Taking a Look at the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit

by Nick Redfern                     August 7, 2018                       (mysteriousuniverse.org)

• On September 25, 1980, UFO researcher Richard Hall was told by Colonel William B. Guild of the Director of Counterintelligence, Department of the U.S. Army that the IPU was ‘disestablished’ during the late 1950’s and was never reactivated. All records were surrendered to the U.S. Air Force. Except that Hall was never able to locate any such records in the official Air Force archives.

• So by the mid-1980’s, UFO researcher Bill Steinman made an inquiry and was told by Lt. Col. Lance R. Cornine, Department of the Army, that the IPU was ‘disestablished’ and turned over the Air Force. But it was never a formal investigative ‘unit’ of the Army and may not have had any records to produce. Therefore there was no one in command of the ‘unit’ and the Army had no further comment.

• So which was it? Were the records turned over to the Air Force or were there no records at all? In any event, the Army receives so many inquiries on the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit that they have an official three-level FOI/Privacy Act Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) form letter for such inquiries, saying in part: “… we have conducted an in-depth check of the files and indices maintained by this office. We regret to inform you that there is no record concerning UFOs within this office…” If the person makes a second request, the official reply is that it is a matter for the Air Force and not the Army.

• For any repeated request thereafter, the Army’s official reply is: ‘As stated in our previous letters of [insert date] and [insert date], the Department of the Army is no longer in possession of the records you seek and we cannot locate any information on the unit. Unfortunately, for that reason alone, we are simply unable to answer your questions.’

• [Editor’s Note]   It has long been rumored that the during World War II, Army Air Corps pilots had reported over 2000 UFOs in the Pacific theater, and as a result General Douglas MacArthur secretly established an office to study these reports and investigate UFO crashes.  By 1947 this had become the ‘Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit’.  Supporting evidence of the existence of an IPU that began with the Army and was turned over to the newly-created Air Force is an alleged IPU report to MJ-12 detailing the 1947 Roswell crash and the actions of military heads including Gen Thomas Handy, Lt Gen Nathan Twining, and Gen Dwight Eisenhower; scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer and Wernher von Braun; Sec of Defense James Forrestal, and Massachusetts Congressman John F. Kennedy.  Also, in 1955 Gen MacArthur told the Mayor of Naples, Achille Lauro, that the nations of Earth would have to “make a common front against attack by people of other planets”.  In 1962 MacArthur told the cadets at West Point that the ultimate military conflict would be between “a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy”.

Occasionally, debate will surface on the strange and confusing saga of what has become known as the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit. Supposedly, it was a group within the U.S. Army, a group with a history that dates back decades and that investigated UFO encounters. Certainly, there appears to have been something to it, but precisely how much is anyone’s guess. The story primarily began in 1980 – specifically on September 25. On that day, a Colonel William B. Guild, of the Director of Counterintelligence, Department of the U.S. Army, told ufologist Richard Hall (now deceased): “Please be advised that the IPU of the Science and Technology Branch, Counterintelligence Directorate, Department of the Army, was disestablished during the late 1950’s and never reactivated. All records were surrendered to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations in conjunction with operation ‘BLUEBOOK.’”

Colonel Guild was sure that the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit files had all been transferred to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The fact is, though, that the AFOSI UFO-themed records stored at the National Archives make no mention – in any way at all – to such IPU papers. So, where, exactly, might the files be? If they even still exist, of course. Four years after Richard Hall made his inquiries (which went nowhere), UFO researcher/writer Bill Steinman decided to get on the trail of the IPU. Steinman, who wrote a controversial 1986 book, UFO Crash at Aztec, received a reply to his inquiry from the Department of the Army. The reply to Steinman came from a Lt. Col. Lance R. Cornine, who wrote: “As you note in your letter, the so-called Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU) was disestablished and, as far as we are aware, all records, if any, were transferred to the Air Force in the late 1950’s. The ‘unit’ was formed as an in-house project purely as an interest item for the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. It was never a ‘unit’ in the military sense, nor was it ever formally organized or reportable, it had no investigative function, mission or authority, and may not even have had any formal records at all. It is only through institutional memory that any recollection exists of this unit. We are therefore unable to answer your questions as to the exact purpose of the unit, exactly when it was disestablished, or who was in command. This last would not apply in any case, as no one was in ‘command’. We have no records or documentation of any kind on this unit.”

Clearly, between 1980 and 1984, things had changed. Whereas Hall had been told that the records had been given to AFOSI, Steinman was advised that there may actually not have been “any formal records at all.” It’s intriguing to note that the Army has a FOI/Privacy Act Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) form which, to this day, provides guidelines for military staff who may have to respond to FOIA requests on the matter of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit. The form states: “Periodically this office will receive requests concerning an activity described as the ‘Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit’ and for information on UFOs. When replying to request for UFO’s records our reply should be as follows: ‘This is in response to your letter of [insert date] under the Freedom of Information Act, 5USC 552, requesting information concerning Army intelligence records related to UFO encounter reports. To determine the existence of Army intelligence investigative records responsive to your request, we have conducted an in-depth check of the files and indices maintained by this office. We regret to inform you that there is no record concerning UFOs within this office and the Department of the Army.’”

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