The CIA UFO Papers

by Dan Wright

  An interview with Captain Ruppelt by pugilistic television journalist Mike Wallace revealed the CIA/USAF connection in selecting Robertson Panel members. Concurrently, the misinformation in Ruppelt's book, the division chief continued, “is the basis for the apparent contradictions” which arose during that interview. Further, recent letters from both Donald Keyhoe and Leon Davidson had not jibed with the major focus of Ruppelt's book.18

  In October 1957 Air Force Major James F. Byrne had formally requested that the full Robertson Panel Report be declassified. Now Davidson and Keyhoe desired copies of it. Since panel members were already disclosed, it would be expedient to send them the full version. “[E]ither the Air Force should answer the letters (to Davidson and Keyhoe) or we should make it plain to the recipients that we obtained the panel report from the Air Force,” the ASD chief concluded.19

  Oh, really? The CIA's handpicked panel wrote its report for the Air Force?

  Wilton Lexow, the ASD Chief, had asked the Secretary of the Air Force about releasing the declassified portion of the Robertson Panel Report to Donald Keyhoe and Leon Davidson. The Air Force Secretary's Office of Information (SAFOI) responded. Major Lawrence J. Tacker wanted OSI to instead send the letters and report drafts to him for follow-up; he implied that his office was the nexus for UFO inquiries. Lexow now wrote of his relief at this sudden turn of events. “I think we can use this procedure as a precedent henceforth in all inquiries regarding UFO's.”20

  It did not take the Agency long to react to this welcome news. That same day, on behalf of Wilton Lexow, CIA Executive Officer J. S. Earman wrote back to Major Tacker, enclosing copies of the latest letters received from Leon Davidson and Donald Keyhoe concerning UFOs, along with the Agency's replies. Also enclosed were three copies of the declassified portion of the Robertson Panel Report.21

  Two weeks later, on April 17, Earman attempted to put out a fire of the Agency's making. In a terse letter to Donald Keyhoe, Earman denied emphatically a potentially explosive charge:

  I have had the records of this Agency checked and find nothing therein reflecting that any CIA employee, at any time, caused any witness to an unidentified flying object to remain silent concerning said witness' observations of said UFO.22

  OSI's Wilton Lexow wrote himself a memorandum for the record on May 16 after meeting with Air Force personnel. The purpose had been to outline actions to deal with persons such as Leon Davidson. The chemist, whose superiors may have excused his words or not, had been “most insistent” upon getting the entire Robertson Panel Report released. The report had not been declassified entirely because it cited potential enemy actions harmful to US national security. Panel members later agreed that, “while they had no objection to their names being used in connection with the report, they did not want their names connected to the Central Intelligence Agency. So far it is believed that all connections between the panel members and the CIA have been made by unofficial personnel.”23

  In dealing specifically with Dr. Davidson, Major Lawrence Tacker of the Air Force Office of Information (SAFOI) would henceforth speak for both the Air Force and the Director of Central Intelligence. Davidson had sent his most recent letter to both USAF Major Tacker and the CIA director. To forestall future such inquiries, SAFOI would draft a press release using the Robertson Panel's conclusions. Major Boland, USAF Legislative Liaison, agreed that this would best serve congressional requirements.24

  NICAP head Donald Keyhoe drew credibility from the presence on the NICAP board of governors of Vice Admiral R.H. Hillenkoetter, the late-1940s CIA Director. Air Force representatives “suggested that perhaps if the Admiral were shown the Secret panel report he would understand and take appropriate actions.”25

  A second Agency staffer in attendance at the May 16 CIA/USAF meeting, (redacted), an assistant to the legislative counsel, likewise registered in the assembled memorandum for the record that day. He noted that the Permanent Investigating Subcommittee (chaired by Senator John McClellan) of the Senate Committee on Government Operations wanted the Air Force to “dispel the air of mystery surrounding the flying saucer report of 1953.” To that end, the Air Force proposed a press release. Major Tacher [sic] of the Air Force Information Service [sic] “indicated that he is being badgered constantly by UFO groups and various individuals concerning the subject of UFOs generally and the 1953 report specifically.”26

