CHAPTER ONE
UFOs: The Beginning

On June 24,1947, a civilian pilot flying over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, spotted nine disc-shaped craft flying in formation at a high rate of speed. He radioed in his sightings, fully expecting a rational explanation about some sort of Air Force experiment. No explanation was forthcoming, and the eerie craft remained unidentified. Thus began the modern era of flying saucers.

For the next twenty-two years, the United States Air Force would study flying saucer reports. Later, the Air Force would change the term "flying saucer" to "Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)" as a more appropriate definition of the phenomena. These official studies were to be conducted under such names as Project Sign, Project Grudge and, finally, Project Blue Book.

On December 17, 1969, the Secretary of the Air Force announced the termination of Project Blue Book, the Air Force's official and only publicly known program for investigating Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

The decision to discontinue UFO investigations was based on an evaluation of a report prepared by the University of Colorado entitled, "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects," a review of the University of Colorado's report by the National Academy of Sciences, past UFO studies, and the Air Force's two decades of experience investigating UFO reports.

As a result of these investigations and studies, and of experience gained from investigating UFO reports since 1948, the conclusions of Project Blue Book were the following:

1. no UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security

2. there has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as "unidentified" represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge, and

3. there has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as "unidentified" are extraterrestrial vehicles.

In 1977, President Carter asked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to look into the possibility of resuming UFO investigations. After alleging to have studied all the facts available, NASA decided that nothing would be gained by further investigation. The Air Force agreed with that decision, stating that if firm evidence was found justifying further investigation, an appropriate agency would be directed to undertake the effort.

With the termination of Project Blue Book, the Air Force regulation establishing and controlling the program for investigating and analyzing UFOs was rescinded. All documentation regarding the former Blue Book investigation was permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Service in Washington, D.C. where it is available for public review and analysis.

The termination of Project Blue Book, if we are to believe the stated conclusions of the Project itself, should have ended the U.S. Government's involvement and interest in UFOs. But did it? Or did government work with UFOs go underground?

We will investigate this crucial question further, but for now we will focus our analysis on the Air Force's conclusions which brought to an end the U.S. Government's "official" UFO investigative program, Project Blue Book.

For the purpose of this analysis I will limit my comments and references to documents known to have existed prior to the closure of Project Blue Book in 1969. Let's look at those incredible United States Air Force conclusions point by point.(1)

No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security.

To this point I must retort that if an unknown flying object violates the air space of the United States then a potential (and I must stress potential) threat to our security does in fact exist. Who is to say that an object hurtling towards a major American city or defense facility is not carrying thermonuclear weapons from a hostile nation or rogue terrorist organization? Can we slouch back and relax at our radar scanners because we cannot identify the flying objects closing in on us. Should we take comfort that these craft are too fast and maneuverable to be known Soviet fighter jets or scud missiles?

Obviously, our armed forces have the primary role of defending our nation from attack. If scrambling fighter jets proves futile, then we, in my humble opinion, had better do what we can to gather information about such phenomena from scientists, aviators and air force personnel worldwide.

Conclusion number one, in short, is illogical and highly disturbing. After Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, and reports of unauthorized private sales of nuclear submarines and warheads from the corrupt former Soviet military, one would expect that our armed forces would be less cavalier about America's security.

Now we will look at some of the early government documents to see what they say about the Air Force's first conclusion.

In 1948, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Directorate of Intelligence of the United States Air Force did a joint study of the UFO phenomena. Air Intelligence Report No. 100-203-79, entitled "Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S." and dated December 10,1948, was the end result of that study. It concluded:
Since the Air Force is responsible for control of the air in the defense of the U.S. it is imperative that all other agencies cooperate in confirming or denying the possibility that these objects have a domestic origin. Otherwise, if it is firmly indicated that there is no domestic explanation, the objects are a threat and warrant more active efforts of identification and interception.

It must be accepted that some type of flying objects have been observed, although their identification and origin are not discernible. In the interest of national defense it would be unwise to overlook the possibility that some of these objects may be of foreign origin. (See doc. 1-1.)
 

The above report was classified, "TOP SECRET." Also, the Air Force did not intend for the American Public to ever find out about this report. The Air Force even ordered the report's destruction in an official memorandum dated September 25, 1950. The memo stated:

It is requested that action be taken to destroy all copies of Top Secret Air Intelligence Report Number 100-203-79, subject: "Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S."

This memo to destroy the report was dated September 25, 1950, and was fortunately lost in a bureaucratic oversight (or, perhaps rescued by some patriotic and concerned officer). The crucial report maintaining the strategic importance of UFO intelligence gathering was thus never destroyed. Through the diligent efforts of Mr. Robert Todd, the document was located and eventually declassified on March 5, 1985.

Again, the importance of this report cannot be overstated. We have official government reportage contradicting the notion that the UFO issue does not impact upon national security. The first conclusion of the government's document is thus highly suspect. We can conclude that our government wants to make the public think that we have discontinued to investigate UFOs, and that the public is supposed to accept the flimsy thinking that UFOs can not pose a security problem.

Where there's smoke there's fire, and where there's a government smoke-screen in the world's most open democracy there is surely a burning conflagration. If the government is lying to us to soothe our nerves, the strategy is backfiring.

On July 26,1952, the plot thickened. The Air Force issued orders to its interceptor pilots to scramble and shoot down UFOs which refused to land when ordered to do so. Obviously, the unidentified craft were within the pilots' visual and radio range. This was no drunken farmer raving about flying saucers during a full moon. The United States faced its greatest security crisis since World War II, and the enemy was not even known!

While our fighters were frustrated in their attempt to get close enough to fire, the shooting orders were rescinded by order of the Commander-in-Chief himself.

Why was the President involved in something as remote and irrelevant as another UFO sighting over some godforsaken wilderness? Because, this time, the UFOs were overflying the White House itself !

The President and military chiefs of staff wisely decided not to engage in combat this unknown force displaying vastly superior aerospace technology. Until forced to fire in self-defense, why start a shooting confrontation when the nation's capital lay directly below? The decision not to act aggressively represented neither cowardice nor lack of interest in the UFOs. Many thousands of lives in the sprawling metropolis below were at stake. Who knew for sure if the very planet's fate may have hung in the balance?

Unfortunately, this same concern for the welfare of the American public may be overextended and misused with regard to the public's right to know. Perhaps the President and military brass that same fateful day in 1952 decided that the American public "did not need to know" what the Air Force pilots and air defense personnel learned about the unimagined power of the UFOs. The gag order may have started as a temporary measure to calm a frightened nation. A half century later, however, we are still forced to obtain our government's military information about UFOs with long and painful ordeals such as the one I have lived through to write this book.

I understand why none of our current history books mark that July day in 1952 as the greatest threat to our nation's capitol since the British invaded in Colonial times. After all, no matter how many fighter planes were involved, no casualties were suffered on either side. Nonetheless, the near confrontation with this unknown threat rocked the nation.

July 1952 forever changed the UFO question, no matter how long and hard the nay-sayers have worked to smooth over the incident. The over flights by unidentified craft so alarmed the American public that on July 29,1952, the Pentagon held the largest press conference since the end of World War Two. The subject: UFOs. (See doc. 1-2.)

This press conference was held in room 3E-869 of the Pentagon at 4:00 P.M. on July 29, 1952.

