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Contents: 18 pages of information released to CUFON by Congressman Steve Schiff's (R-NM) office, followed by a Washington Post article and some notes. =========================================================================== First District, New Mexico PLEASE REPLY TO: Washington Office Committees 1009 Longworth Building Science, Space and Technology Washington, DC 20515-3101 Judiciary (202) 225-6316 Standards of Official Conduct --------- District Office Government Operations 625 Silver Avenue SW Suite 140 Subcommittee on Human Relations and Silver Square Intergovernmental Relations Albuquerque, NM 87102 Ranking Member (505) 766-2538 Republican Research Committee Task Force on Crime Chairman Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-3101 The Honorable Les Aspin Secretary of Defense The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1000 Dear Mr. Secretary: Last fall I became aware of a strange series of events beginning in New Mexico over 45 years ago and involving personnel of what was then the Army Air Force. I have since reviewed the facts in some detail, and I am writing to request your assistance in arriving at a definitive explanation of what transpired and why. In brief, according to contemporary newspaper, wire service, national radio newscast, and numerous eyewitness accounts, on or about July 3, 1947, rancher William W. (Mac) Brazel found a large amount of unusual debris on property he managed northwest of Roswell, New Mexico, near the town of Corona. He brought his find to the attention of Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox, who then contacted the Roswell Army Air Field, home of the 509th Bomb Group (Atomic) commanded by Colonel William H. Blanchard (Who later became vice chief of staff of the Air Force). According to testimony of the group intelligence officer, Capt. Jesse Marcel, he and the Counter Intelligence Corps officer in charge at the field, Captain Sheridan W. Cavitt, then accompanied Mr. Brazel to the discovery site. Marcel testified that he and Cavitt found an area measuring about three-quarters of a mile long by 200 to 300 feet wide densely strewn with large amount of extremely lightweight, extremely strong materials neither could identify. Samples of these materials were flown to Eighth Air Force Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. On July 8, a press release announcing the find was issued by Colonel Blanchard's public information officer. This produced such a high level of press interest that, according to the Associated Press and a SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER front-page story of July 9, 1947, Army Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Hoyt S. Vandenberg personally handled media enquiries at the Pentagon. =========================================================================== Page 2 -- Aspin A few hours later, Eighth Air Force Commanding General Roger M. Ramey told reporters in Fort Worth that what had been found in New Mexico were the initially misidentified remains of a weather balloon and its Rawin radar target. Recently, in written and videotaped depositions, Brigadier General Thomas J. DuBose, USAF(ret.), General Ramey's chief of staff at the time of the incident, testified that the balloon explanation was a cover story. Similarly documented testimony given by a number of still living and seemingly credible witnesses suggests that, in addition to the cover story, Federal authorities sought to intimidate witnesses and their families into silence. Those alleged to have been subjected to such intimidation include Brazel; his son Bill, who says that, more than two years later, military authorities confiscated bits of debris he had found and told him not to talk about the incident; Sheriff Wilcox and his wife Inez; Glen Dennis, a Roswell mortician who provided contract services to Roswell AAF; and the co-owners of Roswell radio station KGFL, one of whom has stated that he was told their broadcast license would be revoked if KGFL aired an interview with Brazel. It is my understanding that, to date, all inquiries to the Executive Branch have resulted in denials of any knowledge or record of this incident. Yet it is clear that something was recovered by the Army Air Force (see the enclosed), and if testimony of apparently honest witnesses is taken at face value, it seems likely to have been something other than a weather balloon and its radar target. Likewise, it is claimed that authorities took extraordinary measures on the matter, measures that would seem to have been unnecessary in connection with a routine balloon retrieval. The inconsistency between repeated official denials and the public record and testimony of those involved has led to a great deal of sensational speculation and called into question the credibility of the Departments of Defense, Army, and the Air Force. Moreover, the lives of several of my fellow New Mexicans and their families have been and continue to be disrupted as a result of the incident. I