SAF/PAM
1690 AF Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1690
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS
No. 235-M
Sept. 8, 1994
Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall today announced the
completion of an Air Force study to locate records that would
explain an alleged 1947 UFO incident. Pro-UFO researchers claim
an extraterrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants were
recovered near Roswell, N.M., in July 1947 and the fact was kept
from the public.
At the request of Congressman Steven H. Schiff (R-NM), the
General Accounting Office in February 1994 initiated an audit to
locate all records related to the Roswell incident and to
determine if such records were properly handled. The GAO audit
entitled "Records Management Procedures Dealing With Weather
Balloon, Unknown Aircraft, and Similar Crash Incidents" is not
yet complete.
The GAO audit involved a number of government agencies but
focused on the Air Force. In support of the GAO effort, the Air
Force initiated a systematic search of current Air Force offices
as well as numerous archives and records centers that might help
explain the incident. Air Force officials also interviewed a
number of persons who might have had knowledge of the events.
Prior to the interviews, Secretary Widnall released those persons
from any previous security obligations that might have restricted
their statements.
The Air Force research did not locate or develop any information
that the "Roswell Incident" was a UFO event nor was there any
indication of a "cover-up" by the Air Force. Information
obtained through exhaustive records searches and interviews
indicated the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with
a balloon device of the type used in a then-classified project.
No records indicated or even hinted at the recovery of "alien"
bodies or extraterrestrial materials.
All documentation related to this case is now declassified and
the information is in the public domain. All documentation has
been turned over to the Air Force Historian. The Air Force
report without attachments may be obtained by contacting Major
Thurston, Air Force Public Affairs, (703) 695-0640. The report
with all 33 attachments is available for review in the Pentagon
Library in Room 1A518.
-END-
REPORT OF AIR FORCE RESEARCH REGARDING THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT"
Department of the Air Force
United States of America
July 1994
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The "Roswell Incident" refers to an event that supposedly
happened in July, 1947, wherein the Army Air Forces (AAF)
allegedly recovered remains of a crashed "flying disc" near
Roswell, New Mexico. In February, 1994, the General Accounting
Office (GAO), acting on the request of a New Mexico Congressman,
initiated an audit to attempt to locate records of such an
incident and to determine if records regarding it were properly
handled. Although the GAO effort was to look at a number of
government agencies, the apparent focus was the Air Force.
SAF/AAZ, as the Central Point of Contact for the GAO in this
matter, initiated a systematic search of current Air Force
offices as well as numerous archives and records centers that
might help explain this matter. Research revealed that the
"Roswell Incident" was not even considered a UFO event until the
1978-1980 time frame. Prior to that, the incident was dismissed
because the AAF originally identified the debris recovered as
being that of a weather balloon. Subsequently, various authors
wrote a number of books claiming that, not only was debris from
an alien spacecraft recovered, but also the bodies of the craft's
alien occupants. These claims continue to evolve today and the
Air Force is now routinely accused of engaging in a "cover-up" of
this supposed event.
The research located no records at existing Air Force offices
that indicated any "cover-up" by the USAF or any indication of
such a recovery. Consequently, efforts were intensified by Air
Force researchers at numerous locations where records for the
period in question were stored. The records reviewed did not
reveal any increase in operations, security, or any other
activity in July, 1947, that indicated any such unusual event may
have occurred. Records were located and thoroughly explored
concerning a then-TOP SECRET balloon project, designed to attempt
to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, known as Project Mogul.
Additionally, several surviving project personnel were located
and interviewed, as was the only surviving person who recovered
debris from the original Roswell site in 1947, and the former
officer who initially identified the wreckage as a balloon.
Comparison of all information developed or obtained indicated
that the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with a
balloon device and most likely from one of the Mogul balloons
that had not been previously recovered. Air Force research
efforts did not disclose any records of the recovery of any
"alien" bodies or extraterrestrial materials.
INTRODUCTION
Air Force involvement in the alleged UFO-related incident
popularly known as the "Roswell Incident" began as the result of
a January 14, 1994, WASHINGTON POST article (Atch 1) which
announced Congressman Steven Schiff's intent to initiate a
General Accounting Office (GAO) effort to resolve this
controversial matter. Having previously been involved in
numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Congressional
requests on "unusual aircraft," to include Unidentified Flying
Objects (UFOs), The Director, Security and Special Program
Oversight, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, (SAF/AAZ)
believed the Air Force would become involved in any GAO effort
involving this subject.
