Inside the Vault
Back to the EBE index
Roswell Index
The MJ-12 Index
GAO Report on the ROSWELL INCIDENT
From: John_Kirby@ccm.jf.intel.com (John Kirby)
Subject: FULL TEXT OF GAO REPORT
TO: Those Interested
FROM: John Kirby, Portland OR
DATE: 7-30-95
The following is the complete text of the GAO Report to Congressman Steve
Schiff having to do with the Roswell incident. It also includes related
documents.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents:
* Press release from Congressman Schiff's office
* GAO Report
o Actual report
o Appendices
* Extra report from the GAO to Congressman Schiff regarding "Majestic 12"
documents.
ALL OF THE GAO REPORT (with very minor exceptions mentioned below) is
included in this file. The documents were optically scanned and run through
an OCR (optical character recognition) tool. I proof-read the resulting
document for errors (although some may have slipped through).
The only things missing are:
* Formatting of the pages (this was lost in the conversion to text
format). This includes loss of letterhead pictures etc. I indicated, in
many places, where significant letterhead was lost.
* Out of sympathy for the bureaucrats who gave their desk phone numbers
to the GAO, I deleted some phone numbers for this wide posting. Main
switchboard phone numbers were preserved. Numbers can of course be
obtained by directory assistance. Those phone numbers are also in the
publicly available report.
The actual hard copy of this report can be ordered by calling the GAO
publications ordering desk at (202) 512-6000.
Thanks.
John Kirby, Portland Oregon
Randle and Schmitt Roswell Investigation Team
e-mail: JKirbyPDX@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS RELEASE
* U.S. Congressman Steve Schiff, First Congressional District New Mexico
* Washington Office: 2404 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C. 20515 (202)
225-6316 FAX: (202) 225-4975
* District Office: 625 Silver Ave., SW Suite 140 Albuquerque, NM 87102 (505)
766-2538 FAX (505) 766-1674
-------------------------------
Immediate Release
J. Barry Bitzer
July 28th, 1995
Schiff Receives, Releases Roswell Report
(missing documents leave unanswered questions)
Washington: Congressman Steve Schiff today released the General Accounting
Office (GAO) report detailing results of a records audit related to events
surrounding a crash in 1947, near Roswell, New Mexico, and the military
response.
The 20 page report is the result of constituent information requests to
Congressman Schiff and the difficulty he had getting answers from the
Department of Defense in the now 48-year-old controversy.
Schiff said important documents, which may have shed more light on what
happened at Roswell, are missing. "The GAO report states that the outgoing
messages from Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) for this period of time were
destroyed without proper authority. Schiff pointed out that these messages
would have shown how military officials in Roswell were explaining to their
superiors exactly what happened.
"It is my understanding that these outgoing messages were permanent records,
which should never have been destroyed. The GAO could not identify who
destroyed the messages, or why." But Schiff pointed out that the GAO
estimates that the messages were destroyed over 40 years ago, making further
inquiry about their destruction impractical.
Documents revealed by the report include an FBI teletype and reference in a
newsletter style internal forum at RAAF that refer to a "radar tracking
device" - a reference to a weather balloon. Even though the weather balloon
story has since been discredited by the US Air Force, Schiff suggested that
the authors of those communications may have been repeating what they were
told, rather than consciously adding to what some believe is a "cover up."
"At least this effort caused the Air Force to acknowledge that the crashed
vehicle was no weather balloon," Schiff said. "That explanation never fit
the fact of high military security used at the time." The Air Force in
September, 1994 claimed that the crashed vehicle was a then-classified
device to detect evidence of possible Soviet nuclear testing.
Schiff also praised the efforts of the GAO, describing their work as
"professional, conscientious and thorough."
A two page letter discussing a related investigation into "Majestic 12" was
also delivered.
Schiff will be available to the media Saturday, July 29th, from 10:00 AM to
2:00 PM (Eastern) at 2404 Rayburn MOB in Washington, DC and by telephone:
(202) 225-6316.
A copy of the report may be obtained by calling (202) 512-6000 and
referencing Document number GAO/NSIAD-95-187.
END PRESS RELEASE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
START GAO REPORT
United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20545
National Security and
International Affairs Division
B-262046
July 28,1995
The Honorable Steven H. Schiff
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Schiff:
On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Held (RAAF) public information office
in Roswell, New Mexico, reported the crash and recovery of a "flying disc."
