Declassified UAP

DOS-UAP-D001

Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 14, 1963

Format
Document, 1 page
Incident date
11/14/63
Released
Release 05, August 7, 2026
Source
war.gov
Topics
Diplomatic cables

Description from war.gov

This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 1963. This cable documents an effort by the Embassy to verify that the Department had assessed certain content published in a local newspaper as inauthentic, following a discussion on a poor-quality telephone connection the previous night. To ensure both offices were referencing the same reporting, the cable cites descriptive language paraphrased from the press, namely a “large metal manned balloon” and a “dead crewman aboard wearing [a] uniform or spacesuit with strange markings.” The cable concludes with the embassy’s understanding that an object assessed to be a weather balloon had been reported in the vicinity, but that no such object had been found to have crashed. A follow-on correspondence regarding the alleged incident is included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D002.”

1 page, 246 words of text

Page 1

INCOMING TELEGRAM ACTION COPY PERMANENT RECORD COPY Department of State UNCLASSIFIED 59 Action SCI Info G ARA ESA 129SUA 075 AR RUENC DE RUESUA 264 14/17402 1963 NOV 0.0 9 7.01 1.03 P ZNR 12-3 USIA R 1415222 NSC RM AMEMBASSY RTODEJANEIRO INR CIA ZEN/AMCONSUL SALVADOR TEN ARCONSE STATE VASER SP 14 BI NSA GRNG NS F RMR UNCLAS ACTION SALVADOR 94 INFO DEPT DEPARTMENT PASS DEFENSE AND FROM SCIATT SIMONPIETRI , NASA 054 FROM RIO FOURTEENTH SINCE RADIOTELEPHONE CONNECTION LAST NIGNT WAS WEAK, PLEASE CONFIRM OR CORRECT MY UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR UNQUALIFIED - NEGATIVE ON LOCAL NEWSPAPER REPORT TO EFFECT THAT LARGE METAL MANNED BALLOON HAD BEEN FOUND VICINITY SALVADOR APPROXIMATELY NOVEMBER 8, DEAD CREWMAN ABOARD WEARING UNIFORM OR SPACESUIT WITH STRANGE MARKINGS, THAT FOUR-METER-DEAP CRATER FORMED UPON IMPACT. CFN 94 1054 RIO 1054 PAGE TWO RUESUA 264 I UNDERSTAND FURTHER THAT AN OBJECT HAD BEEN SIGNTED ALOFT IN THAT VICINITY AROUND THAT DATE, THAT SAID OBJECT HAD BEEN TENTATIVELY IDENTIFIED AS WEATHER-TYPE BALLOON, BUT THAT NO REPEAT NO SUCH OBJECT HAD BEEN FOUND AGROUND. AND SCIENCE ATTACHES APPRECIATE COOPERATION, GORDON NOTE: PASSED DEFENSE AND NASA AT 2:20 PM 11/14/63 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS NOV 14.1963 7,8,9,1011,12,1,2,3,4,5,6 • This copy must be returned to RM/R central files with notation of action taken • ACTION ASSIGNED TO. NAME OF OFFICER NONGDASSIFIED REPRODUCTION FROM THIS COP • OFFICE SYMBOL DILLEM DATE OF ACTION 11|17|63 DIRECTIONS TO UNLESS MEE TO RM/R DECLASSIFIED NND 939551 IS

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Machine summary

Written by Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) on August 20, 2026, from the record's text and war.gov's description. It is not part of the record and can contain errors; check it against the document.

This is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable, dated November 14, 1963, transmitted from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro to the State Department in Washington, D.C., with copies routed to Defense, NASA, CIA, NSA, NSC, and other agencies. The cable was sent by the Embassy's Science Attaché, Simonpietri, to the U.S. Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It seeks written confirmation of a verbal assessment — made the previous night over a poor telephone connection — that a local newspaper report was inauthentic. The report in question described a large metal manned balloon found near Salvador around November 8, 1963, with a dead crewman wearing a uniform or spacesuit bearing strange markings, and a four-meter impact crater. The Embassy's understanding was that a weather balloon had been sighted in the area but that no object had been recovered on the ground.

The cable is notable for the breadth of its distribution list, which included NASA, CIA, NSA, and the NSC, suggesting the incident attracted attention beyond routine diplomatic reporting. The document itself contains no redactions. The Embassy's framing treats the newspaper account as unverified and likely inauthentic, but the cable does not provide the basis for that negative assessment. A follow-on document, DOS-UAP-D002, is included in the same release and presumably contains the Consulate's response or further correspondence on the matter.

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action object department state cable balloon embassy vicinity found copy salvador office november assessed local newspaper connection large metal manned dead crewman aboard wearing uniform spacesuit strange markings understanding weather

Records war.gov itself pairs with this one.

  1. DOS-UAP-D002 Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963 Department of State Document 11/20/63
  2. EOP-UAP-D001 NASC Inquiry into Bahia, Brazil Incident, November 13, 1963 Executive Office of the President Document 11/13/63

Closest matches by the text of the documents.

  1. State Department UAP Cable 001, Papua New Guinea, January 28, 1985 Department of State Document 1/24/85
  2. State Department UAP Cable 004, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, November 5, 2004 Department of State Document 11/5/04
  3. State Department UAP Cable 002, Kazakhstan, January 31, 1994 Department of State Document 1/27/94
  4. State Department UAP Cable 003, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 30, 2001 Department of State Document 10/28/2001-10/29/2001