Col. John G. Ericksen 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: Ericksen 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 Ericksen 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 Ericksen 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."
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February 19, 1952
Letter to Col.John G. Ericksen, Chief of the Technical
Capabilities Branch
From: Albert E. Lombard, Jr. Chief, Research Division, Directorate of
Research and Development.