Army Air Forces personnel from the RAAF's 509th Bomb Group were credited
with the recovery. The following day, the press reported that the Commanding
General of the U.S. Eighth Air Force, Fort Worth, Texas, announced that RAAF
personnel had recovered a crashed radar-traciting (weather) balloon, not a
flying disc."
After nearly 50 years, speculation continues on what crashed at Roswell.
Some observers believe that the object was of extraterrestrial origin. In
the July 1994 "Report of Air Force Research Regarding the Roswell" Incident,
the Air Force did not dispute that something happened near Roswell, but
reported that the most likely source of the wreckage was from a
balloon-launched classified government project designed to determine the
state of Soviet nuclear weapons research. The debate on what crashed at
Roswell continues.
Concerned that the Department of Defense (DoD) may not have provided you
with all available information on the crash, you asked us to determine the
requirements for reporting air accidents similar to the crash near Roswell
and identify any government records concerning the Roswell crash.
We conducted an extensive search for government records related to the crash
near Roswell. We examined a wide range of classified and unclassified
documents dating from July 1947 through the 1950s. These records came from
numerous organizations in New Mexico and elsewhere throughout DoD as well as
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), and the National Security Council. The full scope and methodology of
our work are detalled at the end of This report.
----------------------------------------------
RESULTS IN BRIEF
iN 1947, regulations required that air accident reports be maintained air
accidents reported by the Army Air Forces in New Mexico during July 1947.
All of The accidents involved military aircraft and occurred after July
8,1947 -- the date the RAAF public information office first reported the
crash and recovery of a "flying disc" near Roswell. The Navy reported no air
accidents in New Mexico during July 1947. Air Force officials told us that
according to record-keeping requirements in effect during July 1947, there
was no requirement to prepare a report on the crash of a weather balloon.
In our search for records concerning the Roswell crash, we learned that some
government records covering RAAF activities had been destroyed and others
had not. For example, RAAF administrative records (from Mar. 1945 through
Dec. 1949) and RAAF outgoing messages (from Oct. 1946 through Dec. 1949)
were destroyed. The document disposition form does not indicate what
organization or person destroyed the records and when or under what
authority the records were destroyed.
Our search for government records concerning the Roswell crash yielded two
records originating in 1947 -- a July 1947 history report by the combined
509th Bomb Group and RAAF and an FBI teletype message dated July 8, 1947.
The 5O9th-RAAF report noted the recovery of a "flying disc" that was later
determined by military officials to be a radar-tracking balloon. The FBI
message stated that the military had reported that an object resembling a
high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector had been recovered near
Roswell.
The other government records we reviewed, including those previously
withheld from the public because of security classification, and the Air
Force's analysis of unidentifled flying object(1) sightings from 1946 to
1953 (Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14), did not mention the crash or
the recovery of an airborne object near Roswell in July 1947. Similarly,
executive branch agencies' responses to our letters of inquiry produced no
other government records on the Roswell crash.
-------------------------------
Footnote
(1) According to Air Force regulations, an unidentified object is an
airborne object that by performance, aereodynamic characteristics, or
unusual features, does not conform to known aircraft or missiles, or does
not correspond to Air Force definitions of familiar or known objects or
unidentified aircraft.
----------------------------------------------
REPORTING AIR ACCIDENTS
According to press accounts from July 1947, Army Air Forces personnel from
RAAF were involved in the recovery of an airborne object near Roswell.
Therefore, if an air accident report was prepared, it should have been
prepared in accordance with Army regulations. According to an Army records
management official, in 1947 Army regulations required that air accident
reports be maintained permanentiy. An Air Force official said there was no
similar requirement to report a weather balloon crash.
According to an Air Force official who has worked in the records management
field since the inid-1940s, air accident reports prepared in July 1947 under
Army regulations should have been transferred to Air Force custody in
September 1947, when the Air Force was established as a separate service.
