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28 Building A Secret Air Force 28 Building A Secret Air Force BUILDING A SECRET report. Despite such pressure, Philip Strong, CIA officer Frank Chapin also hinted that BUILDING A SECRET AIR FORCE : The Deputy Assistant Director of OSI, refused to Davidson might have ulterior motives, "some of AIR FORCE : The them perhaps not in the best interest of this declassify the report and declined to disclose CIA's Role in the Study CIA sponsorship of the panel. As an alternative, country," and suggested bringing in the FBI to CIA's Role in the Study investigate. (50) Although the record is unclear the Agency prepared a sanitized version of the of UFOs report which deleted any reference to CIA and whether the FBI ever instituted an investigation of UFOs Continued from Page 25 avoided mention of any psychological warfare of Davidson or Keyhoe, or whether Houston Continued from Page 25 ever saw Hillenkoetter about the Robertson potential in the UFO controversy. (48) The demands, however, for more report, Hillenkoetter did resign from the NICAP According to later estimates from CIA government information about UFOs did not let in 1962. (51) officials who worked on the U-2 project and the up. On 8 March 1958, Keyhoe, in an interview The Agency was also involved with OXCART (SR-71, or Blackbird) project, over with Mike Wallace of CBS, claimed deep CIA Davidson and Keyhoe in two rather famous half of all UFO reports from the late 1950s involvement with UFOs and Agency UFO cases in the 1950s, which helped through the 1960s were accounted for by sponsorship of the Robertson panel. This contribute to a growing sense of public distrust manned reconnaissance flights (namely the U- prompted a series of letters to the Agency from of CIA with regard to UFOs. One focused on 2) over the United States. (45) This led the Air Keyhoe and Dr. Leon Davidson, a chemical what was reported to have been a tape recording Force to make misleading and deceptive engineer and UFOlogist. They demanded the of a radio signal from a flying saucer; the other statements to the public in order to allay public release of the full Robertson panel report and on reported photographs of a flying saucer. The fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive confirmation of CIA involvement in the UFO "radio code" incident began innocently enough national security project. While perhaps issue. Davidson had convinced himself that the in 1955, when two elderly sisters in Chicago, justified, this deception added fuel to the later Agency, not the Air Force, carried most of the Mildred and Marie Maier, reported in the conspiracy theories and the coverup controversy responsibility for UFO analysis and that "the Journal of Space Flight their experiences with of the 1970s. The percentage of what the Air activities of the US Government are responsible UFOs, including the recording of a radio Force considered unexplained UFO sightings for the flying saucer sightings of the last program in which an unidentified code was fell to 5.9 percent in 1955 and to 4 percent in decade." Indeed, because of the undisclosed U- reportedly heard. The sisters taped the program 1956. (46) 2 and OXCART flights, Davidson was closer to and other ham radio operators also claimed to At the same time, pressure was building the truth than he suspected. CI, nevertheless have heard the "space message." OSI became for the release of the Robertson panel report on held firm to its policy of not revealing its role in interested and asked the Scientific Contact UFOs. In 1956, Edward Ruppelt, former head UFO investigations and refused to declassify Branch to obtain a copy of the recording. (52) of the Air Force BLUE BOOK project, publicly the full Robertson panel report. (49) revealed the existence of the panel. A best- In a meeting with Air Force Continues on Page 30 selling book by UFOlogist Donald Keyhoe, a representatives to discuss how to handle future retired Marine Corps major, advocated release inquires such as Keyhoe's and Davidson's, of all government information relating to UFOs. Agency officials confirmed their opposition to Civilian UFO groups such as the National the declassification of the full report and Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena worried that Keyhoe had the ear of former DCI (NICAP) and the Aerial Phenomena Research VAdm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter, who served on the Organization (APRO) immediately pushed for board of governors of NICAP. They debated release of the Robertson panel report. (47) whether to have CIA General Counsel Under pressure, the Air Force approached CIA Lawrence R. Houston show Hillenkoetter the for permission to declassify and release the report as a possible way to defuse the situation.