Project Blue Book

Project Blue Book was launched in early 1952. This new effort was a direct result of the dissatisfaction being expressed by several high-ranking USAF generals over the "nuthin' but debunkin'" efforts of Project Grudge. These generals and many others believed that the wave of flying saucer sightings at that time might represent a serious threat and that a sober examination of the phenomena was vital.

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt was the first head of Project Blue Book. Ruppelt streamlined UFO reporting in hopes of eliminating the stigma that was often attached to those who reported sightings. A standard questionnaire was developed that enabled Project Blue Book to compile consistent information that would be subject to statistical analysis. Ruppelt was also given the unprecedented permission to directly interview witnesses and military personnel free of the Air Force chain of command. Astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek was also retained to serve as Project Blue Book's scientific advisor.

Ruppelt and his Project Blue Book team were put to the test almost immediately. They were assigned to search for explanations of the mysterious Lubbock Lights and for what came to be know as the Flying Saucer Invasion of Washington DC in July, 1952. Their work received high praise for its seriousness and objectivity.

The ongoing wave of sightings prompted the CIA to form what became known as the Robertson panel to address the rapidly growing public interest in the flying saucer phenomena. The panel held its initial meeting on January 14th, 1952. Strangely, several members of the panel finally recommended that public opinion about flying saucers should be controlled through propaganda and spying. Why? There has been a general mistrust towards official government explanations of UFO sightings for many years in part because of the work of the Robertson panel.

Project Blue Book itself reverted to the old ways of "nuthin' but debunkin" not long after Captain Ruppelt left Project Blue Book in the mid-1950's. The project officially ended in January, 1970. Its final evaluation concluded that UFO sightings generated as a result of:

• A mild form of mass hysteria
• Persons who fabricate a sighting to perpetrate a hoax or to gain publicity
• Psychopathological persons
• Misidentification of conventional objects.

Despite Project Blue Book's certainty, 22% of reported UFO sightings remain unexplained.