Thus, in late January, 1994, SAF/AAZ directed its
research/declassification team, SAF/AAZD, to attempt to locate
any official records relative to this matter. These initial
research efforts focused on records at the Air Force Historical
Research Agency (AFHRA), Maxwell AFB, AL, the Air Force Safety
Agency (AFSA) at Kirtland AFB, NM and the National Archives and
Records Administration (NARA).
On February 15, 1994, the GAO officially notified Secretary of
Defense William J. Perry that, it was initiating an audit of the
Department of Defense (DoD) policies and procedures for
acquiring, classifying, retaining, and disposing of official
government documents dealing with weather balloon, aircraft, and
similar crash incidents (Atch 2). This notification was
subsequently passed to the Department of Defense Inspector
General who in turn officially notified the Secretaries of the
Services and other affected parties of the audit in a February
23, 1994, memo (Atch 3). This memorandum indicated that the "GAO
is anxious to respond to Representative Schiff's request and to
dispel any concerns that the DoD is being unresponsive." These
were the first official US Government documents that indicated
that the purpose of the GAO was to review "crash incidents
involving weather balloons and unknown aircraft, such as UFOs and
foreign aircraft, and (2) the facts involving the reported crash
of an UFO in 1949 (sic, 1947) at Roswell, New Mexico...(and an)
alleged DoD cover-up."
An entrance meeting of potentially concerned parties was held in
the offices of the DoD Inspector General on February 28, 1994.
During this meeting it was learned that, while the audit would
officially be reviewing the records of a number of DoD (and
possibly other Executive Branch entities), the bulk of the effort
would be focused on Air Force records and systems. The audit was
officially given the GAO code 701034, and entitled "Records
Management Procedures Dealing With Weather Balloon, Unknown
Aircraft, and Similar Crash Incidents." Although this official
title appeared rather broad, there was no misunderstanding that
the real purpose was to attempt to locate records and/or
information on the "Roswell Incident." This incident, explained
later in more detail, generally dealt with the claim that in July
of 1947, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) recovered a flying saucer
and/or its alien occupants which supposedly crashed near Roswell,
New Mexico. When the USAAF ultimately became the United States
Air Force (USAF) in September, 1947, the USAF inherited
equipment, personnel, records, policies, and procedures from the
AAF. In this particular case, the Air Force also inherited the
allegation that it had "covered up" the "Roswell Incident" and
has continued to do so for the next 47 years.
Within the Air Force, the Office of the Administrative Assistant
to the Secretary of the Air Force (SAF/AA) is responsible both
for information management procedures (SAF/AAI) and security
policy and oversight (SAF/AAZ). Because of this organization,
SAF/AAZ was the logical entity to assist the GAO in its audit and
SAF/AAZ was officially named as the Central Point of Contact for
this endeavor (Atch 4). Subsequently, the then-Administrative
Assistant, Mr. Robert J. McCormick, issued a tasking memorandum
dated March 1, 1994 (Atch 5), to a number of current Air Staff
and Secretariat offices that might possibly have records related
to such an incident if, indeed, something had actually occurred.
This search for records was purposely limited to Air Force
records and systems since:
(a) The Air Force had no authority to compel other agencies to
review their records;
(b) The Air Force would have no way to monitor the completeness
of their efforts if they did; and
(c) the overall effort was the task and responsibility of the GAO
-- not the Air Force.
During the in-briefing process with GAO, it was learned that this
audit was, indeed, generated at the specific request of
Congressman Steven Schiff of New Mexico. Earlier, Congressman
Schiff had written to the Department of Defense Legislative
Liaison Office for information on the "Roswell Incident" and had
been advised that it was part of the former UFO "Project
Bluebook" that had previously been turned over to NARA by the Air
Force. Congressman Schiff subsequently learned from NARA that,
although they did, indeed, have the "Bluebook" materials, the
"Roswell Incident" was not part of that report. Congressman
Schiff, apparently perceiving that he had been "stonewalled" by
the DoD, then generated the request for the aforementioned audit.
It is within this context that the following research and
assistance efforts were conducted in support of the GAO. This
report is intended to stand as the final official Air Force
response regarding this matter.
THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT" -- WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY REPORTED IN 1947
The modern preoccupation with what ultimately came to be called
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) actually began in June, 1947.
