Document · 1997
CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90 (Gerald K. Haines, Studies in Intelligence, 1997)
Also known as Haines study, CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, Haines report
A history of the CIA's involvement with UFOs from the late 1940s to 1990, written by Gerald K. Haines, then the National Reconnaissance Office historian, and published in the CIA's journal Studies in Intelligence in 1997. It was prompted by DCI R. James Woolsey's 1993 order to review all Agency files on UFOs.
It is the clearest official acknowledgement that the U.S. government knowingly misled the public about UFO sightings. Citing CIA officials from the U-2 and OXCART programs, it says secret reconnaissance flights accounted for over half of UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s, and that the Air Force made "misleading and deceptive statements" to protect them, a deception that "added fuel" to later cover-up theories. It also concludes that the CIA itself paid only peripheral attention to UFOs after the early 1950s, which believers in a deeper cover-up dispute.
Sources: CIA, Studies in Intelligence (1997), our copy of the CIA PDF
Facts and claims
- documented An internal CIA history by Gerald K. Haines, the National Reconnaissance Office historian, published in the CIA's journal Studies in Intelligence. It was written after DCI R. James Woolsey ordered a review of all Agency files on UFOs in late 1993, and examines the CIA's efforts to solve the UFO mystery, “its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue.” Source: doc-cia-haines-1997.pdf
- documented According to estimates from CIA officials who worked on the U-2 and OXCART (SR-71) projects, “over half of all UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights (namely the U-2) over the United States. This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security project. While perhaps justified, this deception added fuel to the later conspiracy theories and the coverup controversy of the 1970s.” Source: doc-cia-haines-1997.pdf
- documented The study concludes that while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, the CIA “has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.” Source: doc-cia-haines-1997.pdf
Connected files
Claims
- Recovered alien craft were studied at Area 51, at a site called S-4 near Groom Lake in Nevada (evidence against claim) — The CIA's history says secret reconnaissance flights explained over half of UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s
- The U.S. government has deliberately spread false or misleading information about UFOs (evidence for claim) — The Air Force made “misleading and deceptive statements” to protect U-2 and SR-71 flights
Organizations
- Central Intelligence Agency (produced by)
- National Reconnaissance Office (by historian of) — Gerald Haines, the NRO's historian, wrote it for the CIA's Studies in Intelligence
Concepts
- Government UFO disinformation (about)
Documents
- Robertson Panel report (Durant Report): Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (discusses) — Haines's history has a section on the Robertson Panel, 1952–53
Programs
- Project Blue Book (discusses)
Places
- Area 51 (related to)
More documents
- Air Force Regulation 200-2, Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting (12 August 1954)
- Intelligence Community Directive 906: Controlled Access Programs
- The National Reconnaissance Office at 50 Years: A Brief History (NRO, second edition, 2018)
- Bolender memo
- CIA memorandum: “Flying Saucers” (Office of Scientific Intelligence to the Director of Central Intelligence)
- FBI file: Majestic 12