Everyone (including myself) is itching for some kind of digestible break down of the ~13m documents released from the CIA, regarding the U.S. government's involvement in UFO's, EBE's, and extraterrestrials. My attempt here is to provide some easy to understand, conclusive, information that is sourced directly from the FOIA website, that shows the US government acknowledges extraterrestrial activity. And while a smoking gun probably won't be found, there's tons of great info here that is 100% verifiable. Please feel free to add your findings, as I'm only one person and 13 million is a pretty large number.

 

Below you will find the year and title of the document, a link to the document on the FOIA website, and relevant excerpts. Everything will be sourced from official documents (no newspaper articles), so this is 100% opinion and anecdote free. Enjoy.

 

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1952

Flying Saucers

1. Attached is a proposed letter to Secretary Lovett from the DCI recommending the initiation of fundamental scientific research in respect to the nature and causes of unidentified flying objects (Flying Saucers).

1. The IAC has reviewed the current situation concerning the unidentified flying objects which have caused extensive speculation in the press and have been the subject of concern to Government organizations. The Air Force, within the limitation of manpower which could be devoted to the subject has thus far carried the full responsibility for investigating and analyzing individual reports of sightings. Since 1947, approximately 1500 official reports of sightings have been received and, of these, about 20% are yet unexplained.

2. Intelligence, however, cannot discharge its responsibilities with regard to estimating the capabilities of an enemy to create and use such phenomena against the US unless we first determine through scientific research whether or not such phenomena can in fact be generated and controlled by humans.

 

8. From an operational point of view, three actions are required:

c. In order to minimize risk of panic, a national policy should be established as to what should be told the public regarding the phenomena.

 

1953

Letter to SANITIZED from H. Marshall Chadwell

Remembering your request to be kept informed of any progress in the problem of "unidentified flying objects," this letter will bring you up to date.

Based upon the evidence presented, the subject was discussed at a December meeting of the Intelligence Advisory Committee (CIA, Army, Navy, Air Force, Joint Staff, State, AEC, and FBI). At that time it was recommended that CIA should assemble a panel of highly qualified personnel to examine the problem and its ramifications. Particular competency in the fields of physics, radar and astronomy was believed desirable.

 

The "debunking" aim would result in reduction in public interest in "flying saucers" which today evokes a strong psychological reaction. This education could be accomplished by mass media such as television, motion pictures, and popular articles. Basis of such education would be actual case histories which had been puzzling at first but later explained. As in the case of conjuring tricks, there is much less stimulation if the "secret" is known.

Members of the panel had various suggestions related to the planning of such an educational program. It was felt strongly that psychologists familiar with mass psychology should advise on the nature and extent of the program.

 

Also, someone familiar with mass communication techniques, perhaps an advertising expert, would be helpful.

 

The Jam Handy Co. which made World War II training films (motion picture and slide strips) was also suggested, as well as Walt Disney, Inc. animated cartoons. Dr. Hynak suggested that the amateur astronomers in the U.S. might be potential source of enthusiastic talent "to spread the gospel". It was believed that business clubs, high schools, colleges, and television stations would all be pleased to cooperate in the showing of documentary type motion pictures if prepared in an interesting manner. The use of true cases showing first the "mystery" and then the "explanation" would be forceful.

 

This proposal met with generally favorable comment. The Panel believed that, with ATIC's support, the educational program of "training and debunking" outlined above might be required for a minimum of one and one-half to two years. At the end of this time, the dangers related to "flying saucers" should have been greatly reduced if not eliminated. Cooperation from other military services and agencies concerned (e.g., Federal Civil Defense Administration) would be a necessity. In investigating significant cases (such as Temonton, Utah, sighting), controlled experiments might be required. An example would be photographing of "pillow balloons" at different distances under similar weather conditions at the site.

 

The Panel took cognizance of the existence of such groups as the "Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators" (Los Angeles) and the "Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (Wisconsin)". It was believed that such organizations should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur.

 

2. As a result of its consideration, the Panel concludes:

a. That the evidence presented on Unidentified Flying Objects shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat to national security.

 

Report of Meeting of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidenitified Flying Objects Covered by Office of Scientific Intelligence, CIA

At 1400 hours REDACTED gave a 40-minute briefing of Project TWINKLE, the investigatory project conducted by the Air Force Meteorological Research Center at Cambridge, Mass. In this briefing he pointed out the many problems of setting up and manning 24-hour instrumentation watches of patrol cameras searching for sightings of U.F.O.'s.

 

Instance of the "Foo Fighters" were cited. These were unexplained phenomena sighted by aircraft pilots during World War II in both European and Far East theaters of operation where "balls of light" would fly near or with the aircraft and maneuver rapidly. They were believed to be electrostatic (similar to St. Elmo's fire) or electro-magnetic phenomena or possibly light reflections from ice crystals in the air, but their exact cause or nature was never defined.

 

It was the opinion of REDACTED that the "saucer" problem had been found different in nature from the detection and investigation of German V-1 and V-2 guided missiles prior to their operational use in World War II. In this 1943-1944 intelligence operation (CROSSBOW), there was excellent intelligence and by June 1944 there was material evidence of the existence of "hardware" obtained from the crashed vehicles REDACTED. This evidence gave the investigating team a basis upon which to operate.

 

TREMONTON, UTAH, SIGHTING

This case was considered significant because of the excellent documentary evidence in the form of Kodachrome motion picture films (about 1600 frames). The Panel studied this films, the case history, ATIC's interpretation, and received a briefing by representatives of the USN Photo Interpretation Laboratory on their analysis of the film.

It was the opinion of the P.I.L. representatives that the objects sighted were not birds, balloons, or aircraft, were "not reflections because there was no blinking while passing through 60° of arc" and were, therefore, "self-luminous".

 

The Panel was of the opinion that the present ATIC program to place 100 inexpensive 35 mm. stereo cameras in the hands of various airport control tower operators would probably produce little valu-able data related to the U.F.O.'s. However, it was recognized that such action would tend to allay public concern in the subject until an educational program had taken effect.