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This Black Vault compilation contains a September 1997 reply from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense to John Greenewald's FOIA request, enclosing its UFO records. The enclosures include a Navy information sheet dismissing the Philadelphia Experiment and an Air Force UFO fact sheet listing 12,618 Project Blue Book sightings, 701 of them unidentified. They also include the National Academy of Sciences review endorsing the University of Colorado report and the concluding pages of a 1994 Air Force Roswell report attributing the wreckage to Project MOGUL.
“Sightings”41 pages
Identified reports are those tor which sufficient speci!ie information h3S been accumulated and evaluated to permit a positive identification or explanation of the object. Reports categorized a, Insu!!icient Data are those !or which one or more elements of informa~ tion essential for evaluation are missing. Some examples are the omission of the duration of the sighting, date, time, location, position in the sky, weather conditions, and the manner of appearance or disappearance. U an element 1s missing and there is an indication that the sighting may be of a security, scientific, teehnic:al, or public interest value, the ProjP.ct Blue Book Orfice conducu an additional investigation and every attempt Ia made to obtain the information necessary for identi!i~ cation. However, iD some instances, essential information cannot be obtained, and no further action can be takeft. . The third and by far the smallest group of evaluations is categorized as Unidentified. A sight~ ing is considered unidentified when a report apparently contains all pertinent data necessary to suggest a. valid hypothesta concerning the cause or explanation of the report but tM description of the object or its motion cannot be correlated with any known object or phenomena. TYPES OF UFO IDENTlFICATDNS AND EVALUATIONS There are varioua types of UFO sightings. Most common are reports of a.stronomicalsiJht!np, which include bright stars, planets, comets, flreballs, meteors, auroral streamers, and other celes- tial bodies. When observed through haze, light to1, moving clouds, or other obscura.tions or unusual conditions, the planets, J.ncludtng Venus, Jupiter, and Mars have been reported as Wlidentified nytnc objects. Stellar mirages are also a source of reports. Satellites are another major source of uro r!pOrts. AD mcrease 1n satellites reported as uros ha.s come about because of two factors. The f1rst ia the i.Dcrea.se of interest on the part of the public; the second is the increaainc number of satellites 1n the skies. Posltive knowledge of the location of all satellites at all times eaahles ra.pid identU1catlon of sa.telltte siehtings. KeepLnc track of man-made objects in orbit about the earth 1s the responstbWty of the North American Air Defense Command Space Detection and Trac1r1ng System. This sophisticated electronic: system gathers complex space traffic data instantly from tracking stations all over the world. Other space surveillanee acUvities include the use of balliStic tracking and large telescopic c::a.m- . eras. ECHO schedules are prepared by the NASAGoddardSpaee Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland, and schedules of the South/North equator crossings are prepared by the Smithsonian Institution at Cambridge, Massachusetts. From the data produced by these agencies, sate llltes mistakenly reported as UFOs can be quickly identified. Some of these are visible to the naked eye. Aircraft account for another major source of UFO reports, particularly during adverse weather conditions. When observed at high altitudes and at some distance, aircraft can have appea.r:mc es rang~ ing from disc to rocket shapes due to the refiectton of the sun on their bright surfaces. Vapor or con- densation trails !rom jet aircraft will sometimes appear to glow fiery red or orange \\'hen reneettnc sunlight. A!terburners from jet aircraft are often reported as UFOs since they can be seen !rom great distances when the aircraft cannot be seen. The Project Blue Book OUice has direct contact with all elements of the Air Force and the Fed~ eral A·tiation .A.gency civil air control centers. All aerial refueling operations and special training !lights can be checked immediately. Air traffic of commercial airlines and flights of military aircraft a.re checked with the nearest control center, enabling an immediate evaluation o! aircraft misbkellly reported as UFOs. However, since many local flights are not carried, these flights :tre probable causes o! some reports. 2 •
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