Project GRUDGE (Original Organization) (February–December 1949)
Background: Project SIGN was renamed Project GRUDGE in approximately February 1949. The staff, especially those who seemed to lean towards belief in the "interplanetary" origin of UFOs, were reportedly purged from the organization. One account of this time period suggests that because of perceived pressure from the Pentagon's leadership, the remaining staff who held this view changed their minds. This same account claims that the Pentagon's goals for Project GRUDGE were to discount and explain away all reports of UFOs.[13] Project GRUDGE was terminated on December 27, 1949, around the time a comprehensive report on its findings was published. The USAF did not stop collecting and analyzing reports of UFOs; rather, it folded that work into its existing intelligence processes.[14]
Results: Project GRUDGE investigated 244 reports of UFO sightings. It did not discover any evidence that the UAP sightings represented foreign technology; therefore, these findings did not pose a threat to U.S. national security.[15] The report recommended that the organization be downsized and de-emphasized because it was believed Project GRUDGE's very existence fueled a "war hysteria" within the public. The USAF subsequently implemented a public affairs campaign designed to persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. The stated goal of this effort was to alleviate public anxiety.[16]
- In August 1949, the USAF asserted that the UFO reports were misinterpretations of natural phenomena, man-made aircraft, fabrications, or hoaxes.[17]
Project TWINKLE (Summer 1949–Summer 1950)
Background: Project TWINKLE was established in the summer of 1949 to investigate a series of UFO reports witnessed by numerous observers in Nevada and New Mexico. These UFOs were described as "green fireballs" streaking across the sky, moving in odd ways, and—in at least one account—the fireball navigated near an aircraft. The literature is not clear if Project TWINKLE was officially supported by the original Project GRUDGE, but it was managed by the USAF's Cambridge Research Laboratory.[18] The goal of this investigation was to use multiple high-powered cameras near White Sands with the hope that if at least two images of the fireballs were captured, then their speed, altitude, and time could be discerned.[19]
Results: This project was only able to secure one camera, which was frequently moved between locations following fireball reports, and no photographs of the fireballs were ever taken.[20]
Project GRUDGE (Reestablishment) (October 1951–March 1952)
Background: In late October 1951, almost two years after Project GRUDGE was disestablished, the USAF's UFO mission was reorganized into another distinct program—also named Project GRUDGE—led by Capt Ruppelt. By his own account, Capt Ruppelt sought to correct the mistakes of Project SIGN and the former Project GRUDGE. His primary goal was to ensure that there would be "no wild speculation" and that if his staff were "too pro or too con" regarding the off-world origin of UFOs, they would be let go. He claimed to have fired three
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