Documents / Official release
This unclassified cable from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs contains the transcript of a DoD news briefing that Kenneth H. Bacon gave at the Pentagon on June 24, 1997. Bacon calls himself the warm-up act to the Air Force's Roswell UFO report. He says Air Force investigations found natural or aircraft explanations for alleged UFO sightings. The rest of the briefing covers Khobar Towers, troops on the border, a meeting with Greek officials and base closures.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
AND THEY HAVE NOT BEEN INVESTIGATING THESE INCIDENTS AT ALL BECAUSE IT WAS A WASTE OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY TO KEEP INVESTIGATING PAGE 03 RUEKJCS3094 UNCLAS REPORTS THAT NEVER TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE. BUT THIS WILL BE EXPLAINED IN GREAT DETAIL VIS-A-VIS THE ROSWELL INCIDENT AS SOON AS I FINISH. Q: DO YOU THINK THIS WILL PUT THIS WHOLE THING TO REST? A: OF COURSE NOT. [LAUGHTER] PROBABLY, IN ANOTHER DECADE, WE'LL BE HERE HAVING -- ANOTHER COLONEL WILL BE HERE GIVING ANOTHER BRIEFING ON THE ROSWELL INCIDENT. [LAUGHTER] Q: WHY DOES THIS COME OUT IN DRIBS AND DRABS? DOESN'T THAT SORT OF JUST FUEL CONSPIRACY? AND WHY WASN'T IT INCLUDED IN THE 1994 REPORT? A: WELL, I THINK THE AIR FORCE WILL EXPLAIN ALL THAT. BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, THIS HAS BEEN INVESTIGATED MANY TIMES, AND THIS IS AN EFFORT TO PULL TOGETHER THEIR LATEST THINKING ON IT. I THINK THEY'RE REISSUING AN OLDER REPORT, AS I UNDERSTAND IT. [OFF MIKE] ISN'T THAT CORRECT? Q: ON THE SUBJECT OF KHOBAR TOWERS, YOU MENTIONED THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY. IT HAS BEEN A YEAR. WHAT'S BEEN THE DELAY IN THE RELEASE OF THE RECORD REPORT AND ITS RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH HAS BEEN COMPLETED FOR OVER SIX MONTHS NOW? A: WELL, THE RECORD REPORT WAS REDONE, AS YOU KNOW, AT THE PAGE 04 RUEKJCS3094. UNCLAS REQUEST OF THE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE. AND THE SECOND REPORT, BY THE AIR FORCE IG, LIEUTENANT GENERAL SWOPE, WAS COMPLETED SHORTLY BEFORE THE QUADRENNIAL DEFENSE REVIEW CAME OUT. SECRETARY COHEN MADE A DECISION AT THAT TIME THAT HE WAS GOING TO CONCENTRATE ON BRINGING THE QUADRENNIAL DEFENSE REVIEW TO CLOSURE AND PRESENTING IT ON THE HILL, PRESENTING IT TO THE PUBLIC. AND HE DID THAT. AND SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER THE QDR WAS RELEASED AND EXPLAINED ON THE HILL, HE BEGAN LOOKING NOT JUST AT THE SWOPE VERSION OF THE RECORD REPORT, BUT HE WENT RIGHT BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND STARTED WITH THE DOWNING REPORT. AND HE STARTED WITH NOT ONLY THE REPORT, BUT THE ATTACHMENTS, THE APPENDICES, AND THEN HE WENT THROUGH THE RECORD REPORT AND THE ATTACHMENTS AND THE APPENDICES, AND NOW HE IS ON TO THE SWOPE REPORT: AND SO THIS HAS BEEN A MONUMENTAL UNDERTAKING. HE HAS WANTED TO BE VERY CAREFUL AND THOROUGH, AND HE HAS BEEN. AND HE'S NOT DONE YET. BUT MY ANTICIPATION IS THAT, IN SEVERAL WEEKS, HE WILL BE FINISHED WITH HIS REVIEW AND WILL BE ABLE TO DISCUSS WHAT HIS CONCLUSIONS ARE. Q: KEN, WHAT IS THE DEPARTMENT'S POSITION UPON THE HOUSE PAGE.05 RUEKJCS3094 UNCLAS ACTION OF LAST WEEK THAT PASSED A BILL, WHICH SAID THAT 10,000 SOLDIERS COULD BE USED FOR BORDER PATROL? AND, SECONDLY, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO MILITARY PEOPLE WHO SAY WE JUST DON'T HAVE THAT MANY TRAINED SOLDIERS TO SPARE, EVEN IF WE WANTED TO? AND LASTLY,
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 8 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.