Please note that the following column appeared in the March 31, 2024 digital edition of
the Roswell Daily Record and is republished with permission.
By Kevin Wright
Last week, it was reported that Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) were observed at India’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. According to Senior Science reporter Matthew Phelan, Indian Police Service investigator Syed Abdul Kader witnessed “odd aerial lights above” the nuclear facility “more than 10 times last summer.” Concerned, Kader urged the Indian government to take UAP “sightings near its nuclear facilities more seriously.”
Indeed, reported UAP activity around nuclear facilities is concerning and should be taken more seriously. But such activity is not particularly new. No, UAP activity related to nuclear assets dates back to the dawn of the Atomic Age. However, more troubling than even this are the accounts of UAP fiddling around with the atomic warfare assets of global superpowers.
In 1994, after the fall of the Soviet Union, ABC News’ Prime Time Live reported on an incident that occurred in October 1982, near the village of Byelokoroviche, in the former Soviet Ukraine at an intermediate-range ballistic missile base where UAP allegedly activated nuclear missiles. For 15 seconds, the missiles were in a countdown to launch. But just as suddenly as the launch sequence began, the missiles returned to standby mode.
In September 2010, former US Air Force officers held a press conference in Washington, DC, to draw attention to UAP incursions over US nuclear warfare facilities. Robert Salas, a former Air Force Nuclear Launch Officer, recounted his experience at Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana, when, in March 1967, UAP were observed over the base, and nuclear-tipped ICBMs under his watch were disabled.
The ability of an unidentified craft, regardless of its origin, in controlled airspace to remotely turn on or off nuclear weapons is a direct threat to national security and global peace. It also may be a signal that certain entities have an interest in us reducing our nuclear weapons stockpiles. Indeed, it could mean any number of different things. Undoubtedly, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community know of these alleged incidents and have done their due diligence.
Or maybe not.
On May 17, 2022, Congress held its first official hearing into UAP in more than 50 years. The hearing, convened by the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, featured testimony from Ronald S. Moultrie, who was then serving as Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and Scott W. Bray, then-Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence.
US Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) questioned Bray and Moultrie about UAP and their alleged activities around nuclear assets. Rep. Gallagher asked about the Malmstrom Air Force Base incident, in which “ten of our nuclear ICBMs were rendered inoperable.” Moultrie and Bray’s responses to Rep. Gallagher constituted an almost farcical exchange of Who, me? What? I didn’t witness a thing. Did you witness anything?
Moultrie passed the buck to Bray; Bray demurred, saying he had heard stories and had not “seen the official data,” and the information wasn’t within his “cognizance.” Moultrie jumped back in and said the Pentagon would take a look if someone officially brought it to their attention. Of course, that official inquiry happened when Rep. Gallagher asked the gentlemen about it.
So, after the hearing, we were left to wonder: is the Pentagon taking decades of reports about UAP and nuclear assets seriously? Did the Pentagon do a deep dive into the issue after the May 2022 hearing?
The Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) published a report on the “Historical Record of US Government Involvement” with UAP weeks ago. The relatively sparse 63-page report, covering eight decades of reported UAP activity, barely even mentions incidents involving UAP and nuclear warfare assets. However, the AARO promises to address the issue more thoroughly in a follow-up report. I’m not going to hold my breath, though.
Matt Laslo, a dogged reporter on Capitol Hill asking tough questions of lawmakers on UAP issues, recently caught up with a few Senators to ask about UAP incursions over nuclear and military assets. In conversations with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), also a member of the SSCI, both indicated the US may not have the sensors even to detect all the UAP activity.
Chris Sharp, writing for the Liberation Times in November 2021, reported that Lou Elizondo was asked about rumors of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) being attracted or baited by navy ships, possibly due to nuclear technology on those ships. Elizondo, the former director of a classified UAP investigation program, responded by politely declining to answer the question, stating that he is not at liberty to discuss, confirm, or deny such matters and needed to be cautious about delving into that line of inquiry.
What’s going on here? We have reports of UAP activity around nuclear warfare assets dating back decades that present real national security concerns. We have DoD officials who testified at a Congressional hearing, saying they were unaware of such activities but promised to take a closer look. We have a DoD report published nearly two years after that Congressional hearing that doesn’t seriously address the issue. We have members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence indicating that the military may not be able to detect all of the UAP activity over military and nuclear assets. We have a non-denial about the Navy potentially baiting UAP with nuclear technology by a high-level official formerly charged with investigating UAP.
None of this adds up. And it doesn’t add up because there is no way the National Security State hasn’t done its due diligence on unidentified craft intruding on atomic warfare assets. The question is: what is the Pentagon not telling the American public?
Come back for next week’s column, where I will dive deeper into UAP and activity around nuclear facilities in the post-World War II era.
