Air Force announces selection of the University of Colorado for an independent study

Witness account

The Air Force selected the University of Colorado to conduct a scientific study of UFO reports under physicist Edward Condon, with Robert Low as project coordinator. The original announcement described an agreement still being negotiated. This date anchors the project’s formation more precisely than saying that it began whenever its report was later printed.

Public record

The March 1966 O’Brien committee report had recommended involving qualified scientists and universities in selected investigations. The October announcement survives among Gerald Ford’s UFO papers. It is a policy document about intended research, while the eventual case chapters document what the Colorado team actually examined. Formation, fieldwork, transmittal and public release are four separate chronological stages.

Sources

• O’Brien committee report, March 1966, Condon Appendix A
• Gerald R. Ford Library, UFO correspondence and releases, March–October 1966