COS!!EC RAY PHENOMENA

Two reported cases were examined:

one at Palomar :Mountain, California,

in October 1949, when cosmic ray counter wnet "off •cale for a few seconds,na,pparently while a uvn of flying acmcers was observed visually; and t1vo,
a series of oboervations by the "Los Alamos Bird Watchers Association" from
August 1950 to January 1951, when cosmic ray coincidence counters behaved

25X1A

queerly.

Circuit diagrams and records were available for the latter, andable quickly to point out that the recorded data wereundoubtedly due to inatrumental effects that would have been recognizedas such by more experienced observers~
The implication that radioactive effects ivere correlated withunidentified flying objects in these two cases vms, therefore, rejectedby the Panel•
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

The Panel's concept of aborad educational program integrating
efforts of all concerned agencies was that it should have two major
aims:

training and ttdebunking".
The training aim would result in proper recognition of unusually

illuminated objects (e.g., balloons, aircraft relfections) as well as
natural phenomena (meteors, fireballs, mirages, noctilucent clouds).
Both visual and radar recognition are concerned.

There lvould be many"''~-~~.

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levels in such education from enlisted personnel to commend end rec:eP.rch
personnel.

Relative emphasis t'lnc_ oec;ree of explan2tion of <iifferent

prof.rrms 1A'Ould correspond to the cataeories of duty (e.g., r2dar operatorf';!Jilot8; control tmv-er operators; Grotmd Observer Corps personnel; anci
officE.rs and enlisted men in other catP_gories.)

This treining should

result in a marl!'eci reduction in reports c2.1..1.sed by misi<ientification
and result~mt confusion.
The 11 cebunkine; 11 a:iJn uould result in reduction in public interestin Hflyinc; saucers" vJhich tode1.y evoke~ a strong psychological reaction.
This education could be accom:;lished by mass me<iia such television,
motion pictures, and popular articles.

Basis of such Education t·muld

be actual case histories which had been puzzline; at first but later
exple :ined.

As in the ease of conjuring :);ricks, there is much lessstimulation if the 11 secret 11 is known.

Such a prop;ram should tend to

reduce the current gul:tibility of the public mel consequently theirsusceptibility to clever hostile propaganda.

The Panel noted that thegeneral absence of Russian propae;anda based on a subject 1rl. th so many
obvious possibilities for exploitation rd.cht indicate 2 possitle Russian
official policy.
I1ember-s of the Panel had ve.rious
such an educP.tional program.

sup;~::estions

related to the planning of

It 1.va s ::elt s·C.ronr;ly that psychologists fwniliar

vJith mass psycholocy should advise on the nature and extent of the
pro~ram.

In this eonncction, Dr. Hac"ley Cantril (Princeton University)-.:m.s sup:p:ested.

Cantril authored

11 Inva8:'_on

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psycholor,y of panic, vJTitten about the f'2mous Orson ~Jelles radio broadcase
in 1938) and has since performed advcmced laboratory studies in the fieldof perception.

The names of Don Narquis (University of l•Iichie;an) and

Leo Rosten ~·rere mentioned as possibly suitable a.s consultant psychologists.
Also, someone ;·amiliar Nith mass communication techniques, psrhaps anac;vertisine; expert, uoulcl be helpful.

Arthur Godfrey >ms mentioned as possibly

a valuable channel of communication reachin.o; a mass audience of certain levbls.
25X1A

sugr;ested the u.

s. :i~8vy (Ci•iR) Special 'Devices Center, Sands

Point, L. I., as a potentially V3luable or~::-nization to 2.ssist in such an
educational program.

The teachinc; techni4ue::- used by this ac;ency foraircraft identification c_urin[~ the pad 1mr 1-:a.s cited as an example of asimilar educational tac-k.

The Jam Hanciy Co. 'tvhich ma0e \'Jorlci :Jar II

trc.:dninp: films (motion picture anci slide strips) Nas also sue;e;e::tec1, as wellas :·:ralt Disney, Inc. animated cartoons.
amateur astronomers in the U.

