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. 28 …There was no sign of any metal in the area which might have been used for…
  • p. 30 …and tinfoil has since grown to exotic metals with hieroglyphics and fiber optic-like materials. Most…
  • p. 38 …a thick, foil like metallic gray substance; a brittle, brownish-black plastic- like material, like Bakelite…
  • p. 39 …fine kidskin glove leather and a dull metallic grayish silver, one side slightly darker than the…
  • p. 43 …a "service flight" that included a cylindrical metal sonobuoy and portions of a weather instrument housed…
  • p. 159 …light, as well as some sort of metallic retlecting material that was also very light I…
  • p. 172 …nothing he had ever seen and the metal was as thin as newsprint and as light…
  • p. 173 …Was it some sort of material, metal material or... MC: And it's in one of…
  • p. 177 …Rickett said it looked Hke metal and asked if it was radioactive" ... and you said it…
  • p. 182 …wandered through the security phalanx and saw metallic debris scattered in an outer circle with a…
  • p. 205 …but I betievc they were covered in metal. On review of the photos in the Randle…
  • p. 218 …They talk in terms of materials that look like metallic foil, and specifically that "could not…
  • p. 266 …It's my memory that there was good, bright, aluminum metal foil, not painted stuff on…
  • p. 269 …mylar is a polyethylene, it's a metalized polyethylene. A: It's not really a polyethylene…
  • p. 309 …s ball and jacks set) with a metallic material between the legs. The legs were madeq…
  • p. 318 …the local sheriff and reported that sme metallic debris had come to rest on the ranch…
  • p. 379 …out of It, There was no S(gn of any metal of Corona. today told his…
  • p. 465 …The fabric has been coated with a metallic paint to mw1.mue the effects of radiation…
  • p. 519 Corps ML-310/ radiosonde aneroid unit, a metal helix on a rotating cylinder of insulating material…
  • p. 598 …20, 39 stiffened with metal, .!! - Arrays of rubber balloons cluster, 7 linear, 6 Atmospheric oscillations, 10…
  • p. 864 …15 x i X .030" 24 ST Metal spring bow to hold appendix flat, like pressed…
  • p. 867 Figure 4 Two foot apflendix, showing metal spring bow in position. -13-
  • p. 868 …toggles and loops in the nylon may be used instead of the heavier metal snaps. -14-
  • p. 908 …rotating cyclinder of insulating material with a metal helix wound around the cylinder, and a 6…
  • p. 916 …Spiral--made of nickel or other metal which does not corrode in the atmosphere, .010 inch…
  • p. 917 …Loading edge of the metal spiral will be true and sm.ooth to within .0005 inch…
  • p. 922 …The car- bon should not be so thick as to obscure the metallic appearance of the…
  • p. 932 …GoPPE:R TuBE s" J·-- 58 COILA5SEMBL.Y (SECTION) --.. ....-- METAL HosE TO TANKS c :::{l;::::t…
  • p. 937 …tin cans Metal funnel -8:5-
  • p. 989 …These balloons were easily mistaken for flying saucers due to their shape and metallic exterior coating.
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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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.