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 Aase 2001/08/07: CIA-RDP81R005601o100030027-0
...
-tt·'fJ'~~··q!.....,.._...,,
Released in MORI -.-S~~JI;_,,_~£-~"'Jt.[;c>noa could induce hysterical
~\
1rehavior v.nd harmful distrust of duly constituted authority.
4. In order most effectively to stren~then the national fa.cilities
for the timely recopnition cnC: the ap-propri8te handling of true indications
of hostile action, 2nd to minimize the concomitcmt dane;ers alluded to
abo1-e, the Panel recommends:
a. That the national security a~encies tc1.ke i.rnmedic:te steps
to strip the UnidentifiE":d flying Objects of the special status they
ha-,,c been [~iven anc'c the aura of mystery they have unfortunately
c>CCft.'ired;
b. Th2t the national security ar-;encies institute policies
on intelli:-;ence, training, and public ed.ucation 6esiQ.ned to prepare
the material defenses and the morale of the cotmtry to recognize
most promptly and to react most effectively to true indications
of hostile intent or action.
·~re sue;e;est that these sims may be .9chieved by an intee;rated program
desiened to reassure the public of the total lack of evidence oi :inimic2l
forces behind the phenomena, to tr2in personnelt to recocnize anc" reject
false indications ouickly and effectively, and to strene;then regular
channels for the evaluation of andprompt reaction to true :indications
of hostile measures.
/s/ Lloyd V. Derkner
I ssoci2.ted Universities, Inc.
~/:-=s~/~I-~~-~P~·;.....:r.:,;.o~b:..:e:.:;:r:..:t~s:-.:o:.:;n=--___,.--:::,.--~-....,.---, Chc? irm~n
California Institute of Technology /s/ S. A. Goudsmit
Brookhaven Hati('mal Labor2.tories
/r::/ Luis ~-;. Alv~rez
Unlli"ersity of California /s/ Thornton P2r:e
Approved For Release 2001/08/07 :J~M\-~~~~BPJ>q§pftQq4,\qg,o30027-0

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.