Condon Committee

The Condon Committee was the informal name for the University of Colorado's Air Force-funded Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, formally conducted under contract F44620-67-C-0035 with Dr. Edward U. Condon as scientific director.¹² University vice president Thurston E. Manning signed the Air Force contract on 6 October 1966, and the project was publicly announced on 7 October 1966.²³

The study grew from Air Force concern that Project Blue Book was under-resourced, publicly distrusted, and poorly positioned to settle whether selected UFO reports deserved deeper scientific investigation.⁴⁵ Its final report, transmitted to the Secretary of the Air Force on 31 October 1968, concluded that further broad UFO study was unlikely to advance science; after National Academy of Sciences review, that judgment became a central basis for terminating Project Blue Book in December 1969.⁶⁷⁸

  Origin and Contract

Major General E. B. LeBailly asked the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board on 28 September 1965 to review Project Blue Book's resources, methods, and findings.⁴ The resulting ad hoc committee, chaired by Brian O'Brien, met on 3 February 1966 and reported in March that Blue Book had recorded more than 10,000 sightings but had only limited staff assigned to the work.⁴

The O'Brien Committee found no verified case outside known science and technology, yet it recommended strengthening the program so selected sightings could be investigated in greater depth by university scientific teams.⁴ Its recommendations called for psychologists, physical scientists, Air Force liaison officers, and a coordinating university or nonprofit organization able to keep close communication with Project Blue Book.⁴

The Secretary of the Air Force assigned implementation to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, which chose to concentrate the work in a single university rather than several regional teams.⁵ AFOSR approached Condon on 31 July 1966, met with University of Colorado faculty and administrators on 10 August 1966, and negotiated contract details during September.³⁵

  Staff and Method

The first research contract supplied $313,000 for a 15-month term from 1 November 1966 through 31 January 1968, while requiring the Colorado project to conduct its planning, direction, and conclusions independently of the Air Force.³ The Air Force also agreed to furnish earlier UFO records and provide base personnel support when Colorado field teams requested it.³

Condon served as scientific director, Robert J. Low became project coordinator, and the initial staff included psychologists, astronomer Franklin E. Roach, and other physical-science contributors and consultants.⁵ The National Academy of Sciences later summarized the project as a two-year study that presented 59 detailed case studies, including ten older reports and new cases from the project period.⁷

Colorado investigators generally relied on interviews, field trips for recent reports, photographic analysis, radar work, laboratory checks of alleged physical evidence, historical review, and specialist consultation.⁷ The NAS panel described the field teams as usually pairing a physical scientist with a psychologist, reflecting the O'Brien Committee's recommendation that witness perception and physical evidence both be considered.⁴⁷

  Project Controversy

The project was controversial before fieldwork began because several University of Colorado scientists feared that accepting an Air Force UFO contract could damage the university's scientific reputation.⁵ Low's 9 August 1966 memorandum to E. James Archer and Thurston E. Manning became the most damaging internal document because it framed one possible approach as a study conducted mainly by nonbelievers while still appearing objective to the public.⁹

Critics treated the Low memo as evidence that the project had been prejudged, while Condon's final report argued that the memo was preliminary, unofficial, unknown to Condon until much later, and contrary to the physical-investigation emphasis actually adopted.⁵⁹ The controversy widened in 1968 when Look magazine reported staff dissent, the dismissals of David Saunders and Norman Levine, and the resignation of administrative assistant Mary Louise Armstrong.¹⁰

The dispute mattered because civilian groups such as NICAP had supplied case material and expected the Colorado project to provide an independent check on the Air Force's long-running UFO conclusions.³⁵¹⁰ By the time the final report appeared, the Condon Committee was being read both as an official scientific assessment and as an object lesson in how institutional mistrust shaped UFO research.⁵¹⁰

  Report and NAS Review

University president J. R. Smiley sent the final report to Air Force Secretary Harold Brown on 31 October 1968, writing that the study had been conducted under Condon's direction and that the Air Force had not interfered with the project's conduct or conclusions.⁶ Condon's opening section concluded that UFO reports had not added to scientific knowledge over the preceding 21 years and that further extensive UFO study probably could not be justified on the expectation of scientific advance.⁸

Condon also wrote that the Colorado team found no evidence contradicting the Air Force's view that UFO reports did not pose a national-security problem, and he suggested that any necessary defense function could occur through ordinary intelligence and surveillance channels rather than a special unit such as Project Blue Book.⁸ The report still allowed that specific proposals in atmospheric optics, atmospheric electricity, perception, communications, or other defined fields could merit ordinary scientific review.⁸

The National Academy of Sciences appointed a review panel in late October and early November 1968 to assess the Colorado report's scope, methodology, and findings.⁷ The panel received the report on 15 November 1968, met on 2 December 1968 and 6 January 1969, and concluded that the study's scope was adequate, its methods were well chosen, and its major recommendations were warranted by the evidence presented.⁷

The NAS panel recognized that some sightings were not easily explained, but it found no persuasive basis for attributing them to extraterrestrial visitors and concurred that UFO research in general was not a promising path for expanding scientific understanding.⁷

  Influence on Blue Book Closure

The Air Force later stated that its decision to discontinue UFO investigations rested on the University of Colorado report, the National Academy of Sciences review, earlier UFO studies, and Air Force experience from 1940 to 1969.⁸ On 17 December 1969, Project Blue Book was terminated after receiving 12,618 reports, 701 of which remained unidentified.⁸

The official Air Force conclusions after Blue Book were that no evaluated UFO report indicated a threat to national security, no unidentified sighting demonstrated technology beyond modern scientific knowledge, and no unidentified sighting was evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles.⁸ With Blue Book closed, the regulation establishing the UFO investigation program was rescinded and the records were transferred for permanent public review.⁸

  Timeline

  References

  References

1. Condon, Edward U., and Daniel S. Gillmor, eds. "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects: Title Page." https://files.ncas.org/condon/ ↩

2. Hoyt, Diana Palmer. "UFOCRITIQUE: UFOs, Social Intelligence, and the Condon Committee." Virginia Tech thesis, 2000. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/32352/UFOCRITIQUE.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Condon, Edward U. "Summary of the Study." Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/sec-ii.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. USAF Scientific Advisory Board. "Special Report of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book." March 1966. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/appndx-a.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

5. Condon, Edward U. "UFOs: 1947-1968." Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/s5chap02.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

6. Smiley, J. R. "University of Colorado Submission Letter." 31 October 1968. https://files.ncas.org/condon/text/covrletr.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. National Academy of Sciences. "Review of the University of Colorado Report on Unidentified Flying Objects." 1969. https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/UFOsandUAPs/nas_re1.pdf?ver=2017-05-22-113513-883%2F1000 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

8. U.S. Air Force. "Unidentified Flying Objects and Air Force Project Blue Book." https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104590/unidentified-flying-objects-and-air-force-project-blue-book/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

9. Low, Robert J. "Some Thoughts on the UFO Project." 9 August 1966. https://www.nicap.org/docs/660809lowmemo.htm ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. Fuller, John G. "Flying Saucer Fiasco." Look, 14 May 1968. https://www.project1947.com/shg/articles/fiasco.html ↩ ↩² ↩³