In attendance were:

• Major General Roger M. Ramey, director of Operations, United States Air Force

• Colonel Donald L. Bower, Technical Analysis Division, Air Technical Intelligence Center

• Captain Roy L. James, Electronics Branch, Air Technical Intelligence Center

• Captain Edward J Ruppelt, Aerial Phenomenon Branch, Air Technical Intelligence Center

• Mr. Burgoyne L. Griffing, Electronics Branch, Air Technical Intelligence Center

Of course, this press conference was designed to downplay the public's fears and to allay any security concerns about the inadequacy of our air defenses. These heavy hitters were brought out to practice that great American art of plausible deniability. They tried to explain all of the elaborate and firsthand sightings as misidentifications of known objects and the interaction of unusual weather phenomenon with our defense instrumentation.

Most thinking Americans weren't buying this dog and pony show. We don't call in the President for runaway weather balloons or temporary blips on a radar screen. This wasn't happening within easy bombing range of Walla Walla, Washington, but Washington, DC—the new capital of the Free World. Americans were not as cynical as they would become after Vietnam and the wave of historic assassinations, but even then they were not willing to let the men in the shiny brass buttons overrule our flyboys' testimony in the cockpits. Those Americans who were concerned with bigger things than the pennant race would not allow sightings of this quantity and quality to be conveniently explained away.

It is interesting to note that on the same day as the press conference (July 29, 1952) the FBI was advised, through Major General Samford's Office (Director of Air Intelligence), that it was,

"not entirely impossible that the objects sighted may possibly be ships from another planet such as Mars."

The FBI was further advised,

"that at the present time there is nothing to substantiate this theory, but the possibility is not being overlooked." (See doc. 1-3.)

This same message was again relayed to the FBI in a memorandum, dated October 27, 1952, in which Air Intelligence stated,

"Air Intelligence still feels flying saucers are optical illusions or atmospheric phenomena, but some Military officials are seriously considering the possibility of interplanetary ships." (See doc. 1-4.)

Of course, before Voyager missions and the Hubble telescope we had all kinds of incorrect theories about artificially dug canals on Mars, but could it be that "some military officials" knew something than the people at Air Intelligence did not know or could not say? The FBI was not in the habit of making fools of itself, and obviously they felt true concern about the possibility of interstellar interference or invasion.

After July 1952, the term "flying saucer" would forever enter our vocabulary. The phenomenon also impacted upon official military policy. Since 1954 an official military directive called Joint Army, Navy, Air Publication 146 (JANAP 146) has required pilots in flight and ships at sea that observe UFOs to report them immediately as a matter of vital national security interest. (See doc. 1-5.)

Of course, the justification for this requirement is significant for routine security measures. An enemy bomber or missile might first be reported as an UFO until clarification and identification can be made.

Sightings reported under this regulation are known as CIRVIS reports. CIRVIS is the acronym for Communication Instructions For Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings. While UFO denial has become entrenched in the military, it is significant that this security directive is still in force today. Obviously, the government is still researching UFO sightings as a crucial component of our security gathering information. Any official words to the contrary are just that—contrary words.

CIVRIS reports do not necessarily require top secret security classification. However, anyone leaking information about a CIVRIS report runs the risk of facing a $10,000.00 fine and/or 10 years in prison. This same penalty applies to those who fail to file CIVRIS reports due to a reluctance on the part of Air and Naval personnel to report sightings of UFOs.

To quote one Air Force pilot,

"If a space ship flew wing-tip to wing-tip formation with me, I would not report it."

This attitude, of course, is disconcerting to the U.S. Air Force in that if any unconventional craft existed, its detection would be hampered by the reluctance to report sightings of any unusual aerial objects.

The government can't have it both ways. They want our men and women in the armed forces to report what they see when in uniform, but to withhold information to the civilian world when they see something that is not supposed to exist. It is easy to see how the government's close-mouthed attitude towards UFOs clearly intimidates our military personnel, preventing them from doing their best to defend our sovereign territory, skies and seas.

Let's investigate the operative up close, as this book is all about giving readers a firsthand experience with the government's UFO-related documents. Section III, paragraph 208 states in part:

Transmission of CIVRIS reports are subject to the U.S. Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and the Canadian Radio Act of 1938, as amended. Any person who violates the provisions of these acts may be liable to prosecution thereunder. These reports contain information affecting the National Defense of the United States and Canada.... This should not be construed as requiring classification of CIVRIS messages.

The U.S. Air Force's next major, documented encounter with an UFO occurred in the early morning hours of July 17,1957. A U.S. Air Force RB-47, equipped with electronic countermeasures (ECM Equipment), was followed by an UFO for one and one half hours, covering a distance of more than 700 miles. This object was observed visually by the crew, tracked by ground radar, and detected by the on-board ECM equipment of the RB-47. Once again, the pilots were not following a suspicious phenomenon (that might be an aberrant weather condition or apparatus), the RB-47 was being followed and observed by the UFO.

Moreover, the data could not be dismissed as an optical illusion or faulty instrument reading, because eye witnesses plus two different tracking devices confirmed the same thing. This airtight case was brought to the attention of the Condon Committee for its consideration in the so-called "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects."

After studying the case, the Condon Committee concluded:

If a report of this incident, written either by the RB-47 crew or the Wing Intelligence personnel, was submitted in 1957, it apparently is no longer in existence. Moving pictures of radar scope displays and other data said to have been recorded during the incident apparently never existed.

 

Evaluation of the experience must, therefore, rest entirely on the recollection of the crew members ten years after the event. These descriptions are not adequate to allow identification of the phenomenon encountered."

No, I have not inadvertently quoted from the former Soviet newspaper Pravda or the KGB.

This disinformative double-talk is the voice of the so-called Free World, in a published report that makes the Warren Commission look highly reliable. In fact, later in this book you will be able to examine documents I was able to secure from the Soviet military and decide for yourself which of the Cold War superpowers was more paranoid about UFOs.

Thanks to the efforts of the late Dr. James E. McDonald, several military records dealing with the above case were uncovered in the files of Air Force Intelligence. This case and others like it, were never meant to be part of the government's Blue Book Files. These cases were classified as, "Vital Intelligence Information," given a classified status and forwarded, as per routine procedure, to the National Security Agency.

On October 20, 1989, the paper file pertaining to four other such cases, involving RB-47 aircraft, was released to me by Air Force Intelligence. (See doc. 1-6.) This file, which includes the statements of the RB-47 crew members, may be viewed at the end of this chapter. However, the other evidence known to exist remains classified by the National Security Agency at the Top Secret/ UMBRA level to this very day (I will explain the government's classification system in the next chapter). Once again, one can only wonder why this is so if, as the U.S. Air Force states, there is nothing to UFOs, and certainly nothing to be concerned about regarding national security.

The Condon Committee was limited to the Blue Book Files and not made aware of any other files existing within any other government agency. They were limited to only "Secret" material and not aware that much of the information the U.S. Government has on UFOs is classified at the "Top Secret" level and in many cases requires a Special Access Clearance to be viewed. Therefore, the Condon Committee did not get to view the best and most compelling UFO cases with which to base their findings. To be sure, all the Condon Committee received were those cases that the U.S. military and intelligence brass wanted the Committee to view, and those cases that supported the military's point of view.

Compare this backhanded cover-up activity with the straightforwardness of the Operations and Training Order issued by the Inspector General of the Air Force dated December 24,1959.

It stated that,

"Unidentified Flying Objects—sometime treated lightly by the press and referred to as "flying saucers"— must be rapidly and accurately identified as serious Air Force business in the ZI (Zone of the Interior)."

A memo from General Carroll Bolender, USAF, dated October 20, 1969, states:

"Reports of unidentified flying objects which could affect national security are made in accordance with JANAP 146 or Air Manual 55-11, and are not part of the Blue Book System." (See Report to Congress in Appendix.)

Does this mean that some UFO reports (those involving matters of national security) were never part of the Project Blue Book Files and were never meant to be? Unfortunately, it does. We can be further convinced that the government is concealing far more than in reveals about this topic of vital importance.

