by Grant Cameron

Myth: Smith was Intelligence but gullible

Not true as he was promoted in 1956 after the UFO project was closed
down. Shows government confidence making him department head.

Smith was also a Consultant to NASA. In 1957 Smith sat on the
coordinating committee of the international geophysical year.


Myth: He didn’t head the UFO program. (The claim is it was part time,
and that it was a personal project not connected to the government.)

However, in Oct. 1955 "You may know that I am the fellow who was in
change of the Canadian Government’s Project Magnet, which was the
official saucer study program."

C.P. Edwards writes at end of document "OK, go ahead with it and keep
me informed."

The story that the Smith UFO work was unofficial and part-time was
started in 1968 by Dr. Peter Millman in his introduction written for
the Project magnet Report. Millman, however, had never read the Top
Secret memo in Project magnet and was not cleared about anything that
occurred in the project.

Because Smith had continued his UFO studies after 1954 as a personal
private pursuit, Millman wrote in 68 that Smith’s work was part time.
The fact was that it was only part time after 1954.

All government officials commenting on Project Magnet after that point,
simply read the intro to the Project magnet report in the file, and
quoted Millman about the whole effort being part time and Smith
personal interest.


Myth: The Top secret memo should not have been Top Secret

Solandt indicated that Smith had just put Top Secret on his personal
papers and that the document should have never been classified Top
Secret.

Question is why classifies a document - the sender or the receiver?

Now let us assume that Smith was a bad boy and shouldn’t have put Top
Secret on the document. If that is so why was the document not released
to the public till the late 1970s. Take it one step further. Why was it
still classified Top Secret in September of 1969? Why was it not
declassified as soon as it was received if it was not proper?

A review of the actual facts will show that even in 1969 the
declassification to confidential was an accident. Something most people
don’t know.

The declassification memo is on this site under documents, but here is
what it says. W. J. Wilson who wrote this memo is told to declassify
the documents.

He states instead, "at no time should this be made available to the
public," and the copy of the project magnet report in the file is the
original, and it should "not be destroyed until such time as this
subject has ‘cooled off.’"

This declassification was being done in 1969 just as the Canadian and
US governments were canceling their UFO investigations, and going to
the people telling them there was nothing to the UFO phenomena.

The declassification ordered by Dr. Peter Millman was by a man who had
never read the Top Secret memo - sceptics don’t have to read to come to
a conclusion.

Dr. Peter Millman was at the National Research Council. He had been
asked to take over the UFO files held by the Department of Transport,
and the Department of Defense. Millman, a sceptic on UFOs, had agreed
but stated he did not wish to have any classified material as a part of
the files. He believed there was nothing to UFOs, and there was
therefore no secrets to hide.

The files included the Top Secret memo which included the information
obtained from the states that "flying saucers exist" and "it is the
most highly classified item" in the United States. It also included the
interim Project magnet report written up in 1952 which stated "there is
a 90% probability that the objects are real, and a 60% probability that
the objects are extraterrestrial."

Now instead of declassifying the Project Magnet files, as was requested
by Sr. Peter Millman, and agreed upon by the Defense Research Board,
Wilson decided to only lower the classification to "confidential," and
to hint that the documents should be destroyed.

Asked about this memo years later, Dr. Millman told me that he had
never read the Wilson memo. In reply to my question about the
statements "should never be made available to the public," and
destroying the document "when the subject has ‘cooled off,’" Dr.
Millman said "If you can understand all the statements made by top
government officials, you are a better man than I am." Good answer!


Myth: How he died

Smith died of cancer of the lower bowel. People like Phil Klass were
claiming a brain tumor. Some people inside NICAP were also spreading
this story.


Myth: He had no access to Top Secret American information.

However, the US Project Magnet clearly shows that the Americans were
listening to him.

Admiral Knowles stated that Smith was dealing with top officials in the
US government.

The Canadian Embassy documents clearly show that the Smith rewrite of
the Major Keyhoe article on the Canadian UFO Program had gone to Dr.
Vannevar Bush for approval.

Smith’s oldest son states that his father had seen both the bodies and
a crashed flying saucer outside of Washington. It is logical that top
access would have been required to see these two objects.