Waldorf Puts the U in UFO
WTOP Radio
July 26, 2002
URL =
http://www.wtopnews.com/news/newsdetail.cfm?newsID=584517

What was that bright light in Maryland's sky???

WTOP has learned that residents near Andrews Air Force
base were shaken from their beds early Friday morning
by some strange activity in the air.

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible" is what Renny
Rogers of Waldorf calls it. Just before two in the
morning, Rogers says he saw a large blue ball of light
streaking across the sky. But it was the military jets
that really startled him.

"(The jets) were right on its tail. As the thing would
move, a jet was right behind it," Rogers recalls.

He is not the only one who saw it. Several people
called WTOP Radio reporting seeing a bright blue or
orange ball moving very fast, being chased by jets.

Rogers says there was no smoke coming from the object,
no flashing lights, and says it was smooth, and eerily
silent.

The Air National Guard confirms they scrambled the
113th squadron. Spokesman Sheldon Smith says they are
investigating and in contact with NORAD.

--------------------------------------------------

The Charles County Sheriff's headquarters in Waldorf, Maryland
was contacted at 301-932-2222 and I spoke with the duty officer
who was not on-duty the previous evening and was also not
advised of any such reports. He did undertake a brief search of
the records but did not see reference to any reports of unusual
lights in his logs.

A Charles County office of the Maryland State Police was then
contacted at 301-392-1200. The dispatcher taking my call
informed that she had been on duty last night and received no
reports or complaints of unusual lights. She also had no
knowledge of any police officers reporting anything similar.

Filed,
July 26, 2002

--------------------------------------------------


This article was posted about 3-hours after the FOX
news report and strangely has far less information,
does not reference the WTOP callers or the reported
description of the object, said to be a a smooth 'blue'
light (described by other witnesses as orange).
Interestingly, CNN also does not reference that ground
observers reported jets in immediate pursuit of the
objects. What makes this dismal report only remotely
interesting is the specific term "aircraft" used by the
NORAD spokesperson, suggesting that this would not have
been thought of as space debris of any kind by the
agency. I still wonder why they are coming out with
this? - KY

--

Air Force jets scrambled near D.C.
July 26, 2002 Posted: 10:26 PM EDT (0226 GMT)

From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Air Force F-16s were scrambled
early Friday morning to investigate a low-flying,
unknown aircraft close to the restricted flight zone
over Washington, according to an official at the North
American Aerospace Defense Command.

A Pentagon official said that an aircraft appeared on
radar in the 15-mile restricted flight zone around
Washington.

"The pair of jets were scrambled from Andrews Air Force
Base in Maryland at about 1 a.m. Friday to investigate
reports of an aircraft in the Washington, D.C.
Temporary Flight Restriction Area," said Maj. Barry
Venable, a spokesman for NORAD.

Venable would not say how long the F-16s were in the
air.
----------------------------------------------------------


Many thanks to FOX NEWS Channel for their sober reportage and
investigation (ongoing, hopefully) of the F-16 scramble near
Andrews AFB on July 26, 2002. The following transcript is a
word-for-word rundown of their report, as I caught on video as
it was broadcast. Note the clear emphasis the reportage placed
on the discrepancies from ground witness testimony vs.
(alleged) pilot testimony. Again, thanks to FOX News for some
cutting edge journalism here.

Transcript of FOX NEWScast, dated JULY 26, 2002 around 7:40
p.m. E.D.T.

SHEPARD SMITH: THe nighttime skies over the nation's capital
alive with blue and orange lights streaking across the sky, so
say a lot of panicked people who called in to a radio station,
no joke here. American fighter jets in hot pursuit... NORAD
confirmed to FOX News that 2 F-16s did scramble, but found
nothing! A mystery in the sky above Andrews Air Force Base...
that's the one The President uses. Fox report now from Brian
Wilson live in our D.C. newsroom. Brian?

