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JUST,'CAUSE

AUGUST 1978 VOL. 1, NO.5( l a t e news to 18 Sep 78 )

The Off ic ia l N e w ~ l e t t e rof Citisens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS)

JUST CAUSE Ed1 tor : W. Todd. Zechel Assistant Editor: Brad C. Sparks

Associate Editor: Steve Stoikes Legal Advisor: Peter A. Gersten

Office: 191 East 161st Street , Bronx, New York 10451, U.S.A.

Telephones: 212-992-9600 (Gersten) or 608-643-3810 (Edi tor ia l )

Copyright 1978 W Ci i s ens Against UFO Secrecy - All r ights reserved.

CIA FINDS 1,000 PAGES OF UFO DOCUMENTS: FOIA SUIT PAYS OFF

The Central In te l l igence Agency disclosed on Aug. 10 t ha t Qapproxi-

mat ely 1,000 pages of addit ional materials concerning UFOs have recently

been surfaced and are currently under review. n The discovery seems to

have been prompted by the amended complaint in the Ground Saucer Watch

(GSW) su i t , which had been authorised by a federa l judge on July 7, 1978.

The CIA disclosure vas made in a l e t t e r to CAUS Director Todd

,Zechel (who also i s GSW's research direc tor) , replying to Zechel 's FOIArequest of July 13 , which among other things requested docUlllents related

to the reported recovery of 8JIl ex t ra te r res t r i a l spacecraft or landing

c ra f t by the U.S. Government. (See stor,r on pp . 18-20 of th i s i ssue . )

(Continued next page)


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Page 2 August 1978 JUST CAUSE

CIA Information &: Pri vaey Coordinator Gene F. Wilson asked Zechel to sus

pend his request unti l af ter he has reviewed the 1,000 pages of UFO documents th e

CIA apparently i s going to release. CAUS thinks this to be a CIA s ta l l tact ic

since th e documents ar e thought to have l i t t l e or no connection with Zechel's

July 1) request.

11 though (}gf l ' s in i t ia l complaint, f i led on Sep. 21, 19'7'7, mainly related

to th e Ralph Mayher 'incident and the Durant Report of the CIA Robertson Panel,

an agreement was reached during the July '7, 19'78, status conference to allow GSW

to amend i t s complaint to include requests fo r virtually a l l CIA UFO-related

records. (See JUST CAUSE, July 19'78, pp. 1-2.) CAUS Counsel Peter A. Gersten,

representing GSW, submitted an amended complaint in early August that included

requests dating back to 19'73--to a l l of which CIA had failed to respond sat is

factorily.

On Aug. 1'7, Assistant U.S. Attorney (District Columbia) William H. Briggs

telephoned Gersten and asked him to submit a stipulation that would go far be-

yond even the amended complaint in scope. CIA wanted Gersten to identify broadly

a l l categories of UFO documents to enable CIA to search fo r a ll of i t s UFO records

at once. Gersten , based on a draf t by CAUS Director of Research Brad Sparks,

prepared and submitted a stipulation requesting CIA to conduet na reasonable

search" of the following CIA components: CIA Strategic Warning Starf; CIA Opera-

t ions Center; CIA Office of Legislative Counsel; National Foreign Intelligence

Board (NFIB): National Foreign Assessment Center components as follows: Imagery

Analysis Service; NFIB Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation Starf,

Foreign Broadcast Information Service; Office of Current Intelligence; Central

Reference Service, Directorate of Science &: Technology (DDS&:T) components as

follows: Foreign Missile and Space Analysis Center (Office of Weapons In te l l i -

gence); Office of Electronic Intelligence: Office of Research and Development;


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'JUST CAUSE August 1978 Page :3

Office of Development and Engineering; Office of Scientific Intell igence; National

Photographic Interpretation Center; Office of Technical Service; Directorate of

Administration (DDA) components as follows: Office of Securi Yi Office of Joint

Computer Support i Directorate of Operations (DDO) components as follows: Covert

Action Staffsi Domestic Collection Divisioni Counterintelligence Staff; Counter

intelligence and Foreign Intelligence Staffs of DDO (including area divisions).

Perhaps almost unbelievably, the CIA has agreed to abide by the stipula.

t ion and, evidently, has ini t ia ted a search of the specified components. U.S.

District Court Judge John Pratt made th e stipulation an off icial order of the

court on Sep. 7, and he gave CIA 90 days from the date of i t s n",al approval in

mid-September to complete th e search ( i .e . , unti l mid-December 1978).

Meanwhile, discussions between Gersten and th e assistant U.S. attorney

Briggs, and between Todd Zechel and Charles E. Savige (Wilson's deputy in CIA),

have established that the 1,000 pages of_material are mostly Office of Scientific

Intelligence (OSI) f i les from th e 1950s. This material was f i r s t requested b,y

Brad Sparks for APRO in early 1975. F r C ? ~Sparks' 1975 interviews with OSI off i -

cers in charge of the UFO f i les from 1949 to 1956, CAUS thinks i t has a fa i r idea

of what th e f i les contain: Mostly Air Force and Navy reports of UFO sightings

plus some records of unauthorized CIA domestic UFO investigations in 1951-1952.

