Is the CIA Stonewalling? / The Government and UFOs

This article, published in the May-June 1981 issue of the MUFON Journal, presents an argument that the United States government has deliberately misled the public regarding the nature and potential threat of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Author Richard Hall contends that while the government publicly dismisses UFOs as unworthy of scientific study, internal documents—including those released to lawyer Peter Gersten—reveal a long history of monitoring and concern within agencies such as the CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Hall highlights several specific incidents, including a 1976 encounter involving Iranian F-4 jets where instrumentation was disabled, and a 1978 incident in Kuwait where UFO activity allegedly caused automatic shutdowns of oil field pumping equipment. The article critiques the Air Force's 'Project Blue Book' and the 'Condon Committee' as insufficient or intentionally deceptive efforts to debunk the phenomenon. Hall emphasizes that reports of UFOs near sensitive nuclear and military installations have been documented since the late 1940s, and that these reports were often handled outside of standard public reporting channels, such as those governed by JANAP 146. The author concludes by asserting that the government's 'leisurely scientific approach' is inadequate and that the phenomenon warrants serious investigation as a matter of national survival, citing an internal 1968 NSA report that suggested the UFO question might be the most important adventure humanity has yet encountered.