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CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

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Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#71

Post by vasilipupkin »

antidamage wrote: post #62
jimrandomh wrote: post #22

I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify). A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead. But of course, the Soviets were very interested (or the US believed t…

I doubt the CIA were gaming Google in the 60s. It's also beyond ridiculous to think that a superpower like the USSR couldn't completely evaluate any material that came their way. The fake aircraft seems more reasonable though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#Development > The first two Ka-50 prototypes had false windows painted on them.[19] The "windows" evidently worked, as the first western reports of the…

don't overestimate Soviet competence. Soviet system was completely submersed in the sea of utter incompetence, with occasional pockets of competence here and there

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#72

Post by isaiahg »

At this point we're pretty settled that alien life probably exists in some form out there. Whether that alien life could evolve to create technology and build spacecraft is another thing. But the even bigger thing is when you take into account just how vast the distances involved are. It's just so unlikely that alien life could exist, develop technology, and then be in the same neighborhood as us.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#73

Post by azernik »

sanoli wrote: post #41
jimrandomh wrote: post #22

I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify). A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead. But of course, the Soviets were very interested (or the US believed t…

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#74

Post by spydum »

nathanm412 wrote: post #56
sanoli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

As a cashier when I was a teenager, I was told to ID and call in anyone with a check # under 500 with the assumption that low check numbers were less likely to be reliable. When I ordered my first book of checks a few years later, I started with # 1550 and was never bothered.

as recently as last year when opening another checking account, the bank clerk told me to start my check numbers at atleast 500 (you can specify when ordering checks). I asked her why, and that was also the same reason given. I laughed at the silliness of the idea, but took her advice anyways.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#76

Post by eastbayjake »

hyperpallium wrote: post #38
Jerry2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a kid, I asked my grandfather, who was at that time an AF Colonel (he's now passed away), whether UFOs were real and whether he has seen aliens. He just looked at me, took me aside, and told me that UFO stories were propagated by the "boys from Langley" as a way to hide experimental aircraft testing. That way, every report of some black plane that was seen by the public, would be chalked up to UFOs and Rus…

Like carrots. The British promulgated the belief that carrots improve eyesight to explain the effective of their aircraft spotters, instead of radar.

This is easily the craziest thing I've learned so far in 2016 and why I love reading Hacker News so much

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#77

Post by lafytahoe »

stvswn wrote: post #46
sanoli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

"Delta Force" is not what it's called, either. The Army cycles through bureaucratic sounding names -- "Combat Applications Group" for example -- in order to keep it confusing. "Delta" comes from one of these names -- "Operational Detachment: Delta." This sounds like an unimportant support team for a Special Forces group. "OD: Alpha" is the main team of green berets (aka, "ODA" or "the A-Team"). They are supported by…

The army of Western Virginia.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#79

Post by dogma1138 »

sanoli wrote: post #41
jimrandomh wrote: post #22

I'm surprised they're continuing the misdirection so many years later. "Unidentified flying object" means an aircraft, usually a military one (because civilian aircraft are easier to identify). A UFO over US soil would usually be a USAF plane, but the CIA ran (runs?) a reporting hotline because they might occasionally be foreign spy planes instead. But of course, the Soviets were very interested (or the US believed t…

There's probably a lot of this going. Comes to mind right now the way the Navy had about two seal teams in the beginning, and then decided to name the next one 'Team 6', to make it look like they had more. I've read about other examples, but can't remember right now.

Giving random numbers to regiments and battalions isn't new it's done partially due to historic honor and to prevent the enemy from getting accurate strength numbers by simply counting unit numbers.

Re: CIA declassifies hundreds of UFO documents

#80

Post by notthegov »

Jerry2 wrote: post #70
notthegov wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence CIA was responsible for the hoaxes? There is significant evidence that US Air Force was responsible for the hoaxes. And, of course, Area 51 is an Air Force Base. The relationship between the two seems acrimonious on this issue. Also "the CIA" sounds more sinister than the US Air Force so it makes the story better.

> There is significant evidence that US Air Force was responsible for the hoaxes. And, of course, Area 51 is an Air Force Base. Yes, Area 51 is an AF base but CIA has paid for most of the planes that were tested there in 50s, 60s and 70s. U-2 was paid for, in a large part, by a CIA budget [0]. Same goes for Lockheed A-12, a predecessor of SR-71, which too was paid for by the CIA [1]. Then there's Have Blue, a predece…

The CIA didn't exist until several months after the 1947 Roswell crash of a US Air Force "weather balloon".

The CIA doesn't have complete access to Area 51. They fund projects and advise, but there are projects and Special Access Programs that are outside of their mandate and authority.

It is probable that in the 50s, 60s and 70s the CIA advised the Air Force on disinformation or other tactics, but I do not believe UFO mythology was created by them. I am almost certain but, of course, I do not know everything and I have no evidence to support my assertion.

A large part of the UFO-government mythology did originate from a psyop against Paul Bennewitz perpetrated by the Air Force-

http://philipcoppens.com/bennewitz.html

The first time a UFO expert (Bruce Maccabee) spoke at the CIA was in the late 1970s.

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