CAUS requests that UFO researchers refrain from submitting FOIA requests

until af ter th e documents have been received and analyzed, in order to avoidslowing down th e process of reviewing and releasing the documents CIA has located.

I t also should be noted that the forthcoming documents may be fragmentary

and lacking in historical context. Conclusions reached b,y people unfamiliar with


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Page 4 August 1978 JUST CAUSE '

t h i s context may lead to confUsion or to the promulgation of erroneous assump-

t ions . --WTZ. v i h BeS.

FBI INTERROOATES UFO RESEARCHER: GOVERNMENT MAY CONFISCATE DOCUMENTS - - Two FBI

agents vis i ted UFO researcher Robert Todd on the evening of July 28 , 1978, CAUS

learned in exclusive telephone interviews. Todd, ag e 24 , was interrogated about

h is l e t t e r s to the National Securi ty Agency (NSA) for more than an hour a t h is

parents home in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, a suburb o f Philadelphia. Todd special

izes in sending FOIA requests to the U.S. Government about UFOs.

An Air Force major a d v i s ~ dTodd by telephone l a te i n the day, Friday, Aug.

4, to sea l in an envelope a l l copies of. a statement about a Cuban Air Force j e t

al legedly destroyed while t rying to shoot down a UFO in 1967. (See JUST CAUSE,

July 1978, pp. 11-12, for a f u l l account of the inCident .) Maj. Gordon B.

Finley, J r . , to ld Todd "someone may be around" to re t r ieve the envelope, but he

did not sa y when. Todd refused to comply with Finley ' s request .

"Assuming the securi ty analys t ' s statement i s t rue ," Maj. Finley to ld

Todd, " i t does contain c las s i f i ed information." When Todd to ld Finle,y the FBI

had said i t was "SECRET or above," Finley remarked: "I don' t know about the ' o r

above' part , but t ha t i t i s SECRETe-that sounds about r igh t . D

~ Hendry or CUFOS interviewed Maj. Finley by phone on Aug. 8, and Finley. ---....

confirmed everything he ha d said to Todd on Aug. 4 . However, Hendry could not

pin Finley down as to what i n the securi ty speCial is t ' s statement was class i f ied ,

i . e . , the NSA information or the UFO inc ident , or both. Finley i s Chief, Torts

and Freedom of Inrormation Branch, Air Force Judge Advocate General ' s Office.

The F 8 [ men questioned Todd about the sources for h is requests to NSA


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'JUST CAUSE August 1978 Page 5

concerning the Cuban j e t mishap and the records of a former NSA employee now active

in UFO research as Director of CAUS and research direc tor of G&W. W. Todd Zechel.

Robert Todd said be then did not know of a Widely disseminated UPI dispatch of Jan.

12 . describing the Cuban inc ident .

AI explained to them,n recounted Todd, na researcher ha d obtained t h i s

statement, the researcher had passed i t on to the repor ter (who) passed i t on

to me. n Todd said he a f ina l ly broke down and to ld the FBI the reporter was

Robert V. Prat t of the National Enquirer. He refused to disclose the name of the

nWest Coast researcher" to the FBI. That researcher, physic is t Stanton T.

Friedman of Hayward, Cal . , was quoted about the Cuban incident in the UPI s tory.I

FBI spokesmen Jolm Perks and Tom CoiL ( in Washington, D.C.) and Paul B.

Lorenzetti ( in Philadelphia) refused "a t t h i s time" to confirm or deny the i n t e r-

view or the FBI i n t e res t in Todd. However, Special Agent Roger Midkiff of

Philadelphia (whom Todd l a t e r learned was one o f the FBI agents who intervieWed

him) obliquely confirmed the interview by suggesting to CAUS research direc tor

Brad Sparks t ha t he might be interviewed by the FBI.

(One of the FBI agents asked Todd. "no you know a Todd Zechel? I Todd had

asked NSA, by l e t t e r of July 10 , i f W. Todd Zechel was ever employed by NSA, as

was claimed in an interview published by the In terna t ional !!fQ Reporter in May

1978, pp. 7-9, a copy of which Todd enclosed. The FBI men confirmed t ha t they

had received th i s l e t t e r from NSA with the IUR a r t i c l e , Todd sa id . And Zechel. -

mentioned Sparks by name in the IUR a r t i c l e in such a way as to suggest associa

t ion . Thus Midkiff 's remark to Sparks, " i f there i s something t ha t might concern

you direc t ly, then, I 'm sure t ha t i t would be brought to your at tent ion a t the

appropriate time. A )

Charles Sullivan of the NSA Policy Coordination Starf , a t Ft . Meade, Md.,


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refused to comment on NSA's reported role in the UFO incident or in the FBI inves-

t igation of Todd.

Todd said the FBI men read his rights to him. Then they "t r ied to int imi-date me, II said Todd, "b y cit ing the espionage laws and advising me of the penalt ies

involved, namely, l i f e in prison, or death." He added, "I was shook."

