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unfolding UFO events, as they were during the Hudson Valley sightings in the 1980s, and provide ridiculous and false explanations when pressed. We also know that UFO documents have been previously classified by government agencies, as shown by their later release through the Freedom of Information Act, and that some information still remains so. National Security Agency UFO files were released in 1997, following a lawsuit years earlier, but they were so heavily redacted (the NSA stated all deletions had to do with protecting sensitive sources and methods) that they were virtually useless. In response to FOIA requests, agencies have initially denied having documents on file which turn up later somewhere else, or are found in a second search. Researchers have discovered that in many UFO cases for which official reports were filed at the time, none can be found later when looking in the logical places. And as also stated in the Bolender memo, UFO reports affecting national security were to be filed outside the Blue Book system. Where are these files, and why can't they all be released? Over the years, even senior government officials have made an effort to access hidden UFO evidence. Senator Barry Goldwater attempted to penetrate the vaults at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the home of Project Blue Book, during the UFO "golden age" of the 1960s, and described his efforts in a series of letters he wrote in response to inquiries years later. Goldwater, a licensed pilot and retired major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, had studied reputable pilot reports and had a longtime interest in the subject. He was convinced that a secret UFO x eee program did exist. "About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information is stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still classified above Top Secret," he wrote in a 1975 letter. [2] In a 1981 letter to a researcher, Goldwater said that, regarding this effort, "I have had one long string of denials from chief after chief, so I have given up ... this thing has gotten so highly classified, even though I will admit there is a lot of it that has been released, it is just impossible to get anything on it." [3] And in 1983 he wrote: "I have no idea of who controls the flow of ‘need-to-know’ because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I've never tried to make it my business since." [4] Finally, when asked during a 1994 radio interview, Senator Goldwater said: "I think the government does know. I can't back that up, but I think that at Wright-Patterson field, if you could get into certain places, you'd find out what the Air Force and the government knows about UFOs ... I called Curtis LeMay and I said, 'General, I know we have a room at Wright-Patterson where you put all this secret stuff. Could I go in there?’ I've never heard him get mad, but he got madder than hell at me, cussed me out, and said, 'Don't ever ask me that question again!"" [5] 1994 radio Senator