SECRET OF 14 YEARS UFO DEBUNKING LAID TO CIA BY SCIENTIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500070003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 23, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

W S-HINGTON S.TAI
Approved For Release 2004102ft:Z~b475-00
3
SECRET OF '14'YEARS
By ROBERT WALTERS'
uucuu..cu 11J' "16 vujccw ... .................... -..~.,
"h stems, in large measure, from a ics, said the disputed report was the UFO problem as been
1 1953 Central Intelligence Agency the result of a 1953 study of mishandled for many years" but
proposal for a systematic "de- UFOs by a committee chaired he said that "scientific and ? b f fl' to by H P Robertson theoretical official concern is beginning to
un
m
m
r
time that there was a possibility
that fl
in
saucers mi
ht have
y
g
g
been developed by a hostile
-foreign power.
Security was necessary, they
said, to give government intelli-
gence officers an opportunity to
check on that possibility without
alarming the public, but all such:
theories have since been dis-'
counted.
McDonald also charged that
the country has "been misled"
ue the document's secret classi-
,fication.
The government's failure to ? McDonald, a senior physicist
fully investigate reports of at the University of Arizona's
n
g o y
g sauce
s, an ? ? I change."
Arizona scientist said yesterday, physicist at the California He said that Project Blue
Dr. James E. McDonald said, Institute of Technology. Book, the Air Force unit as-
the government has refused to McDonald said the committee
~, signed to investigate UFO
which scontaia ns14-year-old CIA recom- Ustudy FO was history" a pivotal because pinst ad r{ reports, "has been gradually
UFO
mendation and also lists as the I of a recommendation that the .' downgraded to an extremely
objective of, the proposal "to problem to be taken out of Air, low-priority project."
reduce public interest in flying Force hands and turned over to The problem has been "super-
saucers." some seien?.iiic agency for' ficially and incompetently
McDonaldttold the American .? adequate study" the study group handled by the Air Force," Mc-
Society of ' Newspaper Editors adopted the C'! ro ;rai. Donald said, calling for a "full
that he' was -inadvertently al- . "I do not ice. .i thus as a dark and fair congressional inquiry"
lowed to examine the classified and sinister : on o: a covert and a probe by top-caliber
report by' Air Force officials , body trying .o receive the scientists all over the world."
before the-CIA decided to`eontin The recently granted $300,000
citizenry of G ,, ~. Rather, Air Force contract for an 1&
O
land eva4uated by the Air Force
has ever given any indication of
threat to our national security.
"2. There has been no evi-
dence submitted to or discov-
!ered by the Air Force that
sightings characterized as
unidentified represent technolog-
ical developments or principles
beyond the range of present-day
11scientific knowledge.
"3. There has been no evi-
dence indicating that sightings
categorized as unidentified an
lextra-terrestrial vehicles."
Approved For Release 2004/02/10 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000500070003-0
the reason ber.-ua ;r,is rcgretta-! month study of UFOs by Dr.
ble decision w s entirely- under- Edward U. Condon, former
standable n from a director of the National Bureau
solely nation- ;--u; ity '" - of Standards and now a physics
(point," McDor~' d s; iri. professor at the University of
"Viewed ::arrn,viy frnm Colorado, is a good start, Mc-
security view o,i it made. Donald said, "but they have not
good sense to 'c, lids noise taken the problem seriously
(UFO reports' supp 'e scd. it enough to muster the scientific
has indeed ;con c.ieci.iveiy strength to do justice to the I
suppressed in the ensuing 15 problem."
years," he added. ,l Air Force Maj. Hector Quin--
McDonald said that he knew 1, tanilla, in charge of Project
of "no'evidence indicating that,' Blue Book, _was.one-of twn.men.
the CIA then maintained, or now i_a ?carin the ASNE panel
maintains, any scientific scruti- `who disputed on McDonald's views.
ny of the details of the UFO He told the editors:
phenomena. . "To date the firm conclusions
CIA officials told a reporter ' of Project Blue Book are:
the 1953 action apparently,, ?1 No unidentified flying
from -a belief at the I. ying
`+?object reported, investigated
STAT