The Robertson Panel
Following a wave of UFO sightings in 1952, the Central Intelligence Agency made a recommendation to the Intelligence Advisory Committee to create a scientific committee. This panel would carry out an independent investigation into the UFO cases that had initially been examined by Project Blue Book. The panel was led by physicist Howard Robertson, and included physicist and radar expert Luis Alvarez, nuclear missile expert Frederick Durant, nuclear physicist Samuel Goudsmit, astrophysicist Thornton Page, physicist Lloyd Berkner, and astronomer J. Allen Hynek.
Although the panel members only had four formal meetings (a total of twelve hours), they did manage to come up with conclusions that explained the UFO sightings. How the panel was able to solve the UFO phenomenon in just twelve hours is unbeknownst to me. Unsurprisingly, the conclusion that the panel came to was identical to the previous projects, making this project a complete waste of resources and a waste of an opportunity to truly study the phenomenon. The report stated, “The Panel members were in agreement with O/SI opinion that, although evidence of any direct threat from these sightings was wholly lacking, related dangers might well exist resulting from:
a. Misidentification of actual enemy artifacts by defense personnel.
b. Overloading of emergency reporting channels with “false” information (“noise to signal ratio” analogy—Berkner).
c. Subjectivity of public to mass hysteria and greater vulnerability to possible enemy psychological warfare.” 149
The personnel on the panel also made several recommendations to the national security agencies: “1. Pursuant to the request of the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, the undersigned Panel of Scientific Consultants has met to evaluate any possible threat to national security posed by unidentified flying objects (“flying saucers”), and to make recommendations thereon. The panel has received the evidence as presented by cognizant intelligence agencies, primarily the Air Technical Intelligence Center, and has reviewed a selection of the best documented incidents.
2. As a result of its considerations, the panel concludes:
a. That the evidence presented on unidentified flying objects shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat to national security. We firmly believe that there is no residuum of cases that indicates phenomena that are attributable to foreign artifacts capable of hostile acts, and that there is no evidence that the phenomena indicates a need for the revision of current scientific concepts.
3.The panel further concludes:
a. That the continued emphasis on the reporting of these phenomena does, in these parlous times, result in a threat to the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic. We cite as examples the clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust of duty constituted authority.
4. In order most effectively to strengthen the national facilities for the timely recognition and the appropriate handling of true indications of hostile action, and to minimize the concomitant dangers alluded to above, the panel recommends:
a. That the national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the unidentified flying objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired;
b. That the national security agencies institute policies on intelligence, training, and public education designed to prepare the material defenses and the morale of the country to recognize most promptly and to react most effectively to true indications of hostile intent or action. We suggest that these aims may be achieved by an integrated program designed to reassure the public of the total lack of evidence of Inimical forces behind the phenomenon, to train personnel to recognize and reject false indications quickly and effectively, and to strengthen regular channels for the evaluation of and prompt reaction to true indications of hostile measures.” 150
Despite the fact that the sole purpose of the Robertson Panel was for there to be an independent investigation into the already reviewed cases, not only did the personnel come to the same conclusions as the previous studies had, but they also encouraged the national security agencies to disregard the UFO phenomenon altogether.
With hundreds of reports that prove that these objects are in possession of technology that is superior to anything the military is in possession of, the panel managed to explain all the UFO reports that had been made in just twelve hours. Up to this point in history, there still was not a single objective study of the phenomenon; actually, there was the opposite. The projects we have examined so far are all examples of the general approach the air force takes when it investigates UFO reports. In all circumstances, the members assigned to the projects have all been skeptics whose biased opinion and beliefs influenced the study and investigation. The Robertson Panel shows not only that the UFO reports were not being objectively studied, but also that a propaganda was being promoted to reduce the public’s interest in the phenomenon.
149. F. C. Durant, “Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,” Office of Scientific Intelligence, CIA, January 14–18, 1953, 17, https://rense.com//general96/JANUARY181953--2.pdf.
150. Durant, “Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects,” 27.