Chadwell on Air Force briefing
On 2 December 1952, a memo from H Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director of OSI, for CIA’s DCI Walter Bedell Smith entitled “Unidentified Flying Objects” details a further Air Force briefing for CIA on 25 November 1952, stating that “at this time, the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention. … Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles.”.
Chadwell further stated ‘OSI is proceeding to the establishment of a consulting group of sufficient competence and stature to review this matter and convince the responsible authorities in the community that immediate research and development on this subject must be undertaken’. Chadwell attached a draft memorandum to the National Security Council.