DISCLOSURE / FILE

CIA CREST Database Online Release, UFOs: Fact or Fiction Collection, CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs 1947-90 (Gerald K. Haines)

CIA's January 2017 online release of its full CREST database (approximately 13 million declassified pages) included a curated 'UFOs: Fact or Fiction' collection of roughly 2,780 UFO-related pages spanning 1947 through the 1990s.

Brief

On January 17, 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency placed its CREST (CIA Records Search Tool) database online in full, ending a regime in which researchers had to travel to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland to query the records on dedicated terminals. The release covered approximately 13 million declassified pages and surfaced a curated 'UFOs: Fact or Fiction' collection of about 2,780 pages of UFO-related material spanning 1947 through the 1990s. The collection is anchored editorially by Gerald K. Haines's in-house history, 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90,' originally published in the agency's Studies in Intelligence journal. The underlying source text for this index entry was not extracted, so no verbatim quotes are emitted.

Metadata

Agency: Central Intelligence Agency
Release: 2017-01-17
Type: PDF • .html
Length: 2.3 K
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Programs: CREST, UFOs: Fact or Fiction
Tags: CREST, UFOs: Fact or Fiction, Gerald K. Haines, Studies in Intelligence, 1947-1990, FOIA release, online archive

Key points

CIA placed its full CREST database online on January 17, 2017, removing the prior requirement that researchers use dedicated terminals at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.p.1
The online release covered approximately 13 million declassified pages.p.1
A curated 'UFOs: Fact or Fiction' collection of approximately 2,780 UFO-related pages was made available as part of the release.p.1
The UFO-related material spans 1947 through the 1990s.p.1
The collection is anchored by Gerald K. Haines's 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90,' an in-house history originally published in Studies in Intelligence.p.1

Most interesting

The 2,780-page UFO subset is a fraction of one percent of the 13 million-page CREST release, but it is the slice the CIA itself chose to surface as a curated collection.
Before January 17, 2017, accessing CREST required a physical trip to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, to use dedicated terminals.
Gerald K. Haines's history was written inside CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence and originally appeared in the classified-side journal Studies in Intelligence before later public release.
The collection's timespan begins in 1947, the year of the Roswell incident and the National Security Act that created the CIA itself.

Brief

Key points

CIA placed its full CREST database online on January 17, 2017, removing the prior requirement that researchers use dedicated terminals at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.p.1

The online release covered approximately 13 million declassified pages.p.1

A curated 'UFOs: Fact or Fiction' collection of approximately 2,780 UFO-related pages was made available as part of the release.p.1

The UFO-related material spans 1947 through the 1990s.p.1

The collection is anchored by Gerald K. Haines's 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90,' an in-house history originally published in Studies in Intelligence.p.1

Most interesting

The 2,780-page UFO subset is a fraction of one percent of the 13 million-page CREST release, but it is the slice the CIA itself chose to surface as a curated collection.

Before January 17, 2017, accessing CREST required a physical trip to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, to use dedicated terminals.

Gerald K. Haines's history was written inside CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence and originally appeared in the classified-side journal Studies in Intelligence before later public release.

The collection's timespan begins in 1947, the year of the Roswell incident and the National Security Act that created the CIA itself.