Posted On: July 23, 2022

In 1985 the Defense Intelligence Agency released 139 pages of UFO related reports. Here is some information related to those released files. In this segment we will hear about events that took place in Antarctica, Brazil, New Zealand and Argentina.

1965: Antarctica.

A wave of sightings in South America in 1965 was reported to the DIA by US Air and Naval Attaches, and although many of the reports were taken from newspapers, some originated with official sources, such as the following accounts of sightings in Antarctica which were obtained from the Chief of the Argentine Navy Hydrographic Service by the US Naval Attache in Buenos Aires. The accounts summarize reports by Argentine, Chilean and British base personnel at Deception Island, part of the British-owned South Shetland Islands.

On June 2^nd, 1965 an unusual object was sighted by a meteorologist and four other witnesses at the British Bravo Base. The sighting lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes. The object moved rapidly and was of a brilliant color, solid-appearing, and noiseless. On June 20^th, the Commander of the Chilean Aquirre Cerda Base, Juan Barrera, together with Chilean Air Force pilot Lieutenant Benavidez, a meteorologist, and seven other witnesses, observed a UFO which maneuvered rapidly on an oscillating course for twenty-five minutes. But the most interesting sightings took place on July 3^rd, at the Chilean base, as the following official summary shows:

"ON THREE JULY AT ONE NINE TWO ZERO HOURS THE METEOROLOGIST AND EIGHT OTHER PERSONS AT THE CHILEAN BASE AQUIRRE CERDA OBSERVED DURING TWO ZERO MIN (CLEAR NIGHT, TWO EIGHTHS STRATOCUMULUS AND STARRY SKY, MOON FOURTH QUARTER) AN OBJECT APPEARING AS A STATIONARY LIGHT AT TIMES AND OF SOLID APPEARANCE LIKE A CELESTIAL BODY, NOISELESS, WHITE COLOR WITH BORDERS LIKE A BRILLIANT STAR, MOVING EAST TO WEST TRAJECTORY WITH OSCILLATIONS, DISAPPEARING IN THE CLOUDS, ELEVATION FOUR DASH FOUR FIVE DEGREES OVER THE HORIZON. ON THREE JULY AT ONE NINE FOUR TWO HOURS METEOROLOGIST AND SIX PERSONS FROM THIS BASE OBSERVED BY NAKED EYE, BINOCULARS, AND THEODOLITE FOR A PERIOD OF ONE HOUR AND TWO MINUTES (CLEAR NIGHT, TWO EIGHTHS STRATUS, ONE EIGHTH CIRRUS, STARRY SKY, MOON FOURTH QUARTER) AN OBJECT DESCRIBED AS MORE BRILLIANT THAN A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE WHICH WAS STATIONARY AT TIMES WITH FLASHING BRILLIANCE (APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING). MOVING ABOVE THE STRATUS AND BELOW THE CIRRUS AT TIMES, OF A SOLID APPEARANCE AND NOISELESS, ITS CENTER COLORED RED, BORDERS CHANGING FROM YELLOW TO GREEN TO ORANGE TO BLUE TO WHITE, AND LIKE A BRILLIANT IRIDESCENT STAR, SMALL TRAJECTORY VARIATION, SIZE COMPARABLE TO THE HEAD OF HALF INCH NAIL HEAD, FINALLY DISAPPEARING IN ALTITUDE AND DISTANCE. FORM WAS ROUND AND OVAL SHAPED. DIRECTION OBSERVED NORTH NORTHWEST APPROXIMATELY THREE THREE FIVE DEGREES FROM TRUE NORTH AND THREE ZERO DEGREES ABOVE THE HORIZON, APPROXIMATELY AT A DISTANCE OF ONE ZERO TO ONE FIVE KILOMETERS. SOME PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN OF THIS SIGHTING, TWO VARIOMETERS WORKING AFFECTED BY MAGNETIC FIELD DISTURBANCE DURING THE TIME OBJECT SIGHTED."