believe a full and honest review and reporting of the facts of the case would serve the interests of both the United States Government and affected citizens, and help put the matter to rest once and for all. =========================================================================== Page 3 -- Aspin Therefore, Mr. Secretary, I respectfully request that you direct such a review be undertaken on a priority basis and that a representative or representatives of the Department of Defense and the responsible Military Departments promptly arrange to brief and provide me with a written report providing a current, complete, and detailed description and explanation of both the nature of what was recovered and all official actions taken on the matter. I have asked Mary Martinek, my Legislative Director, to coordinate all activities concerning this request, and she can address any questions your staff may have. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your assistance and cooperation. Sincerely. /s/ Steven Schiff SS:m2 Enclosures (7) cc: The Honorable Joe Skeen =========================================================================== Transcript: Roswell Daily Record; July 9, 1947 Harassed Rancher who Located 'Saucer' Sorry he Told About It W. W. Brazel, 48, Lincoln county rancher living 30 miles south east of Corona, today told his story of finding what the army at first described as a flying disk. but the publicity which attended his find caused him to add that if he ever found anything else short of a bomb he sure wasn't going to say anything about it. Brazel was brought here late yesterday by W.E. Whitmore of radio station KGFL, had his picture taken and gave an interview to the Record and Jason Kellahin, sent here from the Albuquerque bureau of the Associated Press to cover the story. The picture he posed for was sent out over AP telephoto wire sending machine specially set up in the Record office by R. D. Adair, AP wire chief dent her from Albuquerque for the sole purpose of getting out his picture and that of sheriff George Wilcox, to whom, Brazel originally gave the information of his find. Brazel related that on June 14 he and an 8-year old son, Vernon, were about 7 or 8 miles from the ranch house on the J. B. Foster ranch, which he operates, when they came upon a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks. At the time Brazel was in a hurry to get his rounds made and he did not pay much attention to it. But he did remark about what he had seen and on July 4, he, his wife, Vernon and a daughter Betty, age 14, went back to the spot and gathered up quite a bit of the debris. The next day he first heard about the flying disks, and he wondered if what he had found might be the remnants of one of these. Monday he came into town to sell some wool and while here he went to see sheriff George Wilcox and "whispered kinda confidential like" that he might have found a flying disk. Wilcox got in touch with the Roswell Army Air Field and Maj, Jesse Marcel and a man in plain clothes accompanied him home, where they picked up the rest of the pieces of the "disk" and went to his home to try to reconstruct it. According to Brazel the simply could not reconstruct it at all. They tried to make a kite out of it, but could not do that and could not find any way to put it back together so that it would fit. The Major Marcel brought it to Roswell and that was the last he heard of it until the story broke that he had found a flying disk. Brazel said that did not see it fall from the sky and did not see it before it was torn up, so he did not know the size or shape it might have been, but he thought it might have been about as large as a table top. The balloon which held it up, if that was how it worked, must have been about twelve 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 on to 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 strings or wires 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. "I am not sure what I found was not any weather observation balloon," he said. "But if I find anything else besides a bomb they are going to have a hard time getting me to say anything about it." [N.B.: Transcribed verbatim from unreproducable original newspaper story.] =========================================================================== Roswell Daily Record; July 8, 1947 RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region No Details of Flying Disk Are Revealed Roswell Hardware Man and Wife Report Disk Seen The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today that the field had come into possession of a flying saucer. According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the Roswell vicinity. After an unidentified rancher had notified sheriff george Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises. Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated. After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument, it was flown to "higher headquarters." The intelligence officer stated that no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who have seen what they thought was a flying disk. They were sitting on their porch at 105 South Penn. last Wednesday night at about ten minutes before ten o'clock when a large glowing object zoomed out of the sky from the southeast, going in a northwesterly direction at a high rate of speed. Wilmot called Mrs. Wilmot's attention to it and both ran down into the yard to watch. It was in sight less than a minute, perhaps 40 or 50 seconds, Wilmot estimated. Wilmot said that it appeared to him to be about 1,500 feet high and going fast. He estimated between 400 to 500 miles per hour. In appearance it looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers faced mouth to mouth, or like two xxx type washbowls placed together in the same fashion. The entire body glowed as though light were showing through from inside, though not like it would be if a light were underneath. From where he stood, Wilmot said that the object looked to be about 5 feet in size, and making allowance for the distance it was from the town he figured that it must have been 15 or 20 feet in diameter, though this was just a guess. Wilmot said that he heard no sound but that Mrs. Wilmot said she heard a swishing sound for a very short time. The object came into view from the southeast and disappeared over the treetops in the general vicinity of six-mile hill. Wilmot, who is one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town, kept the story to himself hoping that someone else would come out and tell about having seen one, but finally today decided that he would go ahead and tell about seeing it. The announcement that the RAAF was in possession of one came only a few minutes after he had decided to release the details of what he had seen. =========================================================================== Complete text of July 8, 1947, Roswell Army Air Field press release announcing Army Air Force recovery of a "flying disk" in New Mexico, as published in he San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1947 (page 1). San Francisco Chronicle The City's Only Home-Owned Newspaper FOUNDED 1865 - CLXIV, NO. 175 CCCCAAA SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1947 ROSWELL STATEMENT Here is the unqualified statement issued by the Roswell Army Base public relations officer: "The many rumors regarding the flying disk became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eight Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the co-operation of one of the local ranchers and the Sheriff's Office of Chaves county. "The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the Sheriff's office, who in turn notified Major Jesse A. Marcel, of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence office. "Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Marcel to higher headquarters." =========================================================================== from the United Press Broadcast Wire, July 8, 1947 MORE FLYING DISC (DXR53) -O- THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE REPORTS THAT IT GAINED POSSESSION OF THE "DIS:" THROUGH THE CO-OPERATION OF A ROSWELL RANCHER AND SHERIFF GEORGE WILSON OF ROSWELL. THE DISC LANDED ON A RANCH NEAR ROSWELL SOMETIME LAST WEEK. NOT HAVING PHONE FACILITIES, THE RANCHER, WHOSE NAME HAS NOT YET BEEN OBTAINED, STORED THE DISC UNTIL SUCH TIME AS HE WAS ABLE TO CONTACT THE ROSWELL SHERIFF'S OFFICE. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE IN TURN NOTIFIED A MAJOR OF THE 509TH INTELLIGENCE OFFICE. ACTION WAS IMMEDIATELY TAKEN AND THE DISC WAS PICKED UP AT THE RANCHER'S HOME AND TAKEN TO THE ROSWELL AIR BASE. FOLLOWING EXAMINATION, THE DISC WAS FLOWN BY INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS IN A SUPER- FORTRESS TO AN UNDISCLOSED "HIGHER HEADQUARTERS." RESIDENTS NEAR THE RANCH ON WHICH THE DISC WAS FOUND REPORTED SEEING A STRANGE BLUE LIGHT SEVERAL DAYS AGO ABOUT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. J241P 7/8 =========================================================================== FRR DID ARMY CALL IT A "FLYING DISC" OR WHAT? DXR NAJ DXR FYI, ROSWELL REPORTS TT MAJOR JESSE A. MARCEL, INTELLIGENCE OFFICER FOR 509TH BOMBER GROUP AT ROSWELL ARMY AIR BASE, IS IN FORT WORTH TEX., AT 8TH ARMY HDQUARTERS, "IF HE HANT ALREADY STARTED BACK FOR ROWELL." SUGG U GET DA IN ON FASTEST. TT MITE BE WHERE DISC WAS FLOWN. FRR V7/8 FRR DA ALREADY ALERTED. HOW RE ARMY TERMINOLOGY---"FLYING DISC" OR WHAT PLS? DXR DXR OUR S5&4 CALLED IT "FLYING DISC." WE UNABLE GET QUOTES FROM -4.6 OURSELVES -S 635. WE AFTER IT FASTEST. S5&4 SAID "FLYING DISCS." FRR V7/8.. =========================================================================== [Teletype message from FBI Dallas office to FBI Cincinnati office, July 8, 1947, regarding the Roswell crash, the weather balloon story, and a special flight to Wright Field.] FBI DALLAS 7-8-47 6-17 PM DIRECTOR AND SAC, CINCINNATI FLYING DISC, INFORMATION CONCERNING. MAJOR CURTAN, HEADQUARTERS EIGHTH AIR FORCE, TELEPHONICALLY ADVISED THIS OFFICE THAT AN OBJECT PURPORTING TO BE A FLYING DISC WAS RE COVERED