Editing Donald Keyhoe (section)

==The NICAP era==
In 1956, Keyhoe cofounded the [[National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena]] (NICAP). He was one of several prominent professional, military or scientific figures on the board of directors, which lent the group a degree of legitimacy many of the other contemporary "flying saucer clubs" sorely lacked. NICAP published a newsletter, ''The UFO Investigator'', which was mailed to its members. Although the newsletter was intended to be published on a regular monthly basis, due to financial problems it was often delivered on a more erratic basis. For example, in 1958 four issues were published, but only two issues were published in 1959.<ref name="Peebles, p. 162">(Peebles, p. 162)</ref>

NICAP founder [[Thomas Townsend Brown]] was ousted as director in early 1957 after facing repeated charges of financial ineptitude. Keyhoe replaced him; he was only slightly better at managing NICAP's finances, and the organization often faced financial shortfalls and crises throughout Keyhoe's twelve years as director.<ref name="Peebles, p. 162"/> Even so, it would remain the largest and most influential civilian UFO research group in the United States from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.<ref>(Peebles, p. 141)</ref>

With Keyhoe in the lead, NICAP pressed hard for Congressional hearings and investigation into UFOs. They scored some attention from the mass media, and the general public (NICAP's membership peaked at about 15,000 during the early and mid-1960s) but only very limited interest from government officials.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

However, there was increasing criticism of the Air Force's [[Project Blue Book]]. Following a widely publicized wave of UFO reports in 1966, NICAP was among the chorus which called for an independent scientific investigation of UFOs. The [[Condon Committee]] was formed at the University of Colorado with this goal in mind, though it quickly became mired in infighting and later, in controversy. Keyhoe publicized the so-called "Trick Memo", an embarrassing memorandum written by the Condon Committee coordinator which seemed to suggest that the ostensibly objective and neutral committee had determined to pursue a [[debunker|debunking]] operation well before even beginning their studies.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}