..... May-June 1981 27 The Government and UFOs criticized as long ago as 1952 by the pulsion are beyond our knowledge: ''Furthet scientific investigation of CIA. The CIA complained that the Air If the UFO phenomenon is indeed Force's case·by-case investigations beyond the grasp of our understand­ UFOs is unwarranted." and explanations were insufficient to ing - technologically speaking-all the '-Ai) Force, 1980 determine the exact nature of the more reason to strive towards learning Perhaps most disturbing is the very phenomenon.' more about it. For although the United fact that after thirty-two years, a small Similarly, the Air Force-sponsored States mav i nore the SHtmhcance of but significant percentage of UFOs "Condon Committee" study by the t e Phenomenon, it ts ardlv still remains unidentified. While the University of Colorado in 1968 never reasonable to supoose that the rest of government has been concerned with earnestly intended to investigate the the world will do so. . the psychological danger the UFO physical reality of the phenomenon. And there are other considerations phenomenon poses, it has been un­ Indeed, an early memorandum by one besides national security in following willing to consider the prospect that of Dr. Edward U. Condon's staff in­ up the UFO enigma. As a report from some UFOs pose an actual physical dicates otherwise: "The trick would the National Securitv A2encv in 1968 threat. Fearful of generating undue be, I think to describe the project so put It, concern, the government has that to the public, it would appear a "Perhaps the UFO question ~ deliberately chosen to debunk UFO totally objective study ... one way to might even make man undertake • reports and has misinformed the do this would be to stress investiga­ studies which could enable him public as to the true importance of the tion, not of the physical phenomenon, to construct a society which is 2 phenomenon. but rather of the people who are doing most conducive to developing a - Unconventional aerial objects that the observing ..."7 completely human being, boast unlimited and unrestricted healthy in all aspects of mind and ? access to our most sensitive nuclear Conclusion body-and, most importantly, , installations-and which can render In June 1978, a French government able to recognize and adapt to inoperable the instrumentation, com­ UFO study group (GEPAN) concluded real environmental situations." munication/weapon systems of that "everything taken into considera· In isolating ourselves from the UFO American-made jets, or which can tion, a material phenomenon seems to phenomenon we may risk missing· shut down and restart at will be behind the totality of the what could be the most important sophisticated hydraulic equipment­ phenomenon - a flying machine adventure man has yet embarked do warrant further scientific study. whose modes of sustenance: and pro- up~ 0 Awareness of an advanced technology and potential threat is not an 1 unreasonable pursuit. As the National Security Agencr indicates, it could be Is the CIA Stonewalling? l a matter ot survival. by RICHARD HALL BASED ON the 892 pages of UFO­ 1966-68 University of Colorado UFO ~ough adruitted~y the govern­ related documents released to lawyer project. The documents also clearly in­ T ment has '"Studied UFO Peter Gersten, it is clear that the CIA's dicate that in 1952 the CIA was· reports, apparently no. government professed non-interest in UFOs is un- · prepared to mount a major scientific body has dwelt on those official true. There is internal evidence of non­ study of UFOs based on the extraor­ government reports that indicate cer­ continuity within the CIA, and even of dinary radar-visual sightings that tain UFOs pose a threat to national one group or analyst being unaware of year, but that the debunking conclu­ security. Is there any doubt that it is other files or previous work. This is siox:i of the Robertson Panel cut short these reports which deserve further not surprising considering the highly that effort. scientific investigation? compartmentalized nature of the In May 1953, following the Robert- The now-defunct USAF twenty-year agency. But periodic studies or . son Panel report, •p&E Division "Project Blue Book" UFO study never reviews were ordered and UFO assumed responsibility for the OSI had a chance to receive the "outstand­ reports, foreign and domestic, were project on unidentified flying objects.• ing report" from Iran. An Air Force routinely monitored over long periods (December 17, 1953 memo to Assis­ document states: "Reports of UFOs of time. tant Director, Scientific Intelligence) which could affect nati~nal security The statement is sometimes made A year later, the Chief of P &E (Physics are made _in accordance with JAN AP that the CIA has had no •formal" study and Electronics) said he would "main­ 146* or Air Force Manual 55-11, and of UFOs other than the 1953 Robert· tain the OSI central file on such ob­ are not part of the Blue Book system." son Panel, but these documents show jects,• which he did until August 1955, The Air Force's UFO investigation was that the agency kept (and no doubt according to an August 8, 1955 memo keeps) plenty of "channels" open to to the Assistant Director of Scientific "joint Army-Navy-Air Force Publication 146 is published by the Military Communications Board gather information, including an Intelligence. of the DOD joint Chiefs of Staff. It provided U.S.· acknowledged channel into the AFTER THAT, responsibility was Canadian ·communications Instructions for RICHARD HALL was former Assistant. Director assigned to the Applied Science Divi­ Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings {CIRVIS) of NICAP, the leading UFO organization during sion, ~here W.E. Lexow, Division from Airborne and Waterborne Sources.