Todd sent a flurry of FOIA requests about the Cuban incident to the Air

Force, CIA, NSA, and the Navy, from February to July 1978, a l l without success.

However, on Mar. 10 , CIA information and privacy coordinator Gene F. Wilson sug-

gested Todd "check with the Cuban Government fo r records on th i s incident."

Todd notified both NSA and the Ai r Force, on July 14, tha t since neither

agency wished to cooperate, he would contact the Cuban Government for further in -

formation. Since he thought both agencies hinted he might have class i f ied data,

Todd asked that they "provide advice as to what information in the attached s ta te-

ment should no t be transmitted to the Cuban Government." He gave them a 20-day

deadline for repl ies .

"And in response to that ," observed Todd, "two FBI agents knocked on my

door."

CAUS heard a report in l a te August that Todd, who figures he has submitted

about 1,000 FOIA requests about UFOs since 1974 mostly a t his own expense, wil l be

quit t ing the UFO f ie ld when his pending FOIA requests are completed. CAUS wishes-------------o praise Todd for his enormous accomplishments in the FOrA/UFO field , more ofwhich we hope wil l come to l igh t in the next several months. Meanwhile, CAUS

recommends l e t t e r s of encouragement be sent "tu Robert Todd a t 2528 Belmont Ave.,

Ardmore, PA 19003. --BeS.


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~ U S TCAUSE August 1978 Page 7

FBI DESTROYS UFO DCX:UMENTS

FBI f ie ld off ices nationwide destroyed t h e i r UFO f i l e s ea r l i e r t h i s year,

according to re l i ab le information obtained " " . CAUS.

An agent a t o n ~FBI off ice to ld CAUS' conf ident ia l informant he was familiar

wi th Dr . Bruce Maccabee' s reques t for UFO f i l e s because of communications tha t

agent had had wi tb FBI Headquarters. The agent reportedly said Maccabee had not

ha d enough money to buy' copies of a l l of the FBI's UFO documents. Maccabee would

have had to P87 $1,000 ( i . e . , 10,000 pages a t 10 per page) to ge t a l l o f tha t 2!!!

f ie ld off ice s UFO f i l e s , the agent boasted. But i t was too l a t e , anyway, since

the f i l e s had been destr9yed on Apr. 1-2, 1978, as par t o f a general f i l e destruc

t ion program a t a l l FBI f i e ld off ices .

CAUS h"s learned tba t the National Archives and Records 'Service (NARS)

authorized the FE[ f i e ld off ice f i l e destruction program on Mar. 26, 1976. The

NAftS Office o f Federal Records Centers/Records, Disposit ion Division permitted the

destruction o f f ie ld off ice c losed- f i l e s containing invest igat ive repor ts , i n t e r

an d in t ra-off ice communications and re la ted evidence. FBI Headquarters issued

orders to a l l f i e ld off ices , i n October 1977, to begin the obl i t e ra tion o f a l l

such records. UFO f i l e s a re jus t one of the categories s la ted for the incinera tors

and/or the shredders. Certain old organized crime f i l e s are another category, to

the chagrin of many FBI agents .

FBI i s awaiting permission from NARS to perform an even broader houseclean

ing of the Headquarters' f i l e s . Thi s FBI reques t of May 4 , 1977, was submitted by

NARS to Congress, where Sen. James Abourezk's Subcommittee on Administrative Prac

t i c e aneJ Procedure (Judiciary Cormnittee) has reportedly taken an i n t e r e s t . The.

destruction reques t mu_t be cleared with Congress because Congress might have an

i n v e s t i g a t ~ v ein te res t i n the f i l e s , as a resu l t o f inqu i r i e s about Watergate, CIA.

e tc .


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Page 8 August 1978 JUST CAUSE '

FBI Headquarters spokesman Tom ColI t o ld CAUS on July 31, 1978, t h a t the

FBI ha d not ye t received authorizat ion from NAftS to begin the HQ-file des t ruc t ion .

CAUS urges i t s members to pro tes t the FBI UFO-file destruct ion to Dr. James

B. Rhoads, Archivist of the U. S . , NAftS, Washington, D. C. 20048, an d to demand t h a t

-- ------------------ ~ - - ~ - - . ~ ~ ~ ~ - - ~ ~ - - - -FO records be e x e m p t ~from des t ruc t10n in the fu ture . CAUS understands t ha t i fthere i s su ff i c i en t 'publiC or news i n t e res t cer ta in records wi l l be preserved.

(References: The Nation 4 Feb 78 pp . 108-111, 25 Mar 78 pp . 325-326, 3 Ju n 78 pp .......--

653-655;' Los A n g ~ l e sTimes 13 'Mar 78 part I I p. 8.)