  In a draft USAF reply to Davidson, no mention was made of the OSI or that the CIA convened the 1953 panel. Tacher [sic] would also draft a press release using “the strongest possible language.” The draft release would be reviewed by CIA offices: OSI, General Counsel, and Office of Security.27

  Admiral Hillenkoetter's association with Major Kehoe [sic] and his group was discussed. The Air Force felt that the group was keeping the UFO subject in the public's eye and that “the position which it has taken is not entirely sound.” Further, the admiral's presence gave the group “considerable prestige.” The legislative counsel's assistant doubted Hillenkoetter was aware of the position taken by the group on the Robertson Report. The CIA attendees agreed to look into the matter and to consider approaching Hillenkoetter.28

  A related Memorandum for Record sprang up on May 22, penned by LaRae L. Teel, the deputy division chief in OSI's Applied Science Division. Teel had met with Frank Chapin, assistant to the CIA director, on replying to Leon Davidson's latest letters. That was followed by a phone call with Major Lawrence Tacker of the Air Force. Chapin agreed to merely acknowledge receipt of the letters and inform Davidson again that this was a USAF matter. The next day, Tacker stated that he had already replied. He inquired in turn whether the Agency had contacted Admiral Hillenkoetter. Teel would find out.29

  On the 26th, J. S. Earman, Executive Officer for the DCI, sent a brief letter to Leon Davidson. Recalling the chemist's earlier letters, Earman declared once more that those were forwarded to the Air Force for appropriate reply.30

  Philip Strong, Deputy Assistant Director at OSI, wrote to Dr. Samuel Goudsmit at the Brookhaven laboratory on May 29. The purpose of his letter was to offer a heads-up. Strong said Howard P. Robertson, chair of the UFO study panel on which Goudsmit served over five years before, as well as panel member Lloyd Berkner had been “besieged” by Leon Davidson letters regarding their participation on the panel. To prepare Goudsmit for potentially similar treatment, Strong enclosed copies of pro forma correspondence to Davidson, including one that Robertson had put together. Strong suggested Goudsmit adopt the same tenor. Should the occasion arise, Strong added, Goudsmit should tell Davidson that the Air Force handled all such matters.31 (Similar letters were sent to panel members Thornton Page and Luis Alvarez.)

  That same day, Strong wrote to Lloyd Berkner, one of the aggrieved parties. This was to extend Strong's remarks on Leon Davidson32—“Mr. Davidson has kept the pot boiling hard.. .”—and to enclose a copied letter from Dr. “Bob” Robertson to Davidson and suggested Berkner employ the same tone. Strong also enclosed copies of a Robertson-Davidson exchange (also sent to Alvarez, Goudsmit, and Page) in a call for a united front. “He is taking far too much of all our time and effort.”33

  The next week, on June 4, Strong sent a letter to USAF Major Lawrence Tacker at SAFOI. Strong enclosed correspondence from Leon Davidson, who “continues to inquire about UFO's.” Strong also enclosed a copy of an OSI reply to Davidson informing him that his letter was forwarded to the Air Force for reply.34

  Strong might as well have added the phrasing, this isn't funny anymore. The human cost in terms of expenditures of time devoted to this man's fanaticism were by now intolerable. Hours continued to be taken from other pressing demands, real problems arising around the world. This distraction was beyond annoying.

  In yet another OSI meeting to discuss Leon Davidson, this one held July 25, it was agreed not to reply to his July 3 letter, wrote Wilton Lexow of ASD in a memo for the record afterward. Consensus was also reached for OSI to inform the FBI of a potential charge of subversive activity.35

>   In a July 30 letter, Philip Strong thanked Thornton Page for sending a copy of his letter to Leon Davidson. “This letter should do much to quiet down the large furor which Mr. Davidson has raised around the community.” Strong asked for a copy of Davidson's letter to Page that expressed Davidson's concern over UFOs. If one were to consider the term “building a case,” this circumstance fit the phrase.36

  Tag Team

  An August 2, 1958, news article in the Pittsburgh (PA) Press, “Saucer Data Suppressed, Admiral Says,” must have raised hackles across OSI. It could only be that nemesis behind Door No. 2, retired USMC Major Donald Keyhoe—still the signature figure at NICAP—encouraging Hillenkoetter.

