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-RDP81R00560R000100020012-7 of a ground radar sighting in Maryland the pilot of an interceptor aircraft, with his AI gear "locked on" a "blip", found himself on a steeply sloping downwards course at low altitude. This occurred three times indicating that the target was on the ground and that the course of the radar beam had been distorted. It should be noted that radar anomalies both internal and external in nature still exist in disturbing numbers. The ability of a radar observer to accurately determine the validity of "blips" on his scope is directly proportional to the length and breadth of his experience. Cloud effects have affected the accuracy of a number of sightings. Rapidly scudding clouds land an apparent motion to a fixed body. The moon or a bright planet shing through a cloud hole at times does appear as a "flaming object." Other "explainable" misinterpretations which are known to have accounted for reports of sightings include a wide variety of objects. Windblown objects is one. Such an incident was reported by the U.S. Consul at Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Here is his actual report: "At about 2:00 p.m. last Sunday, I observed a silvery, shining, disc-like object floating in the clear, blue sky almost directly
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.