Inman recording in Dreamland
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Recording | Bob Oechsler's taped telephone call with retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, 1988 |
|---|---|
| First published | Timothy Good, Alien Liaison (1991), chapter 10, p. 191 |
| Wider audience | Bruce Burgess's documentary Dreamland (DVD released 7 July 2007) |
| Key line | On "recovered vehicles": "Ten years ago the answer would have been no" |
| Inman's response | Called the book "filled with fabrication and distortions"; said he saw no credible evidence of extraterrestrials in 22 years in intelligence |
| Investigated by | Armen Victorian, Lobster (1992) |
| Date | 7 July 2007 |
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Bobby Ray Inman, Bob Oechsler |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 164 |
| Year | 2007 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2007 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
The researcher Bob Oechsler recorded a telephone call in 1988 with retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, former director of the National Security Agency and deputy director of the CIA.[3][4] The recording reached a wider audience when it was played in the documentary Dreamland, whose DVD edition was released in July 2007.[1][2] Its best-known passage seems to have Inman discussing "recovered vehicles". The British researcher Armen Victorian obtained the full tape and found "not a single specific reference to the subject of UFOs" in it, and Inman said his views had been completely misrepresented.[3]
The recording
Oechsler said he approached Inman in May 1988 "seeking guidance on how to get access to information on non-human-made disk technology" in government hands. He said the admiral "validated that the government had information, and provided me with the names of people I should see".[6] In the call Oechsler asked Inman for advice on obtaining information about recovered craft.[3]
In the best-known exchange, published by Timothy Good in his 1991 book Alien Liaison, Oechsler asked whether "any of the recovered vehicles would ever become available for technological research".[3] Inman replied that he did not know:[3]
- Ten years earlier. "Ten years ago the answer would have been no."
- Now. Whether officials were "beginning to become more open on it, there's a possibility."
- Whom to ask. Inman named a former CIA official, the agency's retired deputy director for science and technology, Mr Hineman, as "probably … the best person to put that kind of question to".
Grant Cameron's account of Oechsler's claims adds two more. Oechsler said Inman told him "that MJ-12 meant something to him", and that he had known of a program to "indoctrinate the public" on UFOs before he retired.[5] These remarks appear in Oechsler's descriptions, not in the published transcript.[3][5]
Dreamland
Dreamland is a documentary by the filmmaker and journalist Bruce Burgess about Area 51. It presents footage of lights over the base and claims about black projects, abductions and the reverse-engineering of alien technology. Burgess is described as a former skeptic who was converted.[2] A copy on YouTube carries the film with the Oechsler–Inman segment, linked at about the one-hour mark.[1][7] The video could not be transcribed for this article, so the exact portion of the call played in the film is not quoted.[1][7]
Victorian's investigation
Armen Victorian set out to check chapter 10 of Alien Liaison in a 1992 article for Lobster, "Curious liaisons":[3]
- The full tape. He obtained the entire call from Oechsler and found no specific reference to UFOs. A second listener whom Oechsler named, John Dingley, confirmed this on 14 July 1991.
- Inman's letter to Good. In a letter of 18 December 1989, which Good did not print, Inman told Good: "Unfortunately I do not know of any information which could be of assistance to you for your UFO report."
- Inman's verdict. Asked about the book in July 1991, Inman replied: "I believe all these allegations to be false." He had no awareness of "MJ12", and the book was "filled with fabrication and distortions".
- Inman's clarification. On 5 August 1991 he wrote that he had no recollection of Oechsler's card. Hill-Norton's name was the main reason he took the call at all, and he "did not understand until well into his dialogue that his research was about Unidentified Flying Objects."
Victorian also checked other figures in the chapter:[3]
- Shapiro. Retired Rear Adm. Shapiro, former head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, called Oechsler "a fraud" and said he had dismissed him almost immediately.
- Stafford. Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, identified as the "General" who supposedly warned Oechsler off, did not remember meeting him. Asked if he had seen evidence of flying saucers, he said, "Hell no."
- NASA. A NASA reduced-gravity official called Oechsler's account of an "anti-gravity chamber" "hogwash".
Interpretation
Oechsler took Inman's remarks as hinting that recovered craft existed.[3][6] Others noted that the phrase "recovered vehicles" was introduced by Oechsler, and that Inman never said anything about UFOs or aliens.[3] Inman said Oechsler had "totally misrepresented" a conversation with Shapiro, and that "complete misrepresentation" of both men's views had occurred. He added, "I distrust any and all stories and conclusions that have been conveyed."[3]
Inman's later view
Inman's later view, as stated to Victorian, was that UFO reports did not point to anything extraterrestrial. "Throughout 22 years of service in the intelligence community, I never encountered any credible evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial or interplanetary entities. I do not believe any credible evidence of such activity exists."[3] When President Clinton named Inman to succeed Les Aspin as Secretary of Defense in December 1993, UFO researchers revived the tape. The Independent reported that "UFO-spotters" saw him as a repository of saucer secrets.[4][6] He withdrew from the nomination in January 1994.[4] The recording remains one of the most-cited items involving a very senior intelligence official, though it contains no explicit statement about UFOs.[3]
People and topics
- Bobby Ray Inman — Former NSA director and CIA deputy director.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Bob Oechsler — UFO researcher who recorded a conversation with Adm. Bobby Ray Inman.
- National Security Agency — The U.S. signals intelligence agency, which holds UFO-related intercepts.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Area 51 — The secret Nevada test site where spy planes and stealth aircraft were developed.
On the Timeline
- DARPA zero-point energy test (2007) (27 May 2007) — Haisch tells Vallée a DARPA-funded zero-point energy test is negative so far.
- Puthoff locates the hardware program (2007) (4 August 2007) — Puthoff tells Vallée he thinks he knows where the secret UFO hardware program hides.
See every 2007 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Bobby Ray Inman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- "Dreamland — a UFO documentary" (YouTube) · youtu.be · archived copy
- "Dreamland" (DVD), Amazon · amazon.com · archived copy
- Armen Victorian, "Curious liaisons", Lobster 23 (1992) · lobster-magazine.co.uk · archived copy
- Bobby Ray Inman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- The Oechsler–Inman taped conversation · whitehouseufo.blogspot.com · archived copy
- The Independent, 19 Dec 1993 — Patrick Gross · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- youtu.be · youtu.be · archived copy
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Bobby Ray Inman”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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.
No discussion yet.