Two docs on Reuben Efron at CIA Crest

[Joseph Backes]

1. JOURNAL OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER 1955

Efron and Senator Russell went to Russia

2.) (EST PUB DATE) CIA'S ROLE IN THE STUDY OF UFO'S, 1947-90, BY GERALD K. HAINES

And, of course, this one is about UFOs

Joe

[Joseph Backes]

See - https://enigmalabs.io/library/d91d6eb7-37f6-485a-9fbe-f208ce218a16

Efron was with Senator Richard Russell when Russell saw a UFO while traveling by train in Russia.  ( I am not making this up. - Joe )

In the early evening October 4, 1955, Senator Richard Russell of Georgia was traveling by train in the Soviet Union when he and two companions saw two unconventional aircraft “resembling flying discs or flying saucers” in the Transcaucasus region. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Russell was widely respected in the U.S. military. When Russell reached Prague a week later, the three men reported the sighting to the U.S Air Force attaché, Col Timothy Ryan. 

 “I doubt if you are going to believe this, but we all saw it,” Hathaway told Ryan. “Senator Russell was the first to see this flying disc. We've been told for years that there isn’t such a thing, but all of us saw it.” Ryan deemed the three men “reliable observers.”¹

Two weeks later, Russell’s report was included in the CIA’s Daily Intelligence Bulletin, which was circulated to senior U.S. officials.²

“Disc aircraft ascended near dusk with outer surface revolving to the right slowly and with two lights stationery on top near middle part,” the Air Force reported in its summary of Russell’s account . “Sparks or flame seen coming from aircraft which passed over the observers train. Both flying disc aircraft ascended relatively slowly to about 6,000 [feet] then speed increased sharply in horizontal flight both on northerly heading.” 

Russell and company said they saw two searchlights “pointing almost vertical” about one to two miles south of the rail line. “After the sighting,” they reported, “Soviet train men became excited and lowered curtain and refused permission to look out windows.” Russell, Efron, and Hathaway “firmly believe these conventional aircraft are flying saucer or disc aircraft,” the Air Force reported. 

The CIA reaction was more skeptical. Herbert ("Pete") Scoville, Jr., assistant director for scientific intelligence at CIA, worried that Russell had been a victim of a Soviet hoax, designed either to convince the American group that some sort of launch site existed in the area, or to make them think they had seen a Soviet saucer, as unlikely as that might be. 

Scoville questioned Russell and concluded that Hathaway and Ryan's version of the story, which had alarmed the Agency, was inflated in many respects -- biased toward an image of a vehicle unwarranted by the observations. For example, Russell said the Soviet men on the train closed the curtains 10 minutes after the incident and that he did not think they were trying to hide anything.

SCOVILLE’S CONCLUSION:

“The testimony of [Senator Russell's party] does not in my opinion support the theory that the Russians have developed saucer-like or unconventional aircraft. It is quite possible that the objects seen were the exhausts of normal jet aircraft in a steep climb. The fact that none were seen on the ground might indicate that the aircraft were in a dive followed by a sharp pull-up in such a way that nothing was seen until the exhausts were visible to the observers on the train. However, it is possible that the aircraft were indeed of the short or almost vertical take-off variety.”

When a reporter for the Los Angeles Examiner asked for details, Russell said only, "I have discussed this matter with the affected agencies and they are of the opinion that it is not wise to publicize this matter at this time."⁴

Three years before, Russell, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked the Secretary of the Air Force, Thomas Finletter for an “evaluation of recent news articles concerning the observation of ‘flying saucers’ by combat airmen in the Far East.” Finletter replied with details from a UAP report filed by two experienced B-29 crews flying over Korea on January 30, 1952.⁵

Project Blue Book, the Air Force office responsible for evaluating reports of unidentified aerial phenomena, was apparently never informed of Russell’s sighting. The Air Force report on his story was not declassified until 1985.⁶

Resources

1. “Senior US senator’s report of seeing ‘TWO UFO’s’ was ‘covered up,’ secret documents show,” Express (U.K.), October 13, 2016, (https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/578055/Senior-US-senator-s-report-TWO-UFOs-covered-up-secret-documents)

2. “Reported Sighting of Unusual Aircraft in USSR,” Current Intelligence Bulletin, October 15, 1955 http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/5829/CIA-RDP79T00975A002200380001-5.pdf

3. “Bomber Gap, Missile Gap … Saucer Gap?” http://ufxufo.org/russell/release14.htm 

4. “Senator Russell Sees a UFO," How Stuff Works: https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/senator-russell-ufo.htm.

5.  Project 1947 UFO Documents Korea- 1952 http://www.project1947.com/fig/korea52a.htm#russell

6. “Senator Russell Sees a UFO, How Stuff Works https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/senator-russell-ufo.htm. See also Scoville, memorandum for the record, "Interview with Senator Richard B. Russell," 27 October 1955. https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html#ft42

 

[Joseph Backes]

This doc is worth a read:

Reel 44, Folder H - HTLINGUAL PROJECT (SOFT FILE)

Next to HTLINGUAL was this - 61GlOAK.  in the doc giving us the name Reuben Efron. 

