could make a big fool out of myself if the truth came
out. I checked into this thoroughly. I spent a lot of time talking to
people who had worked on Project Grudge.

The anti-saucer faction was born because of an old psychological
trait, people don't like to be losers. To be a loser makes one feel
inferior and incompetent. On September 23, 1947, when the chief of
ATIC sent a letter to the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces
stating that UFO's were real, intelligence committed themselves. They
had to prove it. They tried for a year and a half with no success.
Officers on top began to get anxious and the press began to get
anxious. They wanted an answer. Intelligence had tried one answer,
the then Top Secret Estimate of the Situation that "proved" that
UFO's were real, but it was kicked back. The people on the UFO
project began to think maybe the brass didn't consider them too sharp
so they tried a new hypothesis: UFO's don't exist. In no time they
found that this was easier to prove and it got recognition. Before if
an especially interesting UFO report came in and the Pentagon wanted
an answer, all they'd get was an "It could be real but we can't prove
it." Now such a request got a quick, snappy "It was a balloon," and
feathers were stuck in caps from ATIC up to the Pentagon. Everybody
felt fine.

In early 1949 the term "new look" was well known. The new look in
women's fashions was the lower hemlines, in automobiles it was longer
lines. In UFO circles the new look was cuss 'em.

The new look in UFO's was officially acknowledged on February 11,
1949, when an order was written that changed the name of the UFO
project from Project Sign to Project Grudge. The order was supposedly
written because the classified name, Project Sign, had been
compromised. This was always my official answer to any questions
about the name change. I'd go further and say that the names of the
projects, first Sign, then Grudge, had no significance. This wasn't
true, they did have significance, a lot of it.

CHAPTER FIVE

The Dark Ages

The order of February 11, 1949, that changed the name of Project
Sign to Project Grudge had not directed any change in the operating
policy of the project. It had, in fact, pointed out that the project
was to continue to investigate and evaluate reports of sightings of
unidentified flying objects. In doing this, standard intelligence
procedures would be used. This normally means the _unbiased_
_ev