ecause some of the reports, even though
they were from military sources, were difficult to believe.

Prior to the Washington sightings in only a very few of the many
instances in which radar had picked up UFO targets had the targets
themselves supposedly been seen visually. Radar experts had
continually pointed out this fact to us as an indication that maybe
all of the radar targets were caused by freak weather conditions. "If
people had just seen a light, or an object, near where the radar
showed the UFO target to be, you would have a lot more to worry
about," radar technicians had told me many times.

Now people were seeing the same targets that the radars were picking
up, and not just at Washington.

On the same night as the second Washington sighting we had a really
good report from California. An ADC radar had picked up an
unidentified target and an F-94C had been scrambled. The radar
vectored the jet interceptor into the target, the radar operator in
the '94 locked-on to it, and as the airplane closed in the pilot and
RO saw that they were headed directly toward a large, yellowish-
orange light. For several minutes they played tag with the UFO. Both
the radar on the ground and the radar in the F-94 showed that as soon
as the airplane would get almost within gunnery range of the UFO it
would suddenly pull away at a terrific speed. Then in a minute or two
it would slow down enough to let the F-94 catch it again.

When I talked to the F-94 crew on the phone, the pilot said that
they felt as if this were just a big aerial cat-and-mouse game--and
they didn't like it--at any moment they thought the cat might have
pounced.

Needless to say, this was an unknown.

About midmorning on Tuesday, July 29th, Major General John Samford
sent word down that he would hold a press conference that afternoon
in an attempt to straighten out the UFO situation with the press.

Donald Keyhoe reports on the press conference and the events leading
up to it in detail in his book, _Flying_ _Saucers_ _from_ _Outer_
_Space_. He indicates that before the conference started, General
Samford sat behind his big walnut desk in Room 3A138 in the Pentagon
and battled with his conscience. Should he tell the public "the real
truth"--that our skies are loaded with spaceships? No, the public
might panic. The only answer would be to debunk the UFO's.

This bit of reporting makes Major Keyhoe the greatest journalist in
history. This beats wire tap