U.F.O. Files: The Untold Story

.·-::'
...,·
.··,
;
;.. ,· ....
.. ,... ~ .· -r:.'.i ••••
-... ·1 .: : ~~::~.
,•.
->'~ ...........
N- cllily ......
:epc die Jamt Cbiefs of Staff
'lformed of u..e lncunlam
•Y U.F.O. '1 In tbe fall of 1175.
:~pr111rt1Uftl of tbe 0.
.:Ille latel1ipDc:e Alf/lll:Y and
w National Sacurlty Apncy
• well as a llandful of Giber
_, desks recetved
DPI• of the Nau-I MWcary
:ommand c.ter'a npons Gil
:ae lncldlats. One npon aid
1at an ualdeaUfted object
Jmbimtaaled a clear inceat
. Che-paas l&Onp ana."
hOqh Air Force .-ds
··- that the C.l.A. - lllltl-
ed .,,.... u- of theee
:'lletl'atima over nuclear aus.
.le and bombar ...... die
~bu~adpdonJy
o ae IUda DCldftcation. Sable-
_, lmestlptlml by lbe Air
:-ce llllD tbe8ilbdllP at Lor-
···; Air Force Bue, Maine,
here tbe nmarlrable Mries
: '!vellts began, clld DOt rewal
cause for tbeallhtinp.
IL]
Despite ottlcial ,,__
·ents for .s-des dlat
F.O.'s were llClltblna _,..
an mlstdendfled aerial •
-:ts and u such were no
•use for alarm, ramtdy •
.ASSlfted U.F.O. ~from
"C.l.A., the F.B.I. and other
oderal epndel lndtcate
at, elrerlince U.F.0.'s made
~r appeuuc:e in our skies
the 1940'1, the ,.___
is aJOll89d mudl ~ be-
~ - in of-
·ial drcles. Details of tbe in-
lligeace community's pro.
ject of U.F.0."8 bave emaa;;d
- tbe put few ,_rs wil.ll
die release of loa&·Wltbheld
~t _.obtained
throuP the Freadom of lldor-
-tiaa Act. Tboup .....
papas fail to ~ve die
U.F.O. eaJsma, tbey do mu-
ap to dispel many papular-
tiaas about the U.F.O. cxmtro-
wny, as -11 as give Sllb-
a..nc:e toa number of otbers.
Official records - avail-
able appear to put to rmt
doubts that Ille Govenlmeat
knew _.. about U.F.O.'s
tllan It bu claimed over die
past 3Z E P..- the start,
It bu -~that
-' U. .O. li&btlals CDUld be
aplaJned ID t8lms of misidm-
tlfiad balloaas, cloud fonna-
tiaas, ~.Nii llFlllill&.
_.. llDd lltba' ll&lllral
pllll a-a
But Cha papen also ~
that the Gcwwnment remains
perplaed about the aaatnc
l'9icllae of mnpl•lned U.F.O.
iflb&IDp, wbic:h .-tto•
~ •• peramt of all
U.F.O. llPdnp npaned. Do
dley ,_a *-t to~
-.Uy? AN dley just a ~
ay-loclldac - fDr - air-
barae 5oYlet s--? E._
Cbe .-sllllli'Y tbat Cbme -
~ c:auld lie evldeace of
......~, 'Visltadans
11a1 11ema st- _.. au-
tlan In Gowi~ drc:lea.
. Wblle offtclal ...... In
U.F.O. 'I bu long been thoupt
to lie strtc:dy die aincem of lhe
Air Force, the bulk of whole
~bu"-' open to pu~
lie view for -ly a decade,
the ncmcly releued papen
on U.F.O.'s lndica&e oeber-
wise. The DepaJ1meatl of die
Anny, Navy, State and De-
,_, and the Def- JntelU-
pnce Apacy. the Nadoaal
Security Aamt:Y. the Jolllt
Chiefs of Staft, the F .B.l., the
C.l.A. and even the Atom1c
Enel'JY Commission prodllC9d
U.F.O. -U over the years•
Many of a- apnc:iel still
do, and many of their docu-
ments remam classified. But
It Is the C.l.A. that appears to
have played die key role In die
~.andmayewenbe
1'91pC11111ble for the Govern-
ment'• conduct In u.F.O. tn.
