>Report: Soviet UFO Plot Worried US
>August 3, 1997, The Associated Press
>By GENE KRAMER Associated Press Writer
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. officials worried during the Cold War
>that the Soviets might try to disrupt America's air defense system or
>the government itself by orchestrating mass UFO sightings, says an
>historian who scrutinized CIA documents of the period.
>
>Such concern prompted the Air Force and others to play down the
>UFO issue during the 1950s and to concoct false cover stories to
>explain sightings of alleged ``flying saucers'' that were really
>super-secret U.S. spy planes, according to an article last spring in
>a CIA journal.
>
>The article by historian Gerald K. Haines said a CIA special study
>group worried in 1952 that ``the Soviets could use UFO sightings to
>touch off mass hysteria and panic in the United States.''
>
>He said the U.S. spy agency also was concerned about the possibility
>that hysteria over UFO sightings might ``overload the U.S. air warning
>system so that it could not distinguish real (military) targets from
>phantom UFOs'' and provide the Soviets an advantage for a surprise
>attack.
>
>He said a special panel studying the issue concluded that ``potential
>enemies contemplating an attack on the United States might exploit the
>UFO phenomena and use them to disrupt U.S. air defenses,'' wrote
>Haines.
>
>The article, entitled ``CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90'' was
>published in the spring issue of Studies of Intelligence, a CIA journal.
>An unclassified version appeared recently on the Internet.
>
>Haines is an historian at the National Reconnaissance Office, which
>monitors and interprets data from intelligence satellites.
>
>Haines wrote that concerns about hysteria over alleged UFO sightings
>prompted creation by the CIA in 1953 of a special outside scientific
>panel to look into the security implications.
>
>The panel headed by California Institute of Technology physicist H. P.
>Robertson, concluded unanimously that there was no credible evidence
>of UFOs from outer space, nor evidence of a direct national security
>threat.
>
>But the panel ``did find that continued emphasis on UFO reporting
>might threaten the orderly functioning of the government by clogging
>the channels of communication with irrelevant reports and by inducing
>hysterical mass behavior harmful to constituted authority,'' Haines
>wrote.
>
>Before disbanding, the panel recommended that the National Security
>Council ``debunk UFO reports and institute a policy of public
>education to reassure the public of the lack of evidence behind UFOs.''
>
>It also urged the use of the mass media, advertising, business clubs
>and ``even the Disney Corporation to get the message across,'' wrote
>Haines. The article gave no indication what involvement had been
>suggested for the Disney entertainment organization.
>
>But by 1956, the Air Force was able to attribute 96 percent of all UFO
>sightings to the high altitude U-2 and SR-71 intelligence gathering
>planes, Haines said. But it took care ``not to reveal the true cause of
>the sightings to the public,'' linking them instead to ``natural
>phenomena such as ice crystals and temperature inversions.''
>
>A U.S. Air Force spokesman said Sunday that he could not comment
>on the information without first seeing the report. As for using a cover
>story to conceal the existence of new aircraft, Maj. Ed Worley said he
>didn't know if this took place, but added, ``We take extraordinary
>measures to protect our national resources.''
>
>The original U-2s had silver bodies reflecting the sun's rays and
>sometimes causing those on the ground to see fiery objects, Haines
>wrote. Eventually they were painted black, as were the SR-72
>``Blackbirds'' used after 1962.
>
>Haines wrote that the CIA's monitoring of the UFO issue during the
>1970s and 80s focused more on ``counter-intelligence concerns.''
>These included Soviet capability in UFO sightings and suspicion that
>Moscow might try to use American UFO groups to spy on the
>vulnerability of U.S. defense to foreign missiles disguised as UFOs.
>
>By steadfastly concealing its interest in the matter, the agency itself
>``contributed to later charges of a CIA conspiracy and coverup,'' wrote
>Haines.