On Jan 3, 11:26 am, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
Still nothing...
That pretty much sums up your entire contribution. That is typical of
a internet spOOk and useful idiot.
The Birth of The CIA -And Flying Saucers
By Frank Warren frank-warren@pacbell.net
There's been a lot of speculation on the irony of the "birth of the
CIA" in September, of 1947, (formerly, The Central Intelligence Group)
coinciding with all the "flying saucer activity" beginning in June of
that year, starting with Kenneth Arnold's sighting over Mt Rainier to
the "crashed discs" in the area of Roswell New Mexico.
Some have claimed, that the sole purpose in creating the CIA was to
investigate the "flying saucer" phenomenon. That, of course is not the
case. [CIG and then CIA were born primarily out of the realization of
the importance of a "post war" intelligence gathering agency, similar
to it's "war time" predecessor, the OSS, and President Truman's
frustration with being out of the "intelligence loop," as "Vice
President," in addition to the difficulty it had been for him to
obtain information from the various government departments, each of
which seemed "walled off" from the others.]
[At that time, by many accounts, he had been surprised to discover how
much information relating to intelligence and national security
matters had been withheld from him. The most dramatic evidence of how
ill-informed he was came on his 12th day in office when Secretary of
War Henry Stimson briefed him for the first time on the Manhattan
(atomic bomb) Project, about which Truman had heard only hints while
serving as Vice President and on key Senate committees.] David
McCullough, Truman (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1992), pp. 376-378.
[It is interesting to note however, that both CIG and the OSS did in
fact investigate UFO,s individually. The OSS investigated what US
pilots had nicknamed "Foo Fighters (UFO's trailing our aircraft)
during World War II, fearing that these objects could be a "new secret
weapon from either Germany or Japan. The OSS also investigated
possible sightings of German V-1 and V-2 rockets before their
operational use during the war.] Jacobs, UFO Controversy, p. 33 [The
Central Intelligence Group, the predecessor of the CIA, also monitored
reports of "ghost rockets" in Sweden in 1946.] CIG, Intelligence
Report, 9 April 1947.
The CIA's "official" position on the" investigation of UFO's" from a
historical stand point is this;
[Although it had "monitored UFO reports for at least three years, (49
to 52) CIA reacted to the new rash of sightings by forming a special
study group within the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) and the
Office of Current Intelligence (OCI) to review the situation.] Gerald
K. Haines, National Reconnaissance Office historian, Ralph L. Clark,
Acting Assistant Director, OSI, memorandum to DDI Robert Amory, Jr.,
29 July 1952. OSI and OCI were in the Directorate of Intelligence.
Established in 1948, OSI served as the CIA's focal point for the
analysis of foreign scientific and technological developments. In
1980, OSI was merged into the Office of Science and Weapons Research.
The Office of Current Intelligence (OCI), established on 15 January
1951 was to provide all-source current intelligence to the President
and the National Security Council.
Until 1952, one could conclude, based on these statements, that the
CIA had no "direct involvement" in the investigation of "flying
saucers," other then a monitoring position of other agencies, i.e.,
[the Air Force's Project SIGN (initially named Project SAUCER) to
collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute within the government all
information relating to such sightings, on the premise that UFOs might
be real and of national security concern.] Jacobs, The UFO
Controversy, p. 156 and Quintanilla, "The Investigation of UFOs," p.
97. [Amid mounting UFO sightings, the Air Force continued to collect
and evaluate UFO data in the late 1940s under a new project, GRUDGE,
which tried to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs via a public
relations campaign designed to persuade the public that UFOs
constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were
explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, meteors,
optical illusions, solar reflections, or even "large hailstones." They
recommended that the project be reduced in scope because the very
existence of Air Force official interest encouraged people to believe
in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria" atmosphere. On 27 December
1949, the Air Force announced the project's termination.] Air Force,
Projects GRUDGE and BLUEBOOK Reports 1- 12 (Washington, DC; National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1968) and Jacobs, The
UFO Controversy, pp. 50-54.
Now this is where it gets interesting; there seems to be a
contradiction in facts as "evidenced" by the "Oral History Interview
with Robert B. Landry" given February 28, 1974, by, James R. Fuchs for
Harry S. Truman Library: (Robert B. Landry was a member of faculty,
National War College, 1946; Executive Officer to Army Air Force Chief
of Staff, General Carl Spaatz, 1947; United States Air Force Aide to
President Truman, 1948-53).
Subject: UFOs; Date: 1948
In this time period the UFO phenomenon was getting quite a bit of play
in the press, radio, TV and from miscellaneous other sources. All
manner of objects and things were being seen in the sky by people,
including attempted UFO landings and UFO hoverings over isolated
areas. There was even a report of seeing little men with big round
heads getting in and out of a UFO. Well, the President, like any other
citizen, is exposed to all these goings on, too.
In any case, I was called one afternoon to come to the Oval Office--
the President wanted to see me. We talked about UFO reports and what
might be the meaning for all these rather way-out reports of
sightings, and the subject in general. The president said he hadn't
give much serious thought to all these reports; but at the same time,
he said, if there was any evidence of a strategic threat to the
national security, the collection and evaluation of UFO data by
Central Intelligence warranted more intense study and attention at the
highest government level.
I was directed to report quarterly to the President after consulting
with Central Intelligence people, as to whether or not any UFO
incidents received by them could be considered as having any strategic
threatening implications at all.
The report was to be made orally by me unless it was considered by
intelligence to be so serious or alarming as to warrant a more
detailed report in writing. During the four and one-half years in
office there, all reports were made orally. Nothing of substance
considered credible or threatening to the country was ever received
from intelligence. Note: the Air Force had been charged by the
Department of Defense with the collection and evaluation of UFO data
from all sources such as the other services, the National Weather
Service, and any other reliable source.
It would appear, based on "that interview" that the CIA was "directly
involved" in the "investigation of UFO's" as early as 1948, not 1952,
as previously mentioned in the article by Gerald K. Haines. Landry
concludes that "nothing of substance considered credible or
threatening to the country was ever received from intelligence,"
however we know that's not true based on Haines' article; [ a massive
buildup of sightings over the United States in 1952, especially in
July, alarmed the Truman administration. On 19 and 20 July, radar
scopes at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base
tracked mysterious blips. On 27 July, the blips reappeared.]
Personally I believe that Landry played no real part in any serious
investigation by CIA. I think his role, was for appearance sake,
unwittingly. Truman was receiving "intelligence reports" on a daily
and weekly basis, since 1946, from CIG, then CIA beginning in 47.
There would have been no reason for Landry to be involved. Having said
that, remember that "flying saucers" were being seen all over the
country and were making headlines coast to coast. Any "lack of
response" on Truman's part, I think would have been highly unusual.
So, overtly, he tasked Landry in his minor role, to report to the
President as to "appease" outward appearances of official concern of
the "aerial phenomenon."
In conclusion, as more and more documents become "declassified," I
think we as the public, won't be surprised to see the "ever changing"
official positions of various government agencies. Moreover we've
witnessed this in recent years, with the Air Force's explanation(s) of
the "Roswell Incident. Fortunately, with man's advancement in personal
technologies, i.e., desk top computers, camcorders, and the internet,
it's getting much harder for the government to pass off eye witness
sightings of UFO's as, mass hysteria, hallucination, swamp gas, ball
lightening or heat inversions. Because of that, this author feels
we're coming to the inevitable, eventuality of "government disclosure"
that we are but a member, of a vast galactic society.