The Air Force Safety Agency is responsible for maintalning reports of air
accidents. We examined its microflim records to determine whether any air
accidents had been reported in New Mexico during July 1947. We identified
four air accidents during this time period.(2) All of the accidents involved
military fighter or cargo aircraft and occurred after July 8, 1947 -- the
date the RAAF public information office first reported the crash and
recovery of a "flying disc" near Roswell. According to the Army Air Forces'
Report of Major Accident, these four accidents occurred at or near the towns
of Hobbs, Albuquerque, Carrizozo, and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Ouly one of
the four accidents resulted in a fatality. The pilot died when the aircraft
crashed during an attempted take-off.
-------------------------------
Footnote:
(2) These records do not include information regarding mishaps of air
vehicles belonging to civilian or other government agencies. These records
also do not include mishaps involving unmanned air vehicles such as remotely
piloted aircraft, low-speed cruise missiles, and most balloons.
----------------------------------------------
SEARCH FOR RECORDS
In searching for government records on the Roswell crash, we were
particularly interested in identifying and reviewing records of military
units assigned to RAAF in 1947 -- to include the 509th Bomb Group, the 1st
Air Transport Unit, the 427th Army Air Force Base Unit, and the 1395th
Military Police Company (Aviation).
Document disposition forms obtained from the National Personnel Records
Center in St. Louis, Missouri, indicate that in 1953, the Walker Air Force
Base (formeriy RAAF) records officer transferred to the Army's Kansas City
records depository the histories of units stationed at Walker Air Force
Base. These histories included the 509th Bomb Group and RAAF for February
1947 through October 1947; the 1st Air Transport Unit for July 1946 through
June 1947; and the 427th Army Air Force Base Unit for January 1946 to
February 1947. We could not locate any documentation indicating that records
of the 1395th Military Police Company (Aviation) were ever retired to The
National Personnel Records Center or its predecessor depositories.
The July 1947 history for the 509th Bomb Group and RAAF stated that the RAAF
public information office "was kept quite busy ... answering inquiries on
the `flying disc,' which was reported to be in [the] possession of the 509th
Bomb Group. The object turned out to be a radar tracking balloon." By his
signature, The RAAF's commanding officer certified that the report
represented a complete and accurate account of RAAF activities in July 1947.
(Excerpts from the report are contained in app. I.)
In addition to unit history reports, we also searched for other government
records on the Roswell crash. In this regard, The Chief Archivist for the
National Personnel Records Center provided us with documentation indicating
that (1) RAAF records such as finance and accounting, supplies, buildings
and grounds, and other general administrative matters from March 1945
through December 1949 and (2) RAAF outgoing messages from October 1946
through December 1949 were destroyed. According to this official, the
document disposition form did not properly indicate the authority under
which the disposal action was taken. The Center's Chief Archivist stated
that from his personal experience, many of the Air Force organizational
records covering this time period were destroyed without entering a citation
for the governing disposition authority. Our review of records control forms
showing the destruction of other records-including outgoing RAAF messages
for 1950 -- supports the Chief Archivist's viewpoint.
During our review of records at FBI headquarters, we found a July 8, 1947,
teletype message from the FBI office in Dallas, Texas, to FBI headquarters
and the FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. An FBI spokesperson confirmed the
authenticity of the message.
According to the message, an Eighth Air Force headquarters official had
telephonically informed the FBI's Dallas office of the recovery near Roswell
of a hexagonal-shaped disc suspended from a large balloon by cable. The
message further stated that the disc and balloon were being sent to Wright
Field (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) for examination. According
to The Eighth Air Force official, the recovered object resembled a
high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector. The message stated
that no further investigation by the FBI was being conducted. (A copy of the
teletype message appears in app. II.)
To follow up on the July 8th message, we reviewed microfilm abstracts of the
FBI Dallas and Cincinnati office activities for July 1947. An abstract
prepared by the FBI Dallas office on July 12, 1947, summarized the
particulars of the July 8th message. There was no mention in the Cincinnati
office abstracts of the crash or recovery of an airborne object near
Rosweil.
Because the FBI message reported that debris from the Roswell crash was
being transported to Wright Held for examination, we attempted to deterinine
whether military regulations existed for handling such debris. We were
unable to locate any applicable regulation. As a final step, we reviewed Air
Materiel Command (Wright Held) records from 1947 to 1950 for evidence of
command personnel involvement in this matter. We found no records mentioning
the Roswell crash or the examination by Air Materiel Command personnel of
any debris recovered from the crash.
