UFOs and Censorship: Managing Minds Through Media

Anyone who knows their UFO history will know of The Robertson Panel—a group of leading scientists assembled by US government physicist Howard Percy Robertson under the guidance of the CIA for the purpose of reviewing the US Air Force’s UFO files. In 1953 the panel concluded that UFOs did not pose a direct threat to national security, but suggested nonetheless that the USAF begin a “debunking” campaign employing the talents of psychiatrists, astronomers, and celebrities with the goal of demystifying UFO reports. Their formal recommendation was that: “The national security agencies take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying Objects of the special status they have been given and the aura of mystery they have unfortunately acquired.”