Sighting Report — Los Alamos, New Mexico, 17 November 1953

This document is a military sighting report concerning an unidentified aerial object observed on November 17, 1953, near Los Alamos, New Mexico. The report, filed by the 34th Air Division (DEF) and directed to the Director of Intelligence at USAF Headquarters, details a sighting by a civilian witness who is noted as being reliable. The witness reported observing a single white object, estimated to be ten to twenty feet in diameter, descending slowly for a duration of 26 minutes. The observation was made under ground-visual conditions, though the witness eventually lost sight of the object due to darkness. The report includes technical details such as the geographic reference (GEOREF EJP 4816) and weather conditions, which were described as fair with scattered clouds. Despite the report being filed, Captain Charles L. Dewees, the Director of Intelligence for the 34th Air Division, remarked that the information provided was inadequate to make a reasonable evaluation of the incident. The official conclusion reached in the document is that the object was a balloon. The document is marked as unclassified and includes standard declassification instructions per DOD Directive 5200.10.