QUERIES TO FEDERAL AGENCIES REGARDING RECORDS ON THE CRASH
We sent letters to several federal agencies asking for any government
records they might have concerning the Roswell crash. In this regard, we
contacted DoD, the National Security Council, the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of
Energy.
The National Security Council, the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy, and the Department of Energy responded that they had no
government records relating to the Roswell crash. (Copies of their responses
appear in app. III, IV, and V.) The FBI, DoD, and the CIA provided the
following information.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
The FBI informed us that all FBI data regarding the crash near Roswell had
been processed under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests previously
received by the Bureau. We reviewed the FBI's FOIA material and identified
the July 8, 1947, FBI teletype message discussing the recovery near Roswell
of a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector. (A copy of the
FBI's response appears in app. VI.)
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DoD informed us that the U.S. Air Force report of July 1994, entitied
"Report of Air Force Research Regarding the Roswell Incident", represents
the extent of DoD records or information concerning the Roswell crash. The
Air Force report concluded that there was no dispute that something happened
near Roswell in July 1947 and that all available official materials
indicated the most likely source of the wreckage recovered was one of the
project MOGUL balloon trains. At the time of the Roswell crash, project
MOGUL was a highly classified U.S. effort to determine the state of Soviet
nuclear weapons research using balloons that carried radar reflectors and
acoustic sensors. (A copy of DoD's response appears in app. VII.)
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
In March 1995, the CIA's Executive Director responded to our letter of
inquiry by stating that earlier searches by the CIA for records on
unidentified flying objects produced no information pertaining to the
Roswell crash. The Executive Director added, however, that it was unclear
whether the CIA had ever conducted a search for records specifically
relating to Roswell. In the absence of such assurance, the Executive
Director instructed CIA personnel to conduct a comprehensive records search
for information relating to Roswell. On May 30, 1995, the CIA's Executive
Director informed us that a search against the term "Roswell, New Mexico,"
in all CIA databases produced no CIA documents related to the crash. (A copy
of CIA's response appears in app. VIII.)
AGENCY COMMENTS
A draft of this report was provided to DoD for comment. DoD offered no
comments or suggested changes to the report. The Chief Archivist, National
Personnel Records Center offered several comments clarifying matters dealing
with records management. These comments have been incorporated into the
final report where appropriate.
The CIA, the Department of Energy, the FBI, the National Security Council,
and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy also received
excerpts from the report discussing the activities of their respective
agencies. They had no substantive comments and made no suggested changes to
the report.
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
To determine the requirements for reporting all accidents in 1947, we
interviewed military service records management officials, reviewed military
record-keeping regulations in effect during this time period, and examined
Army Air Forces and Navy air accident reports.
We also sought to identify any government records related to the Roswell
crash. In this regard, we visited and reviewed records at the locations
listed in table 1.
Table 1: Locations Visited and Records Reviewed
LOCATIONS VISITED RECORDS REVIEWED
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Archives, * Air Force papers on unidentified flying objects
Washington, D.C. * Army Counterintelligence Corps historical files,
1947-49
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Archives II, * ProJect Blue Book Special Report No. 14
College Park, Md. * National Security Council meeting minutes,1947-48
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Archives, * Army Inspector General reports, 1947-59
National Record * Army staff intelligence correspondence, 1947-56
Center, Suitland, * Headquarters Army Air Force message traffic,
Md. 1947-54
* Army Air Force and Air Materiel Command
(Wright Field) research and development tiles,
1947-50
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Personnel * Morning reports for RAAF units, July 1947
Records Center, * Eighth Air Force messages, 1947-50
St. Louis, Mc. * Eighth Ar Force correspondence, 1947-51
* Eighth Air Force weekly activity summaries,
July 1947
* Service records of key personnel assigned to
RAAF, 1947
* Project Sign(a) investigative reports, 1948
* Army Adjutant General correspondence, 1947-49
* Missile test tiring reports at White Sands,
N. Mex., 1947-54
-------------------------------------------------------------
Department of the Air * Current and past records management regulations
Force, Washington, * Report of Air Force Research Regarding the
D.C. Roswell Incident, July 1994
-------------------------------------------------------------
Department of the * Current and past records management regulations
Army, Washington,
D.C.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Department of the * Air accident reports, July 1947
Navy, Washington,
D.C.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Air Force Safety * Air accident reports, July 1947
Agency, Kirtland
Air Force Base,
N. Mex.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Air Force History * 509th Bomb Group and RAAF monthly histories,
Support Office, July and August 1947
Boiling Air Force
Base, Washington,
D.C.
