by Dan Wright
A Minnesota deputy sheriff, his wife, teen son, and another couple were returning from a hunting trip. A scant few miles from the town of Saint George at 6:10 p.m., they noticed an odd light in the sky, perhaps 2,000 feet up and a quarter-mile distant. They stopped the car for a better look, remaining there for 10 minutes as the deputy viewed it through 7x power binoculars. They drove another half-mile and stopped again. The deputy got out and snapped a photo with his Kodak Instamatic, using Ektachrome color-slide film, just as the unknown started in motion against the wind. It continued for several seconds then halted, at which point its lighting changed from bright white to dull orange and back again multiple times. It then sped away out of sight. As it moved overhead, all the witnesses heard a high-pitched whine. The deputy, who alone had viewed the anomaly through field glasses, described it thus:
The outline was unmistakable through my binoculars as that of a flying saucer.... The rounded top of the dome was a metallic-silver gray that reflected the rays of the setting sun, turning the object into a large orange ball. Surrounding the dome were four small portholes that emitted a bright yellow light. Just below the windows or ports was an area that glowed a light blue. This light seemed to be a reflection of some inner light or perhaps exhaust. From the edge of the blue light's reflection to the edge of the flat saucer-like surface (outer edge), the ring was rotating counterclockwise, causing it to throw off an aurora or halo of light that changed from orange to white with an overall tinge of blue and green. The extreme outer edge of the saucer glowed a bright orange, and this part did not move or rotate.15
November 9, 1965
A major electrical blackout occurred along much of the eastern seaboard of North America, from South Carolina through the eastern provinces of Canada, affecting tens of millions of customers. The outage coincided with scores of reports from the public of anomalous lights moving around electrical substations and at key points along the power grid.16
December 9, 1965
What has been widely known ever since within UFO investigative circles as the “Kecksberg incident” took place in the rural western Pennsylvania locale 40 miles from Pittsburgh. On that day, plenty of locals saw something fall from the sky, seemingly into an identifiable part of the surrounding woods. Army and Air Force personnel were on the scene within a few hours, according to some locals. Numerous media staffers made the trek as well. Considerable acreage around the alleged crash site was cordoned off; no reporter or other civilian was allowed near. From among hundreds of residents gathered along a nearby county road, a few dared to sneak into the woods but were said to be turned back by the military. Late that night, witnesses claimed they saw a flatbed tractor-trailer rig leave the area. On the bed was something large and tarpaulined. Though speculation continued for years leading to decades, no other unimpeachable facts came forth.17
Note: An alternate potential explanation for such military attention would be an artificial satellite. The United States had been launching satellites for just under eight years, beginning with Explorer 1. A fall from orbit would necessitate just such a response, lest someone capture it on behalf of the Soviets.
Chapter 19
1966: All Hell Breaks Loose
At 5:45 a.m., February 6, 1966, in Nederland, Texas, the lights in a home as well as the nearby streetlights went out. The owner arose and looked outside. He confronted a tadpole-shaped object about 500 feet above, casting red and yellow pulsating light onto his property. He described the structure as consisting of a main body eight feet in diameter, with a six-foot tail section. He watched as the object proceeded slowly toward the local airport. A moment later, when an airplane began its takeoff, the intruder's lights were extinguished—only to come back on after the plane passed by. Gradually the UFO rose up until lost from view in an overcast sky. The utility company later confirmed that a transformer had failed. Project Blue Book listed the sighting as unidentified.1
Following the Michigan UFO incidents in March 1966 (see “While you were away ...” later in this chapter), Grand Rapids-based Congressman Gerald Ford called on the House of Representatives to investigate. That prompted APRO's Coral Lorenzen to remark that it could make the United States “look like damn fools in the eyes of the world if the government admits UFOs exist.” She favored a more scientific study. NICAP's Donald Keyhoe, in contrast, endorsed a thorough congressional inquiry.2
The Agency received a copy of a letter prepared by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense and sent to a Hollywood production studio on April 12. The letter expressed strong disagreement with multiple factors expressed in a potential film, “Project Saucer.” The DoD strongly suggested several changes:
Delete a reference to the CIA. “It would not be appropriate to place one of their men in the position fictionalized.”
