UFO News

Anthony Bragalia writes, "Since the 1940's the U.S. government has quietly engaged one of its key defense and intelligence agency contractors as a secret UFO "think tank." New investigation reveals that the esteemed RAND Corporation is a "think tank" that has given far more than "passing thought" to things extraterrestrial. RAND's hidden history of UFO involvement has been discovered to include work in policy analysis; evaluation of evidence and in advising on the potential technological advantages achieved from UFO study. Telling connections have also been found between RAND and the Roswell crash event of 1947.

RAND Corporation was established in 1946 by the U.S. Army Air Force as Project RAND (for Research and Development) and is today registered as a nonprofit organization. It is funded through government contracts, university collaborators and by "private donors." RAND's primary agency clients include the CIA and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.) Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA the think tank maintains branches worldwide. RAND's stated mission is to "help to improve policy and decision making through objective research and analysis." Its work is officially conducted "for the public welfare and security of the United States of America." Over 30 Nobel Prize winners have been employed by RAND. From physics to economics, the 2000 person think tank provides high-level information and evaluation to the U.S. government. Deeper review shows that RAND has conducted studies in such areas as weapons development, intelligence gathering and analysis and the design of sensitive underground installations for the USAF. Far more concealed is RAND's intimate involvement in highly classified UFO study for the U.S. government:

RAND'S FOUNDERS HELD THE SECRET OF THE SAUCERS

From its very inception, the men of RAND knew much about saucers. RAND was conceived by Donald Douglas, CEO of Douglas Aircraft along with two military officer luminaries. Douglas often confided in friends about the reality of the UFOs. These officers carried with them significant "UFO histories." The officers behind RAND were Major General Curtis LeMay (the US Air Force's Chief of Development) and General Hap Arnold (considered the "father" of the modern U.S. Air Force.) In May of 1948 RAND was separated from Douglas Aircraft and became its own operating entity. Among RAND's earliest government reports was the release of the enigmatically titled, "Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship."

General Curtis LeMay expressed deep interest and concern about the flying saucer phenomena. More than this, LeMay himself was a keeper of the purported 1947 Roswell UFO crash debris. This was revealed in a stunningly candid interview with the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater (a former U.S. Presidential Candidate, Major General and Command Pilot) was General LeMay's professional associate and close friend.

LeMay's UFO involvement was related by Goldwater in a live worldwide broadcast with CNN's Larry King in 1994. The USAF had just issued its report that debunked the Roswell crash of 1947 as a Mogul balloon. Goldwater (who died just a few years later) informed King that he knew the truth to be far different. He knew this, he explained, because in the 1960's he had approached LeMay about the crashed UFO issue. Goldwater -who no doubt himself held the highest security clearances- told Larry King:

"I think at Wright-Patterson, if you could get into certain places, you'll find what the Air Force and the government knows about UFOs. Reportedly, a spaceship landed. It was all hushed up. I called Curtis LeMay and I said, 'General, I know we have a room at Wright Patterson where you put all of this secret stuff. Could I go in there? I've never heard General LeMay get mad, but he got madder than hell at me, cussed me out and said, 'Don't ever ask me that question again!" Goldwater never did.

LeMay was very well-acquainted with Roswell Army Air Field Base Commander Butch Blanchard. Blanchard oversaw the base at the time of the Roswell crash event in 1947. It is believed that Blanchard helped issue the original press release on the crash- which prompted the famous resulting headline "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region."

Blanchard's former wife and daughter Dale say that he was highly affected and visibly upset by the event. He repeated only, "those Russians have some amazing things." Roswell mayor William Brainerd says that Blanchard told him, "What I saw was the damndest thing I've ever seen!" To Art McQuiddy -editor of the Roswell Morning Dispatch in 1947- Blanchard said when questioned, "I'll tell you this and nothing more- the stuff I saw I'd never seen anyplace else in my life."