Dr. rlynek suggested that thes. might be a potential source of enthusi-

astic talmt "to spread the p;ospel 11 •It H<?s beJ_ieveci that busmess

clubs, hip;h schoolE:, collep;e.s, and television st!'ltions vJOuld all bepleased to cooper<:1te in the shmTing of documentary type motion pictures
if prepared in an interestjng manner.

The use o£ true cases showing

firct the "mystery" an(l then the 11 e~~planation 11 Hould be forceful.
To plan and execute such a program, the Panel believed vJas nomean task.

The current investip;atory r.roup 2.t ATIC uoulC:, of neceE-sity,

have to be closely interra ted for support Hi th res:Ject to not only the~~.,g...~'I:$~¥~~~~-21Approved For Release 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R00560R000100030027-0

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Recent cases v.re probably much

more susceDtible to explmation than older ones; first, because of
ATIC' s c:periencc s anc:., secondly, their kno;rled;>:e of most plausible
explanations.

The Panel believed that some expansion of the ATIC effort

wortld certainly be required to support such a program.

It was believed

ina1Jpropriate to state exactly hoH large a T;;b1e of Or~;anization -vmuld
be required.

Captain Ruppclt of ATIC unofficially propost:.d, for purposesof analyzing 2nd eva1uotinp; re:ports:
a.

P~

b.

Four officer investiGatorsc.

A briefinE: officerd.

ii.n LDC liason officere.

A Heather 2nd balloon de.t··. officerf.

An astronomic2.l consultantg.

A Gro·t p LeaO.er, Hith ac'ministrative assist::'nt, file clerks andanalysts' panel of four officers

steno~!rapherE:.

This pl~oposal met with eenerally favorable comment.

The Panel

believed that, 1dth A'J:'IC' s support, the educc.tionc-.1 proeram of 11 train-'
inr ancl C.ebunking" OtJ.tl::_ned above nir,ht be required for a minimu...'ll of
one and one-he1.lf to t1:-vo years.

1t.t the end of thj.s tim.e, the dene;er::relc>.ted to 11 flyinc: saucers" shoulci have been r-reatly reduced if noteliminated.

Cooperation from other railitar~r services cmc1 ap;encies

concerned (e.l::•, Federal Civil Defense .l'.ctministr2tion) would be anecessity.

In investigating siGDific2nt cases (such as the Tremonton,

Ute>h, sie;htine;), controlled experin1Cnts might be required.

.hn example~~

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would be the photograph:ing of "pillm·r ballooms 11 .;:tt different dist<mcesunder simila.r -vreather conditions 2.t the site.
The help of one or t-vro psycholor;ists and 1vriters and a subcontractor
to produce traming films vrould be necessary in addition.

The Panelconsidered that ATIC 1 s efforts, temporarily e:;;:p~nded as necessary,
could be most useful in implementing any action taken as a result of
its recommendations.

Experience and records in ATIC -vmuld be of value

in both the pu_blic educational Md service training program envisaged.

Dr. Robertson at least lJ<:~s of the opinion that after public gullibility
lessentSC! and the service organizations, such as ADC, had been trained
to sift out the more readily explained spurious sightinp;s, thE.re ~o·rould
still be a role for a very modest-sized ATIC section to cope ui th theresiduum of items of possible scientific intelligence value.

This

section should concentrate on energetically follot-rlng up (perhaps on
the advice of qualified Air Force Scientific Advisory BoBrd members)
those cases -vrhich seemed to indicate the evicience of unconventional
enemy artifo.cts.

H.eports of such artifacts woulci be expected toarise mainly from vJestem outposts in f['.r closer proximity to theIron Curta~n than Luhhock, Texas 1
UNOI·Ji ICL'tL Hf\JtS'l'IGli'fiNG Gl~OUPSThe Panel took coroniz2nce of ~he e'Xistence of such p;roups as the"Civilian Flyinc Saucer Investigators" (Los Angeles) and the 11Lcrial
Phenomena Research Orp,anization (Hisconsin).