“The UFO investigation is not set-up [sic] factually.” Enclosed was a February 1, 1966, resource from Project Blue Book.
The character of the Air Force general at a testing site was uncomplimentary—unnecessarily so.
The Air Force's role in the testing was unclear.
Regarding an airdrop in China, the Air Force should not be included.3
A heavily redacted Agency report, prepared in May 1966, referenced fragmentary evidence discovered in Congo. The remaining text, verbatim:
On file in CIA Library is an exploitation report on a metallic fragment approximately 2″ × 2″ × 1″ that was recovered near Kerekere, Republic of the Congo. The fragment was recovered by ground search after a UFO fell to earth in the area. The report concluded that the fragment was originally part of an electrical component, constructed of 0.010-inch thick silicon-steel laminate.4
On June 17, 1966, a commercial pilot, 25 miles from the Teheran airport under a clear sky, saw a “brilliant white sphere” with an apparent size of three moons. The light was in view for 4–5 minutes on the Soviet side of the border. Another pilot observed the phenomenon and exchanged radioed remarks. The unknown grew in size as its brilliance diminished. “Toward the end of this period it became very faint and its enormous size seemed to fill the sky.” Persons on the ground saw nothing unusual. The report writer mentioned as hypotheses a reflected false moon or a sphere of gasses from an explosion.5
A teletyped message transmitted June 26, 1966, contained a news article from Moscow's ITAR-TASS World Service. At 12:30 a.m., June 25, 10 kilometers outside the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, two patrol officers came upon an anomalous glowing globe hanging motionless 20–30 meters above the ground. The oddity issued a “crackling” sound and alternately expanded and contracted. The officers alerted the Vilnius police headquarters. In minutes, vehicle loads of soldiers and special forces from the ARAS Rapid Reaction Force arrived, along with civil defense staff, sniffer dogs, and police reinforcements. After half an hour, the officers approached to within 50 meters, whereupon the sphere departed. Below where it had hovered, tall grass was flattened in a 20-meter circle. The crackling sound continued for several more minutes.6
The Air Force Grows Impatient
Sara Hunt, Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Information (SAFOI) had visited OSI on July 19, 1966, to request a copy of the 1953 “Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,” a.k.a. the Robertson Report. Hunt referenced a recent episode of the television program CBS Reports that aired May 12, on which Howard P. Robertson mentioned CIA involvement in the study. This triggered a press reaction. Hunt verified that Philip Strong, OSI's deputy assistant director, approved a 1957 release to the Air Force of the sanitized report (meeting minutes, case histories, and CIA mentions deleted). Hunt now sought the unabridged report; the Air Force wished to declassify all government UFO materials. Further declassification would require significant revisions, so the chief asked Hunt to submit a second, more specific request.7
A buckslip (date illegible) from (redacted), OSI, to (redacted) attached a five-page newspaper article published on August 7, 1966, by the Sunday Star of Hammond, Louisiana. The writer
reviewed the June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold sighting at Mount Rainier, Washington, and the 1965 event at Exeter, New Hampshire, addressed in detail by John G. Fuller in Incident at Exeter. (See pages 6 and 177–178 respectively.) Fuller's basic charge: The Air Force had been secretive and told untruths about the reality of UFOs. He contended that UFO history went back over a century, even to biblical times. He outlined a January 12, 1838, event in Cherbourg, France involving a luminous, rotating unknown with a dark cavity. Also covered were an 1880 event near Trakehnen, Germany, as well as one in 1893 in Japan, both reported by the British science journal Nature. The writer added, “There was no Project Blue Book in those days to patiently explain to them that (1) they probably saw nothing and should stop being hysterical, or (2) it was a weather balloon, a mirage, or marsh gas.” Also mentioned were the 1896-97 airship incidents over Oakland, California, Omaha, Chicago, and Iowa farmland.8
Also attached was a four-page news article in the London Observer, reprinted by The Washington Post, “Is There Possibly Anybody Out There?” on August 7, 1966. Astronomers Carl Sagan and Russian Joseph Shklovskii concluded that at least a billion habitable planets could exist in the Milky Way alone. “Our own technical civilization has existed for a very short time on the cosmic time scale. Thus, if we are not unique, there should be many technical civilizations which are much older.” But all speculation was drawn from inferences, for humans had never truly seen the universe, the writer added.
