Civilian Saucer Investigations

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Civilian Saucer Investigations (CSI) was an independent unidentified flying object research group founded in Los Angeles, California in 1951.

Unlike some of the amateurish "flying saucer clubs" of the era, CSI was comprised largely of people with considerable scientific and technical expertise, most notably Ed J. Sullivan of North American Aviation, and rocket expert Walther Riedel.

CSI earned favorable mentions in mainstream media outlets like Time and Life magazines. In early 1952, Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, then head of Project Blue Book (the U.S. Air Force's UFO investigation project), met with the CSI leadership. He would later write:

They turned out to be a well-meaning but Don Quixote-type group of individuals. As soon as they outlined their plans for attempting to solve the UFO riddle, it was obvious that they would fail. Project Blue Book had the entire Air Force, money, and enthusiasm behind it and we weren't getting any answers yet. All this group had was the enthusiasm.

Nonetheless, letters and notes in Ruppelt's personal files note that he considered collaborating with CSI, due to the high levels of training amongst its membership.

CSI was suspicious of contactees who claimed to be in regular contact with extraterrestrials, but stood apart from other groups by actively investigating close encounters of the third kind, where animate beings are alleged to be seen as part of UFO sightings.

They released a quarterly periodical, the CSI Bulletin; Clark notes that their articles typically featured a sober, scientific tone.

In 1954, the group formally disbanded. The final issue of their periodical was devoted to their arguments in favor of the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the most plausible explanation for UFOs.

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