FOIA Request to CIA re: Its Knowledge of the Roswell Incident
TO: Ms. Michele Meeks
FOIA Coordinator
U. S. Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC 20505
FROM: Larry W. Bryant
8415 Orcutt Avenue
Newport News, VA 23605-1415
DATE: July 26, 2012
1. Reference: My classified advertisement posted at http://www.classifiedads.com/community-ad17365818.htm, the text of which is printed below.
2. This freedom-of-information request seeks a photocopy of all your agency's records comprising the content of the CIA files box, labeled "Roswell," as witnessed by former CIA executive Charles "Chase" Brandon during one of his official visits to a vaulted area of the Agency -- an area that, he says, houses the Agency's "historical intelligence collection." If the sought-for records have been destroyed or transferred to another agency's custody, please send me a photocopy of all CIA records documenting that disposition.
3. Please note that this FOIA request serves not as a generic UFO-info request but as an investigatory probe into the extraterrestrial nature of the retrieved Roswell materiel and into the aftermath of the incident's official analysis, exploitation, and subsequent cover-up.
4. I submit this request as a representative of the news media (principally as a columnist for the newsstand periodical UFO Magazine) -- a requester status that affords me preferential waiver of all records-search/review fees incident to your fulfillment of this request.
5. By USPS mail, I'm sending to you a signed printout of this e-formatted letter.
LARRY W. BRYANT
Columnist for UFO Magazine
Copies furnished to:
Editor, UFO Magazine
Chair, U. S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the Government's Biggest Cover-up (Revised and Expanded Edition)
The Roswell Legacy: The Untold Story of the First Military Officer at the 1947 Crash Site
Roswell: Operation UFO (60th Anniversary Edition)
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Mystery big cat has been spotted in West Cumbria
The cat - described as the size of a Labrador dog - was spotted on Steel Brow, Arlecdon, near Whitehaven, at 7.30am last Monday.
The witness - who has asked that his name is withheld - has an interest in wildlife but said: "It was very unusual. I have not seen anything like it wild in the British Isles."
He said: "I was driving to work from Arlecdon to Whitehaven and got to the bottom of the hill, over the bridge and was about a quarter of the way up. The animal came out of the hedge and onto the road.
"At first I thought it was a small roe deer as I have seen these several times on the same journey.
"I became suspicious as it was too low to the ground to be a deer and had cat-like features."
He said it was light brown in colour, had a long and thick tail and, after making its way across the road, went through an open gate on the right hand side.
Ian Topham, of the Mysterious Britain and Ireland website, said he had received no other reports. The last big cat stories were in January this year when large prints were spotted in the snow at Borough Park, Workington.
Bit cat sightings have been reported all over the UK and there are many photos and film clips. But they remain elusive and unidentified. There are, however, wild cats in Scotland. - timesandstar
BIG CATS LOOSE IN BRITAIN
Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
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Snakes originated on land...not in the sea
One of the most primitive snake fossils ever found hints that the slithery reptiles might have originated on land, not in the sea as has been proposed.
The animal, which lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, probably emerged from a line of burrowing reptiles that lost their legs.
Where and how snakes diverged from their legged cousins the lizards has been a mystery.
Details of the find appear in the journal Nature.
The debate over snake origins has been complicated by the scarcity of transitional fossils (those with features in between two groups of creatures).
But new fossils from eastern Wyoming, US, belonging to the ancient snake Coniophis precedens - which lived some 65-70 million years ago - could help clear up the mystery.
According to the analysis by Nicholas Longrich from Yale University and colleagues, Coniophis lived in a floodplain environment and "lacks adaptations for aquatic locomotion".
They describe it as a "transitional snake, combining a snake-like body and a lizard-like head".
"This thing quite probably would have had small legs," Dr Longrich told the AFP news agency.
The ancient reptile's small size, along with physical features of its spine, suggest that it burrowed. And analysis of its jaws show that it fed on relatively large, soft-bodied prey.
But it did not have the flexible jaws that allow modern-day snakes to swallow prey many times their own body size.
"The genesis of the Serpentes (the biological name that defines what we understand as snakes) that began with the evolution of a novel means of locomotion, followed by adaptations facilitating the ingestion of ever larger prey, thereby enabling snakes to exploit a wider range of ecological niches," the researchers write in Nature journal. - BBC
The New Encyclopedia of Snakes
U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and Their Mimics
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Cambodians flock to 'magic' lottery log
A large log dug up in Cambodia has drawn thousands of visitors who believe it has healing powers and can predict winning lottery numbers.
Some 4,000 to 5,000 people have already been to see the 13-metre-long log (42 feet) that was discovered earlier this month when a family excavated a pond in western Pursat province, Prey Yeang village chief Hun Nov said. "They believe the log has magical powers," he said, adding that visitors were coming loaded with offerings such as pig heads and boiled whole chickens after some locals who touched the wood won money in the lottery.
"At least one hundred people a day visit the log to ask for lottery numbers and to cure their illnesses," he said. "They believe in superstition." Cambodians are highly superstitious, particularly in the countryside where people continue to merge animist practices with Buddhism.
Hun Nov said some believers rubbed talcum powder onto the wood, hoping to see lucky lottery numbers, and others drank water from the pond and smeared nearby mud onto their bodies in a bid to cure their ailments. While the village chief himself is not convinced of the log's powers, "We, the authorities, have no right to stop them," he said. - telegraph
Cambodia - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture
Record of Cambodia's Land & Customs
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'Chasing UFOs' Stars Blast Their Own Show
It's been said there's no such thing as bad publicity, but when the stars of your own show give it a thumbs-down, that might be the exception.
The National Geographic Channel premiered "Chasing UFOs," an eight-episode reality TV show last month, focusing on a trio of investigators traversing America in search of the truth of unexplained UFO reports, alleged alien abductions and reported military cover-ups.
On the heels of less-than-positive reviews and viewer comments, two of the show's stars -- James Fox and Ben McGee -- revealed their own dissatisfaction with "Chasing UFOs," complaining that the show had placed more emphasis on entertainment value than a serious look at the UFO subject.
Fox: "I know how disappointed all of you are. I am too. It's not the show that was sold to both myself and scientist Ben. Two months into it, we were off to a great start; good locations, solid witnesses and some opportunities for Ben to apply his field research as a geologist at some crash sites. Very exciting stuff. Unfortunately, when we actually got out in the field, we began to realize that they were more interested in poking around at night than allocating the time necessary during the day as, apparently (so we were told), Americans love watching others sneak around at night from the comfort of their couches. For the most part, it was gratuitous nighttime baloney. ... I promise I'll either quit or change my position within the show because at least I can make it all make some sense. The show does get a bit better further down the road, but not a lot. ... My credibility and reputation has, deservedly, taken a serious hit."
McGee: "When we were brought onboard, the project certainly had a much harder inclination than its final realization, and as a career scientist, I was excited that NatGeo was at the helm (unaware of their desire for a major shift in programming flavor). Our intentions were very sincere. ... James and I both had expectations and (for our own reasons) hopes of an ultimately serious product. We both saw the project heading in a different direction as time went on and were powerless to influence it. Injecting science into mainstream media is also problematic, and I am suffering heat in my own circles for the lack thereof on the show." - Continue reading at THP
History Classics: UFOs & Aliens
UFOs: The Secret History
I Know What I Saw