OSI Deputy Director Karl Weber wrote to Colonel Gerald Jorgensen at SAFOI on August 16, 1966, regarding Jorgensen's July 27 request for declassification of the unabridged Robertson Panel Report. After further review, OSI determined that no additional material could be released. Permission had not been obtained from the personnel and organizations involved. The panel members themselves agreed only to a limited release. Moreover, as indicated by Philip Strong in his December 20, 1957, memorandum to Air Force principals: “We are most anxious that further publicity not be given to the information that the panel was sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency.”9
On July 12 and again on the 27th, the Air Force had requested the report be fully declassified, citing prior publicity of CIA involvement. Then on August 10, the same USAF representative had indicated Air Force intent to make the report public. On August 15 the complete report as sanitized was forwarded. Before its receipt, phone calls from SAFOI inquired about the extent of the sanitizing. On the 18th, SAFOI requested the return of its copy that had earlier been sent for sanitizing.10
SAFOI's Sara Hunt phoned three times from August 16–18, 1966, on the matter of obtaining a declassified version of the full 1953 Robertson Panel Report. She asked about the extent of necessary sanitizing. OSI's David Stevenson responded that all mentions of the CIA and its staff, plus other material, had been withheld. Hunt said John Lear, a newsman, had written an article appearing in the previous week's Saturday Review; SAFOI sought to offer him the best information.11
On September 1, 1966, Walter Mackey prepared a lengthy draft document for the CIA director's perusal—the chain of events concerning declassification of the complete 1953 Robertson Panel Report. Following a two-page cover letter were several attachments—53 pages worth.12
Mackey's attachments included the following:
Memorandum from USAF Colonel Eric T. de Jonckheere, Deputy for Technology and Subsystems within the Foreign Technology Division Headquarters, Wright-Patterson AFB, to CIA Deputy Director for Scientific Intelligence, “Declassification of the ‘Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects’,” July 12, 1966. “This particular (January 17, 1953) report has been referred to in a number of articles by the news media and by some of the more vocal UFO hobby clubs.” The colonel requested the report be downgraded to “Unclassified” or “For Official Use Only.”
Memorandum from USAF Colonel Gerald R. Jorgensen, Chief, Community Relations Division, Office of Information, to CIA Deputy Director for Scientific Intelligence, Attn: (redacted), “Declassification of ‘Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects’ (Robertson Panel) Convened by Office of Scientific Intelligence, CIA, January 14-18, 1953.” Jorgensen requested declassification of the panel's report, a copy of which was attached.
Memorandum for Record, by David B. Stevenson, “Air Force Request to Declassify CIA UFO Report,” July 20, 1966.13
Letter from Karl H. Weber, OSI Deputy Director, to USAF Colonel Gerald R. Jorgensen, Chief, SAFOI Community Relations Division, August 15, 1966.
The Office of Scientific Intelligence feels that the report, as originally drafted, cannot be downgraded. As an alternative, an unclassified version has been prepared which edits names of personnel and participating organizations, and we are agreeable to the release of this version.
Authorized panel members and organizations would receive only the edited summary and conclusions in P. G. Strong's December 20, 1957, memo. “We are most anxious that further publicity not be given to the information that the panel was sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency.” (See page 183.)