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Security * FOIA records, Citizens Against UFO Secrecy
Agency, Fort Meade,
Md.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Military History * Army Counterintelligence Corps reports, 1947
Institute, Army War
College, Carlisle,
Pa.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Army Central * Army Counterintelligence Corps reports, 1947
Security Facility,
Fort Meade, Md.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Central Intelligence * "Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified
Agency, Langley, Va. Flying Objects" (Robertson Panel) report
* FOIA records, Ground Saucer Watch, Inc,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Bureau of * FOIA records on unidentified flying objects
Investigation,
Washington, D.C.
-------------------------------------------------------------
National Atomic * 509th Bomb Group historical information, 1947
Museum, Kirtland * RAAF base newspaper Atomic Blast, July and
Air Force Base, August 1947
N. Mex.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote
(a) Project Sign was the predecessor to Project Blue Book.
Our search of government records was complicated by the fact that some
records we wanted to review were missing and there was not always an
explanation. Further, the records management regulations for the retention
and disposition of records were unclear or changing during the period we
reviewed.
We also queried the National Security Council, the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Energy, the FBI, DOD, and
the CIA to determine what government records they have on the Roswell crash.
We did not independently verify the information provided to us in their
written responses.
In addition to physically examining government records, we contacted the
following federal activities to determine whether they had any information
about the Roswell crash:
* Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; *
Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Ohio; * Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C.; and * 509th Bomb
Wing, Office of the Historian, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
We conducted our review from March 1994 to June 1995 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.
Unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan no further
distribution of this report until 30 days after its issue date. At that
time, we will make copies avallable to other interested parties upon
request.
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please call me. A
major contributor to this report is Gary K. Weeter, Assistant Director.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Richard Davis Director, National Security Analysis
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDICES
* Appendix 1: Combined History for July 1947
* Appendix 2: FBI Teletype Message Dated July 8, 1947
* Appendix 3: Comments From the National Security Council
* Appendix 4: Comments From the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
Executive Office of the President
* Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Energy
* Appendix VI: Comments From the Federal Bureau of Invesitgation
* Appendix VII: Comments From the Department of Defense
* Appendix VIII: Comments From the Central Intelligence Agency
* Table 1: Locations Visited and Records Reviewed
Abbreviations: CIA Central Intelligence Agency DoD Department of Defense FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation FOIA Freedom of Information Act RAAF Roswell
Army Air Field
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX I:Combined History for July 1947
[ Picture / cover page appeared here, text: ]
Combined History
509th Bomb Group
and
Roswell Army Air Field
1 July 1947 Through 31 July 1947
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[page from retierved document follows]
RESTRICTED
The other three briefings were those which were given to the VIP and a
simulated briefing to a large group of Air Scouts representing all of the
troops in New Mexico which was given on 15 July 1947.
Several small projects were completed during the month including signs on
all the office doors, a building directory, and a world situation map which
is maintained on a day-to-day basis.
The Historical Section of S-2 has been seriously handicapped by the removal
of the regular stenographer with the reduction in force.
Due to the fact that the quality of the department reports has in general
been so inadequate, lectures are being prepared to be given early in August
to properly train the liaison representatives of each department.
The Office of Public Information was kept quite busy during the month
answering inquiries on the "flying disc", which was reported to be in the
possession of the 509th Bomb Group. The object turned out to be a radar
tracking ballooon.
The main project of the month was making all arrangements for a successful
Air Force Day. Lt. Golonel Oliver LaFarge, Air Reserve Corps, at Santa Fe,
made arrangements for Colonel Blanchard to visit the Governor of New Mexico
and ask him to declare Air Force Day in New Mexico on 7 August.
RESTRICTED 39
[end excerpt from Combined History]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX II: FBI TELETYPE MESSAGE DATED JULY 8, 1947
[Note %%%% indicates area blacked out by marker; spelling is reproduced as
is in the original.]
