What You Should Know about James Oberg's Track Record

UFO "skeptic" James Oberg is currently challenging the validity of the material found in journalist Leslie Kean's excellent new book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record. Oberg is a founding member of a rather interesting organization, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) now renamed the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

Actually, CSI is a skeptical organization in name only when it comes to the subject of UFOs. For the real story, including the very interesting and generally-unpublicized past government affiliations of some of its key members, including James Oberg, read my article Reporter Duped by UFO Debunkers.

A few days ago, I posted a short article titled "UFO-Spin in the UK" in which I questioned British journalism professor Dr. David Clarke's opinion on the significance of recent UFO document releases by his government. Clarke believes that this voluntary action is indicative of a policy of complete candor regarding UFOs on the part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). I begged to differ, noting that at least one highly-sensitive case—involving a UFO hovering near a nuclear weapons storage facility at the American-run RAF Bentwaters airbase, in December 1980—has yet to be acknowledged by the British government.

The British Government is declassifying UFO documents. But do they tell the whole story?

Last week, amid much media fanfare, the British government declassified another batch of UFO-related documents—the sixth such release in recent years—in response to ongoing public interest in the phenomenon. UK journalism professor Dr. David Clarke is a consultant to that country's National Archives and has more or less set himself up as an expert on what this, and the previous document-releases, tell us about the British government's knowledge of UFOs.

Persons familiar with my work know that I investigate nuclear weapons-related UFO activity. Over the past 37 years, I have interviewed more than 120 former or retired U.S. military personnel who were involved in UFO incidents at nuclear missile sites, weapons storage depots, strategic bomber bases, or atmospheric test sites in Nevada and the Pacific. Many of my findings are available at my website, www.ufohastings.com. A more comprehensive summary may be found in my 600-page book UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of ex-Soviet Army personnel came forward and began discussing their involvement in similar incidents in that country during the Cold War era. One of those events occurred on October 4, 1982, near the Ukrainian town of Byelokoroviche, when a disc-shaped UFO apparently hovered over a nuclear missile base for an extended period. At one point during the encounter, a number of nuclear missiles suddenly activated—without authorization from Moscow or any action being taken by the missile launch officers—and were preparing to launch! Had they done so, World War III would have very probably been underway. Fortunately, after 15 seconds, the anomalous activation ceased and the missiles returned to stand-by status. A subsequent investigation by the Soviet government discovered no equipment malfunctions that would have explained the event.

"From time to time in the history of science, situations have arisen in which a problem of ultimately enormous importance went begging for adequate attention simply because that problem appeared to involve phenomena so far outside the current bounds of scientific knowledge that it was not even regarded as a legitimate subject of serious scientific concern. That is precisely the situation in which the UFO problem now lies. One of the principal results of my own recent intensive study of the UFO enigma is this: I have become convinced that the scientific community, not only in this country but throughout the world, has been casually ignoring as nonsense a matter of extraordinary scientific importance."1

The highly-classified Big Sur UFO Incident—according to the former/retired U.S. Air Force officers who publicly revealed it—involved the inadvertent telescopic filming of a UFO that had suddenly appeared near a dummy nuclear warhead in flight. Both men say that the unknown object approached and circled the warhead and used beams of light to shoot it down.

Former Lieutenant (now Dr.) Robert Jacobs and retired Major (later Dr.) Florenze J. Mansmann, Jr.—both of whom were highly-decorated by the Air Force and eventually became distinguished academicians—are adamant that the nearly unbelievable incident occurred and say that the amazing film was quickly confiscated by the CIA.

One of the most spectacular UFO cases of all time involved a series of incidents at two neighboring Anglo/American air bases in Suffolk, England, in December 1980. The bases, RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge, were separated by a small forest. Consequently, the multiple UFO events which occurred there are collectively known as the Bentwaters-Woodbridge-Rendlesham Forest Case. However, most people nowadays simply refer to it as the Bentwaters case.

On August 11, 2008, I sat down with Albuquerque Journal reporter John Fleck to discuss my extensive research on nuclear weapons-related UFO activity and the publication of my 600-page book, UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites. Over the last 35 years, I have interviewed nearly 100 former or retired U.S. Air Force nuclear missile personnel, including launch officers, targeting officers, maintenance personnel and security guards. These individuals report ongoing UFO surveillance of our strategic weapons sites, as well as the occasional disruption of those weapons' functionality, just after UFOs were observed to be in their vicinity.

To verify these veterans' statements to me, I provided reporter Fleck with copies of verbatim testimony from a few of them, a copy of my book which contained the testimony of a great many more, and four pages of USAF/NORAD documents, declassified via the Freedom of Information Act, which describe multiple UFO incursions at Minuteman missile sites outside of Malmstrom AFB, Montana, in November 1975.

In spite of this well-documented presentation, Fleck subsequently wrote an exceedingly biased and dismissive article about my research, titled "Book Links UFOs to Nukes," in the August 25, 2008 issue of the Journal, which concluded that my contentions of a UFO-Nukes Connection were "wrong" based on the statements of "independent experts." More on those alleged experts in a moment.

Of all the interviews I've conducted with former or retired ICBM launch officers over the past three decades, this was perhaps the most disturbing. According to the source, David H. Schuur, a UFO had apparently activated the launch sequence in most of his Minuteman missiles.

In August 2007, Schuur told me, "I saw your request for information in the [June 2007] Association of Air Force Missileers Newsletter. I was involved in a UFO incident at Minot AFB in the mid-1960s. I had read your earlier article [in the September 2002 AAFM Newsletter] but was hesitant to respond." I asked Schuur why he had been hesitant. He replied, "Well, we were basically told, way back when, that it was classified information and, you know, it didn't happen and don't discuss it. I guess I was still operating on that idea when I saw your first article."

Although the vast majority of Americans are completely unaware of its existence, the UFO/Nukes Connection is now remarkably well-documented. Air Force, FBI, and CIA files declassified via the Freedom of Information Act establish a convincing, ongoing pattern of UFO activity at U.S. nuclear weapons sites extending back to December 1948.

For more than 30 years, I have been interviewing former and retired U.S. Air Force personnel regarding their direct or indirect involvement in nuclear weapons-related UFO sighting incidents. These individuals—from retired colonels to former airmen—report extraordinary encounters which have obvious national security implications. In fact, taken to their logical conclusion, the reported incidents have planetary implications, given the horrific consequences that would result from a full-scale, global nuclear war.

At the time of their experiences, my former/retired USAF sources held positions ranging from nuclear missile launch and targeting officers, to missile maintenance personnel, to missile security police. The incidents described occurred at Malmstrom, Minot, F.E. Warren, Ellsworth, Vandenberg, and Walker AFBs, between 1963 and 1996. Other sources were stationed at Wurtsmith and Loring AFBs, where B-52 nuclear bombers were based during the Cold War era.

To date, I have interviewed over 50 individuals who were involved in various UFO-related incidents at Strategic Air Command bases or remote sites. I have selected the statements of 20 of those persons for presentation here. An expanded discussion of this material will appear in my forthcoming book, The UFO/Nukes Connection.