UFO investigations by CIA documents made public

How are UFO investigations done by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)? Now we can have a better idea after they opened up some hitherto top secret documents to the public. The CIA is the civilian foreign intelligence service of the U.S. Government, its British counterpart is MI6 (where James Bond works).

The CIA has declassified hundreds documents which detail the Agency’s investigations into UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects). Most of them date mainly from the late 1940s and 1950s.

In order to help readers better navigate the vast amount of data in the CIA’s FOIA UFO Collection, it has decided to highlight a few documents that both UFO enthusiasts and skeptics will find interesting.

Part of a 1952 Top CIA document in which a German man describes how he and his daughter saw a flying saucer. (Image: cia.gov)

Surprisingly, the CIA lists five documents it thinks Agent Fox Mulder of the X-Files would love to use to try to persuade others of the existence of extraterrestrial beings and activity.

The CIA exlains:

“We also pulled five documents we think his skeptical partner, Agent Dana Scully, could use to prove there is a scientific explanation for UFO sightings.”

---

---

Are agents Mulder and Scully mentioned to add a touch of humour to the text, or to soften us up when they later reveal that aliens and UFOs are hoaxes and do not exist? Some of the documents are fascinating.

Document 1: Flying Saucer

The first document on the list – ‘Flying Saucer in East Germany‘ – describes the sworn testimony of an eyewitness, Oscar Linke, a 46-year old German national and former mayor of a town in Germany. It says West Berlin intelligence officers started investigating a most unusual ‘flying saucer’ story.

According to the witness, an object ‘resembling a huge flying [sic] pan’, with a diameter of about fifteen metres (59 ft) landed in a clearing in a forest in the Soviet Zone of Germany.

Mr. Linke and Gabriella, his daughter (11) made the following sworn statement before a judge:

“While I was returning to my home with Gabriella, a tyre of my motorcycle blew out near the town of Hasselbach. While we were walking along toward the town, Gabriella pointed out something which lay at a distance of about 140 metres (460 ft) away from us. Since it was twilight, I thought that she was pointing at a young deer.”

Agent Fox Mulder (left) would have had a field day with all this, while agent Dana Scully would have had her work cut out trying to contain his excitement.

“I left my motorcycle near a tree and walked toward the spot which Gabriella had pointed out. When, however, I reached a spot about 55 metres (180 ft) from the object, I realised that my first impression had been wrong. What I had seen were two men who were now about 40 metres (131 ft) away from me.”

He went on to describe the men’s shiny metallic clothing. They appeared to be stooped over and were observing something lying on the ground.

When he got closer, he peered over a small fence and noticed a large object with a diameter of about 15 metres – like a ‘huge frying pan’.

This photo comes from CIA archives of a cluster of UFOs over Sheffield in England – 1952. (Image: cia.gov)

His daughter then called him from behind. Her voice was heard by the two men, who immediately jumped into the conical tower of the frying pan-like object and disappeared inside.

He had noticed that one of the men had a lamp in the front of his body which intermittently lit up.

He then saw parts of the object glitter and heard a humming sound. The whole object began to rise slowly from the ground, rotating like a top. It started to rise more rapidly. It then flew away and disappeared behind the trees.

Mr. Linke and Gabriella walked to where the object had been on the ground and found a circular opening which was clearly freshly dug. “I was then convinced that I was not dreaming,” he said.

An unidentified flying object in the Minneapolis sky in 1962. (Image: cia.gov, same webpage as Sheffield one above)

According to the CIA document, several other people who lived in the area talked about seeing an object that day, which they thought might be a comet. A shepherd said he wondered whether he’d seen a comet moving away at a low altitude from the height on which Mr. Linke stood.

Documents for UFO enthusiasts

Below is a list of more top CIA Documents it says Fox Mulder ‘would love to get his hands on’:

– Flying Saucers Reported Over Belgian Congo Uranium Mines (1952).

– Survey of Flying Saucer Reports, 1 August (1952).

– Flying Saucers Reported over Spain and North Africa (1952).

– Minutes of Branch Chief’s Meeting on UFOs, 11 August (1952).

The CIA announced the declassification of documents on Twitter. (Image: twitter.com/CIA)

Documents for UFO doubters

Below are the titles of some top CIA Documents it believes ‘Scully would love to get her hands on’:

– Memorandum for the Record on Flying Saucers, 3 December (1952).

– Meeting of the OSI Advisory Group on UFOs, 21 January (1953).

– Memorandum to the CIA Director on Flying Saucers, 2 October (1952).

– Office Memorandum on Flying Saucers, 15 March (1949).

– Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, 14-17 January (1953).

Do you want to see loads of Alien and UFO news articles? Go to this web page.

Video – CIA releases secret UFO files to public