The CIA UFO Papers

by Dan Wright

  Another UFO-related IFDRB was distributed on September 27, 1952, from a source who covered Spain, Algeria, and French Equatorial Africa. At 8:00 a.m., April 21 over Almansa, Spain, “many people saw a series of four glowing spheres crossing the sky” in succession, at great height and speed. On the night of July 30 in Andujar, Spain, many residents saw a round red object at great speed and silent, trailing greenish light.35

  The same report conveyed other aerial oddities from various sources. On June 1, at 2:40 a.m. at Port Gentil, Gabon, the master and first mate of a cargo ship at anchor saw an orange luminous object rise up behind the port, execute two right-angle turns, pass overhead and continue out of sight.

  On October 13, 1952, mid-level manager James Reber typed a lengthy draft memo to the Agency's deputy director of intelligence. It was titled “Flying Saucers.”

  With the Eisenhower-Stevenson election less than a month away, surely neither wanted such a distraction. America was now in a full-blown cold war with the Soviets, who were quickly marching from atomic to hydrogen bombs. Of necessity, the Air Force had been analyzing UFO reports out of concern for a possible Soviet attack on the United States. Further, the USSR could use any social confusion to launch an air attack.

  Thus far, the memo strove to convince, the Defense Department had relied on ATIC research and that 80 percent of reported sightings had, to OSI satisfaction, been resolved. Further, “(OSI) review of existing information does not lead to the conclusion that the saucers are USSR created or controlled.”36

  Lacking, Reber said, was some fundamental scientific research “to clarify the nature and causes of Flying Saucers and to devise means whereby they might be instantly identified.” The paper, though, projected scientific intelligence problems: What was the Soviets' knowledge of these phenomena? Could the Soviets use them against the United States? How did flying saucers affect our threat warning system? Among its basic conclusions:

  The Defense Department had primary responsibility for scientific research on these matters.

  The CIA Director should communicate with the IAC or NSC.

  It was premature to do US psychological warfare planning.

  A National Estimate on Flying Saucers should be the “basis for a public policy to reduce or restrain mass hysteria.”37

  As autumn 1952 proceeded, voices across the Agency's Office of Scientific Intelligence came to a singular conviction: The saucer problem would never be resolved to the public's satisfaction unless recognized experts brought hard science to bear.

  In the aftermath of Eisenhower's victory, the first week of December served to focus Agency attention on “the problem” and a potential resolution. On December 2nd, OSI's Director, H. Marshall Chadwell, sent a memo titled “Unidentified Flying Objects” to Walter B. Smith, Director of Central Intelligence. Chadwell expressed an urgency over the matter: “At this time, the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention.” Sightings of unknowns at great altitudes and speeds near defense installations were neither natural phenomena nor known aerial vehicles. He further informed the DCI that OSI was establishing a group of consultants to review the matter and convince authorities that research and development must be undertaken.38

  The next day Philip G. Strong, OSI's Acting Deputy Assistant Director, wrote a memorandum for the record (a common Agency practice) to summarize a meeting on the 2nd with MIT executives Julius Stratton and Max Millikan. Strong outlined recent valid UFO cases. Stratton reiterated his call for an academic study, but because of delicate relations with the Air Force, any such study would need its concurrence soon thereafter. He added that Cal Tech would be one preferred site and asked to be kept informed of new developments. Over lunch a CIA colleague suggested enlisting the help of a Columbia University professor, an expert on “magic and general chicanery.” That aside, Strong concluded that no new study would be viable without the expressed approval of the CIA director.39

  Then on the 4th, the Agency's Intelligence Advisory Committee held a meeting in the director's conference room, the Acting DDI Robert M. Amory Jr. presiding. On UFOs, according to the minutes transcribed, “It was recognized that the problem is best approached if directly related to specific problems of intelligence and defense.” Selected scientists should appraise the evidence “in light of pertinent scientific theories.”40

