According to the Associated Press, "U.S. military officials said Wednesday (Jan. 23) that fighter jets were training in a rural area the night of Jan. 8 when dozens of people reported seeing a UFO."
"Although officials at the Naval Air Station Reserve Base in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes were in the area of the UFO reports, they changed their story Wednesday, saying that 10 F-16 fighter jets were training near Stephenville, about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, about the time of the sightings," the AP reported.
Were these military aircraft responsible for the unusual lights seen by some Texas witnesses? It seems possible.
That was one explanation for the 1997 "Phoenix lights" incident. At first, no Air Force aircraft were reported in the sky.
Later, it was claimed that visiting out-of-town Air Guard or Reserve units were training at a nearby military air gunnery range that night, and dropping flares.
However, many of the Texans who reportedly witnessed unusual events in early January have stated that the lights they saw were not like any conventional aircraft, civilian or military.
Some claimed that what appeared to be military jets were pursuing the huge object or craft, which was able to take off at incredible speeds.
And some witnesses in both Texas and Arizona said they saw not far off lights, but an up-close solid object the size of several football fields – maybe a mile long and a half-mile wide.
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS
According to some researchers, it seems to happen in similar ways in many UFO sightings: Cover stories are attempted, hoax efforts are injected and activities are implemented to calm down the situation and create reasonable doubt about the UFO incident.
Special operatives or officers may even talk to witnesses about what they saw or experienced.
Consider a possible scenario that some UFO researchers say could be true. Military public affairs officers/public information officers (PAOs/PIOs) get a visit from agents of special activities groups who advise them to help out with a cover story, or maybe a few cover stories.
Maybe the PAO/PIO doesn't believe them. Maybe the special activities guys don't believe it either. But, hey, it's your job to follow orders and implement what the higher ups are telling you to do. That's how you earn your paycheck.
And, after all, it is a serious matter of national security. That part is probably true.
Click image to watch video.
Stephenville, TX UFO Witness |
Do you want to keep making rank in the Air Force or watch your career take a nose dive? Or even face more serious consequences? Put out the press release, make statements to the media and do your duty.
Will people believe the alternate explanation story? Maybe. And maybe it doesn't matter. It will sow seeds of doubt in many people's minds.
Those Texas hicks saw Air Force jets, maybe dropping flares. They were Air Force planes. The lights were flares. It was some kind of reflection of light off of clouds. It wasn't a huge solid object that took off at supersonic speeds.
Or, are we at this point now that the special activities guys are just going through the same old drill, but knowing that the American people don't necessarily believe the cover stories anymore?
Maybe the acclimation processes and timing are right for citizens to start understanding more about a serious and important matter, including the activities of people and groups trying to manage the situation.
Roswell Army Air Field PAO/PIO Lt. Walter Haut passed on not too long ago.
He left sworn affidavits about his role in issuing the press release to the media back in July 1947 at the request of the base commanding officer, Col. William Blanchard.
Before his passing and in his affidavits, Haut expressed his beliefs about what happened in Roswell.
For those interested, Haut's role back then and in subsequent decades is enlightening.
OSINT AND HUMINT
Open source intelligence (OSINT) is intel that is available via public platforms: media, books, public records and similar kinds of sources. We had OSINT operations in World War II and it is now a growing and more valuable type of intel due to the explosion of information on the Web.
OSINT could be considered quite related to human intelligence (HUMINT) gathering and sources – getting and reporting information from people. When we are interviewing or talking with people and absorbing information, or when we read materials or see people on TV, we are taking in HUMINT.
When we learn what people are saying, writing or doing via TV, books the Web or other public platforms, we are gathering OSINT HUMINT.
As consumers of this kind of information, we use our judgment and common sense about what is true, false, slanted, deceptive and what kind of "spin" is involved. We know that things are not always what they seem and there are often hidden agendas of many kinds.
This is also true for news, information, research and OSINT. We want to look beneath the surface and get a good and accurate picture of the truth – or as much truth as is available.
In cases such as UFO sightings and other anomalous and unusual phenomena, this is just as important as picking a candidate to vote for, doing consumer research before a big purchase or getting information about a possible vacation spot.
As we know from advertising, public relations, politics and other fields, we want to be intelligent about not getting fooled, seeing past deceptive claims and being responsible consumers, citizens and human beings.
When trying to interpret what happened in Stephenville, Texas, this month or in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, and a lot of incidents and developments in between, being careful about the OSINT and HUMINT we are exposed to can be very helpful.
The word "intelligence" has many meanings. As we take a good look at pieces of evidence, many indications, apparently reliable HUMINT and other kinds of OSINT, we can make sense of reports like those coming out of Texas.
Analyzing this intel and coming to reasonably accurate conclusions is up to each of us. And we are up to this challenge.
