About this episode
In 1955, a United States Senator claimed he saw a "greenish-yellow ball rising rapidly" over the Soviet Union. Was it a Soviet secret weapon, an extraterrestrial visitation, or something else entirely? And why was the CIA so intent on keeping its UFO investigations under wraps? From the early days of the Cold War, the CIA found itself drawn into the burgeoning world of UFO sightings, not because of aliens, but due to a deeper fear: what if these unidentified objects were Soviet aircraft or a psychological warfare tool designed to disrupt US air defences and undermine society? This chilling possibility led the agency down a path of secret monitoring and debunking, a path that inadvertently fuelled the very conspiracy theories it sought to suppress. Join Gordon and David as they uncover the CIA's surprising role in the UFO phenomenon, from their secret U2 spy plane tests to the farcical attempts to silence witnesses, and explore how their efforts to protect classified programs only solidified public belief in a grand cover-up. ------------------- To sign up to The Declassified Club, go to www.therestisclassified.com or click this link. To sign up to the free newsletter, go to: https://mailchi.mp/goalhanger.com/tric-free-newsletter-sign-up ------------------- Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ nordvpn.com/restisclassified It's risk-free with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee ------------------- Order a signed edition of Gordon's latest book, The Spy in the Archive, via this link. Order a signed edition of David's latest book, The Seventh Floor, via this link. ------------------- Email: classified@goalhanger.com Twitter: @triclassified Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices