Episode 0088 · Jul 31, 1995 · 2h 2m
July 31, 1995: 1947 Roswell Crash, Waco - Rep. Steven Schiff
Key Moments
Open transcriptSchiffDoD bounced me to National Archives twice: Schiff describes the unusual response that triggered his GAO request: after writing Defense Secretary Les Aspin about Roswell on behalf of constituents, he got a one-sentence Air Force letter punting to the National Archives, which had no Roswell records - the same runaround given to other members of Congress.
Albuquerque Journal misquoted me on the balloon conclusionSchiff publicly corrects the Albuquerque Journal's Saturday front-page story by Richard Parker, which headlined that he had concluded the crash was a balloon. He says he never accepted the Air Force's September 1994 Project Mogul explanation - only that the original 1947 weather-balloon story was wrong.
Outgoing messages are the records that mattered mostSchiff explains why he had GAO target the Roswell Army Airfield outgoing-message traffic specifically: as the most likely paper trail explaining the flying-disc-to-weather-balloon retraction to higher headquarters. Those messages, supposed to be permanent, were destroyed with no proper disposition authority - and the Air Force can offer no explanation.
How to order the GAO Roswell reportSchiff reads the GAO ordering instructions live on air: U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20884-6015, document GAO/NSIAD-95-187, 'Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico,' first copy free.
Schiff confirms he watched the Santilli alien-autopsy filmSchiff confirms he viewed the Ray Santilli purported Roswell alien-autopsy footage, describes two doctors in head-to-toe protective garb conducting an organ examination, and says his only conclusion is that 'if this was a hoax, it took some degree of planning' - not two people with a video camera at a party.
Schiff recounts how a routine constituent inquiry to the Department of Defense about the 1947 Roswell incident led to a bureaucratic runaround, with the military redirecting him to the National Archives, which had no records. Frustrated, he enlisted the General Accounting Office to search for documents. The GAO found that all outgoing messages from Roswell Army Airfield for 1946 through 1949 were destroyed without proper authorization. Schiff confirms he viewed the Santilli autopsy film, calling it elaborately done if a hoax. The conversation shifts to Waco, where Schiff serves on both investigating subcommittees. He questions why Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen sat on a warning memo four days before the final assault and criticizes the strategy of bringing a child abuse witness to dominate media coverage and distract from testimony about the government's tactical failures. He expresses concern about what information the FBI presented to Attorney General Janet Reno before she approved the CS gas insertion.
A rare, candid congressional perspective on two of the decade's most controversial government actions.