It is an archive entry pointing to the declassified 1953 report of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects — commonly called the Robertson Panel — convened by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. The document is published through the CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room.

Who convened the panel and who chaired it?

It was convened by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and chaired by physicist H.P. Robertson, with a small group of nonmilitary scientists. The authoritative source is the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room document linked from this record.

Can I view or download the report on this archive?

No. This archive is link-only and hosts no copy of the report. To read it, use the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room source linked from this record, which is authoritative.

Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)

CIA Report landing 1950s Official link verified

Summary

The declassified 1953 report of the CIA-convened Scientific Advisory Panel on UFOs (the 'Robertson Panel'), chaired by physicist H.P. Robertson, which the report states found no evidence of a direct physical threat to national security.

This is the declassified report of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects, convened by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and meeting 14–18 January 1953. Known as the Robertson Panel after its chairman, physicist H.P. Robertson, the group of nonmilitary scientists reviewed the available UFO evidence. According to the report, the panel found no evidence of a direct physical threat to national security and recommended a public-education program to remove the "special status" attached to UFO reports, along with monitoring of private UFO groups. The document is published through the CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room. This archive links the official record only and endorses no conclusion beyond what the document records.

Common questions

What is this record?: It is an archive entry pointing to the declassified 1953 report of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects — commonly called the Robertson Panel — convened by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. The document is published through the CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room.
What did the panel conclude?: According to the report, the panel found no evidence that UFOs posed a direct physical threat to national security, and it recommended a public-education program to remove the 'special status' attached to UFO reports, along with monitoring of private UFO groups. This archive reports the document's stated conclusions and does not endorse them.
Who convened the panel and who chaired it?: It was convened by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence and chaired by physicist H.P. Robertson, with a small group of nonmilitary scientists. The authoritative source is the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room document linked from this record.
Can I view or download the report on this archive?: No. This archive is link-only and hosts no copy of the report. To read it, use the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room source linked from this record, which is authoritative.

Source & Classification

Agency: Central Intelligence Agency →
Record type: Report landing
Decade: 1950s
Review status: published
Publication status: published

Official source link

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124

Documents are linked to their official source pages, with a local preservation copy of the public-domain U.S.-government document where available; the official source is authoritative. Videos are linked, not hosted. Copyright and license notes are recorded per source.

Topics

Cite this record

Central Intelligence Agency. "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)". 1950s. Official source: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124. Cataloged by the independent UAP Records Archive (not an official or government source): https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report/.

APA

Central Intelligence Agency. (1950s). Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124

MLA

Central Intelligence Agency. "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)." 1950s, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124.

Chicago

Central Intelligence Agency. "Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)." 1950s. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124.

BibTeX

@misc{uaprecords_cia-1953-robertson-panel-report,
  title  = {Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)},
  author = {Central Intelligence Agency},
  year   = {1950s},
  howpublished = {Official source: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124},
  note   = {Cataloged by the independent UAP Records Archive — not an official or government source},
  url    = {https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report/}
}

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<figure style="max-width:600px;margin:0;">
  <a href="https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report/"><img src="https://uap-archive.org/og/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report.png" alt="Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953) — UAP Records Archive" width="600" style="width:100%;height:auto;border:0;" loading="lazy"></a>
  <figcaption style="font-size:13px;line-height:1.5;">Central Intelligence Agency. &quot;Report of the Scientific Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects (Robertson Panel, 1953)&quot;. 1950s. Official source: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0005516124. Cataloged by the independent UAP Records Archive (not an official or government source): https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report/. <a href="https://uap-archive.org/uap/records/cia-1953-robertson-panel-report/">View record →</a></figcaption>
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Evidence

License note (source-level)

Declassified U.S. Central Intelligence Agency document, released through the CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room; a work of the U.S. Government, generally in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. §105. Any third-party matter reproduced within the document may carry separate rights and would be assessed per item before any indexed or monetized release.

Archivist note

The declassified report of the Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects — commonly called the Robertson Panel after its chairman, physicist H.P. Robertson — convened by the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence and meeting 14–18 January 1953. The panel of nonmilitary scientists reviewed the available UFO evidence and, according to the report, concluded that it showed no direct physical threat to national security; the panel recommended that national-security agencies strip UFOs of the “special status” they had acquired through a public-education program and that private UFO groups be monitored. This record links the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room document page and its archived snapshot; it hosts no local copy. This archive is independent and is not an official or government source, asserts no extraterrestrial origin, and endorses no conclusion beyond what the official document records.

Uncertainty / Limits

Archive state (this release)

Official source cia.gov ↗
Archived 2025-02-13 ↗
Added to archive 2026-07-05
Last revised 2026-07-05

Record status: Official link verified
Review status: published
Publication status: published
Local copy: Not stored in U3
Summary: Published
Translation: Published — View in 中文 →

U3 does not download or locally store source files; the official CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room document and its archive snapshot are the authoritative public access points.

Translation

View in 中文 →