Hiring experts to study unidentified objects

Summary

In 1953, the CIA sought to hire two prominent scientists, Luis Alvaros and Thornton Page, as consultants for a panel on unidentified flying objects. This panel was scheduled to meet in January of that year, and the agency wanted to ensure the consultants had the right qualifications. Alvaros was an expert in radar, while Page was an astronomer and physicist with an interest in the topic. The CIA reviewed its consultant registry and found no one with the necessary qualifications, so they decided to hire these two scientists.

The document shows that the CIA was taking the topic of UFOs seriously, seeking the best experts available. Consultants were expected to work at a rate of $800 per day, and approval for their hiring had already been obtained. Although the text has OCR errors, it clearly shows the CIA's interest in analyzing aerial phenomena with scientific rigor. This initiative reflected an institutional concern to better understand what was in the sky.