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Article from the New York Times, USA, January 8, 1967.
Though the findings by the University of Colorado UFO study have not yet been made public, the AP yesterday circulated a fragmentary account of the principal conclusions in the report. It is expected that the report will be made public at the same time as the evaluation by the National Academy of Sciences requested by USAF.
After investigating hundreds of UFO incidents, Dr. Condon and his staff found that a number of episodes previously classed as inexplicable could be accounted for by natural means or by hoaxes. In some cases, witnesses with seemingly impeccable credentials were found to be self-contradictory and hence their accounts were of little value. The document states that no evidence could be found that UFOs were intelligently guided spacecraft from beyond the earth and thus a large scale effort to determine the nature of flying saucers would be a waste of time and money. There was also no evidence found that the government was withholding information about the objects from the public, except a reasonable USAF policy of delaying comment until an investigation was completed.
The Colorado group seems to have made every effort to remain aloof from any USAF influence. Thus, the cases it investigated were chosen largely from the recommendations of private groups, particularly NICAP. But as the investigative phase of the project drew to a close in late 1967, there was a falling out between Dr. Condon and Donald Keyhoe of NICAP, allegedly because of Dr. Condon's lack of sympathy for the view that some UFOs may be visitations from other worlds.
Other UFO enthusiasts were disenchanted when an internal university memorandum was presented in a magazine of national circulation as an indication of bias against proponents of the unidentified objects. The document, written before the project had begun, discussed whether the university could undertake the study without incurring ridicule from the academic world while still satisfying the public that an open-minded study was being made. Two members of the staff were dismissed, apparently for their role in removing the memorandum from the project's files. One was a psychologist, Dr. David R. Saunders, who had become a member of NICAP shortly before joining the Colorado project. This week a book went on sale written by Dr. Saunders a journalist from Boulder, R. Roger Harkins, entitled UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong. Saunders & Harkins argue that the Colorado investigation was a front contrived at the highest echelons of government to mask the truth, and that "someone on the project must be acting in a double role," which led to a mutual distrust among members.
PHOTOGRAPH: Dr. Condon (portrait) AP same as previous photograph of Condon.
More on this topic in the science section of my website.
Note: recently declassified documents from the CIA are the proof that Condon has not made "every effort to remains aloof from any USAF influence," but on the contrary, secretly delegated to the CIA the investigation of UFO photographs, for example.
