Note: May 1, 2017: My new book is now available for sale at Amazon.com.

Note: Feb 2017: For the last six years I have been writing a book titled "It Never Happened," which will be published in May 2017. You can view an announcement and promotion of the book at EdgarRock Publishing.com.

Note: May 2013: On April 30, 2013, I participated in the Citizens Hearing on Disclosure at the National Press Club in Washington DC, and testified before six former members of Congress. My comments on that can be seen here. A transcript of my testimony can be seen here, and a video of my testimony can be seen here. - David Schindele

It's a Small World

It's a small world when you consider the solor system, stars and galaxies, and the universe (and UFOs).

(Copyright 2005 - 2017, by David Schindele, Captain, USAF Retired)

My wife Diana and I have a great interest in astronomy and we often gaze into the heavens with awe and wonder at what we see. We have both taken college courses in astronomy, which served to increase our interest. When we take out our 6-inch reflector telescope, we can see the several moons of Jupiter, the many craters of Earth's Moon, the rings of Saturn, the nebula of Orion, and many other special wonders of our Solar System and the Universe. When we get involved with this sky watching, we cannot help but marvel at the immensity of what we see and we are overwhelmed with the contemplation of our existence on this small planet of ours.

For me especially, it even goes a bit further than this, although there has been some hesitancy or reluctance on my part to discuss or expound further on what that is. It is the same with many other people who have found themselves in a similar situation; many who are professional and very reputable people, and some who have had (or currently have) sensitive government jobs. They either do not want to be thought of as being "kooks" or slightly "off base", or they fear some sort of retribution because they have actually been told to keep quiet about what they have seen or experienced. When you have been told by your superior or by those with authority over you, or by a security branch of the government that "from now on, you will not talk about this again" or "from now on, it never happened", and then you sign a document to that effect, it sends a powerful message. Now, you are probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.

From early on, I was always interested in the Physical Sciences. In fact, I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science degree in that field. My courses were in physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and others including statistics and astronomy. After obtaining my degree, I regretted that I didn't take more courses that were related closer to my area of specific interest, which included aeronautics, rockets, and manned space flight. These courses, however, were not offered at the university I attended. My attention was focused now on the fact that NASA had a plan to put a man on the moon and I wanted to be a part of that and be connected with the aerospace industry in some way.

When faced with military service after college, the Air Force was the choice for me. After then receiving a commission as an Air Force Officer, and after many months of training, I became a Launch Control Officer in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) with the Atlas E and Minuteman I Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) systems. Of course I had to possess technical abilities, fit into the proper psychological profile, and have the necessary security credentials. Later, with the rank of Captain, and as a crew commander and instructor with the Minuteman I missile system (with a rating of "highly qualified"), I felt very privileged to be involved in my area of interest, having become intimately familiar with the specific aspects of the nuclear capability that I was entrusted with. I was given access to top secret material, I participated in on-site security and control of nuclear weapon systems, and I had a great respect for the position I was placed in. The job involved frequent review, training, and testing on procedures; required stringent perfection in performance, and it required constant attention to regulations and procedures. And, it was something I was quite happy with.

After four and a half years of this, and knowing that I would soon be transferred elsewhere (to a remote assignment), I started to look for another way to further extend my career in the missile and space business. I then traveled to places such as Washington DC and Cape Canaveral for job interviews with various firms. I remember one interview where the job was so super secret that they could not tell me what the job entailed, but they wanted to meet me to see if I would fit into their qualifications. I soon received a job offer from Hamilton Standard in Connecticut, a division of United Technologies, with the job title of Senior Experimental Engineer. I accepted that job and then left the Air Force.

When I arrived at Hamilton Standard, I was put to work on a project to provide "environmental systems" for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL system) that was being contracted by the US Air Force. I sat at a desk and worked as a project engineer supervising the design, manufacture, and testing of space hardware. This system included a Gemini Spacecraft mated with a laboratory that would enable the Air Force to have a presence in space. There had already been many Air Force personnel picked to man this vehicle, and there were two nominees that had come from my missile Wing in the Air Force. After a few months of working on this, an announcement by President Nixon then cancelled the project on June 10th, 1969.