B LIVIAN DOCUMENTS RELEASED BY STATE DEPARTMENT: MYSTERY CONTINUES - - In ea r l i e r

ssues (May pp . 10-12 and June pp. 10-12), JUST CAUSE reported an inc ident t ha t was

said t o have occurred i n Bolivia on or about May 6, 1978. UP! disseminated a s tory- -about a week l a t e r report ing t h a t a UFO crashed near the Bolivian mountain v i l l ageo f Padcaya (21052 I S. 64046 I W); t h a t the U.S. space agency, NASA, was inves t iga t ing

I

the crash and ha d sent personnel to Bolivia.

CAUS q u e r ~ e dNASA repeatedly t o determine i f the UP! repor t was fac tua l .

NASA off i c i a l s denied adamantly any involvement other than receiving 'messages from

the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia. NASA sa id the messages contained mostly news

repor t s from Bolivian newspapers and radio s t a t i ons .

NASA re fer red CAUS to Col. Robert P. Eddington i n the Sta te Department 1 s

Bureau of Oceans an d In te rna t iona l Environmental and Scient i f ic Affairs (OES)

Advanced & Applied Technology Affa i r s (API') Office o f Technology Policy and Space

Affa i r s (SA), or OES/m/SA for shor t . Eddington sa id h i s off i ce "kept t rack of

launches, a an d he ind ica ted fa l len space objec ts ware with in h i s purview. He to ld

CAUS h is off ice ha d not determined . he the r the news s to r i e s were based on a r ea l

event or not . Bu t Eddington sa id he had received unsubstant iated information t ha t


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JUST CAUSE August 1978 Page 9

an egg-shaped, four-meter diameter object had been recovered. He speculated tha t ,

i f the report was accurate, the object might be a fallen propellant tank from a

rocket.

CAUS sent an FOIA request to the State Department, on June 21, 1978, asking

for a l l documents re la ted to the Bolivian incident. Within a week, Mary Spruell

of State 's FOI Sta ff replied tha t unless the information sought was of in te res t to

a broad segment of the public, rather than to a,l imited or special ized group, her"

office would charge search fees of $11 pe r hour. Spruel l ' s statement apparently

was a State Department interpretation of subsection (4)(A) of the amended FOIA,

which reads: "Documents shal l be furnished without charge or a t a reduced charge

where the agency determines tha t waiver or reduction of the fees i s in the public

in teres t because furnishing the information'J can be considered as primarily benefit-

in g the general pub1iQ.A

Spruell argued tha t CAUS's request "does not appear to f a l l in to th i s cate

gory. " CAUS vigorously protested t ha t r e c e n ~public opinion pol ls and the popular

successes of C10se Encounters" and "Project UFO" clear ly showed, the information

sought i s of in teres t to a broad segment of the public.

Evidently, the ra ther pointed l e t t e r by CAUS Director Todd Zeche1, in r e -

sponse to Spruel l ' s refusal to waive search and coPWing fees, convinced State tha t

UFO material appealed to a "broad segment of the public." On Sep. 1, 1978, Spruell

wrote that: aA search of ou r f i l e s ha s revealed 6 documents relevant to your request. The enclosed 5 documents have been reviewed by the appropriate off ic ia ls '

of the Department of State and there i s no objection to the i r release. One docu

ment i s s t i l l under review and wil l be the subject of further correspondence. n No

mention was made of search or reproduction fees; State obviously decided to waive

them af te r a l l .


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Of the f ive documents released., three or ig inal ly were UNCLASSIFIED, one

was class i f ied CONFIDENTIAL, and the other was SEX:RET. The e a r l i e s t of the mes-

sages was sent on May 15 a t 1909Z (3 : 09 p.m. EDT) from the U. S. Embassy in La Paz

to the Secretary of Sta te , with the act ion cop,y to Sta te ' s Bureau of Po1itico-,

Military Affairs an d information copies to Cl l , NSA, NASA, and other uni ts ins ider

and outside State . I t carr ied an lMMEDIATE precedence, a designator reserved for

s i tua t ions g a a v e ~ "affect ing the national securi ty, in te l l igence "essent ia l" or

"vi t a l " to the national secur i ty, e t c . , and i t read as follows:

"Subject: Report of Fallen Space Object. 1. The Bolivian newspapers

carr ied t h i s mOrning an ar t i c le concerning an unidentif ied object t ha t apparently

recently f e l l from the sky. The papers quoted a I Latin correspondent's s tory

from the Argentine c i t y of Sal ta . The object was discovered near the Bolivian

c i ty of Bermejo (2245S-642


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appropriate government agencies. No d i rec t corre la t ion with known space objects

t ha t may have reentered the ea r th ' s atmosphere near May 6 ca n be made. However,

We are continuing to examine an y poss ib i l i t i e s . 2. Your at tent ion i s invi ted to

State Airgr8lll A-634 3, July 26, 1973 which provides background information and

guidance for dealing with space objects t ha t l)ave been found. In par t i cu la r an y

information pertaining to the pre-impact observations, direc t ion of t ra jec tory,

nWlSber Qr objects observed, time of impact and a deta i led descript ion including

an y markings would be helpfu l . Vance. n (State 126725.)

