Document · 14 January 1953 – 18 January 1953
Robertson Panel report (Durant Report): Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects
Also known as Robertson Panel, Robertson Panel report, Durant Report
The report of the CIA's Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, chaired by the Caltech physicist H. P. Robertson, which met on 14–18 January 1953 to review Air Force UFO cases and films, written up by Frederick C. Durant.
The panel concluded that the evidence showed no indication that UFOs were a direct physical threat to national security. Its concern was indirect: the volume of reports could clog military communication channels during an attack and be exploited psychologically by an enemy. It therefore recommended a public education programme with two aims, "training" people to recognise ordinary objects and "debunking" to reduce public interest in "flying saucers", to be carried out through mass media such as television, films and popular articles.
The report is the key Cold War document for understanding why UAP reporting carried a stigma for decades. Redacted versions were released from the 1970s; the CIA approved a fuller release in 2013, and the panel's findings are still cited in later records such as a 1955 PURSUE file.
Sources: Robertson Panel report (1953)
Facts and claims
- documented A CIA-convened panel of scientists, chaired by Caltech physicist H.P. Robertson, met on January 14–18, 1953 to review UFO reports. It concluded that UFOs posed no direct threat to national security. Source: doc-robertson-panel-1953.pdf
- documented The panel warned that the volume of reports could clog military communications and be exploited psychologically. It recommended a public “debunking” and education effort to strip UFOs of their mystique. Critics see this as the origin of official stigma around reporting. Source: doc-robertson-panel-1953.pdf
- documented Declassified and approved for release in 2013 (CIA reading room). Earlier versions were released in redacted form from the 1970s. Source: cia.gov (archived)
Connected files
Books
- The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (subject of)
- UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover-up, 1941–1973 (subject of)
Claims
- The U.S. government has deliberately spread false or misleading information about UFOs (evidence for claim) — The panel recommended a public “debunking” effort through mass media
Concepts
- Government UFO disinformation (example of) — The CIA-convened panel recommended a public “debunking” effort through mass media
Documents
- Air Force Regulation 200-2, Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting (12 August 1954) (followed by) — It was issued in the months after the panel's January 1953 recommendations
- CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90 (Gerald K. Haines, Studies in Intelligence, 1997) (discussed in) — Haines's history has a section on the Robertson Panel, 1952–53
- CIA memorandum: “Flying Saucers” (Office of Scientific Intelligence to the Director of Central Intelligence) (follows)
Organizations
- Central Intelligence Agency (produced by)
People
- H.P. Robertson (chaired by)
- Frederick C. Durant (authored by)
Programs
- Project Blue Book (reviewed) — The panel met on 14–18 January 1953 to review Air Force UFO cases and films
Official records (PURSUE)
- CIA-UAP-002 — Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, Report, 1952-1953 (documented in) — The panel's correspondence and reports, 1952–1953, released in PURSUE
- DOW-UAP-D085_Transmission-of-CIA-Scientific-Advisory-Panel-Rept_1953 — DOW-UAP-D085_Transmission-of-CIA-Scientific-Advisory-Panel-Rept_1953 (copy held as) — The copy of the report sent to the Secretary of Defense, released in PURSUE
- CIA-UAP-D021 — Analysis of Unconventional Aircraft Sightings, 1955 (cited in) — A 1955 CIA analysis cites Robertson's finding that almost all sightings “represented no threat to the U.S.”
Incidents
- Washington, D.C. UFO incident (followed from)
- Tremonton film (Utah, 1952) (reviewed) — The Robertson Panel reviewed the film and “could not accept the conclusions reached” by the Navy laboratory
Videos
- CBS Reports: “UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?” (Walter Cronkite, 10 May 1966) (discussed in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: History & Background, Part 2 (discussed in)
- Christopher Mellon on the Joe Rogan Experience (clip, 2021) (discussed in)
- The Biblical Truth of UFOs & Angels (Ft. Karl Nell & Diana Pasulka) (discussed in)
Mentioned in this file
Mentioned in videos
Mentioned in documents and records
More documents
- Intelligence Community Directive 906: Controlled Access Programs
- The National Reconnaissance Office at 50 Years: A Brief History (NRO, second edition, 2018)
- Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions
- FBI file: Majestic 12
- U.S. Defense Attaché / DIA report: UFO sighting in Iran, 19 September 1976 (NSA-released reproduction)
- The United States Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community Are Withholding Information About Anomalous Phenomena From Congress