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U.S. Government UFO Projects & Studies
From The UFO Briefing Document by Don Berliner
The top-level evaluations produced such conclusions as: "This 'flying saucer' situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is really flying around." "The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious."

In October 1947, a U.S. Air Force document classified "secret" included the statement: "...it is the considered opinion of some elements that the object [sic] may in fact represent an interplanetary craft of some kind."

In the succeeding years, there were at least six U.S. Air Force projects and studies ostensibly aimed at solving the UFO mystery. Although these studies have been perceived by the news media and important segments of the public as having fully explained UFOs in "prosaic" terms, a closer study reveals their serious flaws and shortcomings. The following brief summaries describe the six studies.

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> Click here to go (full report online)

An Analysis of the Condon Report on the Colorado UFO Project
by Peter A. Sturrock, Center for Space Science and Astrophysics, Stanford University, in Journal for Scientific Exploration
Abstract--The "Condon Report," presenting the findings of the Colorado Project on a scientific study of unidentified flying objects, has been and remains the most influential public document concerning the scientific status of this problem. Hence, all current scientific work on the UFO problem must make reference to the Condon Report. For this reason, it remains important to understand the contents of this report, the work on which the report is based, and the relationship of the "Summary of the Study" and "Conclusions and Recommendations" to the body of the report. The present analysis of this report contains an overview, an analysis of evidence by categories, and a discussion of scientific methodology. The overview shows that most case studies were conducted by junior staff; the senior staff took little part, and the director took no part, in these investigations. The analysis of evidence by categories shows that there are substantial and significant differences between the findings of the project staff and those that the director attributes to the project. Although both the director and the staff are cautious in stating conclusions, the staff tend to emphasize challenging cases and unanswered questions, whereas the director emphasizes the difficulty of further study and the probability that there is no scientific knowledge to be gained.  --  Concerning methodology, it appears that the project was unable to identify current challenging cases that warranted truly exhaustive investigation. Nor did the project develop a uniform and systematic procedure for cataloging the large number of older cases with which they were provided. In drawing conclusions from the study of such a problem, the nature and scope of which are fraught with so much uncertainty, it would have been prudent to avoid theory-dependent arguments.

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Sturrock Report
Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports
Peter A. Sturrock, Stanford University, in Journal for Scientific Exploration
The purpose of this four-day workshop was to review purported physical evidence associated with UFO reports, with a view to assessing whether the further acquisition and investigation of such evidence is likely to help solve the UFO problem, namely the determination of the cause or causes of these reports.

Seven UFO investigators presented a variety of physical evidence that they claimed was associated with UFO reports: photographic evidence; luminosity estimates; radar evidence; interference with automobile functioning; interference with aircraft equipment; apparent gravitational or inertial effects; ground traces; injuries to vegetation; physiological effects on witnesses; and analysis of debris. There was in addition a presentation of investigations into recurrent phenomena that occur in the Hessdalen Valley in Norway.

A review panel was composed of nine scientists of diverse expertise and interests.

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SKEPTICAL VIEW

Massive Uncritical Publicity for Supposed `Independent UFO Investigation' Demonstrates Media Gullibility Once Again
by Robert Sheaffer
"What virtually every major news organization completely overlooked is that this was far from an "independent" review of UFOs. The Society for Scientific Exploration, sponsor of the panel, is not a "mainstream" scientific organization. Instead, it is a group inclined toward belief in paranormal phenomena, albeit one with many scientists among its membership...The SSE UFO Panel invited only pro-UFOlogists to present supposed "evidence"; the skeptical viewpoint was evidently felt not to be worth considering... Amazingly, the cases that the panel found so impressive are old ones that have long been touted by UFO promoters and have failed to convince skeptics inside or outside the scientific community."
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Project Sign was the first U.S. Air Force investigation of UFOs and lasted from January 1948 to April 1949. Based at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, it collected several hundred sighting reports from government and non-government sources, and claimed to explain most of them. Due to its unwillingness to accept UFO reports not sent directly to it, the Project Sign files include only a few dozen reports from 1947, while newspapers received more than 1,500 reports in just two weeks.
The UFO Briefing Document, by Don Berliner

Project Sign Report: Abstract
A descriptive and analytical study of the unidentified aerial objects, that have been reported both in the United States and from foreign countries, is presented. Individual cases are described in brief form, as an Appendix.  The analytical treatment of the subject is largely of a qualitative and generalized nature. However, detailed analysis and detailed results are presented, where this procedure is possible, and will assist in establishing the validity or tenability of an overall hypothesis.  Project "Sign" is still largely characterized by the collection of data, without sufficient information to permit definite, specific conclusion to be made. No definite evidence is yet available to confirm or disprove the actual existence of unidentified flying objects as new and unknown types of aircraft. A limited number of the incidents have been identified as known objects.

