Posted On: August 12, 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 New Zealand, Argentina and Project Moon Dust.

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: August 12, 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 New Zealand, Argentina and Project Moon Dust.

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.