Howell McConnell and post-Blue Book analysis
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 28 October 1972 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Bases & Area 51 (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, Howell McConnell |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 75 |
| Year | 1972 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1972 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
In his journals, Jacques Vallée records that on 28 October 1972 Howell McConnell of the National Security Agency asked him whether he knew of a group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base that was doing secret UFO analyses, and said it had reportedly seized UFO negatives.[1]
McConnell
McConnell was an NSA official with a long-standing interest in UFOs. In the mid-1980s he was named among the participants in Col. John Alexander's Advanced Theoretical Physics working group, which met at the defence contractor BDM's secure facility in McLean, Virginia, in 1985 to examine whether a government UFO research programme existed.[1][2]
After Blue Book
The Air Force closed Project Blue Book on 17 December 1969, after the Condon Committee concluded that further UFO study was unlikely to be productive. But a memo of 20 October 1969 by Brig. Gen. Carroll Bolender said that UFO reports would continue to be handled through standard Air Force procedures, and that reports which could affect national security "are not part of the Blue Book system". Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show the Air Force continued to catalogue some sightings, especially at nuclear-weapons sites, into the mid-1970s.[3]
Assessment
The Bolender memo is often cited as evidence that the important cases went elsewhere, and McConnell's question fits that suspicion. But no records confirm a dedicated UFO analysis office at Wright-Patterson after 1969. The base's Foreign Technology Division continued to analyse foreign aircraft and equipment, which some researchers believe would have included any unusual material.[1][3][4]
People and topics
- National Security Agency — The U.S. signals intelligence agency, which holds UFO-related intercepts.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
- Howell McConnell — NSA official who told Jacques Vallée of continued UFO analysis at Wright-Patterson.
- 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.
- Bolender memo — The 1969 Air Force memo saying important UFO reports would bypass Project Blue Book.
- Foreign Technology Division — The Air Force unit at Wright-Patterson that analysed foreign technology.
On the Timeline
- Puthoff's report of a new secret study (1972) (7 October 1972) — Hal Puthoff tells Vallée a former NSA colleague said a new secret UAP study was underway.
- UFOs: Past, Present, and Future documentary (May 1973) — Two Air Force colonels reportedly encourage filmmakers to make a UAP documentary.
See every 1972 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Was there secret US government research?", UFOs Scientific Research (Oct 2016) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "ATP aka Secret Onion", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Foreign Technology Division — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.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
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Jacques Vallée — 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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