Although some pro-UFO researchers argue that sightings of UFOs go
back to Biblical times, most researchers will not dispute that
anything in UFO history can compare with the phenomenon that
began in 1947. What was later characterized as "the UFO WAve of
1947" began with 16 alleged sightings that occurred between May
17 and July 12, 1947, (although some researchers claim there were
as many as 800 sightings during that period). Interestingly, the
"Roswell Incident" was not considered one of these 1947 events
until the 1978-80 time frame. There is no dispute, however, that
something happened near Roswell in July, 1947, since it was
reported in a number of contemporary newspaper articles; the most
famous of which were the July 8 and July 9 editions of the
ROSWELL DAILY RECORD. The July 8 edition reported "RAAF Captures
Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region," while the next day's
edition reported, "Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer" and "Harassed
Rancher Who Located 'Saucer' Sorry He Told About It."
The first story reported that the Intelligence Officer of the
509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell AAF, Major Jesse A.
Marcel, had recovered a "flying disc" from the range lands of an
unidentified rancher in the vicinity of Roswell and that the disc
had been "flown to higher headquarters." That same story also
reported that a Roswell couple claimed to have seen a large
unidentified object fly by their home on July 2, 1947.
The July 9 edition of the paper noted that Brigadier General
Roger Ramey, Commander of the Eighth Air Force at Forth Worth,
Texas, stated that upon examination the debris recovered by
Marcel was determined to be a weather balloon. The wreckage was
described as a "...bundle of tinfoil, broken wood beams, and
rubber remnants of a balloon...." The additional story of the
"harassed rancher" identified him as W.W. Brazel of Lincoln
County, New Mexico. He claimed that he and his son, Vernon,
found the material on June 14, 1947, when they "came upon a large
area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a
rather tough paper, and sticks." He picked up some of the debris
on July 4 and "...the next day he first heard about the flying
discs and wondered if what he had found might have been the
remnants of one of these." Brazel subsequently went to Roswell
on July 7 and contacted the Sheriff, who apparently notified
Major Marcel. Major Marcel and "a man in plain clothes" then
accompanied Brazel home to pick up the rest of the pieces. The
article further related that Brazel thought that the material:
"...might have been as large as a table top. The balloon which
held it up, if that is how it worked, must have been about 12
feet long, he felt, measuring the distance by the size of the
room in which he sat. The rubber was smoky gray in color and
scattered over an area about 200 yards in diameter. When the
debris was gathered up the tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks made
a bundle about three feet long and 7 or 8 inches thick, while the
rubber made a bundle about 18 or 20 inches long and about 8
inches thick. In all, he estimated, the entire lot would have
weighed maybe five pounds. There was no sign of any metal in the
area which might have been used for an engine and no sign of any
propellers of any kind. Although at least one paper fin had been
glued onto some of the tinfoil. There were no words to be found
anywhere on the instrument although there were letters on some of
the parts. Considerable scotch tape and some tape with flowers
printed upon it had been used in the construction. No string or
wire were to be found but there were some eyelets in the paper to
indicate that some sort of attachment may have been used. Brazel
said that he had previously found two weather balloons on the
ranch, but that what he found this time did not in any way
resemble either of these."
EVOLUTION OF THE EVENT FROM 1947 TO THE PRESENT
General Rarney's press conference and rancher Brazel's statement
effectively ended this as a UFO-related matter until 1978,
although some UFO researchers argue that there were several
obtuse references to it in 1950's era literature. Roswell, for
example, is not referred to in the official USAF investigation of
UFOs reported in Project Bluebook or its predecessors, Project
Sign and Project Grudge, which ran from 1948-1969 (which
Congressman Schiff subsequently learned when he made his original
inquiry).
In 1978, an article appeared in a tabloid newspaper, the NATIONAL
INQUIRER, which reported the former intelligence officer, Marcel,
claimed that he had recovered UFO debris near Roswell in 1947.
Also in 1978, a UFO researcher, Stanton Friedman, met with Marcel
and began investigating the claims that the material Marcel
handled was from a crashed UFO. Similarly, two authors, William
L. Moore and Charles Berlitz, also engaged in research which led
them to publish a book, THE ROSWELL INCIDENT, in 1980. In this
book they reported they interviewed a number of persons who
claimed to have been present at Roswell in 1947 and professed to
be either first or second hand witnesses to strange events that
supposedly occurred. Since 1978-1980, other UFO researchers,
most notably Donald Schmitt and Kevin Randle, claim to have
located and interviewed even more persons with supposed knowledge
of unusual happenings at Roswell. These included both civilian
and former military persons.