Newspaper articles, forwarded to the DIA by the US Air Attache in Santiago, Chile, contained additional information. The photographs, about ten in all, were taken by Corporal U. D. Martinez, but proved to be of little value owing to the distance of the object. The magnetic traces, however, recorded on a magnetovariometer, were considered highly evidential. The Air Attache, while hypothesizing that a satellite may have been responsible for some of the sightings, nevertheless concluded in his report: "Some credence must be given to the existence or the occurrence of some type of phenomenon in as much as reports emanated from such widely reported locations as to rule out mass hysteria or collusion."

The Argentine Navy published an official communique on the sighting, based on the statements of the Argentine, Chilean, and British witnesses. The Secretariat of the Argentine Navy also confirmed that the occurrence had been witnessed by scientists of the three naval bases and that the facts described by these people were in complete agreement.

The Commandant of the Chilean Air Force Antarctic Base, Don Mario Juan Barrera, commented:

“It is rash to say that we all saw a flying saucer, like those in science fiction. But nevertheless it was something real, an object traveling at a staggering speed that performed evolutions and, caused interference in the instruments of the Argentinian base lying on an island that is near to and right opposite our base, what we observed was no hallucination or collective psychosis. As far as I am concerned it is a celestial object that I am unable to identify. That it could be an aircraft constructed on this earth, I do not believe possible."

Commandant Daniel Perisse of the Argentine base backed up this statement by declaring that the appearance of the object was no hallucination or mirage, and his description of the object’s performance tallied precisely with Barrera’s.

The sightings of UFOs on July 3^rd, 1965 were not the first in Antarctica. In 1950 Commander Augusto Vars Ortega of the Chilean Navy reported that UFOs had circled his base. "During the bright Antarctic night", he said, "we saw flying saucers, one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs to prove what we saw". The pictures were 1200 feet of color movie film, but when Major Donald Keyhoe attempted to obtain a copy from the Chilean Embassy in Washington in 1956 he was informed that the film was classified and could not therefore be made available.

In May 1972 officers of the Chilean Air Force and Army had two sightings of UFOs which caused a weakening of radio signals in the 3200 kilocycle waveband.

My Take:  When you see reports like this, multiple witnesses and locations with unknown physical objects behaving in ways that were impossible in the 1960s. It should make any rational person reassess their UFO beliefs.

---

1967: Brazil

An interesting Brazilian Air Force report was obtained from official sources by the US Air Attache in Rio de Janeiro in March 1967:

“On 27 March 1967 the crew of a Brazilian Air Force C-47 and the crew of a Cruzeiro do Sul photo mapping aircraft reported having seen a flying saucer in the vicinity of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. The object was initially sighted by the BAF crew who described it as a reddish colored full moon that appeared to be flying in circles. The BAF C-47 advised Salgado Filho Tower of the sighting, and the tower asked the Cruzeiro do Sul aircraft to intercept and identify the object.

The Cruzeiro do Sul aircraft made contact with the object and pursued it for 15 minutes before it finally disappeared. No pictures were taken. In addition to the reported sightings by the aircraft crews, the object was also reportedly seen by ground observers in the Porto Alegre area.

A more recent reported sighting occurred on 30 March 1967 in Rio [illegible]. However, this one was reported only by ground observers. The object was described as completely white, silent, flying at low altitude, and would disappear and reappear at regular intervals. This particular sighting received very little publicity in [the news] media. As yet the Air Ministry has not issued any official comment on these sightings and is presently studying the statements of the aircraft crews and ground observers."

Official UFO research in Brazil was conducted at this time, by the Brazilian Air Force UFO Study Division, based in Sao Paulo. Although Brazil is one of the few countries in the world where sightings (especially the more sensational ones) are publicized regularly, official censorship has been imposed since the 1960s. In 1969 a Brazilian Air Force directive issued to local officials stated: "You will not under any circumstances give any information on UFO activity to any press, radio, or television reporter or representative. This is a matter of National Security, and all press releases will be made by the Brazilian Air Force Public Relations Department."

A 1973 Sao Paulo State directive, entitled Institutional Act No. 5 (State Security), warns:

"It is forbidden for TV, radio, newspapers, and other news media to divulge UFO reports without the prior censorship of the Brazilian Air Force."

My Take:  Why does Brazil have such a strict policy on the reporting of UFOs?