I was subsequently put to work on making final adjustments to the Portable Life Support Systems (PLSS, or astronaut backpacks) for NASA astronauts who were to walk on the moon. This work was truly exciting; astronauts would come to our facility to try on space suits made by the company (I saw the space suits worn by Armstrong and Aldrin) and then they would exercise with the back packs on a treadmill in a vacuum chamber. When these astronauts then landed on the moon on July 20th, 1969, then walked on the moon, and then left the pack backs on the moon surface (with my fingerprints on them), it provided real satisfaction. My dream of participating in the national effort to put man on the moon had come true.

But now, I have got a little ahead of myself and I have passed up the real object of what this is all about, although I've now provided some information on my previous interests and experience. Perhaps you may be thinking that I will be suggesting that I have seen flying saucers, or that I have seen alien creatures from outer space. Well, I will not tell you that. But, I will tell you that when I was in the Air Force stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota in 1966, I became aware of an "out of this world situation" in my job as a Minuteman ICBM Launch Control Officer. This was a "situation" that requires a lot more explanation than what was provided in the short news reports by local media.

To digress just a bit, Minot Air Force Base is one of several bases in the United States which supports a Wing of 150 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. When I was there, the missiles of the 455th Strategic Missile Wing were designated as Minuteman I missiles, but they were subsequently upgraded to the Minuteman III. These nuclear tipped missiles, spread over an 8,500 square mile area, are positioned in a semi circle clockwise from southeast of the town of Minot to northeast of the town and are assigned to three Squadrons, the 740th, 741st, and 742nd. Each Squadron is divided onto five Flights with each flight assigned to the control of 10 missiles. A Flight is named with a letter of the alphabet that begins with Alpha Flight (in the southeast) to Oscar Flight (in the northeast). The Squadron to which I belonged, the 742nd, consisted of the Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, and Oscar Flights. I was normally assigned to Mike Flight (the Squadron Command Post), but I periodically performed duty at the other Flights in the Squadron and occasionally at other Flights in the Wing. The physical location of a Flight includes a topside Launch Control Facility (LCF) building and a Launch Control Center (LCC) 60 feet below ground with its connected missiles located from 4.5 to 15 miles away. The underground LCC contains the Launch Control Console and associated equipment where a two man officer crew maintains the security and the readiness to launch their 10 missiles with an appropriate order. When I was there, the topside LCF housed two teams of three security personnel with one airman from each team designated as a Flight Security Controller (FSC) and the other two as part of a strike team that would investigate missile site security violations. Other personnel at the LCF were a Facilities Manager (Site Manager) and a Facility Chef.

Instead of living on base, the Air Force had given me special permission to live in town (Minot, North Dakota), which was about 13.5 miles away from the base. On this one particular day, I awoke early in the morning to get ready for work, and as usual I had the TV on and was watching the local news while having breakfast. I then overheard the news announcer mention that residents of Mohall, North Dakota had witnessed strange lights near their town during the night which was attributed to a UFO. This really caught my attention because I was scheduled for duty at November Flight, which was only about 3 miles west of this town. After finishing breakfast and dressing in my distinctive white coveralls, the special uniform for missileers, I got in my car, a 1965 Pontiac Lemans, and headed for base to report at 8:45am for the Crew Pre-departure Briefing at 9:00am. I passed through the main gate of the base, after receiving my customary salute, and headed for the opposite end of the base to Wing Headquarters.

At the pre-departure crew briefing, where all 15 missile crews were gathered before departing for their assigned Launch Control Centers, we were given our usual briefing, which included necessary details on Wing and Squadron protocol and procedures, details on current world events with intelligence information, and details on current Flight and missile status for the Wing. When missile status was addressed, we were told that the crew at November Flight had experienced some unusual circumstances where some missiles came "off alert". This general statement was made without undue detail, but there was a suggestion that some unexplained and mysterious situation was connected with this. Normally, it was unusual to have even one missile off alert for some reason, but to have several missiles off alert in one Flight was unheard of. I then recalled the TV news report from that morning and I immediately linked this with what I heard in the crew briefing. As my crew commander and I traveled to the Launch Control Facility, about 37.5 miles from base, we were anxious and curious as to what we would discover upon arriving.

