John A Samford
Director of Air Force intelligence when the study of UFOs began with Project Blue Book.
During a Pentagon press conference in 1952, Director of Air Force intelligence, John A Samford, discussed UFOs. He stated that the majority of UFO reports were either hoaxes, earthly aircraft, or meteorological events.
However, Samford noted that there was a small percentage of credible witnesses that do not appear to fall into those categories. Even so, he said that these events do not seem to fit into a pattern to be analyzed.
Samford established that he did not believe these objects to be a threat to the United States nor were they part of a secret U.S. government or military program. Project Blue Book started while Samford was the Director of Intelligence; it monitored and investigated UFOs. Government documents also show that Samford informed the F.B.I. that it was "not entirely impossible that the objects sighted may possibly be ships from another planet such as Mars."