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Declassified UFO / UAP Document

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD: Flying Saucers

🏛 OSI 📄 memorandum
Flying SaucersOSIProject LINCOLNScientific ReviewDepartment of Defense

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AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

This memorandum documents OSI efforts to organize a scientific review of flying saucer reports in late 1952. It highlights the need for Department of Defense support to facilitate such an investigation.

On December 3, 1952, P. G. Strong of the OSI authored a memorandum regarding the subject of 'Flying Saucers.' The document details meetings held on the previous day with prominent academic and scientific figures to discuss the investigation of reported sightings. Strong first met with Dr. Julius A. Stratton, Executive Vice President and Provost of MIT, and Dr. Max Millikan, Director of CENIS. During this briefing, they discussed various reports, including the Limestone Base Case, the Florida Scout Master, and the Utah Motion Pictures. Dr. Stratton suggested that the problem required a thorough scientific review, ideally conducted through Project LINCOLN. He noted that any such project would require Air Force concurrence or an independent proposal from another service, and he recommended Alfred Hill to lead the group. Later that day, Strong met with Lloyd Berkner and Jerrold Zacharias. While Berkner showed little personal interest in the matter, he agreed that the subject should be investigated scientifically. Zacharias suggested that Shirley Quimby of Columbia University, a former Navy scientist, would be an ideal expert to consult. Strong concluded the memorandum by stating that a formal scientific review would likely be impossible without the full backing of the Department of Defense to ensure the necessary cooperation and availability of reports.

My conclusion from these conversations is that it will probably be necessary to secure the full backing of DoD in order that a scientific review of this problem may be laid on.

Official Assessment

It will probably be necessary to secure the full backing of DoD in order that a scientific review of this problem may be laid on.

The author concludes that a scientific review of the flying saucer problem is necessary, but requires Department of Defense backing to be feasible and to ensure Air Force cooperation.

Key Persons

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