The normal procedure upon arriving at the Launch Control Facility was for us to first inspect the facility and to also debrief "topside" personnel. While inspecting the facility, I talked with the topside Site Manager who detailed to me his unique and bewildering experience of that evening. His account of what he observed and saw in the early morning hours was so startling to me that it is something that I'll never forget. This is when I became involved with the "situation". After then talking with several of the security people there, who confirmed what the Site Manager had told me, my commander and I proceeded down the elevator to the Launch Control Center to relieve the two officer crew in their capsule 60 feet below the surface. I listened intently as they described the serious and wild events that occurred on their duty watch. I can still recall the feeling of awe and wonder, the concern of the situation, and the feeling of helplessness that the crew and all those people topside had experienced. The one thing that I need to mention here is that most of us Launch Officers knew that there would be attempts by headquarters to periodically penetrate missile launch facilities in order to find weaknesses in security and in the vulnerability of our nuclear weapon systems. But, in no way could we fathom that they would be using Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) to accomplish their mission.

So there you have it; I've finally spoken out about something that has bothered me for about 40 years. I was told not to reveal anything about the "situation" that I had become aware of, to never speak of it again, and told that as far as I was concerned "it never happened". I was never informed about why I was to keep quiet, or what the security level of the incident was, even though I had a Top Secret Crypto clearance. The directive to me had the nature of an order, and in the military you are supposed to follow orders. As disturbing as the directive was, from that point on there was no further discussion or mention of this situation between my commander and I or with anyone else. This was the requirement, and it was the one major thing which in retrospect has put great suspicion on the Air Force and certain components of the government.

The most troubling aspect to all this is that we were all left with a confusing gap involving required perfection in performance of our duties. In all our previous training, the following of checklists, procedures, and protocols, along with constant review of our ability to perform our job in all kinds of various simulations, none of us were ever instructed as to how we were to react with this kind of situation in the future. Normally, any irregular situation or technicality was followed up by additional questioning, then some feedback, and then a briefing or some sort of retraining. But in this case, we were all left in limbo and left on our own to conjure in our minds how other similar situations might unfold and be handled. This serious lack of follow through by the Air Force was befuddling and it served to keep this situation on our minds.

During all these many years of keeping it all to myself, but then having periodic flash back memories, I have kept wondering exactly why I and everyone involved with this was told to keep silent. Was this truly a unique situation that I had to live with and never divulge for the rest of my life? Was I never to get some answers or an explanation? Or, maybe there really was something more to all this and that I had fallen into something quite unbelievable and quite disturbing if made known to the public. Perhaps there were national security implications? What did it all mean?

What I have discovered now in the last few years, after much research, is that this experience of mine and this "situation" was not unique! There are several other Air Force officers and airmen who have experienced very similar situations, particularly at nuclear weapons facilities, who have collectively and together experienced the same thing at the same time together. And, many of them have now stepped forward in the last few years to reveal their experiences. One of them in particular is Robert Salas (see video at right) who experienced a situation in March of 1967 at his Launch Control Center that was connected with Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. I could hardly believe it when I first saw his account and how similar his situation was to that relayed to me by the crew and personnel that I relieved at November Flight. Until I heard the account by Robert Salas, I had previously not known of any other incident and thought that the "situation" I was aware of was totally unique. To me, his account was a real "eye opener". It was an "Oh My God" moment for me that was as startling as when I had first learned of the "situation" many years ago at November Flight. But interestingly, it actually gave me some real relief to know that I was not alone with my memory. But more than that, it also gave me great cause to examine a new reality, to contemplate the meaning of it all, and to try and understand the implications. It was a turnaround for me; after having been a complete skeptic in the earlier part of my life, and later being filled with wonder about a mysterious event that I had become involved with, I now had confirming information about that which I previously had much difficulty in getting my mind to accept. Now, I was faced with no other choice but to completely change my perspective toward a new realization. My mind was set free, but now I was feeling the urge to find the conviction and courage to speak out about my experience.