,,..,lpti- throughout the
years. .
U.F.0.'1 baw been the prov-
ince of the nation's inlelli-
S- cemmunlty e¥er since
tbe ........Ins of tbe cold -r.when the nodon took bold dial
some Dying saucers mlpt ac-
tually represent a secret, tech-
nolosically advam:ed. foretp
weapons system... Every time
we were concerned," recalls
Hertien SCOYille Jr., a former
cllief of the C.l.A.'s Office of
Scientific lntelllpnce, "It WU
because we wanted to know:
Did the R1111lans do It?"
As the cold war gave rise to
the fears of the McCanhy era,
- r'to the surveillance of
sever. 'rivate U.F.O. organi·
za~-4las many of their
-mrs baft long Insisted)
and to tbaKl'Utiny of dozens of
llldlviduala -pec:ted of Sllb-
verslve U.F.O. activities.
Perhaps most telling or all.
the Govemmenl clocwnents on
U.F.O.'s re-1 that despite
official denials to the contrary,
Federal qencies continue to
maaitor the pbeaomenon to
this day.
'Ille -tal task or
llMU'lhing tbll-t batch of'
records oa U.F.o. '• from a bu-
naucracy that bas for years
denied tbeir lllllstence can be
traced to the efforts of a hand·
fUI of Allqullitlve individuals
who, armed wlCh the Freedom
of lnformatloa Act, set off In
tbe mid-'J'O's an a paper chase
of U.S. Goveniment docu-
menu Oii U.P.O.'s. They in·
elude ..,,_ S. Maccabee, a
Silver Spda&, Md., pbysieist
1llOltial far tile Navy. who bas
llllUlllpd to obtaiD &be release
of _.. tllall 1,JOO pqes of
donm ts ca U.F.O.'s fnlm
tbe F.B.I.; W. Todd ~I of
Prairie du Sac, Wu.; Robert
Todd of Antman, Pa.; Larry
W. 8f7&lll of ArtiDpm. Va.;
and Brad C. Spartm, a INdent
in utropbylic:s at Berkeley
.._ five.yeu panull of the
C.l.A. 's U.F.O. file eventually
provided the fOundatton for a
~Freedomof
lnfmmatlon laWIUit filed by
Ground Saucer Watch
(G.S.W.), an Arlaana-baled
U.F.O. orpnDadOD.
At U. reci-t of G.S.W. di·
rectar William R. Spauld.ln&,
Ptar- Gemen. an auorney In
the New Ylll't ftnn of Roth-
blatt, Rodlblatt a Selju, filed
a civil acdan against tbe
C.l.A. In December lt'n cle-
11111111i118 all U.F.O. records In
die apncy's sias-ston. Tbe
suit ~ to haft acllieved
its goal wt.I late last year the
apncy releued abou1 400
docunwnll- -rly IOO pages
of -· reports and corre-spoadeace that attest to tbe
agency's Ion& invalvemenl In
U.F.O. mauen. But the civil
action has aot ·- Its final
day ID c:oun.
By Gemen's account, Che
agency has ar111trartly with-
held doclaents, made dele-
tions witlDlt merit, and failed
to -.duel a proper •arch for
U.F.O. malel'lals. The agen-
cy's current actions, be says,
perpetuate Its 30-year policy of
deliberate decepdon and dis-
honesty about U.F.O.'s .
.. What bu been releued IO us
seems to have beml rather
carefully selected,.. says Ger·
sten. "We suspect thal the
apncy ls Witbboldilll at least
200 more documents than the
57 they have admitted Chey are
keepiJa& from us to protect tn.
telllgenc1: -rces... Victor
Marchetti, a former executive
·"'
. •.
. '·: