Briefing Notes for Mr. Walter Elder

These two pages were prepared so that Walter N. Elder, who served as the CIA director’s executive assistant, could be briefed quickly on an incident near Puerto Rico in November 1964. They condense the material in the longer memoranda filed as CIA-UAP-D022, and are undated.

What the notes describe

On 19 November, the notes say, the guided-missile destroyer USS Gyatt held a target on its radar for 21 minutes while it closed rapidly on a Navy fighter. The F-8 Crusader pilot saw it in full moonlight with good weather and visibility and described a delta-shaped object about the size of a jet fighter, which he estimated was moving at more than Mach 3. The Gyatt filmed its radar scope during the tracking, so there was a record beyond the crew’s word. On 24 November, the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range again tracked a fast, high-altitude target that pulled away from another Crusader flying at Mach .99 at 45,000 feet.

The notes add that the Office of Naval Intelligence had nothing more to offer and had been asked to report any similar incidents. They close by describing the Gyatt as a Navy surface-to-air missile destroyer equipped with the latest radar.

What they leave open

The notes do not say what the object was. The fuller memoranda show CIA offices ruling out a U.S. experimental aircraft and suggesting possible foreign reconnaissance of missile tests on the range.