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I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify). A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead.
But of course, the Soviets were very interested (or the US believed they were very interested) in knowing about US military planes and their capabilities. There's an anecdote I recall reading - I apologize for not having the link handy - about how, at Area 51 (their airfield for testing experimental aircraft), they would leave big airplane-shaped objects on the tarmac to create cold spots for Soviets' spy satellites to photograph in infrared, corresponding to planes that didn't exist.
The reason I'm unable to find that anecdote is because the search term "Area 51", combined with any other search terms, brings up an enormous a flood of incoherent crackpot ramblings. I'm pretty sure this is the result of a deliberate strategy: create a bunch of fake information, so that real information about US military capabilities will be harder to find. A few hints and a few taunts, and voila, every discussion about unidentified aircraft is guaranteed to have a schizophrenic walk in and start rambling about aliens!
I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s. It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. The fake aircraft seems more reasonable though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#Development
> The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them.[19] The "windows" evidently worked, as the first western reports of the aircraft were wildly inaccurate, to the point of some analysts even concluding its primary mission was as an air superiority aircraft for hunting and killing NATO attack helicopters.
There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.
>A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead.
The OXCART program (SR-71 predecessor) was a CIA program. This is probably one of the best pieces of journalism I've ever read on the topic:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-mag-april052009-back...
While the entire article is good, paragraphs 5-8 are by far the best. The CIA literally drugged their own test pilot during debriefing.
>I'm pretty sure this is the result of a deliberate strategy: create a bunch of fake information, so that real information about US military capabilities will be harder to find. A few hints and a few taunts, and voila, every discussion about unidentified aircraft is guaranteed to have a schizophrenic walk in and start rambling about aliens!
I was actually just writing about this, except in context of aviation industry insiders perhaps misleading a respected industry journalist:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10971548
Entire thread for context:
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_convers...
Page 3, point 4:
"Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomenon or known types of aerial vehicles."
Also note the National Security Council directive on the last page.
>> they would leave big airplane-shaped objects on the tarmac to create cold spots for Soviets' spy satellites to photograph in infrared, corresponding to planes that didn't exist.
You're referring to project OXCART which preceded the Blackbird program. The documentary you're referring to was called "Area 51 Declassified" which was on National Geographic channel:
It's a fascinating documentary
Here's a link that explains all the fakery used at Area 51 including the fake cardboard planes to fool infrared.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/05/110520-area-...
I read a history of Area 51 that had several interesting stories in a similar vein. The book struck me as down-to-earth and well researched.
http://www.amazon.com/Area-51-Uncensored-Americas-Military/d...
>>> "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify).
There are only so many military aircraft and drones. They are relatively distinct. Add to those a handful of properly-black projects and there are perhaps a hundred types in service. Compare that to the thousands of civilian models out there, many of them very odd looking. Things like Rutan's VariEze get rather close to the flying-triangles. And some very unique objects, including random light patterns, also fly in the civilian world. So given the far greater number of civilian aircraft, outside of restricted airspace I'd say that most sightings are probably of strange but non-military flying vehicles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_VariEze
http://www.hugeskyadvertising.com/Scrolling-LED-Flying-SIGN....
The reason I'm unable to find that anecdote is because the search term "Area 51", combined with any other search terms, brings up an enormous a flood of incoherent crackpot ramblings
You might have more luck if you google "Groom Lake Air Force Base".
Anecdotal examples of the management of information and personal for this and similar areas. While in the military we had a sergeant transfer in from that area. They were flown to and from the base on transports without windows. While there were a lot of on base persons apparently there were quite a few who rotated out weekly. Later in the 90s working for a rent a guard company we had a special group doing perimeter security. These guards could not so much as bounce a check, get a traffic ticket, or be charged with a crime, without risking their jobs. The idea was that you don't get leverage on people who work in areas where things can be seen. You also tend to have some of the most over the top patriotic types who take pride in keeping the trust
All that really circles back to the first part of my comment, the CIA and military had people dedicated to management of the story and the people involved. Legends and myths can be created, you just have to plan it out and act on the plan correctly
An apparently metallic or luminous object in the sky at any time after the 1940s could possibly be explained away as experimental terrestrial craft but we have reports of such things going back much further in history.
It's funny how today many people call them "flying saucers" due to a misunderstanding of Kenneth Arnold's description of the objects that he claims to have seen in 1947 because more than 800 years ago, someone reported seeing what he described as a "flying earthenware vessel" in the sky over Edo(Tokyo) Japan.
