Col. Eriksen was head of the Policy and Management Group of the Directorate of Intelligence and in some way got in on all of the UFO business. (Sparks: Eriksen had previously been Fournet's boss as Chief of the Technical Capabilities Branch, Evaluation Division of AF Intelligence before the June 1952 reorganization.) Ruppelt said that Eriksen was "sort of power behind the throne on what the official policy would be." Ruppelt gave him quite a few briefings and he seemed to be a "lone wolf" in that he wanted to get the picture for himself. Ruppelt: "He got a little hacked at Fournet quite often, because he thought that Fournet was pushing his ideas, that the UFO's were real, too hard. I think that Eriksen tended to put a lot of faith in the UFO's but he was one of those who was afraid to stick his neck out." Col. Eriksen was briefly Commander of ATIC from July to December in 1958.