The UFO Program to the kmerican Society of Ne\isroper Editors 22 Apr67 USAF Historical Archives A SI(ASHAF-A) Maxwell AFB, Ala 3611 2 ROBERT c;. NOTSON PORTLAN D OREGONIAN M I CHAEL J. OG PROVIDEN C E .JOURNA VINCE N T S . JONES LOUISVILLE TIMES N EWBOLD NOYES. JR. GANNETT NEWSPAPERS COURIER.JOURNAL 1ST VIC! PRESIDENT 2ND VIC!!; PRE!liDI!:N T S AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS OFFICE O F THE PROGRAM CHAIRMAN NEWBOLD NOYES, .JR . WASHINGTON STAR WASHINGTON , D. C. 20003 Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. Headquarters FTD (AFSC) Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433 Dear Major Quintanilla: WASHINGTON STAR I was out o~ the office all last week; hA"ce the unconscionable delay in getting this letter off to you. But I (all o~ us) do want you to Know how very much we appreciate your appearance before the American Society of NewRpaper Editors. I'm sure you must have been able to sense the g reat interest of t~e editors in what you had to say. I myself heard many favorable co~nents on your per~ormance. As we had anticipated, the scientists got what l ittle heat there was from the quest.i.one:rs. But it meant a great deal to me as producer of the show to have that handsome Air ~orce uniform up there on the platform, and you were a good sport to take par t and give us the official Once again, thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to help educate the press. You did us much good. CHARLES L . BENNETT OKLAHOMAN T IMES J . Q. MAHAFFEY TEXARKANA GAZI!:TTE Faithfully yours, Newbold Noye THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONSISTS OF THE OFFICERS AND THE FOLLOWING: CREED C . BLACK CHICAGO DAILY NEWS JOHN H . COLBURN WICHITA I!:AGLE AND DEACON ARTHUR C . DECK SALT LAKE TRIBUNE C . A . M cKNIGHT CHARLOTTI!: OBSERVER SYLVAN MEYER GAINESVILLE (GA.) TIMES J. EDWARD MURRAY ARIZONA REPUBLI C EUGENE PATTERSO N ATLANTA CONSTITUTION WILLIAM B . DICKINSO N PHILADELPHIA DULLETIN VERMONT ROYST E R WALL STREET .JOURNAL ROBERT C. NOTSON PORTLAND OREGONIAN PROVIDENCE JOURNA.LB 1ST VICE PRE:SIDENT VINC!'NT S. JdNES GANNETT NEWSPAPERS 2ND VICE PRESIDENT COURIER J OURNAL LOUISVILLE TIMES NEWBOLD NOYES, JR. WASHINGTON STAR AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS OFFICE OF THE PROGRAM CHAIRMAN NE:WBOLD NOYES, JR. WASHINGTON STAR WASHINGTON, D . C. 20003 Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. dquarte r s FTD (AFSC) Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433 Dear Major Quintanilla: Just a line to suggest that if you have a text of your prepared remarks for the ASN~ next week, and can get it mimeographed, it would be helpful to have a dozen o r so copies for the press room at the Shoreham. Not necessary, the reporters want to accurately. but it does insure that if quote you they will do so Faithfully yours, Newbold Noyes THE BOARD OF Dl RECTORS CONSISTS OF THE OFFICERS AND THE FOLLOWING: CHARLES L. BENNETT OKLAHOMAN & T IME:S CREED C . B LACK CHICAGO DAILY NEWS JOHN H . COLBURN WICHITA EAGL E AND BEACON ARTHUR C . DECK SALT LAKE TRIBUNE J. Q. MAHAFFEY TEXARKANA GAZETTE C. A . McKNIGHT CHARLOTTE OBSERVER SYLVAN MEYER GAINESVILLE (GA.) TIMES J. EDWARD MURRAY ARIZONA REPUBLIC EUGENE PATTERSON ATLANTA CONSTITUTION WILLIAM B . DICKINSON PHILADELPHIA BULLETIN VERMONT ROYSTER WALL STREET JOURNAL MEMO RUUTING SLIP Is, Dist~ppro'IJ<IIs, llur Acti<m& DATE COORDINATION INFORMATION OATE!l ) Replact.'l 0 I) Form !14. I Jo'oh r.o. and DID r,or m llfl, 1 Foh .~. whi(h "illlw ll>od until txhnll~h'<l. FOREIGN TEC Date 1 7 Apr 6 7 MEMO TO: _ Dr o Cacioppo Think it might be useful for you to monitor session 20 -2L Let s look at the briefing I want for LeBailley on :YMOND S. SLEEPER, Colonel, USAF FOREIGN TE OGY DIVISION FOREIGN TE OGY DIVISION ROBEJ;IT C. NOTBON PORTLAND OREGONIAN MICHAEl. J. OGDEN PROVIDENCE JOURNAL-BULLETIN 1ST VICE PRESIDEN T VINCENT S . JONES NORMAN E . GANNETT NEWSPAPERS COURIER-JOURNAL AND 2ND VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARY NEWBOLD N O YES, JR . WASHINGTON STAR TAEA!IURER AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS OFFICE OF THE PROGRAM CHAIRMAN NEWBOLD NOYI:II, JR. - WASHINGTO N 8TA1t WASHINGTO N , D. C. 20009 Major General Eugene B . LeBailly Director of the Office of Information Department of the Air Force Washington, D . C . 