Aliens On Earth.com Resources for those who are stranded here Our Bookstore is OPEN Over 5000 new & used titles, competitively priced! Topics: UFOs - Paranormal - Area 51 - Ghosts - Forteana - Conspiracy - History - Biography - Psychology - Religion - Crime - Health - Geography - Maps - Science - Money - Language - Recreation - Technology - Fiction - Other - New Search... for keyword(s)   in Page Titles in Book Title/Author in Contents of Pages ---other searches--- Metacrawler Yahoo FAST Search Google Altavista Dogpile Inference Find Northern Light IWon.com MSN Search Las Vegas Sun Mothership -> UFO -> Updates -> 1997 -> Apr -> Here

From: jan@cyberzone.net (Jan Aldrich)
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 09:33:53 -0700
Fwd Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 15:46:55 -0400
Subject: Re: First Use of the term 'flap'


> Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 19:53:47 -0400
> From: Gary <galevy@pipeline.com>
> Reply-To: galevy@pipeline.com
> To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
> Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Re: First Use of the term 'flap'

> > Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 08:03:36 -0700
> > From: jan@cyberzone.net (Jan Aldrich)
> > To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
> > Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Re: First Use of the term 'flap'

> > > Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 00:29:57 -0400
> > > From: Gary <galevy@pipeline.com>
> > > Reply-To: galevy@pipeline.com
> > > To: UFO Updates Mailing List <updates@globalserve.net>
> > > Subject: A use of the term flap

> [snip]

> You are correct it is not a seamless command controlled organization,
> nor is it all knowing and infallible - those would be characteristics of
> a religious organization not an intelligence agency.  However Jan the
> intelligence agencies are not incompetent and incapable of mounting
> effective counterintelligence operations, e.g. the Paul Bennewitz
> affair; there are also other examples too.  Can you explain why the UFO
> histories don't discuss the sighting of renknowned World War II fighter
> ace pilot Richard Rankin.

Gary, I would love to know about Rankin being questioned
before Arnold's  24 June sighting--especially in light of
COL Friend's 00letter in JUFOS #5.  However, your contention
that Rankin's sighting has not been treated in UFO
histories is wrong.  If you can find a copy of Bloecher's
REPORT OF THE UFO WAVE OF 1947, you will see it in there.
Still available from Arcturus Books is Loren Gross'
UFO HISTORY VOLUME 1: 1947, please consult page 49 for
Rankin sighting.

In the 4th Air Force UFO files it appears that Air Force
investigators could not find Rankin.  On the 10th of July
1947, the Continential Air Command (ConAC) requested that 4th
Air Force find and interview both Arnold and Rankin.
After some time, 4th AF seems unable to locate Rankin.
At the end of July, ConAC repeated its request.  On the
11th of August, 4th Air Force found and interviewed Rankin.

I think the FBI may have already been there first, but all the
intelligence agencies on the west coast seem to cooperate well,
and the records indicate that the FBI agents there were probably
continued to be more involved than Hooever's directive decreed.
Without making this a major research project, it is possible
that other investigators talked to Rankin after Arnold sighting,
but before 4th Air Force.  Information that pins down an
investigation *before* Arnold's sighting would be of great
interest indeed.

  He was debriefed by military intelligence
> agents after his sighting which occurred long before Kenneth Arnold's.

His sighting occurred before Arnold, however, the investigation
of his sighting did not from all information I have.  If you
have something

> > > Ernest Volkman is an "acknowledged authority on espionage and
> > > intelligence. Formerly a prize-winning investigative reporter for
> > > Newsday and executive editor of Espionage magazine".  He has made media
> > > appearances on Nightline, CNN, and the Today show as an expert in the
> > > field.  I found Volkman's exposition on the term "flap" in his book
> > > Espionage (pp.177) in a discussion of terminology used in a particular
> > > branch of the intelligence community (the Central Intelligence Agency,
> > > CIA).

> > The term flap is military slang an probably pre-dates the CIA.  The
> > only way to really determine when the word came into general usage
> > is to look a some of the more free wheeling unit newspaper or news
> > sheets and see when the word appeared in print.  Stars and Stripes
> > or the wartime magazine in Europe might have the term.  No doubt
> > there are books on military slang.

> What does probably pre-dates the CIA mean?  What I have found so far is
> that the meaning used by the CIA as it applies to ufology seems to have
> been introduced around in the 1950s.  I also don't see how you can
> equate the slang used in the military with the slang used in the
> intelligence services.

> > > "As with all other areas of human endeavor, espionage is subject to
> > > Murphy's Law, which dictates that what can go wrong, will.  CIA
> > > officials like to call it "flap", the distressing tendency of certain
> > > major intelligence operations to go badly awry, too often with the kind
> > > of spectacular explosion that tends to attract a lot of public (and
> > > unwelcome) attention."

> > > Interesting?  Maybe someone reading UFOupdates will know how, when and
> > > by whom this term was introduced into ufology.  Significance - possibly
> > > none.

> > > However, it is worthwhile noting that in 1956 Edward J. Ruppelt (Former
> > > Head of the United States Air Force Project Blue Book) mentioned in his
> > > book "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" an intelligence
> > > insiders phrase - "puzzle palace" (see pp. 137).  It would not be until
> > > almost 25 years later that it would become known that this phrase was
> > > the insiders nickname for the National Security Agency (NSA), it was
> > > also known as No Such Agency.

> > Bamford appropriated this GI slang for his book title.  Every GI
> > knows that the "Puzzle Palace" is the next higher headquarters
> > (i. e. they have have know idea of what they are doing.)  So
> > Ruppelt is not using some secret code here.  (No doubt insiders
> > at the NSA called themselve or were called the puzzle palace.)
> > The phase was in common use when I joined the military,
> > and it did not refer to the NSA.

