1994 05 00 OMNI - Stacy - Cosmic Conspiracy - Article 2 of 6

Magazine Overview

This document is the second part of a six-part series titled "Cosmic Conspiracy: Six Decades of Government UFO Cover-Ups," written by Dennis Stacy and illustrated by Shigeru Nokura. It focuses on the UFO phenomena and government secrecy during the 1950s, particularly the events of July 1952.

The 1952 Washington UFO Flap

The article details the events of July 19, 1952, when air-traffic controllers at Washington National Airport detected unidentified flying objects (UFOs) on their radar. Over the next three and a half hours, these targets would disappear and reappear. The sightings were visually corroborated by incoming flight crews. In response, the Air Defense Command dispatched two F-94 jet interceptors, which failed to make contact with the targets. The following weekend, a similar scenario occurred, with unknown targets detected on radar and verified by incoming pilots and ground observers. This time, scrambled jets managed to make visual contact and establish a brief radar lock-on, generating significant public interest.

The "Washington Wave" was so prominent that it bumped the Democratic National Convention off the front pages of several major newspapers. In an effort to quell public concern, the military held a large press conference on July 29, led by Maj. Gen. John Samford and Maj. Gen. Roger Ramery. They denied that interceptors had been scrambled and attributed the radar returns to temperature inversions.

The Robertson Panel

The Washington sightings directly led to the formation of the CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel, chaired by Dr. Harold P. Robertson. The panel's mandate, outlined in a 1952 memorandum to the National Security Council (NSC) from CIA director Walter Bedell Smith, was to "develop a firm scientific understanding of the several phenomena which are apparently involved in these reports, and to assure ourselves that [they] will not hamper our present efforts in the Cold War or confuse our early warning system in case of an attack."

Convening in January 1953, the panel comprised prominent scientific minds, including physicist Luis Alvarez, physicist Samuel Goudsmit, and astronomer Thornton Page. Despite their scientific expertise, the panel's major recommendations focused on public policy. They concluded that while UFOs might not pose a direct threat to national security, the "continued emphasis on the reporting of these phenomena does [threaten] the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic."

The Panel recommended that "national-security agencies take steps immediately to strip the UFO phenomenon of its special status and eliminate the aura of mystery it has acquired." They suggested a public-education program with the goals of "training and debunking," and even proposed involving mass media, including Walt Disney Productions. Furthermore, the Panel recommended actively monitoring pro-UFO grassroots organizations due to their potential influence on public thinking.

Two organizations mentioned as having arisen in the wake of the Washington Wave were Civilian Saucer Intelligence of Los Angeles and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, both noted as now defunct.

Evidence of Panel Influence and Government Secrecy

Dale Goudie, information director for the Computerized UFO Network (CUFON), notes that the paper trail for whether the Robertson Panel's recommendations were implemented is "sketchy at best." He points out that some agencies tend to keep old UFO files while others are lost or destroyed. For example, the FBI kept a file on George Adamski, and the CIA communicated with Maj. Donald Keyhoe. Goudie also highlights inconsistencies regarding "Project Aquarius," which the NSA admitted was an Air Force project dealing with UFOs but refused to provide details, classifying it as top secret. The Air Force later denied its existence, and the NSA retracted its statement.

Physicist and UFOlogist Stanton Friedman agrees that it's difficult to confirm direct actions dictated by the Robertson Panel but believes the subject was "defused at every available opportunity" per its recommendations. He points to a 1955 Department of Defense press release concerning Special Report 14 from Project Blue Book, which stated there was no reason to believe UFOs had overflown the U.S. and that unknowns could likely be identified with more information. Friedman argues that this release omitted crucial data from the original study, which showed that over 20 percent of UFO sightings between 1947 and 1952 remained unknown, and the better the sighting quality, the more likely it was to be unknown.

Friedman characterizes this as a classic case of government agencies not being coordinated. The article concludes by suggesting that the government may have sought to conceal information about UFOs to avoid alarming a population already anxious about the Cold War and nuclear arsenals.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue are government secrecy, UFO cover-ups, and the efforts by official bodies to debunk or control public perception of unidentified flying phenomena. The editorial stance appears to be critical of government obfuscation and highlights the discrepancies in official statements and actions regarding UFO investigations. The article emphasizes the historical context of the 1950s, a period of heightened Cold War tension, as a backdrop for these events.