20330 Dear General LeBailly: As program chairman for this year's meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors , which takes place here at the Shoreham Ap ril 20- 21-22, I am trying to organize a serious seminar on the subject of UFOs. I 've been discussing the problem with Dr. Condon, Dr. ~ynek, Dr. Menzel and the like, and trying to keep Major Kehot. e and his gang at arm' s length . I m wondering whether it mfght be possible to have one of the Air Force's Project Blu e Book officers, preferably Major Quintinella, take par t in such a session . What I hope to come up with is a non-kooky, balanced panel representing both total-and not-so-skeptics, and to have Dr. Condon act as moderator and also talk briefly about the problem of the press in handling this sort of material. He has indicated an interest in taking par t if I can work out such a presentation. If you think this is a possibility, I can of course approach Major Quintinella directly, but thought I'd better sound you out first. As you probably know, the ASNE is composed of about 700 newspaper editors from all over the country, about 500 of whom (includin g all the important ones) will be at this -~t meeting . It provide~ one of the major forums for seriou s -~ public discussion by interesting people i n and out of govern-- - ment, and the proceeding s are of course very widely reported . THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONSISTS OF THE OFFICERS AND THE F O LLOWING: CREED C. BLACK JOHN H . COLBURN ARTHUR C . DECK WILLIAM B . D ICKINSO N _,._, .. Afll f"tiiA nUl I It-TI N 2 -General LeBailly I do think it would be a good thin g for this in- fluential group to get some reasonable perspective on this, after all, rather puzzling busines s . Faithfully yours, bol d Noyes DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY MEMORANDUM DEPARTMENT OF THE A I R FORCE WA SHIN GTON 20JJO OFFICE OF THC SCCRl:1 ARY Dear Mr. Noyes: We appreciate your invitatj on of March 6 to parU. cipate in n. UFO panel as part of the annual ASNE meetinr to be held this year at the Shoreham. April 20- 22. We believe having an Air Force representative take part in such a panel before such a distinguis hed audience could be of great benefit to us, and we will be happy to work with you toward this end. While we have no objection to making Major Quintanilla avai)able. is job is administering the UFO reports made to the Air Force. and he has limited dealings with the press. Our offices here shoulder the brunt of dealings with the press and public on this subject and you might wish to consider having one of our people on t he panel in addition to Major Quintanilla. Another man you might like to consider adding to the panel, partic- ularly since the theme of the panel centers on press problems, is He r b Strentz, a teacher at Bakersfield College, California. He did an article for the fall 1966, COLID4BIA JOURNALISM REVIEW, on how different papers in t he same locale coyer the same story --in this case . two Detroit and four Chicago newspapers' coverage of the 1966 southern Michigan UFO sightings. We're sending along a copy of this article for your information. We l ook forward t .o working with your people on this panel and ask that you contact Lt Colonel Jacks of our Public Information Division to work out further details. He , or Capt Rhoads i n his absence, can be Mr . Newbold Noyes, WASHINGTON STAR Washington, D. C. 20003 Sinr.erely, Major General, USAF Director of Information UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT PROGRAM presented to the America n Society of News paper Editors Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. PTTU J~ RIJEDH(:)A 1829 0882237 -UUUU --RUEDFI F 7-NR IJfllJUU TO RIJt'T)VtF /F'TO COMDR W AF P OHI O r I IF"' RI'~DTAA /AF~C RIJt'')FTF /J:'TD T Dt'T lvPPF B OHI O MAJ QUI NT ANILLA -F'OR C'MDR ANi) I O . v.'E HAVE APPROVED Rt:QUt.ST OF THE AMt:RlCA. sncTET Y ov Nt'WSPAPER EJ!TORS TO HAVE MAJOR QUI N'fANILLA APPEAR 0~ A PA t'L BFFORF THI S DI STINGUI SHED GROUP TO DISCUSS THE: t.ITQt'NTIFIED F LYT I G OBJECT PHENOMENON. "1ENZE.L , HYt EK , CO!