Declassified UFO / UAP Document
Office Memorandum: Unidentified Flying Objects
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AI-Generated Summary
This 1953 memorandum documents the decision by the Physics & Electronics Division to downgrade the study of Unidentified Flying Objects to inactive status. The decision was based on the finding that such reports did not constitute a serious threat to national security.
This office memorandum, dated 3 July 1953, was authored by Todos M. Odarenko, Chief of the Physics & Electronics Division, SI, and addressed to the Assistant Director, SI. The document serves as a formal response to a previous memorandum dated 27 May 1953, which had assigned the Division the responsibility of maintaining current knowledge regarding reports of unidentified flying objects. Odarenko reports that the Division conducted a review of the project's status, including informal discussions with personnel from ASD, OCI, the USAF, and members of a Scientific Review Board that had been convened by the CIA the previous year. The review concluded that the project did not warrant significant resources, as it did not pose a serious or direct threat to national security. As a result, the Division decided to classify the project as inactive. Future operations would involve only part-time attention from an analyst and a file clerk, with incoming material being reviewed periodically to separate recognizable and explainable phenomena from those falling under the definition of unidentified flying objects. Only material deemed to be of immediate concern to national security would be retained in the files.
In view of the findings of the Board that a close inspection of the available material does not postulate a serious, direct threat to national security, and that no information has been obtained since the Board's conclusion to necessitate their modifications, it was concluded that: a. the project will be considered as inactive
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Official Assessment
the project will be considered as inactive
The Division determined that the project did not pose a serious, direct threat to national security. Consequently, the project was downgraded to inactive status, with incoming material to be reviewed periodically and filed only if it presented a recognizable problem of concern to national security.
Key Persons
- HeckertOCI personnel