Fund for UFO Research

Created in 1979 by optical physicist Bruce Maccabee and fellow National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena veterans, the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) pursued two goals—underwrite methodical inquiries into unidentified aerial reports and secure public release of classified U.S. records via Freedom of Information Act litigation.¹²

  Early Leadership

Maccabee chaired FUFOR until 1993, steering legal actions that forced the Federal Bureau of Investigation to declassify its first 1,600-page "flying disc" file. Historian Richard H. Hall succeeded him through 1997, emphasizing archival preservation, while aviation writer Don Berliner directed the organization from 1998 until its online presence lapsed in 2011.³⁴

  Research Grants and Landmark Projects

During its active years FUFOR distributed more than $700,000 in competitive grants that supported:

• forensic examination of the purported Majestic 12 documents to assess authorship anomalies
• digitization of Project Blue Book microfilm and cross-referencing with civilian sighting catalogs
• psychological field studies of alleged abduction experiencers conducted by Dr. Thomas Bullard and colleagues
• spectral analysis of physical traces from the 1976 Tehran incident and 1989 Belgium wave

  Public Outreach and Cultural Footprint

FUFOR briefed congressional aides, co-sponsored the 1980 Smithsonian "Symposium on UFOs," and provided expert testimony to the House Committee on Science and Technology. Berliner later appeared as himself in a 1996 episode of The X-Files, introducing FUFOR to mainstream audiences.⁵

  Legacy

Although dormant since 2011, FUFOR's grant reports and litigation archives continue to inform academic researchers and the emerging public UAP discourse.

  References

1. Ward Sinclair, "Suit Seeks to Lift Secrecy Veil From Agency's UFO Documents," The Washington Post, Nov 3 1981. ↩

2. [FUFOR]https://web.archive.org/web/20060716024230/http://www.fufor.com/ ↩

3. Ronald Story, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters (2012). ↩

4. [Wikipedia]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fund_for_UFO_Research ↩

5. Stuart Rohrer, "Tempest in a Saucer," The Washington Post, Sept 8 1980. ↩