Editing Project Blue Book (section)

===Captain Ruppelt era===

According to Captain [[Edward J. Ruppelt]], by the end of 1951, several high-ranking, very influential USAF generals were so dissatisfied with the state of Air Force UFO investigations that they dismantled Project Grudge and replaced it with Project Blue Book in March 1952. One of these men was Gen. [[Charles P. Cabell]]. Another important change came when General [[William Garland (Air Force Officer)|William Garland]] joined Cabell's staff; Garland thought the UFO question deserved serious scrutiny because he had witnessed a UFO.<ref name=swords103>Michael D. Swords; "UFOs, the Military, and the Early Cold War Era", pp. 82–121 in "UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge" David M. Jacobs, editor; 2000, University Press of Kansas, {{ISBN|0700610324}}; p. 103.</ref>

The new name, Project Blue Book, was selected to refer to the blue booklets used for testing at some colleges and universities. The name was inspired, said Ruppelt, by the close attention that high-ranking officers were giving the new project; it felt as if the study of UFOs was as important as a college final exam. Blue Book was also upgraded in status from Project Grudge, with the creation of the [[Aerial Phenomenon Branch]].<ref>see Clark, 1998</ref>

Ruppelt was the first head of the project. He was an experienced airman, having been decorated for his efforts with the Army Air Corps during [[World War II]], and having afterward earned an aeronautics degree. He officially coined the term "Unidentified Flying Object", to replace the many terms ("flying saucer", "flying disk" and so on) the military had previously used; Ruppelt thought that "unidentified flying object" was a more neutral and accurate term. Ruppelt resigned from the Air Force some years later and wrote the book ''The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects'', which described the study of UFOs by the United States Air Force from 1947 to 1955.  American scientist [[Michael D. Swords]] wrote that "Ruppelt would lead the last genuine effort to analyze UFOs".<ref name=swords102>Michael D. Swords; "UFOs, the Military, and the Early Cold War Era", p. 102</ref>

Ruppelt implemented a number of changes: He streamlined the manner in which UFOs were reported to (and by) military officials, partly in hopes of alleviating the stigma and ridicule associated with UFO witnesses. Ruppelt also ordered the development of a standard questionnaire for UFO witnesses, hoping to uncover data that could be subject to statistical analysis. He commissioned the [[Battelle Memorial Institute]] to create the questionnaire and computerize the data. Using case reports and the computerized data, Battelle then conducted a massive scientific and statistical study of all Air Force UFO cases, completed in 1954 and known as "[[#Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14|Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14]]" (see summary below).

Knowing that factionalism had harmed the progress of [[Project Sign]], Ruppelt did his best to avoid the kinds of open-ended speculation that had led to Sign's personnel being split among advocates and critics of the [[extraterrestrial hypothesis]]. As Michael Hall writes, "Ruppelt not only took the job seriously but expected his staff to do so as well. If anyone under him either became too skeptical or too convinced of one particular theory, they soon found themselves off the project".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/51-69.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061209172010/http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/51-69.htm|archive-date = December 9, 2006|title = Project Blue Book 1951–1969}}</ref> In his book, Ruppelt reported that he fired three personnel very early in the project because they were either "too pro" or "too con" one hypothesis or another. Ruppelt sought the advice of many scientists and experts, and issued regular [[press releases]] (along with classified monthly reports for military intelligence).

Each U.S. Air Force Base had a Blue Book officer to collect UFO reports and forward them to Ruppelt.<ref name=Blum>Blum, Howard, ''Out There: The Government's Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials'', Simon and Schuster, 1990</ref> During most of Ruppelt's tenure, he and his team were authorized to interview any and all military personnel who witnessed UFOs and were not required to follow the [[chain of command]]. This unprecedented authority underlined the seriousness of Blue Book's investigation.

Under Ruppelt's direction, Blue Book investigated a number of well-known UFO cases, including the so-called [[Lubbock Lights]], and a widely publicized 1952 radar/visual case over [[Washington D.C.]] According to [[Jacques Vallée]],<ref>Jacques Vallee, ''Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore and Parallel Worlds'' (1969)</ref> Ruppelt started the trend, largely followed by later Blue Book investigations, of not giving serious consideration to numerous reports of UFO landings and/or interaction with purported UFO occupants.

Astronomer [[J. Allen Hynek]] was the scientific consultant of the project.  He had been with Projects Sign and Grudge. He worked for the project up to its termination and initially created the categorization which has been extended and is known today as [[Close encounter]]s. He was a pronounced skeptic when he started, but said that his feelings changed to a more wavering skepticism during the research, after encountering a minority of UFO reports he thought were unexplainable. <!-- whoever wrote the following sentence: "according to what is often said on web pages.  The book he wrote (Close Encounters) stated the opposite and explains how such misinformation arises." is clueless. Hynek never wrote a book called "Close Encounters," and several of his books devote considerable space to UFO reports Hynek regards as inexplicable.-->

Ruppelt left Blue Book in February 1953 for a temporary reassignment. He returned a few months later to find his staff reduced from more than ten, to two subordinates. Frustrated, Ruppelt suggested that an Air Defense Command unit (the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron) be charged with UFO investigations.

