Ancillary Mercy полностью

On August 1, an informal CIA memo was sent by Edward Tauss, acting chief of Weapons and Equipment Division at the Office of Scientific Intelligence, to the deputy assistant director of OSI. Tauss listed the four main possible explanations: secret American technology (which was “denied at the highest level”), secret Soviet technology (which he said was not rational and supported by no evidence), alien technology (which had “no shred of evidence”), and misinterpretation of natural, “as yet little understood,” phenomena. Tauss believed the last was true, although he acknowledged that “interplanetary aspects and alien origin [were] not being thoroughly excluded from consideration.” The main thing, however, was to keep all this under control. He recommended that the CIA continue surveillance of UFO sightings, “in coordination with proper authorities of primary operational concern at ATIC.” He strongly urged that

no indication of CIA interest or concern reach the press or public, in view of their probable alarmist tendencies to accept such interest as “confirmatory” of the soundness of “unpublished facts” in the hands of the U.S. government.

The CIA initiated a series of informal discussions about UFOs with other agencies. One of the matters under review was the “clogged channel” problem. CIA Director of Scientific Intelligence H. Marshall Chadwell chaired these meetings and visited Wright-Patterson AFB on August 8 for a “thorough and comprehensive” briefing about UFOs from Blue Book officers. He was accompanied by CIA official Frederick Durant and power scientist H. P Robertson.⁴⁷

On August 14, a newly established CIA special study group from the Office of Scientific Intelligence gave a briefing which referred to an “official query from the White House” regarding UFOs. Once again, secrecy was of great importance:

In view of the wide interest within the agency ... it must be mentioned that outside knowledge of agency interest in flying saucers carries the risk of making the problem even more serious in the public mind than it already is, which we and the air force agree must be avoided.

The briefing offered an analytical description of UFOs dating to the ghost rocket phenomenon. It grouped radar and visual sightings into various categories, described the sightings as “objects” ranging in size from two to three feet across, to the common one-hundred-foot diameter object, to some as wide as one thousand feet. It described three general levels of speed: hovering, moderate, and “stupendous.” It also noted that “evasion upon approach is common.” The report ruled out the possibility of Soviet secret weapons and mentioned “sightings of UFOs reported at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, at a time when the background radiation count had risen inexplicably.” In this case, wrote the report’s author, “we run out of even ‘blue yonder’ explanations that might be tenable, and we are still left with numbers of incredible reports from credible observers.” Despite these many admissions, the report stated there was “no shred of evidence” to support the view that UFOs were caused by extraterrestrials. There was no bother, however, to explain just what could be behind these reports. Once again, we are in the presence of an elephant in the dining room, never to be discussed.

The CIA/OSI study group prepared a six-page document of its findings on August 19, 1952. The agency was puzzled that the Russian press had not mentioned a single report on UFOs, not even a satirical one. They perceived a danger that the Soviets might infiltrate American UFO groups:

Air force is aware of this and has investigated a number of the civilian groups that have sprung up.... AF is watching this organization [Civilian Saucer Group] because of its power to touch off mass hysteria and panic.

More serious was the danger that the Soviets could launch a nuclear attack during a UFO wave, when Americans might not distinguish Soviet missiles from UFOs. In the words of the August 19 CIA report, “we will run the increasing risk of false alerts and the even greater danger of tabbing the real as false.”⁴⁸

Was this the sum total of CIA interest in UFOs? Was there any indication that the CIA was interested in understanding the nature of UFOs themselves? Was there any concern that the country appeared to be under siege by UFOs? It would certainly be surprising if there were none. Certainly there was common recognition within the agency that other people and groups were leaning toward an extraterrestrial explanation. Moreover, even as OSI was studying the problem, many CIA-authored UFO reports were coming in from overseas. There is some tangible evidence, as we shall soon see, that ranking CIA officials were genuinely interested in the UFOs themselves. Nevertheless, whatever OSI’s opinion on the actual nature of UFOs, it supported the air force’s efforts to keep the matter as far removed from the public as possible.