---

Project Moon Dust

Of the 139 pages of DIA documents now released, four contain intriguing references to "Project Moon Dust". This project was, and possibly still is, a foreign space debris program of the US Air Force System Command’s Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and while its primary function would seem to be the recovery of missile and satellite debris, there are indications that it has also been involved in the recovery of more exotic artifacts.

A UFO sighting over Agadir, Morocco, on 11/12 January 1967, for example, led to translations of two articles being sent to the DIA by the US Defense Attache in Rabat, who commented: "the page one coverage afforded this sighting demonstrates a high level of local interest in the subject of UFOs and presages future reporting which could be valuable in pursuit of Project MOON DUST". Another UFO report from Morocco a couple of months later gave "Project MOON DUST" as its reference.

Ray Boeche has subsequently uncovered further information about the project, having filed a number of Freedom of Information requests with the CIA, DIA, Department of Defense, National Security Council and Air Force. Ray informed me that Project Moon Dust was "definitely UFO-related", but no really significant documents have been released to him so far.

My Take:  Maybe Project moon dust’s real purpose was UFO recovery and its cover was satellite debris.

---

1965 - 1968: New Zealand

The DIA apparently showed great interest in the controversial theories of Captain Bruce Cathie, the New Zealand airline pilot who claims to have discovered evidence for a worldwide grid system used by UFOs. Cathie’s meetings with US Defense Attaches in Wellington are documented, as well as his correspondence with them, in the released DIA documents.

Cathie first approached the US Embassy in Washington in the mid-1960s, since which time the DIA kept a file on him. The earliest documented memo is from Colonel John Burnett, Air Attache, to the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson AFB, dated 26 August 1965, from which I quote the following extract:

Captain Cathie visited with me for about one half hour. I observed this New Zealander to be not only rational but intelligent and convinced that certain UFOs he and others have seen are from outer space, probably Venus. He hesitated in expressing his beliefs re the Venus origin, explaining that it usually tended to convince people that he was a bit of a crackpot.

The Foreign Technology Division responded by sending Colonel Burnett a brochure outlining the findings of the Air Force on UFOs, adding: “Since no evidence exists that these objects represent interstellar travel there is no basis for Captain Cathie’s beliefs”. Despite the FTD’s apparent skepticism. Colonel Burnett continued to send them details of Cathie’s findings and calculations for at least another year.

Bruce Cathie told me that it was Colonel Burnett who revealed that intensive UFO research was carried out at Wright-Patterson AFB, referred to in Cathie’s second book:

“The scientific laboratory there, set up for the purpose, was described as a complex of buildings covering a large area and staffed by many of the world’s top scientists. Experimental work was carried out twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. At one stage the official [Colonel Burnett] asked me if I would consider a trip to America to visit the base. Naturally I said I would. Anytime they cared to put out an invitation. Perhaps the idea was vetoed in the States, for 1 heard no more of this.”

It is difficult to prove such a sensational allegation, but there is no reason to doubt Captain Cathie’s integrity. Naturally, there is no reference to this in any of the DIA documents on him.

By 1967 Colonel Burnett had been replaced by Colonel Lewis Walker, who seems to have been less impressed with Cathie’s ideas than his predecessor. But this did not prevent Walker from forwarding Cathie’s material to the DIA at the Pentagon. An Intelligence Information Report dated 8 February 1968 states:

“Captain Cathie is still employed as an aircraft F-27 Friendship pilot by National Airways Corporation. His superiors know of his interest and activity in UFO’s and his forthcoming book “Harmonic 33”. He has been checked for security reasons and no adverse reports are known.  He admits that many people consider him some kind of nut but he persists in his theory. On [ ] January 1968 he came to my office and reported that four UFO’s had been detected by the Auckland Air Traffic Control radarscope on [ ] January 1968 at 23:35 hours local time. Three objects were 15 miles apart in line, with the fourth object in line 30 miles behind the three. Relative speed was extremely high. In addition, two UFO’s, disc-shaped, appeared east of Auckland Airport on the same track as first four. Captain Cathie was asked if official reports were submitted on these sightings, and he said no, that Civil Aviation personnel had been warned not to report any more of these observations. Captain Cathie was advised to submit any additional information he might have.