  Keyhoe claimed that secret congressional hearings on UFOs had been held, which the Air Force denied. Meanwhile, the admiral and other NICAP board members issued a statement: “[T]he Air Force is still withholding information on unidentified flying objects—including sighting reports. We believe this policy to be dangerous.”37

  The Air Force, and by extension the Central Intelligence Agency, had no capacity to prove a negative, that secret congressional hearings on UFOs had not been held. The Air Force denied the charge, of course. But Admiral Hillenkoetter and the NICAP board were adept at inserting themselves into the public's awareness whenever they chose to do so.

  To many who paid attention, the Defense Department's response to the UFO subject—which once again was capturing public attention after a bit of a hiatus—was awkward and not entirely convincing. The man in the street may well have begun to question just what Washington knew about UFOs. But the culmination thereof was still years away.

  Picked up in the daily sweep of news foreign and domestic was a letter to the editor of the Akron Beacon Journal. Its writer responded to a letter writer who had criticized Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung for his belief that the US Air Force was hiding what it knew about UFOs. Other prominent persons held the same view, he noted, adding that the House Armed Services Committee was looking into the matter.38

  OSI's deputy assistant director wrote to Dr. Samuel Goudsmit again on August 19. With “Dear Sam” informality, Philip Strong thanked the Brookhaven physicist for his letter (not shown) criticizing newspaper editor Fred Kirsch on the UFO subject. Goudsmit's words were “exactly what is needed in present context.”39 On a separate matter, Strong told Goudsmit that all materials at hand on Robert Jungk had now been sent to him. “I am sorry it took so long but my people apparently had difficulty prying the information loose.” A 1956 book Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists, by the Austrian visionary writer and journalist Robert Jungk, was translated into English in 1958. Jungk claimed a group of German atomic scientists, the “pacifists,” balked at building atomic bombs.

  Wilton Lexow, OSI Applied Science Division Chief, sent off a spate of memos on August 22. In a formal Office Memorandum, he thanked Air Force Major Lawrence Tacker for volunteering to be “the official authority in these (UFO) matters.” He enclosed a letter from the newspaper editor Fred Kirsch.40

  In another Office Memorandum the same day, Lexow informed Frank Chapin, assistant to the CIA Director, that the Air Force's Major Tacker would reply to the letter writer (see note 38 above) that the Air Force was the sole UFO authority. Said person (Kirsch) had written some twenty letters to the Air Force.

  Then, in a Memorandum for Record at day's end, Lexow noted that his recommendation not to answer Leon Davidson's July 3 letter had been followed.41

  An unnamed (illegible) party sent a buck slip to the DCI assistant Frank Chapin. In a prior phone call to USAF Major Tacker, Chapin had agreed to respond to Donald Keyhoe as before, to explain that the Air Force was the only government entity qualified to address the UFO subject. Tacker said he had told Keyhoe that the undisclosed portions of the Robertson Panel Report did not pertain to UFOs. The sender suggested the Agency write to Keyhoe to clarify that his letter had been forwarded to Tacker.42

  The August 22 letter from Keyhoe to J. S. Earman, Executive Officer, was attached to the buck slip. Keyhoe had inquired, “... I am writing again to ask what part the Central Intelligence Agency plays in the official investigation of the unidentified flying objects.” After citing Air Force denials regarding the Robertson Panel Report, Keyhoe declared:

  Despite the published conclusions of the 1953 scientists group, we have found that there is an increasing public belief that the UFOs may possibly be unfriendly. We have absolutely no evidence to prove that they are hostile and I cite this only to prove the danger of the present secrecy policy. Secrecy breeds ignorance of the subject and it could lead to hysteria or even panic under certain conditions. I believe that an open discussion of the problem would serve the best interests of the country.

