Documents / Report
Robertson Panel Report
The Black Vault · 1953 · 29 pages · text from the file's own layer
This declassified CIA document, released through The Black Vault, reports on the meetings of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, which the Office of Scientific Intelligence convened on January 14 to 18, 1953. It includes a history of the sessions and the panel's informal comments, and it appends the formal report signed by H. P. Robertson and others. The panel found no evidence of a direct threat to national security. It recommended stripping UFOs of their special status and starting a public education program.
“CIA”28 pages
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CONVENED BY OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, CIA
January 14 - 18, 1953
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Purpose
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16 February 1953
MEMORANDUM FOR: Assistant…
- p. 5 …WEDNESDAY MORNING
The AD/SI opened the meeting, reviewing CIA interest in the
subject and action…
- p. 6 …Besides Panel members and
CIA personnel, Capt. E. J. Ruppelt, Dr. J. Allen Nynak,
Capt. Harry…
- p. 7 …Besides Panel members.and CIA personnel, Mr. Ruppelt and Dr. Hynek
were present for both sessions…
- p. 8 …Besides Panel members and CIA
personnel, Dre Hynek was present. as Panel
Member, was present at…
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conclusions reached. A…
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d• Objects in the Great Falls…
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k. Hand "jitter 11 frequencies…
- p. 18 …Although not the concern of CIA, the first two of' these problems
may seriously affect the…
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W•ms mentioned as possibly…
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historical cases but thEC current ones. Recent…
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REFORT…
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d• Objects in the Great Falls case vrere believed to have
probably been aircraft, and the bright lights such reflections•
e. There was no valid reason for the attempt to relate theobjects
in the Tremonton sighting to those in the Great Falls sight-
ing. This may have been due to misunderstanding in their
directive. The objects in the Great Falls sighting are
strongly suspected of being reflections of aircraft kno'vn to
have been in the area.
f• The intensity change in the Trementon lights was too great
for acceptance of the P.I.L. hypothesis that the apparent
motion and changing intensity of the lights indicated eA~remely
high speed in small orbital paths.
g. Apparent lack of guidance of investigators by those familiar
with U.F.O• reports and explanations.
h• .Analysis of light intensity of objects made from duplicate
rather than original film• The original film was noted to
have a much lighter background (affecting relative brightness
of object) and the objects appeared much less bright.
i. Method of obtaining data of light intensity appeared faulty
because of unsuitability of equipment and questionable
assumptions in making averages of readings.
j. No data had been obtained on the sensitivity of Kodachrome
film to light of various intensities using the sarae camera
type at the same lens openings.
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Cases discussed
- Foo Fighters of World War II 1944
Instances of Foo Fighters cited, WWII balls of light - The Green Fireballs over New Mexico 1948
reports of Green Fireball phenomena routed to a panel member - The Mariana UFO Film 1950
Great Falls, Montana (15 August 1950) film shown; likely aircraft reflections - The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO Flap 1952
Washington, D.C. area (19 July 1952) discussed - Haneda AFB radar-visual sighting and F-94 intercept 1952
Haneda A.F.B., Japan (5 August 1952) discussed - Bellefontaine Radar-Visual and Gun-Camera Intercept 1952
Bellefontaine, Ohio (1 August 1952) discussed in detail - The Robertson Panel: The CIA's Secret UFO Review 1953
Scientific Advisory Panel on UFOs convened by OSI, CIA, January 14-18, 1953 - Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14: the Battelle statistical study, 1955 1955
Project STORK support at Battelle Memorial Institute described by Hynek
About this file
Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 29 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.