Table Of ContentUFOs and Nukes
Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons
Sites
Robert L. Hastings
This book is dedicated to the many courageous individuals who, in the face
of continued U.S. government secrecy on UFOs and widespread public
ridicule, have come forward to tell their stories. American citizens, and
everyone else, owe them a debt of gratitude.
Acknowledgments
I would especially like to thank Jim Klotz, whose ongoing support and
guidance have been indispensable; Dan Wilson, for his tireless research
assistance; Bob Salas, who has courageously spoken the truth and, in doing
so, has prompted many others to step forward with the facts.
I would also like to thank the following individuals for their contributions
to this book: Jan Aldrich, Grover Austad, Ike Barker, Hank Barlow, Don
Berliner, Walt Billings, Audie Bitschenauer, “John Blake”, Rick Bobo,
Patricia Broudy, Joe Brown, Howard Burgess, Bob Caplan, Jim Carey, Mary
Chandler, Joe Chassey, Jerry Clark, Leroy Clark, Peter Davenport, Jay
DeSisto, Jim Dunn, Ken Dziewulski, Jay Earnshaw, Tim Egercic, “John
Erikson”, George D. Fawcett, Fred Foss, Ray Fowler, Lou Girodo, Jeff
Goodrich, Roger Goss, Barry Greenwood, Loren Gross, Frank Hale, John
Haley, Dick Hall, Chuck Halt, Terry Hansen, “John Harris”, Olin Hasty, Pat
Hoyt, David Hughes, Dr. Bob Jacobs, Bob Jamison, Larry Johnson, Brian
Junkin, Tom Kaminski, Louis Kenneweg, Ken Kern, Gerald Koertner, Tom
Kramer, Gene Lamb, Cliff Lingen, Fernando Loup, Donna Lundquist, Chet
Lytle, Larry Manross, Tom Manson, Abe Marquez, Chuck Martin, Arthur
McEnaney, Becky Miller, John Mills, Phil Moore, O.P “Pote” Morrow, Jerry
Nelson, Jack Nevins, Jim Ortvl, Bob Peisher, Alan F. Phillips, M.D., Jack
Phillips, Dr. Kevin Randle, Lori Rehfeldt, Harold Renninger, Fran Ridge,
Ryan Riewer, Dr. Mark Rodighier, Dr. Dave Rudiak, “Mark Sampson”, Dean
Sams, Dave Schuur, Paul Selley, “John Smith”, Al Spodnik, Joe Stallings,
Terry Stuck, Larry Swanson, Dick Tashner, Bob Thompson, Carl Thompson,
Tom Tulien. Gabe Valdez, Robert “Charlie” Waters, Walt Webb, Joe
Weinzetl, Keith Wolverton, Ron Wright and W. Todd Zechel.
Finally, deep gratitude goes to my sisters, Dr. Sandra Ruddell and Karen
Adkins-Hastings, for their unwavering support and love. And, of course, to
Mom, Dad, and Elaine, wherever they are.
Introduction
According to the U.S. Air Force, in November 1975, multiple UFOs—one
flew so low its “disc” shape could be seen—were reported by security police
to be maneuvering near, and hovering over, several Minuteman nuclear
missile sites outside of Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana.1
This report is merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Indeed, periodic
UFO activity at nuclear weapons-related facilities has stubbornly persisted
over the years and continues to occur. As far as I am aware, the most recent
sighting of a UFO near a Minuteman missile site took place in December
2006.
UFOs snooping on nukes. One might ask, “Why?” Arguably, the most
important development in international affairs over last 60 years involves the
creation of nuclear weapons. Their use by America against Japan, in August
1945, abruptly and decisively ended World War II. In the decades that
followed, until the close of the Cold War in 1991, the ideological clash
between capitalism and communism resulted in an ominous nuclear stand-off
between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. which kept people worldwide in a
perpetual state of anxiety about their continued survival.
That apprehension was warranted. As Hiroshima and Nagasaki
demonstrated, the catastrophic effects of even a single atomic bomb were
horrific in the extreme. Once the far more devastating hydrogen bombs began
to be tested and deployed in the early 1950s, citizens of every nation were
confronted by the stark realization that the next war held the potential for the
nuclear annihilation of human civilization.
For much of that tense period, both superpowers engaged in a shared
strategic policy known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) whereby
each nation vowed, if attacked, to unleash its entire nuclear arsenal against
the other—and, unavoidably, the entire planet. In such an exchange,
thousands of nukes would have simultaneously detonated in an orgy of
devastation.
