CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | 3 August 1997 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Gerald Haines, Bruce Maccabee |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 129 |
| Year | 1997 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1997 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
"CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90" is a 1997 history by Gerald K. Haines, historian of the National Reconnaissance Office, published in the CIA's internal journal Studies in Intelligence and released to the public that August. It is best known for stating that U-2 and later spy-plane flights accounted for over half of UFO reports in the late 1950s and 1960s, and that the Air Force misled the public to protect them.[1][2]
Origins
In September 1993 John Petersen approached CIA Director R. James Woolsey about UFO material the agency had released to researcher Stanton Friedman. Under pressure from UFO researchers, Woolsey ordered a review of all agency UFO files in late 1993, and Haines's study drew on that review.[1]
Early interest (1947–1953)
Haines described how the CIA monitored the Air Force's Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book. After the July 1952 radar sightings over Washington, D.C., the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence formed a study group, worried about Soviet exploitation of UFO reports for psychological warfare or to overload U.S. air defences. This led to the Robertson Panel of January 1953, which found no threat or evidence of extraterrestrial visits and recommended a public "debunking" effort; the CIA kept its sponsorship of the panel secret.[1]
The spy-plane claim
Haines wrote that over half of UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were caused by flights of the U-2 and later the A-12 OXCART reconnaissance aircraft, and that Blue Book investigators checked sightings with the CIA's U-2 project staff but gave the public false explanations, such as natural phenomena, to protect the secret programs. He argued that this deception fuelled later conspiracy theories.[1]
Later decades
Haines described the 1970s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Ground Saucer Watch, after which the CIA found 355 documents, about 900 pages, released most of them in December 1978 and withheld 57. He found little documentation of CIA activity in the 1980s beyond peripheral work.[1]
Reception
The New York Times headlined its story "C.I.A. Admits Government Lied About U.F.O. Sightings". Critics, including physicist Bruce Maccabee, argued that the "over half" figure is not supported by Blue Book data and that the U-2 could not explain most reported shapes and behaviour. The article remains an important official admission that the government knowingly gave false explanations for some sightings.[2][3][4]
People and topics
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Gerald Haines — Historian who wrote the CIA's 1997 history of its role in UFO study.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- National Reconnaissance Office — The U.S. agency that builds and operates spy satellites.
- The New York Times — The newspaper that revealed AATIP in December 2017.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Robertson Panel — Robertson Panel
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Bruce Maccabee — Navy optical physicist and leading analyst of UFO photographs.
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
On the Timeline
- Ning Li superconductor gravity test (1 August 1997) — NASA and university scientists publish gravity-related experiment results.
- Steve Wilson and Project Pounce (19 August 1997) — A retired Air Force colonel claims a secret space program shoots down unfriendly UAP.
See every 1997 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90", Studies in Intelligence (1997), via FAS · sgp.fas.org · archived copy
- "A Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90", CIA · cia.gov · archived copy
- "Government lied to public about UFO sightings, CIA admits", Deseret News (3 Aug 1997) · deseret.com · archived copy
- "Claim: CIA spy planes account for over half of 1950s–60s UFO reports", Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
- Haines study (PDF) — CIA · cia.gov · archived copy
- cia.gov · cia.gov · archived copy
- nytimes.com · nytimes.com · archived copy
- brumac.mysite.com · brumac.mysite.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Richard F. Haines — 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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