  Keyhoe also requested an interview with a CIA staffer qualified to speak on the subject.43

  Earman responded to Keyhoe in an October 10 letter, clarifying that his August 22 correspondence had been forwarded to Major Tacker at the USAF information office. Earman further commented, “I believe the Air Force is the executive agency and perhaps the only government agency qualified to speak on the subject of unidentified flying objects.”44

  A District of Columbia resident, using new types of film and emulsion, claimed to have photographed groups of unknown objects crossing between Earth and the moon on several occasions over the previous few months. The photo processing allegedly delivered very high resolution images. The unidentified memo writer, who had been investigating the photographic process independently, sent a representative to interview the photographer. At the person's home, “... one of my men did notice the objects reported ...” The writer “would not like to overlook some evidence of an often-reported phenomenon” that might interest the intelligence community. “[T]hese objects were remarkably clear and certainly indicated a phenomenon ...”45

  The memo writer sought counsel on how to obtain the materials to examine firsthand. The photographer had said he was out of work at present but had previous contracts with the Air Technical Intelligence Center. ATIC verified that the man had no current contract. Without question, he would deliver the materials for examination—only at a price.

  The writer also mentioned that a House committee had addressed the problem of UFOs and sought to review all such evidence. It had suspended its hearings but intended to reopen them later.46

  An overseas Information Report issued October 10 recalled an incident from July 1958 while aboard a train, an hour outside Leningrad, Russia. The writer and others saw two bright lights ascending in the far distance that trailed gray smoke. The lights remained in view for 10 minutes, still ascending. They seemed to move too slowly to be rockets.47

  Probably concerning the same incident, another Information Report arrived in late October. As stated by the report preparer, about 10:00 p.m., July 10, 1958, he and others aboard a train one hour outside Leningrad observed a bright light trailing black smoke. The object was estimated to be under 2,000 feet above the ground and 5-15 miles distant. A tour guide joked that it was probably a flying saucer.48

  Philip Strong of OSI wrote to Director Gilmore of the National Photographic Interpretation Center on October 29 concerning alleged UFO photos taken by a Mr. Fine. Strong explained that OSI had a certain level of interest in the subject, but overall responsibility rested with the Air Force. The CIA had been “flooded by queries concerning UFO's” since part of the Robertson Panel Report was declassified and released. Those were all forwarded to the USAF's Major Lawrence J. Tacker, who handled public relations at the Pentagon. Investigative problems were likewise directed to the Pentagon. With his permission, Strong would send the memo describing the photos of unknowns to Gilmore for investigation as appropriate.49

  On the 2nd of December, an assistant to the CIA director, F.M. Chapin, wrote to George Popowitch, leader of a civilian group, The Unidentified Flying Objects Research Committee. Popowitch had made an inquiry (not shown) on November 19. Chapin carried forward “Company” policy w
ith his brief remarks in return. “We have forwarded your letter of inquiry concerning Unidentified Flying Objects to the Department of the Air Force for action. Contrary to your statement, we do not take an active interest in the unidentified flying objects picture.”50

  A December 11 Teletyped Information Report (to/from redacted) was titled “Unidentified Flying Object Observed in the Sky.” It referred to an event on the 6th, originating from “USSR/India.” A person observing Mars via telescope watched a light move across his lens. Unlike a meteor, it did not disintegrate, smoke, or issue flames; no sound was heard. The witness assumed he had just seen a Sputnik or its rocket carrier. But a check of records ruled that out. Besides, he added, the north-to-south path of the unknown was not used for satellites.51

  The final UFO-related file for calendar year 1958 was a December 17 letter from OSI's Deputy Assistant Director Philip Strong to Larry W. Bryant, who represented a group self-titled the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS). Concerning Bryant's November 30 letter, Strong replied that it had been referred to the USAF Office of Information Services. “This Agency has no responsibility in the matter of unidentified flying objects.” The Air Force “is the only agency of government qualified to speak on UFO's.” The company line.52

  While you were away from your desk . . .

  A smattering of additional incidents and announcements, some involving US military personnel, apparently escaped the CIA's attention in 1958. None, at least, were mentioned in the Agency's release of declassified UFO files to its website.