★Historically significant

This 1958 CIA memo documents an active effort to conceal CIA officer identities and provide deliberately evasive answers to a civilian researcher (Dr. Leon Davidson) investigating Air Force handling of space/UAP sightings, indicating inter-agency coordination in information suppression around UAP topics.

CIA-UAP-004, CASE 17708 (CLOSED) and DR. Leon Davidson

CIAPDFMemoCONFIDENTIALLight redactionPURSUE Release 3

4/10

niche or mildly interesting

UAP Insight significance score

Incident date: 1958
Released: June 12, 2026

Evidence Types

Testimony

Official Conclusion

Case 17708 closed; records on the space message transmitter destroyed by the evaluating agency.

Official Description

This 1958 CIA memorandum discussing a phone conversation with Dr. Leon Davidson regarding concerns about a destroyed "space message and its transmitter." A redacted version of this memorandum has been available on CIA's public website.

Key Findings

→Dr. Leon Davidson was told that records on the 'space message and its transmitter' were destroyed by the evaluating agency, a response Davidson indicated he had heard before.
→Davidson had a second article prepared for publication concerning Air Force handling of space sightings, which had been submitted to Pentagon security review.
→CIA officers were instructed to give an 'extraordinarily noncommittal and evasive answer' to Davidson to avoid contradicting prior statements made by the CIA and other involved agencies.
→CIA had actively concealed the CIA identities of officers Walker and Skakich from Davidson, though CIA believed Davidson knew he was dealing with the CIA based on a telephone conversation in which he referenced 'your agency.'
→The memo concludes that Davidson would likely not fully accept the evasive answers provided and that more would be heard from him.

UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official

This is a 1958 CIA internal memorandum from R.P.B. Lohmann to the Chief of the Contact Division, Support Branch, and Chief of the Chicago Office, summarizing a telephone contact with Dr. Leon Davidson. The memo concerns a closed case (17708) in which Davidson was inquiring about a 'space message and its transmitter,' and discusses how CIA officers were instructed to give evasive answers to Davidson to avoid contradicting prior statements from multiple agencies. The memo also reveals that the CIA had concealed the agency identities of officers Walker and Skakich from Davidson, though the memo suggests Davidson had likely deduced he was dealing with the CIA.

Analyst Notes

This document contains no direct UAP incident report or sighting data; it is an internal CIA administrative memo about managing a civilian researcher (Dr. Davidson) who was investigating Air Force handling of 'space sightings.' No physical evidence or sensor data is referenced. The nature of the 'space message and its transmitter' is never described in detail. The document's relevance to UAP is indirect — it primarily documents information management and source concealment efforts by the CIA.

Extracted Entities

People

Dr. Leon DavidsonR.P.B. LohmannWalkerSkakichConnellLaMountain

Agencies & Organizations

CIAAir Force

Locations

ChicagoCourt of Appeals Building conference roomPentagon

Aircraft & Objects

space message and its transmitter

Dates

9 January 1958

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AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · July 20, 2026