Description

Continuing my research, I searched for "Project SIGMA" on the CIA's FOIA portal. I didn't expect to find anything, but figured it worth exploring, anyway. The first result was totally unrelated. The second result, which I have noted in red in the screenshot (below for reference), yielded something rather interesting...

CIA.gov FOIA portal (https://preview.redd.it/aylm0vouaghf1.png?width=732&format=png&auto=w…)

The memo, dated 17 September 1959, documents formal approval for releasing classified CIA intelligence and intelligence information to a contractor working on Project SIGMA. While the memo itself isn't super sexy or anything (in fact, it's both brief and vague), its mere existence and authenticity (I literally found this on CIA's FOIA portal, as you can see in the above screenshot) feels rather important, for at least a few reasons:

* Official Acknowledgment of Project SIGMA: Lazy journalists have generally dismissed things like Project SIGMA as crazy conspiracy theories due to the lack of verifiable sources. (Maybe they just aren't doing their homework?) This memo's mere existence and authenticity–I literally found it on the CIA FOIA portal, as you can see in the screenshot above–corroborates the existence of a Project SIGMA in 1959 that involved the CIA, Army, and a private contractor. I am not aware of any other Project SIGMA involving CIA and Army that is not alien related, but let me know if you have any thoughts on what else it would
* Timing: The memo is dated late 1959. According to certain of the MJ-12 docs, Project SIGMA was originally established in 1954, and "met with positive success, when in 1959, the United States established primitive communications with the Aliens" (emphasis added). The fact that this Project SIGMA memo is from 1959, the same year that Project SIGMA "met with positive success," is certainly interesting.

17 Sept 1959 (https://preview.redd.it/r945zco0eghf1.png?width=642&format=png&auto=w…)