scientists and industrialists. This is what the Air Force knows about
unidentified flying objects.

You may not agree with some of the official ideas or conclusions--
neither did a lot of people I briefed--but this is the story.

CHAPTER TWO

The Era of Confusion Begins

On September 23, 1947, the chief of the Air Technical Intelligence
Center, one of the Air Force's most highly specialized intelligence
units, sent a letter to the Commanding General of the then Army Air
Forces.

The letter was in answer to the Commanding General's verbal request
to make a preliminary study of the reports of unidentified flying
objects. The letter said that after a preliminary study of UFO
reports, ATIC concluded that, to quote from the letter, "the reported
phenomena were real." The letter strongly urged that a permanent
project be established at ATIC to investigate and analyze future UFO
reports. It requested a priority for the project, a registered code
name, and an over-all security classification. ATICs request was
granted and Project Sign, the forerunner of Project Grudge and
Project Blue Book, was launched. It was given a 2A priority, 1A being
the highest priority an Air Force project could have. With this the
Air Force dipped into the most prolonged and widespread controversy
it has ever, or may ever, encounter. The Air Force grabbed the
proverbial bear by the tail and to this day it hasn't been able to
let loose.

The letter to the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces from the
chief of ATIC had used the word "phenomena." History has shown that
this was not a too well-chosen word. But on September 23, 1947, when
the letter was written, ATICs intelligence specialists were confident
that within a few months or a year they would have the answer to the
question, "What are UFO's?" The question, "Do UFO's exist?" was never
mentioned. The only problem that confronted the people at ATIC was,
"Were the UFO's of Russian or interplanetary origin?" Either case
called for a serious, secrecy-shrouded project. Only top people at
ATIC were assigned to Project Sign.

Although a formal project for UFO investigation wasn't set up until
September 1947, the Air Force had been vitally interested in UFO
reports ever since June 24, 1947, the day Kenneth Arnold made the
original UFO report.

As Arnold's story of what he saw that day has been handed down by
the bards of saucerism, the true facts have been warped, twisted, and
change