File 040 · 1947–1997 · UFO investigations

The CIA's role in the study of UFOs

In 1997 the CIA published its own history of its UFO work and said that many 1950s and 1960s sightings were secret spy-plane flights that the Air Force explained away.

Background

After the 1947 flying-saucer wave the CIA took an interest in UFO reports, mainly as a possible national-security problem. It created study groups and in January 1953 convened a panel of scientists, the Robertson Panel, which concluded that the reports themselves were not a threat but that public interest could clog intelligence channels and be exploited by the Soviets.

In 1997 the CIA published a history by Gerald K. Haines, 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90', in its journal Studies in Intelligence. It described the agency's early concern, the panel, and what it called the CIA's limited role afterward.

What the record shows

• The Haines study is an official CIA publication, also held in the agency's online reading room.
• It says the agency's concern was substantial in the early 1950s, and limited later.
• It states that a large share of the credible UFO reports of the late 1950s and 1960s were caused by manned reconnaissance flights, such as the U-2, at altitudes that were far higher than civil aircraft, and that the Air Force's Project Blue Book gave other explanations to protect the secrecy of the flights.
• The Robertson Panel's report, declassified later, recommended that the government play down public interest in UFOs.

Timeline

• 1947–52 The CIA monitors UFO reports and sets up internal study groups.
• Jan 1953 The Robertson Panel meets and recommends a public education program to reduce interest in UFOs.
• 1950s–60s High-altitude reconnaissance flights over the US begin; the U-2 enters service in 1956 and the A-12 in the 1960s.
• 1969 The Air Force closes Project Blue Book.
• 1997 The CIA publishes its UFO history in Studies in Intelligence.

Checking the claims

The claim: the government lied to the public about UFOs. The CIA's own history supports a narrow, documented version of that. The agency and the Air Force did not tell the public that some sightings were secret aircraft, because the aircraft were classified. That is a real cover story, with documents.

What it does not support is the larger claim. The history says the explanation was reconnaissance aircraft, not alien craft, and the Robertson Panel's own view was that the reports did not show a threat. The finding is a case of official secrecy that created a mystery, not evidence of extraterrestrial visitors. The history also records how the agency thought about the problem: as a question of intelligence, public opinion and Soviet propaganda, with the Robertson Panel treating the public belief in saucers as the risk to manage. Reading the document in full is the best way to separate what the CIA actually said from the many summaries of it, and it is available online from the agency itself.

Claimed, but not shown

The study does not say that all sightings were explained, and it does not say that no unexplained reports remained. It does not describe any recovered craft.

Verdict

Sources

• Gerald K. Haines, 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90', Studies in Intelligence (1997)
• Report of the Robertson Panel (January 1953), declassified
• CIA Reading Room, UFO collection

Connected files (red threads)

• Project Blue Book — The Air Force project the CIA history refers to
• Area 51 — The spy planes were developed and tested there
• The 1947 flying disc wave in the FBI file — The wave that started the CIA's interest

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