Captain Cathie is a lean, wiry New Zealander, with an apparently above average knowledge of mathematics. He is intensely sincere in his efforts, he is spending an enormous amount of time and effort trying to prove his theory that an overall master plan exists by an alien race, purpose not defined.”

By May 1968, however, Colonel Walker seems to have become fed up with Cathie. A report to the DIA dated 1 May indicates that although Cathie was not considered a “nut,” on the last three occasions that he called at the Defense Attache’s office to discuss his latest findings, “These conversations were ignored.” Cathie had complained that he had been put under surveillance and that in April he had been accosted by three Americans in Invercargill, who had asked him to accompany them, which he refused to do. Cathie believed that these men came from a US Navy vessel, but according to Colonel Walker the only US ship that was south of Auckland at the time was the USS Eltanin, which was in the Antarctic, however. The report concludes:

“Capt. Cathie said that he had been cleared by the NZ government to pursue his research and that he had a letter to this effect signed by the Prime Minister. He stated that the Member of Parliament from his area. Dr. Findley, had interceded for him and obtained government approval for his work. He then asked the DATT [Defense Attache to “call your agents off. I have official approval to continue my work. I don’t want them tailing me.”

The DATT made no reply to this request. This man is obsessed with his theory and no amount of argument can convince him that he has not stumbled on a highly complicated system which he says leads directly to the existence of UFOs.

Timothy Good sent copies of these documents to Captain Cathie in 1986, and asked him for a comment. “He [Colonel Walker] is only saying that in his opinion I am obsessed with my research”, he replied, “and that there is no way they can talk me out of it. Which is fairly correct, except for the word obsessed. My research is my hobby and I find it most interesting. The evidence which I now have on hand will prove without doubt that my unified equations are correct.”

My Take:  Captain Cathie was very brave to opening explore UFOs while putting career in jeopardy.

---

1968: Argentina.

The extent of the DIA’s interest in UFO reports can be demonstrated by its efficiency in collecting news cuttings on the subject, and a wave of sightings in Argentina from June to August 1968 led to the Defense Attache in Buenos Aires, Colonel Charles Greffet, forwarding no less than twenty-three news clippings to the Pentagon. It could be argued that the DIA is merely the world’s most expensive news clipping agency, or that its only concern is with UFO reports that relate to hostile foreign aircraft or missiles. While it is obvious that mundane intelligence gathering is the DIA’s primary function, many reports, such as the following summaries, reflect a concern with more exotic UFOs:

1. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 8 Jun 68, Describes how two experienced pilots, 22 and 13 years with Aerolineas Argentinas, saw a UFO while flying over Punta Arenas.

2. Los Principlos (Cordoba) 5 July 68, Outlines details on the invention of a geomagnetic and light detector to warn of the presence of UFOs. Second article, same source, quotes Argentine Commander-in-Chief of Navy as suggesting that Argentine armed forces are participating in an investigation of UFOs.

3. Diario del Pueblo (Tandil) 13 July 68, Describes landing of a UFO at the Air Force Base at Tandil.

4. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 26 July 68, Describes attempt by five policemen in Olavarria to capture and later shoot three crew members of UFO.

5. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 27 July 68, Relates new sighting near La Pastora, Alvear, and Tapalque. The latter describes the crew and inability of machine-gun bullets to affect them.

6. La Razon 3 Aug 68, Relates argument by a Professor Alexander Eru supporting theory of flying saucers.

Colonel Greffet comments: "It is significant to note that a state of concern exists [among] the population in many parts of Argentina."

Reference No. 3 mentions the suggestion that the Argentine armed forces were participating in an investigation of UFOs. Back in 1964, in fact, the volume of sightings had grown so huge that the Argentine Air Force set up its own UFO department, known as Division OVNI. And in 1978 the gendarmeria of Argentina released official police reports of sightings (many having occurred in 1968) to the lawyer Antonio Baragiola.

Resources: Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988.

My Take:  This is just the tip of the iceberg of the government’s real interest in UFOs. This information is just what has been released through the cracks in the government’s cone of silence.