In all of the cases where these people have now stepped forward, they were all told after the incidents to keep quiet and that "it never happened". The Air Force effectively squelched their own people from revealing facts to the public during the time of the incidents, and now after the passing of many years, some of those people, including myself, have decided to speak out, although it is now done with memory from the distant past. Memory was purposely put on the "back burner" because we were ordered to do so, and we went on with our lives as usual because it was the prudent thing to do. No mention was made to wives, or to friends, or to anybody, and nothing was written down because that is the way it was when you had a security clearance or specific orders. Now, when attempting to recall detailed specifics, it can be a daunting task and can be quite difficult when you want to be perfectly accurate in what you say. Never the less, those particular memories that made a hard impression on the mind do remain.

It is definitely true that there is an infinite amount of fake, false, and unreliable reports on UFO "situations" that have been reported by egotistical, malicious, and crazy people, or just by ordinary people who have been fooled by circumstance. But, when you actually choose to undertake a personal study and look at the magnitude of information that is out there from very reputable people, it is very hard to ignore the fact that something must be going on and that it appears to be quite alien. It is alien because there is no other way to describe or explain these "situations" that have been ignored by the politicians, ignored by the scientific community, and given very little credit or mention by the media. In my experience, it is alien because there was definitely some unknown exotic object involved that was guided and controlled by some unknown sort of intelligence, which seriously compromised many of our nuclear tipped ICBM missiles. Such a situation would normally have been considered a national security issue if not for what I now consider an Air Force cover-up.

From my point of view, you would think that the US Air Force or some government agency would get seriously alarmed by "situations" such as I and others have experienced. They are "situations" that involve Air Force Officers of high integrity, who have been highly educated, who have passed rigorous security checks (been given high security clearances), who have been profiled psychologically and have been entrusted with the control, operation, and security of nuclear weapon systems. There are many of us former Air Force Officers who fall into this category and many who have collectively (not just individually) experienced the same "situations" at the same time together. To me, as one who has been involved in a "situation", it seems quite clear that the Air Force or some government agency would be extremely concerned about our nuclear weapons being compromised and that they would seriously put forth a concerted effort, with utmost priority, to resolve these happenings. But then again, perhaps they wouldn't. The fact that they've chosen to put a cloak around it all and then silence everyone involved (and continue to do so), leads one to conclude that they have actually known for quite some time the cause of all this and what is behind it. Their obvious lack of continued follow-up on these incidents and their specific instructions that "it never happened" gives credence to this. And, it really does demonstrate that they are actually in the know about UFOs and are intent on concealing and covering up that fact.

To further substantiate this, the first Central Intelligence Agency director, Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, who was appointed by President Harry Truman in May of 1947 just before the famous Roswell incident of July 1947, publicly voiced his concern thirteen years later in a February 1960 New York Times article when he stated the following: "It is time for the truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings ... behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFO's ... But, through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense ... to hide the facts, the Air Force has silenced its personnel." What is especially interesting here and quite revealing in regard to this comment from Hillenkoetter is that he was one of the primary confidants to President Truman on the crashed Roswell spaceship when Truman was personally informed of the details in September 1947, and he was one of the few people who were tasked at that time with managing the situation and carrying out a plan to cover-up everything involving UFOs. He evidently had a turnaround on his support of the cover-up, based on the New York Times article (although that can be debated), but now, fifty years later the cover-up still continues.

