DOS-UAP-D002, Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963
▮ AI SYNOPSIS · Sonnet 4.6
DOS-UAP-D002 is a diplomatic airgram (No. A-628) from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro to the Department of State, dated November 20, 1963, with distribution copies directed to Defense and NASA. It relays an investigation by Consul Harold Midkiff and Scientific Attachรฉ Andrรฉ C. Simonpietri into reports of an unidentified object allegedly coming down near Conde, Bahia, Brazil, on or around November 8, 1963. The cable summarizes findings from Midkiff's telegram and two Brazilian newspaper clippings. Both the Consul and local press found no witnesses to any anomalous event. The Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denied any strange object appeared near Conde.
The document is notable as a formal U.S. government negative finding on a UAP report, showing the Embassy actively investigated and coordinated with Defense and NASA. It is the second in a two-document exchange, following DOS-UAP-D001. No significant redactions are visible in the released text. The date discrepancy in the subject line โ referencing November 8, 1964, in a 1963 cable โ appears to be a clerical error in the original document.
โฎ TOP WORDS IN THIS DOCUMENT
This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 1963. This cable relays the findings of the scientific attachรฉ at the American Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, that a widely reported incident allegedly involving a crashed unidentified object was unsubstantiated, characterizing the reports as a fabrication originating in Rio de Janeiro.
The Consulate cites a lack of contemporary local reporting regarding the alleged incident, as well as contradictory reporting from local newspapers after the fact, as evidence that the published claims are unsubstantiated. The Consulate also cites a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denying that there was โany โstrange objectโ in Conde [Bahia].โ This correspondence follows a previous exchange between the Embassy and the Department of State, included in this collection under the title โDOS-UAP-D001.โ
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A-628
NO.
: DEPARTMENT OF STATE
: Amconsul SALVADOR
1963 NOV 24
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Department: Pass copies Defense, NASA * 420 V3
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FROM: Amembassy RIO DE JANEIRO
DATE: November 20,21963
SUBJECT: Negative Report on UFO (Unidentified Flying Object)
Reportedly Sighted Near Salvador, Bahia on November
8, 1964.
REF
: Embtel 94 to Amconsul Salvador (to SecState 1054) of
November 14, 1963.
ะ
Information copies of the above Embtel were sent to the
Department with the request that they be passed to Defense (for
the Air Force) and NASA.
Mr. Harold Midkiff, the Consul in Salvador, replied by
telegram No. 157 of November 14 to the above cited Embtel; as
follows:
"Story of strange object descending in region of Conde Bahia
apparently fabricated in Rio no such objects seen by
anyone in the area according to newspaper reporters and
others who rushed there before investigation reports
were received Secretary Public Security speculated object
might be weather balloon but no such sighting verified."
In addition, he forwarded by pouch also on November 14
two newspaper clippings from Salvadoran journalswhich substan-
tiate the above message, respectively Diario de Noticias of
November 9,
and the Jornal da Bahia of November 11.
The first
of these states that the Ministry of Aeronautics categorically
denies that there was any "strange object" in Conde.
The other
is entitled "The Airship that wasn't there".
According to the Jornal
da Bahia reporter, the only news-
worthy aspect of the episode
that it produced an astounding
by-product: he sent a telegram to his paper from the federal
telegraphic office in Conde - by an old morse code transmitter -
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS
L
FORM DS - 323
4 - 62
Drafted by SA: ACSimonpletri/vma 11-20-63
ontents and Classificatio
Clearances: AA: RDKalb (in substance)
POL: CCCarson &e
UNCLASSIFIED
NOV, 2 6 1963FOR DEPT. USE ONLY
_Out
Te in, 5,6
DECLASSIFIED NND 939551
โ PAGE 2 โ
UNCLASSIFIED
Page 2 of A-628 from Rio
and five minutes later he had a reply from Salvador.
For the Ambassador:
Nimompiel
Andre c. Simonpietri
Scientific Attachรฉ
UNCLASSIFIED
784
DECLASSIFIED NND 939551