People have been seeing things in the sky for a very long time. We simply don't know all of them are. Anyone who claims to know with absolute certainty what they are is just speculating. Chances are, that person just wants to sell you their book.
>... at Area 51 (their airfield for testing experimental aircraft)
I'm Canadian but that reminded of some relatives who sent a video of a birthday party. They were outside and a big booming noise could be heard and they all looked to see what it was.
I didn't think much of it since it was hard to hear other than a sort of jet sound but they lived there and seemed to think it was different or unusual in some way.
They lived in Apple Valley in the "high desert" (I didn't know what that meant) years later I found out Area 51 is pretty close.
I don't beleive in aliens but it was interesting to know the video had a mysterious aircraft and Area 51 in it.
> I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify).
While this is true, it isn't incorrect to call them "unidentified flying objects". All top-secret aircraft projects are by definition unidentified flying objects. It's up to the crackpot bullshit artists to interpret "unidentified" as "confirmed alien".
I recall a thought-provoking article about how a lot of UFO "folklor" (abductions, cows etc.) was fabricated at some point by secret service agencies in order to distract the UFO crowd from actually observing the sky.
This is one of my favorite twists on conspiracy theories - that they themselves are often a product of conspiracies. Or that they get discreetly, erm what would be the right word, native speakers? Kinda "fed" (by controlled information leaks, for instance) if it serves some purpose.
I remember hearing about this in a documentary, actually...so you might not be able to find the link because it doesn't exist on the Internet. :)
Here ya go: http://jalopnik.com/5804400/area-51-secrets-the-us-military-...
It was the second match when I used the search query: area 51 cold spots russia satellite -alien
I really enjoyed those. I particularly like some of the descriptions.
In the early 80's I worked in the Image Processing Institute at USC where one of hte UFO shows had us analyze some of the "best" photographs (at that time) of UFO sitings. We pulled all sorts of fun stuff out of the pictures, like the letters "9 oz" on the bottom of a pie plate type UFO, "old skool" photo doctoring where someone had taken the picture of a "ufo" and literally placed it on top of a picture of the sky, and then re-photographed the composite. As I recall there was only one picture we could not definitively rule out as a fake. But my best memory of that project was when the producer asked the camera man to get some footage of the "computer" and when he pointed it at the 11/55t front panel the producer said, "No, the computer!" and pointed at the tape drives. I knew we had top shelf folks on the team at that point :-)
You have to hand it to the CIA for taking advantage of the XFiles reboot to boost their social media a bit. Especially on 37 year old documents!
They declassified them in 1978. So these documents have been publicly available for a mere 37 years. Figures - what else are they hiding that they aren't hiding?
Good to see that the CIA has a little bit of a sense of humor about this kind of thing.
What a PR coup by the X-files reboot, as well.
I found the documentary "I know what I saw"[0][1] rather interesting.
In this Mercury 7 astronaut, former pilots, retired air force officers, Major Generals etc give account of UFO sightings.
Although produced by History Channel, it features only accounts of these distinguished people and recollect no spin (if my memory serves me right).
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTEZeY-fNCU [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1579236/
I love UFOs because UFOs tell us a lot about how we deal with non-reproducible observations. Walk outside and see a green, glowing light that hovers then disappears? You can walk outside again for the rest of your life and never see it again. Does that mean you didn't see anything? Of course not.
This really messes with people's heads. The rationalists will say that since we can't independently observe it, it might as well not exist. Folks who have a deep mythology as part of their worldview will simply incorporate their observation into their mythology.
Even cooler is the fact that something is obviously going on that we can't categorize or figure out. (See thunderstorm sprites and jets as a recent example). Is it one phenomenon? Highly unlikely. But beats me how many different and really cool things there are out there to discover. I'm sure some of these may take hundreds of years to nail down, if ever.
And then the government gets involved and -- get this -- starts deliberately fucking with people about it. Hey, that wasn't a new stealth bomber, that was probably aliens. While it may have confused the Soviets, it was also a deliberate attempt to mislead the voters. I'm not a constitutional expert but seems to me the one thing that ought to carry the severest penalty is government officials in a democracy deliberately trying to mislead the public about critical issues.
And then we have them pawning their B.S. off on mentally ill people. Nice. Very classy.
UFOs tell us a lot more about ourselves than they do anything from another planet. Unfortunately, much of what they tell us is rather unpleasant.
My first UFO story:
I was ~13 years old in The Civil Ait Patrol, this occurred in Truckee, Ca at the Truckee Airport.