At about th i s time, Project MOONDUSTgot involved. MOONDUSTi s a foreign

space-debris analysis program of the Air Force Systems Command's Foreign Technol

ogy Division (FTD/SDf) a t Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. FTD originated a CONFIDEN-

TIAL NOFORN (means nNo dissemination to Foreign N a ~ i o n a l s ,II in th i s case Bolivians, i t

would seem) cable on May 19 tha t evidently refer red to Latin American press re -

ports and ra ised the quest ion of MOONDUSTinvolvement. (The FTD cable was not

released to CAUS. We suspect i t i s the 6th ~ o c u m e n tunder Sta te ' s FOIA review and

we have sent a specia l request for i t to FTD.)

On May 24 , the U.S. Defense Attache Office (USDAO) in La Paz t ransmit ted a

CONFIDENTIAL NOFORN cable to FTD/SIJIJ and to HQ USAF WASHDC/INYSA (Air Force In te l

ligence Science & Technology Branch, or !FINISA for shor t ) , with info copies to

DIA/OC-4B/TYr-3B (Defense In te l l igence Agency DC-4B i s Guidance & Requirements

BJ-anch, Human Resources Division, Directorate o f Collection Operations; DIADT-3B

i s Technical Data & Foreign Materiel Branch, Directorate of Scient i f ic & TechnicalIn te l l igence) , NORAD COC/DOFS (North American Air DefenseACommand Combat Opera

t ions Center/Aerospace Defense Command Space Operations Division), and the State

Department. I t read as follows:

"Subject: Moon Dust (U) (Note: nun means subject t i t l e i s unclass i f ied) .


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Page 12 August 1978 JUST CAUSE .

Re f FTD CONF NOFORN 1918)OZ M q 78 , subj , as above &: SECRET State 126725 (Note:

Quoted e a r l i ~ r ) .1 . (C/NOFORN) (Bote: This begins CONFIDENTIAL/NOFORN par t of

cable) This off ice ha s t r i ed to verif.y the s to r i e s put forth in references to the

FTD msg and those which appeared in the local press . The Chief of Sta ff of the

Bolivian Ai r Force to ld DATT/AIRA (Note: U.S. Defense Attache's Air Attache) th i s

date tha t planes from the BAF (Note: Bolivian Air Force) have nown over the area

where the object was supposed to have landed an d in the i r search they drew a

blank. Additionally, DATT/AIR! talked th i s date with the Commander of the Bolivian

Army and he informed the DATT that the Army's search party directed to go into the

area to find the object ha s found nothing. The A.rrq has concluded t ha t there ma y

or not (s ic) be an object , but to date nothing has been found. 2. (U) (Note:-,'Remainder of message UNCLASSIFIED) Will keep you informed i f anything fac tua l

turns up . GDS)1 Dec 84." (Note: Under the General Declassif icat ion Schedule,

th i s cable ordinar i ly would not have been dec;Lassified u n t i l Dec. )1 , 1 9 ~ . 4 . )

From what CAUS ca n determine, the May 24 USDAO message was based on an

expedition of Bolivian Army sold iers and sc ien t i s t s tha t returned from the sus-pected impact area on May 21 . CAUS ha s r ~ l i a b l einformation from an American

source t ha t th i s expedition .did not get to Cerro Bravo (Bravo Mountain), the

suspected crash s i t e , because the slopes were too steep to negotiate.

After the f i r s t expedition returned, a young Bolivian astronomer, who had

been par t of t ha t team, new over Cerro Bravo in a BAF plane with a BAF pi lo t ,

making f ive or s ix passes to observe a rocksl ide he ha d noticed ear l i e r from the,.

ground. He became convinced something had struck the side of the mountain, causing

--he s l ide .A second expedition consist ing of three BAF off icers and a guide se t out on

\horseback on May 2) , reaching the rockslide on foot on May 25 . The off icers to ld


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th e American source they believe s o m e t ~ i n gcrashed into the mountain but they could

no t find any debris. The officers reached this conclusion because: th e rocks1ide

appeared to be recent; i t had created huge monolith-like boulders three meters (10

f t ) t a l l and two meters (6 r t ) in diameter; t . h ~ yfound a l00-meter trench runningparallel to the s l ide three to four meters (10-13 f t ) wide a t the top; some of the

large rocks appeared to have been burned, having a whitish appearance as though

seared by extremely high heat; and th e grass around the sides and th e top of th e

slide area was brown and withered for about 100 meters, whereas grass further a w ~

was green.

At present, i t i s no t known i f the information gathered b,y the second expe

dition--which returned on M ~ 27--ever reached th e U.S. Government. (The la test

document released was dated May 26 and i t merely promised to pouch on May 29 a

copy of State Airgram A_6343 to Bolivia as requested on May 19.) Strangely, none,

of the State Department documents even alludes to th e type of detailed a\':d signif-

icant information given to CAUS by a reliable American source. Whether this de -

notesa coverup or a simple foulup

i s yetto be

seen.

