Document · 25 September 1976
State Department cables RABAT 5209, STATE 244918 and STATE 247538: Morocco's request for information on UFOs, September–October 1976
Also known as RABAT 5209, 1976RABAT05209, 1976STATE247538, Moroccan request for info UFOs
Three State Department telegrams on the Moroccan sightings of 19 September 1976, as preserved in NARA's Central Foreign Policy Files (Record Group 59, Electronic Telegrams 1976) and served by its Access to Archival Databases: the Rabat embassy's request for information of 25 September (RABAT 5209, film D760363-0377), the Department's holding reply of 2 October (STATE 244918, D760372-0205) and its substantive answer of 5 October (STATE 247538, D760375-1289). All three were declassified in the State Department's systematic review of 4 May 2006; the same texts circulate in WikiLeaks' PlusD collection, which reproduces this NARA file.
The embassy's cable relays what the Royal Gendarmerie gathered from across the country, including the account of a Gendarmerie major who saw the object himself; the Department's answer offers no firm explanation but leans toward a spectacular meteor or a re-entering piece of satellite.
Sources: National Archives, RG 59 Central Foreign Policy Files, Electronic Telegrams 1976 (AAD), documents 1976RABAT05209, 1976STATE244918, 1976STATE247538
Facts and claims
- documented In RABAT 5209 (sent 25 September 1976, classified Confidential, for Assistant Secretary Frederick Irving), the U.S. Ambassador, signing as Anderson, reports that on 23 September Col. Housni Benslimane, commander of the Royal Gendarmerie, came to see him at the King's request about sightings of unidentified flying objects over Morocco on the night of 18–19 September, and that Benslimane said “THE KING WAS PERSONALLY INTERESTED.” Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented According to the cable, the Gendarmerie had calls from Agadir, the Marrakech area, Casablanca, Rabat, Kenitra and other areas, and the reports were “REMARKABLY SIMILAR”: a silvery luminous circular object on a generally southwest-to-northeast course that gave off intermittent trails of bright sparks and fragments and made no noise. Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented On 24 September Major Mohamed Lissaoui of the Royal Gendarmerie briefed the defense attaché, showed him drawings by several witnesses, and said he had seen the object himself at about 0115 while returning from Kenitra; the ambassador wrote “I FRANKLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE SIGHTINGS”. Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented STATE 244918 (2 October 1976), from Irving to Ambassador Anderson, says only that the Department hopes to have an answer the following week. Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented STATE 247538 (5 October 1976, unclassified, signed Kissinger) says “IT IS DIFFICULT TO OFFER ANY DEFINITIVE EXPLANATION” and that the U.S. government was unaware of any U.S. aircraft or satellite activity in the area that night, though this did not preclude aircraft of other countries or unusual atmospheric conditions. Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented The same reply notes that meteors are usually seen at around 100 km, not 1 km, but that subjective height estimates are usually too low, and concludes that “ONE WOULD TEND TO BELIEVE THAT THE EVENT WAS A METEOR”, or, given the slow velocity, silence and burning fragments, a decaying satellite part “OF WHICH THERE IS NO PRECISE RE-ENTRY RECORD”. Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
- documented The reply also states the U.S. government's position of the time: no agency was studying UFOs, the view being that sightings with sufficiently detailed and reliable data “CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO NATURAL CAUSES AND THAT FURTHER STUDY IS NOT WARRANTED.” Source: doc-state-cables-morocco-ufo-1976.pdf
Connected files
Incidents
Organizations
- Department of State (produced by) — Embassy Rabat's cable and the Department's two replies, from the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Documents
- Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report, 1968) (cites) — The reply cites the 1969 Condon study as an extensive investigation of the subject
Mentioned in this file
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
More documents
- U.S. Embassy Kuwait cables KUWAIT 0486 and 0508: UFO sightings and Kuwait's air defence, January 1979
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 21 June 2013 (25 files)
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 12 July 2012 (25 files)
- CMRI decision on the Operação Prato records (Brazil, 2012)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 11 August 2011 (34 files)
Links
- NARA AAD — RABAT 5209 (25 Sep 1976)
- NARA AAD — STATE 244918 (2 Oct 1976)
- NARA AAD — STATE 247538 (5 Oct 1976)