\-OvN AND TE PFR~ONNEL ASSOCIATED WITH UF O ~RE ZXPECTED TO PAR1I CIPA1t.. NATIONAL M'::ETI~G I..JILL BE HEL D AT THE SHOREHArti It-. wAShl1 GTOI-4, 1 .C'., 20-?2 PPRIL, IJJITH EXACT OAT E AND T IME OF PANEL YET 0 b::. 1FT ERIVl I 1 FO . REC)IJ EST MAJOR QUI NT AN I L L A BE PLACED ON TOY TO 'IA~HINGTQN, D . r . FOR TIS PERIOD, REPORTING 0 fHE PUbLIC I~FOR.~A- PAGt' 2 RU~n!H)A 1?~9 UNCL A~ TTON DI VIS!, ~AF - Ot , PENTAGON, ROOM 4C922, THE DAY PRIOR 10 PA1 c.L RSE~TATION FOR DISCUSSION OF PROGRAM . EWBOL D NOYES OF WAC~JNGTON STAR I S ASNE PROGRAM CHAIR1i'1AN N A D 'IIILL CONTAC T "!.J I "J T AN I L L A P.l F () Rtv~ AT I 0 N ITH F II RTHER DET AI L S . MAJOR APPROVES THI S 11 v J c:.uua RESUME OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN: COLONEL STANLEY (in Col Jack's office COLONEL HOLM 4Aprill967 Col Stanley said he had talked to General Giller whose concern simply was that Major Quintanilla would get caught in cross-fire . General Giller had told him that both he and Col Jacks had discussed the problem with Col Stanley stated that Dave Noyes is President of the Washington Story. He is going to have this panel whether o r not the Air Force participates. Participation on a panel of this sort is a departure for SAFOI. They are aware of the pitfalls I but the SAFOI staff has taken action to reduce the dangers of getting involved. Col Stanley said Major Quintanilla will be given the same treatment as many others who have gone on a press conference I such as Dr. Brown I for instance . The decision to have him participate was not an accident. Two colonels with 30 years' experience in the information business will be holding his hands. They will work him over--ask him every leading dirty question he might get. He will be ready for them. It has got to be Hector. 1 , Panel meeting won't last more than 1-1 1/2 hrs with questions. Hector has two things going for him: As stated I he will be brainwashed thoroughly before he goes on. We are not going to throw Quintanilla out in the cold pool by himself. (2) Man named Phil Glass will be on the panel, also. He is utterly convinced that UFO' s are electromagnetic ~ . He has a book in Random House and is anxious to be on the panel t o promote his book I and will be eager to debate with MacDonald. SAFOI figures Major Quintanilla will probably be able to jus t sit back and listen t o them debate. Another thing I MacDonald wrote to Dr. Price in AFOAR saying that he will be in Washington on the 17th and has an appointment with Naval Research on the 18th. Told them they dare not turn him down. MacDonald will have talked to Price. Hector will have the argument I "Dr. MacDonald I you had an entire afternoon to present any information you had to AFOAR ." Think we have him fireproofed. Col Stanley says Air Force has had three things this past year in its favor: 1 . Contract with Condon. Want to be able to say that man is free. Movement of Blue Book out of vaulted area. Situation has developed to point where a number of newsmen are taking a real hard-nosed look at the problem. Col Stanley would like to hear from Col Sleeper ASAP on Friday 1 7 April. J I tt ;JJ ( ROBERT C. NOTSON PORTLAND OREGONIAN PREll DEN T MICHAEL J. OGDEN PROVIDENCE .IOURNALBULLETIN I8T VICE PRESIDENT VINCENT S. JONES NORMAN E. ISAACS NEWBOLD NOYES, JR. CANNETT NEWSPAPERS COURICR.IOURNAL AND LOUISVILLE TIMES WASHINGTON STAR 2ND VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARY TREASURER AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS OFFICE OF THE PROGRAM CHAI R MAN NEWBOLD NOYI:S, .Ill. WASHINGTON STAR WAIIHINGTON, 0. C. 20003 r1aj or Hector Quintanilla, Jr. quarters FTD (AFSC) Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433 Dear Major Quintanilla: am delighted to hear from General LeBailly that you will be able to appear before the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Saturday, April 22, when we present a panel discussion of the UFO problem. First, as to the physical arrangements, the meeting is at the Shoreham Hotel ~ere in \.Jashington , and this Saturday morning session will be in the Empire Room. vie will get under way with your panel at 9 : 30 a . m. If you have not been previously contacted by a member of our pro- am