The Air Force continued to sufficiently demonstrate their cover-up with their grossly mismanaged Project Blue Book and the Condon Report (UFO investigations), and they continue to keep the public in the dark to this day. None of the incidents involving UFOs at Launch Control Centers were ever made known to these investigative agencies at the time because the Air Force immediatly supressed and classified all the information they had and they made sure it did not get into the hands of those investigators. Even the late Dr. Allen Hynek, a previously confirmed skeptic and former chief science advisor and investigator for the Air Force on Project Blue Book, characterized his involvement and the Air Force's Project Blue Book investigation as "a public relations ploy, with the main objective of debunking UFO sightings". When Hynek had a turnaround on the UFO matter and the Air Force closed down Project Blue Book in 1969, he formed his own highly regarded UFO research organization. In his later efforts to get the United Nations to recognize the importance of informing the public, he was quoted as saying to U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim the following: "... the time has come for official education of the public regarding UFOs. We now recognize that, apart from its potential scientific importance, it has sociological and political significance."

One thing that I have understood, which much of the public is not aware of or have never given much thought to, is that there is a security hierarchy in this country that is very well structured for its purposes. It is a cohesive but segmented and compartmentalized system that lends itself to manipulation by those located within the compartments and at the ends of its many branches. This is the way the system was purposely designed and the way it has grown in a natural and progressive way. As a result, and with the operating principal of "need to know" and "who do you trust", it has become something that has grown by transitioning itself apart from the political world, especially in the more obscure components of those branches. That is the only way it can operate effectively and truly be secure. Those in a high political office, or those with simply a Top Secret clearance without the need to know, have no idea (or any capability of knowing) what lies above and beyond, or lateral and below their position. With this perspective and with the understanding that there are a great many components that are compartmentalized based on the "need to know", it is not hard to understand where the decisions come from to keep society or political leaders in the dark on certain things that might be important to all of human kind. Our political leaders simply have no idea, and even if they did, they are not able to exercise any leverage to change it. When Barry Goldwater, a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (and a 1964 presidential contender with Lyndon Johnson, and a retired Command Pilot with the rank of Major General), asked if he could have access to a room at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base that reportedly contained UFO evidence, he was sternly rebuked (see video at right).

In effect, our security system has the capability of existing as a quasi government in those areas that have no political control, and those privileged few at the top of the system, at the end of its branches, are able to make certain decisions that enable them to control specific matters as they see fit. When President Clinton was once asked why he did not do something about "disclosure" in regard to the UFO matter, he said: "there is a government, inside the government, and I don't control it". Now, if that is actually the case, one must ask the question on how that quasi government fits into our Constitution? It sounds like a betrayal of our concept of democracy. In my opinion, based on the magnitude of the cover-up that is taking place with the American people, this situation is contrary to the American ideal of a democratic open society. In my opinion, to withhold information that could lead us to an altogether different perception about our existence in this world and the fact that we are not alone as an intelligent species is a moral offense against humankind. And then there is the aspect of withholding information involving the seeming incomprehensible technology possessed by other forms of intelligence, where disclosure of that information and its study could possibly transform our life and enable us to protect and conserve the world in which we live. To have certain compartmentalized and covert areas of the government solely in control of such terribly important information, without the knowledge or control of high political leadership, is a grave disservice to the American people.

You may wonder how the highest political offices are not able to know or control what should be under their authority. You would think that those in high places should still be able to exercise their authority to investigate, probe, and make the truth come out. The reason is simply because the security system will not allow this due to the fact that security clearances are provided on a compartmentalized "need to know" basis, which is entirely separate from a personnel reporting structure. That is the way it has been established and that is how it now exists in both the government and the corporate world. This is especially the case with "unacknowledged special access projects". Those who operate in a compartment of special access, with clearance based on the "need to know" for the job at hand, are the ones who determine who they trust, who will have access, and who will make certain decisions on what they do. That is why President Eisenhower warned long ago about the "military industrial complex" and the power that they could wield, separate from the political and social world. In some circles his warning was taken as an alarm that the "military industrial complex" is the evil creator of wars, but Eisenhower knew all too well that the support of the "military industrial complex" is totally necessary to win the wars that government leaders initiate. Others knew that his warning was intended to serve notice that the system of secrecy that is embedded in them and its inherent nature could circumvent the political process and sidestep our democratic system.

