DriveAPPENDIX A
Letter to Lt. Col. Corso
9 September 1997
Lt. Col. Phil Corso
Drive
Port St. Lucie FL 34983
Dear Phil:
As I said to you when we talked last, as I went through your book I had a lot of questions about various facts reported. In order to be able to answer these questions as they are raised by others, I need your help and input. Some have been asked before by others, some are new, but both are included. Both questions of major importance and trivia are included. At this point, while extensive, the list is not all-inclusive. In general, I have put them in chronological order as they appear in the book. I have listed the page number on which the question was raised, but I have not included paragraph or lines.
Page 29. Why would five trucks vs. one plane be used to move such valuable cargo from one air base to another?
Page 31. It is not true that a duty officer would be authorized to go anywhere on base. Typically, many areas would have special security requirements the SDOs, or FODs would not hold. For example, Crypto, or SCI clearances would not be held by most officers, therefore they would be precluded from access to certain areas.
Page 32. The opposable thumb has been key to primate advancement. Why would that not hold true for other species?
Page 33. Why would shipment of bodies go to Wright-Pat. vs. straight to Walter Reed? It seems that with the potential for further decay, you would move them to the autopsy site as quickly as possible.
Page 44. Whose careers were pulverized? Can one be identified?
Page 55. In the 1950s we ate C Rations. MREs did not come along for a long time after that (1970s or 1980s).
Page 55. How could information be controlled if there was no central agency in charge?
Page 61. Of the two listed, the Skunk Works developed stealth prototypes (Have Blue) and the F-117. Northrop developed the B-2.
Page 63. Infers that FTD (Army) existed in since the 1940s. In fact, it came into existence when you arrived in 1961 and disappeared after you retired.
Page 66. States Paper Clip began to move German scientists to the U.S. a year before the end of the war.
Page 72. If this were “bigger than the Manhattan Project,” where are all of the people who must have been involved? Over decades they would have numbered in the tens of thousands.
Page 72. It is stated that ET was killed by gunshot. Nothing that I know of in the literature supports that statement.
Page 72. If the Germans were reverse engineering from an ET crash, what happened to the scientific evidence? Would not that have come along with Paper Clip or been captured by the Soviets?
Page 77. You state that ad hoc groups throughout different branches of government participated. If so, how was information controlled? It would have leaked a long time ago.
Page 77. “the contact we maintained with the aliens,” is a statement that infers we had (and still have) some form of communication with ET. Where is it? Also, is this not in conflict with comments about being at war with ET?
Page 78. It states that someone’s job is to “manage our ongoing relationship with alien visitors.” Again, there is no evidence that such an ongoing relationship exists.
Page 78. It states that reporters were given briefings with “truthful descriptions” and fell on the floor laughing. Who gave those briefings and to whom? There should be records available someplace.
Page 79. TYPO. I think you mean “our meetings were never FORMAL” in the second line.
Page 82. The number of security clearances should not have been a serious problem. Temporary read-ons are done routinely when necessary, so anyone needed for research could be included.
Page 84. The comment about Gen. Trudeau deciding to make international, if not interplanetary, policy in a vacuum should be very troubling. It certainly runs counter to the American notion of civil control of the military. I should think that senior officials from both the executive and legislative branches would be seriously disturbed by these comments.
Page 87. The CIA seems to have been grossly overstaffed if they had sufficient excess people to put tails on midlevel staff officers in the U.S. While a number of military people have retired and gone to the agency, I have never heard of them being harassed into joining. Rather, they went and applied. Given your vehement anti-CIA stance, why would they try to co-opt you?
Page 93. You state that two EBEs were alive after the crash. You had not mentioned that in any of our prior conversations. Can that be supported?
Page 99. Now both the Army and Navy have bodies to autopsy. Why would they be split up? It would make far more sense for one group to handle all of the work. That would allow for comparisons and minimize the security problems.
Page 100. You have alien craft going to Norton & Groom Lake. You also state that “the Army cared only for the weapons systems aboard the craft.” That seems strange as it was the Army who was leading efforts into space and had the precursor to SDI. They therefore would have been interested in many technologies including propulsion.
Page 105. Here you state there were very strict rules about security clearance, yet you told us the security level was relatively low, but security was handled through an “old boy net” that only passed the info. to people they trusted.
