Air Technical Intelligence Center

The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) was a U.S. Air Force government organization established in January 1948 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It assumed control of Project SIGN, the U.S. government's initial UFO investigation program launched in 1947, to analyze unidentified flying object reports for potential foreign technology or security threats. Key activities included collecting and evaluating UFO sightings, transitioning to Project GRUDGE (1949), which reviewed 244 cases and found no evidence of extraterrestrial or adversarial tech, and later supporting Project BLUE BOOK. Notable achievements: Early standardization of UFO intelligence processes, attributing many sightings to misidentifications or conventional phenomena. ATIC later evolved into the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC). It is no longer active under its original name.