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16 "That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project 'Saucer' report. It admits they haven't identified the disks in any important cases. They say it's still serious enough--wait a minute--"he thumbed through the stapled papers--" 'to require constant vigilance by Project "Saucer" personnel and the civilian population." "I don't mean it's an out-and-out denial," said Purdy. "It doesn't mention the Post--just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts itself. It looks as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're scared to say too much." I looked at the title on the report: "A Digest of Preliminary Studies by the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on 'Flying Saucers." "You mean its contradicting the Post?" He shook his head. "No, the Pentagon press release didn't get much space. How many editors would wade through a six-thousand- word government report? Even if they did, they'd have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece." "Sidney Shallett--and he's careful. He had Forrestal's backing. The Air Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.'d his script, which practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it." sug, gested. "Why the quick change?" demanded Purdy. "Let's say they sold the Post on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It's possible, though I don't believe it. Or they could simply have fed them a fake story. Either {(p. 20} "You'd think the Post would make a public kick," I said. "Have the papers caught it yet?" I asked Purdy. "Who wrote the Post story?" Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers. "Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to brush it off," I Way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the Post hit the stands?" "Something serious happened," I said, "after the Post went to press." "Yes, but what?" Purdy said impatiently. "That's what we've got to find out." "Does Shallett's first piece mention Mantell's death?"