Page 106. Von Neumann died in 1957. How could he have been involved in 1961?
Page 114. Is this ELM or ELF?
Page 114. We never had a “stealth fighter.” The F-117 was actually a bomber.
Page 115. Is HARP actually HAARP or is this another program?
Page 115. If Von Braun went on record about UFO technology, where are those records now?
Page 117. How does a Lt. Col. in the Pentagon get his own staff car? When I was there, few generals had their own assigned staff cars.
Page 120. The crypto school would have been for NSA not the NSC.
Page 120. There has been an Air Force intelligence unit hidden in plain view at Ft. Belvoir for many years. However, their mission was not UFOs.
Page 121. Why would a society so technically advanced that we can’t figure out how their systems work, worry about our defenses? When engaging forces with inferior systems we simply overwhelm them. I expect ET would do the same.
Page 121. Why would a sophisticated enemy worry about “large-scale warfare.” With such advanced technology, one could bring an adversary to their knees without direct assault.
Page 122. Here the EBEs mean us harm. Yet on page 78 we had an established relationship with them.
Page 122. States that the Cold War was a cover for preparing to fight ETs. This implies a coordinated effort between the U.S. (plus NATO) and the USSR to maintain an earthly balanced threat so that defensive systems could be built to fight in space. The development and coordination of such an effort would have to have been massive. It would entail education of at least tens of thousands of officers to develop and execute the order of battle. In no way would you let a surprise attack catch an entire armed force off guard.
Page 123. Based on the previous statements I doubt “the Cold War was a cover for the secret agenda against ET.” Can this be reasonably explained?
Page 124. How could even the most advanced fighters counter an ET threat? Compare the difference between U.S. and Soviet technology as seen in the Gulf War. The difference was probably a decade (our advantage over Soviet), yet we established air supremacy within two hours of initiating the attack.
Page 124. The same holds true for air defense technology. In hours U.S. and allied forces took down a very sophisticated air defense system that had been provided to Iraq by the former Soviet Union.
Page 129. No pictures taken on the Moon show an ET presence. Two of the twelve lunar astronauts are personal friends and confirm this statement. One is even supportive of the ET hypothesis but firmly states that nothing they saw on the Moon indicated an ET presence. Further, as the officer responsible for his, and late Apollo missions, he states there was never any indication of a potential ET presence or threat.
Page 129. SDI was NOT related to an ET threat. Again, several key people are personal friends or have other relationships with me. We have discussed the topic of UFOs. Even those favorably disposed to UFOs would state unequivocally that there is no relationship between SDI & ET.
Page 129. It states that surveillance techniques were developed to look both in and out (for potential threats). Actually, some satellite systems use Startacker to establish their relative position. This system lines up the stars, but does not survey outer space.
Page 129. Using overhead systems to find ET bases would be impractical unless they knew where to look. The coverage is just not good enough to find ET hiding in uninhabited areas. That would be especially true if they had advance camouflage or signal suppression capabilities.
Page 129. It’s Adelphi, not Adelphia, Maryland.
Page 130. Why would a SP4 be surprised to see you out of uniform? Traveling in civilian clothes is done all the time.
Page 131. How did the Army get a sketch of a night vision device from the Roswell crash? Earlier you state the concept came from eye coverings taken from ET at the autopsy.
Page 132. Why would a UFO have seams? Certainly they would have been more structurally efficient than that.
Page 132. If the occupants of the UFO were basically robots, why would they need view ports in the hull? We already know that multispectral sensors would be more efficient in examining the exterior surroundings.
Page 132. Now the bodies are autopsied at the 509th, not at WRAIR (Walter Reed Army Institute for Research) or Bethesda as stated earlier in the book.
Page 136. You state that “Project Corona” was on your desk. Yet the recently released Corona documents state that reports were only made orally so there would be no paper trail. In fact, the only written document of Corona’s authorization by Eisenhower was a note on an envelope by the DCI.
Page 136. Considering the stated animosity between you and CIA, why would they allow you near their crown jewels? I do note the ORD was one of the few Army offices aware of Corona.
Page 136. If overhead was being used to find ET, why was Art Lundahl, the director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), left out? He was interested in UFOs, but never saw anything in all of the photos they collected.
