User:Panyd/Ufology6.2.1

Government responses

USA

UFOs as a phenomena have been especially prevalent in US culture, with Presidents Carter and Reagan both claiming to have seen UFOs.1 Numerous other government officials have also claimed to have witnessed these objects,? and this culture has been reflected in the official US military response to the field.

1940s - 1960s

The first occasion on which a UFO sighting was submitted to the CIA was on June 24, 1947, when a man named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine flying saucers near Mt. Rainer, Washington. He estimated their speed at 1,000 mph. A slew of other reports from military personnel followed, which led to the creation of Project SIGN in 1948 by Air Force Gen. Nathan Twining. Project SIGN was created to attempt to determine whether these sightings were a threat to national security. A report led by the Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Material Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base found mundane explanations for the sightings [was this project SIGN's outcome?]. However, neither the US Air Force nor the CIA were willing to discount the possibility that UFOs might be aircraft of non-terrestrial origin, they continued to investigate every report submitted.

The US Air Force also engaged in Project GRUDGE from the late 1940s until 27 December, 1949. The aim of the project was to calm public fears. However, there were fears that the project's existence itself was fuelling public panic, and the project was short lived.[What fears and why?]

In 1952 the Truman administration was concerned about an increase in UFO sightings. The official response took a more serious turn after unusual radar readings near Washington National Airport led to aircraft being scrambled to intercept supposed objects. The CIA and US Air Force then engaged in programs to further investigate the new glut of reports. The Air Force began Operation BLUE BOOK, a with a small staff continuing the work of previous projects. This was in effect throughout the 50s and 60s. Throughout its existence, the US Air Force collaborated with outside institutions such as the Battelle Memorial Institute, to help analyse data and produce numerous internal reports, all of which have since been declassified, with the possible exception of a Special Report 13, though there are some doubts over its existence.

The CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and the Office of Current Intelligence (OCI), began their own investigations. These were kept secret from the public "in view of their probable alarmist tendencies". Special focus was given to the role Russia could play in weaponizing either UFOs or UFO sightings. CIA investigations resulted in panic through the agency with H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of OSI insisting that UFOs could be an imminent threat to US Air Force bases. At a late 1952 hearing regarding the matter, the CIA's Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) agreed, with the full cooperation of Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Director of Air Force Intelligence, to commission a team of scientists to investigate the evidence and reports collected and examine any scientific theories regarding their origin. They named this the 'Robertson Panel'. After reviewing the evidence over three days in early 1953, their conclusion was that no national security threat was posed by UFOs. Much like the team working on Project GRUDGE, they concluded that continued official investigations of the phenomena could lead to hysteria, and that further investigations may disrupt government functions with numerous and needless reports.

To combat hysteria, they [the Robertson Panel?] suggested that the CIA and Air Force launch a campaign to help educate the public about the lack of evidence for UFOs being anything other than natural phenomena. Suggestions for media outlets to help spread the message included the Disney Corporation, and business clubs and schools were also encouraged to participate.

As McCarthyism grew in scope within the government, Ufology groups Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators in Los Angeles and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization in Wisconsin were targeted for surveillance in case they were engaged in subversive activities. The CIA closed its investigation, but the reports remained restricted, and any mention of the CIA's involvement in the joint IAC panel was forbidden.

By May 1953, all inquiries into UFOs had been handed to the OSI's Physics and Electronic Division, where the lead scientist of the Physics and Electronics Division, a Todos M. Odarenko, insisted on changing the status of UFO research to 'inactive'. A clerk was retained to file reports from the US Air Force but there was little interest or input from the Navy or Army. In 1955 he attempted to have the entire project scrapped as he argued funding restrictions were already putting pressure on other departments. It was growing congressional concern and a UFO sighting by US Senator Richard Russell on a trip to the USSR (later dismissed by the CIA) that kept policymakers interested in the subject. Fear of the USSR creating 'flying saucers' was still prevalent, even in the face of skepticism or outright disbelief within the CIA.

The 1954 launch of the U-2, and the subsequent launch of the OXCART (SR-71, or Blackbird), presented Project BLUE BOOK with a dilemma. Reports of UFOs rose exponentially, but neither the Air Force nor the government were able to disclose the true nature of what was being observed. False statements were given to the public to calm fears surrounding sightings, but in 1956 the former head of Project BLUE BOOK publically announced the Robertson Panel's existence, and the intense pressure from UFO groups, compounded by a best selling novel written by former Marine Corps major Donald Keyhoe, put enormous pressure on the Air Force to release the results. The CIA refused, and instead published their own version of the report, with all mentions of CIA involvement or fears over USSR involvement removed.

Chemical engineer turned Ufologist Dr. Leon Davidson and Keyhoe continued to press the CIA for more information, insisting that the CIA had greater involvement in UFO research than previously stated. A long series of correspondence and accusations led the CIA to convene with the Air Force on how to handle such situations in future. In Keyhoe's case, this culminated in a meeting with a CIA agent in Air Force uniform, assuring him that only the Air Force dealt with UFO reports and incidences, and that it was not Air Force policy to disclose which departments were handling what information. After this, dealing with Keyhoe was dropped as a priority.

The CIA continued to monitor UFO reports and sightings, but did not report up to the DCI unless there was a notable 'flap'.