Ordinarily, it would be expected that those in the political and social world would be able to keep a check on those within the military and within industry, but this is not possible when there is no control by them of the existing security system. If the President, as Commander in Chief, or even his military Chiefs of Staff have no knowledge of covert and compartmentalized special access projects (black projects) because others have determined that they do not have a need to know, they then have no actual control. If they attempt to investigate and exert control, the security system that is in place will continue to deny their "need to know" and act to subvert their investigative efforts by the application of pressure in certain ways, or by leading them astray, or by hiding evidence. Perhaps you may be surprised by this, but the President of the United States does not have security access to a great many areas. Just like elected members of Congress, an elected President can be a security risk to the greatest secret of all time. Elected officials come and go and they are subjected to the political wind, and this affects their access to secured information. In our government, elected officials are quite unlike other career government officials, and it is those in high career positions who may be tasked with maintaining such secrets, especially in the intelligence community. No one, including the President is authorized to contradict a "need to know" determination within a compartment of special access, and this probably frustrated Eisenhower greatly, as well as every President since then, including President Clinton based on his above statement.

The general public is understandably very skeptical, and it is very easy for most people to ignore reports on UFOs and not give it a second thought. It's so easy to dismiss that it doesn't occur to most people to even contemplate the fact that many reputable people (such as ranking Air Force officers, astronauts, commercial pilots, doctors, policemen, highly educated rational people, and whole collections of people) have had actual experiences and encounters with "situations”. It would appear that the scientific community is also reluctant to get involved because the whole idea of addressing this is not acceptable to the enhancement of pure science, or of careers. In fact, I cannot totally blame lower echelons of the government or the Air Force per se because it is the careers of those close to the "situations" that seem to help in preventing continued or further investigation. No matter what level of responsibility or respectability people have obtained in their life, people are not willing to deal with what cannot be logically or rationally explained with available facts. It is just easier to push those things out of the way than to proceed with something that would seem strange and foolish in the eyes of others. That's just the way we deal with life and careers. In fact, it's hard to imagine that elected or appointed government officials at any level would want to pursue such a matter publicly, or that they would even want to be aware of "situations" that they might have to deal with. They, of all people, certainly do not want to appear foolish, especially when they would be subjected to ridicule from all the debunkers, detractors, and skeptics that would suddenly appear! This is where the security system that is in place has the "upper hand", because the system is able to rely on this fobia or limitation to keep secrets intact.

But then, there are also those people who choose to insist that there must be a conspiracy going on within the government with the purpose of protecting the public and our national interest. They suggest that the government will protect all facts and information about these "situations" at all costs, and this is where it gets a little scary for some of those reputable people. And, this is where the compartmentalized security hierarchy in this country, as discussed above, has been involved. Never the less, more and more of those highly reputable people are beginning to speak out and are coming forward. A famous few who have previously spoken out in the past are: Gordon Cooper (Mercury Astronaut), Edgar Mitchel (Apollo Astronaut), Jimmy Carter (US President), Richard Russell (US Senator), Dennis kucinich (US Congressman), Fife Symington (former Governor of Arizona), Walter Cronkite (CBS News reporter), and Paul Hellyer (former Canadian Defense Minister). Just Google their names along with "UFO" and you will see their stories.

And then, there are the scientists who seem to refuse to look at the matter (except to try to listen for alien signals from space). They point to Einstein's proven law of physics that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, and with the vast distances in the universe (measured in light years), aliens could not possibly get here in their life times or with the energy that would need to be expended. Of course, however, the scientists all agree that there must be many civilizations in the universe that are much more advanced than ours. When it is considered that there are infinitely more stars in the universe than all the grains of sand on the beaches and deserts of Earth, the mathematics here does not allow us to be unique. But, it seems as if the scientists of today are so honed into “today's science" and stuck in their paradigm of current reasoning, that they find it impossible to consider the "improbable". They need to find a way to shift their paradigm, or perhaps have an “out of this world experience” in order to change their thinking and take a purposeful look at a phenomenon that needs an in depth and serious scientific investigation. Granted, there are now a few individuals, including Steven Hawking, who have acknowledged the certainty of aliens in other worlds, and there are some who have acknowledged that the gravity-space-time continuum does provide options for creating "holes" for long distance space travel, but the general scientific community has been strikingly quiet on these prospects, or about the "situations" that collections of reputable people have experienced.

