GAO Roswell records report
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 28 July 1995 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Steven Schiff, Philip Klass |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 123 |
| Year | 1995 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1995 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
On 28 July 1995 the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reported to Representative Steven Schiff of New Mexico on its search for government records about the 1947 Roswell incident. It found only two contemporary records and discovered that some Roswell Army Air Field records had been destroyed without any note of who destroyed them or why.[1][2]
The request
In 1993 Schiff, who said the Defense Department had given him unhelpful answers, asked the GAO to identify the reporting rules that applied to such an event and to locate any related records. Auditors searched records of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Council and the National Archives, and asked the White House science office and the Department of Energy.[1][2]
Findings
- The 509th Bomb Group's history for July 1947 recorded that the base information office had been busy answering questions about the "flying disc", which turned out to be a radar-tracking balloon.[1]
- An FBI teletype of 8 July 1947 reported an Eighth Air Force officer's description of a hexagonal disc suspended from a balloon, which resembled a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector.[1]
- Roswell Army Air Field's administrative records from March 1945 to December 1949, and its outgoing messages from October 1946 to December 1949, had been destroyed, with no record of who destroyed them or under what authority.[1]
- The Defense Department said the Air Force's 1994 report, which attributed the debris to the secret Project Mogul balloon program, contained all its information.[1]
Reaction
Schiff said the destroyed messages were permanent records that should not have been destroyed and could have shown what base officers reported to their superiors. Skeptic Philip Klass noted that the missing messages covered a three-year period, not just July 1947, and that the destruction of old base records was routine; Roswell researchers saw it as suspicious. Schiff died in 1998.[2][3][4]
People and topics
- Steven Schiff — New Mexico congressman who asked the GAO to search for Roswell records.
- Roswell — The New Mexico town at the center of the 1947 crash story.
- General Accounting Office — The investigative arm of Congress.
- Roswell incident — The July 1947 recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico, announced as a "flying disc" and then explained as a weather balloon.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Roswell Army Air Field — The bomber base at Roswell, home of the 509th Bomb Group in 1947.
- Project Mogul — A secret Army Air Forces program using balloon trains to detect Soviet nuclear tests, blamed by the Air Force for the Roswell debris.
- Philip Klass — Aviation journalist and leading UFO skeptic.
On the Timeline
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- Dan Sherman and abduction messages (Mid 1995) — Sherman says his messages seemed to involve alien abductions.
- Henry Diamond letter to John Gibbons (1995) (1 November 1995) — A letter to the White House science adviser discusses Laurance Rockefeller's UAP efforts.
See every 1995 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Government Records: Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico", GAO/NSIAD-95-187 (28 Jul 1995) · govinfo.gov · archived copy
- Rep. Steven Schiff, press release on the GAO Roswell report (28 Jul 1995), Project 1947 · project1947.com · archived copy
- Philip J. Klass, special report on the GAO Roswell search, Skeptical Inquirer (Nov/Dec 1995) · centerforinquiry.s3.amazonaws.com · archived copy
- Steven Schiff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- GAO report on Roswell records (GAO/NSIAD-95-187) — FAS · sgp.fas.org · archived copy
- UFO documents destroyed unjustifiably, lawmaker says — Deseret News · deseret.com · archived copy
- ufologie.patrickgross.org · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- ufologie.patrickgross.org · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFOs and the Air Force: records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Steven Schiff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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