Apparently this dire state of affairs did not go unnoticed. Although most
people remain completely unaware of it, a link between Unidentified Flying
Objects and nuclear weapons is now thoroughly documented. Declassified
U.S. Air Force, FBI, and CIA files establish a convincing, ongoing pattern of
UFO activity at U.S. nuclear weapons sites, decade after decade. Hundreds of
such sightings—many of them verified by radar—have occurred at research
laboratories, fissile material production plants, test sites, missile launch
facilities, bomber alert pads, and nukes storage areas.
One early FBI memorandum, dated January 31, 1949, refers to the repeated
observation of “Flying Discs, Flying Saucers, and Balls of Fire” at or near
Los Alamos, New Mexico—the birthplace of nuclear weapons—as early as
December 1948. The memo then emphasizes, “This matter is considered top
secret by Intelligence Officers of both the Army and the Air Forces.”2
Based on these documents, and other evidence, it is the contention of the
author that there exists a credible connection between the appearance of
nuclear weapons in the mid-1940s, and the overall increase in UFO sightings
worldwide since that time. Moreover, it is probable that one of the reasons
the U.S. government has attempted to conceal its extensive knowledge of the
UFO phenomenon is its apprehension about having to acknowledge that
unknown observers, piloting enormously superior aerial craft, have been
systematically monitoring—and, as you will learn, occasionally tampering
with—our nuclear weapons.
As incredible as this claim may seem, it is nevertheless based on
persuasive, documented data amassed over four decades by a dedicated group
of UFO investigators. Hundreds of routinely-declassified U.S. government
documents, as well as many others painstakingly pried loose by researchers
through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), clearly establish a UFO-
nuclear weapons link. Moreover, scores of former military men have
gradually come forward to confirm their involvement in one UFO-related
incident or another at U.S. nuclear weapons sites. While some of these
accounts have been a matter of public record for years, many others will be
publicly presented in this book for the first time.
During the past 35 years, I have personally interviewed nearly 100 former
and retired U.S. Air Force (USAF) personnel regarding their involvement in
such cases. These individuals, ranging from retired colonels to former
airmen, describe extraordinary encounters which have obvious national
security implications. At the time of their UFO experiences, my ex-USAF
sources held positions ranging from nuclear missile launch and targeting
officers, to missile maintenance personnel, to missile security police. The
incidents they describe occurred between 1962 and 1996, at Intercontinental
Ballistic Missile (1CBM) sites controlled by Malmstrom, Minot, F.E.
Warren, Ellsworth, Vandenberg, and Walker Air Force Bases (AFBs). Other
former Air Force personnel report UFO activity at nuclear Weapons Storage
Areas (WSAs) at Wurtsmith and Loring AFBs, where B-52 nuclear bomber
squadrons were once based, as well as at the WSA at RAF Bentwaters, an
American base in England.
Among the Air Force veterans I’ve interviewed are those who held
positions of authority, including one base commander, one deputy base
commander, and three squadron commanders, all of whom will be identified
in this book. Admittedly, the testimony provided by these sources is
anecdotal, not scientific, evidence. Nevertheless, it is offered—sometimes
reluctantly—by those who were once entrusted by the U.S. government with
the operation or security of weapons of mass destruction. As such, each
source was subjected to, and passed, rigorous background checks and
personality tests designed to determined with a reasonable degree of certainty
their psychological stability and reliability.
My Air Force sources aside, I have also interviewed a number of U.S.
Army and U.S. Navy veterans who also report UFO incidents at nuclear
weapons storage sites or testing areas.
In light of these accounts—too numerous and credible to dismiss—I will
assert that the investigation of the UFO-Nukes Connection is integral to an
understanding of the enigma that is the UFO phenomenon.
Quest
I am often asked how I became interested in UFOs and, in particular, UFO
activity at nuclear weapons sites. In October 1966, my father. Senior Master
Sergeant Robert E. Hastings was transferred to Malmstrom AFB, Montana,
where he held the position of Supply NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer-
in-Charge), Special Weapons Branch, Headquarters 28th Air Division. As
such, he supervised materiel support for eight subordinate radar squadrons
and three fighter squadrons.
The term “special weapons” is militarese for nuclear weapons. At that time,
the 341st Strategic Missile Wing, based at Malmstrom, controlled 150
Minuteman I and 50 Minuteman II ICBMs. My father’s office was located
within the high-security SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment)
building—a huge, windowless, concrete blockhouse that housed an intricate,
computer-assisted radar tracking system, the most advanced in the world
during that era. 'The system linked several radar sites around the country and
was designed to monitor North American airspace. Had war with the Soviets
erupted, their nuclear bombers were expected to fly over the Arctic region,
into Canadian airspace, and continue southward to their designated targets in
the U.S. The SAGE system, it was hoped, would track those aircraft so that
U.S. fighters could intercept and shoot them down.
