Ancillary Mercy полностью

After so crudely silencing the air force’s most determined opponent, Horner’s statement carried little weight for many viewers. Callers swamped CBS, asking why Keyhoe’s sound had been cut.

Although he was in an excellent position to exploit the situation, Keyhoe inexplicably declined to do so. He briefly considered giving the deleted paragraph to the media, and of discussing the air force pressure on the program. He “reluctantly gave up the idea,” he said, because it would put the network producers on the spot. They were also “victims of official pressure.” Within days of the program, CBS admitted to air force censorship. In response to a complaint by a member of NICAP, the CBS director of editing, Herbert A. Carlborg, stated:

This program had been carefully cleared for security reasons. Therefore, it was the responsibility of this network to insure performance in accordance with predetermined security standards.... As a consequence, public interest was served by the action taken in deleting the audio on Major Keyhoe’s speech at a point where he apparently was about to deviate.

It was a sign of the times that even APRO criticized Keyhoe for deviating from the script. Yet, the Armstrong Theater program had raised a question that could not be erased: if there was nothing secret about UFOs, why did the program have to be cleared for security, and why was Keyhoe’s audio cut?⁵⁴

In the aftermath of the program, more official statements were released that conceded UFO secrecy. On January 23, 1958, Capt. G. H. Oldenburgh, information services officer at Langley AFB in Virginia, wrote that “the public dissemination of data on Unidentified Flying Objects . . . is contrary to air force policy and regulations.”⁵⁵ A few days later (1/28/58), Congressman William H. Ayres (R-Ohio) admitted to a NICAP member that

Congressional investigations have been held and are still being held on the problem of unidentified flying objects and the problem is one in which there is quite a bit of interest.... Since most of the material presented to the committees is classified, the hearings are never printed. When conclusions are reached, they will be released if possible.⁵⁶

Within the military, interest in UFOs remained high. Earlier in January, Lackland AFB in San Antonio had asked for Keyhoe’s permission to use his 1955 book, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, to develop a script for closed-circuit broadcast throughout the base. Keyhoe was surprised and gave his assent.⁵⁷

THE SENATE STOPS ITS INVESTIGATION

Shortly after the Armstrong Theater program, the air force revised AFR 200-2 and re-created the system of air base commanders conducting initial investigations of UFO sightings in their areas. It also continued ATIC’s formal UFO responsibility for analysis and evaluation and stated that “air force activities must reduce the percentage of unidentifieds to the minimum.”⁵⁸

At the same time, Keyhoe phoned Senate Subcommittee Chief Investigator Healey, whom he told that the Armstrong Circle Theater really had been censored, and cutting Keyhoe’s audio was not just an accident. Healey acknowledged that several congressmen were inquiring about the UFO investigation. When they met a few days later, Healey told Keyhoe the air force was now claiming the Armstrong Theater program “proved there are no such things as flying saucers.” Keyhoe then gave Healey the facts of the Ryan case of 1956, which strongly pointed to tampering with the CAA and CAB reports. By air force order, said Keyhoe, pilots Ryan and Neff did follow a UFO, regardless of what the official documents said. Healey remained incredulous until Keyhoe told him he had the tape to prove it—he had recently obtained the highly incriminating tape of Ryan and Neff from Meet the Millers. Keyhoe knew full well that a complete transcript of the Ryan-Neff interview would be a convincing document. He felt confident about his chances for the moment and offered to get a transcript to Healey and McClellan.⁵⁹

A month later (3/8/58), Keyhoe appeared on a Mike Wallace television interview. Without Keyhoe’s knowledge, the air force gave Wallace key information which Wallace announced on the show. “The air force told us,” said Wallace, “the [Senate] subcommittee members have already talked with them and they show no interest in any hearings.” That was news to Keyhoe. It must be false, he said. It was true, however. While Keyhoe was angry, Hillenkoetter was philosophical: “What counts is that NICAP is still operating. Losing one battle isn’t fatal.” A few days later, two letters from the McClellan committee to NICAP members confirmed that it did “not intend to investigate the United States Air Force.”⁶⁰