SUBJECT: USAF INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RELEASED DOCUMENT FILE: UFO2102
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CUFON Note: This file contains the text of a release letter and a document
released 14 March 1994 by the United States Air Force (USAF) Air Intelligence
Agency to Mr. Dale Goudie, Director of the UFO Reporting and Information
service and CUFON Information Director. The document is apparently the text
of a booklet produced by the magazine "Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya":
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RELEASABLE ONLY BY CONTROLLING ACTIVITY
Controlling Activity: Commander
National Air Intelligence Center
Wright-Patterson AFB
Document; AD B073127L
Title: UFO Identification
Personal Author; Lynev, R.
Report Date: 4 Mar 83
Originating Agency: Foreign Technology Division,
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
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The document is not actually dated within the text but the National Air
Intelligence Center document date is 1983. This is 14 years _after_ the USAF
says it got out of the UFO business when Project Bluebook closed in 1969.
No information about which agency collected the information or who translated
it into english is given. It is interesting to note that text of a public
(in the USSR) magazine article would be classified and remain restricted now,
11 years later... and be held by Foreign Technology Division, Wright-
Patterson Air Force base: the former home of Project Blue Book.
Please note that items in [ ] brackets seem to be translators explantory
notes. I suspect that the item which reads "[casus]" was intended to be
"[causes]". There are several mispellings, I have endevored to allow these
to remain as received.
- Jim Klotz CUFON SYSOP -
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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
AIR INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
14 March 1994
Mr. Dale Goudie
Dear Mr. Goudie
Attached is the document you requested in your letter dated
January 13, 1994, to the Defense Technical Information Center
(DTIC). DTIC forwarded your request to us on 28 Feb 1994, and
was received by us on 4 March 1994. You requested copies of
records relating to a subject which has been referred to by
many terms over the years as shown by the thousands of pages
of declassified released government documents. The most
common term is "Unidentified Flying Objects." Others, but not
all, are: "UFO's," "UFOBs," "unidentified aerial phenomena,"
"flying disks," "flying saucers," "unauthorized aerial
objects," "anomalous lights," "uncorrelated targets,"
"unidentified aircraft," and "fastwalkers."
DTIC conducted a search and found the attached document. Your
request was processed in the all others category. Fees were
waived due to the amount being less than $15.00.
Sincerely
/s/
JAMES E. MILLER, JR., Colonel, USAF
Commander
Attachment :
Releasable Document
"Freedom Through Vigilance"
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UFO IDENTIFICATION
Answers to the questions of our readers
Dear editorial staff.
On the 30 of June of this year your newspaper contained an article under
the heading "Where Do Flying Saucers Come From." In it the entire problem of
unidentified flying objects is reduced to a number of amusing incidents. I
do not share the enthusiastic certainty of those who believe that from time
to time beings from other planets come in contact with us. However, at the
same time, I am firmly convinced that a serious and devoted study of UFO's
can broaden the horizons of our knowledge of nature. What is the opinion of
scientists on this subject?
A. Khodyrev, Moscow.
There will be no sensations - I was convinced of that on my way to a
meeting with a doctor of chemical sciences, Professor M. Dmitriyev at the
Institute of general and Communal Hygiene im. A. N. Sysin. However, the
scientist chose to begin our conversation precisely with the sensation
pertaining to still the same NLO [UFO's] - unidentified flying objects. he
reached for a foreign magazine published in Russian language and showed me
the following report.
According to the story of a certain farmer, he was travelling through the
forest in his cart when he saw two individuals walking. They were not over a
meter and a half in height, dressed in narrow, black, tight-fitting overalls
resembling astronaut suits, and their faces and hands were green. The
striking feature of these individuals were their elongated eyes, which were
somewhat off to the sides of the face, and sharp cheekbones. They jumped
into the cart and after several dozen meters motioned the farmer to stop not
too far from a machine suspended
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above the ground and ordered him ( again by gestures) to undress. When he
had done this, they "examined" or "photographed" him with a certain camera,
which looked like two saucers. After that they motioned to him that he was
free to go.