> > The ultimate puzzle palace is the Pentagon which Ruppelt's usage
> > in his book.  If you read Ruppelt's reference incontext you
> > will see he is referring to HQ, USAF, Intelligence
> > and Information offices.  Also, the NSA was not formed until
> > after the time period in which Ruppelt uses this phrase.

> NO. Ruppelt carelfully distinguishes between the Pentagon and the
> "puzzle palace".  Oh and where did you get the idea that the NSA was not
> formed until after the time period in which Ruppelt uses this phrase?
> Ruppelt was talking about his experiences in May 1952 and the NSA was
> established in 1952.  Why do I say in 1952 because interestingly James
> Bamford has this to say regarding the date set for its birth, it "was
> most likely designed for maximum secrecy; should any hint of its
> creation leak out, it would be surely swallowed up in the other news of
> the day - the presidential election of 1952".  Bamford also mentions
> that although the agency was obstensibly born on 12:01 November 4, 1962
> that when it was "established" it already had a new director, NUMEROUS
> buildings and over TEN THOUSAND employees.  Jan you either need to get
> better sources of information or stop passing off this mis or dis
> information.  To my knowledge Truman's seven page memo which established
> the NSA has still never been declassified.  A lot of interesting
> historical analysis may play on the real date of its establishment.  If
> you have a copy of that memo send it to me.

As you point out the NSA was formed on 4 Nov 1952.  The
Ruppelt reference you cite refers to the summer of 1952
at the beginning of the 1952 Wave.  I suggest you read the
context of the Ruppelt again.  My military brainwashed
mind does not get your version of events out of what Ruppelt
says here.

Yes, the NSA could have been in existance before 4 November
1952.  How about 1946? Maybe they caused the ghost rockets, or
1941, 1933, 1897, 1066.  What evidence do you have???

> > > For those who would like to convince others that the intelligence
> > > community was not involved in the investigation of UFOs, lets look as
> > > far back as the early 1950s and note the following.  Speaking about his
> > > work in 1952 Ruppelt says (pp 137)(Chapter Ten - Project Blue Book and
> > > the Big Build-Up):

> > > "All of these inquiries from the press were adding to Blue Book's work
> > > load and to my problems.  Normally a unit such as ATIC has its own
> > > public relations officer, but we had none so I was it.  I was being
> > > quoted quite freely in the press and was repeatedly being snarled at by
> > > someone in the Pentagon.  It was almost a daily occurence to have people
> > > from the 'puzzle palace' call and indignantly ask, 'Why did you tell
> > > them that?'  They usually referred to some bit of information that
> > > somebody didn't think should have been released.  I finally gave up and
> > > complained to Colonel Dunn.  I suggested that any contacts with the
> > > press be made through the Office of Public Information in the Pentagon.
> > > These people were trained and paid to do this job; I wasn't.  Colonel
> > > Dunn heartily agreed because every time I got chewed out he at least got
> > > a dirty look."

> > > There it is folks, Ruppelt, the head of the Air Force's Blue Book was
> > > being told almost daily what to say or not say by the people in the
> > > "puzzle palace" - the NSA.

> > No, the NSA did not exist then!

> ABSOLUTELY WRONG see the above and see the information below.
>I see nothing there that says the NSA existed prior to
>November 1952 long after the incident that Ruppelt talked
>about.

> > Regards,

> Jan the following is taken from the NSA homepage.  They seem to think
> that they were established in 1952, although they are rather vague as to
> when,  which is within the timeframe Ruppelt is talking about.  If they
> think so why don't you especially since you seem familiar with Bamford's
> book.  What point are you trying to make by revising history?

> >From The NSA Homepage:

> http://www.nsa.gov

> About NSA

> Establishment of NSA

> NSA was established by Presidential directive in 1952 as a separately
> organized agency within the Department of Defense (DoD). In this
> directive, President Truman designated the Secretary of Defense as
> Executive Agent for the signals intelligence and communications security
> activities of the Government. The Agency was charged with an additional
> mission, information systems security for national security systems, in
> a 1984 Presidential directive, and with an operations security training
> mission in a 1988 Presidential directive. Under a 1986 law, NSA became a
> combat support agency of
> the DoD.

> NSA/CSS

> < snip >

> NSA's Role in the Intelligence Community
>
> How does NSA fit into the larger U.S. intelligence picture? The nation's
> Intelligence Community (IC) is actually a coordinated network of people
> and organizations, all working together to keep decision makers informed
> and the country secure. The President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the
> final authority over all intelligence collection and analysis.
>
> The National Security Council, a group of appointed senior officials,
> assists the President in formulating foreign policy and intelligence
> priorities. The Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) is responsible
> for directing and coordinating the diverse activities of all the
> U.S. intelligence organizations. The National Security Act of 1947
> designates the DCI as the primary adviser on national foreign
> intelligence to the President and National Security Council. To
> discharge these duties, the DCI serves both as head of the
> Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and of the IC. The IC has
> representation from 13 intelligence agencies, including
> intelligence functions in the DoD, Departments of Justice (DoJ),
> Treasury, Energy, and State, and the CIA.

> While not a military organization, NSA is one of several elements
> of  the IC administered by the DoD. The Defense Intelligence Agency
> provides military intelligence and coordinates intelligence
> activities of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. The CIA is an
> independent organization whose primary responsibilities include
> covert collection of foreign intelligence and conducting
> counterintelligence efforts abroad. The FBI is responsible for
> counterintelligence efforts within the U.S.

> End of NSA Homepage http://www.nsa.gov

> Just the facts,

I see no facts here.  Generalizations, yes.  What from the fore-
going: what says that the NSA existed prior to the
4 November 1952??

Regards,

Jan Aldrich