The Air Force's second conclusion was:

"There has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge."

Once again we must go to Air Intelligence Report No. 100-203-79, which states:

"It is evident from the performance characteristics attributed to the unidentified objects at this time that if they are foreign, they involve efficiencies of performance which have not been realized in any operational airborne device in this country. It would, therefore, be a mistake to analyze the technical aspects of the situation within the limits of our own knowledge of practical developments."

A perusal of many other documents here will confirm that these flying objects are clearly not limited to speeds and maneuvers now available to even our most sophisticated experimental craft. Again, we can only conclude that the government has made a strategic decision (and, I believe, a mistaken one) to be less than truthful with the taxpaying public whom it serves.

Flying disks that registered on radar or, in several celebrated cases, appeared in eyewitness pilot reports, were not the only strange fish in the stratospheric sea. Starting in 1947, the southwestern part of the United States began experiencing a phenomena known as "green fireballs." Disturbing for our national security agencies, most of these sightings were taking place in the State of New Mexico in the vicinity of key military installations. The situation was the cause of such concern that a special secret project was established to investigate the Green Fireball Phenomena. This project was known as Project Twinkle. (See doc. 1-7.)

The conclusions of the Project were inconclusive.

The Air Force was trying to "prove" that the Green Fireballs were natural phenomena, yet the final Project Twinkle Report was not able to support such a conclusion. To compound matters, many reputable scientists believed, "that the observed phenomena are man-made."

The final report reflected the security concerns of Dr. Lincoln La Paz. To quote from a key passage,

"Dr. La Paz expressed the opinion that the fireballs may be of our own military origin, but if not, they are a matter of serious concern."

In short, Dr. La Paz was stating that the phenomena was "man-made" in the sense that they did not at all resemble meteor showers or any other known natural phenomena. The term "man-made," by the way, did not mean that the production of these flying devices were within the technological range of present-day denizens of our planet.

The report's rejection of their preferred conclusion was so upsetting to the Air Force that in 1952, when asked to reclassify the final secret report, they refused to do so, stating:

The Scientific Advisory Board Secretariat has suggested that this project not be declassified for a variety of reasons, chief among which is that no scientific explanation for any of the "fireballs" and other phenomena was revealed by the report and that some reputable scientists still believe that the observed phenomena are man-made.

If science won't conform to Air Force directives, then damn the science. Any sort of natural cause, no matter how far-fetched, would have been acceptable to the military. After all, if the reported phenomena were man-made and not of American origin, they would have to be secret Soviet intelligence gathering devices. This would mean that the U.S. faced imminent Soviet attack or atomic blackmail. If, despite paranoia about the capabilities of Russian space technologists and their captive East German physicists, these fiery craft were not Soviet, then who did make them?

We had ourselves an interstellar threat that made the designers of Sputnik look like kids with an erector set! The possibilities were, to the U.S. Air Force, just too horrifying to discuss with the excitable American people.
 

The once Top Secret memo dated November 21, 1950, from a Mr. Wilbert B. Smith, a Canadian Government official and UFO Researcher, to the Controller of Telecommunications states the following:

I made discreet inquiries through the Canadian Embassy staff in Washington who were able to obtain for me the following information:

(a) The matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States Government, rating higher even that the H-Bomb

(b) Flying saucers exist

(c) Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush

(d) The entire matter is considered by the United States authorities to be of tremendous significance

(See doc. 1-8.)

This once-suppressed document from Ottawa reveals that the Canadians were more interested in harnessing geo-magnetism to create a new technology than concerned about potential security issues.

It states:

The existence of a different technology is borne out by the investigations which are being carried on at the present time in relation to flying saucers.

This was also written by Wilbert Smith, a Canadian official without the least self-consciousness, fear or surprise concerning UFOs.

Granted, Canada was not dueling the USSR for global supremacy and the "fireballs" were not appearing beside her most sensitive military installations. Nonetheless, the Canadian attitude towards UFOs was refreshingly different. Contact with a superior, probably extraterrestrial technology to them simply meant an epochal opportunity to advance humankind.

Compare this attitude to the third and final conclusion reached by the U.S. Air Force:

There has been no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as "unidentified" are extraterrestrial vehicles.

In July or August of 1948, the Air Technical Intelligence Center published a Top Secret "Estimate of the Situation." The unmentionable "situation" involved those pesky UFOs. The informed opinion presented in this report was that UFOs were interplanetary. The late General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, then Chief of Staff, felt the report lacked proof. As a result, the report was later declassified only to be immediately destroyed.

Why did the U.S. Air Force, in the person of General Vandenberg, feel that they had to declassify the report before destroying it? No such requirements existed then or now. They could have destroyed it as a classified document, with no need for declassification. To be sure, once a document is declassified, there exist no national security concerns and the contents of the document should be available to the public at large.

The Air Force wanted the document to sound unimportant, thus declassified, but without the accessibility of declassification. By ordering the destruction of the document, General Vandenberg was ensuring that the document, with its conclusion that UFOs were, in fact, interplanetary spaceships, would not become public knowledge.

The world, least of all the American Public, was to never know that the U.S. Air Force ever considered planetary defense strategies to face the threat of spaceships, UFOs or flying saucers. You see, if a classified document is ordered destroyed, a classified document record of destruction is created on the destroyed document and one copy is usually retained for historical reference. This is not the case with an unclassified document, and no records are required
to be retained on its destruction. So declassification was merely a ploy to keep embarrassing vital information away from the people of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Project Magnet, a formerly classified 1952 Canadian Government report on UFOs concluded:

It appears then, that we are faced with a substantial probability of the real existence of extra-terrestrial vehicles, regardless of whether or not they fit into our scheme of things. Such vehicles of necessity must use a technology considerably in advance of what we have. It is therefore submitted that the next step in this investigation should be a substantial effort towards the acquisition of as much as possible of this technology, which would without doubt be of great value to us. (See doc. 1-9.)

As reinforced by the documents provided here, the U.S. Government was too busy telling the general public there was no such thing as UFOs therefore they did not discuss the subject of possible technological progress that could be learned from UFOs.

Behind the scenes, they not only believed UFOs were something real, they were also quite concerned about UFOs presenting a national security threat. After all, the only justification the U.S. Government can use for classifying material Secret and Top Secret is national security concerns. Could the difference in attitude between the American and Canadian governments have anything to do with the fact that the self-declared kings of the Free World were not ready to admit to being helplessly inferior to another, albeit unknown, power.

All the documents that we have discussed so far have been documents generated during the existence of the Air Force sponsored UFO investigations. Let us assume for the moment that the U.S. Government believes the basic "official" conclusions of the Air Force investigations. Should it not stand to reason that if the U.S. Government is no longer interested in conducting any "official" investigations into the matter of UFOs, that the intelligence community would not collect intelligence and field data concerning UFOs? Remember, the U.S. Government officially stopped investigating UFOs in December 1969.

But, what if the U.S. Government did not stop having an interest in UFOs in 1969, which is the more likely scenario? Would the information the intelligence community gathers on UFOs need to be classified in the interest of national security? If so, why?

It shall be proven to you in the following chapters of this book that the U.S. Government still does has an interest in UFOs and requires careful collection of data. The fact that these reports are not known to the public should indicate that some national security interest or concern is definitely involved.

Furthermore, most of the material on UFOs the U.S. Government has collected since 1969 is once again classified in the interest of national security. We will also see, from the information that has been released, why UFOs present a potential threat to our national security, and specifically to our national defense infrastructure and capabilities.

