CIA OSI: Chadwell's Second Memo Cites Tremonton Film, Loring AFB, and Florida CE
On December 10, 1952, OSI Director Chadwell sent a second 'Unidentified Flying Objects' memo to DCI Walter Smith, citing movie footage from Tremonton, Utah, the Loring AFB 'orange object', and a Florida close encounter — proposing the Robertson Panel.
Background
A week after his earlier memo to the CIA director, on December 10, 1952, OSI Director Chadwell wrote to Walter Smith again. In this memo, again titled 'Unidentified Flying Objects,' Chadwell cited recent incidents:
1. Movie footage of ten unknowns at Tremonton, Utah, unexplained as either natural phenomena or known aircraft
2. A brilliant light over the coast of Maine, at least twice the altitude of any known device, which remained aloft for four hours
3. A claimed saucer in Florida that left effects as yet unexplained
4. At various locations, lights or objects not resembling known aircraft, not of celestial origin, not weather based
Chadwell suggested a panel of experts to examine the evidence, headed by Howard P. Robertson, a distinguished physicist at the California Institute of Technology. This memo directly led to the formation of the Robertson Panel in January 1953.