TELETYPE
FBI DALLAS 7-8-47 6-17 PM %%%%%%
DIRECTOR AND SAC, CINCINNATI URGENT %%%%%%%
FLYING DISC, INFORMATION CONCERNING %%%%%%% 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 BALLON BY CABLE, WHICH BALLON WAS APPROXIMATELY TWENTY
FEET IN DIAMETER. %%%%%%% FURTHER ADVISED THAT THE OBJECT
FOUND RESEMBLES A HIGH ALTITUDE WEATHER BALLON WITH A RADAR
REFLECTOR, BUT THAT TELEPHONIC CONVERSATION BETWEEN THEIR OFFICE
AND WRICHT FIELD HAD NOT %%%%%%%%% BORNE OUT THIS BELIEF. DISC AND
BALLOON BEING TRANSPORTED TO WRIGHT FIELD BY SPECIAL PLANE FOR EXAMINAT
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. %%%%
%%%%% ADVISED WOULD REQUEST WRIGHT FIELD TO ADVISE CINCINNATI
OFFICE RESULTS OF EXAMINATION, NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION BEING
CONDUCTED.
WYLY
RECORDED
END
CXXXX ACK IN ORDER
UA 92 FBI CI MJW
BPI H8
8-38 PM O
6-22 PM OK FBI WASH DC
OK FBI CI
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX III: COMMENTS FROM THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
[letter follows on "National Security Council" letterhead]
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
Washington, D.C. 20506
April 28, 1995
MEMORANDUM FOR MR. JOSEPH E. KELLEY
Director-in-Charge, International
Affairs Issues
General Accounting Office
SUBJECT: Request for NSC Records
I am responding to your April 12, 1995, request for information or NSC
records related to the crash of an airborne object near Roswell, New Mexico
in July 1947. The NSC has no records or information related to the incident
at Roswell.
For information about any government records that may document the crash at
RosweIl, we suggest you contact the National Archives, Textual Reference
Division, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 20740.
/s/ Andrew D. Sens
Executive Secretary
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX IV:COMMENTS FROM THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY,
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
[letter follows on "Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and
Technology Policy" letterhead]
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLODY POLICY
WASHINGT0N D.C 20500
April 26, 1995
Dear Mr Hunt.
In response to your recent inquiry of April 12, 1995. The Office of Science
and Techology Policy reviewed its records regarding the Roswell Incident.
OSTP has no direct knowledge of what occurred at Roswell and no records,
except for the information I received from the Air Foree.
I look forward to receiving the GAO report.
Sinrerely,
/s/ John H. Gibbons
Director
Enclosures
As stated
Mr. William Hunt
Director, Federal Management Issues
United States Government Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX V:COMMENTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[letter follows on "Department of Energy" letterhead]
Department of Energy
Washington, DC 20585
June 5. 1995
Richard Davis
Director, National Security
Analysis
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20538
Dear Mr. Davis.
This is in response to your request for records related to the crash of an
airborne object near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947. We conducted an in-
depth search for documents related to the crash and have found no such
documents.
If you have any questions regarding this matter. please do not hesitate to
contact Barry Uhlig of my staff.
Sincerely,
/s/ Joseph F. Vivona
Chief Financial Officer
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX VI:COMMENTS FROM THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
[letter follows on "U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of
Investigation" letterhead]
U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, D.C. 20535
April 24, 1995
Mr. Richard Davis
Director
Attn: Gary K. Weeter
National Security Analysis
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Davis:
This is in response to a letter dated April 7, 1995, from Norman J. Rabkin,
Director, Administration of Justice Issues, General Accounting Office, to
John E. Collingwood, Inspector in Charge, of Office of Public and
Congressional Affairs, FBI, regarding government records concerning the
crash of an airborne object near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947 (code
701034)
A search of FBI indices for information relating to the crash of an airborne
object near Roewell, New Mexico, in 1947, determined that all FBI data
concerning the incident has been processed under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and is available for review in our FOIA
Reading Room. A copy of the document forwarded to me by Gary Weeter is among
the documents in the Reading Room. If your staff wishes to review the
material, please call Margaret Tremblay, a member of my staff, at least 48
hours in advance of the desired appointment.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Swanson D. Carter
Supervisory Special Agent
Office of Public and
Congressional Affairs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX VII:COMMENTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
[letter follows on "Inspector General, Department of Defense" letterhead]
INSPECTOR GENERAL
Department of Defense
400 Army Navy Drive
Arlington, Virginia 22202-2884
May 4, 1995
Nr. Richard Davis
Director, National Security Analysis
U.S. General Accounting Office
441 G Street N.W.
Room 5025
Washington, D.C. 20548
Dear Mr. Davis:
The Department of the Air Force July 1994 report is the DoD response to
questions posed in your April 12 letter related to GAO Code 701034.
