Friday, February 24, 2012
If, as my Body Snatchers in the Desert book
suggests, certain key events in the summer of 1947 - of a perceived
flying saucer nature - had far less to do with the actions of aliens and
far more to do with matters of a classified, military nature, then it
would be reasonable to assume that discussion of such a possibility
would have been flying around Washington and the government, and people
would have been secretly digging at an official level to try and
determine if this was indeed the case.
Although many have said
that the government's worries and concerns about UFOs in '47 were
provoked by fear of them having definitive alien or Soviet origins, we
have prime evidence in our hands that demonstrates the domestic "Secret Weapon" angle was one most definitely discussed - and even accepted - at an official level, as we shall now see...
In
early July 1947, Brigadier General George F. Schulgen, Chief of the
Requirements Intelligence Branch of Army Air Corps Intelligence, met
with Special Agent S.W. Reynolds of the FBI with a view to determining
if the Army Air Force could solicit the assistance of the Bureau on a
regular basis in its investigation of the flying saucer mystery.
General
Schulgen advised Reynolds that, “every effort must be undertaken in
order to run down and ascertain whether or not the flying discs are a
fact and, if so, to learn all about them.”
The foremost thought
on General Schulgen’s mind was that the saucers were man-made in origin.
He confided in Special Agent Reynolds that, “the first reported
sightings might have been by individuals of Communist sympathies with
the view to causing hysteria and fear of a secret weapon.” It was for
this reason that the Army Air Force sought the FBI’s assistance.
General
Schulgen guaranteed the FBI “all the facilities of [my] office as to
results obtained,” and outlined a plan that would involve the FBI in
both locating and questioning witnesses to UFO sightings to ascertain
whether they were sincere in their statements that they had seen flying
saucers, or whether their statements were prompted by personal desire
for publicity or political reasons.
Schulgen was careful to
advise Reynolds too that: “It has been established that the flying discs
are not the result of any Army or Navy experiment.”
Following
the meeting between Schulgen and Reynolds, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
instructed his agents to begin investigations into flying saucer
sightings in the manner suggested by General Schulgen. As a result of
these investigations, on 15 August 1947 the FBI learned of the distinct
possibility that the military’s involvement in the flying saucer subject
possibly extended beyond that of mere observer.
In
a memorandum to Edward A. Tamm, the FBI Assistant Director, D.M. Ladd
of the Bureau’s Domestic Intelligence Division wrote the following:
“The
Director advised on August 14, 1947, that the Los Angeles papers were
carrying headlines indicating that Soviet espionage agents had been
instructed to determine the facts relative to the flying discs. The
article carried a Washington date line and indicated that Red espionage
agents had been ordered to solve the question of the flying discs, the
Russians being of the opinion that this might be some new form of
defense perfected by the American military. The article further recalled
that during the recent war pieces of tin foil had been dropped in the
air for the purpose of off-setting the value of radar being used by the
enemy forces and that these aluminum discs might be a new development
along this line. The Director inquired as to whether the Bureau had any
such information."
Suspecting that, if the Russians were snooping
around, the saucers had to be American in origin, Special Agent
Reynolds of the FBI’s Liaison Section was directed by J. Edgar Hoover to
make further inquiries with the Air Force.
On 19 August, 1947,
Reynolds met with a Lieutenant Colonel George D. Garrett and the entire
secret weapon issue was discussed frankly, as were the possible
consequences should the Bureau uncover details of a top-secret, domestic
research-and development program.
Following their candid discussion, a remarkable memorandum captioned Flying Discs
was prepared by Reynolds for the attention of Hoover. It is this
document perhaps more than any other that indicates that the American
military was testing flying saucer-type aircraft in the summer of 1947.
“Special
Agent S. W. Reynolds of the Liaison Section, while discussing the above
captioned phenomena with Lieutenant Colonel Garrett of the Air Forces
Intelligence, expressed the possibility that flying discs were, in fact,
a very highly classified experiment of the Army or Navy.
Mr. Reynolds was very much surprised when Colonel Garrett not only
agreed that this was a possibility, but confidentially stated it was his personal opinion that such was a probability.
Colonel Garrett indicated that a Mr. [Deleted], who is a scientist
attached to the Air Forces Intelligence, was of the same opinion.
"Colonel
Garrett stated that he based his assumption on the following: He
pointed out that when flying objects were reported seen over Sweden, the
‘high brass’ of the War Department extended tremendous pressure on the
Air Forces Intelligence to conduct research and collect information in
an effort to identify these sightings. Colonel Garrett stated that, in
contrast to this, we have reported sightings of unknown objects over the
United States, and the ‘high brass’ appeared to be totally unconcerned.
He indicated this led him to believe that they knew enough about these
objects to express no concern. Colonel Garrett pointed out further that
the objects in question have been seen by many individuals who are what
he terms ‘trained observers’ such as airline pilots. He indicated also
that several of the individuals are reliable members of the community.
He stated that these individuals saw something. He stated the above has
led him to the conclusion that there were objects seen which somebody in
the Government knows all about.”
Special Agent Reynolds then pointed out to the colonel that if flying saucers did
indeed originate with a highly classified domestic project of the
military, it was wholly unreasonable for the FBI to be expected to
“spend money and precious time conducting inquiries with respect to this
matter.”
The colonel duly concurred with Reynolds, and
indicated that it would have been extremely embarrassing to Air Force
Intelligence if the saucers proved to be American in origin.
Perhaps
sensing that he was getting close to uncovering the truth behind the
UFO puzzle, Reynolds then made inquiries with the Intelligence Division
of the War Department for an opinion on the theory that some shadow
government operation was responsible for the many flying-saucer-type
objects seen over North America.
The
War Department, however, issued a flat denial that it was in any way
implicated in the UFO issue. In a report written up later, Reynolds
noted that he was given “the assurance of General Chamberlain and
General Todd that the Army is conducting no experiments with anything
which could possibly be mistaken for a flying disc.”
Nevertheless,
the FBI continued to view the subject of flying saucers and the
military’s involvement in it with suspicious eyes; and rumors continued
to circulate within the higher echelons of the FBI that it was being
denied access to the full and unexpurgated facts.
None of this, of course, proves
that the flying saucer wave of the summer of 1947 was provoked by a
highly classified military program - rather than one of ET origin - but
the behind-the-scenes discussions between the likes of Reynolds and
Garrett on just such a possibility are, to say the very least, highly
intriguing...
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