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great influence on mass thinking if iudespread siehtines should occur.
The apparent irresponsibility an6 the possible use of such groups
for subvcrE"ive purposes shoulc~ be kept in mind.
mc;~EfkSE

IN NU1".il3F.R OF SIGHTINGS

The consensus of the Panel Has, based upon the history of thesubject, that the number of sightin9:s could be re.2.sonably expected
to increase a~ain this summer.

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REFORT OF THJ.:; SCIEl'::TII'IC PkNEL
ON

illHD:.j'JTIFTI;JJ FLYil\C OBJJ::C'l'0

Released in MORI

Jan 17 1953l.

Purcu£1nt to the requert of the Lssistant Director for

Scientific Intelligence, the unv.ersir;ned Panel of Scientific Consultcmtc h3s
met to evalu<>.te cmy possible thre2.t to national security poced by Uni<ientified
Flyin,ro; Objects ( HFlyin::', Sauccrs 1' ) , <'nc"l to m<>.ke recor.uilE::nc~ntions thereon.
The Panel has received the evidence 2s presented by coenizant L~tellir;ence aeencies 1 primarily the Air Technical Intelli,:;ence Genter,anc hasrevieHed a selection of the best ClocUJilented incidents.

2.

As a result of itrconciferetions, the Panel conclude~:a.

Th2.t the evidence presenteci on Unidentified Flyinz

Objects shovrs no indic.:1tion thc::t these phenomena constitutea direct physical threet to national security.
~:·efirmly believe th<:'.t there is no residuum of cases which indicatesphenomena 1-Jhich an: attributable to foreign artifacts cape.ble of hostileacts, and. that there is no evi6ence that the phenomena indicate a needfor the revision of current scicnti:':'ic concepts.

3.

~he

Penel further concludes:a.

Th;:-t the continued cr11phe.sis on the reportin[~ ofthese phenomena doe:=-, in these parlous times, reE"ult in athreat to the orderly functioninr-" of the protective organsof the body politic.
~Je cite ap examples the clogr,inp; of channels of communication by irrelevant

reports, the danc;er of beinr. 1£ d by continued f<'1.lse alarms to ie;norc real
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indications of hostile action, anc the cultiv.?tion of a morbid national
fsycholop,y in which skillful hostile propc>.[;c>noa could induce hysterical~\

1rehavior v.nd harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.

4.

In order most effectively to stren~then the national fa.cilities

for the timely recopnition cnC: the ap-propri8te handling of true indicationsof hostile action, 2nd to minimize the concomitcmt dane;ers alluded toabo1-e, the Panel recommends:a.

That the national security a~encies tc1.ke i.rnmedic:te steps

to strip the UnidentifiE":d flying Objects of the special status theyha-,,c been [~iven anc'c the aura of mystery they have unfortunately
c>CCft.'ired;b.

Th2t the national security ar-;encies institute policies

on intelli:-;ence, training, and public ed.ucation 6esiQ.ned to prepare
the material defenses and the morale of the cotmtry to recognize
most promptly and to react most effectively to true indicationsof hostile intent or action.
·~resue;e;est that these sims may be .9chieved by an intee;rated program

desiened to reassure the public of the total lack of evidence oi :inimic2l
forces behind the phenomena, to tr2in personnelt to recocnize anc" rejectfalse indications ouickly and effectively, and to strene;then regularchannels for the evaluation of andprompt reaction to true :indicationsof hostile measures.
/s/ Lloyd V. Derkner
I ssoci2.ted Universities, Inc.

~/:-=s~/~I-~~-~P~·;.....:r.:,;.o~b:..:e:.:;:r:..:t~s:-.:o:.:;n=--___,.--:::,.--~-....,.---, Chc? irm~nCalifornia Institute of Technology/s/ S. A. Goudsmit
Brookhaven Hati('mal Labor2.tories/r::/ Luis ~-;. Alv~rez
Unlli"ersity of California/s/ Thornton P2r:eApproved For Release 2001/08/07 :J~M\-~~~~BPJ>q§pftQq4,\qg,o30027-0