CIA and UFO Declassified Documents

Summary

In 1966, the CIA received a call from the U.S. Air Force Office of Information regarding a declassified UFO report. Sara Hunt, an Air Force representative, contacted them to check the status of the declassification process. According to the record, Walter Mackiej informed her that the report had already been declassified and was being retyped for delivery. Hunt showed remarkable restraint when no specific timeline was provided, though she gently pressed for more details. During the call, Hunt mentioned that a journalist, John Hearne, had published an article on UFOs in the previous week’s *Saturday Review*, and that they wanted to show the new version of the report to him as soon as it was available. This exchange highlights the growing public interest in UFO phenomena and the institutional caution in handling such information.

Although brief, the document offers a glimpse into the internal declassification process during the Cold War. The CIA and the military were working together to manage sensitive information, and in this case, UFOs were not exempt from that dynamic. The fact that the report was being retyped suggests it was an official document rather than a casual record. The mention of a journalist indicates that the information was already circulating in the media, adding pressure on authorities to respond transparently. These types of exchanges were common in an era where national security and public information were in constant tension.