PURSUE Release 03 — British Activity in the Field of Unidentified Flying Objects (CIA-UAP-014)
Source: U.S. Department of War, PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters) — Release 03 (third tranche), published 12 June 2026. Document CIA-UAP-014.
URL: release portal https://www.war.gov/UFO/release/03/ · bundle https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/061226/release_03/release_03_documents.zip (file: CIA-UAP-014_British_Activity_in_the_Field_of_Unidentified_Flying_Objects.pdf)
Captured: 2026-06-12. Text below is the clean born-digital / OCR text extracted from the released PDF (2 pages).
What this is: British Activity in the Field of Unidentified Flying Objects. Index/analysis: pursue-release-03-uap-records.
Approved fo r Release 2026 Under Section 18 42 o f the Nat ional Defense Aut h ori zat i on Act fo r Fiscal Year 2 02 4 .. ,,
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18 JDecemeer 1952 MEM0RANDtJM FOB RECORD
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British Activity in the field 0f “Unidentified Flying Objects” I
On 15 December, the recem.tly arrived messenger from Britain reported
the following.
Re 1aa4 talked with R. V. Jones and
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The British have be.4 a standjng committee created a.bout sixteen months ago on f’lyillg saucers. . Pre8’1Dlably this is now ud.er Dr. Jeaes through inheritance. The RAF are aetien peopl.e. The graup bas c~ncludea. that the observations are not eneiq aircraft and ~ t none have been. over Brita.in.
- The activity has been quiet and normal up to about tem. to twelve days ago, at wJaich time the Yorkshire incident took place. In some W’ field, there was same sort of demenstratien to whieb. high official.a of the BAF in Lendon had been invited. During the show, a “perfect f ~ g saucer 11 -~ •seen by these officials as well ..as BAF pilots. So.Dlal:lY peaple saw it tbat ~ articles appeared in the pulic presa. Thi~ is disturbing te Jones because he rea1izes that the ·ereatisn of the e0rrection Qf pablic opinion is a part of’ his responsibilities.
Jones reminded us ef the SWedisb. incident (pres’QD18.bly he refers to the 013.e in 1946-)., and reminds us o’f a paper on the origin of’ meteari tes pu.blisllted ill the French Acu.em;y of’ Sciences betlfeen 176o and 1780 by Cb.la.dni.
The traveler teld Jones of’ 0ur interest at this time, mentioned the film vhich had been taken by the Naval non-commissioned officer (1’remonton incident). It is possibl.e that Jones. Will. write asking for a copy of’. the film or :further on the same subJect . .
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H. MABSHALI. ClWJWELL
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Assis~t Direc;tor Scientific Intelligence
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While there is no indication that these objects represent a direct threat to the national defense, there are certain potential dangers which are related to these sightings. These are: 1. The difficulty and delay in positive 1dentification which could weaken the early warning system in alerting defense in the event of commencement of hostilities.* 2. The possibillty of mass hysteria whieh might be ~ posely induced by an enemy at a critical time by faked reports.
- The possibillty that the emergency eonmnmications systems to command headquarters might be seriously overloaded at a critical time by such reports. It is believed that the problems of communications confusion and overload and the serious e:ff’ects of mass hysteria mist be dealt with outside the intelligence community, and 1t is planned to bring these matters to the attention of those agencies with whom the prime respon sibility appears to rest. With respect to ma.ss hysteria, it is believed this problem would lie with the Federal. Civil Defense .Administration and/ or the Interdepartmental. Cammittee on Internal Security. Accordingly, it is planned to bring this to the attention of the FCDA and ICIS through established channels. With respect to emergency eommm:deatiellS overload ing, it is believed that each of the individual Mil.itary Services should examine this problem. Accordingly, we intend to introduce the subject at a meeting of the Joint Communications and Electronics Cammittee.
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