And on page 36 ( of 173 ) we see it's really 61 G 10 AK.  So, that number was given to one item intercepted in the mail.  One of six items given to Sam Papich on Sat, 11/23/63.  

Joe

[Mart Hall]

10 hours ago, Joseph Backes said:

This doc is worth a read:

Reel 44, Folder H - HTLINGUAL PROJECT (SOFT FILE)

Next to HTLINGUAL was this - 61GlOAK.  in the doc giving us the name Reuben Efron. 

And on page 36 ( of 173 ) we see it's really 61 G 10 AK.  So, that number was given to one item intercepted in the mail.  One of six items given to Sam Papich on Sat, 11/23/63.  

Joe

There is what I would call an index card on page 26, dated 9 November 1959, so a week after Oswald's visit to the US embassy in Moscow and I would say that the card was probably set up by Efron as his initials are on the top right hand side. There's another one on the same page dated 26 November 1963 with Efron's initials on it (and another on page 28). Interesting?

Could you advise which page you are referring to in the bit I've highlighted, thanks.

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Mart Hall
Date typo.

[Joseph Backes]

3 minutes ago, Mart Hall said:

There is what I would call an index card on page 26, dated 9 November 1959, so a week after Oswald's visit to the US embassy in Moscow and I would say that the card was probably set up by Efron as his initials are on the top right hand side. There's another one on the same page dated 23 November 1963 with Efron's initials on it (and another on page 28). Interesting?

Could you advise which page you are referring to in the bit I've highlighted, thanks.

 

The doc giving us the name Reuben Efron is RIF#104-10418-10302. See - https://www.maryferrell.org/search.html?q=104-10418-10302&index=mffnara&term=recno

You want to click on the red title, then you'll see a blue font submenu for multiple matches, you want 234516, the most recent release.

Joe

[Mart Hall]

22 minutes ago, Joseph Backes said:

The doc giving us the name Reuben Efron is RIF#104-10418-10302. See - https://www.maryferrell.org/search.html?q=104-10418-10302&index=mffnara&term=recno

You want to click on the red title, then you'll see a blue font submenu for multiple matches, you want 234516, the most recent release.

Joe

Thanks Joe. 

[Benjamin Cole]

JB knows his stuff.

I know a lot about Sen. Richard Russell, probably many here do. 

Can you provide context on Reuben Efron? 

BTW, this below sounds right to me. Even if one believes in flying saucers, these Russell saucers smoked....

The CIA reaction was more skeptical. Herbert ("Pete") Scoville, Jr., assistant director for scientific intelligence at CIA, worried that Russell had been a victim of a Soviet hoax, designed either to convince the American group that some sort of launch site existed in the area, or to make them think they had seen a Soviet saucer, as unlikely as that might be. 

[Joseph Backes]

Reuben Efron is a guy Jeff Morley has been writing about and was in a recent NYT article. He was reading LHO's mail. We did not know the name Reuben Efron as someone who was reading LHO's mail.  So, his name is new. We know very little about him.

That Efron was with Sen. Richard Russell on a train in Russia when Russell saw a UFO is an odd coincidence. 

The CIA put LHO on their mail intercept program known as HTLINGUAL.  They took him off of it and then put him back on it.

John Newman wrote about that in his book "Oswald and the CIA."  

Joe

[Benjamin Cole]

5 hours ago, Joseph Backes said:

Reuben Efron is a guy Jeff Morley has been writing about and was in a recent NYT article. He was reading LHO's mail. We did not know the name Reuben Efron as someone who was reading LHO's mail.  So, his name is new. We know very little about him.

That Efron was with Sen. Richard Russell on a train in Russia when Russell saw a UFO is an odd coincidence. 

The CIA put LHO on their mail intercept program known as HTLINGUAL.  They took him off of it and then put him back on it.

John Newman wrote about that in his book "Oswald and the CIA."  

Joe

Right, and then Efron shows up for one day (as recorded anyway) during Marina's sequestering at Six Flags. 

Thanks for your reply. I was hoping there was more on him.

[Denis Morissette]

Where does it say that Enron was present at the testimony of Marina in 1964?

[Joseph Backes]

55 minutes ago, Denis Morissette said:

Where does it say that Enron was present at the testimony of Marina in 1964?

Try right here - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=37#relPageId=71&search=Reuben_Efron

 

[Denis Morissette]

6 hours ago, Joseph Backes said:

Try right here - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=37#relPageId=71&search=Reuben_Efron

 

Thanks!

[Linda Giovanna Zambanini]

I made his findagrave memorial and put his photo on it. Here you go.: 

[Joseph Backes]

Linda,

Your attachment doesn't work.  A .png might be too big.  Try using Google, put in "convert .png to .jpeg" and then upload the .jpg to here.

Joe

[Joseph Backes]

Here it is - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/256916916/reuben-ezra-efron