Condon Committee
The Condon Committee (officially the "UFO Study" or "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects") was a government-funded UFO research project conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1966 to 1968 under the direction of physicist Dr. Edward U. Condon. Commissioned by the US Air Force and funded through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the project was tasked with conducting an objective scientific evaluation of UFO reports. The committee's final report — known as the Condon Report — concluded that further UFO study was unlikely to advance scientific knowledge and recommended the Air Force terminate its UFO investigation programs.
| Type | research |
|---|---|
| Official name | Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects |
Formation and Mandate
The Condon Committee was assembled at the request of the US Air Force following mounting public criticism of Project Blue Book, the Air Force's in-house UFO investigation program. The committee was given $500,000 in funding and access to Blue Book case files, with a formal mandate to assess whether UFOs posed a national security threat and whether continued study offered scientific value.
Findings
The Condon Report analyzed over 90 UFO cases. While the report's summary concluded that UFOs did not represent a scientific problem worthy of further investigation, the case-by-case analyses within the full report acknowledged that some cases remained unexplained. Notably, astronomer William H. Hartman's analysis of the McMinnville UFO Photographs concluded the photographs were consistent with a genuine anomalous flying craft.
Despite such individual assessments, the report's final conclusion recommended the termination of further official study.
Criticism and Controversy
The Condon Committee has been widely criticized for bias and predetermined conclusions. Internal memos leaked to Look magazine in 1968 showed project coordinator Robert Low stating before the study began that the project's goal was to reassure the public that UFOs posed no threat, regardless of the evidence. Critics argue that the summary conclusions contradicted the detailed case studies, several of which acknowledged genuinely unexplained phenomena.
The committee is referenced in UAP research as part of the broader institutional framework — alongside the Robertson Panel — for suppressing serious scientific engagement with UFOs. The host of UAP Gerb describes the committee as "allegedly directed to explain UFOs away as swamp gas and weather balloons" rather than conducting objective research.
Legacy
Following the Condon Report's publication, the US Air Force terminated Project Blue Book in 1969, effectively ending official government UFO investigation for decades. The report's findings contributed to the stigma surrounding UFO research in mainstream science.