Along with Operation Blue Fly, involving UFO sightings and overflights, you will be hearing about Project Moondust which involved the collection of space debris and other physical evidence that was used in the investigations regarding suspected UFO activity. The typical investigation often took fourteen days and, in some cases, lasted months. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) would direct the U.S. Air Force to appoint a Project Moondust officer to serve as a contact within the area of investigation. After the "mission window" had closed, the assigned Project Moondust officer's duty would be terminated.

I wish to remind the reader that Project Moondust was to deal only with objects of non-U.S. origin or objects of unknown origin. While some of our own "space junk" (such as booster rocket fragments) might have initially come under Moondust investigation, such debris would have been quickly indentified. Space objects of domestic origin, in fact, came under the jurisdiction of NASA rather than the Department of Defense. Moondust was a primary concern of the Department of Defense and not NASA because of the very real foreign intelligence interest in these items.

Whether or not the Canadians were right about potential technological benefits from such investigations, the security (or insecurity) apparatus of the Defense Department overshadowed the NASA scientists at Moondust sites. From its inception, Moondust was in the hands of soldiers rather than scientists. Project Moondust was established for the sole "peacetime mission" of locating, recovering, and delivering "descended foreign space vehicles."

This included objects of unknown origin. Also, Moondust involved the gathering of technical intelligence data on the development of the Soviet space programs and their intended purposes. In the charged atmosphere of the Cold War, losing the Space Race was akin to losing any claims to the possible riches of the solar system.

In 1973, the DIA had the State Department inform all of its Embassies and Consular Posts to use the code word "Moondust" when reporting "cases involving the examination of non-U.S. space objects or objects of unknown origin." Based upon the information provided, "the Department of State in conjunction with other interested agencies will determine subsequent action required."

On August 28, 1970, a Soviet satellite (COSMOS 316) broke up upon re-entering the earth's atmosphere and crashed across the American Midwest. Six fragments of this satellite were recovered in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. We were able to ascertain the origin of the objects through tracking data and by analysis of the fragments themselves. We now had samples of foreign debris to compare with physical evidence that was much more difficult to identify.

In brief, earth-made space junk burns up so much on the way down that the remnants are never very large. This is why the proceedings of 1972 Senate hearings on the topic are of special interest, especially the answer to the ninth question that was asked.

The question: "Have any fragments as large as these ever come back to earth from U.S. or other Soviet satellites?"

The answer: "We do not have any record of a NASA fragment or of another Soviet fragment as large as the largest COSMOS 316 fragment surviving re-entry. The largest COSMOS 316 fragment is approximately 4 ft. X 4 ft. and weighs 640 lbs." (See Report to Congress in Appendix.)

Compare those numbers to a once classified DIA document dated August 17, 1967, out of Sudan:

Local press, 17 August, 1967, reported that a satellite, cube shaped, weighing approximately three tons, discovered 3 August, 50 miles from Kutum... Satellite described as made of soft metal, presumably light aluminium, in oblong cubes measuring two inches by one inch tightly fastened together and covered by a silky material. Nationality not identified, as no inscriptions evident on outer surface. Local authorities in El Fasher have photographs and, with difficulty, cut samples.

 

• Could it be that the State Department forgot about the object found in Sudan on August 17, 1967, and the fact it weighed about three tons?

• Or could it be that the State Department was, in fact, very truthful and that no space fragment of U.S. or Soviet origin had been recovered weighing more than 640 lbs.?

• If the object recovered in Sudan, weighing three tons, was not from the American or Soviet space program, from which nation or planet did it originate?

Neither NASA, the DIA, nor the State Department are willing to release any other information on the Sudan case. As it is with similar cases, they consider this information to be classified and not releasable under criteria provided by Executive Order 12356.

When it comes to the Air Force's Operation Blue Fly recovery of such objects, the Air Force swears by Executive Order 12356. When confronted with their own documentation as to the existence of Operation Blue Fly, they still respond that they may neither deny nor confirm the existence or non-existence of any such records under the criteria provided by Executive Order 12356, not even to members of Congress.

It is this kind of resistance that I had to battle in my career-long struggle to uncover what the government really knows about UFOs. At one point I even wrote to my Commander in Chief, President George Bush, to complain about armed forces irregularities. This so upset my superiors that I got slapped into solitary, being confined in a small room of the building I worked in. This was done in an effort to keep me from contacting members of Congress regarding my concerns over the Intelligence Community's withholding of information on UFOs from the Congress.

However, during my lunch hours I was able to make those calls that I was "ordered" not to make, and in the evenings I wrote those letters I was "ordered" not to write. I was reinstated to my duties, and three field-grade officers over me were relieved of their duties pending transfers. I have paid a high price for my continued crusade for the truth, as you will learn later in this book.

As you now turn to the documents that pertain to this chapter, please know that every page, every line not crossed out by the military censor, came at a great price. Why am I prepared to pay such prices? Why am I on this strange personal mission? Because I saw an UFO at close range as a child and subsequently dedicated my life to studying UFOs for the Armed Forces of my country.

One day the whole truth will be open to us, the regular working people of this world, and all my efforts—and your support—will have been worthwhile.

(Table of Documents for Chapter 1)
 

Back to Contents

CHAPTER TWO
UFOs and National Security

As we have seen from Chapter One of this book, the United States Government apparently had considered the subject of UFOs a matter of national security, at the same time telling the American public that there was no need for alarm because UFOs just did not exist.

In addition, the very first conclusion of every government UFO investigation was that UFOs did not represent a threat to our national security. This, in my opinion, is the most important conclusion reached by the Air Force: It would justify no further investigation, as far as the military and intelligence communities were concerned, into the matter of UFOs.

So, after December 17, 1969, the U.S. Government should have been out of the UFO business forever; that is, if they really and truthfully believed their own conclusions. But did they really believe them?

I feel that it is important, before we continue, to define some key terms in order to better understand the meaning of the classification system used by the U.S. Government. What superior source could we use for these definitions than our own government?

The following definitions are taken directly from the United States Army, Army Regulation (AR) 380-5, entitled "Department of the Army Information Security Program":

• SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION—Information and material that requires special controls for restricted handling within compartmented intelligence systems and for which compartmentalization is established.

• SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAM— Any program imposing need-to-know or access controls beyond those normally required for access to Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret information. Such a program includes, but is not limited to, special clearance, adjudication, or investigative requirements; special designation of officials authorized to determine need-to-know; or special lists of persons determined to have a need-to-know.

• CONFIDENTIAL—Shall be applied only to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security.

• SECRET—Shall be applied only to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.

• TOP SECRET—Shall be applied only to information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.

The above terms were taken directly from official Army sources (AR) 380-5. They are important because they clearly define the classification system and show that the highest classification is Top Secret. They also show that in some programs known to exist you need more than a Top Secret Clearance. Keep these terms in mind for this and the other chapters of this book.

Several other terms should be defined here. However, I could not find the official definitions for those terms in any unclassified government documents that I had access to.

Therefore, I trust that the reader will accept the following generally accepted definitions:

• NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION—Any information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious or exception ably grave damage to the security of the United States of America.

• NATIONAL INSECURITY—Any information or material the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious or exceptionally grave damage to the censors who wish to keep the truth from the General Public.

Now that we have seen the definitions and have a better understanding of what they mean, keep these terms in mind as we continue with this chapter.
We have seen that the U.S. Government stopped investigating UFOs in December 1969. Officially, the U.S. Government does not have any interest in UFOs. But is this really the case?

We are going to look at some UFO events in which apparently there was some government interest. These events took place after the closure of Project Blue Book, and in these cases the government documents dealing with them were initially classified, in the interests of national security.

