State Department Memorandum 711.5612: "Increased Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects," July 28, 1952
State Department Memorandum 711.5612: "Increased Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects," July 28, 1952
Source file: 59_64634_711.5612 (RG 59, decimal file 711.5612) Originating agency: U.S. Department of State Classification: SECRET (declassified, approved for release 2026) Date: July 28, 1952 Page count: 2 PURSUE Release: 1
Summary
This is a two-page Department of State memorandum, filed in the State Department's central decimal files under 711.5612 and dated July 28, 1952. According to the official record, the memorandum "relates to increased reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs)." It sets out a set of possible explanations for the rise in sightings — among them technological improvements, the historical record of earlier UFO reports, and the opinions of the U.S. Air Force on the subject.
The document carries handwritten annotations and was originally marked Secret.
Research Article
Context: late July 1952
The memorandum's date places it precisely within the most intense period of UFO reporting in American history. Through the summer of 1952 the United States experienced a nationwide surge in sightings, and on the weekends of July 19–20 and July 26–27, 1952 — the days immediately before this memorandum was written — unidentified targets were tracked on radar and reported visually over Washington, D.C., including near Washington National Airport. The episode generated front-page coverage and a large Air Force press conference.
This State Department record is dated July 28, 1952, the Monday following the second Washington weekend. The official description does not state that the memorandum addresses the Washington sightings specifically; it characterizes the document as concerning the broader, nationwide increase in reports.
What the official record describes
Per the released catalogue description, the memorandum collects "possible explanations of increased sightings." Three categories are named in the official record:
- Technological improvements — the idea that advances in aircraft and other technology could account for some portion of the increase in reports.
- Historical records of UFOs — reference to the longer history of unidentified-object sightings, situating the 1952 surge against earlier waves.
- U.S. Air Force opinions on UFOs — the assessments then held by the Air Force, which was the lead agency for UFO investigation in 1952 through Project Blue Book.
That the State Department — a diplomatic, not a defense or intelligence, agency — was compiling explanations for the UFO wave is itself notable. It indicates that the phenomenon had become a matter of interest beyond the Air Force investigation, reaching into the foreign-affairs bureaucracy during the weeks when UFOs were a leading national news story.
Note on this entry
This archive entry is built from the official war.gov PURSUE catalogue description of the document. The two-page memorandum itself is part of PURSUE Release 1 (May 8, 2026); this article reproduces the official description verbatim and frames it with the documented historical context of late July 1952. No content beyond the official record and established public history is asserted here.
Related Articles
- Department of State · 1963
National Space Council Memorandum: Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question
An internal memorandum dated July 18, 1963, written by Maxwell W. Hunter II, professional staff member of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, and addressed to Robert F. Packard of the State Department's Office of International Scientific Affairs. The document presents a systematic analysis of three categories of potential alien races and the distinct U.S. diplomatic policy each would require, alongside a candid review of the 1963 scientific consensus on extraterrestrial life and an unusually frank discussion of "flying saucer" claims.
- NASA · 1966
NASA Gemini IX Scientific Debriefing Transcript and Summary, June 1966
A collection of NASA documents from June–July 1966 relating to the scientific debriefing of Gemini IX-A astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan, held on June 16, 1966, at MSC Houston (Building 4, Room 277). The 78-page file includes a draft debriefing transcript, routing slips, memoranda by Jocelyn R. Gill, a NASA scheduling telegram signed by Donald K. Slayton, and a letter from Maurice M. Shapiro (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory) to Dr. Homer Newell. Pages 2–5 of the draft debriefing contain astronaut accounts of "luminous particles" at orbital sunrise, a "very bright meteor, whitish-green in color," and explicit questions and answers about whether "flashing lights" or "sparkles" were observed near the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA). The astronauts reported no "flashing lights" and no "sparkles" coming from the ATDA.
- Department of State · 1994-01-27
Diplomatic Cable DOS-UAP-D2: Tajik Air Pilots Report UAP Over Kazakhstan, January 1994
An unclassified U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, dated January 31, 1994, reporting a UAP encounter over Kazakhstan on January 27. American pilot Ed Rhodes — Chief Pilot of Tajik Air — and two colleagues observed a bright object of enormous intensity execute 90-degree turns, corkscrews, and high-G circles at 41,000 feet over forty minutes. Contrails left by the object were visually estimated at 100,000 feet — an altitude at which no known propulsion system can produce condensation trails. Rhodes and his crew assessed the object as extraterrestrial and under intelligent control.
- Department of State · 2023-09-12
State Department Cable DOS-UAP-D5: Mexican Congress Hears UAP and Alien Life Testimony, September 2023
A U.S. Embassy Mexico City cable (MRN: 23 MEXICO 2544) dated September 16, 2023, reporting on the historic Mexican Congressional hearing of September 12, 2023, in which experts testified on UAP before lawmakers debating an Aerial Space Protection Law that, if approved, would have made Mexico the first country to formally acknowledge the presence of alien life on Earth. Journalist Jaime Maussan presented two alleged alien corpses and pilot encounter videos. Former U.S. Navy pilot Ryan Graves attended and criticized Maussan's display as an "unsubstantiated stunt." Scientists had previously discredited similar corpses Maussan had presented as evidence of extraterrestrial life.