TO: Brigadier General Garland ATIA~-5/C~pt E.J.

Ruppelt/vs/65365
CG, ATIC 1 December 1952 .
MEJ10RANDUM FOR RECORD

PROBLEM:

1. To request approval of ATIC officer for travel to Los Alamos, N. H.;

KirUand AFB, N. M.; and Dobbins AFB, Ga., regarding Project Blue Book.

FACTS AND DISCUSSION:

2. On 23 Octob.er 1952, Col Bower and. Capt Ruppelt briefed a group of
scientists at Los Alamos, New ~fuxico. At that time, mention was made of the
fact that there have been occasions where reports of UF01s have been correlated
with the detection of increased radiation. At the time of the conference the
general aspects of these occurrences wer~ obtained. Since that time they have
been studied and discussed with numerous persons end a great many additional
questions have come up. In light of the possible significance of these corre-
lations further investigation is believed to be warranted.
3. Since Blue Book does not have personnel with the necessary skills to
make the final decision as to whether or not there is any significance in these
. correlations, it will have to be done by a contractor or other outside agency.
Previous to giving this to an outside group, however, it is neces~2ry for Blue
Book to gather more facts so that they will be able to more adequately present
the case and justify fUrther action.
4. At Los Alamos the people who made the original correlations will be
contacted and the complete account including names of people, backgrounds, types
of equipment used, etc., will be obtained. In addition, these people have given
the subject a great deal of serious thought and will be able to pass on their
ideas for ATIC's consideration.
5. In the event instrumentation in the areas of the greatest concentrations
of sightings is attempted (i.e., Los Alamos - Albuquerque and Oak Ridge) .AOO in-
stallations and communications will be utilized as much as possible. In order to
make tentative plans for the utilization of these facilities, it is advisable to
contact the 34th Air Division at Kirtland AFB and the 35th Air Division at Dobbj~s
. AFB, Ga. The 34th controls the defense of the Los Alamos area and the 35th the
Oak: F!idge and Savannah River areas. The actual locations of their radars, fighters
and communication nets will be determined.
6. Contacts with these people will be established as soon as this request
is concurred upon.

7. It is further requested that some member of the Section offic~, ~~jor

Hermon or ~~jor Gregory, accompany Capt Ruppelt. Since this phase of Blue Book
may develop into a major project in itself, it is believed highly advisable for
one of them to get the basic facts directly from the source.

/~/kl 67 oRI.. ~_ 0-1 O(U 2t.Ye~ ... ":'

Z -VI!" C (q 'l ~ "2-.
.....
 Subject. Trip to Los Alamos on 2) Ootober 1952

fACTS AIJD DISCUSSIOll

1. On 23 Ootober 1952, Col D. L. Bower and Capt E. J. Ruppelt of ATIC
presented 0. briefing at the Loo Alamos Scientific Laboratory. After the briefing
Col Dauer and Capt Ruppelt met with seven people from the lab who were interested
in the subjcot of UFO's.

2. Previous to this meeting, several of the members of the group had Det
Capt Ruppel t en:i Haj I. H. lIerzrum at a meeting of tho C1vUia..'1 Saucer Investigators
in Los Angeles. At that time these people mentioned having Boma data on a cQ~
lation between, the de'tcction of soma type of rndia.tion and visual a ht s of'

--
0'0.
3. At the 23 Oot 52 meeting at Los Alamos more details on the above mentioned
subject'lare obtained. The first incident ocourred several years ago at the Nt.
Palamar Observatory in California. A series of gieger counters had been set up
to study cosmic ray activity. One person involved in the study hap~ened to be
outdoors when he aaw a V o! VI a of shiny objeots go over. He int::lediately want
inside the observatory end found that the counters had just "pinned 1/ (i.e. gone
up to e. ]Mxirxum reading). This naturally aroused the curiosity of the people on
the projeot and they agreed that i f it over hapooned again they would :look outside.
Sorno time later it did happen and they 1oor..ed, out and observed a dark object passing
over head.
4. The Navy, it vas a Navy como ray' contraot, supposedly investigated,
vrote a report, and concluded that this way was all due to a circuit failure.
ThG people operntine the equipnent also, checked and are claimed to have flatly
denied this saying that due to the circuitry it \oIould be impossible for sil:dlar
failures to occur in all the circuits at ,the same time.

5. Shortly after this occurance, one of tho persons imrolved in the in-
cidents at Palamar IlX>ved to Los A.l.anos. F.a continued to be interested ODd also
interea"tP.,d BOLle friends in setting up the same type of equipment on their own
time. They did t.'Us and they also detected unknown radiation. In tuo instanoes,
they were able to oorre1ate these \lith newspaper reports of the sighting of an
'UFO. In these instances the people could not get outside to observe and had to
depend on newspaper reports of UFOIS for correlations.

6. Similar observations of radiation from an unknown source were made onz

1 Oct 50
:2 Oct ~o
-- 1921 J.fST
1401 HST
4 Oot 50 2305 1151
9 Oot 50 - 0855 HST

The oquipmont WlLS kept ill operation untU December 1950 with no more pick-ups.
At that tiI:le tho equipment VIas ~tled . (lotc: Tho above WaB cheoked in
IUNCLASSlr It:;U

i
ATE Blue Book tUe but there was no record of any incidents on these dates.
'!'his docs not mean very much, however, since it 1 kno\,m tl lot
oident files were destro a ut
7. A photograph of one of tho gieGer counter sot-ups, a diagram ot the
set-up, and copies of the traces of records are shown in the attachments to
this report. . .

8. It should be noted that all ot the }?E!oEle involved in this are 9\1.Slif'ie ll
soientists working at 19s Alamos. They have ohecked everY possible source of tt2
radiation the can think of 8..'1d can.~t acoount f< They ha.ve discussed this
maIlY peoplo including we wscientiato visl ting los AlDJilOS .and thore is
no ready explanation:l 6i thar tor the source of tho radi d 0
correIitIon bOtwoen visual. ~ s 8lld the rodia tion.

9. Report:3 ot these incidents ""'ere made to the Security Force at. ItJs Almnos
and suppOsedly vere to be forwarded to tho Air Force. A:J far as CUll be de1.Or.J.ined, V
they vere nc.'ver received at. ATlp.

COUCLUSIOHS

11. The acoounts of these incidents are still rather vague, toQ vague to
drav any de!inite conclusions 8.S to \lh~ther or not further action :-.hocl.d be taken,....,
to investigate all radiation monitoring stations in the U.S. to detemine if more
correlations are present.
RECmg,tENIJATIOllS

12. It is recommended that:

a. All. possible details of the los Alamos and Pal.amar sightings be

obtained. 'lhio can be accomplished by attempting to locate both the reports made
by the Navy (paragraph 4) and thc Secur!ty Force at Los Alamos (par8.0oraph 9) ..".
reports. In the meantime the people at Los Alamos should be contacted to eet
. their oomplete story both as a cross oheck on the reports and in case the reports
oannot be locate!i.

b. Get all details on the incidents at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

UNCLASSIFIED