Posted On: July 23, 2022

In 1985 the Defense Intelligence Agency released 139 pages of UFO related reports. Here is some information related to those released files. In this segment we will hear about events that took place in Antarctica, Brazil, New Zealand and Argentina.

1965: Antarctica.

A wave of sightings in South America in 1965 was reported to the DIA by US Air and Naval Attaches, and although many of the reports were taken from newspapers, some originated with official sources, such as the following accounts of sightings in Antarctica which were obtained from the Chief of the Argentine Navy Hydrographic Service by the US Naval Attache in Buenos Aires. The accounts summarize reports by Argentine, Chilean and British base personnel at Deception Island, part of the British-owned South Shetland Islands.

On June 2^nd, 1965 an unusual object was sighted by a meteorologist and four other witnesses at the British Bravo Base. The sighting lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes. The object moved rapidly and was of a brilliant color, solid-appearing, and noiseless. On June 20^th, the Commander of the Chilean Aquirre Cerda Base, Juan Barrera, together with Chilean Air Force pilot Lieutenant Benavidez, a meteorologist, and seven other witnesses, observed a UFO which maneuvered rapidly on an oscillating course for twenty-five minutes. But the most interesting sightings took place on July 3^rd, at the Chilean base, as the following official summary shows:

"ON THREE JULY AT ONE NINE TWO ZERO HOURS THE METEOROLOGIST AND EIGHT OTHER PERSONS AT THE CHILEAN BASE AQUIRRE CERDA OBSERVED DURING TWO ZERO MIN (CLEAR NIGHT, TWO EIGHTHS STRATOCUMULUS AND STARRY SKY, MOON FOURTH QUARTER) AN OBJECT APPEARING AS A STATIONARY LIGHT AT TIMES AND OF SOLID APPEARANCE LIKE A CELESTIAL BODY, NOISELESS, WHITE COLOR WITH BORDERS LIKE A BRILLIANT STAR, MOVING EAST TO WEST TRAJECTORY WITH OSCILLATIONS, DISAPPEARING IN THE CLOUDS, ELEVATION FOUR DASH FOUR FIVE DEGREES OVER THE HORIZON. ON THREE JULY AT ONE NINE FOUR TWO HOURS METEOROLOGIST AND SIX PERSONS FROM THIS BASE OBSERVED BY NAKED EYE, BINOCULARS, AND THEODOLITE FOR A PERIOD OF ONE HOUR AND TWO MINUTES (CLEAR NIGHT, TWO EIGHTHS STRATUS, ONE EIGHTH CIRRUS, STARRY SKY, MOON FOURTH QUARTER) AN OBJECT DESCRIBED AS MORE BRILLIANT THAN A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE WHICH WAS STATIONARY AT TIMES WITH FLASHING BRILLIANCE (APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING). MOVING ABOVE THE STRATUS AND BELOW THE CIRRUS AT TIMES, OF A SOLID APPEARANCE AND NOISELESS, ITS CENTER COLORED RED, BORDERS CHANGING FROM YELLOW TO GREEN TO ORANGE TO BLUE TO WHITE, AND LIKE A BRILLIANT IRIDESCENT STAR, SMALL TRAJECTORY VARIATION, SIZE COMPARABLE TO THE HEAD OF HALF INCH NAIL HEAD, FINALLY DISAPPEARING IN ALTITUDE AND DISTANCE. FORM WAS ROUND AND OVAL SHAPED. DIRECTION OBSERVED NORTH NORTHWEST APPROXIMATELY THREE THREE FIVE DEGREES FROM TRUE NORTH AND THREE ZERO DEGREES ABOVE THE HORIZON, APPROXIMATELY AT A DISTANCE OF ONE ZERO TO ONE FIVE KILOMETERS. SOME PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN OF THIS SIGHTING, TWO VARIOMETERS WORKING AFFECTED BY MAGNETIC FIELD DISTURBANCE DURING THE TIME OBJECT SIGHTED."

