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| Gen. Donald D. Flickinger |
The FOIA request was submitted following a blog post by Keith Basterfield in which he explored the possibility Flickinger acted as a mentor to Dr. Kit Green on information related to UFOs. The controversial Dr. Green is a long term ufology staple with a CV that includes the Central Intelligence Agency and Robert Bigelow's now dissolved National Institute for Discovery Science. Asked for comment on Basterfield's blog post and Flickinger serving as a mentor, Green responded in a Sep. 16 email:
I am very willing to tell you, and for you to pass on to Keith that in my judgement he is the finest Forensic technically sophisticated HUMINT researcher & analyst I have ever seen in this field. At or even slightly over 95% of his conclusions about me have been correct. I am unable legally or ethically to confirm any correct or occasionally, rarely incorrect inclusions.
I respectfully will not confirm or deny any sources to whom I have pledged privacy.
Donald Flickinger was an Air Force general and a surgeon. According to a CIA report, he acted as the medical adviser for Project AQUATONE for over a decade.
In his blog post, Basterfield recapped how Green stated during a recent interview that an individual, acting as a mentor, repeatedly alluded to Green about crashed UFOs and such. The individual also, according to Green, committed to obtain security clearance for Green to access the information but never actually did. Basterfield conducted research which led him to believe it likely the person in question is the late Gen. Flickinger.
One file obtained contains an FBI report from 1964 surrounding activities of Jeannine Cusson, a woman the Bureau described as born in Poland. She entered the States as the result of marrying an American soldier and was later divorced. The FBI noted Cusson's "employment provides an ideal position for her to meet and spot highly placed individuals connected with U.S. and foreign intelligence services."
Flickinger told the Bureau he had known Cusson since 1957, and that he and his wife became quite friendly with her. The report continues:
Flickinger is documented as describing a relationship between Cusson and Dr. W. Randolph Lovelace, a longtime friend of the Flickingers who, like Flickinger, was involved in aerospace medicine and related industries. Flickinger apparently acknowledged Cusson was in an ideal position to assist Soviet representatives but clarified he did not believe this to be the case.
In the past we explored situations in which it seemed likely the topic of UFOs was used as a tool to deceptively gain the trust of people issued employment-related security clearances. Through the decades, there have been rich opportunities for such exploitation. Specific instances that seemed intriguing enough to attract concern of the intelligence community include such cases as Boyd Bushman and Vincente DePaula.
We also blogged about a memo composed by an NSA assignee who advised his supervisors of inquiries posed to him and questionable behavior of researchers at a 1978 MUFON Symposium. Circumstances become complex, but the larger, global context of intelligence operations should be taken into consideration when the topics of UFOs and the intelligence community converge. That's practically any UFO conference, as well as inherent to many of the issues of interest around the UFO blogosphere.
We also blogged about a memo composed by an NSA assignee who advised his supervisors of inquiries posed to him and questionable behavior of researchers at a 1978 MUFON Symposium. Circumstances become complex, but the larger, global context of intelligence operations should be taken into consideration when the topics of UFOs and the intelligence community converge. That's practically any UFO conference, as well as inherent to many of the issues of interest around the UFO blogosphere.
A second file obtained from the Bureau describes intelligence gathered on unidentified subjects visiting the Soviet Embassy located in Washington, D.C. Subsequent investigation by the FBI revealed the vehicle used was rented by Flickinger.
The Special Agent in Charge who composed the 1969 report described Flickinger as having contact with "Soviet and Satellite representatives" regarding technical conferences. Flickinger was known to the Washington Field Office in such capacities, it was explained, making it seem likely Flickinger was the driver of the unknown subjects to the embassy for business connected purposes.
The Special Agent concluded, "It appears from the composite description provided by lookout personnel it is doubtful that Flickinger entered the Embassy. Since no photos of Unsubs [unidentified subjects] exist, the only possibility of identifying Unsubs is through interview of Flickinger.
"WFO [Washington Field Office] will do so UACB [Unless Advised to the Contrary by the Bureau] under the pretext of an automobile accident in the vicinity... involving a government vehicle."
Follow-up FOIA requests were submitted pertaining to Cusson, Lovelace, and possible further investigations.
Researchers who explore the ways the topic of UFOs has been exploited by espionage and counterespionage operations may not have all the details right, but they don't have them all wrong, either.
Interesting. Phil Klass, who lived in Washington, DC, said he was often approached by Soviet diplomats or operatives, not because they cared about UFOs but because of his position at Aviation Week, where he wrote about the latest developments in aviation electronics. He even went sailing with one Russian guy on his sailboat on the Potomac. He said that he always informed the FBI of such meetings, so they did not think there was anything secretive about it.
ReplyDelete"Green stated during a recent interview that an individual, acting as a mentor, repeatedly alluded to Green about crashed UFOs and such. The individual also, according to Green, committed to obtain security clearance for Green to access the information but never actually did."
ReplyDeleteHow many times in Ufology have we heard a variant of this story? By now statements alluding to UFO secrets that couldn't be disclosed at the time (and then never are) should raise a red flag that whatever was going on, it didn't have anything to do with aliens in flying saucers.
I just finished reading Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science Vol. 4" where he diaries a number of conversations with Kit Green. He paints the picture of someone who frankly, rather waffles on the topic. In some conversations, Green claims to have knowledge of a UFO program, in other instances he claims no knowledge. Vallee eventually treats it with a virtual eye-roll of "well, here we go again..."
ReplyDeleteMaybe that was just people leading him (Green) on or maybe there is something else. Either way, this Flickinger connection is interesting. Hopefully, more information will come available.