This article was published in the daily newspaper Aberdeen News, of Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA, on April 15, 2005.
Was Present For Incident Over Montana Air Force Base
By Scott Waltman
American News Writer
For some reason, aliens seem to have an interest in the nuclear weapons of the United States.
So says Robert Hastings, an independent expert on unidentified flying objects who will be speaking at Northern State University next week. His 90-minute presentation will begin at 9 p.m. Monday in Room 127 of the Johnson Fine Arts Center.
Hastings said the declassified documents and on-the-record comments he will share will prove to those willing to listen that UFOs do exist. Most of the documents and comments come from former federal government and military officials.
After a 30-minute video, Hastings will lecture for an hour.
One story he will share is from 1967. That's when evidence shows UFOs hovered over missile silos near a Montana Air Force base, temporarily causing the weapons to malfunction.
"There is, for whatever reason, a nuclear (weapon)-UFO connection," he said.
Government documents also refer to UFOs violating the airspace over Los Alamos National Laboratory, Hastings said. Many nuclear weapons are designed at the New Mexico lab.
Hastings said that perhaps the most interesting document in his collection is a 1950 note to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. It says that "flying saucers" crashed in New Mexico and were secretly recovered by the Air Force. The craft, according to the memo, were flown by "bodies of human shape, but only three feet tall."
In all, Hastings said hundreds of government documents available to anybody through the Freedom of Information Act refer to UFOs.
Hastings was at an air traffic control tower in Montana at the time of the 1967 incident. That's what piqued his interest in UFOs. He's been doing independent research since 1973, reviewing documents and interviewing people. Since starting to lecture at colleges in 1981, he has spoke at more than 500 schools.
There are skeptics in every audience, Hastings said. However, he said, most people he talks to give him favorable feedback. He said that may be because people who attend his lectures have an interest in UFOs and, perhaps, an inclination to believe in them.
Reliable public opinion polls show that about half of Americans believe in UFOs, Hastings said.
Even ardent non-believers are welcomed to Hastings' free talk. He simply reminds detractors that there's a difference between having an opinion and having an informed opinion.
In publicity information, Hastings writes that he is "not condemning any government agency for its policy of secrecy regarding UFOs, but I believe that the American public should be given the facts."
Hastings lives in Surfside Beach, S.C. While in this part of the country, he is also speaking in Dickinson, N.D. and Peru, Neb.
