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Walter "Todd" Zechel
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) began collecting UFO data in mid-1947, shortly after the first civilian sightings of "flying
saucers" were reported. The initial study was codenamed "Project Sign." This was changed to "Project Grudge" in
1948. In December 1949 the Air Force issued a "Grudge" report in an attempt to have saucer sightings dismissed
as post-war or Cold War jitters, then closed down the official study program. However, in early 1951 the
Commanding General of Air Force Intelligence at the Pentagon, Gen. Charles P. Cabell, secretly requested UFO
studies to be reopened, and in 1952 the revitalized UFO study was assigned the codename "Project Blue Book,"
the Aerial Phenomena Group of the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
(AFB), Dayton, Ohio. Air Force Intelligence at the Pentagon designated a senior officer to be liaison to Project Blue
Book.
After the fiasco of July 1952, in which the USAF "suggested" at a major
press conference that the multiple UFO chases involving jet interceptors
after the UFOs were tracked on ground radar were just "temperature
inversions" and the shameful American newspapers ran screaming
headlines that proclaimed "AIR FORCE DEBUNKS UFOS AS JUST
NATURAL PHENOMENA," the CIA tried to grab control over UFO
intelligence away from what it perceived as an irresponsible USAF.
But the National Security Council (NSC) wasn't willing to embarrass the
Air Force by taking away the UFO problem.
The next big UFO flap started in early November 1957, when landed
UFOs as large as 200 feet in diameter were observed near Levelland,
Texas, by credible witnesses, including law enforcement officers. After a
quick visit, an Air Force Intelligence officer dismissed the incidents as resulting from "ball lightning." This absurd
explanation angered the local Texas residents and witnesses, many of whom held responsible positions in local
government. Powerful U.S. Senator (D-Tex) Lyndon Johnson, then Chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, was contacted by the outraged Texas citizens from Levelland, and he asked the CIA to conduct a
secret investigation, since it was clear the USAF was dropping the ball and just trying to protect its own ass. At one
point in November 1957, CIA Director Allen Dulles phoned Dr. Knox Milsap, then the Chief Scientist at White Sands
Missile Range, New Mexico, at 4 A.M. (local time), to request an investigation of a reported (to the CIA) UFO
landing in the nearby Organ Mountains. According to Dulles a civilian had reportedly snapped photos of the landed
UFO and the CIA had an urgent need to obtain the photos for its emergency study.
As part of the November 1957 emergency UFO study, the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) "levied a
requirement" [sent out an order] to the CIA's Domestic Contact Service (DCS), which had offices in 35 to 40 larger
cities across America. The Domestic Contact Service was part of the CIA's Intelligence Directorate [DDI], and
agents would normally show CIA IDs and say they were collecting intelligence for the CIA. [As opposed to the CIA's
Directorate of Plans (DDP), which was the clandestine or covert branch and utilized back-stopped covers provided
by the Central Cover Staff.]
After its emergency study, CIA officials once again came to the conclusion the Air Force was arbitrarily and
capriciously explaining away UFO reports that might have important scientific or intelligence value. With Senator
Lyndon Johnson's support, the CIA again proposed to the National Security Council (NSC) that it be given control
of UFO studies. This time the NSC secretly concurred, reportedly issuing an intelligence directive (NSCID) in early
1958 granting control of all scientific intelligence--which included the collection and analysis of UFO data--to the
Central Intelligence Agency. The USAF was in turn relegated to the control of technical Intelligence, such as the
collection and analysis of data pertaining to aircraft advances by the Soviet Union.
Although the Air Force continued to operate Project Blue Book until it was disbanded in 1969, Blue Book was not
in the loop for classified intelligence reports on UFOs that were originated under JANAP 146E or CIRVIS reporting
instructions for American defense forces, whereas the CIA was a primary recipient of such messages and reports.
As part of its efforts to study UFOs, the CIA has also sponsored efforts to detect alien civilizations. These projects
are commonly called "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)" and usually utilize large radio-telescope arrays.
For example, in the early 1960s DCS agents 'serviced' a SETI program known as "Project Ozma" at the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. Servicing an account entails providing covert funding
and instructions or guidance, and collecting raw data for analysis for groups back at CIA Hqs. "Ozma" was
authorized by Dr. Lloyd Berkner, a long-time CIA consultant and Green Bank's chief.
Other CIA sources of UFO data include Intelligence Reports (IR's), academic/scientific projects sponsored by the
CIA, the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) [which monitors all foreign news broadcasts and
publications], and a link between the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (NMCC) and the CIA's
Operations Center known as the "DDO Talker."
The CIA's UFO sources also include prominent people in the UFOlogical field such as Dr. Bruce Maccabee,
formerly the head of the Fund For UFO Research, based in suburban Washington, DC,
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Copyright (c) 2006
W. Todd Zechel
P. O. Box 117
Prairie du Sac, WI 53578-0117
next Pt 4, "COVERT CIA OPERATIONS AGAINST UFOLOGY"
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