Robert R. Hippler

Lieutenant Colonel Robert R. Hippler was a U.S. Air Force officer serving in the Directorate of Science and Technology during the late 1960s. His primary role involved overseeing aspects of the Air Force's UFO investigation programs, particularly in relation to the Condon Committee, the University of Colorado's scientific study of UFOs commissioned by the Air Force. In early 1967, Hippler met with project staff and rejected psychologist Michael Wertheimer’s proposal to focus on psychological studies of witnesses, insisting the effort prioritize sightings to avoid criticism for dismissing reports unseriously. Days later, he authored the 'Hippler Letter' to project coordinator Robert Low, outlining Air Force expectations: that Dr. Edward U. Condon deliver a positive assessment of the Air Force's UFO investigations. Hippler warned that failure to terminate UFO studies then would burden the Air Force for another 20 years.