navigation search this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message national investigations committee on aerial phenomena nicap type non profit organization founded october 24 1956 ; 59 years ago 1956 10 24 defunct 1980 1980 headquarters washington d.c. u.s. website www.nicap.org the national investigations committee on aerial phenomena nicap was a unidentified flying object ufo research group active in the united states from the 1950s to the 1980s . contents 1 overview 2 history 2.1 1950s 2.2 1960s 2.3 1970s 3 references in popular culture 4 see also 5 notes 6 references 7 external links overview edit though nicap was a non profit organization the group faced financial collapse many times in its existence due in no small part to business ineptitude among the group s directors . following a wave of nationally publicized ufo incidents in the mid 1960s nicap s membership spiked dramatically and only then did the organization become financially stable . however following publication of the condon report in 1968 nicap s membership declined sharply and the organization again fell into long term financial decline and disarray . despite these internal troubles nicap probably had the most visibility of any civilian american ufo group and arguably had the most mainstream respectability ; jerome clark writes that for many middle class americans and others interested in ufos but repelled by ufology s fringe aspects it served as a sober forum for ufo reporting inquiry investigation and speculation . 1 nicap advocated transparent scientific investigation of ufo sightings and was skeptical of contactee tales involving meetings with space visitors the alien abduction phenomenon and the like . the presence of several prominent military officials as members of nicap brought a further measure of respectability for many observers . throughout its existence nicap argued that there was an organized governmental cover up of ufo evidence . nicap also pushed for governmental hearings regarding ufos to at best limited and occasional success . though any ufo related group attracts a number of uncritical enthusiasts along with a small percentage of cranks astronomer j. allen hynek cited nicap and aerial phenomena research organization apro as the two best civilian ufo groups of their time consisting largely of sober serious minded people capable of valuable contributions to the subject . 2 until the mid 1960s nicap gave little attention to close encounters of the third kind where animated beings are purportedly sighted in relation to a ufo . however longtime nicap member richard h. hall related privately that this position was tactical and not doctrinaire . 3 in other words nicap did not necessarily dismiss occupant reports out of hand but elected to focus on other aspects of the ufo phenomenon which would be perceived by mainstream observers as less outlandish . the attention given to the contactees of the 1950s who typically claimed ongoing contact with benevolent space brothers was almost certainly a factor in nicap s reluctance to study ufo occupant reports too closely . but with the 1964 lonnie zamora ufo encounter regarded by researchers as one of the most reliable ufo occupant reports nicap loosened its restrictions on studying ufo occupant reports . history edit 1950s edit nicap was founded on october 24 1956 by inventor thomas townsend brown . the board of governors included several prominent men including donald keyhoe maj usmc ret . and former chief of the navy s guided missile program radm delmer s. fahrney usn ret . by early january 1957 however brown had proved so financially inept that the board asked him to step down . fahrney replaced him then convened a press conference on january 16 1957 where he announced that ufos were under intelligent control but that they were of neither american or soviet origin . the press conference received major attention doubtless aided by fahrney s stature . in april 1957 fahrney resigned from nicap citing personal issues . it was later disclosed that his wife was seriously ill . 4 fahrney was bothered by the whispers and ridicule his ufo interests generated among many of his peers in the military . citation needed keyhoe became nicap s director . he established a monthly newsletter the u.f.o. investigator . another prominent figure joined nicap s board of governors keyhoe s naval academy classmate vadm roscoe h. hillenkoetter usn ret . he had been director of central intelligence and first head of the central intelligence agency . another important name on the letterhead was that of gen. albert coady wedemeyer usa ret . 5 the organization had chapters and local associates scattered throughout the united states . many of their members were amateurs but a considerable percentage were professionals including journalists military personnel scientists and physicians . one of nicap s prime goals was thorough field investigations of ufo reports . they would eventually compile a significant number of case files and field investigations which clark characterises as often first rate . 6 by 1958 nicap had grown to over 5000 members . keyhoe s financial management and business skills were only slightly better than brown s and nicap hobbled along throughout the 1950s and early 1960s facing collapse on several occasions . for most of his tenure as director keyhoe sent irregular letters to nicap s members warning of the organization s imminent collapse and soliciting funds to keep nicap going . according to jerome clark see sources below keyhoe often paid for much of nicap s operating expenses himself . 1960s edit the 1960s found much of the american public keenly interested in ufos and nicap s membership crested at 14 000 . this influx of members greatly improved the group s finances . hillenkoetter left the board in 1962 . 