My study of past official air force investigations (Project Blue Book) leads me to describe them as completely superficial. They have, for at least the past dozen years, been carried out at a very low level of scientific competence.... Officially released “explanations” of important UFO sightings have often been almost absurdly erroneous. In only a few instances has there been any on-the-spot field investigation by Blue Book personnel, and much of that has been quite superficial. On the other hand, official press releases, statements to Congress, etc., have conveyed an impression that no significant scientific problem exists with respect to UFOs.
McDonald was rocking the boat with authority, saying things no one had said, at least not this well. Keyhoe had tried to convey this sort of thing, but there was only one James McDonald.4
Keyhoe remained in the mix, however. By mid-October, he was already distressed by what Condon and Low were saying, and decided to phone them. Both assured him they had been misquoted and asked for NICAP’s support. Unpersuaded, Keyhoe nonetheless gave in. He expressed his reservations to Colorado University Project member (and NICAP member) David Saunders; with some effort, Saunders and Richard Hall convinced him that NICAP needed to support the project, at least for now.5
VISITS TO BOULDER
Condon shot from the hip again on November 5, 1966. The Colorado Project, he told the press, had “to take it on faith that the air force is not trying to deceive us.” Referring to McDonald, he continued, “I know some people who believe the air force is misleading us, but I don’t think so. Maybe they are. I don’t care much.” This was not an auspicious start to the project. By now, Condon was already using the phrase “damn UFO,” to his colleagues. But Condon appeared to be a remote director of this project and was spending only half of his university time on it. More visible direction came from project coordinator Robert Low.6
Throughout November, the University of Colorado received a steady stream of visits from major UFO researchers. On November 11, Allen Hynek, accompanied by his protégé Jacques Vallee, visited the team at Boulder. Hynek gave a history of UFOs, describing them as the greatest mystery of the age, perhaps ever. Vallee discussed how UFOs might be studied scientifically. He brazenly (and presciently) predicted failure for the project: the duration of the study, he said, was too short and the current wave of sightings would probably not last very long. Hynek and Vallee both sensed that Low, not Condon, was “clearly the decision-maker.” Privately, Hynek told project member physicist Roy Craig that the project must recommend that scientific investigations of UFO reports be continued.7
On the heels of the Hynek-Vallee visit, Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla briefed the project on November 14. He generally restated Hynek’s remarks, with none of the enthusiasm for the subject. He contradicted Hynek on one point: the account of the Michigan swamp gas incident, as noted earlier.8
On November 22, 1966, James McDonald informally visited several project members. He explained some radar complexities and mirage effects. He also told them that the time would come when they would find themselves “confronting astonishing evidence of mishandling of the UFO problems by your sponsoring agency,” that is, the air force.9
Keyhoe arrived in Boulder with Richard Hall on November 28. They met Low first and showed him some strong NICAP reports. When Keyhoe brought out the 1959 Redmond, Oregon, case, however, Low dismissed it as too far back. “The witnesses wouldn’t remember the details.” Keyhoe was astonished: the case was only seven years old, and the witnesses were still available for interview. Moreover, Low, who knew nothing about UFOs, was posing as an expert. Keyhoe met privately with Condon and Saunders, during which time Condon did little more than quip about contactees. In their presentations to the project members, Keyhoe focused on the cover-up, while Hall argued that the best way to review the UFO evidence was not to isolate each case, but to assess their combined weight.
Later, Saunders told Keyhoe that most project members would work hard for a full investigation, “as much as the contract allows.” Keyhoe failed to grasp the full flavor of this until he returned to Washington. Back home, he read this paragraph in the air force contract with the University of Colorado:
Because of the continuance of Project Blue Book for the handling of all reports, it is our understanding that the university is under no obligation to investigate reported sightings other than those that the principal investigators [Condon and Low] select for study.
With Condon’s and Low’s attitudes already quite clear, this was bad news.10
