4. The FBI holds a file on the “New Project Blue Book”
Beginning in 1952, the United States Air Force (USAF) conducted a project investigating the potential national security threat posed by unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The program, designated Project Blue Book, succeeded other USAF investigations including Project Sign (1947) and Project Grudge (1948). Project Blue Book headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Over the next 17 years, Project Blue Book analysts and researchers investigated thousands of reported sightings of UFOs. Over 12,000 reported sightings were investigated and analyzed, and the overwhelming majority of them attributed to natural phenomena or misidentified aircraft, including weather balloons. Throughout its existence Project Blue Book was subjected to criticisms. Accusations of government cover-ups over the existence and nature of UFOs and extraterrestrials followed it doggedly. It was accused of a lack of scientific methods, inadequate investigations, and poor analytical techniques.
In 1968, the report of another USAF study, conducted at the University of Colorado and referred to as the Condon Committee issued its report. It concluded that “…nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge”. It further recommended the US government not establish a program to investigate reported sightings of UFOs. Though the report, known as the Condon Report, was received with controversy, the following year the USAF officially terminated Project Blue Book. Its records and reports were turned over to the National Archives. After investigating 12,618 reported sightings, Project Blue Book listed 701 as unexplained. As soon as Project Blue Book ended, its findings came under attack by conspiracy theorists, who claimed a government cover-up of UFO information, as well as by scientists and analysts who criticized its methods and thus dismissed its conclusions.