Editing Project Sign (section)

==History==
The project was established in 1948 by Air Force General [[Nathan Farragut Twining]], head of the [[Air Technical Service Command]], and was initially named Project SAUCER.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90 — Central Intelligence Agency|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/97unclass/ufo.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613113822/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/97unclass/ufo.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> The goal of the project was to collect, evaluate, and distribute within the government all information relating to UFO sightings, on the premise that they might represent a national security concern.<ref name=":0" />

On April 27, 1949, the U.S. Air Force publicly released a paper prepared by the Intelligence Division of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio.<ref name=":1">Associated Press, Flying Discs Held No Joke, The Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), April 27, 1949, p. D13.</ref> The paper stated that while some UFOs appeared to represent actual aircraft, there was not enough data to determine their origin.<ref name="Blum1990">Blum, Howard, Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials. Simon and Schuster, 1990</ref> Almost all cases were explained by ordinary causes, but the report recommended a continuation of the investigation of all sightings.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Project Sign was first asserted in the 1956 book ''[[The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects]]'' by retired Air Force Captain [[Edward J. Ruppelt]] who later directed [[Project Blue Book]]. In this he also claimed that ''Sign'' had produced an "Estimate of the Situation" which endorsed an interplanetary explanation for UFOs, but [[Hoyt Vandenberg|General Hoyt Vandenberg]], Chief of Staff of the Air Force, shut down Project Sign for lack of proof.<ref name="Ruppelt">{{cite book|last=Ruppelt|first=Edward J|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17346/pg17346-images.html|title=The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects|publisher=Doubleday & Company|year=1960|edition=2nd}}</ref> No copy of this document or any other corroboration of Ruppelt's claim has been produced, and ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'' called the report "probably more mythological than real".<ref>{{Cite web|title=50 Years Ago, the Air Force Tried to Make UFOs Go Away. It Didn't Work.|url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a30257166/project-blue-book-anniversary/|last=Banias|first=M. J.|date=2019-12-17|website=Popular Mechanics|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-03}}</ref>

Project Sign was followed by Project Grudge after a conclusion was reached that UFO reports could be exploited by a foreign power to induce panic in the population and were therefore a military issue in the post-WW II, [[Cold War]] climate. This led Project Grudge to publicly disparage all UFO reports as the result of "a. Misidentifications of various conventional objects. b. A mild form of mass-hysteria and war nerves. c. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetuate a hoax or to seek publicity. d. Psychopathological persons."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Project Blue Book : the top secret UFO files that revealed a government cover-up|others=Steiger, Brad|year=2019|isbn=978-1-59003-300-5|location=Newburyport, MA|oclc=1078162415}}</ref>{{Unreliable fringe source|date=July 2022}}