====Robertson Panel====
{{Main|Robertson Panel}}

In July 1952, after a build-up of hundreds of sightings over the previous few months, a series of radar detections coincident with visual sightings were observed near the National Airport in Washington, D.C. (see [[1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident]]).

After much publicity, these sightings led the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to establish a panel of scientists headed by [[Howard P. Robertson|H. P. Robertson]], a physicist of the California Institute of Technology, which included various physicists, meteorologists, and engineers, and one astronomer (Hynek). The Robertson Panel first met on January 14, 1953 in order to formulate a response to the overwhelming public interest in UFOs.

Ruppelt, Hynek, and others presented the best evidence, including movie footage, that had been collected by Blue Book. After spending 12 hours reviewing 6 years of data, the Robertson Panel concluded that most UFO reports had prosaic explanations and that all could be explained with further investigation, which they deemed not worth the effort.

In their final report, they stressed that low-grade, unverifiable UFO reports were overloading intelligence channels, with the risk of missing a genuine conventional threat to the U.S. Therefore, they recommended the Air Force de-emphasize the subject of UFOs and embark on a debunking campaign to lessen public interest. They suggested debunkery through the mass media, including [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Productions]], and using psychologists, astronomers, and celebrities to ridicule the phenomenon and put forward prosaic explanations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mirage Men: A Journey into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs.|last=Pilkington|first=Mark|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ3BBAAAQBAJ&q=%22walt+disney%22+ufo*+alien*+1955|pages=193–194|isbn=978-1849012409}}</ref> Furthermore, civilian UFO groups "should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking ... The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind."{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}

It is the conclusion of many researchers<ref name=Blum/><ref name=clark>Jerome Clark, ''The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial'', 1998; Detroit: Visible Ink Press, {{ISBN|1578590299}}</ref> that the Robertson Panel was recommending controlling public opinion through a program of official propaganda and spying. They also believe these recommendations helped shape Air Force policy regarding UFO study not only immediately afterward, but also into the present day. There is evidence that the Panel's recommendations were being carried out at least two decades after its conclusions were issued (see the main article for details and citations).

In December 1953, Joint Army-Navy-Air Force Regulation number 146 made it a crime for military personnel to discuss classified UFO reports with unauthorized persons. Violators faced up to two years in prison and/or fines of up to $10,000.

====Aftermath of Robertson Panel====
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2012}}
{{Wikisource|Air Force Regulation 200-2, Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting}}
In his book (see external links) Ruppelt described the demoralization of the Blue Book staff and the stripping of their investigative duties following the Robertson Panel jurisdiction.

As an immediate consequence of the Robertson Panel recommendations, in February 1953, the Air Force issued Regulation 200-2, ordering air base officers to publicly discuss UFO incidents only if they were judged to have been solved, and to classify all the unsolved cases to keep them out of the public eye.

The same month, investigative duties started to be taken on by the newly formed 4602nd Air Intelligence Squadron (AISS) of the Air Defense Command. The 4602nd AISS was assigned the task of investigating only the most important UFO cases with intelligence or national security implications. These cases were deliberately siphoned away from Blue Book, leaving Blue Book to deal with the more trivial reports.

General [[Nathan F. Twining|Nathan Twining]], who started Project Sign in 1947, was now Air Force Chief of Staff. In August 1954, he was to further codify the responsibilities of the 4602nd AISS by issuing an updated Air Force Regulation 200-2. In addition, UFOs (called "UFOBs") were defined as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object."  Investigation of UFOs was stated to be for the purposes of national security and to ascertain "technical aspects." AFR 200-2 again stated that Blue Book could discuss UFO cases with the media only if they were regarded as having a conventional explanation. If they were unidentified, the media was to be told only that the situation was being analyzed. Blue Book was also ordered to reduce the number of unidentified to a minimum.

All this work was done secretly. The public face of Blue Book continued to be the official Air Force investigation of UFOs, but the reality was it had essentially been reduced to doing very few serious investigations and had become almost solely a public relations outfit with a debunking mandate. To cite one example, by the end of 1956, the number of cases listed as unsolved had dipped to barely 0.4 percent, from 20 to 30% only a few years earlier.

Eventually, Ruppelt requested reassignment; at his departure in August 1953, his staff had been reduced from more than ten (precise numbers of personnel varied) to just two subordinates and himself. His temporary replacement was a [[noncommissioned officer]]. Most who succeeded him as Blue Book director exhibited either apathy or outright hostility to the subject of UFOs or were hampered by a lack of funding and official support.

UFO investigators often regard Ruppelt's brief tenure at Blue Book as the high-water mark of public Air Force investigations of UFOs, when UFO investigations were treated seriously and had support at high levels.<ref name=clark /> Thereafter, Project Blue Book descended into a new "Dark Ages" from which many UFO investigators argue it never emerged.<ref name=clark /> However, Ruppelt later came to embrace the Blue Book perspective that there was nothing extraordinary about UFOs; he even labeled the subject a "Space Age Myth".