We were doing standard marching exercises and our troop leader was a former SR-71 mechanic/maint person...
It was a full moon - and as our gatherings typically started after 5PM - it got dark fairly quickly.
We were marching and then looking to the mountain line in the horizon, we saw a light come up over the mountain line and fly vertically up at a steady clip as it was near the moon which had also just risen over the ridge.
We all watched, speculating what type of plane this was (Civil Air Patrol was like the cub scouts for the air force)
As we watched and guessed, this craft flew straight up from the mountain - then directly toward us.
I came to a complete hover just above us by about 300 feet. The craft was the classic triangular shape with large round whit lights at each corner.
As it hovered - the troop leader said "OK KIDS - EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!!!" and he ushered us into the end of the hangar building that had our CAP office.
Ever since then.... I've had an interesting relationship with believing UFOs...
How much money does it take to get a US agency to issue a blog post in support of a TV series?
Granted, those in charge of the CIA blog are probably the right age to be die hard Xfiles fans, but after the StarWars promotion at the white house I'm seeing lobbyists everywhere.
Honestly even if you don't believe in aliens visiting earth (and I do not), these documents are still an interesting read.
Just seeing how they investigated and the investigators opinions/thoughts/methods was quite interesting to me. Some more than others, some are very short and only contain a witness statement.
If you're interested in the CIA's involvement with the UFO phenomena check out this article on the Robertson Panel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_Panel
“(t)he "debunking" aim would result in reduction in public interest in "flying saucers" which today evokes a strong psychological reaction. This education could be accomplished by mass media such as television, motion pictures, and popular articles. Basis of such education would be actual case histories which had been puzzling at first but later explained. As in the case of conjuring tricks, there is much less stimulation if the "secret" is known. Such a program should tend to reduce the current gullibility of the public and consequently their susceptibility to clever hostile propaganda. The Panel noted that the general absence of Russian propaganda based on a subject with so many obvious possibilities for exploitation might indicate a possible Russian official policy….The Panel took cognizance of the existence of such groups as the "Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators" (Los Angeles) and the "Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (Wisconsin). It was believed that such organizations should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind.”
Title is misleading, text starts with "The CIA declassified hundreds of documents in 1978"
"Below you will find five documents we think X-Files character Agent Fox Mulder would love to use to try and persuade others of the existence of extraterrestrial activity. 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."
The most interesting thing about this is the lack of seriousness that the CIA puts into UFO.
At this point we're pretty settled that alien life probably exists in some form out there. Whether that alien life could evolve to create technology and build spacecraft is another thing. But the even bigger thing is when you take into account just how vast the distances involved are. It's just so unlikely that alien life could exist, develop technology, and then be in the same neighborhood as us.
All the documents that appear startling are actually just recounts of stories that appeared in a daily newspaper, marked as completely unsubstantiated.
Come on guys, stop conflating UFOs with alien spacecraft. UFOs are real, alien spacecraft are probably not.
Reports of strange new energies & crafts also made science seem magical and helped fire the imagination of the next generation of scientists and engineers for the ongoing cold war. The UFO phenomenon was handy on a few fronts.
Odd thing. I just watched the new X-Files last night and this kind of news is on HN frontpage the next morning.
They had to have timed this with the X-Files premier on purpose
At last the truth can be told.
Just in time for the x files reboot.
If you want to understand the UFO story better, you should watch Mirage Men about Air Force Office of Special Investigations Agent Richard Doty, a self-admitted UFO disinformation agent-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6naKTTuBq14
The intelligence agencies aren't hiding anything about UFOs from my experience. And I don't really think the USAF is either. But the USAF did tell various people that UFOs were real and they did run a psychological operation against Paul Bennewitz, destroying his life and forever obsfucating whatever truth there is about UFOs. (None in my opinion.)
Here's a good summary:
http://www.openminds.tv/open-letter-u-s-air-force-allegation...
*Fixed link
the silence is deafening
The truth is… still out there.
Couldn't they have coordinated with this the lunch of the new X-Files? Fox marketing sucks!
Obligatory xkcd link: https://m.xkcd.com/1235/
"In the past few years, with very little fanfare, we've conclusively settled the questions of flying saucers, lake monsters, ghosts, and bigfoot."
Is that really real?? [1]
Who on Earth would have such aircrafts in 1962 other than aliens??
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/blog/2016/images/UFO2.j...
I wonder why those numbers don't add up :>