CIA–MIT talks on UFO study (1952)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 2 December 1952 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Military encounters (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | H. Marshall Chadwell, P. G. Strong, Julius Stratton, Howard P. Robertson |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 46 |
| Year | 1952 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1952 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 9 |
In late 1952 the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence, alarmed by a wave of UFO reports, explored with leaders of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whether a scientific group could study the problem. The contacts were soon overtaken by the CIA's own panel of scientists, the Robertson Panel, which met in January 1953.[1][2]
Chadwell's concern
H. Marshall Chadwell, the CIA's Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, had written to Director of Central Intelligence Walter Bedell Smith in September 1952 about the risk that UFO reports could be used for psychological warfare or overwhelm air defence. After a briefing by Air Force intelligence on 25 November, he wrote again on 2 December 1952 that sightings of unexplained high-altitude, high-speed objects near major defence installations could not be explained by natural phenomena or known aircraft, and that the matter required immediate attention. He proposed a CIA-led program to identify such objects quickly.[1][2]
The MIT talks
According to CIA memos now in the agency's online reading room, Chadwell and his deputy, P. G. Strong, met senior MIT figures including Provost Julius Stratton and economist Max Millikan of MIT's Center for International Studies. Stratton agreed that the problem deserved study and suggested it might be handled through Project Lincoln, MIT's air-defence research effort that became Lincoln Laboratory, or perhaps through Caltech, but only with Air Force backing.[3][4]
The faster route
On 4 December 1952 the Intelligence Advisory Committee agreed that the Director of Central Intelligence would enlist selected scientists to review the evidence. The result was the panel chaired by Caltech physicist H. P. Robertson, which met from 14 January 1953 and reviewed 23 cases. It concluded that UFOs posed no direct threat but that the reports could clog defence channels, and recommended a public education campaign to reduce interest and the monitoring of civilian UFO groups — a decision that shaped official policy for years. Chadwell kept Stratton informed: on 27 January 1953 he sent him a handout on "UFO Formations" from Major Dewey Fournet's presentation to the panel.[2][5]
People and topics
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- H. Marshall Chadwell — Head of the CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence who organized the 1953 Robertson Panel.
- P. G. Strong — CIA scientific intelligence officer who met MIT leaders about UFO study in 1952.
- Julius Stratton — MIT provost consulted by the CIA in 1952 about a scientific UFO review.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Howard P. Robertson — Caltech physicist who chaired the CIA's 1953 Robertson Panel.
- Robertson Panel — Robertson Panel
On the Timeline
- Whitley Strieber's childhood memories (October 1952) — Author Whitley Strieber says he may have been tested at a Texas air base during childhood encounters.
- Ruppelt held back before the Robertson Panel (9 December 1952) — An Air Force colonel stops Blue Book's Edward Ruppelt from sharing strong cases with the CIA before the Robertson Panel.
See every 1952 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Patrick Gross, "CIA memo of 2 December 1952", UFOs at close sight · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Robertson Panel — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Flying saucers" memo (Dec 1952), CIA reading room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Letter to Dr. Julius Stratton from H. Marshall Chadwell, UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- Michael Swords, "The Fournet motion study", Project 1947 · mail.project1947.com · archived copy
- CIA Intelligence Advisory Committee minutes, 4 Dec 1952 (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- Strong memo text (PDF) — Internet Archive CIA UFO collection · archive.org · archived copy
- governmentattic.org · governmentattic.org · archived copy
- cia.gov · cia.gov · archived copy
Further reading
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Edward J. Ruppelt — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.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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