Bolender memo
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📄 Document
Contents 5
| Type | Document |
|---|---|
| On the Timeline | 3 events, 1972–2009 |
The Bolender memo is a U.S. Air Force staff memorandum dated 20 October 1969, signed by Brigadier General Carroll H. Bolender, that recommended ending Project Blue Book. It is often cited because it states that UFO reports which could affect national security were handled through other channels and were not part of Blue Book.[1][2]
Author and context
Bolender was Deputy Director of Development in the Air Force's research and development staff. The memo was written after the University of Colorado study led by Edward Condon, funded by the Air Force from 1966, concluded that studying UFOs was unlikely to advance science, and after a National Academy of Sciences panel endorsed that report.[1]
Contents
The memo's points included the following:[1] - For more than twenty years the Air Force had investigated UFOs under Blue Book to learn whether they threatened national security and whether they held useful scientific or technical information. At the end Blue Book had two officers, one non-commissioned officer and one civilian, plus astronomer J. Allen Hynek as consultant until 1 July 1969. - Continuing Blue Book could not be justified either for national security or for science. The 1953 Robertson Panel had found no direct threat, and there was no evidence that Blue Book served an intelligence function. - Reports of UFOs that could affect national security were made under the military reporting procedures JANAP 146 or Air Force Manual 55-11, were not part of the Blue Book system, and would continue to be handled through standard procedures after Blue Book ended. - Blue Book's more than 13,000 case files should be moved to an archive to preserve them and avoid charges of concealment, with access controlled because witnesses had been promised confidentiality. - The recommendation was to terminate Blue Book and transfer its records to the Air Force archives at Air University.
Aftermath and debate
The Air Force announced the end of Project Blue Book in December 1969. The memo was released in January 1979 after a request by researcher Robert Todd. UFO researchers have cited its national-security passage as evidence that significant reports bypassed Blue Book, which they regard as a public front; others read it as describing ordinary military reporting rules. Some copies circulating online appear to be drafts, and the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) archive labels its transcription a draft.[1][3]
On the UAP Timeline
- Howell McConnell and post-Blue Book analysis (28 October 1972) — An NSA official tells Vallée a Wright-Patterson office kept secretly analyzing UAP after Blue Book.
- Michael Smith's NORAD reporting account (30 August 1996) — An Air Force radar controller says UAP events were only to be reported to NORAD.
- Project Grudge data and the artifact file (23 January 2009) — A BAASS team member is said to be retrieving old Project Grudge data from Area 51.
References
- "The Bolender Draft (Not Memo), Oct 20, 1969", transcribed by Brad Sparks, NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- Bolender memorandum (scan), DocumentCloud · s3.documentcloud.org · archived copy
- "Where did UFO reports go between 1969 and 2007?", Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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