The FBI's Chicago office tells a researcher it does not collect information on UFO sightings
October 10, 1974 · FBI Chicago Field Office, Illinois · Government report · Primary document linked
In September 1974 a UFO researcher wrote to the FBI's Chicago office asking for its records on an alleged 8 April 1954 sighting, described in a U.S. Army report, of an occupied UFO that Coast Guard personnel pursued, which briefly landed while its occupant walked about. On 10 October 1974 Special Agent in Charge Richard G. Held replied that the FBI had no information on the sighting and 'does not collect information regarding UFO sightings in general', since it may investigate only matters delegated by Congress and 'UFO sightings are not such matters'. The same file holds a 1967 memo in which a Chicago agent took a phone report from an eleven-year-old who heard a 'weird' noise and saw a flash of light, and passed it to an Air Force radar squadron.
Era: After Blue Book · Threads: Intelligence and the FBI, Secrecy and disclosure
Why it matters (2/5)
A field office's reply stating FBI policy on UFO reports; it changed nothing at the time.
Caveats
The 1954 Army report itself is not in the release, so the alleged sighting is unverified here. The FBI interview reports of UAP sightings from 2023 onward, released in 2026, show the bureau recording such accounts in later years.
Sources
- Correspondence Relating to UFO Sightings 1967 1974 (FBI-UAP-D014) (Federal Bureau of Investigation (released by the Department of War)), primary