Due to the lack of manpower the airforce had to devote for this task, the consulting group decided that taking over the investigation that the air force had been conducting until then was the best action to take. They would later come to regret their decision as the airforce was a source of unfriendly cooperation due to this decision as stated during a dinner between a member of the consulting group and a nuclear scientist. The consulting group set to the task of finding out what were the mysterious objects flying around. They combed through over two thousand reports the different government agencies had received and filed since 1947. 205 reports had yet to be explained.
The report shows concern and expresses a need for more manpower and more resources. Their main concern at the time was the consequences of a government agency confusing one of these unexplained phenomena and hitting the panic button. one must remember that all of this was happening during the cold war. everyone was in a state of persecution, spies were everywhere and one wrong move or word could result in war on American soil with the Russians. The idea that a military plane could confuse one of these unidentified flying objects for a Russian plane and that a war may start because of it was all too real. The opposite was also possible, what if reports became frequent enough that a report of flying object was confused as a UFO and instead was a Russian plane coming to Bomb the USA. They needed a way to differentiate the two, to do it swiftly and efficiently.
They recommended that the intelligence agency to "formulate and carry out a program of intelligence and research required to solve the problem instant positive identification of unidentified flying objects" Their directives were to (presented to you in simple language as I understand it, the link to the document is provided below)
- Instant identification of UFOs
- The CIA would head the investigation with help of the FBI, however, the FBI would not have jurisdiction.
- The military would help the CIA with their investigation providing research and information but they would not have jurisdiction.
- The CIA would give information to the agencies that had authorized interest.
By August 1952 the number of unexplained reports had been lowered to less than 100. Most reports had been classified as either fake or had been explained by current knowledge of flight patterns and weather anomalies.
The report continues to express the opinion that if the full scope of the situation was able to be analyzed that the information would show that these too would be classified as either fake or easily explained through natural causes. However, the report states that even though they don't believe it might be Aliens, the possibility cannot be excluded, and so it recommends that the program continues on its course. The report also mentions how the knowledge of such government agencies should remain undisclosed to the public due to the press and the public having an "alarmist" and conspiratory view of such agencies.
On February 9th of 1953, a report entitled California committee for saucer investigations or CSI for short explains how a committee of private individuals intrigued and scientifically interested in finding an explanation fo saucer phenomena had surfaced. The report shows how awe as to the length these private citizens are willing to go to find the truth in each instance. going to people's homes and finding out which reports might be reliable. However, the report expresses a certain distaste towards them, perhaps after finding out that the group was involved in an elaborate hoax over the Los Angeles area in hopes of finding out what are reports that come in and how reliable they are.
A panel convened between January 14 and January 17 of 1953, with the express purpose to discuss UFOs. The overall mood of the report is that of negation to the idea that Aliens exists. In fact, one-panel member showed his findings and stated that as he had eliminated all possible terrestrial causes that the only conclusion was alien presence. However, the rest of the panel waved off his report stating that the report was not reliable, that his main case was based on the reports that could not be proven and in the eye witness account that only lasted at most 4 seconds.
The panel also stated that the lack of material evidence spoke to volumes as to whether or not these reports could be substantiated. Their reasoning was that if hundreds of UFOs were flying around, the chances were that at least one UFO would crash, or land, or drop a coin from the sky that could be collected and analysed, in the absence of this physical evidence and based on scientific reports that stated that life in other planets was impossible due to the lack of atmosphere, water, and air, the feeling of the panel was that all reports must be either fake or explainable because aliens were simply impossible.
However, there must have been a small doubt, because the idea that maybe, perhaps somewhere in the galaxy could live a different being, raised its head in the pages of the report. The report states that no member of the panel is able to conclusively state that aliens do not exist. The report goes on to say that even if the reports turn out to be true, and that UFOs are a fact. That there is no danger from these unexplained events.
CIA Library file
CIA report on UFOs
CSI
