UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (37 page)

At the briefing, we looked at the data printouts and played the video for the people there two or three times—the participants turned out to be the CIA, the president’s scientific group, and a bunch of grunts. We talked for an hour and half or so, and the scientists asked a number of questions—very intelligent questions, in fact. They wanted to know things like the speed of the radar antenna, the frequency and the bandwidth, and the algorithm for the height-finding equipment. The FAA people we brought into the room were technical engineers—hardware and software specialists—and they gave those answers like they were high school math coaches. They spit that stuff right out; it was really amazing to watch these FAA experts work.

At the end, one of the three people from the CIA said, “This event never happened; we were never here. We’re confiscating all this data, and you are all sworn to secrecy.”

“What do you think it was?” I asked the CIA person.

“A UFO, and this is the first time they have over thirty minutes of radar data to go over,” he responded. They—the president’s scientific team—were very excited to get their hands on this data.

“Well, let’s get a Twix out and advise the American public that we were visited by a UFO,”
¹
I suggested.

“No way. If we were to tell the American public there are UFOs, they would panic,” he informed me.

And that was it. They took everything that was in the room—and in those days, computer printouts filled boxes and boxes. These FAA printouts were titled “UFO Incident at Anchorage, 11/18/86,” written on the front cover. The printouts provided ample data for an automation specialist to be able to reproduce everything the controller saw on a chart.

A few weeks later, an FAA technician brought in the FAA’s report of this event that never happened. I had him put it on a little table in the corner of my office, and said, “Leave it there. When the CIA wants the rest of the data, I’m sure they’ll come and get it.” Some time passed and someone brought in the voice tapes from the incident, and we put that next to the report on that table, waiting for the CIA to come and make a pickup.

The chart produced at the Tech Center also came to my office, where it remained for a year and a half, along with the detailed FAA report and the voice tapes, which had been placed on that corner table waiting for the CIA. No one ever came and got them. When I was leaving for retirement in August 1988, one of the branch managers, in a hurry to get me out, packed everything that was hanging on the walls and sitting in the office, put it in boxes, and shipped it to my house. I’ve had this data and the video in my possession ever since.

Now, more than twenty years later, it’s become very clear to me that most people, including FAA controllers, really aren’t familiar with how the FAA radar system works and why all aircraft traveling through our airspace are not caught on radar or displayed on the controllers’ PVD. The system and organization of the FAA are not configured to identify and track these aircraft types. In short, current FAA equipment will not paint a “spaceship” unless the aircraft has slowed to a speed similar to current aircraft.

The reasons are simple: The UFOs appear to have no transponder; they are often too big for the automation system to be considered an aircraft, so the radar thinks they’re weather (radar readings with an unrecognizable signature are often automatically sent out through a second system as weather); or they’re too fast for the radar to get a hit on before they’re out of range. If something is hovering, as it was at O’Hare Airport in 2006, it often doesn’t show up, or if it did it would be a small dot and FAA controllers would not give it much concern.

During the playback of the 1986 event I clearly observed a primary radar target in the position reported by the Japanese pilot. But the radar signals were intermittent because the UFO was painted as an extremely large primary target and so the FAA computer system treated the UFO radar return as weather. Regardless, the target could be seen near the 747 off and on for thirty-one minutes.

So we have a problem. Because of these radar deficiencies, when pilots report seeing an unusual object, the FAA will not investigate unless the object can be identified by an airborne pilot, and instead the FAA will offer a host of weak explanations. If the FAA cannot identify the object within FAA terminology, then it doesn’t exist. Another cliché we sometimes used: For every problem there is a solution. The FAA seems to believe that the converse is also true: If there is no solution, there is no problem.

The Alaska UFO investigation is a case in point. The final FAA report concluded that the radar returns from Anchorage were simply a “split image” due to a malfunction in the radar equipment, which showed occasional second blips that had been mistaken for the UFO. Thus the FAA would not confirm that the incident took place.

Yet all three controllers engaged with the pilots during the extended sighting filed statements that contradict this finding. “Several times I had single primary returns where JL1628 reported traffic,” wrote one. “I observed data on the radar that coincided with information that the pilot of JL1628 reported,” stated another.

The FAA spokesman at the time, Paul Steucke, said it was just a “coincidence” that the split image happened to fall at the right distance and the same side of the aircraft where the object was reported visually by the pilot. And the final report simply outright ignored the three visual sightings with all their details and drawings, as if the event really had never happened. Remember, no one flying an aircraft can see a split image.

So, who are you going to believe, your lying eyes or the government?

CHAPTER 23

Government Cover-up: Policy or Myth?

T
he CIA’s directive that “this event never happened,” as reported by former FAA official John Callahan, may be familiar to those who have read statements from American military witnesses to UFO events. Many have been told more or less the same thing by their superior officers: Do not speak to anyone about the incident that you just experienced. In later years, some say they still cannot speak publicly because they’re bound by security oaths, and no doubt there are many others who, out of fear of breaking such oaths, have not even hinted of their involvement in a UFO event while in the military. But a number of fearless men and women have, years later, spoken out in spite of orders or oaths, without repercussions.

This repeated demand for silence, coupled with the overzealous classification of government documents and the furtive misidentifications issued by Project Blue Book, and later the FAA, has led to much speculation about whether government agencies are involved in some kind of cover-up—a widespread, carefully orchestrated policy, hidden from almost everyone, to keep secret “the truth” about UFOs. While publicly ignoring and avoiding the UFO issue, underneath the surface and unbeknownst even to those issuing the orders muzzling subordinates, a small yet powerful core group is actively hiding explosive knowledge, such as the extraterrestrial origin of at least some UFOs. At least this is what many—even conservative—analysts have come to believe.