CAUS research director Brad Sparks has devised a possible explanation for

the Bolivian incident: For the l a s t eight years, th e Soviets bBveccasion have,

placed heavy (20-ton) maneuverable ' ~ l o 8 d sinto high-energy orbi ts . These sate l

l i t es are each equiped with a rocket stage (weight included in th e 20 tons) to

enable them to maneuver in spac'e. (One theory has i t that these are orbi ta lI

tes ts of th e Soviet version of our Lunar Module.) The report in the Salta, Argen-t ina , newspaper (mentioned in Ambassador Boeker's May 15 cable) of an negg_shaped n

metal object about 4 meters in diameter is consistent with the 4-meter-diameter

upper stages of the so-called nDn class SOviet sa te l l i t e launchers that l i f t these

maneuverable p ~ l o a d sinto high orbi ts . Then there ar e the 10w-al t i ude Soviet.. ,

ocean surveillance satel l i tes (such as th e one that reentered over Canada recent-- -


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l y ) , launched by nFn class rockets , and f i t t ed with 2-meter-diameter s ta t ion-

keeping rocket stages to keep the ~ l o a d strom reentering too soon.

Suppose one o t these s a t e l l i t e s t a i l ed an d reentered the ea r th ' s atmosphere

betore consuming much o t i t s propell1lRt. The fuel and oxidizer tanks might have

survived reentr,y b e c a ~ s eo t t h e i r strong high-pressure design--and the Soviets are

known to use more and denser metal (usually s t ee l ) to r t h e i r sturdy rockets than

seems necessar,y w h e ~compared to U.S. rockets .

During the tier,y descent, the tanks might have leaked (even caught t i r e ) ,

thus accounting to r some reports o t course-changes and ae r i a l b las t s (JUST CAUSE,

June 1978, p. 10). On impact with the mOUnt_pn_ ; t . o p e ,the tanks s t i l l may have1

been leaking tier,y propellant , thus accounting to r the scorched rocks. Such t i r e s

might have been extinguished -by a t i n a l rupture or explosion o t the tank(s) a t the

end o t the 100-meter s l ide , thus spraying propellant over a wide area . Ice-cold

(cr,yogenic) fuel or oxidizer sprayed over the ground might explain the unburned

dead grass.

nCatastrophic decays," as the deep-space reent r ies are cal led by NORAn, and

even routine decays are observed by cer ta in highly class i f ied sensor systems, and

the decay locations anywhere in the world can be fixed to within a precision of

tens of meters. This ra ises the poss ib i l i ty t ha t such a decay o f a Soviet space

vehicle occurred on May 6, 1978, t ha t the U.S. recovered the remains (say, by May

11 or 12), and t ha t the U.S. l e t ever,yone think i t was surprised about the event

when news leaked to the loca l press by May 14. This would obviate the need to r

the U.S. to return t h i s useful in te l l igence materiel to the Soviet Union as re-

quired by t rea ty- -not f ic ia l lyn the U.S. would know nothing about the material .

Stranger things have happened in the realm o f the U.S. In te l l igence Community,

e .g . the Glomar Explorer and the confl ict ing s tor ies about how much o f the Soviet

submarine was retr ieved, or even who ran the operation (CIA, NSA, or NSC).


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There are , of course, problems v i h t h i s theory and discrepancies. I I the

rocket came down tumbling, i t s burning or leaking propellant could not point i n -

an y preferred direc t ion so as to cause a course-change--but t ha t observer-report

might be erroneous. Soviet propellant tanks are not l i ke ly to be "egg-shaped,"

or even round, since they ca n use enough excess s t ee l to simply sect ion o f f the

cylindrical rocket into;two tanks. Even i f the Soviets made bathysphere-like

tanks for the ItDIt class maneuverable stage, the tanks would be shaped more l ike

squat pumpkins, aboUt 2 t meters high by 4 meters diameter, than l ike eggs. And

the "F" class maneuverable stage tanks would be shaped s imi lar ly, but only about

l t meters high b,y 2 meters diameter. But the "egg_shaped" 4-meter-diameter reportmight, a f t e r a l l , be erroneous, too.

Further, t h i s theory might not account for the 100-meter-long trench dug

in the mountain slope, depending on how deep i t was. The width (3-4 meters) i s....

about r ight . Another possible problem i s the Col. Eddington cable o f Ma3 lB--but

clever weasel-wordir..r and hedging might eliminate i t : Eddington sa id there was

no "direct" correlat ion with "known" space objects t ha t might 'have reentered a t

about the r ight t ime--leaving open the poss ib i l i ty o f indi rec t corre la t ions of

known objects or of d i rec t correlat ions of temporarily unknown ea r th - sa te l l i t e s .

Then the hedge: "However, we are continuing to examine any poss ib i l i t i e s . "

S t i l l , public records of orbit ing objects have enough continuity and completeness

to make i t di ff i cu l t for the U.S. to conceal a reentry o f a la rge object for very

long, what with the Bri t i sh , Swedes, Germans, Soviets , an d others , watching the

.skies to double-check them.

And so the Bolivian mystery l ingers . --WTZ, with BeS.