NEAR ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, THIS DATE. THE DISC IS HEXAGONAL IN SHAPE AND WAS SUSPENDED FROM A BALLOON BY CABLE, WHICH BALLOON WAS APPROXIMATELY TWENTY FEET IN DIAMETER. MAJOR CURTAN FURTHER ADVISED THAT THE OBJECT FOUND RESEMBLES A HIGH ALTITUDE WEATHER BALLOON WITH A RADAR REFLECTOR, BUT THAT TELEPHONIC CONVERSATION BETWEEN THEIR OFFICE AND WRIGHT FIELD HAD NOT BORNE OUT THIS BELIEF. DISC AND BALLOON BEING TRANSPORTED TO WRIGHT FIELD BY SPECIAL PLANE FOR EXAMINATION INFORMATION PROVIDED THIS OFFICE BECAUSE OF NATIONAL INTEREST IN CASE XXXX AND FACT THAT NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AND OTHERS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK STORY OF LOCATION OF DISC TODAY. MAJOR CURTAN ADVISED WOULD REQUEST WRIGHT FIELD TO ADVISE CINCINNATI OFFICE RESULTS OF EXAMINATION. NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION BEING CONDUCTED. END CXXXX ACK IN ORDER 1 WA 92 FBI CI MJW BPI HS S-3E PM 0 C-22 PH OM FBI WASH DC =========================================================================== [Transcript: Roswell Daily Record; July 9, 1947] Ramey Says Disk is Weather Balloon Fort Worth, Texas, July 9 (AP)-An examination by the Army revealed last night that mysterious object found on a lonely New Mexico ranch was a harmless high- altitude weather balloon-not a grounded flying saucer. Excitement was high until Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, commander of the Eighth air forces with headquarters here cleared up the mystery. The bundle of tinfoil, broken wood beams and rubber remnants of a balloon were sent up here yesterday by army air transport in the wake of reports that it was a flying disk. But the General said the objects were the crushed remains of ray wind [sic] target used to determine the direction and velocity of winds at high altitudes. Warrant Officer Irving Newton, forecaster at the army air forces weather station here said, "we use them because they go much higher than the eye can see." The weather balloon was found several days ago near the center of New Mexico by Rancher W. W. Brazel. He said he didn't think much about it until he went into Corona, N.M., last Saturday and heard the flying disk reports. He returned to his ranch, 85 miles northwest of Roswell, and recovered the wreckage of the balloon, which he had placed under some brush. Then Brazel hurried back to Roswell, where he reported his find to the sheriff's office. The sheriff called the Roswell air field and Maj. Jesse A. Marcel, 509th bomb group intelligence officer, was assigned to the case. Col. William H. Blanchard, commanding officer of the bomb group, reported the find to General Ramey and the object was flown immediately to the army air field here. Ramey went on the air here last night to announce the New Mexico discovery was not a flying disk. Newton said that when rigged up, the instrument "looks like a six-pointed star, is silvery in appearance and rises in the air like a kite." In Roswell, the discovery set off a flurry of excitement. Sheriff Wilcox's telephone lines were jammed. Three calls came from England, one of them from The London Daily Mail, he said. A public relations officer here said the balloon was in his office "and it'll probably stay right there." Newton, who made the examination, said some 80 weather stations in the U.S. were using that type of balloon and it could have come from any of them. He said he had sent up identical balloons during the invasion of Okinawa to determine ballistics information for heavy guns. [N.B.: Transcribed verbatim from unreproducable original newspaper story.] =========================================================================== OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1300 March 31, 1993 LEGISLATIVE In reply refer to: AFFAIRS OSD # 78897 Honorable Steven Schiff House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Mr. Schiff: I have received your letter of March 11, requesting information on alleged events which occurred in Roswell, New Mexico. In order to be of service to you, i have referred this matter to the national Archives and Records Administration for direct reply to you. If I can be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to let me know. Sincerely, /s/ Larry G Shockley, Col, USAF Director, Plans and Operations =========================================================================== First District, New Mexico PLEASE REPLY TO: Washington Office Committees 1009 Longworth Building Science, Space and Technology Washington, DC 20515-3101 Judiciary (202) 225-6316 Standards of Official Conduct --------- District Office Government Operations 625 Silver Avenue SW Suite 140 Subcommittee on Human Relations and Silver Square Intergovernmental Relations Albuquerque, NM 87102 Ranking Member (505) 766-2538 Republican Research Committee Task Force on Crime Chairman Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-3101 MEMORANDUM April 7, 1993 TO: Rudy deLeon Special Assistant Office of the Secretary of Defense FROM: Mary Martinek Legislative