7 in 1964 nicap published the ufo evidence edited by richard h. hall a summary of hundreds of unexplained reports studied by nicap investigators through 1963 . sightings were systematically broken down by witness category and special types of evidence . for example individual chapters were devoted to sightings by military personnel pilots and aviation experts and scientists and engineers . another chapter was devoted to evidence of intelligent control and yet another to physical evidence or interactions such as electromagnetic effects radar tracking photographs sound physiological effects and so on . another section examined observed patterns such as descriptions of shape color maneuvers flight behavior and concentrations of sightings . the book is still considered an invaluable reference source in the field . when the united states air force in collaboration with the university of colorado established the condon committee 1966 68 to study ufos nicap initially aided its investigations but keyhoe quickly became disenchanted limiting nicap s role . nicap formally severed ties with the condon committee in early 1968 . following the condon committee s report which concluded there was nothing extraordinary about ufos public interest in the subject abated and nicap s membership dropped to about 5000 . 1969 saw the last nicap efforts of any significance two monographs strange effects from ufos and ufos a new look . nicap s membership plummeted in the late 1960s and keyhoe faced charges of financial incompetence and authoritarianism . by 1969 keyhoe turned his focus away from the military and focused on the cia as the source of the ufo cover up . by december 1969 nicap s board headed by colonel joseph bryan iii forced keyhoe to retire as nicap chief . under bryan s leadership nicap disbanded its local and state affiliate groups . 8 afterwards john l. acuff became nicap s director . 1970s edit nicap s membership continued to drop as it was led by acuff and then alan hall . by now the organization was all but paralyzed by infighting including unsubstantiated charges that the central intelligence agency had infiltrated nicap . in fact several persons with cia ties had joined nicap ; however their motives and reasons for joining nicap have been the subject of some debate . one person specifically named as a suspected cia infiltrator was retired air force colonel joseph bryan iii . his son writer c. d. b. bryan dismisses this idea suggesting that anyone who knows anything about the history of nicap knows that the group didn t need anybody s help in its disintegration ; it simply self destructed . as to his father s involvement as an alleged cia agitator bryan writes my father s unswerving outspoken faith in ufos ... was i felt something of an embarrassment ... i do not believe it was the sort of public position an agent would take whose covert goal was to smother interest in ufos . 9 1980 saw the last publication of nicap s newsletter ; the organization dissolved later that year . nicap s archive of ufo sighting case files was subsequently purchased by the center for ufo studies cufos . references in popular culture edit the frequently ufo themed x files made occasional references to nicap most notably in the season 1 episode fallen angel in the shape of nicap researcher max fenig . fenig later returned in the season 4 two part episode tempus fugit max . see also edit list of ufo organizations notes edit clark 412 hynek 1972 druffel 93 adm. fahrney quits saucer probers . the washington daily news . washington d.c. scripps howard . 10 april 1957 . retrieved 2009 03 31 . illness in my family and previous commitments on which i depend for my livelihood force me to take this step . keyhoe donald e. 1957 . letter soliciting nicap membership . nara . retrieved 2009 03 31 . evaluation of information albert c. wedemeyer usa ret . poolesville maryland date uncertain clark 413 photo bios . francis l. ridge . retrieved 2009 03 31 . he resigned from nicap in feb 1962 and was replaced on the nicap board by a former covert cia high official joseph bryan iii the cia s first chief of political & psychological warfare bryan never disclosed his cia background to nicap or keyhoe . denzler p. 17 bryan 191fn references edit bryan c.d.b. close encounters of the fourth kind alien abduction ufos and the conference at m.i.t. alfred a. knopf 1995 ; isbn 0 679 42975 1 clark jerome the ufo book encyclopedia of the extraterrestrial . visible ink 1998 ; isbn 1 57859 029 9 denzler brenda the lure of the edge scientific passions religious beliefs and the pursuit of ufos . university of california press 2003 ; isbn 0 520 23905 9 druffel ann firestorm dr. james e. mcdonald s fight for ufo science granite pub 2003 ; isbn 0 926524 58 5 hynek j. allen the ufo experience a scientific inquiry chicago henry regenery co. 1972 external links edit nicap.org the quest for the truth about ufos a personal perspective on the role of nicap richard h. hall 1994 fbi records on nicap v t e ufos and ufology index of ufology articles incidents general list of reported ufo sightings sightings in outer space pre 20th century tulli papyrus possibly 15th century b.c. ezekiel s wheel circa 622 570 b.c. 1561 celestial phenomenon over nuremberg jos bonilla observation 1883 aurora 1897 20th century los angeles 1942 kenneth arnold 1947 maury island 1947 roswell 1947 aztec new mexico 1948 mantell 1948 chiles whitted 1948 gorman dogfight 1948 mariana 1950 mcminnville photographs 1950 sperry 1950 lubbock lights 1951 carson sink 1952 nash fortenberry 1952 washington d.c. 1952 flatwoods monster 1952 ellsworth 1953 kelly hopkinsville 1955 lakenheath bentwaters 1956 ant nio vilas boas 1957 levelland 1957 trindade island 1958 barney and betty hill abduction 1961 lonnie zamora incident 1964 solway firth spaceman 1964 exeter 1965 kecksburg 1965 westall 1966 shag harbour 1967 pascagoula abduction 1973 travis walton incident 1975 allagash 1976 tehran 1976 petrozavodsk phenomenon 1977