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.
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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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historical cases but thEC current ones. Recent…
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conclusions reached. A general discussion followed and tentative
reconnnendations considered• It vras agreed that the Chairman should
draft a report of the Panel to AD/SI that evening for review by the
Panel the next morning. The meeting adjourned at 1715.
SATURDAY HORNING
At 0945 the Chairman opened the seventh session and submitted
a rough draft of the Panel Report to the members. This draft had
been revievred and approved earlier by The next t;.m
and one-half hours were consumed in discussion and revision of the
draft. At 1100 the AD/SI joined the meeting and reported. that he
had shown and discussed a copy of the initial rough draft to
the Director of Intelligence, USAF, whose reaction was favorable. At
1200 the meeting was adjourned.
SATURDAY AFrERNOON
At 1400 the eighth and final meeting of' the Panel >vas opened.
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Discussions and rewording of certain sentences of the Report occupied
the first hour. (A copy of the final report is appended as Tab c.)
This was followed by a review of work accomplished by the Panel,
and restatement of individual Panel Member's opinions and suggestions
on details that were felt inappropriate for inclusion inthe formal
report. It was agreed that the writer would incorporate these
comments in an internal report to the AD/SI. The material below
represents this information.
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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.