The CIA’s UFO FOIA collection contains a document that is rarely discussed in mainstream UAP coverage: a direct memorandum from H. Marshall Chadwell, the CIA’s Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence, to Director of Central Intelligence Walter Bedell Smith. Written in 1952 following the Washington DC radar incidents, Chadwell argued that the unidentified aerial objects required urgent national-level intelligence attention.
Who Chadwell Was
H. Marshall Chadwell was not a junior analyst. As Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence, he was the CIA official responsible for assessing foreign scientific and technical threats. When he wrote to the DCI about UAPs, it was in his professional capacity as the CIA’s chief science intelligence officer. His memo was not speculation. It was a formal intelligence assessment recommending executive action.
What the Memo Said
Chadwell’s memo to Bedell Smith argued that the CIA did not have adequate data to assess whether the objects were foreign technology, unknown natural phenomena, or something else entirely. He noted that sightings were occurring near sensitive military installations. He recommended that the DCI personally take responsibility for ensuring a proper scientific investigation was conducted. The memo contributed directly to the CIA convening the Robertson Panel the following January.
What It Means
The Chadwell memo documents a moment when the CIA’s own senior intelligence officer told the Director of Central Intelligence that the flying saucer problem was real, unresolved, and strategically significant. The Robertson Panel that followed — rather than investigating further — recommended debunking. The gap between Chadwell’s alarm and the Robertson Panel’s recommendation to downplay is itself one of the central anomalies of the official UAP record. Both documents are available in the CIA’s FOIA reading room at cia.gov/readingroom/collection/ufos-fact-or-fiction.
Source: CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room. cia.gov/readingroom/collection/ufos-fact-or-fiction. H. Marshall Chadwell memo, 1952.