In 1990, at a confab of siblings in Port Charlotte, FL, my Air Force veteran brother Jerry provided the following FOIA -released memo from Gen. Nathan Twining. This was formally issued in the wake of the Roswell (New Mexico) and other UFO sightings:
- 23 September, 1947
Concerning Flying Discs
To:
Commanding General
Army Air Forces
Washington 25, D.C.
ATTENTION: Brig. Gen. George Schulgen
AC/AS-2
1. As requested by AC/AS-2 there is presented below the considered opinion of this Command concerning the so-called ‘Flying Discs’. This opinion is based on interrogation data report data furnished by AC-AS-2 and preliminary studies by personnel of T-2 and Aircraft Laboratory, Engineering Division, T-3. This opinion was arrived at in a conference between personnel from the Air Institute of Technology, Intelligence T-2. Office of Engineering Division, and the Aircraft, Power Plant and Propellor Laboratories of Engineering Division T3.
2. It is the opinion that:
(a) The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.
(b) There are objects probably approximately the shape of a disc, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as man-made aircraft.
(c) There is a possibility that some of the incidents may be caused by natural phenomena, such as meteors.
The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, maneuverability (particularly in roll) and action which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar, lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled either manually, automatically or remotely
(d) The apparent description of the objects is as follows:
(1) Metallic or light reflecting surface
(2)Absence of trail except in a few instances when object was operating under high performance conditions
(3) Circular or elliptical in shape, flat on bottom and domed on top.
(4) Several reports of well-kept formation flights varying from three to nine objects.
(5) Normally, no associated sound except in three instances a substantial rumbling roar was noted.
On citing and showing this document to me and Janice, Jerry declared it revealed Gen. Nathan Twining's sheer audacity (and honesty), in dispatching it to Brig. Gen. Schulgen. It also reflected the pervasive urgency in the military within 2 1/2 months of the Roswell crash. To wit, our defense structure had been caught flat-footed and this unpreparedness could not happen again.
Jerry was adamant in asserting that within the Twining memo lay the foundation for Project Sign and its principal conclusion that the discs (sighted in 1947-48) were indeed real and likely of extraterrestrial origin. In the 2024 report released by AARO, we read this on page 14 under 'Project Sign':
"Project SIGN determined that nearly all were caused by either misinterpretation of known objects, hysteria, hallucination, or hoax. It also recommended continued military intelligence control over the investigation of all sightings. It did not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena.”
This is important given it's the one thing the Sean Kirkpatrick-led AARO got right, i.e. in admitting Project Sign did not rule out extraterrestrial phenomena, including the flying discs cited in the Twining memo. (See previous post on how the Pentagon tried to use fake UFO images to mislead the public, then tried to cover it up - as reported in a new WSJ article).
The related subject of over classification of UFO files also came up and obviously, is what made resort to FOIA requests so necessary. Jerry reminded us that the Freedom of Information Act (5 USC -552) took effect on July 4, 1974 and ushered in the promise of "finally releasing the logjam" of previously hidden UFO reports. This led to Jerry going over the most critical (to him) history in the immediate aftermath of the FOIA's passage.
The first breakthrough arrived in December, 1977, when two citizen groups (GSW, CAUS) - under the leadership of one Brad Sparks- succeeded in getting a court order from a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C. to compel the CIA to undertake a background file search of all UFO files. By July, 1978, Jerry noted, "some 10,000 pages were located, but only 900 pages were eventually released" to the two groups. At the same time, the CIA refused to release "fifty -seven related UFO documents."
Jerry asked rhetorically: "Why the fuck not?" Neither me, Janice, Mike or his wife Gerri, or Jerry's wife Elaine, had any answers. But Jerry did and he wasn't hesitant:
"I'll tell you why. The Air Force intended to re-engineer downed saucer parts - such as recovered at Roswell- and develop new, more powerful weapons."
Jerry elaborated that in such a case keeping the recovered craft findings secret would have been paramount. There could not be any advantage given to the "other side" by knowing about it.
If alive today, I am 100 percent certain he'd agree that this is also the primary driver behind debunking and rejecting all the most significant UFO-UAP incidents today. And that would include seizing critical evidence - such as the radar tape in the Nimitz 2004 incident, as well as the videos from the cockpit of former Lt. Cmdr. David Fravor.
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