· Section the 1950s and 1960s. He is the Editor of III {Security), paragraph 208, calls for stiffpenalties Chief, stated in a February -1956 MUFON Journal and a Frontiers of Science for divulging information about such sightings once memo: •A chronological file of all OSI advisor.0 reported. - Ed. correspondence and action faken in iGr Force bases from Guam to w­ maneuverability. speed, size a. sophisticated technology-a technolo­ foundland.z Another AF doc1.1 ••• ent shape. gy beyond our present development­ reveals that the Air Force conducted A Defense Intelligence Agency seems obvious. Why is it being ig· an iitvestigation into the incidents but document reveals that on September nored by our government? found no explanation for their occur­ 19, 1976, American-made Iranian jets rence. encountered several UFOs that A Question of Survival It appears Air Force "security exhibited a technology beyond "It would seem a little more of this measures" provided no protection present-day development. During the survival attitude is called for in against the "invasion." One month night-time encounter, one F-4 jet, dealing with the UFO problem." later, on January 21, 1976, UFOs "25 upon approaching one of the UFOs, yards in diameter, gold or silver in col­ lost all instrumentation and com­ -National Security Agency. 1968 or with blue light on top. hole in mid­ munications functions. Another F-4's The evidence indicates that some dle, and red light on bottom" were weapons-control panel became in- unconventional aerial objects could observed "near the flight line of Can­ non AFB, N.M." Ten days later, on January 31, a UFO was observed near The Federal Government has system­ a radar site at Elgin A~B. Flqrida. On July 30, 1976, a UFO was observed atically misinformed the American "over the ammo storage area" at Fort Richie, Maryland.3 . people about the real threat ... The above accounts have numerous historical precedents. From 1948 operable when the pilot attempted to provoke, either · intentionally or through 1950, an FBI document fire at the object. unintentionally, an international in- reveals, UFOs were sighted by "per­ The DIA evaluation· (October 12, cident-with serious repercussions. sons whose reliability is not ques­ 1976) refers to this incident as "an In March 1967, an intercept techni­ tioned," near highly sensitive military outstanding report" because the ob- cian with the USAF Securitv Service and government installations, in­ jects were seen by many witnesses of intercepted a communication be­ cluding nuclear weapons design, con­ high credibility; the visual sightings tween the 1lot ot a Russian-made · struction, testing and stockpiling sites. had radar confirmation; similar elec- uban · 1 an his command con­ Securify officials were greatly tromagnetic effects were reported by cermnga OFOencounter.5 Thetechni­ alarmed by these incidents.' three separate aircraft; and CJ.all his smce stated that when the A CIA document reveals that in 1952 physiological effects were reported by puot attempted to fire at the object, the "sightings of unexplained objects at some of the crew members. Further· ,., MIG and its pilot were destroyed by great altitudes and travelling at high more, the UFOs displayed an "inor- the UFO. Furthermore, the technician speeds" were reported in the vicinity dinate amount of maneuverability.• alleges that all reports, tapes, log en· of major U.S. defense installations and A State Department message {March tries, and notes on the incident were posed a threat to national security. 7, 1975) from the American Embassy forwarded to the National Security The evidence is clear and convinc­ in Algiers tells of "strange machines" Agency at their request. ing that the Federal government has seen near Algerian military installa- Not surpnsmgl~, several months systematicall~ !Disixµ'ormed the tions by "respectable people." Some of ~ter, the agency rafted a report en­ American people about the real threat the sightings were confirmed by titled UFO H othesis and Survival to our national security posed by such radar. uestion. Released in ctober 1 79 UFO encounters. And another State Department under the U.S. Freedom of Informa­ message from our embassy in Kuwait tion Act, the report states that ~the UFO As Advanced reports that during November 1978, a leisurely scientific approach has too series of UFO sightings caused the often taken precedence in dealing Technology Kuwaiti government to appoint an in- with the UFO question." The Agen~ The Government's position: vestigatory committee from the concluded that no matter-what UFO "There has been no evidence sub­ Kuwait Institute for Scientific Re- hypothesis is considered, "all of them mitted to or discovered by the Air search. One UFO appearing over the have serious survival implications." northern oil fields "seemingly did Comparing the UFO problem to a Force that sightings categorized as strange things" to the automatic pump- rattler on a forest path, the NSA report 'unidentified' represent technolog­ ing equipment. The equipment is says, "you would have to treat the ical developments or principles designed to shut itself down when any alarm as if it were a real and beyond the range of present-day failure occurs that could seriously immediate threat to your survival. ln­ scientific knowledge." damage the petroleum-gathering and vestigation would become an inten­ transmission system; when such an sive emergency action to isolate the -Air Force, 1980 event occurs, the pumping equipment threat and to determine its' precise The official documents reveal hun­ must be restarted manually. When the nature. It would be geared to develop­ dreds of sighting reports-many con­ UFO ·appeared, the pumping system ing adequate defense measures in a firmed by tadar and other tracking automatically shut down. But when minimum amount of time. It would devices-that describe·-- unconven­ the UFO "vanished," the. system seep a little more of this survival at- , tional objects exhibiting advanced started up again, automatically. titude is called for in dealing with the • performance characteristics involving The presence of a highly UFO problem: