A newly released FBI memo from September 1947 has surfaced, showing the bureau was directed to conduct a thorough interview with a man who claimed to have seen a flying disc. The document was made public on May 8, 2026, through the Trump administration’s PURSUE initiative, posted on the U.S. Department of War’s archive. The one-page memo, marked CONFIDENTIAL and sent via AIRMAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY, originated from the Special Agent in Charge in San Francisco and was addressed to FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover. It ordered the FBI’s Portland field office to interview F.
M. Johnson “exhaustively” regarding his reported sighting of a flying disc. The directive encloses a letter from Lt. Col. Donald L.
Springer of A-2, Hamilton Field, California. Springer recommended Johnson be interviewed but expressed skepticism, noting he believed Johnson “may have read some of his claims in a newspaper.” This suggests the military wanted the FBI to investigate a man who might have simply repeated a story he had read.
The memo does not authorize an arrest or surveillance. It specifically orders an interview, using the word “exhaustive” to indicate every detail should be covered. The results were to be sent back to San Francisco, which would then forward them to the 6th Army Intelligence. Johnson’s address is listed as 106 N.W.
First Ave., Portland, Oregon. He allegedly saw a flying disc on June 24, 1947 — the same day pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine crescent-shaped objects near Mount Rainier, Washington.
Arnold’s description gave rise to the term “flying saucer.” The chain of command reveals the FBI was acting as an investigative arm for Army intelligence. Lt. Col. Springer at Hamilton Field initiated the request to the Bureau. The San Francisco SAC forwarded it to Hoover, and Hoover’s office sent the order to Portland.
The memo directs that copies of the interview be provided to San Francisco “for distribution to the 6th Army Intelligence.” This detail counters the popular image of the FBI independently chasing UFO reports. The bureau was running errands for the military, processing a lead from an Army lieutenant colonel who was not even certain the witness was credible.
The interview was ordered anyway, and the paperwork was completed. The broader case file, 62-HQ-83894, spans from June 1947 to July 1968 and contains “investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs,” according to the Department of War. The released document is Section 3 of that file.
The PDF is 33.9 megabytes and requires download to view. The memo itself is a single page, but it illustrates how the government processed UFO reports in 1947: a witness, a skeptical colonel, an FBI field office, Army intelligence, and a paper trail that lasted decades.
No conclusions or explanations are offered — just a directive to interview a man at 106 N.W. First Ave. in Portland. Exhaustively.