The October 4, 1966, issue of Look magazine carried a lengthy article written by John G. Fuller, “Aboard a Flying Saucer.” His detailed account of Betty and Barney Hill's close encounter on September 19-20, 1961, rendered them synonymous with the word “abduction.”14
An undated October 1966 document by the CIA Office of Legislative Counsel, titled “Journal,” was prepared over four days, October 4-7. Of ten OLC topics addressed, three were entirely redacted. One entry pertained to a request by NICAP's Richard Hall for a copy of the unsanitized Robertson Panel Report. Hall had made the request to Congressman Jack Matteson, a member of the House Foreign Operations and Government Information Subcommittee. Matteson indicated he would offer Hall the name and title of the Air Force office handling such matters. No further Agency action was necessary.15
An October 7 article titled “National U.F.O. Probe Slated” (publisher not shown) quoted the Denver Post, which conveyed that the University of Colorado would oversee a new scientific study of UFO reports. The announcement followed longstanding criticism by Congress and the public of the government's handling of sighting reports. Theoretical physicist Edward U. Condon would head the effort.16
As a coconspirator, not surprisingly the CIA came to be criticized for generally lacking candor on the UFO subject. Condon and his esteemed group, it was envisioned, would “analyze all the phenomena associated with UFO sightings and will review the Air Force's methods of receiving, investigating, and evaluating the reports.” It would not, however, have the power of subpoena or to take sworn testimony. The 15-month, $330,000 contract could be extended. Its report was to be sent to the USAF Office of Scientific Research. The National Academy of Sciences offered to review Condon's report when finished. Of 11,000 sighting reports since 1948, the Air Force said it had left only 655 unexplained. Its firm conclusion: no UFO had posed a threat to national security or appeared to be from outer space. Note: The UC contract was elsewhere declared to be for 18 months and $325,000.
McDonald on the Attack
Also on October 7, the Arizona Republic ran an article titled “UFO Hush Blamed on CIA Men.” Atmospheric physicist James McDonald had told an audience of University of Arizona students and faculty that he reluctantly accepted the ET theory of UFOs as the “least unacceptable explanation.” He added that the sighting patterns suggested peaceful reconnaissance, while rejecting time travel, ESP, hoaxes, hallucinations, secret aircraft, and natural phenomena as overall explanations. He called the Air Force claim of explaining 95 percent of reports grossly exaggerated, that it was closer to 50 percent.
McDonald declared that the CIA orchestrated an Air Force debunking effort, its written order attached to the 1953 Robertson Panel Report he had reviewed at Wright-Patterson AFB, where UFO reports were stored. When he later requested an unsanitized copy of the panel report, the CIA reclassified it off limits. He said the CIA believed less official recognition would d
iminish public interest and reduce sighting reports. The Agency, he added, favored surveilling civilian groups (for example APRO) for possible subversion. He blamed the Air Force for a regulation criminalizing contact by airmen with civilian research groups, which resulted in official silence regarding pilot sightings, radar returns, and detection from space.17
The New York Times had an entirely different take on the commotion, concentrating on the local scene. The University of Colorado Project would be conducted on the Boulder campus, but USAF investigative teams would visit communities where prominent sightings were reported. Earlier, the Air Force had addressed the problem with one officer, one sergeant, and a secretary. Project Blue Book was now to notify the Condon group of any new cases that would “merit special investigation.” UC would provide specialists in the physical sciences and psychology who would be “solely responsible for the conclusions drawn.” Classified military and space surveillance data and certain psychiatric evaluations of UFO witnesses would not be made public. To counter potential public ridicule, witness anonymity would be offered. In contrast to this weighty assignment, in the early 1950s Condon himself had twice been denied a secrecy clearance.18
The next day the Baltimore Sun added its two cents: University of Arizona physicist James McDonald claimed the CIA ordered the Air Force to debunk UFO accounts, a policy he said throttled any scientific investigation. Now the Air Force announced a research grant to the University of Colorado to evaluate UFO reports. McDonald said he discovered the CIA debunking instruction—and directive not to disclose the Agency's role—while researching the Robertson Panel Report at Wright-Patterson AFB. Major Hector Quintanilla, successor as Project Blue Book chief, said the Report's aim was only to “remove the aura of danger from UFO sightings.”19