Having returned home, the farmer told his relatives what happened to him,
but when the villagers arrived at the spot they saw only trampled grass,
prints of strange footware, and other signs which seemed to support that
someone was here indeed. At about the same time, at a distance of about 700
meters from this clearing, a six-year old boy, who was playing in the yard,
saw, as he told, a strange "airplane" flying very low to the ground with a
pilot, who had a green face.
The author of this report is a scientist. He writes that the eyewitnesses
were examined medically, even a psygalvanometer was used which is the "most
sensitive part of a lie detector." Conclusions? "... The possibility of
encounters with UFO's, no matter how strange they may seem, cannot be
discounted."
"What do you think about this?", asked the professor.
I shrugged my shoulders. Undoubtedly the reader would be interested much
more in what he thinks, a specialist, and not I. But since the question was
posed to me I replied that I have never considered, and do not consider, the
problem of "flying saucers" more important than all others. I consider the
passion shown to this subject and the stir created by the given "lectures" to
be interesting, first of all, as a purely psychological phenomenon. And, in
general, it is understandable. In the past people believed in a wood-goblin
[Russ. myth.], while today it is science fiction - and the scientists
themselves have conceived such "modern" hypotheses that to compare the fairy
tales about the wood-goblin is like comparing the hoe to a jet liner.
This science-fiction boom has left a noticeable mark in the consciousness
of some people. It is indeed this boom that produced quite a number of
interesting ideas, expanded the inner world of man, and gave a new meaning to
the world around us. But, alas, science fiction also has its own letdowns,
dead-ends, and repetitions. They are not drawn into literature and the
science does not accept them also. And so they, these myths of the UFO era,
get trapped in the consciousness instead of the previous wood-goblins. house
spirits, and saints -"a holy place is never empty" [a literal translation of
a proverb.
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Some of us let in the "new tenants" more readily, when those who conceived
them act, shall we say, in the spirit of the age - making their claims in the
name of science and attempt to interpret to intercept the mysteries, which
have not ben studied sufficiently yet by science.
Professor M. Dmitriyev is one of those who has introduced a stream of
health scepticism into the "saucer" problem. I found out about his theory
two years ago. the essence of his theory is in the fact that a number of
unusual phenomena, including ball lightning, "flying saucers," Petrozavodsk
phenomenon, the riddle of the "Bermuda Triangle," the mystery of the Tunguska
Explosion, and others, which were caused not by beings from other planets
visiting the Earth but by natural causes. Substances accumulate in the
various areas of the atmosphere which are capable of reacting with one
another; the onset and the course of these reactions can be affected by solar
rays, hard cosmic radiation, ordinary lightning, and aerosols.
Depending on the nature of the process taking place in them, these natural
formations (I would like to call them "reactors") can believe differently -
they can either hang motionless, or "pursue" an airplane, repeating all its
motions precisely, or, similar to landmines, perform abrupt jumps. this is
usually accompanied by the effect that is known to all - luminescence of the
substances that have entered the reaction
- chemiluminescence. If the energy in such formations is low, they may go
unnoticed by a person - only the radar screens will show unexpected flashes.
But the energy clusters can be enormous, and then this is frought with
catastrophes of the type that occurred at Tunguska.
Such is the theory, and it is supported by the experiments and
calculations in many respects. But still, there you are - another story
about green beings from other planets. Did the professor decide to play my
role?
"No," he said, "to show an example of how people depart from the urgent
problems to the pseudoproblems, to 'ufology'." (UFO - the initial letters of
the English equivalent of our NLO).
"In your opinion, what constitutes the urgency of the problem of
anomalous atmospheric phenomena?"
"First, the study of the mechanism of these phenomena is of great
scientific significance. Second, we the scientists are obligated to
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give recommendations concerning the means of protection ...."
"Protection?"
"Of course. Several years ago, for example, ball lightning got into
naphthalene storage at the Makeyevskiy by-product coke plant, resulting in a
considerable loss. the papers described a case, which was investigated by us
especially, when a group of mountain climbers was struck by a ball lightning.
There are known cases of cattle being injured. the usual lightning-
protection devices are ineffective in this case. Finally, we now have a
sufficient amount of data to start talking about the practical application of
this phenomenon in national economy."
"You don't say?"
"Yes. Frequently, the energy concentrated in certain anomalous
formations reaches 10^10 Joules. It can be uses quite efficiently for, let
us say, digging tunnels through mountains. Another area that shows promise
is in the obtaining of nitrogen compounds so badly needed for the production
of valuable fertilizers."