  Still that week, one staff member informed another via informal memo of the “Proposed Study on the Flying Saucers Phenomena; Intelligence Advisory Committee,” December 5, 1952. “[T]he military members suggested a logical approach which would call for a group of scientists to make a study of the new ‘saucers’ data.” But a recent African encounter had argued against all such phenomena being explainable.41

  The following week, on December 9, OSI staffer H.U. Graham wrote to his superior, Philip Strong, via formal Office Memorandum entitled “FCC Monitoring and Flying Saucers.” Graham referred to certain unexplained radio signals intercepted by the Federal Communications Commission. He proposed that any panel of scientists formed to consider reports of unidentified aerial objects ought to review said signals for possible connection to the phenomena.42

  A week after his earlier memo to the CIA director, on the 10th, OSI Director Chadwell wrote to Walter Smith again. In this memo, “Unidentified Flying Objects,” Chadwell cited recent incidents:

  Movie footage of ten unknowns at Tremonton, Utah, unexplained as either natural phenomena or known aircraft

  A brilliant light over the coast of Maine, at least twice the altitude of any known device, which remained aloft for four hours

  A claimed saucer in Florida that left effects as yet unexplained

  At various locations, lights or objects not resembling known aircraft, not of a celestial origin, not weather based

  Chadwell suggested a panel of experts to examine the evidence, headed by Howard P. Robertson, a distinguished physicist at the California Institute of Technology.43

  Chadwell's typewriter was busy once more on the 13th. Again titled “Unidentified Flying Objects,” his memorandum (signed by subordinate H. L. Clark) to the CIA director was to amplify the earlier conveyance and to present current thinking on the subject.

  Clark determined a preliminary review by the Air Force's young Project Blue Book was complete. A day before, Cal Tech's H. P. Robertson, CIA agent and missile expert Fred C. Durant, and others visited ATIC at Wright-Patterson AFB. There they acquired selected case materials. Review of those concluded there was “no reasonable evidence that the objects sighted are of foreign origin.” Though not a direct threat to national defense, certain dangers remained.44

  The memo went on. OSI was considering whether to round up a small group of respected scientists to continue extensive examination of the evidence. OSI would also decide on investigative methodologies, select instruments to obtain data, and decide methods of rapid identification. It would recommend whether to enlist a larger panel—which would not be soon convened; so far, that was not justified.

  An enclosure to the memo described in some detail the July 2, 1952, Tremonton, Utah, film; the October 10–11, 1952, “orange object” seen at the Presque Isle and Limestone (later Loring) AFB weather stations in Maine (both episodes subsequently assessed by Ohio State University astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek as Jupiter); and an August 19, 1952, report of an alleged close encounter by a Florida scoutmaster and four of his scouts.45

  In West Germany on November 20, 1952, an inventor applied for a patent for his “elliptical flying object,” which he claimed was 40 meters in diameter and capable of hovering, with a top speed of 4,000 km/hour.46

  Taking Stock

  Since the summer of 1947, it was generally agreed that the Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) had received around 1,500 official reports of sightings from the public—250 in July 1952 alone. ATIC listed 205 cases as unexplained from 1947 through 1951, plus 285 in 1952. Four hypotheses from the military contemplated possible explanation
s for the unknowns: (a) US secret weapon development, (b) Russian development, (c) “men from Mars”—spaceships—interplanetary travelers, or (d) given adequate resources, an explanation for all as either known objects misidentified or little-understood natural phenomena.

  OSI would evaluate the multifaceted Air Force study to determine intelligence implications, if any. But public awareness of CIA involvement risked hardening perceptions of the subject's seriousness. The Agency review would include its own intelligence, many official reports, press coverage, and popular books. In preparation, OSI spent a day at Wright-Patterson AFB speaking with Blue Book principals, then conferred with its own consultants.

  A meeting of scientific minds was in order.

  While you were away from your desk . . .

