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1995-04-22
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94 lines
Air Force Press Release
The following was posted to alt.paranet.ufo by Steven Kaeser
(skaeser@hr.house.gov) on September 9, 1994.
Here is the text of one of the AP stories regarding this announcement:
Air Force Rejects UFO Theory in 1947 `Roswell Incident'
By JOHN DIAMOND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) A supposed alien spacecraft discovered near Roswell, N.M.,
47 years ago likely was a secret Army Air Force balloon designed to monitor
Soviet nuclear testing, the Air Force concluded Thursday.
The Air Force in a report on the ``Roswell Incident'' said contrary claims
in a wave of sensational books and television specials are ``undocumented,
taken out of context, self-serving or otherwise dubious.''
The July 1947 discovery of wreckage on a ranch near Roswell has been at the
center of longstanding disputes between UFO advocates and the government
over whether the Air Force has been hiding evidence about alien spacecraft
discoveries.
The Air Force began its investigation earlier this year amid charges that
it was covering up the truth.
The material found near Roswell consisted of foil-wrapped fabric, wooden
sticks, rubber pieces, and small I-beams with strange markings on them. A
local newspaper at the time reported: Air Force Captures Flying Saucer On
Ranch.
``The Air Force research did not locate or develop any information that the
`Roswell Incident' was a UFO event,'' wrote Col. Richard Weaver, author of
the report. ``The most likely source of the wreckage ... was from Project
Mogul balloon trains.'' Although it rejects UFO and alien theories, the
report, nevertheless, suggests an interesting ancestry to the Roswell
wreckage.
Project Mogul was a top-secret venture to develop balloons that would carry
sensing devices aloft and alert the U.S. military of any Soviet nuclear
tests. It was a high priority at a time when the government was concerned
that its monopoly on nuclear weapons might be threatened.
The Roswell Incident also occurred in the midst of the so-called UFO wave,
the surge of interest in unidentified flying saucers, presumably from other
galaxies. Shortly after the incident, officials in what was then the Army
Air Force dismissed the flying saucer speculation saying that the wreckage
found near Roswell was a weather balloon.
There the matter stood until 1978 when the supermarket tabloid National
Inquirer reported that Maj. Jesse Marcel, the Army Air Force intelligence
officer who brought in the wreckage, claimed he had discovered UFO debris.
A series of books followed advancing the UFO theory and accusing the Air
Force of coverup. The Robert Stack-hosted television show, ``Unsolved
Mysteries,'' aired a recreation of the Roswell incident and other
television shows followed suit. According to the Air Force, a made-for-TV
movie is in the works.
``From the rather benign description of the `event' and the recovery of
some material as described in the original newspaper accounts, the `Roswell
Incident' has since grown to mythical, if not mystical, proportions,''
Weaver wrote in the Air Force report. Weaver conceded that debunking
conspiracy theories is a no-win business because ``pro-UFO'' elements would
simply dismiss the report as part of the coverup.
Rep. Steven Schiff, R-N.M., began pressing the Pentagon last year to
declassify documents relating to Roswell. The Air Force appears to have
expended considerable energy on the report.
Dozens of people, including several who were in Roswell and involved in the
discovery of the wreckage, as well as veterans of Project Mogul, were
interviewed. Investigators also combed archives for material relating to
UFOs.
In one example of the extent of the effort, the Air Force tracked down the
original photo negatives of newspaper pictures showing the wreckage and
sent them to ``a national level organization'' for digital analysis. This
probably refers to the National Ph Interpretation Center, a super-secret
branch of the CIA. The analysis found that the photos were of
``insufficient quality'' to produce substantive results.
Walter Haut, a volunteer at the UFO Museum at Roswell, a center devoted to
gathering information on this and other UFO incidents, rejected the Air
Force conclusions.
``I feel very strongly about it,'' Haut said. Referring to those who made
the original UFO claim, he said, ``We're not talking about flaky people.''
------------------------------------------------------------------------