Newspaper articles, forwarded to the DIA by the US Air Attache in Santiago, Chile, contained additional information. The photographs, about ten in all, were taken by Corporal U. D. Martinez, but proved to be of little value owing to the distance of the object. The magnetic traces, however, recorded on a magnetovariometer, were considered highly evidential. The Air Attache, while hypothesizing that a satellite may have been responsible for some of the sightings, nevertheless concluded in his report: "Some credence must be given to the existence or the occurrence of some type of phenomenon in as much as reports emanated from such widely reported locations as to rule out mass hysteria or collusion."

The Argentine Navy published an official communique on the sighting, based on the statements of the Argentine, Chilean, and British witnesses. The Secretariat of the Argentine Navy also confirmed that the occurrence had been witnessed by scientists of the three naval bases and that the facts described by these people were in complete agreement.

The Commandant of the Chilean Air Force Antarctic Base, Don Mario Juan Barrera, commented:

“It is rash to say that we all saw a flying saucer, like those in science fiction. But nevertheless it was something real, an object traveling at a staggering speed that performed evolutions and, caused interference in the instruments of the Argentinian base lying on an island that is near to and right opposite our base, what we observed was no hallucination or collective psychosis. As far as I am concerned it is a celestial object that I am unable to identify. That it could be an aircraft constructed on this earth, I do not believe possible."

Commandant Daniel Perisse of the Argentine base backed up this statement by declaring that the appearance of the object was no hallucination or mirage, and his description of the object’s performance tallied precisely with Barrera’s.

The sightings of UFOs on July 3^rd, 1965 were not the first in Antarctica. In 1950 Commander Augusto Vars Ortega of the Chilean Navy reported that UFOs had circled his base. "During the bright Antarctic night", he said, "we saw flying saucers, one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs to prove what we saw". The pictures were 1200 feet of color movie film, but when Major Donald Keyhoe attempted to obtain a copy from the Chilean Embassy in Washington in 1956 he was informed that the film was classified and could not therefore be made available.

In May 1972 officers of the Chilean Air Force and Army had two sightings of UFOs which caused a weakening of radio signals in the 3200 kilocycle waveband.

My Take:  When you see reports like this, multiple witnesses and locations with unknown physical objects behaving in ways that were impossible in the 1960s. It should make any rational person reassess their UFO beliefs.

---

1967: Brazil

An interesting Brazilian Air Force report was obtained from official sources by the US Air Attache in Rio de Janeiro in March 1967:

“On 27 March 1967 the crew of a Brazilian Air Force C-47 and the crew of a Cruzeiro do Sul photo mapping aircraft reported having seen a flying saucer in the vicinity of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. The object was initially sighted by the BAF crew who described it as a reddish colored full moon that appeared to be flying in circles. The BAF C-47 advised Salgado Filho Tower of the sighting, and the tower asked the Cruzeiro do Sul aircraft to intercept and identify the object.

The Cruzeiro do Sul aircraft made contact with the object and pursued it for 15 minutes before it finally disappeared. No pictures were taken. In addition to the reported sightings by the aircraft crews, the object was also reportedly seen by ground observers in the Porto Alegre area.

A more recent reported sighting occurred on 30 March 1967 in Rio [illegible]. However, this one was reported only by ground observers. The object was described as completely white, silent, flying at low altitude, and would disappear and reappear at regular intervals. This particular sighting received very little publicity in [the news] media. As yet the Air Ministry has not issued any official comment on these sightings and is presently studying the statements of the aircraft crews and ground observers."

Official UFO research in Brazil was conducted at this time, by the Brazilian Air Force UFO Study Division, based in Sao Paulo. Although Brazil is one of the few countries in the world where sightings (especially the more sensational ones) are publicized regularly, official censorship has been imposed since the 1960s. In 1969 a Brazilian Air Force directive issued to local officials stated: "You will not under any circumstances give any information on UFO activity to any press, radio, or television reporter or representative. This is a matter of National Security, and all press releases will be made by the Brazilian Air Force Public Relations Department."

A 1973 Sao Paulo State directive, entitled Institutional Act No. 5 (State Security), warns:

"It is forbidden for TV, radio, newspapers, and other news media to divulge UFO reports without the prior censorship of the Brazilian Air Force."

My Take:  Why does Brazil have such a strict policy on the reporting of UFOs?

