Document · 5 April 1966
Hearing transcript: Unidentified Flying Objects — House Armed Services Committee (April 5, 1966)
Also known as CHRG-89hhrg50066O, Hearing No. 55
The printed record of the House Armed Services Committee hearing on UFOs on 5 April 1966, called after the March 1966 Michigan sightings that the Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek had partly attributed to "swamp gas". It includes House Minority Leader Gerald Ford's statement that he did not agree all the reports could be "so easily explained away", testimony from Air Force Secretary Harold Brown, Hynek and Blue Book chief Maj. Hector Quintanilla, and Air Force case material.
Its most consequential content is the report of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board's ad hoc committee chaired by Brian O'Brien (with Carl Sagan as a member), which recommended contracting university teams to investigate perhaps 100 sightings a year in coordination with Project Blue Book. That recommendation led to the Air Force's contract with the University of Colorado, the Condon study, whose 1968 report was used to close Blue Book.
Sources: House Armed Services hearing record (1966)
Facts and claims
- documented Air Force Secretary Harold Brown told the committee that 18 years of investigation had not identified any threat to national security, or any evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles, and that the Air Force would continue to investigate with an open mind. — Harold Brown Source: doc-transcript-1966-04-05.pdf
- documented Chairman L. Mendel Rivers opened the session: “We can't just write them off. There are too many responsible people who are concerned.” — L. Mendel Rivers Source: doc-transcript-1966-04-05.pdf
Key moments: April 5th House Armed Services Hearing on UFOs (1966 news footage)
- 0:36 J. Allen Hynek: Project Blue Book's scientific consultant J. Allen Hynek, after the hearing: “none of the evidence that I have examined would indicate any proof at all” that we are being visited.
- 0:50 J. Allen Hynek: Hynek says he picked some 20 unexplained Blue Book cases with “possible scientific pay dirt” and recommends a quiet scientific look at the data, “without fanfare”, keeping an open mind.
Key moments: Hynek and Air Force Secretary Harold Brown at a press conference (1966 news footage)
- 0:18 J. Allen Hynek: Hynek, Project Blue Book's scientific consultant: “None of the evidence that I have examined would indicate any proof at all that we are being visited by extraterrestrials.”
- 0:30 Harold Brown: Air Force Secretary Harold Brown, asked what the Air Force is hiding: “We have not been hiding anything; the investigations have been made public… the hearing this morning was public for just that reason.”
Connected files
Hearings & briefings
People
- Harold Brown (statements by)
- L. Mendel Rivers (statements by)
Mentioned in this file
- J. Allen Hynek (Person)
- Gerald Ford (Person)
- Project Blue Book (Program)
- Hector Quintanilla (Person)
- Carl Sagan (Person)
More documents
- Hearing transcript: Department of the Air Force FY2025 budget request — House Armed Services Committee (April 17, 2024)
- Hearing transcript: Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects — House Committee on Science and Astronautics (July 29, 1968)
- Bolender memo
- Project Blue Book case file: Minot AFB, North Dakota, October 1968
- Project Blue Book case file: Socorro, New Mexico, April 1964 (Lonnie Zamora)
- Project Blue Book case file: Lincoln, New Hampshire, September 1961 (the Hill case)