All of the cases we are about to discuss are military cases, involving either the U.S. Military or the military of a foreign government. I have chosen these cases because I feel they can best illustrate what is meant by a matter of national security. To be sure, there are many other such examples—many still highly classified—in the interests of national security, of course.

During late October and early November 1975, various U.S. Air Force bases across the northern United States and Canada were picking up UFOs both on radar and visually. UFO sightings were reported by such bases as Loring, Wurtsmith, Minot, and others.

At the times of these sightings, the official documentation covering them was classified from Confidential to at least Secret. I presently have over 300 pages of documents dealing with these sightings from various government agencies released through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Once these sightings became public knowledge, the U.S. Air Force attempted to dismiss them as helicopters and temperature inversions. If they were helicopters, then we have a very serious problem in that the Air Force was powerless to prevent these "helicopters" from "landing" inside nuclear weapons storage areas.

Furthermore, no arrests were ever made. Do you, the reader, really believe that our military is that helpless against this type of intrusion by helicopters?

In the U.S. Air Force there exists a reluctance among its personnel to use such terms as "UFOs" or "flying saucers." It is preferred that the term "unknown" be used, as opposed to "UFO."

To illustrate my point, let me quote from two official documents concerning the 1975 overflights dealing with the same incident.

The first quote is from the NORAD Command Director's Log. The second quote is from the 24th NOFLAD Region Senior Director's Log. (See doc.2-1.)

8 Nov 75/0753Z: 24th NORAD region unknown track J330, heading SSW, 12000 feet. 1 to 7 objects, 46.46 (degrees) N x 109.23W.

Two F-106 scrambled out of Great Falls at 0754Z. SAC reported visual sighting from Sabotage Alert Teams (SAT) Kl, K3, LI and L6 (lights and jet sound). Weather section states no anomalous propagation or northern lights.

0835Z SAC SAT Teams K3 and L4 report visual, K3 reports target at 300 feet altitude and L4 reports target at 5 miles. Contact lost at 0820Z. F-106's returned to base at 0850Z with negative results.

0905Z Great Falls radar search and height had intermittent contact.

0910Z SAC teams again had visual (Site C-l, 10 miles SE Standford, Montana).

0920Z SAC CP reported that when F-106's were in area, targets would turn out lights, and when F-106's left, target would turn lights on. F-106's never gained visual or radar contact at anytime due to terrain clearance. This type of activity has been reported in the Malmstrom area for several days although previous to tonight no unknowns were declared. The track will be carried as a remaining unknown.

And now, the extract from the 24th NORAD Region Senior Director's Log:

8 Nov 75 (0635Z)—A security camper team at K.-4 reported UFO with white lights, one red light 50 .yards behind white. Personnel at K-1 seeing same object.

 

8 Nov 75 (0645Z)—Height personnel picked up objects 10 -13,000 feet, Track J330, EKLB 0648, 18 knots, 9,500 feet. Objects as many as seven, as few as two A/C.

 

8 Nov 75 (0745Z)—Conversation about the UFOs; Advised to go ahead and scramble; but to be sure and brief pilots, FAA. Go easy and the fighters will not descend below 12,000 ft.
 

8 Nov 75 (0753Z)—J330 unknown 0753. Stationary/seven knots/ 12,000. One (varies to seven) object. None, no possibility, EKLB 3746, two F-106, GTF, SCR 0754. NCOC notified.

 

8 Nov 75 (0820Z)—Lost radar contact, fighters broken off at 0825, looking in area of J331 (another height finder contact).

 

8 Nov 75 (0850Z)—Directed Ftrs to RTB (return to base).

 

8 Nov 75 (0905Z)—From SAC CP; L-sites had fighters and objects; fighters did not get down to objects.
 

8 Nov 75 (0953Z)— From SAC CP: From four different points; Observed objects and fighters; when fighters arrived in the area, the lights went out; when fighters departed, the lights came back on; to NCOC.
 

8 Nov 75 (0953Z)— From SAC CP: L-5 reported object increased in speed - high velocity, raised in altitude and now cannot tell the object from stars; to NCOC.

 

8 Nov 75 (1105Z)—From SAC CP: E-l reported a bright white light (site is approximately 60 nautical miles north of Lewistown). NCOC notified.

Here we have two different Air Force documents referring to the same incident. One document talks of an "UFO" being involved. The other talks of an "unknown" being involved.

Could it be that the Air Force now wishes to call UFOs unknowns?

Either way, the U.S. Air Force has yet to answer satisfactorily all the mysteries surrounding these sightings.
 

It would not be until the mid-nineties that the American public would learn that the Soviet Union was experiencing similar phenomena around its nuclear storage areas. There was one incident, involving a missile silo, in which the missile started to launch itself while an UFO hovered overhead. The missile crew at the site of this event was powerless to prevent the missile from launching. However, as the UFO departed the site, the missile mysteriously shutdown.

Had the missile launched, it would have been the start of World War III. The missile was programmed to strike a major city in the United States, and once it was on its way to its programmed target the Soviets would have had no way to recall it.

This event generated great concern and alarm among the Soviet military leaders. So much so, that they conducted a large-scale investigation of the event. This led to the closing of the site; and no answers were ever provided by the Soviet Military to explain the incident.

In 1976, the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in the Pentagon continued to receive UFO reports from its military personnel—whether or not it wanted them. UFOs, it seemed, just would not go away, no matter how badly the military wished them too.

On January 21, 1976, the following report was received by the NMCC: (See doc. 2-2.)

Two UFOs are reported near the flight line at Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Security Police observing them reported the UFOs to be 25 yards in diameter, gold or silver in color with blue light on top, hole in the middle and red light on bottom. Air Force is checking with radar. Additionally, checking weather inversion data.
The NMCC did not have to wait long for the next UFO report from the field. On January 31,1976, they received the following report from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida: (See doc. 2-3.)

At 310805 received phone call from AFOC: MG Lane, Armament and Development Test Center, Eglin AFB, Florida called and reported an UFO sighting from 0430 EST to 0600 EST. Security Policemen spotted lights from what they called an UFO near an Eglin Radar site.

Photographs of the lights were taken. The Eglin Office of Information has made a press release on the UFO.

An interesting side note to this case is that the Air Force in its news release stated that the UFO was nothing more then lights from a nearby building. However, the Air Force has to this day never released the photographs taken by the Security Police.

The United States Army was also having its share of UFO sightings. On July 30, 1976, the NMCC received the following report from Fort Ritchie: (See doc. 2-4.)

• 0255 - Two separate patrols from Site R reported sighting 3 oblong objects with a reddish tint, moving east to west. Personnel were located at separate locations on top of the mountain at Site R.

• 0300 - Desk Sergeant at Site R went to the top of the Site R mountain and observed an UFO over the ammo storage area at 100-200 yards altitude.

• 0345 - An Army Police Sergeant on the way to work at Site R reported sighting an UFO in the vicinity of Site R.

The United States Navy had its problems with UFOs, too. On the night of May 14, 1978, the Navy's Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range had an UFO Incident. In this case the UFO was both visually sighted and tracked by radar. It was reported as displaying red, green, and white lights. Also, the UFO apparently took evasive action when there was an attempt to lock radar on the object.

The Public Affairs Officer, in the cover letter to the information that was sent to me by the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, had this to say about the incident: (See doc. 2-5.)

I have never been a believer in "UFOs," but I assure you I am convinced that a number of people witnessed an unexplainable event that night. The speed of the object ruled out a helicopter and the reported maneuverability ruled out any aircraft including VSTOLs that we are aware of.

What was seen by the people at Pinecastle that night?