---

Project Moon Dust

Of the 139 pages of DIA documents now released, four contain intriguing references to "Project Moon Dust". This project was, and possibly still is, a foreign space debris program of the US Air Force System Command’s Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and while its primary function would seem to be the recovery of missile and satellite debris, there are indications that it has also been involved in the recovery of more exotic artifacts.

A UFO sighting over Agadir, Morocco, on 11/12 January 1967, for example, led to translations of two articles being sent to the DIA by the US Defense Attache in Rabat, who commented: "the page one coverage afforded this sighting demonstrates a high level of local interest in the subject of UFOs and presages future reporting which could be valuable in pursuit of Project MOON DUST". Another UFO report from Morocco a couple of months later gave "Project MOON DUST" as its reference.

Ray Boeche has subsequently uncovered further information about the project, having filed a number of Freedom of Information requests with the CIA, DIA, Department of Defense, National Security Council and Air Force. Ray informed me that Project Moon Dust was "definitely UFO-related", but no really significant documents have been released to him so far.

My Take:  Maybe Project moon dust’s real purpose was UFO recovery and its cover was satellite debris.

---

1965 - 1968: New Zealand

The DIA apparently showed great interest in the controversial theories of Captain Bruce Cathie, the New Zealand airline pilot who claims to have discovered evidence for a worldwide grid system used by UFOs. Cathie’s meetings with US Defense Attaches in Wellington are documented, as well as his correspondence with them, in the released DIA documents.

Cathie first approached the US Embassy in Washington in the mid-1960s, since which time the DIA kept a file on him. The earliest documented memo is from Colonel John Burnett, Air Attache, to the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson AFB, dated 26 August 1965, from which I quote the following extract:

Captain Cathie visited with me for about one half hour. I observed this New Zealander to be not only rational but intelligent and convinced that certain UFOs he and others have seen are from outer space, probably Venus. He hesitated in expressing his beliefs re the Venus origin, explaining that it usually tended to convince people that he was a bit of a crackpot.

The Foreign Technology Division responded by sending Colonel Burnett a brochure outlining the findings of the Air Force on UFOs, adding: “Since no evidence exists that these objects represent interstellar travel there is no basis for Captain Cathie’s beliefs”. Despite the FTD’s apparent skepticism. Colonel Burnett continued to send them details of Cathie’s findings and calculations for at least another year.

Bruce Cathie told me that it was Colonel Burnett who revealed that intensive UFO research was carried out at Wright-Patterson AFB, referred to in Cathie’s second book:

“The scientific laboratory there, set up for the purpose, was described as a complex of buildings covering a large area and staffed by many of the world’s top scientists. Experimental work was carried out twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. At one stage the official [Colonel Burnett] asked me if I would consider a trip to America to visit the base. Naturally I said I would. Anytime they cared to put out an invitation. Perhaps the idea was vetoed in the States, for 1 heard no more of this.”

It is difficult to prove such a sensational allegation, but there is no reason to doubt Captain Cathie’s integrity. Naturally, there is no reference to this in any of the DIA documents on him.

By 1967 Colonel Burnett had been replaced by Colonel Lewis Walker, who seems to have been less impressed with Cathie’s ideas than his predecessor. But this did not prevent Walker from forwarding Cathie’s material to the DIA at the Pentagon. An Intelligence Information Report dated 8 February 1968 states:

“Captain Cathie is still employed as an aircraft F-27 Friendship pilot by National Airways Corporation. His superiors know of his interest and activity in UFO’s and his forthcoming book “Harmonic 33”. He has been checked for security reasons and no adverse reports are known.  He admits that many people consider him some kind of nut but he persists in his theory. On [ ] January 1968 he came to my office and reported that four UFO’s had been detected by the Auckland Air Traffic Control radarscope on [ ] January 1968 at 23:35 hours local time. Three objects were 15 miles apart in line, with the fourth object in line 30 miles behind the three. Relative speed was extremely high. In addition, two UFO’s, disc-shaped, appeared east of Auckland Airport on the same track as first four. Captain Cathie was asked if official reports were submitted on these sightings, and he said no, that Civil Aviation personnel had been warned not to report any more of these observations. Captain Cathie was advised to submit any additional information he might have.

