DOW-UAP-D092 is a collection of administrative files documenting the 1966-1967 deliberations of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Scientific Advisory Board's Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book. The file was released in PURSUE Release 04 on July 10, 2026. 123
Provenance and Context
Project Blue Book was the official USAF program tasked with investigating unidentified flying objects (UFOs) between 1952 and 1969. In the mid-1960s, facing public pressure and scientific scrutiny regarding the program's methodology, the Air Force convened an Ad Hoc Committee through its Scientific Advisory Board to evaluate the effort's effectiveness and recommend improvements.3
Detailed Content
The file outlines the committee's meetings, discussions, and ultimate findings. After reviewing the resources, methods, and findings of Project Blue Book, the Committee recommended that the USAF contract an independent scientific team composed of university-affiliated representatives to investigate selected UFO sightings in depth. Memos within the file discuss the logistics of implementing this recommendation, debating which universities might be willing to participate and how to manage the public relations aspects of such an investigation. The USAF subsequently adopted the Committee's recommendation, which directly led to the establishment of the University of Colorado UFO Project (the Condon Committee).3
What the Record Supports
The file shows that by 1966 the USAF Scientific Advisory Board judged Project Blue Book's own methods inadequate to answer scientific and public questions about UFO reports, and that it pushed instead for outside academic review of selected cases. It contains no analysis of individual UFO sightings and makes no claim about the nature of the phenomena; it documents how the Air Force managed its UFO investigative policy, not what that policy found.3