Howard P Robertson
Dr. Howard Percy Robertson was an American mathematician and physicist at the California Institute of Technology who served as a CIA consultant and chaired the Robertson Panel — the 1953 scientific advisory committee that recommended the US government undertake a public campaign to suppress interest in UFOs. Robertson's role in the panel is regarded in UAP research as a pivotal moment in the institutionalization of the UFO Stigma.
| Role | Physicist; CIA consultant; Chairman of the Robertson Panel |
|---|
The Robertson Panel
Robertson was selected by the CIA in January 1953 to chair a scientific review of Air Force UFO case files amid the 1952 Washington DC UFO sightings wave and heightened public interest in the phenomenon. The panel bore his name and met for four formal sessions, reviewing only 23 of the 2,331 available Project Blue Book case files.
Panel signatory Thoron L. Page later admitted in a signed statement dated October 3, 1993, that Robertson told committee members before the first meeting to debunk all UFO reports presented to them and to "reduce public concern." This admission confirmed that the panel's conclusions were predetermined rather than science-driven. J. Allen Hynek described the unwritten instruction Robertson communicated as the "unwritten law of the Air Force: don't rock the boat, play it cool, don't get the public excited."
The panel's final recommendation was that all national security agencies should strip UFOs of "special status" and suggest to the public that there is no legitimate evidence for their existence. It also recommended monitoring civilian UFO research organizations as potential channels for public panic or enemy manipulation.