Documents / Memo
This CIA file, released in 2001, gathers 1952 memoranda from H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, to the Director of Central Intelligence, along with draft letters to the Secretary of Defense and the NSC and a briefing on the Air Force position. It concludes that flying saucers carry national security implications, namely mass panic and air defense vulnerability. It recommends expanded scientific research, a public information policy and study of Soviet interest, noting that about 20 percent of roughly 1500 Air Force reports remained unexplained.
“Nature”16 pages
# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R0060R000100020012-7 SECRET Security Information MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence THPU Deputy Director (Intelligence) SUBJECT Flying Saucers ## 1. PROBLEM To determine: 4. whether there are national security implications in the problem of "unidentified flying objects" i.e. flying sensors] b. whether adequate study and research is currently being directed to this problem in its relation to such national security implications; and c. What further investigation and research should be instituted, by whom, and under what agis. 2. FACTS BEARING ON THE PROBLEM a. OSI has investigated the work currently being performed on flying saucers and has found that: (1) The only unit of Government currently studying the problem is the Directorate of Intelligence, USAF, which has charged the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) with responsibility for investigating the reports of sightings. (2) At ATIC there is a small group consisting of a reserve Captain, two Lieutenants and two secretaries to which come all reports of sightings through official channels, and which conducts investigation of the reports either itself or through consultation with other Air Force officers or with civilian technical consultants. (3) A world-wide reporting system has been instituted and major Air Force bases have been ordered to make interceptions of unidentified flying objects. (4) The research being carried on is strictly on a case basis and appears to be designed solely to attempt a satisfactory explanation of each individual sighting as it occurs. (5) ATIC has concluded an arrangement with Eattelle Memorial Institute for the latter to establish a machine indexing system for official reports of sightings. Approved For Release 2001/04/02 CIA RDP81R00560R000100020012-7
Memo, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 36 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.