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to be someone prone to making mistakes, much less monumental blunders. (He would go on to achieve one of the highest peacetime ranks attainable in the U.S. military, a four- star general and Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.) Credible witnesses, including two brigadier generals, have subsequently testified that the original press release issued by Blanchard was correct and that the Roswell wreckage appeared to be a flying disk. While these events tend to evoke a response of immediate dismissal, the preponderance of subsequent evidence seems to indicate that some very significant event did occur. But what? And why 50 years of government cover-up? On January 12, 1994, United States Congressman Steven Schiff of Albuquerque, New Mexico, stated to the press that he had been stonewalled by the Defense Department when requesting information regarding the 1947 Roswell event on behalf of constituents and witnesses. Indicating he was seeking further investigation into the matter, Congressman Schiff called the Defense Department's lack of response "astounding" and concluded it was apparently "another government cover-up." Agencies in which something might be known, including the CIA, have refused to cooperate with investigators. When seeking Roswell or UFO-related documents through the Freedom of Information Act, researchers have been repeatedly stonewalled. Claims are made that documents don't exist or can't be released for national security reasons. (Events of 50 years ago?) The few documents that have been released have often been so blacked out that they are rendered meaningless. On the one hand, numerous government agencies continue to declare that UFOs don't exist, and yet they continue to hide behind "national security" to skirt the Freedom of Information Act and other inquiries. High- level inquiries have revealed that UFOs appear to involve the highest categories of security classifications available.’ Why? In October 1969, while Governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter had reported a UFO sighting. Later, in 1976 as a presidential candidate, he pledged: "If I become president, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFOs available to the public and the scientists." Yet after Jimmy Carter was elected President, he never said one more word about it publicly after taking office. If he found there was no information to release, why did he not announce it? Doing so would have been a natural and easy way to honor his commitment. Yet, the detailed public information on the recovery of the wreckage at Roswell and of related events is quite extensive. A number of books, television documentaries, and movies have been made. Some years ago investigators were able to obtain a copy of the 1947 Roswell Army Air Field yearbook, which has enabled them to locate witnesses throughout the country The first witness located by investigators who was willing to testify and allow his name to be used was retired Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell. He was one of the first two military officers at the actual crash site. It is hard to believe that some-one with his qualifications and experience—the intelligence officer of one of the most elite units in the world—would have mistaken the remains of a weather balloon and its radar reflector for that of a craft that, in his words, moo. eat Rou 36 was "not of this Earth."