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Page 16 August 19'18 JUST CAUSE

NICAP TARGET FOR KGB OPERATIONS - - CAUS has developed reliable information that a

KGB officer or agent thought to be Gennadiy I . Fedosov, Firs t Secretar,y for Public

Cultural Exchanges. Soviet Embassy offices, Washington, D.C., attempted to recrui t

NICAP President John L. "Jacka Acuff in May 197'7. The purpose of the operation i s

no t clear at present: One theory i s that the Soviets noticed NICAP had developed

confidential sources who were providing th e group with classified UFO reports,

such as th e NORAD message about the 19'75 nap and th e Iranian, Moroccan, and Tunis

ia n UFO reports of 1976--parts of which were published in the NICAP newsletter,

UFO Investigator. In that case, th e Soviets either were interested in the sources

of the classified data or in theUFO

data, or both.

Another theory contends NICAP was targeted because of certain covert CIA

employees who hold or held important positions in th e organization. St i l l another

theory explains the attempted recruitment as a continuation of the KGB operations...

aimed at th e Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers (SPSE) from 196'7 to

19'70, when Jack Acuff was i t s Executive Director.

The KGB operations against SPSE began rather innocuously: The Soviets

ordered books about--presumably--photometry and photogrammetry from SPSE, sending

checks fo r them through th e mail. The FBI intercepted the checks and/or monitored

the bank accounts, then phoned Acuff to inquire as to their purpose. From then

on, Acuff made a point of notifYing one particular FBI agent whenever Soviet

checks came in . Eventually, Acuff s relationship with the Bureau reached th e

point where he would meet Soviet personnel at the secret request and guidance of

the FBI. The Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC) of the Washington FBI office told

Acuff he thought the KGB was trying to "get through to some of th e people who are

doing classified work a in the SPSE.

In May 19'70, Acuff became President of NICAP, and l e f t SPSE. This made no


17/20


difference to the FBI, but i t did to Acuff: The FBI asked him to i n i t i a t e new

contacts with the Soviets , but Acuff declined. Apparently, there was no fur ther

communication with the Soviets u n t i l Mq 1977, when Fedosov phoned Acuff to t r y to

arrange a meeting. Fedosov said he was in teres ted ' in UFOs personally and he

wanted to discuss the subject with Acuff.

The NICAP head cleared the meeting with the FBI and met Fedosov for lunch

in a downtown Washington res taraunt . The Soviet never once mentioned UFOs,

despite h is e a r l i e r professed i n t e res t . Instead, Fedosov made a ra ther intr iguing

offer to Acuff, one t ha t could be in terpre ted as par t of a cu l tu ra l exchange, or

as par t of something more ominous: "You wi l l have a l o t more money soon. You'l l

have a l o t more space. You're going to have to learn a foreign language because

you ' l l be t raveling abroad."

Afterward, Acuff dut i fu l ly reported the Soviet offer to the FBI. The

agent to ld Acuff, "We think they wi l l offer you moneYi what we want to know i s

what the str ings are." Evidently. Acuff never did learn what were the "s t r ings ,"

since Fedosov never contacted Acuff again, as fa r as CAUS ca n determine. The

Soviets did attempt to recontact Acuff in l a t e July or August 1978, when another

KG B off icer or agent came to NICAP headquarters in Kensington, Md., but Acuff was

out of the office a t the time.

Though the reasons for the KGB i n t e res t in NICAP are not yet clear, i t i s

known t ha t the founder and or ig inal Chief of the CIA's Psychological and Pol i t i ca l

Warfare Staff , Colonel Joseph Bryan, Jrd, (USAF-Ret.), i s a prominent member of

the NICAP Board of Govemors. (JUST CAUSE, April 1978, pp . 8-9 . ) Some observers

suspect the CIA's i n t e res t in NICAP stemmed trom the Agency's concem about the

dangers of Soviet psychological exploitat ion of NICAP's vociferous charges of

govemment coverup, which Donald Keyhoe and others hurled repeatedly throughout


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Page 18 August 19'78 JUST CAUSE

the l a te 1950s and early/mid 1960s. Whether or not Bryan's involvement with NICAP

was re la ted to th i s CIA concern, and whether or not he took par t in some so r t of -

plot to neutral ize the organization, i s not yet known. Butf'more information i s

Boming to l ight a l l the time, with 19'78 being the most f rui tul . year of a l l since

Brad Sparks discovery of the Bryan-CIA connection in December 19'74. More may be

revealed when documents are released by the CIA. --WTZ.

SUBPENAS FOR CRASHED SAUCER WITNESSES: CAUS PLANS FOIA SUIT AGAINST AIR FORCE ET AL.

Much ha s been said about so-called crashed saucers in recent months (and

during the past 29 years) , but not much construct ive action ha s been taken, other

than making charges and etaging news conferences. Todd Zechel, Director of CAUS,..

ha s investigated a dozen or so such cases and ha s found only one t ha t seems to

have substance.