1960s - 1980s

Little attention was given to UFO incidents within government in the early sixties, though Project Blue Book continued to monitor the situation. Then, in 1964, the White House began discussions regarding the possibility of alien intelligence and on what action might be necessary if it was discovered. To this end, DCI John McCone asked the CIA for an updated overview of the UFO phenomenon. Collecting samples of videos and other evidence from the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (or NICAP), the CIA returned with assurances that nothing had changed since their last report.

Between that CIA review in 1964 and 1966, an "Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book," was headed by a Dr. Brian O'Brien and included Carl Sagan which was convened, and the House Armed Services Committee held hearings regarding UFOs. Both the committee and Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown repeated the same conclusion - there was no threat to national security, and no evidence that UFOs were 'foreign bodies'.

The pressure on the Air Force to release information about the Robertson Panel was still mounting and in 1966 they again went to the CIA asking to release the full report issued by the Robertson Panel, as well as a subsequent write-up of its conclusions. Dr. James E. McDonald, a physicist who had already read the write-up of the Robertson Panel's conclusions, now known as the Durant report, asked to see the document again. When the Air Force refused to give him access, they explained that it was a CIA document. Dr McDonald immediately went to the press announcing that the CIA were hiding evidence of their involvement in UFO research. (Just for me...they were...you idiots) In between this time and the final military analysis, individual scientists were asked to give testimony to the government in cases such as the Hearings of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in 1969.

To stop the public hounding, and on the recommendation of the Blue Book review committee, the US Air Force began an 18 month study into UFOs with the University of Colorado in an attempt to show the public they weren't hiding any information.^[1] They named it the Condon Committee, and the project was given $500,000 to carry out its research. Despite being conducted in conjunction with the US Air Force, the study did not focus on national security, instead aiming to see if the study of UFOs could '[add] to scientific knowledge'. Evidence was originally collected with the aid of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, who had also assisted in previous efforts. However, after numerous controversies, they publicly 'broke' with the study a year before its completion.^[2] J Allen Hynak, who had for years been the Air Force's official UFO consultant, also expressed dismay at the way the committee was handling its investigation.^[3] This prompted Senator J. Edward Roush to ask the US General Accounting Office for a review into the study, which they declined as the report had yet to be released.^[4]

The CIA offered their services, which were accepted, but once again insisted that their involvement be kept top secret.(Also in source 3) Using specialised CIA equipment, the Air Force and university team were able to analyse and debunk the photographic evidence they received, and in 1969 released a report named the '"Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects;", which was presented to the National Academy of Sciences. In it, they categorically stated that nothing significant had been discovered about UFOs in the last 21 years of government enquiry, and that no further investigation was warranted. The committee also recommended that Project Blue Book be disbanded, and on 17 December 1969, Secretary of the Air Force, Robert C. Seamans, Jr. announced that the Air Force would follow that suggestion. There has subsequently been no official US Air Force investigations into UFOs, with the requirement for additional study hinging on a rebuttal of the Condon Committee findings.

Again, just for me, because this is hilarious - in his closing recommendations Condon said "We were assured that the federal government would withhold no information on the subject. . . ." - you were SO wrong buddy - also, you knew the CIA were working with you and that was withheld from the public so you're not a nice person.

The Condon committee had been granted permission to release the Durant report with minimal deletions, but in 1975 the CIA finally granted a ufologist by the name of William Spaulding a full copy of both the Durant report and the Robertson Panel's conclusions. The Freedom of Information requests that followed deluged the agency until in 1977 the CIA had collected around 900 pages of documents related to CIA involvement in UFO research. They release all but 57 documents which they stated were kept to protect national security. Spaulding's group, Ground Saucer Watch, then sued the US government for the remaining documents. The suit was thrown out on summary judgement after a judge found the CIA had conducted a thorough investigation into their documents and were not holding anything back for any undisclosed reasons.

By 1973 the cattle mutilation phenomenon had begun, and in 1974 it began being linked to sightings of UFOs as well as 'mysterious helicopters' after Nebraska farmers claimed to see unexplainable lights in the sky before finding their cattle mutilated.^[5] In a bid to combat the perceived threat to farmer's livelihood, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (or CBI) began an investigation into the so called mutilations. After their investigation, and another by the Minnesota field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), failed to produce any arrests or definitive conclusions with which to calm the public, Colorado Senator Floyd Haskell asked that the Denver branch of the FBI investigate this issue.^[6]^[7] He claimed that CBI investigations had confirmed that this activity was ongoing in nine states for the past two years.^[6]

In 1979, the US District Attorney would provide former FBI agent Kenneth Rommel with a $50,000 federal grant to investigate cattle mutilations in the northern part of New Mexico. His report concluded mass hysteria had fuelled suspicions and theories that outside involvement was the cause of cattle mutilations, where natural causes were the most probable explanation.^[8]

1980s - 2000s

In 1993, DCI R James Woosley reviewed all CIA files on UFO phenomena after pressure from groups studying Ufology.

2000s - Present

References

^ Boffey 1968, p. 339.
^ Boffey 1968, p. 341.
^ Boffey 1968, p. 340.
^ Boffey 1968, p. 342.
^ Goleman 2001, p. 402.
^ ^a ^b Goleman 2001, p. 399.
^ Goleman 2001, p. 400.
^ Goleman 2001, pp. 408–409.