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Lately declassified FBI paperwork obtained by Expanding Frontiers Research reveal how UFO researcher Ivan Sanderson assisted federal authorities throughout Chilly Warfare-era investigations involving the UFO analysis group. |
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Sanderson, a former British intelligence officer and outstanding UFO researcher,
initiated contact with the FBI in 1958 concerning what he described as
subversive actions at New York Saucer Info Bureau (NYSIB) conferences.
Working with Swedish-born author and editor Hans Santesson, Sanderson reported
that these conferences, ostensibly targeted on UFO data, have been truly
getting used to advertise Communist Celebration actions.
In line with the 1958 FBI memo, each Sanderson and Santesson have been interviewed
by the Bureau and expressed willingness to cooperate in furnishing data
sooner or later.
A newly obtained 1963 FBI memo exhibits the Bureau approached Sanderson once more,
this time in search of help in an investigation of Robert Theodore Stark, who
was employed in 1957 by the Bogen-Presto Division of Siegler Company in
Paramus, New Jersey. The memo doesn’t make clear the explanations for FBI curiosity in
Stark.
Throughout this interplay, FBI brokers confirmed Sanderson {a photograph} of Stark.
Sanderson indicated the person seemed acquainted however couldn’t place him. He then
supplied brokers with names of people that might have been extra presently lively
with NYSIB and subsequently higher positioned to assist establish Stark and supply
associated data.
Among the many people Sanderson referenced was Isabel Davis, a longtime member
of the Nationwide Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and UFO
group determine. The memo additionally mentions Lex Mebane and Ted Bloecher. Analysis
signifies Davis had co-founded Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York
(CSINY) in 1954 with Bloecher and Mebane.
Curiously, earlier Freedom of Info Act requests for information on
Isabel Davis had not produced responsive paperwork, probably as a result of her title
seems in recordsdata targeted on different topics like Stark.
The FBI additionally archived supplies associated to Santesson’s work past UFO
analysis, together with a clipping describing his function as a science fiction editor
and his writings on Muslim ideologies and their implications for the United
States. Santesson had additionally reviewed John McCoy’s 1957 pamphlet “They Shall Be
Gathered Collectively,” which handled UFOs and extraterrestrial contact.
Increasing Frontiers Analysis continues submitting FOIA requests associated to
these investigations, with extra materials anticipated to be obtained and
posted because the analysis continues. The group notes that customary FBI
database searches might not find all related paperwork when people are
talked about in recordsdata targeted on different topics.
These paperwork present perception into how federal authorities interacted with
civilian UFO researchers in the course of the Chilly Warfare interval, exhibiting at the very least one case
the place a outstanding UFO investigator voluntarily assisted FBI investigations on
a number of events.