Captain Cathie is a lean, wiry New Zealander, with an apparently above average knowledge of mathematics. He is intensely sincere in his efforts, he is spending an enormous amount of time and effort trying to prove his theory that an overall master plan exists by an alien race, purpose not defined.”

By May 1968, however, Colonel Walker seems to have become fed up with Cathie. A report to the DIA dated 1 May indicates that although Cathie was not considered a “nut,” on the last three occasions that he called at the Defense Attache’s office to discuss his latest findings, “These conversations were ignored.” Cathie had complained that he had been put under surveillance and that in April he had been accosted by three Americans in Invercargill, who had asked him to accompany them, which he refused to do. Cathie believed that these men came from a US Navy vessel, but according to Colonel Walker the only US ship that was south of Auckland at the time was the USS Eltanin, which was in the Antarctic, however. The report concludes:

“Capt. Cathie said that he had been cleared by the NZ government to pursue his research and that he had a letter to this effect signed by the Prime Minister. He stated that the Member of Parliament from his area. Dr. Findley, had interceded for him and obtained government approval for his work. He then asked the DATT [Defense Attache to “call your agents off. I have official approval to continue my work. I don’t want them tailing me.”

The DATT made no reply to this request. This man is obsessed with his theory and no amount of argument can convince him that he has not stumbled on a highly complicated system which he says leads directly to the existence of UFOs.

Timothy Good sent copies of these documents to Captain Cathie in 1986, and asked him for a comment. “He [Colonel Walker] is only saying that in his opinion I am obsessed with my research”, he replied, “and that there is no way they can talk me out of it. Which is fairly correct, except for the word obsessed. My research is my hobby and I find it most interesting. The evidence which I now have on hand will prove without doubt that my unified equations are correct.”

My Take:  Captain Cathie was very brave to opening explore UFOs while putting career in jeopardy.

---

1968: Argentina.

The extent of the DIA’s interest in UFO reports can be demonstrated by its efficiency in collecting news cuttings on the subject, and a wave of sightings in Argentina from June to August 1968 led to the Defense Attache in Buenos Aires, Colonel Charles Greffet, forwarding no less than twenty-three news clippings to the Pentagon. It could be argued that the DIA is merely the world’s most expensive news clipping agency, or that its only concern is with UFO reports that relate to hostile foreign aircraft or missiles. While it is obvious that mundane intelligence gathering is the DIA’s primary function, many reports, such as the following summaries, reflect a concern with more exotic UFOs:

1. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 8 Jun 68, Describes how two experienced pilots, 22 and 13 years with Aerolineas Argentinas, saw a UFO while flying over Punta Arenas.

2. Los Principlos (Cordoba) 5 July 68, Outlines details on the invention of a geomagnetic and light detector to warn of the presence of UFOs. Second article, same source, quotes Argentine Commander-in-Chief of Navy as suggesting that Argentine armed forces are participating in an investigation of UFOs.

3. Diario del Pueblo (Tandil) 13 July 68, Describes landing of a UFO at the Air Force Base at Tandil.

4. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 26 July 68, Describes attempt by five policemen in Olavarria to capture and later shoot three crew members of UFO.

5. La Razon (Buenos Aires) 27 July 68, Relates new sighting near La Pastora, Alvear, and Tapalque. The latter describes the crew and inability of machine-gun bullets to affect them.

6. La Razon 3 Aug 68, Relates argument by a Professor Alexander Eru supporting theory of flying saucers.

Colonel Greffet comments: "It is significant to note that a state of concern exists [among] the population in many parts of Argentina."

Reference No. 3 mentions the suggestion that the Argentine armed forces were participating in an investigation of UFOs. Back in 1964, in fact, the volume of sightings had grown so huge that the Argentine Air Force set up its own UFO department, known as Division OVNI. And in 1978 the gendarmeria of Argentina released official police reports of sightings (many having occurred in 1968) to the lawyer Antonio Baragiola.

Resources: Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988.

My Take:  This is just the tip of the iceberg of the government’s real interest in UFOs. This information is just what has been released through the cracks in the government’s cone of silence.