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.

  • p. 3 …Origin Tremonton, Utah, Sighting Potential Related Dangers Geographic Locations of Unexplained Sightings Instrumentation to Obtain Data…
  • p. 5 …In cooperation 1vi th the Air Technical Intelligence Center, case histories of reported sightings and related…
  • p. 6 …For example, case histories involving radar or radar and visual 25X1A sightings were selected for while…
  • p. 7 …instrumentation watches of patrol cameras searching for sightings of U.F.O.'s. At 1615 Brig…
  • p. 10 …Among the case histories of significant sightings discussed in detail "ivere the follmving: Bellefontaine, Ohio (1…
  • p. 11 …objects sighted• Instances of nFoo Fighters 11 were cited• These were unexplained phenomena sighted by aircraft…
  • p. 12 …It was interesting that in at least two cases reviewed that the object sighted was categorized…
  • p. 13 …Hhat they did not find vras any evidence that related the objects sighted to space travelers…
  • p. 14 …However, the Panel could not accept any of the cases sighted by him because they were…
  • p. 15 …representatives that the objects sighted were not birds, balloons or aircraft, were nnot reflections because there…
  • p. 16 …There was no valid reason for the attempt to relate theobjects in the Tremonton sighting to…
  • p. 17 …The Panel believed strongly that the data available on this sighting was sufficient for positive identification…
  • p. 18 …Page noted that more competent screening or filtering of reported sightings at or near the source…
  • p. 19 …On the other hand, there had been no sightings in the vicinity of sensitive related AE…
  • p. 20 …exposure in order to photograph an alleged sighting in a different part of the sky; This…
  • p. 27 …mc;~EfkSE IN NU1".il3F.R OF SIGHTINGS The consensus of the Panel Has, based upon…
Approved For R~~e· 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R00560R0.. ,
historical cases but thEC current ones. Recent cases v.re probably much
more susceDtible to explmation than older ones; first, because of
ATIC' s c:periencc s anc:., secondly, their kno;rled;>:e of most plausible
explanations. The Panel believed that some expansion of the ATIC effort
wortld certainly be required to support such a program. It was believed
ina1Jpropriate to state exactly hoH large a T;;b1e of Or~;anization -vmuld
be required. Captain Ruppclt of ATIC unofficially propost:.d, for purposes
of analyzing 2nd eva1uotinp; re:ports:
a. P~ analysts' panel of four officers
b. Four officer investiGators
c. A briefinE: officer
d. ii.n LDC liason officer
e. A Heather 2nd balloon de.t··. officer
f. An astronomic2.l consultant
g. A Gro·t p LeaO.er, Hith ac'ministrative assist::'nt, file clerks and
steno~!rapherE:.
This pl~oposal met with eenerally favorable comment. The Panel
believed that, 1dth A'J:'IC' s support, the educc.tionc-.1 proeram of 11train-'
inr ancl C.ebunking" OtJ.tl::_ned above nir,ht be required for a minimu...'ll of
one and one-he1.lf to t1:-vo years. 1t.t the end of thj.s tim.e, the dene;er::
relc>.ted to 11 flyinc: saucers" shoulci have been r-reatly reduced if not
eliminated. Cooperation from other railitar~r services cmc1 ap;encies
concerned (e.l::•, Federal Civil Defense .l'.ctministr2tion) would be a
necessity. In investigating siGDific2nt cases (such as the Tremonton,
Ute>h, sie;htine;), controlled experin1Cnts might be required. .hn example
~~
I.99Qlll<~t~tt~f~
Approved For Release 2001/08/0 =2~- -RDP81R00560R000100030027-0

Cases discussed

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.