Director ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pursuant to our telephone conversation, I an faxing to your attention a copy of the March 11th letter, with its attachments, which Congressman Schiff directed to Secretary Aspin. I enclose also, for your information, a copy of the acknowledgement received this date over the signature of Colonel Shockley. I appreciate your willingness to review the Congressman's request and look forward to the oral and written briefing he requested in his letter. =========================================================================== OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301 THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT April 20, 1993 The Honorable Steve Schiff U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Mr. Schiff: This is in regard to your recent letter to Secretary Aspin regarding alleged events which occurred in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. I, too, find these unexplained occurrences of great interest; however, these records are too old to be available here at the Pentagon. I would, therefore, recommend that you contact the National Archives for additional information as I believe Colonel Shockley has already done on your behalf. I regret that my response in not more favorable, but I trust you will find this information helpful. Sincerely, /s/ Rudy de Leon =========================================================================== First District, New Mexico PLEASE REPLY TO: Washington Office Committees 1009 Longworth Building Science, Space and Technology Washington, DC 20515-3101 Judiciary (202) 225-6316 Standards of Official Conduct --------- District Office Government Operations 625 Silver Avenue SW Suite 140 Subcommittee on Human Relations and Silver Square Intergovernmental Relations Albuquerque, NM 87102 Ranking Member (505) 766-2538 Republican Research Committee Task Force on Crime Chairman Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-3101 May 10, 1993 The Honorable Les Aspin Secretary Department of Defense Room 3e966 The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 Dear Mr. Secretary: I am in receipt of two letters from members of your staff replying to my march 11, 1993, request for a personal briefing and a written report on a 1947 incident in New Mexico involving personnel of what was then the Army Air Force. Copies of my request with its attachments and your staff's replies are enclosed for your information. I realize that, after almost 46 years, it is a virtual certainty that all or most of the records concerning this incident have been archived. However, my staff and several independent investigators have conclusively established they are not in any of the unclassified, including previously classified, holdings of the National Archives. Moreover, it is my understanding that it is highly unlikely they reside in any of the classified files in the custody of the Archives. Given the above, it seems virtually certain the documents relating to this matter are located in the holdings under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or one or both of the relevant Military Departments. Just two examples of likely locations are the U.S. Army Intelligence Records Center at Fort Meade, Maryland, and Headquarters, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. Wherever the documents may be, what is at issue is my request for a personal briefing and a written report on a matter involving actions taken by officials of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, agencies under your purview. I realize the research required to uncover the relevant documents and related materials will take time and considerable effort, and I am prepared to wait a reasonable amount of time for this to be accomplished. However I expect the job to be done and =========================================================================== my request to be addressed as set forth in the penultimate paragraph of my March letter. Mw legislative Director, Mary Martinek, is coordinating all activities on the inquiry, and she can provide assistance or address any questions you and your staff may have. Mr. Secretary. I deeply appreciate your help on this matter and look forward to its timely resolution. Sincerely, /s/ Steven Schiff SS:m2 Enclosures (3) cc: The Honorable Joe Skeen =========================================================================== National Archives Washington, DC 20408 May 20 1993 The Honorable Steve Schiff House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515-3101 Dear Mr. Schiff: This is in reply to your letter of March 11, 1993, concerning information about a UFO sighting at Roswell, new Mexico, in 1947. The Department of the Air Force forwarded your letter, and we received it on May 6, 1993. The U.S. Air Force has retired to our custody its records on Project BLUE BOOK relating to the investigations of unidentified flying objects. Project BLUE BOOK has been declassified and the records are available for examination in our research room. The project closed