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Declassified UFO / UAP Document

Transmittal of Panel of Scientific Consultants Report on Unidentified Flying Objects

🏛 Panel of Scientific Consultants 📄 correspondence and report
UFONational SecurityPanel of Scientific ConsultantsAir Force1953 Report

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AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

This document contains a 1957 transmittal letter and the 1953 report of the Panel of Scientific Consultants on Unidentified Flying Objects. The Panel concluded that UFOs posed no direct physical threat to national security and recommended reducing the public mystery surrounding the subject.

This document consists of a cover letter dated December 20, 1957, from Philip G. Strong, Deputy Assistant Director, to Dr. S. A. Goudsmit at Brookhaven National Laboratories. The letter serves to transmit a copy of a letter to the Air Force and a declassified version of a report from the Panel of Scientific Consultants regarding Unidentified Flying Objects. The enclosed report, dated January 17, 1953, details the findings of a panel of scientific consultants convened at the request of the government to evaluate the potential threat posed by 'flying saucers' to national security. After reviewing evidence provided by the United States Air Force, the Panel concluded that there was no evidence that these phenomena posed a direct physical threat to national security or that they were attributable to foreign hostile artifacts. The Panel recommended that the government take steps to demystify the subject and reduce the special status afforded to UFO reports, suggesting an integrated public relations program to demonstrate the lack of evidence for any inimical forces behind the phenomena. The report is signed by H. P. Robertson (Chairman), Lloyd V. Berkner, Luis W. Alvarez, and Thornton Page.

We suggest that this aim may be achieved by an integrated program designed to reassure the public of the total lack of evidence of inimical forces behind the phenomena.

Official Assessment

The Panel concluded that the evidence presented on Unidentified Flying Objects shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat to national security. They further stated there is no residue of cases which indicates phenomena attributable to foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts.

The Panel recommended that national security agencies take immediate steps to strip UFOs of their special status and the aura of mystery they have acquired, suggesting an integrated program to reassure the public of the lack of evidence of inimical forces.

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