Correspondence regarding the declassification of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects report

This correspondence, dated November 14, 1957, from Philip G. Strong, Deputy Assistant Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is addressed to Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner of Associated Universities, Incorporated. The letter concerns the status of a report produced in January 1953 by a Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects. The panel, which included Dr. H. P. Robertson as Chairman, along with Dr. Samuel Goudsmit, Luis W. Alvarez, Thornton Page, and Dr. Berkner, had provided two conclusions and two recommendations, which were included in the report as 'Tab A'. The Air Force had recently requested that this report be declassified for public release to the press. Strong notes that he had consulted with Dr. Robertson and Dr. Goudsmit, who agreed with the CIA's position that certain conclusions and recommendations (specifically those in paragraph 3 and 4b) should not be declassified. Furthermore, the CIA expressed a strong desire to avoid disclosing the association between the panel and the Agency, suggesting that the report be rewritten to eliminate this connection. Strong also mentions that the Air Force had indicated that the names of the panel members would only be used within official circles and not released to the press, though he warns that if the names were released, they might become common knowledge. The letter concludes with a request for Dr. Berkner's reaction to the Air Force's declassification proposal and his opinion on limiting the scope of the declassification and the use of his name.