> Go to Full Report from the Project Sign Research Center

Project Sign Research Center
Wendy Connors, Historian
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"From 1947 until 17 December 1969, the United States Air Force actively investigated reports and sightings of unidentified flying objects - UFOs, under a program called Project Blue Book.

Project Blue Book investigated 12,618 UFO sightings and 701 of those sightings remained unidentified. Many UFO researchers feel that the investigations of the UFO sightings were unprofessional and unscientific. The program used poor research methods and researchers were too eager to label a mysterious sighting as "identified" phenomena.

Individual researchers and UFO organisations believe that members of Project Blue Book were pressured to "identify" UFO sightings to calm the public hysteria about UFOs. This theory has been supported by the recent release of CIA documents pertaining to UFOs. They also suggest that any report that was initially perceived as unexplainable or would cause public concern was never included in Project Blue Book. They allege that these reports were passed on to a higher authority that never reported the results to the public.

Project Blue Book, it seems, was just a low level collection and disinformation program created under Project Sign (of December 1947) which evolved into Project Grudge (of December 1948) to cover up the true investigation into the alien presence on Earth."

From "United States Air Force Project Blue Book", Above Top Secret Website -- > click to go

Project Saucer
Memorandum

Following is a transcript of a Memorandum for the Press that was given by the Office of Public Information on April 27, 1949. Although Project SIGN's official report had been completed two months earlier, the American public was not aware of the official investigation's Code name. Project Saucer would not be known by its Code name for several more years. During the early years of the flying disc phenomenon the press and the general public was given the ad hoc name of Project Saucer to refer to the United States Air Force's investigation of UFOs. - Wendy Connors

> Go to Full Report from Project Sign Research Center, Wendy Connors

Early in 1948, Dr. J. Allen Hynek was contracted by the United States Air force to act as a consultant on astrophysics for Project SIGN, which was being undertaken at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and under the auspices of the T-2 Intelligence Division.  Dr. Hynek was also asked to submit a report to Project SIGN regarding the analytical data obtained from various reports of unidentified aerial objects.  Although this report was slated to be included in the final Project SGIN Report on Unidentified Aerial Objects, it is not to be found in that report.  Rather, the Hynek Report shows up in the Project GRUDGE Report 15 months later.

The Grudge Report was released in 1949, but Dr. Hynek's full report was edited prior to inclusion.  Historical researchers had not been aware of this fact until recently when the unedited report surfaced in Captain Edward J. Ruppelt's personal files.

Perhaps the most glaring editing done to the Hynek Report by the Air Force was paraphrasing and eliminating sections of Dr. Hynek's conclusions.

Here, for the first time publicly, the researcher can read Dr. Hynek's full report he prepared for Project SIGN.
Wendy Connors, Project SIGN Research Center

> Go to Full Report from Project Sign Research Center, Wendy Connors

This compilation of UFO cases and public statements by leaders in government and science has been prepared under the auspices of the UFO Research Coalition.

The "UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence" is aimed at informing leaders of the world's governments, scientific communities and press about the reality and serious nature of Unidentified Flying Objects. It urges a reduction in government secrecy, now that the Cold War is over.

The UFO Research Coalition is a cooperative body representing America's leading serious, private UFO groups: the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago, the Fund for UFO Research in Washington, D.C., and the Mutual UFO Network in San Antonio, Texas.

The document details 18 major UFO cases from the "foo fighters" of 1944-45 to the 1989-90 sighting wave over Belgium. Cases illustrate some of the most intriguing aspects of the UFO mystery, including their being tracked on military radar, attempted intercepts by military airplanes, and landings which left physical traces.

Quotes are given from leading military and government officials, astronauts, and scientists from 17 countries. They support the contention that UFOs are real, baffling and worth far more serious study than they have yet received. The point is made that the people of the world have a right to know more about this long-term scientific mystery.

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On Friday July 16, 1999 an important document was published in France entitled, UFOs and Defense: What must we be prepared for? ("Les Ovni Et La Defense: A quoi doit-on se préparer?"). This ninety-page report is the result of an in-depth study of UFOs, covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of national defense. The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of former "auditors" at the Institute of Advanced Studies for National Defense, or IHEDN, and by qualified experts from various fields. Before its public release, it has been sent to French President Jacques Chirac and to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

The report is prefaced by General Bernard Norlain of the Air Force, former Director of IHEDN, and it begins with a preamble by André Lebeau, former President of the National Center for Space Studies (Centre National D’études Spatiales), or CNES, the French equivalent of NASA.

> The French Report on UFOs and Defense: A Summary
By Gildas Bourdais