As far-fetched as it sounds, this radical supposition cannot be dismissed out of hand. Documents prove that the UFO phenomenon became a concern to the Air Force, the CIA, and the FBI as long ago as the late 1940s, thereby giving U.S. authorities ample time to collect the best data and study physical evidence. Obviously the military would have been extremely interested in the technological capabilities demonstrated by these objects, if they could ever get access to them. We must consider the possibility that enough concise data—even physical material retrieved from crashed UFOs—could have been obtained and studied in secret. If our government officials were hungry to discover some of the keys to these exotic new technologies, or thought we were on the verge of unearthing a new physics, something from another space-time perhaps, these discoveries could give America unimaginable new capabilities.

Of course, such a study would have been daunting and could take decades. No matter how intense, scientists might still not be able to figure out very much about the workings or origins of UFOs, given the sophisticated, perhaps undecipherable technological systems, so remarkable that they seem almost like magic to us. The analogy has been made to a group of cavemen suddenly coming into possession of a television set, before even understanding the fundamental concepts of electricity or radio waves. Of course, this is pure speculation. But even if our covert scientists made very little progress on understanding what we had, it’s not a stretch to imagine that those in charge would have been extremely careful to keep such revolutionary information away from any “enemy” countries or rogue nations, including the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They would have been mindful of any future economic benefits that could result from these exotic technologies as well, and would likely want to ensure that U.S. corporations would be the exclusive beneficiaries of any breakthroughs.

As discussed previously, some official documents of the forties and fifties clearly show that, having eliminated the option of the phenomenon being some new manifestation within the natural world, a number of highly placed officials
did
take the position that UFOs were interplanetary. An inclination to withhold from the public information about something so unthinkable is conceivable given its potentially vast implications. Perhaps those in possession of the secret just wanted to put off its release until more was learned, but that day never came. Also, reflecting back to Nick Pope’s “threat = capability + intent” equation, there would have been much concern about inherent dangers. A rational governmental response would have been to understand and control the situation as much as possible before acknowledging anything about unidentified flying objects to anyone else, and to keep that explosive information highly classified. Our government would not have wanted to risk mass hysteria.

Obviously, we don’t know with any certainty whether or not such a secret research program exists, although there have been hints and suggestions, usually from reports of individuals claiming indirect knowledge, that keep the question alive. It is raised repeatedly by those curious about UFOs, many of whom regard it as an issue of major, compelling importance. However, the alternative notion is much easier to accept: that the United States is as baffled as anyone else about this mystery, and just as helpless in confronting the unpredictable phenomenon as any other country. The world’s superpower simply shrugs its shoulders and looks away, as if there is nothing to be done, focusing on more urgent matters confronting human beings than the sporadic appearance of something odd in the sky.

The fact is, even if we eventually learn that a secret research group
has
been operating, the state (meaning the government, military, and scientific structures creating our society) is undoubtedly not privy to this intimate information about UFOs. Any behind-the-scenes endeavor would have to be
so
exclusive, so entirely covert, that in effect its existence would make no difference to our government or country, to the people who know nothing about it, which is essentially everyone. In this sense, it’s unimportant to the business at hand: establishing a U.S. agency so that an open, worldwide investigation can take place.

Nonetheless, even though the question of a cover-up is really a side issue, and will continue to be as long as such a program—if it exists at all—remains deeply buried, it remains a focus for the interested public, hotly debated and often explored in television documentaries. In interviews about UFOs, it is usually one of the primary questions asked.

When I first became involved with the subject of UFOs, I sought out reliable, trusted sources as any responsible investigative journalist would, attempting to find out what our government actually knows about UFOs. The process took many years, requiring great care and discernment, and eventually sources began seeking me out as well. Whether or not I choose to take any person seriously comes down to personal judgment, which for me is based on meeting the person whenever possible, talking at length, knowing them over time, learning about their background, checking the accuracy of facts they’ve reported, and understanding their motivations. Also, I always look for corroboration.

When probing the question of a possible secret government research program into UFOs, or anything, for that matter, that is highly sensitive, the sources will rarely go on the record, for obvious reasons. Their accounts are also extremely hard to verify, because even if they provide names of others involved, these people will deny any knowledge of such a program. Alarm bells could be set off by an attempt to locate these individuals, so sometimes I have been asked not to do so. This type of information, therefore, as exciting as it may be, has to be relegated to what reporters call “deep background.” It may help inform how one views the issue, but not centrally. It can nudge us in a certain direction, or inspire future inquiries. It’s all very intriguing, but always just out of reach.

I am willing to take such sensitive information seriously when two or more credible, qualified sources report the same thing
independently of each other
—for example, when men from different branches of government who don’t know each other, with years separating their statements, provide essentially the same reports. And concerning the question of a secret government research program on UFOs, this has occurred. A number of reliable sources have told me about their conversations with high-level military contacts who say they are aware of a deeply hidden program for UFO research, one which is so closely guarded that even people at the highest levels of the military are denied access to it. Some of these independent accounts include names and specific details. Much case evidence over the years has also pointed to the plausibility of this kind of program, although it can’t authoritatively be determined one way or the other.