in 1969 and we have no information after that date. We have received numerous requests concerning records relating to the Roswell incident among these records. We have not located any documentation relating to this event in Project BLUE BOOK records, or in any other pertinent Defense Department records in our custody. Sincerely, /s/ R. MICHAEL MCREYNOLDS Director Textual Reference Division =========================================================================== First District, New Mexico PLEASE REPLY TO: Washington Office Committees 1009 Longworth Building Science, Space and Technology Washington, DC 20515-3101 Judiciary (202) 225-6316 Standards of Official Conduct --------- District Office Government Operations 625 Silver Avenue SW Suite 140 Subcommittee on Human Relations and Silver Square Intergovernmental Relations Albuquerque, NM 87102 Ranking Member (505) 766-2538 Republican Research Committee Task Force on Crime Chairman Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-3101 May 10, 1993 The Honorable Les Aspin Secretary Department of Defense Room 3e966 The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 Dear Mr. Secretary: I am writing to you, again, to request an answer to my letter to you of May 10th. I enclose a copy of the letter, and previous correspondence on the same issue, for your information. While I realize that the Department of Defense, and you, Mr. Secretary, have been very busy in areas throughout the world, while also concerned with proposed changes in policy within the Department, I must insist on the courtesy of a reply to my letter, which is now three months old. _To reiterate, while I am prepared to wait a reasonable_ _length of time for the briefing I requested, I do insist that the_ _Department do the research on my inquiry and report the findings_ _to me._ I also must insist on having my letters to the Department of Defense acknowledged and acted upon. I look forward to your response to my letters, and to the scheduled briefing. I will expect a reply to this inquiry by September 7th. Sincerely, /s/ Steven Schiff SS:m2 Enclosure: As stated =========================================================================== End of 18 pages of information released to CUFON by Congressman Schiff's office. =========================================================================== =========================================================================== Washington Post 1/14/94 GAO Turns To Alien Turf In New Probe By William Claiborne Washington Post Staff Writer Where television's "Unsolved Mysteries" has tried and failed, the General Accounting Office is unafraid to venture. At the request of Rep. Steven Schiff (R-N.M.), Congress's investigative branch has launched a study to determine whether the government covered up a story alleging that the bodies of alien space voyagers were removed from a crashed flying saucer found near Roswell, N.M., in 1947. After the purported crash of the spacecraft, the bodies of the extraterrestrial visitors were said by a local undertaker and other conspiracy theorists to have been autopsied and secretly flown to an Air Force base in Ohio. Even though the "Roswell Incident" has been repeatedly dismissed by the Defense Department as nothing more than UFO fantasizing triggered by the discovery of a downed weather balloon, the GAO has begun searching for documents to prove allegations that the Air Force "suppressed" information sought by Schiff. Schiff is a member of the House Government Operations Committee, which oversees the GAO. GAO spokeswoman Laura A. Kopelson said the office's investigation, first reported in the Albuquerque Journal yesterday, stemmed from a meeting in October between Schiff and GAO Controller General Charles A Bowsher. Schiff complained then that the Defense Department had been "unresponsive" to his inquiries about the 1947 incident. Kopelson said "as far as I know only one investigator had been assigned" to the case, and that not enough work had been done to report any results to Schiff. At another point, Kopelson said "the people doing it are either on sick leave or are unavailable." She said there was no way of estimating how much the investigation would cost, and that the GAO does not release such information anyway. GAO conducted 1,380 inquiries into government operations in 1992. Its budget has risen from $46.9 million in 1965 to $490 million last year. The agency has been criticized, especially by Republicans, as the "lap dog of the requesters," producing reports that tend to support whatever conclusion the requesting member of Congress suggests. Kopelson said Schiff had asked the GAO "to see if there is any evidence that information regarding UFOs had been suppressed" following the Roswell incident. Schiff, however, said that at a routine October meeting he had merely complained about the Defense Department's lack of responsiveness but a GAO official said, "We're willing to take a stab at it." Schiff, in a telephone interview from Albuquerque, said that last March, after receiving inquiries from "UFO