If you have any questions, please contact my action officer, Pattie Cirino.
If she is not available, please contact Ms. Merlene L. Scales.
/s/ Rathryn M. Truex
Deputy Assistant Inspector General
for GAO Report Analysis
Enclosure
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX VIII:COMMENTS FROM THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
[letter follows on "Central Intelligence Agency" letterhead]
Central Intelligence Agency
[ symbol ]
Washington, D.C. 20585
Mr. Richard Davis
Director, National Security Analysis
US General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548
Dear Mr. Davis,
In a letter dated 30 March 1995, this Agency advised you that it would
conduct a comprehencive record search to aid in the completion of your
investigation of the crash of an airborne object near Roswell, New Mexico,
in July 1947. In accordance with your request, we have searched all of our
data bases against the terms "Project Mogul" and 'Roswell, New Mexico."
The search did not yield any documents related to either of these terms.
Therefore, this Agency has no information, beyond those records already
reviewed by Mr. Gary Weeter of your staff, relevant to your investigation.
Sincerely,
/s/ Nora Slatkin
Executive Director
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
END GAO REPORT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
START: EXTRA REPORT / LETTER FROM THE GAO TO CONGRESSMAN SCHIFF REGARDING
RECORDS HAVING TO DO WITH "MAJESTIC 12".
GAO
United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548
---
National Security and
International Affairs Division
94-0692
July 28, 1995
The Honorable Steven H. Schiff
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Schiff:
In response to your request, we asked several agencies for their views on
the authenticity of the publicly circulated written material referred to as
Majestic 12. The origin of this material is unknown, but it is purported to
represent highly classified government records explaining unidentified
flying object recovery procedures and the crash of a disc-shaped aircraft
near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947.
Since the late 1980s, several federal agencies have been contacted by
nongovernmental persons and asked to comment on the authenticity of the
Majestic 12 material. The agencies contacted include
* the Information Security Oversight Office (responsible for overseeing
the information security programs of all executive branch agencies that
create or handle classified national security information),
* the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Deputy for Security and
Investigative Programs, and
* the National Archives.
These agencies responded to the inquiries by stating that their knowledge of
Majestic 12 was limited to the written material submitted to them by
nongovernmental persons. These agencies added that they found no records in
their files relating to Majestic 12. Moreover, the agencies' overall
conclusion concerning the authenticity of the Majestic 12 written material
was the same--there is no evidence that the Majestic 12 written material
constitutes actual documents originally created in the executive branch.
According to the Information Security Oversight Office and the Air Force,
the Majestic 12 material should not be treated as if it had ever been
actually classified by an executive branch agency or government official. We
found nothing in our work that contradicts the conclusions reached by these
agencies.
We also asked the archivists at the Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower
libraries for their views on the authenticity of the Majestic 12 material.
The archivists said that over the years they have received several inquiries
from the public concerning this material. In their search for related
records, including classified intelligence and National Security Council
documents, they found nothing that appeared to fit the description of the
Majestic 12 material or any references to this particular designation.
Lastly, during our review of material received from the public by the
Information Security Oversight Office in connection with past Freedom of
Information Act requests, we came across a message dated November 17, 1980.
The message, which appeared to have been originated by the Operations
Division of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI),
contained the words "MJ Twelve."
We contacted AFOSI to determine the authenticity of the November 1980
message. In a letter dated February 28, 1995, the Commander, AFOSI,
Investigative Operations Center, advised us that a search of AFOSI files
failed to disclose any official record copy of the message. The commander
also advised us that in connection with an earlier Freedom of Information
Act request, AFOSI had been asked to determine the authenticity of the
message. At that time, AFOSI concluded that the message was a forgery.
Sincerely yours,
/s/Richard Davis
Director, National Security
Analysis