NY Man Had His UFO Research Monitored by the CIA
Article by Lou Milano January 15, 2021 (i95rock.com)
• John Greenwald Jr. recently released a trove of CIA documents related to UFOs on his Black Vault website. Among these is the story of Leon Davidson. In the late 1950s, having earned a PhD from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and being recruited into the Manhattan Project during WWII, Davidson was sought after in the new field of computer development. Davidson worked with IBM, Union Carbide, the Nuclear Development Corporation out of White Plains, NY, and was an engineering design supervisor at Los Alamos, New Mexico where he assisted in the development of cutting-edge atomic technology.
• Davidson became a volunteer for the Civil Defense Filter Center in White Plains, NY, tracking UFO activity in the New York Metro area. Davidson also began publishing at least seven pamphlets on ‘flying saucers’, some of which can still be found in the archival collection on Columbia University’s Library website. You can also find them for sale on Amazon. The Amazon book description says of Davidson’s findings: “Examines the last Project Blue Book Report by the U.S. Air Force (No. 14), showing how the government lied, in order to cover up not only their own experimental craft, but also the possible existence of extraterrestrials. For many years, this volume was almost impossible to obtain.” Needless to say, these pamphlets became very popular.
• In the late 1950s, Davidson began requesting information from an array of Government agencies about UFOs. For example, Davidson wrote to ask for information regarding a strange communication received by a public radio station which the Government claimed was Morse code. Davidson’s response from a Wallace W. Elwood, Captain USAF, was that it was not a ‘space message’, but Morse Code from a public radio station. But Davidson persisted, saying that he did not believe this was Morse Code due to the “characteristics of the sounds on the tape recording of the message”.
• Declassified CIA documents show that Davidson was becoming a nuisance to the agency. Nevertheless, Davidson had convinced a Congressional committee to allow him to publish and distribute his pamphlets. A CIA memo refers to Davidson seeking information for a “space magazine”, resulting in a string of internal agency memos as to how to ‘handle’ Davidson. “Dr. Leon Davidson is on our backs again. He wants a verbatim translation of the space message and the identification of the transmitter from which it came.” “Can you obtain from the attic the message translation… we’d like to dismiss this man once and for all. If you cannot obtain this information, Davidson is going to pressure us…”
• The 1957 CIA memos continued: “We are sending …a publication of Davidson’s criticizing the Air Force for concealment of information on flying saucers. Incidentally, Davidson is …no fool and it appears that the attic is treating him as one if they think he can be satisfied with a SOP such as Captain Elwood’s.” “Davidson was calm and pleasant but very determined. …[W]e wish to bow out of this thing, but urge that headquarters…and the attic…concern themselves with this man and try to satisfy him. Please do not…let us down on our agreement to communicate with him. We are committed.”
• The references to “the attic” in these CIA documents references a department, research lab or physical space where evidence is analyzed, maintained and or stored at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. It’s either an official code name or an unofficial nickname.
• The Pentagon will intentionally make this new information dump overwhelming and confusing the way the CIA did in their response to Davidson’s requests during the 1950s and 60s. Davidson died in 2007 at the age of 84 in White Plains, NY. With all he accomplished and the truths he tried to share, his story and work only exist in the margins because the government didn’t want any of it getting out. Whatever this mysterious Morse Code communication was, we know that the CIA thought it was important enough to keep away from Leon Davidson. If enough people become convinced the United States government is hiding something on the UFO topic, we can all work together to force their hand.
Leon Davidson was a native of New York City who was born in 1922. Davidson was a highly educated man who earned a PhD from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. As a student at Columbia, he was recruited into the Manhattan Project.
In the late 1950’s, Davidson became a sought after talent in the new field of computer development. Davidson got contracts with the
Nuclear Development Corporation out of White Plains, NY and worked with IBM and Union Carbide.
In addition, Davidson became a engineering design supervisor at Los Alamos, New Mexico where assisted in the development of the most cutting-edge atomic technology of the day.
Right around the same time (late 50’s), Davidson became a volunteer for the Civil Defense Filter Center in White Plains, NY. The center studied and tracked UFO activity in the New York Metro area.
It’s also around this time period that Davidson became a nuisance to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). CIA documents from that era that were once considered classified, have been made available to the public.
John Greenwald Jr. is an author and podcast host (The Black Vault). According to the NY Post, Greenwald has been taking advantage of the Freedom of Information Act for years. He has sent countless Freedom of Information Requests to the U.S. Government seeking information related to UFO activity in the states.
Greenwald recently shared thousands of CIA documents that the agency released to him. Some of these documents are internal agency communications about Leon Davidson’s UFO research.
Like Greenwald, Davidson was requesting information from an array of Government agencies about UFOs. Davidson got the agencies attention and there are documents in which unnamed agency members communicate with one another on how to handle Davidson if he should reach out.
Davidson was writing an article for a publication the CIA referred to as a “space magazine” and was seeking information about a communication the Government claimed was morse code. In a document (Ref #-C00015243) from 1957, an agency member whose name was redacted wrote the following: “Dr. Leon Davidson is on our backs again. He wants a verbatim translation of the space message and the identification of the transmitter from which it came. Your attention is called to a letter to Davidson from Wallace W. Elwood x Wallace W. Elwood, Captain USAF x USAF, Attic x Attic, dates 5 x 5 August 1957 x 1957, in which Elwood tells Davidson the message was identifiable as morse code and from a known US x US licensed radio station.
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