Documents / FOIA release

roswell

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 993 pages · text from the file's own layer

The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert was published in 1995 by Headquarters United States Air Force. It was written in response to Representative Steven H. Schiff's request and a General Accounting Office audit, and it contains Col. Richard L. Weaver's report and 1st Lt. James McAndrew's synopsis, along with attachments, appendices and photographs. The report says researchers found no evidence of an extraterrestrial craft or crew. It concludes that the 1947 debris came from a Project MOGUL balloon train.

  • p. 5 …Also, Robert "Gus" Bell contributed with his attractive art work; Richard Wolf provided invaluable computer expertise…
  • p. 6 …Select) Robert Hunter, the 913th Logistics Group Commander, for providing end-of-year assistance. And we…
  • p. 7 …Joseph Fletcher, USAF (Ret); Robert Todd; Frank Press; Vance Mitchell; Lt. Col. Joseph Rogan; Maj. Kevin…
  • p. 11 …Memo with Addendum, Robert J. McCormick, SAF/AA, for Distribution, subj: GAO Review on Records Management…
  • p. 27 …4). Subsequently, the then-Administrative Assistant, Mr. Robert J. McCormick, issued a tasking memorandum dated March…
  • p. 29 …Additionally, the Robert Stack-hosted television show "Unsolved Mysteries" devoted a large portion of one show…
  • p. 31 …Klass, who writes The Skeptic's UFO Newsletter, and Robert Todd, a private researcher. The concerns…
  • p. 34 …recommended by serious private researchers such as Robert Todd, who had independently obtained almost encyclopedic knowledge…
  • p. 39 …I do not remember it having any design or embossing on it ...." Robert R. Porter (B…
  • p. 44 …Moore, Robert Todd, and coincidentally, Karl Pflock, a researcher who is married to a staffer who…
  • p. 51 …In 1989, NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" inves- tigated the controversy, which the program's host, Robert…
  • p. 75 …manager of KGFL Radio in Roswell, Jud Roberts, says the station was threatened with loss of…
  • p. 143 …permanent structure. 11:05 A.Y.. llr. Robert Gross ar.d 't!r. Jlaher of Lockheed…
  • p. 213 …provided some documents to some of them. Robert Todd, rm not sw-e whether he was…
  • p. 219 …No, we did not see that. A: Robert Todd, who has been a person very interested…
  • p. 228 …I didn't know the name Mogul until Robert Todd told me two years ago. I…
  • p. 273 …They were at first a Charles Robert) Todd, from Ardmore, Pennsylvania, who was writing a story…
  • p. 278 …I never met Richard Robert Crane. I knew him only by the path of debris he…
  • p. 299 …Westinghouse Electronics History Museum, Baltimore MD Mr Robert Dwitzbe, President "no balloon activity or balloon-borne…
  • p. 320 …Maj Robert T. Crane, spring 1946-July 1946; Col Marcellus Duffy, August 1946-January, 1947; and…
  • p. 761 …1!.!.!! Robert 't:isnieff Robert Ferris Fred :&.rker Duties Qualifications Equipment Construction Undergraduat~ P~sicist Student…
  • p. 964 …s Office and Lt. Colonel John A. Roberts, Assistant Chief of St.ll'i', arrh-ed…
the supposed first ever recovery of extraterrestrial materials. (Detractors claim
Blanchard did this as a ploy to elude the press and go to the scene to direct the
recovery operations.) The history and the morning reports also showed that the
subsequent activities at Roswell during the month were mostly mundane and not
indicative of any unusual high-level activity, expenditure of manpower, resources
or security.
Likewise, the researchers found no indication of heightened activity anywhere
else in the military hierarchy in the July, 1947, message traffic or orders (to
include classified traffic). There were rlo indications and warnings, notice of alerts,
or a higher tempo of operational activity reported that would be logically
generated if an alien craft, whose intentions were unknown, entered US territory.
To believe that such operational and high-level security activity could be
conducted solely by relying on unsecured telecommunications or personal contact
without creating any records of such activity certainly stretches the imagination
of those who have served in the military who know that paperwork of some kind
is necessary to accomplish even emergency, highly classified, or sensitive tasks.
An example of activity sometimes cited by pro-UFO writers to illustrate the point
that something unusual was going on was the travel of Lt Gen Nathan Twining,
Commander of the Air Materiel Command, to New Mexico in July, 1947.
Actually, records were located indicating that Twining went to the Bomb
Commanders' Course on July 8, along with a number of other general officers,
and requested orders to do so a month before, on June 5, 1947 (Atch 14).
Similarly, it has also been alleged that General Hoyt Vandenberg, Deputy Chief
of Staff at the time, had been involved directing activity regarding events at
Roswell. Activity reports (Atch 15), located in General Vandenberg's personal
papers stored in the Library of Congress, did indicate that on July 7, he was busy
with a "flying disc" incident; however this particular incident involved Ellington
Field, Texas and the Spokane (Washington) Depot. After much discussion and
information gathering on this incident, it was learned to be a hoax. There is no
similar mention of his personal interest or involvement in Roswell events except
in the newspapers.
The above are but two small examples that indicate that if some event happened
that was one of the "watershed happenings" in human history, the US military
certainly reacted in an unconcerned and cavalier manner. In an actual case, the
military would have had to order thousands of soldiers and airman, not only at
Roswell but throughout the US, to act nonchalantly, pretend to conduct and
report business as usual, and generate absolutely no paperwork of a suspicious
nature, while simultaneously anticipating that twenty years or more into the
future people would have available a comprehensive Freedom of Information Act
that would give them great leeway to review and explore government documents.
The records indicate that none of this happened (or if it did, it was controlled by
a security system so efficient and tight that no one, US or otherwise, has been
able to duplicate it since. If such a system had been in effect at the time, it would
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About this file

FOIA release, from the osd collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 993 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.