Project Second Story
Project Second Story was an official Canadian government UFO investigation program established in the early 1950s as a companion effort to Project Magnet. While Project Magnet focused on the scientific study of UAP propulsion systems and the feasibility of reverse-engineering magnetic field propulsion, Project Second Story was tasked with analyzing the policy, security, and strategic implications of the UFO phenomenon and recommending appropriate government action.
Establishment and Authority
Project Second Story was created following Wilbert B. Smith's 1950 memo to the Canadian Department of Transport's Controller of Telecommunications. In that memo, Smith relayed information from Robert Sarbacher—a US DoD consultant—confirming that the study of flying saucers within the US government was classified at a higher level than the hydrogen bomb and that a small group headed by Vannevar Bush was actively investigating recovered craft.
Smith's memo directly led to Canada's authorization of two parallel UAP programs:
- Project Magnet — A scientific investigation into UAP propulsion, directed by Smith.
- Project Second Story — A strategic and policy-focused investigation to recommend government responses to the UFO phenomenon.
Objectives
Project Second Story sought to:
- Assess the national security implications of UAP activity over Canadian airspace.
- Evaluate the reliability and significance of UFO reports.
- Coordinate with US authorities on UAP-related intelligence and research.
- Recommend policy actions to the Canadian government regarding public disclosure, military response, and scientific research priorities.
The program operated with awareness of the US government's highly classified UAP programs, as documented by Smith's meeting with Sarbacher. This placed Canada in a unique position: conducting an open scientific investigation (Project Magnet) while simultaneously engaging in classified strategic analysis (Project Second Story).
Relationship to Project Magnet
The two projects were complementary but distinct:
- Project Magnet was a scientific and engineering effort focused on understanding and potentially replicating UAP propulsion systems.
- Project Second Story was an intelligence and policy program focused on understanding what the phenomenon represented for Canadian national security and international relations.
Both programs reflected Canada's formal acknowledgment that the UFO phenomenon warranted serious government attention, informed by insider disclosures from credentialed US sources like Sarbacher.
Historical Context
Project Second Story operated during a period of intense UAP activity over North America, including:
- The 1952 Washington DC UFO Incident, in which multiple unidentified objects appeared over the US capital on radar and were observed visually.
- Continued sightings over sensitive military installations, including atomic research facilities and air defense radar networks.
- Escalating Cold War tensions, raising the possibility that UFOs could represent Soviet reconnaissance technology.
Canada's Five Eyes intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States meant that Canadian officials had access to some US UAP data, though the full extent of US crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs—as described by Sarbacher—remained compartmentalized even from close allies.
Public Records and Closure
Unlike Project Magnet, which produced some public documentation of its activities, less is known about Project Second Story's findings and operations. The program's security and policy focus likely resulted in classified reporting that has not been fully declassified or released to the public.
Both Project Magnet and Project Second Story were eventually closed in the mid-1950s, though UFO sightings in Canada continued. The reasons for their termination are not fully clear, but likely included a combination of limited scientific progress, political pressures, and shifting government priorities.
Significance
Project Second Story represents one of the earliest examples of a national government establishing a formal, policy-level program to assess the UAP phenomenon in the context of national security and international relations. Its creation was a direct result of insider testimony from Robert Sarbacher, whose confirmation to Wilbert B. Smith that UFOs were real and highly classified prompted Canada to take the subject seriously at the highest levels of government.
The program also demonstrates that Canada—through Smith's direct contact with US officials—had knowledge of American crash retrieval and reverse engineering efforts as early as 1950, positioning Canada as one of the few allied nations with insight into the true scope of US UAP programs during the early Cold War.