In tha t case, Zechel obtained the f i r s t lead while working in a National

Securi y Agency communications center in 1964. He ha s since tracked down f ivepeople who have knowledge of the incident: A former NSA colleague, two of h is

colleague's uncles (one a r e t i r ed Air Force Colonel and the other an NC O s t i l l

with NSA) , a r e t i r ed Ai r Force Lt. Colonel, and a now-deceased career Navy off icer.

All of the people involved are re luc tant witnesses, as one might expect.

But in piecing together what they have to ld Zechel and t he i r fr iends and re la t ives ,

i t ha s become evident that some so r t o f extraordinary vehicle crashed near the

Texas-Mexico border in the l a te 1940s and i t was recovered by U. S. armed forces.

More recently, Zechel t r i e d to bring th i s evidence to the a t tent ion of the

Whi te House and NASA. The President s national securi ty advisor, through a n o t h e ~

Whi t e House off ic ia l , informed Zechel that the Air Force denied any such incident

,


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". '",

ii> JUST CAUSE August 1978 Page 19

took place. Although NASA repeatedly asserted i t s willingness to invest igate UFO

physical evidence, i t offered no encouragement to Zeche1 t ha t i t would e i ther

meet with the off icers or invest igate the i r claims. NASA evinced no in te res t in

actively seeking out physical evidence o f ext ra te r res t r ia l vis i t a t ion (seeminglyi t s pr imary mission i f one believes i t s own s t a t e m e n t ~ . ) ,but said i t would consider

such e v i ~ e n c ei f delivered to i t s laborator ies . (Should there be more than a few

tons, transporting this to NASA could become a problem.)

Zeche1 submitted detailed FOIA r e q u ~ s t sto the CIA and Air Force on July 13

and 14, 1978, asking for records of the incident . CIA did not deny i t has such

information categorically, but i t suggested Zeche1 contact the Air Force as th i s

type of incident would come under i t s purview. Col. Jack Morris, executive for,

Ai r Force Inte l l igence (AFIN) and' director -of AFIN Command Management Support,

replied on Aug. 17. Morris denied AFIN had any records re la ted to such an inc i -

dent.

While waiting for other Air Force uni ts to respond to h is elaborate July

14 request, Zeche1 f i led an FOIA appeal with AFIN on Sep. 7, threatening to f i l e

an FOIA lawsuit i t the Air Force does not produce the records demanded. The Air

Force now has 20 working days to respond to the appeal , a l t e r which Zeche1 i s

free to f i l e sui t - -unless the Air Forces supPlies the documents.

CAUS would l ike to ra i se a reta iner fe e of $5,000 to ~ r s u ethe FOIA action

against the Air Force. Legal fees and expenses for the GSW su i t have thus fa r

come to nearly $8,000, but Peter Gersten has been forced to do most of the work

on his own time, ra ther than during company hours, because GSW lacks funds to pay

the ent i re amount. A retainer of $5,000 would accelerate the 1 i t i g a t i o ~b,y allow

in g Gersten to devote most of h is company time to the FOIA su i t s .

I t i s essent ia l to note tha t both GSW and CAUS expect to be reimbursed by


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Page 20 August 1978 JUST CAUSE .....

the U.S. Government for their legal costs. in accordance with subsection (4)(E) of

the FOIA: "The court ~ assess against the United States reasonable attorney

fees and other l i t igat ion costs reasonably incurred in any case under this section

in which the complainant has s u b s t ~ t i a l l yprevailed. n GSW. soon to win the re

lease of a large number of UFO-related documents. will submit that i t has pre-

vailed substantially and ask for an assessment.

In an action unprecedented i n the history of th e UFO controversy. CAUS in-

tends to subpena a l l of th e military officers who know of the recovery of an

extraterres t r ia l vehicle and a n u m b e ~of government off ic ia ls thought to have

knowledge of th e incident. By compelling off ic ia ls to tes t i fy. CAUS hopes to,either prove or disprove the occurrence of such an event. to l ~ th e crashed

saucer rumors to res t in one w ~ or another.

The CAUS sui t depends on th e support of the UFOlogical community and th e

general public. Many people have been looking forward to an opportunity such as

this to discover "the truth" fo r a Tery long t i ~ e . We hope the UFOlogical communi-, ,,ty will realize this i s a unique chance to see mf physical evidence exis ts .

Judging from the reaction to the recent MUFON Symposium. many thousands of people

believe in such a possibi l i ty. I f these UFOlogists and UFO buffs would each con-

t r ibute a small donation. we could col lect the needed sum in short order.

The goal i s $5.000 by the end of October. I t i s a "put your money where

your, mouth is" challenge. I f you decide to meet th e challenge. please make

checks payable to Peter Gersten/CAUS. 191 E. 161st St . Bronx. NY 10451. Please

specify the money i s for the FOIA retainer. I f the sui t i s no t f i led for an y

reason within the next six months. your donation wil l be returned to you. unless

you indicate otherwise. --WTZ.

In This Issue .CIA Finds 1.000 Pages of UFO Documents: 1FBI Interrogates UFO Researcher: 4

Bolivian Documents Released byState Department: 8

NICAP Target for KGB Operations: 16