We may never know. With the Air Force maintaining that it no longer has any interest in UFOs, it is interesting to note that in July and August 1980, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) found it necessary to become involved in events happening around Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. (See docs. 2-6 and 2-7.)

On August 8, 1980, three Security Policemen on duty inside the Manzano Weapons Storage Area sighted an unidentified light in the air that traveled from north to south over the Coyote Canyon area of the Department of Defense Restricted Test Range of Kirtland Air Force Base. The light traveled "at great speed," and would make sudden stops. In addition, the three observers saw the object land in the Coyote Canyon area.

On August 9, 1980, a Sandia Security Guard reported observing a round, disk-shaped object that had landed near an alarmed structure. As the Security Guard approached the object on foot, the object, he said, "took off in a vertical direction at a high rate of speed."

On October 24, 1980, a Dr. Paul F. Bennewitz reported to the Kirtland Office of Special Investigations that he had knowledge and evidence of a threat against Manzano Weapons Storage area. According to the OSI report:

"The threat was from Aerial Phenomena over Manzano."

Dr. Bennewitz's evidence consisted of,

"photographs and over 2600 feet of 8mm motion film depicting unidentified aerial objects flying over and around Manzano Weapons Storage Area and Coyote Canyon Test Area."

Bennewitz's data was analyzed by Jerry Miller, Chief, Scientific Advisor for the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center.

After analyzing Dr. Bennewitz's data, Miller informed the Kirtland OSI Office:

... the evidence clearly shows that some type of unidentified aerial objects were caught on film. However, no conclusions could be made whether these objects pose a threat to Manzano/Coyote Canyon areas.

On November 10, 1980, Dr. Bennewitz presented a briefing of his data to the Air Force brass at Kirtland Air Force Base. According to the OSI report,

"[the] AFOSI would not become involved in the investigation of these objects."

This same response was given to Senator Domenici when his office contacted the Kirtland AFOSI Office. Here, again, we have unusual objects being reported and photographed in restricted areas vital to our nation's defense and the Air Force would have us believe they are not interested. Should we ignore all this? Can we afford to?

During the period between December 27-29, 1980, a chain of unusual events occurred at the Royal Air Force Base in Woodbridge, England. These events were witnessed by U.S. Air Force Security Police Personnel, as well as by the Deputy Base Commander, LTC. Charles I. Halt. (See docs. 2-8 and 2-9.)

Strange lights were reported being seen out side the back gate at RAF Woodbridge, early in the morning of December 27,1980. The security police patrolmen who were sent to investigate the strange lights reported seeing an object. The object was described as metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three meters across the base and approximately two meters high.

The object itself had a pulsating red light on top and banks of blue lights underneath. The object was either hovering or on legs. The next day, three depressions were found in the area where the object had apparently landed. Also, the background radiation readings were above normal in the landing area with peak readings in the three depressions.

Later on, in the early morning hours of December 29, 1980, a red sun-like object was seen through the trees near the base. The object moved about and pulsed. At one time it appeared to throw off glowing particles, then broke into five separate white objects, and then disappeared. Immediately thereafter, three star-like objects were seen in the sky—two objects to the north and one to the south. The objects to the north appeared to be elliptical through an 8-12-power lens. They then turned to full circles. These objects remained in the sky for an hour or more. The object to the south was visible for two or three hours and beamed down a stream of light from time to time.

The official explanation for these sightings was a lighthouse. If the sightings were in fact caused by a lighthouse, why were they not seen before or since? What kind of lighthouse moves around and flies? That would have to be some very special lighthouse!

The thirty or so military personnel who witnessed these events have no idea what they saw. They do know it was not a lighthouse, meteor, or anything else they can identify with. To them, the events they were involved in and witnessed those nights in December 1980 still remain unexplained and unsolved.

The next incident we will discuss is taken from a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Report concerning UFOs sighted over Brazil. The text of the report reads as follows: (See doc. 2-10.)

1. [censored]... according to sources, at least 20 unidentified objects were observed by several aircrews and on radar the night of 19 May 86. The objects were first seen by a pilot of a Xingu aircraft, transporting Ozires Silva, former President of Embraer between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Fighters were launched from Santa Cruz AB (Air Base) [censored]... at approximately 2100 hours (9:00 P.M.). Although all three made radar contact, only one of the three pilots managed to see what he described as red, white and green lights. Shortly afterward, radar contact was made with similar objects near Brasilia and three Mirages (jet fighters) were launched from Annapolis AB [censored]... .All made radar and visual contact at 20,000 feet. They reported that they were escorted by thirteen of these disks with red, green, and white lights at a distance of one to three miles. The objects then rapidly disappeared from both ground and airborne radars.

2. [censored]... the Air Minister is quoted by the press as saying there were three groups of targets on the ground radar and that the scopes of the airborne radars were saturated.

Comment: [censored]... while RO does not believe in UFOs or all the hoopla that surrounds previous reporting, there is too much here to be ignored. Three visual sightings and positive radar contact from three different types of radar systems, leads one to believe that something arrived over Brazil the night of 19 May.

The subject of this report was entitled,

"BAF [Brazilian Air Force] Has a Close Encounter of the First Kind."

The report also carried the following warning:

"This is an info report, not finally evaluated intel [intelligence]." *

In addition, the DIA released six pages of a larger document, dealing with the sightings of UFOs over Belgium in 1990. It is interesting to note that, according to the DIA, there is no requirement for that agency to collect information on UFOs and, as a result, no analysis was done on these sightings. However, the DIA still felt it necessary to consider some of the information pertaining to these sightings as classified in the interest of national security.

The cover letter from the DIA states:

"The information withheld is exempt from release pursuant to (Title) 5 U.S.C. (Section) 552 (b) (1) and (b) (2), Freedom of Information Act. Subsection (b) (1) applies to information properly classified under the criteria provided by Executive Order 12356."

Then, in the next paragraph, the DIA states:

"This Agency has no requirements for the collection of information pertaining to the subject of UFOs, therefore this Agency does not analyze information relating to that subject."

I asked the DIA why did they have classified information on UFOs if they are not required to collect such material and analyze it; and since this information is classified in the interest of national security, should it not be analyzed?

To date, the DIA has been unable or unwilling to answer those questions.

I feel that the cases we have discussed in this chapter clearly show that some type of unknown object or objects is operating in our airspace and has the ability to come and go as "they" wish. It would also appear that our military is powerless to do anything about "them."

This does represent a potential threat to our national security, as well as to our ability to defend ourselves should we ever find it necessary to do so.

On December 7,1941, radar was still relatively new to the American Military. However, a radar unit was operational on the morning of December 7, 1941, in the Hawaiian Islands when they picked up many targets heading toward the islands. The duty officer (OD) was notified of these targets by the radar operators. The OD chose to disregard the report, dismissing them for the B-I7s (bombers) known to be coming in from the mainland. Had this officer been more alert and properly carried out his duties, the outcome of the attack on Pearl Harbor would have been very different.

All the information concerning the incidents that we have discussed in this chapter is raw intelligence data. None of the intelligence assessments of the raw data has ever been released via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The U.S. Government would have us believe that no such reports or assessments exist.
Could it really be that the military has forgotten the lesson learned at Pearl Harbor? Are the people in our government who are in charge of these matters alert, and are they correctly carrying out their duties?

From a military viewpoint, I cannot accept that, given the evidence presented in this book, they are properly doing their jobs.

(Table of Documents for Chapter 2)
 

Back to Contents

CHAPTER THREE
UFOs and Advanced Technology

In the last chapter we discussed cases involving the military in UFO sightings. It was my desire to show the reader that the U.S. Government does, in fact, have documentation reflecting that some UFOs present a potential threat to our national security by their actions. This is evident by the interest shown them by the military.

