After one year’s investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force
operations, I have come to the following conclusions:
1. The Air Force was puzzled, and badly worried when the disks first
were sighted in 1947.
2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell’s
death—perhaps even before.
3. Project “Saucer” was set up to investigate and at the same time
conceal from the public the truth about the saucers.
4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly
maintained by Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level
orders, it was decided to let the facts gradually leak out, in order to
prepare the American people.
5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, report, with its
suggestions about space visitors.
6. While I was preparing the article for the January 1950 issue of
_True_, it had been considered in line with the general education
program. But the unexpected public reaction was mistaken by the Air
Force for hysteria, resulting in their hasty denial that the saucers
existed.
7. Because the Air Force feared any closer analysis of the Mantell
case, Major Boggs was instructed to publicize the Venus explanation.
Although it had been denied, the Air Force knew that most people had
forgotten this or had never known it.
8. Major Boggs, having stated this answer publicly (along with the
other Chiles-Whitted and Gorman answers), was forced to stick to it,
though he knew it was wrong and that the case summaries would prove it.
9. The case summaries were released to a small number of Washington
newsmen, to continue planting the space-travel thought; this decision
being made after _True’s_ reception proved to the Air Force that the
public was better prepared than had been thought.
In regard to the flying saucers themselves, I believe that in the
majority of cases, space ships are the answer:
1. The earth has been under periodic observation from another planet,
or other planets, for at least two centuries.
2. This observation suddenly increased in 1947, following, the series
of A-bomb explosions begun in 1945.
3. The observation, now intermittent, is part of a long-range survey
and will continue indefinitely. No immediate attempt to contact the
earth seems evident. There may be some unknown block to making contact,
but it is more probable that the spacemen’s plans are not complete.
I believe that the Air Force is still investigating the saucer
sightings, either through the Air Materiel Command or some other
headquarters. It is possible that some Air Force officials still fear a
panic when the truth is officially revealed. In that case, we may
continue for a long time to see routine denials alternating with new
suggestions of interplanetary travel.
The education problem is complicated by two imperative needs. We must
try to learn as much as we can about the space ships’ source of power,
and at the same time try to prevent clues to this information from
reaching an enemy on earth,
If censorship is suddenly imposed on all flying-saucer reports, this
will be the chief reason. This would also help solve a minor problem
where partial censorship now exists. A few test missiles launched from
a southwest base have been seen by citizens at a distance from the
proving grounds. In some cases, their reports have got into local
papers, though the wire services did not carry them.
These missile tests are peculiarly different from the general run of
flying-saucer reports. Contrasted with the Chiles-Whitted, Mantell, and
other space-ship sightings, they stand out with a certain pattern, easy
to recognize. News or radio reports of these tests might accidentally
give an enemy clues to the type, speed, and range of this particular
missile, once he learned the pattern. Periodic censorship, or even a
complete blackout of sighting reports, may be enforced during the next
year or so.
For the purposes mentioned, such action would be justified. But
whenever such censorship is lifted, the complete truth about space
visitors should be told at the same time: the full details of all the
major cases, the size of the Godman Field space ship, any attempted
landings or other efforts at contact by interplanetary visitors, and
all other details that now are official secrets.
I also believe that a certain group of disk sightings in this country
is linked with our guided missiles. Official announcements, of course,
may be delayed a long time. With this exception, I believe that
Americans should be told the truth, now.
When the announcement of our guided missiles is made, some Americans
not familiar with the facts may accept it as a full answer. If
officials are not yet ready to reveal the space-travel facts, the
Mantell evidence and other key cases may be deliberately glossed over.
But even if all the evidence—the world-wide sightings, the old records,
the Chiles-Whitted and other cases—should be completely ignored,
Americans cannot escape eventual contact with dwellers on other
planets. Even though space visitors never attempt contact with us,
sooner or later earthlings will be traveling to distant planets—planets
that scientists have said are almost surely inhabited.
The American people have proved their ability to take incredible
things. We have survived the stunning impact of the Atomic Age. We
should be able to take the Interplanetary Age, when it comes, without
hysteria.