For me, I just wish someone could give me some straight answers about the "situation" I'm aware of. I do have additional information which I have not disclosed here, but much of my experience from long ago is a distant memory and the details and accuracy on some things would be difficult to substantiate without the release of official Air Force documents, or without those involved with my experience stepping forward with confirmation. I was previously told to keep quiet. I felt that it was my duty to obey and I took that seriously for some 40 years. I never took the order as a threat, although I do know that others in similar "situations" have indeed felt threatened. When people get to the point of being fearful of consequences in regard to talking about something that is strange and unexplainable, the prudent impulse for them is to remain ignorant or quiet. Also, as is true with some of those involved with my experience, some of them still depend on a government pension, and they cannot be blamed for hesitating to speak out or admitting that they know something. Now that I'm retired (with no government pension), it shouldn't bother me to move ahead and speak out further, especially now that others with similar experiences have done so. But, like I said, a long time has now passed and I now have trouble with accuracy on specific details. Not only that, I was never directly involved, but I did happen to be there just after it occurred and I did talk to those who were involved. Those who actually experienced the "situation" are the ones who need to come forward and provide details, and to do so without intimidation or fear of retribution. The hesitancy to speak out is understandable, as I can attest, but if one were to be "torpedoed" in some way by some compartmentalized agency of the government, it would only confirm that this was a subject about which the government wants to keep quiet. Rather than leave this kind of message, the government's best recourse is to somehow make those reputable people look like "kooks". But, that can be a difficult process when considering the distinguished careers that many of these reputable people have had. And, any discredit will backfire when all of us begin to relate our experiences and the media finally takes serious notice (which they should have done long ago).

Those people who have experienced a "situation", and who have been told to keep quiet, in contrast to those who have not had an experience but prefer to play a skeptic role, have been given no other choice or alternative but to come to a new realization of our place in the universe. For me, it is now quite annoying to look back at my previous beliefs on the UFO question and to also hear skeptics dismiss the subject outright without reservation or without some consideration. However, my curiosity and wondering about the "situation" that I was involved with will always remain with me. And, when I look out there toward the heavens and contemplate the immensity of the universe, I'm always reminded of the insignificant smallness of us and of our world, of our comparative micro history of human existence, of the fragility of our existence and our way of life, and of the great potential for the unexplainable to have answers from the outer reaches of space and time. I'm just not sure I'll be here when those answers are divulged and become known. And, if someday I disappear, or somehow I expire from this earth, I then hope others will continue to ask some very serious and very important questions that are of real concern to our future well-being and the future of our planet. To me, the disclosing of answers and removal of the UFO cover-up is imperative and could not be more critical to our perspective as a human species, to our survival, to our perceived place in the universe, and to our collective attitude of becoming a peace loving world society.

See links below for further information on the incident involving Robert Salas:

The Malmstrom Incident:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F08xJwA2qI&NR=1
Robert Salas Testifying Before National Press Club (Sep. 2010):	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmWp590TUAE
Robert Salas Testifying Before National Press Club (May 2001):	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlGDGEX4Ssc
Robert Salas Interviewed by Paola Harris:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtzwwVjbEs

 

 

 

 

See links below for further information provided by UFO researcher Robert Hastings:

Robert Hastings interview - Aug. 2, 2013:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOp7eU8RiC4
Robert Hastings interview on CNN - Sep. 29, 2010:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9KGv4Qka8

 

 

 

See links below for further information on "Disclosure":

UFO Disclosure Project - Full Version (at National Press Club):	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vyVe-6YdUk
Paul Hellyer - Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister / Defense Minister:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYjzilMNiTE
Gordon Cooper - Former Mercury and Gemini Astronaut:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvPR8T1o3Dc&feature=related
Dr Edgar Mitchell - Former Apollo 14 Astronaunt:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tKWElDHhY4