US Report Central Intelligence Agency, Gerald Haines

"CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90" appears in Studies in Intelligence

In 1997 the Central Intelligence Agency published "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90", a study by Gerald K. Haines, historian of the National Reconnaissance Office, in Studies in Intelligence. Written after DCI R. James Woolsey ordered a review of all Agency files on UFOs in late 1993, it traced CIA interest from the late 1940s to 1990. It concluded that Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s but that CIA had since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena. It described a 1952 CIA study group, its national security worries about Soviet use of sightings, and the Agency's concealment of its interest, which it said contributed greatly to later charges of a conspiracy and cover-up.

1 document·5 points

• DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs in late 1993, after pressure from UFOlogists (p. 67).
• The study concludes that CIA concern was substantial until the early 1950s and has since been "limited and peripheral" (p. 67).
• DCI Walter Bedell Smith believed there was only one chance in 10,000 that the phenomenon posed a threat to national security, but that even that chance could not be taken (p. 68).
• Air Force and CIA officials agreed that outside knowledge of Agency interest would make the problem more serious; the study says this concealment contributed greatly to later charges of a CIA conspiracy and cover-up (p. 71).
• The author found almost no documentation on Agency involvement with UFOs in the 1980s (p. 83).

Documents

• Document CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90 CIA (Gerald Haines)· 1997· 18 pp.
• Official cia.gov the source's own page