C.I.A. PAPERS DETAIL U.F.O. SURVEILLANCE: Agencies Secret Studies Convince Arizona Research Group That Flying Saucers "Are Real"
Special to the New York Times
January 14, 1979
PHOENIX, Jan. 13--Documents obtained in a lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency show that the agency is secretly involved in the surveillance of unidentified flying objects and has been since 1949, an Arizona based U.F.O. group said yesterday.
The C.I.A. has repeatedly said that it investigated and closed it's books on U.F.O.'s during 1952, according to Ground Saucer Watch, a nation-wide research organization of about 500 scientists, engineers and others who seek to scientifically prove or disprove the existence of U.F.O.'s, but 100 pages of documents obtained under a freedom of information suit, show,
"the Government has been lying to us all these years," it said.
Embassies Gather Information
Mr. Spaulding an aerospace engineer with Airesearch, one of the largest producers of aerospace components, said the documents show the United States embassies are used to help gather information on U.F.O. sightings and that the information "seems to be directed to the C.I.A., the White House and the National Security Agency."
A C.I.A. memo of Aug. 1, 1952, recommends continued agency surveillance of "flying saucers," saying,
"it is strongly urged, however, that no indication of C.I.A. interest or concern reach the press or public, in view of their probably alarmist tendencies to accept such interest as 'confirmatory' of the soundness of 'unpublished facts' in the hands of the U.S. government," the document said.
Among the documents are several detailed reports of Air Force attempts to either intercept or destroy U.F.O.'s.
In a 1976 incident in Iran, one report says, two F-4 Phantom jet fighters pursued a large U.F.O. that seemed to send out smaller craft. One of their smaller craft "headed straight toward the F-4 at a very fast rate of speed,' the report said.
"The pilot attempted to fire an Aim-9 missile at the object but at that instant his weapons control panel went off and he lost all communications."
The pilot eluded the craft, then watched as it "returned to the primary object for a perfect rejoin," the report continued.
Concern About Russian Aims
A major point of concern, a C.I.A. document of Oct. 2, 1952, shows, is that U.F.O. sightings could mask Russian air attacks, or "psychological warfare."
The report to the director of Central Intelligence from the assistant director for the Office of Scientific Intelligence recommends the the National Security Council be advised of the "implications of the flying saucer problem"; that the matter be discussed with the Psychological Strategy Board, and that the C.I.A. help,
"develop a policy of public information which will minimize concern and possible panic resulting from the numerous sightings of unidentified objects."
A document dated November 1975, directs against acknowledging any pattern in sightings.
"Unless there is evidence which links sightings, or unless media queries link sightings, queries can best be handled individually at the source and as questions arise," it said. "Response should be direct, forthright and emphasize that the action taken was in response to an isolated or specific incident."
Mr. Spaulding says the documents show that there are links and patterns in the sightings. From that evidence, he says, he believes U.F.O.'s are here on surveillance missions.
"We find a concentration of sightings around our military installations, research development areas," he said. "
The U.F.O. phenomenon is following what our own astronauts are doing on other planets- we send a scoutship, we take soil samples and then we land."
Another Suit Pending
Mr. Spaulding said he has sworn statements from retired Air Force colonels that at least two U.F.O.'s have crashed landed and have been recovered by the Air Force.
One crash, he said, was in Mexico in 1948 and the other was near Kingman, Ariz., in 1953.
He said the retired officers claimed they got a glimpse ooutfits that "seemed fused to the body from the heat."
f dead aliens who were in both cases about four feet tall with silverish complexions and wearing silver
Mr. Spaulding said his group is waiting for a Federal Judge to rule on the last phase of its C.I.A. suit, which seeks access to 57 items that would provide "hard evidence" of U.F.O.'s or "retrievals of the third kind."
That evidence includes motion pictures, gun camera film and residue from landings, he said.
Among the films they want is 40 to 48 frames taken in 1952 by Ralph Mayher, then a cameraman for KYW-TV in Cleveland and now a member of Ground Saucer Watch. The Air Force borrowed the film in 1957 and has never returned it.
The official finding was that the object was a meteor, Mr. Spaulding said.
"We're past the story-telling stage," Mr. Spaulding said. "We have to have it in black and white to satisfy the scientific community. We have to establish the existence of the object to all the people in Missouri and then figure out who's driving it."