Approved for Release 2026
1 7 D ecem ber 1 953
M S;'W ,N D U M  TO : Assistant D irector, scientific Intelligence
FR O M  : C hief, Physics and E lectronics D ivision.. SI
SU BJE C T : C urrent Status O f U nidentified Flying O bjects
(U FO B) Project.
1 . In accordance w ith the verbal request of M r. Brent* E xec/si, 
on 30 N ovem ber* the follow ing resum e of the current status of unidenti­
fied flying objects activities has been prepared.
2. P& E  D ivision assum ed responsibility for the Q 3I project on 
unidentified flying objects as a result of your m em orandum  of
27 M ay 1 953* The project has been confined to m aintaining aw areness 
of the activities of other agencies (notably the U SAF) in the 
unidentified flying objects business and to 'm aintenance of files.
3* Status of D epartm ent, of D efense Activities.
a. Air Force. Tne Air Force continues to m aintain, but w ith 
apparently decreasing em phasis, its interest in U FO B’s. The present 
interest of the D irectorate of Intelligence, Bq., U SAF, is confined to 
a cursory cognizance of ATIC ’s project (lluebook N o. 1 0 0 73). At A TIC  
the project is carried by one officer (C apt. C harles A. H ardin), one 
airm an (a/1 C  M ax G. Futch), and a secretary operating as the Aerial 
Phenom ena Section of the E lectronics Branch, Technical Analysis D ivision. 
In spite of this lim ited staff, as w ell as several changes of project 
officer, the project records appear to be up-to-date. ATIC  personnel 
no longer conduct field investigations of U FO B sightings (these are 
requested from  U SAF intelligence officers ^prim arily Air D efense 
C om m and and Airw ays and Air C om m unications Service/ nearer to the 
sightings), but confine their activities to receiving and checking 
reports as received, requesting additional field investigation w here 
necessary, perform ing necessary checking against m eteorological, 
astronom ical, aircraft and balloon data, and recording their findings 
and conclusions in a cross-referenced system  by date, location, source, 
type of observation and conclusion draw n. The Aerial Phenom ena Section 
also deals directly w ith the public Inform ation O ffice of H q., U SAF, 
regarding inform ation for public release. For about the past year, 
approxim ately ten percent of the reported srghtlngs have been tagged 
as unsolved..
O f particular interest Is the fact that ATIC  is in the 
process of transferring project Bluebook jo H q., Air D efense C om m and. 
According to Lt, C ol. H arry Johnston, C hief, E lectronics Branch, the 
reason for the transfer w as that AD C  had bean doing m ost of the


investigative w ork of the project and. "if it turns out that these 
things (U FO B's) are space ships or long range aircraft from  another 
country, AD C  is the (Air Force) C om m and that w ould have to take 
action." C ol. Johnston follow ed this com m ent w ith the som ew hat 
contradictory statem ent that the project transfer did not reflect 
any change in Air Force policy. It ..'s undoubtedly true that AD C  
is the Air Force C om m and prim arily concerned w ith U FO B’s at the 
present hue n tha' their interceptors are occasionally dispatched 
"aga nst” reported U FO B's and that their reporting stations and 
com m unications system s are involved in a considerable portion of 
the U FO B act vity. ATIC  w ill m aintain liaison w ith the project.
Approxim ately a year and one half ago ATIC  initiated a
program  to purchase cam eras for selected AD C  radar sites and AAC S 
control .ow ers in locations w here consistent U FO B reports w ere 
rece ved n the hopes of photographing U FO B's. O ne lens of the 
cam era (a stereoscop c type) w as to be covered w ith a sim ple grating 
o record the spectrographic nature of the U FO B photographed. O ne
hundred "V ideoa" 35 m m . cam eras w ith "stereon" anastigm at f 3-5 lenses 
w ere pircbased along w th 1 0 0 gratings (1 5.0 0 0 line) from  C E N C O .
C hicago. Seven ,y-four (7**) cam eras w ere distributed. N inety percent 
of the gratings have "gone bad” —  ..he actual grating separating from  
the plastic m ounting plates. N ew gratings are expected shortly and 
ATIC  expects to recall all of the 7A distributed cam eras and re- 
equip them  w ith the new gratings.
Several m onths ago w e w ere advised that ATIC  planned to
set up a concert1 rated instrum entation observational effort in the 
Albuquerque area. This has now been dropped.
Project 1 TO R K (SE C R E T) has beenpreparing,at ATIC  request
a com prehensive s'a is ical repor on U FO B sightings during the 
period 1 9*4-7 hro gh 1 952. This study is now expected to be com pleted 
by 1 ". D ecem ber 1 953-
ATTO ssues status reports on Project Bluebook on a tri-m onthly 
bnsis the ’O st recent being. R eport N o. 1 2 30 Septem ber 1 953-
b • The TJavy in spite of press reporbs to the
contrary, Is presently devoting only part of one O N I analyst's 
tim e to m aintain7ng cognizance of U FO B's.
c. ^£±y- The Arm y has ev denced little or no interest in
U FO B's other than cooperating w ith the Air Force in reporting sightings 
and pert neat data using the Air Force form at.
*4-. Investigations or Interests of Foreign Governm ents.
a. C anada. C onsiderable attention in the U . 3. press w as
recently given to reports chat the C anadian D efence R esearch Board 
and D epartm ent of Transport had jointly and officially established a


"laboratory" for recording observable phenom ena connected w ith U FO B's.
It s interesting to note that in his recently published book "Flying
farcers From  O uter Space" M r. D . E . Keyhoe states that a Jilbur B.
Sm ith of the C anadian D epartm ent of Transport had been conducting 
"saucer” investigations for three years before 1 952. or beginning in 
1 9^9- If Keyhoe is correct and it is the sam e W ilbur B. Sm ith
m entioned in his book as In the recent press releases one m ight 
w onder w hy the m atter hit the press four years late. It is, of course 
quie possible that the press item  w as prom pted by the inform ation in 
Keyhoe's book. Several reports have been received
tha! experim ents on a flying saucer are actually being
conducted at A. V . R oe, Ltd., Toronto.
b. Grea; Britain. The subject of U FO B's w as discussed 
briefly dur ng his recent visit. H e
stated tha since _______J investigat ion of U FO B's of tw o and 
one haif year8 ago, initiatedT _____________
____ the only British acr ivfty is the filing of reports as 
received by the R AF.
e^ Sw eden J
N o further inform ation 
is available.
d. O ther. Aside from  a few scattered reports, m ostly old, 
w hich indicate Interest in U FO B's by private individuals or groups, 
there is no inform ation of concern or inquiries of consequence in 
other foreign countries.
5* R esults of O SI Panel R ecom m endations. The consultants w ho 
considered this problem  in January 1 953 recom m ended that U FO B’s be 
stripped of special status and aura of m ystery and that policies on 
intelligence, training: and public education pertinent to true 
:ndicat.ons of hostile intent or action be prepared. The definite 
drop in the num ber of ''sightings'' reported during 1 953 over 1 952 
could be attributed to actions follow ing these recom m endations. Tw o 
recent books ("Flying Saucers From  O uter Space" by Keyhoe and "Flying 
Saucers H ave Landed" by Leslie and Adanlski) take full advantage of 
"official" U FO B reports released by the Air Force to develop a central 
them e that U FO B's are extraterrestrial in origin. Fortunately, the 
la ter book s so nonsensical and obviously fraudulent that it m ay 
actually help calm  dow n public reaction. These books do. how ever, 
ill strafe the r sk taken by the present policy. There are no other 
as yet apparent res Its of these recom m endations.
TO D O G M . O D AR E N KO
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