Page 137. You state the mission of the U2 included looking for ET. I discussed ET/UFOs with Ben Rich, one of the Skunk Works presidents, on several occasions. He certainly did not know about this mission and he was interested in developing the most advanced surveillance systems.
Page 137. Again a problem with finding ET landing sites.
Page 139. Now we have sharing of Corona data with the Soviets? There is absolutely no way the U.S. would share our most advanced intelligence with them. In fact, the TK system was developed to protect the overhead photographic data. Another system still protects the satellite capabilities. These early warning intelligence assets were viewed as key to our national survival. Almost no one got direct data from them. When release was made, the photos were often altered to protect the actual capabilities.
Page 139. Corona was not build by LADC but another Lockheed company, LMSC, was the lead contractor. LADC built airplanes while several other companies actually built the Corona rockets and satellites.
Page 140. The resolution of the cameras aboard the U-2s and KH-4s operating in the 1960s was modest at best. The notion “because of our high-resolution aerial surveillance,” would deny (see through) ET camouflage seems unlikely.
Page 142. The satellites coverage described does not fit reality. We still do not have worldwide coverage (1997), let alone what was available in the 1960s. In fact, one of the complaints about intelligence during Desert Storm (1991) was the times when we could not cover critical areas in combat. But, your passage has continuous coverage of “remotest parts of Asia, Africa, or South America” as early as the 1960s.
Page 142. I find the notion of “parity” with a society that is superior in technology hard to understand. Time and again, we have seen a technically superior force decimate a larger force that is less well equipped. In fact, our defensive strategy is based on the premise: “Fight outnumbered and win.”
Page 142. Has “we” involved in Corona. This was a CIA and Air Force project. While the Army was a “user” I find no record of them being involved in Corona development.
Page 142. There is discussion of “reverse engineering Discoverer.” While Discoverer was used as a cover for Corona, it was not a reverse-engineering project. Do you mean the payload was retrofitted?
Page 145. Comments here infer some form of treaty or alliance between the Soviets and ET. Is there any proof of this? We certainly did not see their military take any technical advances based on external assistance. In fact, the Soviet technology approach was almost always brute force. They did not even have the basic computer technology to keep pace with the U.S.
Page 149. The concept of placing a fighting outpost on the Moon does not make a lot of sense except as a possible trip wire. The outpost would be easily overwhelmed, and would be impossible to reinforce or assist should a battle take place there. Further, there would be little reason for an ET armada, traveling vast distances, to stop off at an intermediate point.
Page 156. What evidence is there of “EBEs who tried to scare us away from the Moon”? And, what is the evidence for ET bases there? As previously stated, lunar astronauts state there was no evidence of ET.
Page 157. States we sent enough manned missions to the Moon to challenge ETs. There were only seven lunar landing missions, including the ill-fated Apollo 13. We have not been back in twenty-five years (as of 1997). This is hardly a commanding presence.
Page 160. How would scientists at APG (Aberdeen Proving Grounds) marvel about a chip that came from the crash when they would not have had access to the crash or the material?
Page 169. How is the development of the IC (integrated circuitry) and miniaturization related to challenging “EBEs in their own territory?” We do not worry much about technical developments of Third World countries. Why would they be concerned about an inferior and fairly primitive civilization?
Page 175. You state, “Most high-ranking officers at the Pentagon and key members of their staffs knew that Roswell technology was floating.” This runs counter to the statements from all of the senior officers I know. It also runs counter to statements from most of your contemporaries who went on to attain multiple stars. They specifically stated they do not have such knowledge.
Page 179. Here EBEs are poised to initiate nuclear war between the U.S. and USSR. What supports this thesis? In fact, in the instances in which UFOs interacted with U.S. missile sites, they seemed to shut down systems, not launch them.
Page 179. Lasers are not omniscient weapons. In fact, their range in the atmosphere is a major problem. At high altitudes they can reach very long distances, but not near ground level. It is not until the 1998 DoD budget that serious money is being put into the Airborne Laser Lab, which is a prototype and years away from fielding. (Note that DoD budgets are posted years in advance.)
