Australia: Air Force urged to resume UFO summaries
On August 16, 1966, Australia's public relations chief requested the Air Force Intelligence to reverse its decision halting public UFO sighting summaries. This aimed to counter suspicions of government secrecy, with publications continuing sporadically until the late 1970s.
Background
Background
In August 1966, Australia's Directorate of Air Force Intelligence decided to stop making publicly available the summaries of UFO reports submitted to the Department of Air. This came amid growing public interest in unidentified aerial appearances.
The Letter of August 16
The head of the Directorate of Public Relations wrote to the intelligence branch asking for the measure to be reconsidered. He argued that continued publication was helpful in answering enquiries from the public, and that stopping it would reinforce the impression that the government was concealing information.
Effects and Continuation
The request led to the reports continuing to be published intermittently until the end of the 1970s. The episode points to tensions between transparency and military reticence in Australian UFO policy. No specific witnesses beyond the officials involved are named; the evidence is the internal correspondence. Its significance lies in the official engagement with public perceptions of secrecy (based on Swords 393–394).