In relation to the question I have posed at the top of this article, it’s not as easy as you might think. The biggest problem is that apart from a one-page FBI document on the Roswell case from 1947, there is nothing else to be seen or found in government archives. No documents. No files. No dossiers at the National Archives that we can read. Nothing. There are only (a) the memories of the families of the people who were at the site and at the time, and (b) the words of the very few who are still alive, and (c) the handful of military personnel who are just about hanging on. Despite several investigations into the Roswell affair in the 1990s (two by the U.S. Air Force and one by what used to be called the General Accounting Office, and what is now titled the Government Accountability Office), nothing appeared of substance. Just about everyone who has an interest in UFOs will know that back in the summer of 1947, something crashed to Earth outside of Roswell, New Mexico. The object was first described as a “Flying Disk,” and a day after that as nothing stranger than a weather-balloon. And that’s where things stopped and were largely forgotten until Bill Moore and Stan Friedman resurrected the mysterious affair in the mid-1970s. And, although a great deal of testimony is now on file, we still haven’t found a single, solid piece of anything; whether photos of dead bodies, old files or…well…anything.
Now, many might say that the reason why we haven’t been able to penetrate the secret of Roswell is because the U.S. Air Force has it all hidden away. However, I don’t believe that, at all. You’ll see what I mean by that. When, in the 1990s, the Air Force began to take a new look at Roswell, it worded its reports very carefully. I’ll explain that. Despite what many UFO researchers have said, the Air Force never stated that the answer to Roswell was a Top Secret, huge “Mogul” balloon designed to monitor for Russian atomic bomb-tests. What the Air Force actually said was that they suspected that the “Mogul” theory was probably the correct picture. It was very much the same when, in 1997, (the 50th anniversary of the incident), the Air Force brought out its “crash-test dummy” report that suggested that the “alien bodies” found not too far from Roswell in ’47 were really nothing but mannequins used in high-altitude flights. It’s important to note that the Air Force never said that the crash-test dummy theory was the answer. Rather, the Air Force said, the “dummy” angle was the likely answer. In other words, the Air Force came up with two theories. And that’s what they were: theories. But, not hard facts. Even the Air Force admitted that.
(Nick Redfern) Crash-Test Dummies at Roswell? No.
If you read those two, aforementioned Air Force reports – along with the GAO report – and you read them carefully, you’ll see that the Air Force made it clear (albeit briefly) that there was no hard evidence to prove that the Mogul and dummy theories provided definitive answers. Now, some Ufologists might say that the Air Force was lying when they reeled out their 1990s-era reports; that the Air Force was hiding the alien truth. But, I don’t think the Air Force was lying. Not even in the slightest. In my opinion, the Air Force of the 1990s was completely out of the loop of Roswell. As was the GAO team. It may sound strange to suggest that the U.S. Force of the 1990s was not given access to the real story, whatever it was/is. But, such a thing is quite plausible. And, it all revolves around the issue of what are known in the U.S. government as Special Access Programs. Or, SAPs. It is within the domain of SAPs that secrecy so often resides. And, it’s highly likely that the truth of Roswell is hidden deep within the heart of a SAP that has overseen the Roswell puzzle for decades. In essence, Special Access Programs are highly classified projects that are buried so deeply that not even the U.S. Congress knows much about them – if, indeed, anything at all. There is another important issue to note when it comes to Special Access Programs: just because a person may have a Top Secret clearance, it does not mean that he or she automatically has the “magic key” that opens just about every door in government, every secure facility, and every well-guarded underground bunker. In fact, quite the opposite is the case. On the matter of Special Access Programs, the concept of “need to know” is as significant as one’s level of security clearance.
(Nick Redfern) Out at the Roswell Crash Site
Let’s say that, purely hypothetically, there is still a secret Special Access Program that is sitting on the smoking-gun that would reveal the full story of the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. “John Smith” and “Bill Jones” may both have Top Secret clearances. Smith is tasked with hiding the truth of the death of the president. Jones, however, is an expert in North Korea’s plans to develop and deploy nuclear weapons. There would be no need for Jones to have access to the JFK-themed Special Access Program because it has no bearing on his work and expertise in the field of North Korea’s military. That both men have identical security clearances has no bearing, at all, when it comes to SAPs. In fact, it is wholly irrelevant. It all comes down to what a person needs to know to do their job, or, more specifically, what they don’t need to know. That is the way in which secrets are kept. In other words, the control that oversees what we can know, and what we can’t be told, doesn’t just apply to the public and the media. It also applies to the government itself.
In conclusion, and incredibly, what all of this means is that, just like us in the UFO research field, the U.S. Air Force has been denied access to the history, to the files, to the documents, to the photos, to the recovered whatever-it-was that crashed, and to the remains of the bodies. And, as a result, the Air Force – denied from being briefed on the real story and not given any access to the “Roswell Special Access Program”- did its very best by coming up with the Mogul and crash-dummy scenarios.