Additionally, the Robert Stack-hosted television show "Unsolved
Mysteries" devoted a large portion of one show to a "re-creation"
of the supposed Roswell events. Numerous other television shows
have done likewise, particularly during the last several years
and a made-for-TV movie on the subject is due to be released this
summer. The overall thrust of these articles, books and shows is
that the "Roswell Incident" was actually the crash of a craft
from another world, the US Government recovered it, and has been
"covering up" this fact from the Arnerican public since 1947,
using a combination of disinformation, ridicule, and threats of
bodily harm, to do so. Generally, the US Air Force bears the
brunt of these accusations.
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 in the eyes and minds of some
researchers, portions of the media and at least part of the
American public. There are also now several major variations of
the "Roswell story." For exarnple, it was originally reported
that there was only recovery of debris from one site. This has
since grown from a minimal amount of debris recovered from a
small area to airplane loads of debris from multiple huge "debris
fields." Likewise, the relatively simple description of sticks,
paper, tape and tinfoil has since grown to exotic metals with
hieroglyphics and fiber optic-like materials. Most versions now
claim that there were two crash sites where debris was recovered;
and at the second site, alleged bodies of extraterrestrial aliens
were supposedly retrieved. The number of these "alien bodies"
recovered also varied. These claims are further complicated by
the fact that UFO researchers are not in agreement among
themselves as to exactly where these recovery sites were located
or even the dates of the alleged crash(es).
Consistently, however, the AAF was accused of securing these
sites, recovering all the material therefrom, keeping locals
away, and returning the recovered wreckage (and bodies) to
Roswell under extremely tight security for further processing and
later exploitation.
Once back at Roswell AAF, it is generally alleged that special
measures were taken to notify higher headquarters and
arrangements made to have recovered materials shipped to other
locations for analysis. These locations include Ft. Worth,
Texas, the home of the Eighth Air Force Headquarters; possibly
Sandia Base (now Kirtland AFB), New Mexico; possibly Andrews AAF,
Maryland, and always to Wright Field, now known as Wright-
Patterson AFB, Ohio. The latter location was the home of "T-2"
which later became known as the Air Technical Intelligence Center
(ATIC) and the Air Materiel Command (AMC), and would, in fact, be
a logical location to study unknown materials from whatever
origin. Most of the Roswell stories that contain the recovery of
alien bodies also show them being shipped to Wright Field. Once
the material and bodies were dispersed for further analysis
and/or exploitation, the government in general, and the Army Air
Forces in particular, then engaged in covering up all information
relating to the alleged crash and recovery, including the use of
security oaths to military persons and the use of coercion
(including alleged death threats) to others. This, as theorized
by some UFO researchers, has allowed the government to keep the
fact that there is intelligent extraterrestrial life from the
American public for 47 years. It also supposedly allowed the US
Government to exploit recovered extraterrestrial materials by
reverse engineering them, ultimately providing such things as
fiber optic and stealth technology. The "death threats," oaths,
and other forms of coercion alleged to have been meted out by the
Army Air Forces personnel to keep people from talking have
apparently not been very effective, as several hundred people are
claimed to have come forward (without harm) with some knowledge
of the "Roswell Incident" during interviews with non-government
researchers and the media.
Adding some measure of credibility to the claims that have arisen
since 1978 is the apparent depth of research of some of the
authors and the extent of their efforts. Their claims are
lessened somewhat, however, by the fact that almost all their
information came from verbal reports many years after the alleged
incident occurred. Many of the persons interviewed were, in
fact, stationed at, or lived near Roswell during the time in
question, and a number of them claim military service. Most,
however, related their stories in their older years, well after
the fact. In other cases, the information provided is second or
third-hand, having been passed through a friend or relative after
the principal had died. What is uniquely lacking in the entire
exploration and exploitation of the "Roswell Incident" is
official positive documentary or physical evidence of any kind
that supports the claims of those who allege that something
unusual happened. Conversely, there has never been any previous
documentary evidence produced by those who would debunk the
incident to show that something did not happen; although logic
dictates that bureaucracies do not spend time documenting non-
events.