McDonnell Douglas caller to Vallée (1978)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 8 June 1978 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 84 |
| Year | 1978 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1978 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
According to Jacques Vallée's published journals, on 8 June 1978 he received a call from someone at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics who said the company had an ongoing, well-funded secret UFO project, with the blessing and official monitoring of the CIA, discreetly connected with major UFO groups.[1]
The entry
Vallée added that the UFO groups involved enjoyed the intrigue of a link to intelligence agencies even while publicly condemning a government cover-up. The caller is not named in the published excerpts.[1][2]
Later entry
On 15 October 1978 Vallée wrote that McDonnell Douglas was continuing its quiet but well-funded study with John Schuessler, also monitored by "the agency", and that the group seemed to be looking for exotic alloys.[1]
Earlier McDonnell interest
McDonnell Douglas engineer Robert Wood ran a company-funded UFO study in the late 1960s. Vallée had noted in 1966 rumours that McDonnell was starting a secret study, and in 1974 recorded Wood's membership of an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics UFO subcommittee. In 1974, according to Vallée, CIA physician Kit Green said his group had wondered whether a secret effort was being run within private industry.[2]
Assessment
The journals record what Vallée was told; no company or CIA document confirming a CIA-monitored McDonnell Douglas study in 1978 has been released.[1][2]
People and topics
- McDonnell Douglas — The aerospace company that ran several quiet studies of UFOs and propulsion.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- State Department "no records" reply (1978) (19 January 1978) — The State Department says it has no UAP records; a requester sends it one of its own documents.
- Three air bases claim (1978) (August 1978) — A source tells Leonard Stringfield that three air bases held alien craft or bodies.
See every 1978 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Keith Basterfield, "Was there secret US government research…?", UFOs – scientific research (Oct 2016) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "Aerospace companies and UFOs 2", UFOs – scientific research (Jan 2010) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · 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
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · 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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