The official documents that were used to illustrate these points were initially classified by the U.S. Government, in the interests of national security. Also, those cases of UFO sightings were incidents that happened after the closure of the official U.S. Government involvement in UFO research.

In this chapter we will discuss some cases, once again involving the military, which I feel best illustrate that in some UFO incidents the object or objects involved clearly demonstrated the existence of advanced technology.

I would ask the reader to keep in mind the terms defined in Chapter Two. These definitions are important, for they show that Top Secret is the highest security classification. They also show that, with Secret and Top Secret classifications, information can, and often does, become compartmented and requires a special access clearance—thus leading to the misconception that there exist classifications higher than Top Secret.

The documents that will be used to discuss the incidents in this chapter were, at one time, classified as at least Confidential, in the interest of national security. It is my belief that the information the U.S. Government has on the very first incident we will discuss in this chapter is classified Top Secret Umbra (TSU).

To view Top Secret Umbra information, you need to be cleared for Top Secret information, possess a special access clearance, and have a strict need-to-know (Umbra is the code word to identify compartmentalized information gathered from signal intelligence intercepts— intelligence gathered from monitoring military radio traffic). Although the information was obtained by the U.S. Air Force Security Service (OLA "A," 6947th Security Squadron), for some unknown reason it is being maintained and controlled by the National Security Agency.

One day in March, 1967, Cuban radar installations reported a bogey approaching the Cuban landmass from the northeast. Two Cuban MIG-21 interceptors were scrambled when the bogey crossed Cuban air space at an altitude of approximately 10,000 meters and at a speed approaching Mach (the speed of sound). The interceptors were directed to the bogey by Cuban Ground Control Intercept and were guided to within 5 kilometers of the object. According to U.S. intelligence reports, the wing leader reported that the object was a bright metallic sphere with no visible markings or appendages.

After a futile attempt to contact the object for identification, Cuban Air Defense Headquarters ordered the wing leader to arm his weapons and destroy the object. The wing leader reported his missiles armed and his radar locked-on. Seconds later, the wing man began screaming to the ground controller that the wing leader's aircraft had exploded. After regaining his composure, he further reported that there was neither smoke nor flame: the aircraft had disintegrated. U.S. intelligence also detected that Cuban radar reported that the object quickly accelerated and climbed beyond 30,000 meters. At last report it was heading south-southwest toward South America.

A spot report was sent to the National Security Agency (NSA) Headquarters, which is standard operating procedure (SOP) in any case involving aircraft loss by a hostile country. The NSA was—and still is—required to acknowledge receipt of such a report. However, the NSA for some unexplained reason did not acknowledge receipt of this report. Therefore, a follow-up spot report was submitted by the U.S. Air Force Security Service. Within hours of the retransmission of the spot report, the 6947th received orders to ship all tapes and pertinent intelligence to the Agency (NSA) and was told to list the incident in the squadron files as aircraft loss due to equipment malfunction.

We are indebted to author and researcher Stanton T. Friedman, who initially broke news of the above incident to the public after being told the story by a former Air Force Intelligence Specialist. However, did this incident really happen? Is this story true?

I wrote to the National Security Agency and asked them, under the Freedom of Information Act, for any information they might have on the incident. They never answered my request.

Next, I wrote to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I also asked for the aid of Senator Richard Stone's office to insure that I received a reply. On November 15, 1979, an interim response from the Air Force's Electronic Security Command was forwarded to me in which I was informed that a time extension was necessary for the proper processing of my request for the following reason:

"The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in the determination of the request."

That other agency was in fact the National Security Agency, which still does not wish for the public to know the truth about this most unusual incident. (See doc. 3-1.)

On November 27, 1979, I was forwarded the agency's decision, which read in part as follows: (See doc. 3-2.)

The type of information necessary to respond to your request is classified in accordance with DOD security directives and is therefore exempt from release under authority of (Tide) 5 U.S.C. 552(b). This information is properly and currently classified in the interest of national defense as specifically authorized under criteria established by Executive Order 12056 and implemented by regulation.

Here we have an admission of the existence of some type of information dealing with the March 1967 Cuban Incident. Armed with this admission, I decided to appeal the Air Force's decision to withhold this information.

The Office of the Secretary, Department of the Air Force, responded to my appeal in a letter dated February 21, 1980.

The letter read in part: (See doc. 3-3.)

We may neither confirm nor deny the occurrence of the incident you described, or the existence of any records on the subject.

Also, they corrected an error that appeared in every piece of my correspondence with the Intelligence Community concerning the incident. I was asking for information on the loss of a MIG-23. In the Air Force's response to me on February 21, 1980, they correctly called the lost aircraft a MIG-21. How could they have known it was a MIG-21, when I was asking for information pertaining to a MIG-23? Unless, of course, they had documentation concerning the loss of a MIG-21, which I had described to them in my correspondence. Also, the Air Force apparently had upgraded the security classification of these documents.
 

If an agency acknowledges the existence of classified information on an incident, as the U.S. Air Force did in its response of November 27,1979, this clearly indicates the existence of some sort of information. If that same agency then chooses to respond that they may neither deny nor confirm the existence or nonexistence of information concerning this same incident upon appeal, this once again clearly shows that the information has gone from Secret or Top Secret under the regular classification system to Secret or Top Secret under the Special Access Program, as outlined under the authority of Executive Order 12356. In other words, the agency is stating, in effect, that, using the authority of Executive Order (EO) 12356, Section 3.4 (f)(1), it may neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of information at the direction of the President of the United States.

After the final appeal action was taken on my request, all information and tapes pertaining to the incident were returned to the National Security Agency for safekeeping, where it remains, still classified Top Secret Umbra, to this day. (See doc. 3-4.)

If the U.S.S.R. or the United States does not have a weapons system that can disintegrate a fighter aircraft in flight, then exactly who or what had this advanced technology in March 1967?

In our next case we will see that in many incidents members of the Intelligence Community do not communicate with one another, leading some agencies to believe documents are still classified after they have been downgraded and released to the public. We will also find the Department of Defense stating, as in this case, that no other documentation exists—only to find out later that more documentation does exist at a higher classification!

At about 12:30 A.M. on the morning of September 19,1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force's (IIAF) command post in the Tehran area received four calls from one of the city's suburbs reporting a series of strange airborne objects. Some reported seeing a bird like object while others reported a helicopter with bright lights. However, there was no helicopter activity in the area of the reports at that time. The senior officer on duty at the command post attempted to convince the callers that they were only seeing stars. The officer, unable to convince the callers that they were just seeing stars, decided to have a look for himself.

Stepping outside the command post and looking to the north, he observed a star-like object. Only the object was larger and brighter then a star or planet. In addition, the object appeared to be moving! Knowing that there was no aircraft activity in the area of his observation, he immediately had an IIAF F-4 scrambled to investigate and attempt to identify the unknown.

As the F-4 approached the city of Tehran, the pilot reported seeing a brilliantly lit object that could be seen easily from 70 miles away. When the F-4 was approximately 25 miles from the object, the F-4 lost all instrumentation and UHF/VHF communications. Upon breaking off the intercept and turning toward his home base, all systems returned to normal. As one U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer involved in the case commented,

"[It was] as if the strange object no longer regarded the aircraft as a threat."

At 1:40 A.M. a second F-4 was scrambled. As this second F-4 approached the UFO the back-seater (weapons officer) reported a radar-lock on the UFO at 27 NM (nautical miles) in a 12 o'clock high position with a rate of closure (VC) of 150 knots. When the F-4 reached the 25 NM point, the object began to move away maintaining a constant separation distance while still visible on the radar scope. The size of radar return was comparable to that of a KC-135 military tanker (a 707 airliner used by the military for refueling other aircraft in flight).

