CIA-UAP-015, Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 (Analysis of Reports of Unidentified Aerial Objects)
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 03
Official WAR.gov Release 03 pdf record CIA-UAP-015: CIA-UAP-015, Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 (Analysis of Reports of Unidentified Aerial Objects). Agency: CIA; incident context: not specified, not specified.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
This document is Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 with a CIA cover sheet marking it as the “Official Record Copy.” The report analyzes about 4,000 reports of unidentified aerial objects from 1947 through 1952. It stresses methodological limits, the subjective nature of much sighting data, and uncertainty around radar reports without visual confirmation.
Why this is interesting
- A central historical analytical document from USAF Project Blue Book.
- Describes systematic categorization and statistical review of sighting reports.
- Distinguishes visual reports, radar reports, and “UNKNOWN SIGHTINGS.”
- Explicitly warns about errors in visually estimating size, distance, and speed.
Selected passages
- p. 12: The study was undertaken to categorize sighting reports and assess whether any represented “flying saucers.”
- p. 14: The dataset consisted of about 4,000 sighting reports from June 1947 through December 1952.
- p. 24: The report describes applying scientific methods to subjective reports of unidentified aerial objects.
- p. 87: Radar reports are treated cautiously; without a visual sighting they were considered insignificant for the study.
Background
This is the USAF Project Blue Book with a CIA cover sheet stating the document is "Official Record Copy." With the exception of the handwritten note on the first page, the content of this document has been available on CIA's public website.