Page 182. The nutrition comment sounds like the old Twilight Zone episode called “To Serve Man.” Again, if ETs possess advanced technology, why would they not understand cloning and raise their own food? Domestication of animals was one of the first fundamental steps in establishing the Agricultural Age. It was the first step above hunter-gatherers. How would ETs have advanced so far without creation of a renewable food supply?
Page 184. Laser range-finders have improved accuracy. However, IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) remains a critical problem.
Page 186. No HEL (high-energy laser) was ever fielded with DSI. We are still (1997) researching how to employ high-energy lasers as weapons. Congress has just recently again provided funding for the airborne HEL test bed. It is a long way from fielding. (Still true.) At SDI Lt. Gen. Malcolm O’Neil, himself a Ph.D.-level laser physicist, never trusted DE and stressed hit-to-kill mechanisms for the years he headed the effort.
Page 196. EMP as a weapon will fry electronics and do permanent damage. However, the UFO reports claim that electronics are shut down, and later restored. That is not consistent with EMP.
Page 196. Claims that we could identify UFO signatures. To do so means that the information about those signatures must be widespread. There is no indication that operators of sophisticated electronic equipment were so informed.
Page 206. What did Nixon surrender to the Chinese? We left Vietnam and it fell to the North. They continue to skirmish with the Chinese. China has not expanded its influence save for Hong Kong, but that was a British decision.
Page 208. Who were the “dangerous academics” and what made them of concern?
Page 216. My friends at Los Alamos who knew Feynman well do not support comments that he was aware of ETs or the Roswell crash.
Page 217. Stealth did not come about via any Roswell technology. Ben Rich has discussed the evolution in his book. From our discussions I can state it was purely terrestrial in origin.
Page 218. The F-117 is not crescent-shaped. It has flat edges made for the easiest angles for complex calculations. Contrary to popular belief, “stealth” does not equal invisibility.
Page 220. There is no relationship between dU (depleted uranium) and going nuclear. This extremely heavy metal allowed us to defeat armor more effectively. The issue with war in Central Europe was the number of tanks the Soviets could present. There were just too many targets for conventional ammo, dU or otherwise. It was the tank onslaught that might prompt a nuclear response, not killing individual tanks.
Page 220. The A-10 is a “Warthog” not a “Hedgehog.”
Page 232. DE (directed energy) is not synonymous with particle beam weapons. Lasers and acoustic weapons are also forms of DE.
Page 234. ARPA (now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—DARPA) is not “highly secretive” though some of their projects may be. Their RFPs (requests for proposals) are listed on the CBD (Commerce Business Daily).
Page 237. Why would Gen. Trudeau be responsible for Agent Orange? In a briefing I was giving a few years ago, I had an ex-DDR&E state that he gave the okay for Agent Orange.
Page 248. Neither the Army Space Command, nor any other organization deployed particle beam weapons. Also mentioned are “missile-mounted kinetic energy beam” weapons as ASATs (anti-satellite) and for law enforcement. A KE (kinetic beam) is an oxymoron. As mentioned before, KE systems were hit-to-kill. I don’t understand why DoD would give LEAs (law enforcement agencies) any missiles, let alone ASATs.
Page 252. Check Gen. Trudeau’s history. I think this is wrong and does not account for his time as a corps commander.
Page 264. Is Agenda B really an AGENA B? If so, it is a rocket not a satellite.
Page 265. No satellites “swoop in from higher orbit.” While the Brilliant Pebbles concept called for maneuvering satellites, they were never built or deployed. Certainly the ancient Gemini system did not have the maneuverability described.
Page 266. Describes “over fifty years, now, war against UFOs.” If so, this goes well beyond your tenure and would be indicative of a massive effort and includes many, if not all, of the senior leadership of the military and political systems. Who can support this claim of yours?
Page 268. A UFO was reportedly shot down over Ramstein (Air Force Base in Germany)? Who has it? This is near Frankfurt, a major metropolitan area and well west of the border, which would make shooting down a craft of any kind a very significant event. I have never heard of this case from either American or German sources considered to be reliable. There are some rumor-level papers on the case. Is it hard?
This is not a complete list. There are also many history of technology questions that I am attempting to get background on. However, if you could provide answers to each of these questions, it would help us understand what happened and would sell the story. I hope thinking about some of these sticky issues proves useful for both of us.
Sincerely,
John B. Alexander, Ph.D.
U.S. Army (retired)