Documents / Official release
This declassified file from the U.S. Department of War, dated March 1953, contains a Secretary of Defense routing slip and a 13 March 1953 CIA cover letter from Richard D. Drain of the Intelligence Advisory Committee. The letter sends the Secretary of Defense a report by a panel of scientists on "Unidentified Flying Objects." General Smith convened the panel. The letter says its conclusions point to potential dangers to national security, including the cultivation of a morbid national psychology that hostile propaganda could exploit.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This file contains a copy of the CIA's 1953 "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects" that was sent to the Secretary of Defense.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROUTING SLIP (Classified) CLASSIFICATION FROM The Secretary of Defense 1 Admin Sec TO UNITIAL TO INITIAL THE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (ISA) DIRECTOR, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF FOREIGN MILITARY AFFAIRS DEPUTY DIRECTOR, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE SEC. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MILITARY ASSISTANCE SECRETARY OF ARMY DIRECTOR, NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY AFFAIRS SECRETARY OF NAVY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL POLICY SECRETARY OF AIR FORCE Mr. Nayo ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (Compt) CHAIRMAN, ARMED FORCES MEDICAL POLICY COUNCIL ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (M & P) CHAIRMAN, DEFENSE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (L & LA) DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DIRECTOR, MILITARY TRAFFIC SERVICE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION CHAIRMAN, MUNITIONS BOARD DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF GUIDED MISSILES CHAIRMAN, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD CHAIRMAN, MILITARY LIAISON COMMITTEE - A.E.C. FOR FOR PREPARATION OF REPLY FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE SIGNATURE INFORMATION AND RETENTION 3 APPROPRIATE ACTION INFORMATION AND RETURN FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FILES PLEASE REPLY DIRECT FOR SEC. OF DEFENSE (Copy of reply to be forwarded to Sec. of Defense Files) COMMENT AND/OR RECOMMENDATION PLEASE FURNISH DATA ON WHICH TO BASE A REPLY NOTE AND FORWARD FROM CIA (Richard D Drain Sec Intelligence Advisory) DATE RECEIVED Committee 17 March 1953 TO Sec/Def NUMBER COPIES DATE 13 Mar 53 SHORT TITLE Ltr ORIGINAL CARBON OTHER SUBJECT A Report prepared by a Panel of Scientists on the Subject of "Unidentified Flying Objects". INCLOSURES RECEIVED 1 copy Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects COMMENT (Flying Saucers). DECLASSIFIED NW 823015 By SEC NARS, Date 4/15/65 This report appears to warrant action. CEY LTR Panel Report to be his force by memo. See LTR 501391 dtd 2005 53 DUE IN CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL SECTION, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, OSD CONTROL NUMBER LNW 02610 SD 1 APR 52 PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THIS FORM ARE OBSOLE See reverse side of this form for instructions on handling attached material. CLASSIFICATION RECEIVED RECEIVED DATE 3 RECEIVED RECEIVED DATE 1
Official release, from the pursue collection. 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. 7 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.