The Report on Unidentified Flying ObjectsRuppelt, Edward J.
History
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
Ruppelt, Edward J.
Unidentified flying objects
When they had finished commenting on the reports, the scientists
pointed out the seriousness of the decision they had been asked to
make. They said that they had tried hard to be objective and not to
be picayunish, but actually all we had was circumstantial evidence.
Good circumstantial evidence, to be sure, but we had nothing
concrete, no hardware, no photos showing any detail of a UFO, no
measured speeds, altitudes, or sizes--nothing in the way of good,
hard, cold, scientific facts. To stake the future course of millions
of lives on a decision based upon circumstantial evidence would be
one of the gravest mistakes in the history of the world.
In their conclusions they touched upon the possibility that the
UFO's might be some type of new or yet undiscovered natural
phenomenon. They explained that they hadn't given this too much
credence; however, if the UFO's were a new natural phenomenon, the
reports of their general appearance should follow a definite pattern--
the UFO reports didn't.
This ended the section of the panel's report that covered their
conclusions. The next section was entitled, "Recommendations." I
fully expected that they would recommend that we as least reduce the
activities of Project Blue Book if not cancel it entirely. I didn't
like this one bit because I was firmly convinced that we didn't have
the final answer. We needed more and better proof before a final yes
or no could be given.
The panel didn't recommend that the activities of Blue Book be cut
back, and they didn't recommend that it be dropped. They recommended
that it be expanded. Too many of the reports had been made by
credible observers, the report said, people who should know what
they're looking at--people who think things out carefully. Data that
was out of the circumstantial-evidence class was badly needed. And
the panel must have been at least partially convinced that an
expanded effort would prove something interesting because the
expansion they recommended would require a considerable sum of money.
The investigative force of Project Blue Book should be quadrupled in
size, they wrote, and it should be staffed by specially trained
experts in the fields of electronics, meteorology, photography,
physics, and other fields of science pertinent to UFO investigations.
Every effort should be made to set up instruments in locations where
UFO sightings are frequent, so that data could be measured and
recorded during a sighting. In other locations around the country
military and civilian scientists should be alerted and instructed to
use every piece of available equipment that could be used to track
UFO's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account