"In short, the problem is urgent indeed. But what about contacts with
other worlds? Is it realistic or not?"
"You see, I am not a supporter of the hypothesis that life on our Earth
is unique. But contacts with other worlds... Of the ten thousand (!) cases
studied by us over a period of twenty years, not one of them gave us grounds
to assert that someone has visited our planet."
"But how are we to deal with the green-faced beings described in the
article you gave to read? Even a lie detector was used...."
"The selection of an instrument depends on what one plans to
investigate," smiled professor. "Let us recall - haven't there been quite a
number of cases in the history of religion when the virgin or saints appeared
to people. I am convinced that anyone who had such a vision would have
confirmed its validity both by swearing and by a lie detector. We, however,
examine this material evidence in our laboratory left by the anomalous
phenomena on soil, water, in the air, and on the negatives. We have a number
of instruments for such investigations, both those built by us - we have the
certificates of invention - and other well-known devices; for example,
scintillating mass-spectrometer. On the basis of color, intensity, and
nature of luminescence we can determine what substances take part in a
reaction. We have
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learned to recreate and study certain events in the laboratory, if we cannot
observe them in nature. We go on the premise that a visit, even if it is just
by us, from other planets would certainly have given us if only insignificant
but a material piece of evidence - just a dust particle, just a short radio
signal. But so far, I repeat, there are no such pieces of evidence, while
those available to us have a totally different property. It is this evidence
that we are studying...."
The professor offered me another article to read. It was his article
written with other specialists and published in the Journal of Technical
Physics. It goes on to say:
"On the 24th of August of 1978, at 2320 hours, in the vicinity of the
Khasanovskaya Sreet in Khabarovsk, during a heavy downpour... all of a
sudden, people heard a sharp whistle that sounded like a jet engine that was
accompanied by loud cracking. It became light as day. Then a ball lightning,
bright orange in color, appeared over the movie theater "Zarya." It was
showering sparks. Then the ball began to descend, reached the ground through
the trees, flashed for an instant above a certain spot and then rose again.
there was a huge explosion, after which it became dark and quiet. The entire
process took about one minute. There were many eyewitnesses to this event.
Electrical wiring was out of commission over a distance of 100 m. Despite
the large amount of water on the ground and the downpour, the soil was
charred and melted over an area 1.5 m in diameter and 20-25 cm deep. The
total volume of the area filled with slag was 0.4 cubic meters...."
What follows were accurately recorded technical details - description of
the slag, dimensions of its lumps, their photographs, radiometry data, which
were verified at the NII of nuclear physics of the NGU [Moscow State
University]. However that is not all. The article goes on to say that this
phenomenon was repeated in the laboratory, the energy of the flash was
calculated, and the temperature estimated -it was hot enough to melt quartz.
Let us note: there is not a single word about the material details in the
foreign press concerning the beings from outer space. The assumption of
UFO's is based wholly on personal stories! And another difference. Even
though there is a mass of the most fine details in the Khabarovsk version,
the conclusion based on these details is made
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with much reservation - it is possible to assume that the most probable
mechanism of ball lightning is connected with a powerful high-frequency
magnetic radiation in a certain frequency range at a certain wavelength.
"The discussion of the problem, which is devoid of material evidence,"
says Dmitriyev, "would resemble a religious gathering, where everything
revolves around the question 'to believe or not to believe'." Let us offer
such arguments to the 'ufologists'. One of them, incidentally, reproached me
openly in the press for my scientific interests being 'earthbound', for my
disbelief in the meeting that will soon take place between the brothers of
intellect...."
Professor sighed - "I am concerned by the approach of some of our other
scientists to this problem. In the opinion of some, we are studying not
actual events but who knows what. This is a direct negation of the problem.
There is also an indirect negation - the attempts to reduce it to separate,
random, and odd events [casus] like concentration of insects, optical
illusions, and sounding balloons. Of course such events occur; however, it
is doubtful that the thousands of cases studied by us can be explained by
these events alone. And should one keep quite about the well-known facts?
