DOS-UAP-D001, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 14, 1963
▮ AI SYNOPSIS · Sonnet 4.6
This is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable, dated November 14, 1963, transmitted from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro to the State Department in Washington, D.C., with copies routed to Defense, NASA, CIA, NSA, NSC, and other agencies. The cable was sent by the Embassy's Science Attaché, Simonpietri, to the U.S. Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It seeks written confirmation of a verbal assessment — made the previous night over a poor telephone connection — that a local newspaper report was inauthentic. The report in question described a large metal manned balloon found near Salvador around November 8, 1963, with a dead crewman wearing a uniform or spacesuit bearing strange markings, and a four-meter impact crater. The Embassy's understanding was that a weather balloon had been sighted in the area but that no object had been recovered on the ground.
The cable is notable for the breadth of its distribution list, which included NASA, CIA, NSA, and the NSC, suggesting the incident attracted attention beyond routine diplomatic reporting. The document itself contains no redactions. The Embassy's framing treats the newspaper account as unverified and likely inauthentic, but the cable does not provide the basis for that negative assessment. A follow-on document, DOS-UAP-D002, is included in the same release and presumably contains the Consulate's response or further correspondence on the matter.
▮ TOP WORDS IN THIS DOCUMENT
This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 1963. This cable documents an effort by the Embassy to verify that the Department had assessed certain content published in a local newspaper as inauthentic, following a discussion on a poor-quality telephone connection the previous night.
To ensure both offices were referencing the same reporting, the cable cites descriptive language paraphrased from the press, namely a “large metal manned balloon” and a “dead crewman aboard wearing [a] uniform or spacesuit with strange markings.” The cable concludes with the embassy’s understanding that an object assessed to be a weather balloon had been reported in the vicinity, but that no such object had been found to have crashed. A follow-on correspondence regarding the alleged incident is included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D002.”
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Department of State
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UNCLAS ACTION SALVADOR 94 INFO DEPT
DEPARTMENT PASS DEFENSE AND
FROM SCIATT SIMONPIETRI
, NASA
054
FROM RIO FOURTEENTH
SINCE RADIOTELEPHONE CONNECTION LAST NIGNT WAS WEAK, PLEASE
CONFIRM OR CORRECT MY UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR UNQUALIFIED
- NEGATIVE ON LOCAL NEWSPAPER REPORT TO EFFECT THAT LARGE METAL
MANNED BALLOON HAD BEEN FOUND VICINITY SALVADOR APPROXIMATELY
NOVEMBER 8, DEAD CREWMAN ABOARD WEARING UNIFORM OR SPACESUIT
WITH STRANGE MARKINGS, THAT FOUR-METER-DEAP CRATER FORMED
UPON IMPACT.
CFN 94 1054
RIO 1054
PAGE TWO RUESUA 264
I UNDERSTAND FURTHER THAT AN OBJECT HAD BEEN SIGNTED ALOFT
IN THAT VICINITY AROUND THAT DATE, THAT SAID OBJECT HAD BEEN
TENTATIVELY IDENTIFIED AS WEATHER-TYPE BALLOON, BUT THAT NO
REPEAT NO SUCH OBJECT HAD BEEN FOUND AGROUND.
AND SCIENCE ATTACHES APPRECIATE COOPERATION, GORDON
NOTE:
PASSED DEFENSE AND NASA AT 2:20 PM 11/14/63
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS
NOV 14.1963
7,8,9,1011,12,1,2,3,4,5,6
• This copy must be returned to RM/R central files with notation of action taken •
ACTION
ASSIGNED TO.
NAME OF OFFICER
NONGDASSIFIED
REPRODUCTION FROM THIS COP
• OFFICE SYMBOL
DILLEM
DATE OF
ACTION 11|17|63
DIRECTIONS TO UNLESS MEE
TO RM/R
DECLASSIFIED NND
939551
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