Declassified UFO / UAP Document
Unidentified Flying Objects: Hearing by Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Eighty-Ninth Congress, Second Session, April 5, 1966
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AI-Generated Summary
This hearing transcript documents the 1966 congressional inquiry into the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book. It details the Air Force's stance that UFOs pose no national security threat and the scientific community's call for more rigorous, independent investigation of unexplained sightings.
This document is a transcript of a hearing held on April 5, 1966, by the House Committee on Armed Services regarding Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown, accompanied by Project Blue Book consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Major Hector Quintanilla, provided testimony on the Air Force's investigation program. Secretary Brown stated that the Air Force has investigated 10,147 reports since 1947, identifying 9,501 of them as natural or conventional phenomena, such as stars, planets, satellites, and aircraft. He emphasized that the Air Force has found no evidence that UFOs pose a threat to national security or represent extraterrestrial technology. Dr. Hynek, while agreeing that no evidence of extraterrestrial visitation exists, argued that the subject warrants more rigorous scientific study and recommended the formation of a civilian scientific panel to examine the most puzzling cases. The hearing also addressed recent sightings in Michigan and New Hampshire, with the Air Force attributing the Michigan sightings to marsh gas and the New Hampshire sightings to military aircraft operations, though these explanations were contested by witnesses and local investigators like Raymond E. Fowler of NICAP. The committee members expressed concern regarding the public's perception of the Air Force's handling of UFO reports and the potential for ridicule of witnesses. The hearing concluded with a commitment from the Air Force to continue its investigations and to consider the recommendation for a civilian scientific panel.
I regard our ‘Unidentifieds’ as a sort of blot on the escutcheon. Somehow we scientists should be able to come up with answers for these things.
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Official Assessment
The Air Force concludes that UFO phenomena present no threat to the security of the United States and that most sightings are misidentifications of natural or conventional objects.
The Air Force maintains that 9,501 of 10,147 reported sightings from 1947-1965 were identified. The remaining 646 are considered unidentified due to insufficient data or lack of correlation with known phenomena. The Scientific Advisory Board recommended strengthening scientific investigation of selected sightings.
Key Persons
- L. Mendel RiversChairman of the Committee on Armed Services
- Harold BrownSecretary of the Air Force
- J. Allen HynekScientific consultant to Project Blue Book
- Hector Quintanilla, Jr.UFO project officer
- Raymond E. FowlerChairman, NICAP Massachusetts Subcommittee