Air Force Reports On The Roswell UFO Incident - The 1997 Air Force Report: Addressing Alien Accounts

The 1997 Air Force Report: Addressing Alien Accounts

Just days before the 50th anniversary of the incident, the Air Force released a follow-up report to the 1994 one called “The Roswell Report: Case Closed.” Despite the finality suggested in the report’s title, when then asked whether this would put the controversy to rest Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said: “of course not.” While his assessment has proved to be true, the report nevertheless laid out in great detail how the Air Force felt alien accounts likely arose, and remains the final word on the subject from the Air Force’s point of view. It also forms the basis, along with the previous report, for the skeptical response to the Roswell UFO incident.

It concluded that UFO researchers had failed to establish accurate dates for their reports of aliens and had erroneously linked these reports to the Project Mogul debris recovery (which the Air Force identified previously as being the source of the Foster ranch debris). (p. 2) Convoluted scenarios linked the various crash sites to the events at the Foster ranch and dates were fixed so as to coincide with the reported events, thus establishing a time frame and adding credibility to the alien claims. (p. 12) It further concluded that alien accounts were likely descriptions of publicized military achievements and descriptions of incidents involving injured or killed military personnel. (ibid p. 2)

These conclusions were greeted with incredulous responses from many, but a careful reading of the report, especially interview transcripts, revealed that in fact many of the UFO authors had ignored or omitted the prosaic explanations given by many of the witnesses themselves, as well as the witnesses’ oft-stated vagueness as to when the events they were recalling actually took place.