During the period my father was stationed at Malmstrom, I was a 16/17-
year-old junior in high school. However, I also worked three nights-a-week
as a janitor at Malmstrom’s Air Traffic Control Tower. One of the areas I
cleaned was the RAPCON (Radar Approach and Control) center—a large,
dimly-lit room in which several radar screens were constantly monitored by
both FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and Air Force air traffic
controllers.
One night in March 1967, shortly after I entered the RAPCON room, one
of the FAA controllers—who had previously tutored me on radar theory and
operation during his work breaks—called me over to his radar scope and
pointed out five unidentified “targets” then being tracked. He referred to them
as “UFOs” or “Unknowns”, or some similar term. I was very intrigued and
asked him a couple of questions about the targets. He said only that two jet
fighters had been launched to investigate. Apparently, I asked one too many
questions, because the controller abruptly asked me to leave, and to finish
cleaning the room later that night. When I brought up the tracking with him
again, he clearly did not want to talk about it, perhaps thinking that he had
already said too much.
A few days after this incident, another reliable source told me that as the
fighters approached the UFOs, the mysterious aerial objects had ascended
vertically, at enormous velocity, leaving the jets far behind. More
importantly, at the time of the attempted intercept, the five UFOs had
apparently been maneuvering near Minuteman missile sites located in the
Judith Basin region, many miles southeast of Malmstrom. Unfortunately, by
the time I heard all of this, it was third-hand information—provided to me by
my father—who had heard it from other persons working at the SAGE
building, where rumors about the incident had made the rounds.
Regardless, as I was to later learn, incidents similar to this took place at
Malmstrom, and other Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases, on several
occasions during the Cold War era, and are documented in various
declassified U.S. Air Force reports. Further, researchers can report on
numerous other incidents which, although not yet documented, are based on
the now-public statements of former or retired Air Force nuclear missile
personnel, and security police, who were assigned to the SAC missile fields
over the last four decades.
In short, my experience at Malmstrom’s air traffic control tower ultimately
led to my researching the subject of UFOs, and the apparent interest of those
who pilot them in our nuclear weapons facilities. (I use the terms “nuclear
weapons” and “nukes” throughout the book, however, the earliest nukes were
actually atomic bombs, not the far more powerful thermonuclear weapons
now deployed.)
One day in 1973, about a year after I had graduated from college, I was
exploring a library’s archive of newspaper and magazine articles about UFO
sightings when I stumbled upon a 1966 article written by Dr. J. Allen Hynek,
who was at the time the civilian scientific advisor for the Air Force’s UFO
investigations group. Project Blue Book.3 To my surprise, Hynek’s lengthy
piece mentioned an intriguing case of UFO activity at Minuteman missile
sites near Minot AFB, North Dakota, in August 1966, which were similar to
the incident at Malmstrom AFB, the following spring, which had first piqued
my interest in such cases.
Shortly after this intriguing find I discovered two other published
references to UFOs at Malmstrom’s ICBM sites, in 1966 and 1967, in books
written by Raymond Fowler 4 and Donald Keyhole.5 These discoveries re-
kindled my curiosity about the presence of these strange aerial craft at our
nuclear weapons facilities. Consequently, I resolved to seek out and interview
Air Force veterans who might have relevant information to share.
Research Methods
My approach to developing sources over the last three decades has been
fairly straightforward. At every opportunity, I question, casually at first,
individuals whose previous assignments in the Air Force—as nuclear
“missileers”, security police, radar operators, or pilots—may have resulted in
their witnessing one UFO-related incident or another. Once I have identified
an individual who did have a UFO experience while in the service, I formally
interview him or her, if he/she is agreeable to the idea.
In the 1970s, I encountered these former/retired U.S. Air Force personnel
by chance, in the course of my day-to-day activities. If someone divulged his
veteran status during conversation, I would ask about the type of work he did,
as well as his duty assignments. If the person had been stationed at a SAC
missile or bomber base, I would raise the subject of UFOs. Occasionally, the
veteran would have some knowledge of this or that incident, at such and such
a base, and I would pursue the matter with him, if permitted to do so.
Obviously, this approach to data-gathering was very inefficient. However,
after I ventured out on the U.S. college lecture circuit in 1981, with a
program devoted to a discussion of the UFO cover-up, I soon discovered that
a great many former military personnel were attending my presentations.
After the lecture, I was often approached by one of these persons, who
wished to divulge information about a particular UFO incident he had
witnessed at one SAC base or another. Many of these veterans agreed to a
full-length interview at a later date.
Over time, this kind of encounter resulted in a significant increase in the
number of sources I’ve interviewed over the years. With the birth of the
Internet, I began searching online for former military personnel to question.
Many U.S. Air Force missile and bomber squadrons have alumni associations
whose websites provide a guestbook or bulletin board, where veterans
