Alien Lore No. 32: The Condon Report - The Study That Killed Project Blue Book And All (Admitted) Government Research On UFOs And Alien Visitors

Earlier, I wrote about some of the early government studies and investigations into UFOs. Project Blue Book was the Air Force project charged with researching UFOs. In later chapters, I will get into the whole conspiracy angle. Many UFOlogists believe that Project Blue Book was a cover organization, fed easily debunked reports concocted by wackos. The real research, they claimed, was being done elsewhere, in total secrecy. We'll get into the stories of John Lear, Bill English, Bill Cooper, Allen Hynek, and others later.

The Air Force commissioned an analysis of Project Blue Book, and a 1,465-page document based primarily on data collected by Project Blue Book was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in November 1968 and released in January 1969.

The head of the study, Dr. Edward Condon, wrote:

"Our general conclusion is that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified ... "

The Report attracted widespread criticism, from both UFOlogists and even the mainstream scientific community, which felt that the Condon study had been too quick to dismiss certain well-documented UFO cases for which there was no obvious explanation.

The American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) had formed a subcommittee on UFOs in 1967 which, following the release of the Condon Report, issued its first public statement:

"The Committee has made a careful examination of the present state of the UFO issue and has concluded that the controversy cannot be resolved without further study in a quantitative scientific manner and that it deserves the attention of the engineering and scientific community. In December 1969, at its annual meeting in Boston, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held a symposium, organized by a committee including Carl Sagan, Philip Morrison, and Thornton Page, to allow a more open and thorough airing of scientific views than it was felt the Condon report had achieved. "

Project Blue Book was cancelled. Some would call this a victory for Majestic 12 and other nefarious forces, dedicated to hiding the truth.
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