  No doubt scurrying about for explanations of the mysterious airborne vehicles that had frequented our nation's very capital, CIA analysts might have missed some of the other 1952 incidents involving aerial phenomena. For the events below were not included in the major release of UFO-related materials to the Agency's website in 2017.

  March 29, 1952

  Near Glen Burnie, Maryland, a car's engine died as the driver neared a 50-foot silver disc with a lighted rim and off-centered dome. The ship moved overhead and hovered with a vacuum cleaner sound. The motorist retrieved a submachine gun and stepped outside. A second driver stopped in the near distance but quickly retreated at the sight of the craft, the weapon, or both. After three minutes, the disc turned on edge and shot away, tumbling as it went. The auto's wiring had been magnetized and the paint was damaged. USAF Project Blue Book ruled the incident unidentified.47 Note: The driver's occupation, other pursuits, or purpose that night in carrying an automatic weapon were not specified.

  May 1, 1952

  “May Day!” was never more apropos. A major was leaving George AFB in Victorville, California when he spotted a formation of five enormous discs over the base. Momentarily they moved into a V formation and left the area. The major returned to the base to meet with the security officer only to find that he was interviewing a group of airmen who had also witnessed the anomalies. This would turn out to be the first of nine sightings at the base over a three-week period.48

  On the same day, at the Davis-Monthan AFB outside Tucson, Arizona, a B-36 Peacemaker bomber was closely approached by two discs. Apart from the crew, witnesses on the ground included the Air Intelligence officer charged with investigating UFO sightings. The observation lasted approximately three minutes.49

  At 9:27 p.m. still that day, 12 unknowns appeared over Randolph AFB, Texas. Flying in three tight formations, they crossed the expanse at a velocity estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 mph—roughly 2–3 times that of any experimental aircraft's top speed to that point.50

  June 5, 1952

  At Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, about 11:00 p.m., three personnel watched a red airborne object, stationary for 4–5 minutes, speed away emitting a short tail. One of the witnesses was a top-secret control officer for the Strategic Air Command and formerly in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). USAF Project Blue files listed the incident as unknown.51

  July 14, 1952

  At 8:10 p.m., a Pan American Airways DC-4 was approaching Norfolk, Virginia, on its way to Miami. The captain and third officer noticed a red brilliance in the sky, headed generally their way but at a much lower altitude. As the brightness grew nearer, it resolved into six separate bright objects at perhaps 2,000 feet. The captain later described their shape as clearly outlined and circular with well-defined edges, i.e., not phosphorescent or fuzzy. The upper surfaces glowed red-orange. They could now tell that the six unknowns were in narrow echelon formation, each vehicle successively higher. The men estimated the diameter of each as 100 feet.52

  Suddenly the lead object decelerated; the second and third wavered and seemed to almost pass the first as all six slowed down. When almost directly below the plane, they all flipped on edge simultaneously. The pilots could now see that the saucers were coin-shaped, their edges unlit, and about 15 feet thick. The top surfaces appeared to be flat, not domed. While still tilted, the formation reversed its echelon order then tilted back to horizontal. The group made a sharp turn and moved a distance away. Now the pilots caught sight of two more identical but still brighter UFOs as they darted into view from below the plane. These two proceeded to join the original six anomalies. All eight extinguished their lighting momentarily. Then they arched up over the airliner and sped west, blinking out non-sequentially.

  Upon landing, the crew was questioned at length by representatives of AFOSI who told them of several other groups of observers, including one USAF officer. AFOSI's classified cable outlining the event was sent to Army and Navy intelligence, the Armed Forces Security Agency (forerunner of the NSA), the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and (son of a gun) the CIA.53

  September 1952: Mainbrace

  Operation Mainbrace comprised twelve days of NATO maneuvers in September 1952, held primarily in northern Europe and the North Atlantic. In the early hours of September 13, a participating Danish destroyer was north of Bornholm Island (off the southeast coast of Denmark) when the lieutenant commander and several crew members watched a triangular object, emitting a bluish glow, travel southeast at an estimated 900 mph. Over the next week four more incidents were witnessed by well-qualified observers.