committee, the rendezvous point for speakers is some- thing called the Directors' Room. I think it would be wise if you and other panelists were there by 9 a . m., so that '"e can meet one another, have a cup of coffee, and proceed to the meeting r oom i n plenty of time. Please let me know whethe r you want us to arrange accommodations for you at the Shoreham for the night of April 21. He will be glad to do so at our expense, if that is proper in the circumstances, and also to r eimburse you for expenses you may incur personally in connection with the trip. At present, we are certain of three panelists. The other two are Dr. Donald Menzel of Rarvard, and Dr. James of the University of Arizona. Dr . Condon, I ' m rry to say, has reported that he feels he should not take part in the discussion, a lthough he' s much interested and has given me several ideas as to procedures. He might show up at the last minute , if he' s in the East . am stil l working on a possible fourth person for the program. This would be a non-kooky citizen who thinks C HARLES L . B ENNETT OKLAHOMAN TIMES THE B OARD O F DIRECTORS CONSISTS OF T H E OFFICERS AND THE FOLL OWING : CREE D C. BLACK C HICAGO D AILY NEWS JOHN H. COLBURN WICHITA E AGLII AND BEACON A RTHUR C. DECK SALT LAKI: TRISUNE: C A t.'cKNIGHT SYLV N M!!.YER J. !:OV/ARO II'URqAY EUGENE PATTER90N WILLIAM B . DICKINSON P'HILADELPHIA DULLCTIN 2 -Major Quintanilla April 4 , 1967 he has seen a saucer, an d who (if we can get him) would simply open the program with a ten-minute description of -v1hat he thought he saw. Ther e is no intention that this sighting" should bee ome the 1.7hole focus of the discuss ion - -merely that it could provide an example of the sort of thing we are conten ding with to which the other panelists could refer to the extent that they found it useful. am trying to line up, for th:i.s job, a man named William C. Powell, a pilot for the Sears Roebuck company, reported a UFO incident last May 21. Perhaps you may of it. If not, I attach a copy of a report I received from NICAP. I do not know whether Mr. Powe l l will agree to appear --if not, I think we will simply go ahead with the present three panelists. main burden of the "debate on this issue should be borne, I ' m sure you'll agree, by our two scientists. As envision the program, we will open with a statement of about t e n minutes from Powell, if he' s available. Second (or first i f Powell i s out) we 'll have Dr. HcDonal d , the nan who believes UFOs are there, and are of extra- terrestrial origin --about 20 minutes. Then we 'll follovi with Dr . Menzel, who thinks all UFO sightings can be explaine d by natural phe- ena --another 20 minutes, rou ghly. Then you, to describe how Blue Book works, and add any comments you might care to make --10 minutes or so. Then questions and comments ex- changed between panelists. We have to wind up by 11 :15. panelists will be introduced, and the proceedings moderated, by J. Q. Mahaffey, editor of the Texarkana Gazette and Daily News. He is a ver y amusing and good-natured fellow, and I hope will be ab l e to keep the discussion from becoming too heated --which I understand is something of a problem wi t h both Menzel and McDonald! If you have any this, please call me. seeing you on the 22d. probl ems or questions in regard to all In any event, we 'll look forward t o Fai thfully yours, Newbol d Noy HISTORY OF PROJECT Following the Kenneth Arnold sighting on 24 June 1947, wide news coverage of public r eports of "flying discs or saucers" created sufficient concern at high military echelons to authorize AMC to conduct a preliminary invest- gation into these reports. Early correspondence indicates that U. 3 . Military Leaders were concerned that the objects reported were an aircraft configuration more advanced than these possessed by the United States Armed Forces. A letter, 23 September 19Lf7, from Lt. General Twining of AMC to the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, expressed the opinion that there was sufficient substance in the reports to warrant a detailed On 30 December 19h7, o letter from the Chief of Staff directed AMC to, ... "set up a project Hhose purpose was to collect, collate, evaluate end