Bolender Memo (1969)

Background

Project Blue Book was the U.S. Air Force's official program for investigating unidentified flying objects. It ran from 1952 until it was closed, after a long run that began with Project Sign in 1948 and Project Grudge. The program's findings were shaped by the 1953 Robertson Panel, a CIA-convened group of scientists that concluded most sightings had prosaic explanations and recommended the Air Force de-emphasize UFOs. In 1966 the Air Force contracted the University of Colorado to study UFOs under physicist Edward U. Condon; the resulting Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects was published in January 1969 and was reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences (Project 1947 SHG chronology; Project Blue Book, Wikipedia).

The memo

Dated 20 October 1969 and signed "/s/ C.H. Bolender," the document was written by Brig. Gen. Carroll H. "Rip" Bolender, Deputy Director of Development in the Air Force's research and development office. It recommended terminating Blue Book, stating that "the continuation of Project Blue Book cannot be justified" on national security or scientific grounds. It also proposed cancelling the regulation governing the program, not renewing a consultant contract, and transferring the records to Air Force archives. The memo said that reports which could affect national security were handled under existing reporting procedures (JANAP 146 and AFM 55-11) and "are not part of the Blue Book system," citing the Robertson Panel's finding of no direct physical threat to national security (NICAP analysis).

The memo lists sixteen attachments on a separate page. Those attachments have not been released. Researcher Robert Todd obtained the document in January 1979, and copies later circulated among researchers (NICAP).

Termination and the official record

Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans Jr. announced the end of Blue Book on 17 December 1969, saying further funding "cannot be justified either on the grounds of national security or in the interest of science." The Air Force's closing statement reported 12,618 sightings over the program's life, of which 701 remained unidentified. It concluded that no reported object posed a threat to national security and that no evidence showed the sightings reflected technology beyond present science or extraterrestrial origin (U.S. National Archives; Project Blue Book, Wikipedia). Researcher Brad Sparks, citing a 1970 NICAP publication, argues the last day of activity was 30 January 1970 and that the official date was altered in the files.

Disputes and open questions

The memo's status is contested. NICAP's analysis notes that the copy is labelled "The Bolender Draft (Not Memo)," and its routing sheet has handwritten entries such as "Draft ?" and several illegible signatures. NICAP does not describe a formal dispute over this labelling, but it does make clear that the signed document is the one circulated (NICAP).

The central question is what the memo's last paragraph means. Read one way, it marks the official end of Air Force UFO investigation, with national-security reports passing through an existing reporting channel. Read another way, it shows that a separate track for security-relevant reports continued after Blue Book closed. Without the sixteen attachments, neither reading can be confirmed, and the Air Force has not explained what the "standard Air Force procedure" involved.

Significance

The Bolender memo is one of the few signed internal documents that connects the termination of Blue Book to a continuing channel for national-security UFO reports. It is therefore cited both by historians who see the 1969 closure as a real end to official study and by researchers who think the Air Force kept a quieter process running. The record itself is well documented: the signed copy, the date, and the official announcement are all verifiable. The interpretation of what it left in place is still open.