The brilliance of the light from the object made it impossible to estimate the actual size of object. However, visually, according the U.S. intelligence reports on the incident, it resembled flashing strobe lights arranged in a rectangular pattern and alternating blue, green, red, and orange. The sequence of the lights was so fast that all the colors could be seen at once.

As the second F-4 pursued the object south of Tehran, a second brightly lit giant object (appearing to be about one-half to one-third the size of the full moon) detached itself from the original UFO and headed straight for the F-4 at a high rate of speed. The pilot attempted to fire an AIM-9 missile at the object, but at that instant his weapons control panel went off and he lost all UHF/VHF communications.

At this point the pilot initiated a turn and negative G dive to get away from the oncoming object. However, as he turned the object fell in behind his aircraft at what appeared to be about a 3- to 4-NM distance. As the pilot continued to turn away from the primary object, the second object went to the inside of his turn, then returned to the primary object for a perfect rendezvous.

Shortly after the second object joined with the primary object, another object appeared to come out of the other side of the primary one, going straight down at a great rate of speed. Having regained control of their weapons and communication systems, the F-4 crew watched the third object, anticipating a large explosion when it struck the ground. However, it landed gently and cast a bright light over a two- to three-kilometer area. The pilot flew his aircraft as low over the area as possible, fixing the exact location where the object landed.

Upon returning to their base, both crewmen had difficulty in adjusting their night vision devices for landing. There was also a lot of interference on the UHF, and each time they passed through a magnetic bearing of 150 degrees from Fhrabad they lost their communications and the INS fluctuated from 30 to 50 degrees. A civilian airliner that was approaching Mehrabad during this same time experienced communications failure in the same vicinity but did not report seeing anything unusual.

While the F-4 was on a long final approach, the crew noticed another cylinder-shaped object (about the size of a T-bird at 10 meters) with bright, steady lights on each end and a flasher in the middle. When the pilot queried the tower, the tower stated there was no other known traffic in the area. During the time that the object passed over the F-4, the tower did not have a visual on the object but picked it up after the pilot told them to look between the mountains and the refinery.
During daylight, the F-4 crew was taken out to the area in a helicopter where the object apparently had landed.

Nothing was noticed at this spot (a dry lake bed), but as they circled off to the west of the area, they picked up a very noticeable beeper signal. At the point where the return was the loudest was a small house with a garden. They landed and asked the people within whether they had noticed anything strange the night before. The people talked about a loud noise and a very bright light, like lighting. The aircraft and area where the object was believed to have landed were to be checked for possible radiation. However, the results of the radiation tests and other various tests conducted were never made public.

When I first heard of this case, I wrote to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (DOD), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Department of the Air Force (HQ, USAF) for any information that they might have on this incident. DOD responded by sending a three-page report said to be the only known existing document concerning the incident. This document was at once classified: Confidential.

The NSA responded by asking for $250 to do a search and suggested that any information they might have on the incident would not be releasable due to national security.

The response from the Department of the Air Force was most interesting as it shows there is sometimes a breakdown in communications within the Intelligence Community itself. The Air Force stated that it did not have any information on the incident. However, it did have a classified document belonging to the Joint Chiefs of Staff dealing with the incident, which they were not at liberty to release. This turned out be the document that was released to me earlier by DOD.

Apparently the Department of the Air Force was not aware that the document had been downgraded, declassified, and released to the public. Also, the Air Force apparently did not wish to mention the existence of a "Secret" document dealing with the incident that had been written by one of its own officers. (See docs. 3-5 and 3-6.)

In the U.S. Air Force Security Service publication, MIJI Quarterly, MQ 3-78, there appeared an article entitled, "Now You See It, Now You Don't," written by a Captain Henry S. Shields, HQUSAFE/INOMP. (See doc. 3-7.) The article dealt with the Iranian incident and it was classified Secret. Captain Shields' very first paragraph in the article is most interesting and I would like to quote it to the reader.

Sometime in his career, each pilot can expect to encounter strange, unusual happenings which will never be adequately or entirely explained by logic or subsequent investigation. The following article recounts just such an episode as reported by two F-4 Phantom crews of the Imperial Iranian Air Force during late 1976. No additional information or explanation of the strange events has been forthcoming; the story will be filed away and probably forgotten, but it makes interesting, and possibly disturbing, reading.

Is this another example in which the information concerning what our Intelligence Community knows about UFOs is classified Top Secret, compartmented, and to be viewed only by those with a strict need-to-know? Maybe. But only time will tell.

In addition to this incident, a State Department cable tells of interesting UFO sightings taking place in Kuwait during the months of November and December, 1978. According to the cable, the Government of Kuwait was so concerned by these sightings that it appointed an investigatory committee of "experts" from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) to look into the cases.

The cable states:

"The KISR Committee rejected the notion that the 'UFOS' were espionage devices but remained equivocal about whether they were of extraterrestrial origin."

The KISR Committee recommended,

"The government take all possible measures to protect Kuwait's air space and territory as well as the country's oil resources." (See doc. 3-8.)

The cable tells of an interesting event which is a clear demonstration of some highly advanced technology.

The cable states:

The "UFO" which first appeared over the northern oil fields seemingly did strange things to KOC's [Kuwait Oil Company] automatic pumping equipment. This equipment is designed to shut itself down when there is some failure which may seriously damage the petroleum gathering and transmission system and it can only be restarted manually. At the time of the "UFOs" appearance the pumping system automatically shut itself down and when the "UFOs" vanished the system started up again.

What could cause this to happen? Did the equipment truly shut down or was it merely suspended in time and space for the duration of the UFO's appearance? I will leave it to the reader to ponder this one.

The last case we will discuss in this chapter is taken from a Defense Intelligence Agency document. (See doc. 3-9.) It was originally classified Confidential. The Peruvian Air Force officer who observed and reported the events was a party to the conversation concerning the events and had proven reliable in the past.

An UFO was spotted on two different occasions near the Peruvian Air Force Base in southern Peru. The Peruvian Air Force tried to intercept and destroy the UFO, but without success.

On May 9,1980, a group of Peruvian Air Force officers were in formation at Mariano Melgar when they spotted an UFO hovering near the airfield. The UFO was reported to have a round shape. The air field commander scrambled an SU-22 aircraft to make an intercept. The pilot intercepted the UFO and fired upon it at very close range without causing any apparent damage. The pilot attempted to make another pass at the UFO, but the UFO outran the fighter aircraft.

The second sighting was during the night of May 10, 1980. This UFO was displaying lights. Again an SU-22 was scrambled, but the UFO outran the aircraft. The document further commented,

"Apparently some vehicle was spotted, but its origin remains unknown."

Here we have three, officially documented incidents involving UFOs that clearly demonstrated advanced technology. I know of no weapons system that can disintegrate a fighter aircraft in flight; or knock out the on-board weapons and communication systems of a fighter aircraft in flight; or any aircraft currently flying that can withstand point-blank cannon fire. If we already have this type of technology, then we are spending entirely too much on defense.

The question is,

Do we have this type of technology? And if we don't, then who or what does?

Once again, I would remind the reader that the incidents discussed in this chapter are raw intelligence data. The assessments and evaluations of this data, in this writer's opinion, remain classified, we are told, in the interest of national security—or could it be national insecurity?

I find it too incredible to believe that these incidents would not have created some concern within the Intelligence Community.

Surely some evaluation would have been made of all this shocking data. The security of our nation may well be at stake.

(Table of Documents for Chapter 3)
 

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