Civilian Saucer Intelligence (CSI) was an independent

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

research group founded in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1954. It was initially called Civilian Saucer Intelligence New York, but the "New York" was quickly dropped from their name. In contrast to the many amateurish early "flying saucer clubs", CSI actually conducted rigorous investigations of UFO reports. The ''CSI Newsletter'' was issued quarterly, and UFO researcher

Jerome Clark Jerome Clark (born November 27, 1946)"Jerome Clark". ''Contemporary Authors Online''. June 12, 2002. Retrieved on April 11, 2012. is an American writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other paranormal subjects. He has appeared ...

describes it as "the best UFO periodical of its time — well edited, intelligent, thoughtful and critical-minded." (Clark, 188) They were critical of

contactees Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a c ...

who claimed to be in regular contact with aliens, but stood apart from other groups by investigating

close encounter In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO) at relatively close range, where the possibility of mis-identification is presumably greatly reduced. This terminology and the system of cla ...

s of the third kind, where animate beings are alleged to be seen as part of UFO sightings.

History

writes, "Though its membership was small, what the organization lacked in quantity it made up in quality of its personnel" (Clark, 188) CSI's core personnel were Ted Bloecher
Isabel Davis
and

Alexander Mebane Alexander Mebane, Jr. (November 26, 1744 – July 5, 1795) was a U.S. Congressman from the state of North Carolina from 1793 to 1795. He was also a brigadier general in the North Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War. Early life Alexand ...

. American biochemist Michael D. Swords describes CSI's impressive projects as the result of "the Herculean efforts of three talented UFO researchers ... ey were tough analysts, very difficult to fool with trivial cases."Swords, Michael D., "UFOs, the Military and the Early Cold War" in ''UFOs & Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge'', David M. Jacobs, editor, University Press of Kansas, 2000, CSI was also notable for translating two books by French ufologist Aimé Michel into English. Furthermore, according to Swords, CSI became astronomer

J. Allen Hynek Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 – April 27, 1986) was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force un ...

's main source of UFO reports during the mid-1950s—especially cases from outside the U.S.—after the

Robertson Panel The Robertson Panel was a scientific committee which met in January 1953 headed by Howard P. Robertson. The Panel arose from a recommendation to the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) in December 1952 from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ...

(1953) diverted most UFO reports away from

Project Blue Book Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Fo ...

, to which Hynek was consultant. Though the group never formally disbanded, CSI was defunct by 1959. However, Davis and Bloecher were active in UFO research into the 1980s, Davis as a

NICAP The National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) is an unidentified flying object (UFO) research organization active in the United States from 1956 to 1980. Though NICAP no longer operates in its original form, it remains active ...

associate. Notably, Bloecher investigated an early 1970s UFO sighting made by young painter, Budd Hopkins; in later years, Hopkins would become a key figure in the

alien abduction Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting what they assure to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subje ...

scene.

References

*Clark, Jerome, ''The UFO Encyclopedia: 2nd Edition; Volume 1, A-K''; Omnigraphics, Inc, 1998, {{UFOs UFO organizations UFO culture in the United States Research organizations in the United States