Despite not being an official NSA document, this remarkable paper, which places credence in the extraterrestrial hypothesis, makes it reasonable to assume that others within NSA, including those in leadership positions, could well have thought likewise.
“THE RAND DOCUMENT”
The NSA was not the only place in 1968 where internally distributed UFO papers supported the ET hypothesis. The RAND Corporation, one of the elite research institutions in the world since its founding in 1948, and a major player in the formulation of U.S. national security policy, also produced an interesting UFO paper that year. RAND emphasized that, while written by staffer George Kocher, it was not an official RAND document. Moreover, according to UFO researcher Jan Aldrich, it generated “little or no response.”
It remains an interesting paper, in particular for its theory on the possible number of worlds inhabited by technologically superior civilizations (100 million in our galaxy alone, Kocher theorized), and the average distance between them (about ten light-years). Kocher noted the likelihood that UFOs have been with mankind for ages, looked at some compelling reports, and pointed out that it was “practically impossible” to estimate the number of worldwide sightings “because of the lack of suitable data collection means.”
Kocher was certainly a believer in the extraterrestrial hypothesis, but his main goal was to point toward a suitable direction for future action. His answers made sense and were therefore entirely impractical: essentially to expand and improve on the models of NICAP and APRO. This would mean establishing a central report receiving agency, staffed by permanent and experienced UFO investigators of all disciplines. Such an agency would provide uninterrupted scientific analysis of UFOs and would be completely open and available to the public.
Although the paper was supposedly meant for internal distribution (at top it stated, “Do not quote or cite in external RAND publications or correspondence”), a copy of this paper nevertheless made it to the Wright-Patterson AFB and thence to the desk of Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla. He wrote a “blazing letter” to RAND, which never responded. That appeared to be the end of the matter.85
UFOs IN 1968
The year 1968 turned out to be the last year of any significant UFO activity until late 1973, and most of it occurred outside the United States. We must remember, however, how difficult it is actually to measure UFO activity. By early 1968, for example, most UFO witnesses had stopped making public reports, thanks to air force ridicule. The result was that Blue Book went through the entire year with the incredible total of just three unidentified sightings.86
Throughout the world, many of the sighting reports were outlandish, and humanoid sightings were common. A February 1, 1968, sighting in the Azores by a watchman at the air station involved an oval, metallic craft and four beings. The witness fainted, and the case was said to be investigated by American military authorities.87
Once again, however, South America was the main area of reported activity. From May through July, many sightings of alien beings were reported by professional, low-key individuals. UFO researcher Gordon Creighton wrote at the time that “something very odd is again happening to many people in the southern part of South America.” In May, five UFOs were seen diving into the ocean off the coast at Arrecife, Venezuela. On the night of June 4, at the southern tip of Chile, two veteran pilots of Argentine Air Lines, and several of their eighteen passengers, saw a shining, reddish cylinder flying high above them. The sighting lasted five minutes. After landing at the airport in Chile, they learned the object had been seen and photographed from there. On June 8, the senior pilot and copilot were interviewed in
Some of the stories were hard to take. The
