The unprecedented surge of UFO sightings during 1952, culminating in consecutive radar incursions over Washington National Airport, triggered CIA concern that false alarms could overload air-defense channels. Deputy Director of Intelligence H. Marshall Chadwell secured Intelligence Advisory Committee approval to assemble a scientific review in January 1953.12
Panel composition
Physicist Howard P. Robertson chaired a five-day classified meeting in Washington. Participants included:
- Luis W. Alvarez, University of California physicist and radar pioneer
- Lloyd V. Berkner, Carnegie Institution geophysicist
- Samuel A. Goudsmit, Brookhaven National Laboratory nuclear physicist
- Thornton L. Page, Johns Hopkins Operations Research astrophysicist
- J. Allen Hynek, Air Force consultant astronomer (presenter, non-signatory)
CIA officer Frederick C. Durant served as secretary, while Project Blue Book chief Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt briefed the group.3
Evidence examined
The panel studied twenty-three representative cases, including the Tremonton, Utah motion-picture sequence, the Great Falls, Montana film, and radar-visual tracks from the July 1952 Washington incidents. Navy photo-interpretation specialists, Air Force meteorologists, and radar operators supplied technical analyses. The scientists also reviewed Project TWINKLE instrumentation data and preliminary statistics from Battelle Memorial Institute.24
Findings
After twelve hours of deliberation the panel reached three principal conclusions.
- No direct national-security threat existed; most reports stemmed from misidentified aircraft, balloons, astronomical bodies, birds, or radar interference.
- The public frenzy itself posed an indirect hazard by saturating reporting circuits and offering adversaries a channel for psychological warfare.
- Nothing in the files demanded revision of established physical theory.
The group declared the Tremonton images "almost certainly sea-gull reflections" and dismissed the Great Falls lights as aircraft sun-glint.2
Policy recommendations
Robertson's report urged a coordinated public-education effort to strip UFOs of mystery. It advocated:
- production of film shorts and television segments using resolved cases, preferably in partnership with Disney or similar producers;
- enhanced visual and radar recognition training for air-defense and civilian controllers;
- discreet monitoring of civilian UFO societies for potential subversion.12
Influence on U.S. policy
Within months the Air Force issued Air Regulation 200-2 constraining public releases, while Joint Army-Navy-Air Publication 146 imposed penalties for unauthorized disclosure. Project Blue Book adopted a markedly skeptical stance, and CIA interest retreated to passive monitoring.5 Debunking remained official practice until the 1966 congressional pressure that produced the Condon Committee.
Declassification and reassessment
The report stayed classified until a 1975 CIA release. Historians continue to debate whether twelve hours of review justified sweeping conclusions; nevertheless, the document shaped two decades of federal posture toward UFOs.6