At one time the Academy of Sciences had placed a ban on any mention of
meteorites, having declared them to be nonexistent'. But this did not stop
them from falling down to Earth. On the other hand, hushing up the problem
in order to reduce the amount of unhealthy speculations around it, usually,
produces the opposite effect. The people reason - there must be something to
it for them to keep it from us. Thus, another impetus is created for one to
get carried away by 'ufology'. It is annoying to see some of our
publications show such a guarded attitude not only to this problem but also
to the attempts to rebut it on the basis of scientific and materialistic
positions.
The UFO problem is also suffering from another aspect. It originated at
the junction point of sciences. And how they 'interface' and interact is
also a question.
For instance, it is known that along with the theory of
chemiluminescence, recently another theory was proposed by a professor of the
Oceanology Institute, G. Barenblat and A. Monin, director of the institute
while back it was being discussed in the 'Izvestiya'. The crux
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of this theory is that the 'saucer-like formations' are unique aerial
'spinning tops', which can serve as traps for aerosols.
M. Dmitriyev, who keeps a close watch on everything relative to this
problem, also knowns about this turbulent theory. Why not surmise that the
oceanologists are examining not the electrical and chemical aspects, just as
he, but the aerodynamic aspect of the same phenomenon? How is one to know,
perhaps this 'aerial top' is that 'pot', where the nature cooks the mixtures
of the toxic effect that could be the reason for the misfortunes in the
'Bermuda Triangle'? And perhaps such a top produces the danger of an
explosion of the type that occurred at Tungaskaya (the result of which, M.
Dmitriyev is convinced, was the fallout of the biologically active nitrous
compounds that fertilized the soil and thus caused the 'acceleration' of
pines)?
Having prepared these and other questions, I visit the Oceanology
Institute to see G. Barenblat. And what do I discover? They heard neither of
Dmitriyev nor his theory. this is very strange, because his work is known,
and not only in this country. For example, a respectable monograph of D.
Barri published recently in New York on "Ball and Beaded Lightning' ('On the
Extreme Effects of the Atmospheric Electricity). The bibliography of this
work has over one hundred and eighty names. more numerous are the works
written by Academician P. Kapits and M. Dmitriyev, while there is not a
single reference made to the work done by the oceanologists. I tell them
this not all in reproach. Still I would like to ask them - how can one work
on a problem without first finding out what was done in this area and by whom
in the past?
There is another known direction in which investigations are being
conducted. It is represented in the booklet published by the Space Research
Institute, AS USSR - 'Observations of Anomalous Atmospheric Phenomena in the
USSR', conducted by L. Grindilis, D. Men'kov, and I. Petrovskaya. this work
deals not with the problem itself but rather the approaches to it. It
presents a statistical analysis of several hundred testimonies given by
eyewitnesses. Only testimony without any references to material 'evidence'.
Neither do the authors make any attempts to explain the nature of this
phenomenon. Consequently, everyone reading this booklet is free to render
his own interpretation of the material written.
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Finally, there is one more point of view of this problem. It can be
termed philological. It is presented clearly, for example, in one of the
recent issues of the popular magazine 'Tekhnika - Molodezhi', where the
opinions of V. Vilinbakhov, candidate of historical sciences, and I.
Lisevich, doctor of philosophical sciences, are presented along with
interesting material on ball lightning. Both authors review the myths held
by the peoples of this world which, in one way or another, deal with the
strangers from the sky. the articles of these authors do not assert that our
planet was visited by beings from the outer space but pose a question - what
was the real basis for the creation of these myths?
In short, different opinions regarding this problem are being developed
independently of one another, without contacts and discussions, which are so
necessary for scientific knowledge.
And here is another thing. Letters from all parts of the country arrive
at the Institute of General and Communal Hygiene almost every day. Voluntary
helpers communicate to the scientists as to where, when, and under what
circumstances they witnessed the anomalous atmospheric phenomena. I read:
"A glowing hemisphere was travelling fast across the sky to the east at an
altitude of 3.5 thousand meters." "....After the sphere exploded there was a
strong odor of sulphur, as though a whole box of matches was burned."
It can be seen from many letters that its authors are not inclined to
relate what they have seen as the ultimate truth but they hope that their
evidence will help th scientists to find it.
What is 'unhealthy' in this interest? I do not understand.
R. Lynev, scientific
reviewer of the
"Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya".
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