  On September 19, 1952, just before 11:00 a.m. at RAF Topcliffe, Yorkshire, two RAF officers and three crewmen witnessed a silver disc following a Meteor jet fighter as it banked in preparation for landing. “But after a few seconds it stopped its descent and hung in the air, rotating as if on its own axis. Then it accelerated at an incredible speed to the west ...”54

  About September 20, personnel of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, participating in the Mainbrace activities, observed and photographed a silvery sphere. (The photos were never made public.) The object moved across the sky behind the fleet. A reporter aboard the Roosevelt took several color photos, subsequently examined by Naval Intelligence officers and by Captain Edward Ruppelt of the USAF Project Blue Book. Ruppelt remarked, “[The pictures] turned out to be excellent. Judging by the size of the object in each successive photo, one could see that it was moving rapidly.” The possibility of a balloon being responsible was checked out, but none of the ships had launched any. A poor print of one of the photos later appeared in the Blue Book files released.55

  At 7:30 p.m., September 20, at Denmark's Karup Field, three Danish Air Force officers sighted a shiny metallic disc as it passed overhead from the direction of the Mainbrace fleet. It moved through clouds and out of view.56

  On September 21, six British RAF pilots in formation over the North Sea observed a shiny sphere's approach from the direction of the Mainbrace fleet. It eluded their pursuit and left the area. Later returning to base, one of the pilots noticed it following him, but when he turned to give chase it sped away.57

  October 17, 1952

  At Oloron, France, in the early afternoon, the family of the local high school superintendent were among the witnesses to a narrowly formed, whitish cigar-shaped object in the sky, inclined 45 degrees and accompanied by about thirty small spheres with a yellowish ring. These moved in pairs, zigzagging as they went. When two pulled apart, something like an electric arc was produced between them. All the objects were expelling an abundant trail of an unusual substance likened to strands of fiberglass—what would become known colloquially as angel hair—which drifted down and clung to trees, power lines, and house roofs. When held, the material gelatinized and disappeared.

  October 27, 1952

  Ten days later, at 4:00 p.m., an eerily similar incident occurred. A hundred Gaillac, France, residents observed a formation of 16–20 discs, arranged in pairs, traversing the sky. The revolving objects were said to emit bluish light. Many among the witnesses also noticed an elongated cylinder within the formation, which marched directly over the town for ten minutes. All the objects discharged shinin
g white material akin to fiberglass. Much of this angel hair was caught by trees and powerlines. But gathered samples quickly disintegrated. After ten minutes in sight, the formation reportedly continued along a straight path. Minutes after the Gaillac event, a single disc plus a cylindrical anomaly were sighted over 125 miles northeast at a meteorological station.58

  October 21, 1952

  An RAF lieutenant and his student pilot took off from RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire, that afternoon, in a Meteor twin-jet trainer for a planned exercise at 35,000 feet. As they broke through cloud cover at about 14,000, three luminous white discs came into view. The jet drew closer and they determined that the objects had a flat plate shape. When the bogeys moved across the jet's path, the student suggested they pursue them. Recalling rumors of planes disappearing in such a circumstance, the pilot replied that that was a terrible idea.59

  Chapter 6

  1953: Cold Water from Robertson and Others

  On January 9, 1953, OSI Director H. Marshall Chadwell communicated with the Agency Director, Walter Bedell Smith. The subject of the Memorandum was “Consultants for Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects.”

  Prior to the selected panel members convening, this memo proposed adding, in advisory capacities, radar expert Luis Alvarez and Thornton Page, astronomer and astrophysicist. Chadwell emphasized, “Every effort has been made to consider the most competent scientists whose dispositions are suitable to this complex study.”1 Attached were two single-page documents that were completely illegible.