1969 Bolender Memo

The Bolender memo is a three-page U.S. Air Force staff memorandum dated October 20, 1969, written during the final review period before Project Blue Book was terminated.¹ Its core function was to evaluate whether Blue Book should continue as a dedicated USAF UFO program after the Colorado study and other Air Force inputs.¹

  Origin

For more than two decades, the Air Force had assigned Blue Book responsibility for investigating unidentified flying objects, and the memorandum restated those long-running security and technical objectives before recommending closure.¹ The document explicitly tied its recommendation to post-Condon review logic already circulating in USAF leadership channels in late 1969.¹

The memo's most consequential sentence states that UFO reports with potential national security implications were handled under JANAP 146 or Air Force Manual 55-11 and were not part of the Blue Book system.¹ That language framed Blue Book as a public-facing investigative program rather than the sole pathway for defense-relevant reporting.¹

  Author And Stated Position

The memorandum was signed by Brig. Gen. C. H. Bolender, USAF, identified in the document as Deputy Director of Development within Air Force research and development leadership channels.¹ In the text, Bolender recommended terminating Blue Book and initiating related administrative actions, including cancellation of governing Blue Book regulations.¹

Bolender's argument relied on the position that continuing Blue Book no longer justified resource expenditure, while security reporting mechanisms would persist through existing operational reporting systems.¹² In other words, the memo did not argue that all UFO reporting would stop; it argued that dedicated Blue Book administration should stop.¹²

  Reporting Channels And Program Evolution

AFM 55-11 (20 May 1968) helps explain the memo's reporting-channel claim: its CIRVIS attachment directs rapid reporting of intelligence sightings, including unidentified flying objects, through operational channels and onward to NORAD-linked addressees.² The same attachment defines these reports as security-relevant and prioritized, including "FLASH" relay requirements for ground forwarding.²

JANAP 146(E), promulgated under U.S.-Canadian military communications authority, provided the joint CIRVIS/MERINT framework cited in the memo.³ That means Bolender's wording pointed to preexisting defense communications doctrine rather than creating a new reporting regime in 1969.¹³

On December 17, 1969, the Secretary of the Air Force publicly announced Blue Book's termination, and the Air Force position was later preserved in the official fact-sheet text now hosted by NARA.⁴ That same official text states that Blue Book regulations were rescinded and records were transferred for archival custody and public review.⁴

NARA's catalog entry for the Blue Book administrative series (1947-1969) confirms the long institutional record behind the decision and documents partial online availability plus microfilm publication T1206.⁵ The later archival trail is therefore consistent with the memo's administrative closeout logic and with the eventual preservation of the program record.⁴⁵

  References

  References

1. nicap.org ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. nicap.org ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. nicap.org ↩ ↩²

4. archives.gov ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. catalog.archives.gov ↩ ↩²