The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) was founded in Washington DC in 1956 and became the most credible civilian UAP research organization of the 20th century. Its director, retired Marine Corps Major Donald Keyhoe, spent nearly 20 years pushing for Congressional hearings on UAP — ultimately succeeding in 1966. The NICAP archive is the most comprehensive pre-government-disclosure UAP case database in existence.
Donald Keyhoe and the Congressional Campaign
Major Donald Keyhoe was the author of “Flying Saucers Are Real” (1950) and several subsequent books. As NICAP director he systematically compiled military and civilian UAP encounter reports and corresponded with members of Congress to push for formal hearings. His 1966 CBS documentary appearance — in which his remarks were cut off mid-sentence by the network — became a landmark moment in the history of UAP suppression. Congressional hearings did eventually follow, in 1966, when the Air Force’s Blue Book explanations were publicly challenged.
The NICAP Archive
NICAP’s case files, correspondence, and documentation were transferred to the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) after NICAP dissolved in the late 1970s. The archive includes: thousands of documented UAP cases with witness statements, physical evidence reports, radar confirmation data, and military pilot accounts. The archive is searchable at nicap.org and cufos.org.
Key NICAP-documented cases include: the Levelland, Texas mass sightings (1957), the Portage County police chase (1966), the RB-47 radar/visual case (1957), and hundreds of military pilot encounters from the 1950s and 1960s — many of which are now confirmed through declassified Blue Book files.
Source: nicap.org, cufos.org. NICAP founded 1956, Washington DC. Director: Major Donald Keyhoe (USMC, ret.).