believers" and some Roswell residents who were in the military in 1947, he wrote Defense Secretary Les Aspin asking for more information about the reported spacecraft crash and the alleged disappearance of the aliens' bodies. The crash of a mysterous object 75 miles northwest of Roswell, which the Air Force later claimed was a weather balloon equipped with a radar-reflecting device, was the subject of several books and remains many UFO buffs' greatest riddle. A privately owned museum in Roswell contains a number of documents and photographs purporting to prove existence of the aliens. It also displays a re-creation of the spacecraft surrounded by figures portraying the dead extraterrestrials. UFO buffs contend the incident marked the beginning of a government conspiracy to suppress evidence of alien life. Much of the speculation stems from claims by William Haut, a former Air Force public affairs officer, who said that on July 2, 1947, he was told to prepare a news release reporting the Air Force had recovered parts of a flying saucer and then was told to change the story to report a weather balloon. Also, a nurse reportedly told a local funeral home director that she witnessed the autopsies of the spacemen, whom she described as having oversized heads and beetle-like features. The nurse subsequently died in a plane crash. After the autopsies, conspiracy theorists said the bodies were flown to Fort Worth and then to what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In 1989, NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" investigated the controversy, which the program's host, Robert Stack, concluded remained unsolved. Schiff said after calling Aspin last March to request a Defense Department briefing on the Roswell incident, he received a call from an Air Force lieutenant colonel, who brusquely told him the documents had been turned over to the National Archives. However, Schiff said, Archives officials told him they did not have the records on Roswell, even though they did have records of "Project Blue Book," a 1969 Air Force study of reported UFO sightings. That study, Schiff said, did not deal with the Roswell case. "I was getting pretty upset at all the running around," Schiff said, adding that at his meeting with GAO officials, "they made an offer to help." "Generally, I'm a skeptic on UFOs and alien beings, but there are indications from the runaround that I got that whatever it was, it wasn't a balloon. Apparently, it's another government coverup," Schiff said. He called the Defense Department's lack of response "astounding," and said government accountability was an issue "even larger than UFOs." Asked if the GAO might not be extending itself, Schiff acknowledged that the agency "usually does fiscal investigations and at present I can't find a fiscal impact" in the Roswell incident. Had the agency said, " `This is beyond our realm of expertise,' " Schiff said, "I wouldn't insist on it." He added, "If the Defense Department had been responsive, it wouldn't have come to this." =========================================================================== CUFON is aware that this story was widely reported. Among the items of which we are aware are: January 14, 1994 Los Angeles television Fox 11 news/reporter David Garcia interviewed New Mexico congressman Steve Schiff. Congressman Schiff stated that this incident, like the radiation tests in the 40's should be brought forth and dealt honestly with the American people. Another LA TV station ran a short interview with Frank Joyce, at the time a radio personality in Roswell, now retired living in Albuquerque. He described his initial involvement, how he heard from Mac Brazel and how he suggested Brazel call the Army Air Field, and how he later got the press release and everyone's reaction to it. Radio stations in Albuquerque report that Congressman Steve Schiff is and has been looking into the Roswell incident. According to the report, he's angry that the Department of Defense stonewalled him. In response, Schiff has gone to what the report called "the investigative arm of Congress: the General Accounting Office," and requested an investigation into whether there was a cover-up in 1947, what was covered up, and why it's still being kept secret. An AP wire article also dealt with the Roswell story. CBS radio aired news that a congressman from New Mexico (Steve Schiff), because of some letters from his constituents, is requesting that the General Accounting Office investigate the Roswell Incident. =========================================================================== --------------------------- C U F O N --------------------------- Computer UFO Network Seattle Washington, USA (206) 776-0382 8 Data Bits, No Parity, 1 Stop Bit v.32bis, v.42bis, MNP4, MNP5 SYSOP - Jim Klotz Information Director - Dale Goudie UFO Reporting and Information Service Voice Line - (206) 721-5035 P.O.Box 832, Mercer Island, WA 98040, USA - Please credit CUFON as the source of this material - ============================================================================