BRIAN WILSON: Fair to say, Shepard. A lot more questions than
answers at this point, but something strange was going on in
the Maryland night sky. Here is what we know; 1:00 a.m. the
folks at NORAD saw something they couldn't identify in Maryland
airspace, not far from the nation's capitol. The track it was
taking caused them some concern so they scrambled 2 DC Air
National Guard jets to check things out. Now, DC Air National
Guard confirms that 2 F-16s from the 113th Wing were vectored
to intercept whatever it was that NORAD was worried about.
However, when the pilots got where they were supposed to be,
they said they didn't see anything when they arrived on the
scene. Now the folks at NORAD would not provide details about
the exact location, direction or speed of the object they were
tracking. Now independently, a number of folks who live in
Waldorf, Maryland, which is not far from Andrews Air Force Base
and not far from the nation's capitol, called local radio
station WTOP to say that about the same, they witnessed a fast
moving, bright blue light in the sky. They go on to claim that
the light was being chased by military jets. One witness tells
the radio station that the jets were right on its tail. Quote:
"as the thing would move, a jet was right behind it..." end of
quote. An investigation is underway. But National Guard
spokesman Captain Sheldon Smith says, and this is another
quote, "We don't have any information about funny lights." By
the way, this just happens to be the 50th anniversary of a
series of still-unexplained sightings over the nation's
capitol, a story that made banner-headline news in 1952.
Shepard, we'll continue to watch for this.

SHEPARD SMITH: And now it can be told... Brian Wilson, live in
Washington.

END OF TRANSCRIPT
Typed from videotape of FOX NEWS 7:00 p.m. E.D.T. newscast

------------------------------------------------


An all news station in Washington DC (WTOP-AM) has
been running the following story throughout the day. They
have a little information on their web site, and I'm
providing that information below.

http://wtopnews.com/news/newsdetail.cfm?newsid=584517

The Fund has asked that a local investigator get
involved in this case, and that should be done relatively
quickly. As noted in the story, this is apparently a
multiple witness event:

=====begin forwarded story=======




What was that bright light in Maryland's sky???

WTOP has learned that residents near Andrews Air Force
base were shaken from their beds early Friday morning by
some strange activity in the air.

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible" is what Renny
Rogers of Waldorf calls it. Just before two in the morning,
Rogers says he saw a large blue ball of light streaking
across the sky. But it was the military jets that really
startled him.

"(The jets) were right on its tail. As the thing would
move, a jet was right behind it," Rogers recalls.

He is not the only one who saw it. Several people
called WTOP Radio reporting seeing a bright blue or orange
ball moving very fast, being chased by jets.

Rogers says there was no smoke coming from the object,
no flashing lights, and says it was smooth, and eerily
silent.

The Air National Guard confirms they scrambled the
113th squadron. Spokesman Sheldon Smith says they are
investigating and in contact with NORAD.


WTOP Radio, 2002

-------------------------------------------------------

Kenny Young follows up on the Washington, D.C., USAF chase after a UFO.  
It is standard for officers being interviewed to avoid answering questions 
which would give a potentially hostile power a clear idea of our technical 
capabilities and limits, which is why so many of the questions do not get 
answered.  However, you will also note at least two responses which were 
what Woodward and Bernstein used to call "non-denial denials."  Eyewitness 
accounts were in sharp contrast to the spokesmen's versions of this event, 
however, the spokesman never really denied that the version seen by folks on 
the ground was true.  The cat and mouse game continues.  Then, again, maybe it was 
just a Cessna flying off course, as suggested by the good major.

Kenny Young wrote:

>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: F-16 Scramble - Interview with NORAD Command Spokesman
> Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2002 18:55:36 -0700
> From: Kenny Young 
> Reply-To: Discussions about UFOs and research for CURRENT ENCOUNTERS 


>
> This afternoon I spoke with a Marine Corp. Major with
> NORAD and the United States Space Command, Major Mike
> Snyder. Major Snyder is a command spokesman for both NORAD
> and the US Space Command. He was reached through the
> Peterson Air Force Base operator at 719-556-7321,
>
> When asked about the event taking place near Washington
> D.C. on Friday morning, July 26, 2002, Major Snyder
> said that he could handle some brief questions. Although
> he was unfamiliar with specific details such as the exact
> time NORAD detect the unidentified aircraft, he said that
> he knew the object was tracked by radar. When asked if the
> radar detection was from more than one radar sensor, he
> said "I don't know." Major Snyder was not aware of any
> other method of detection employed by NORAD in this
> instance, such as pilot, tower controller or satellite
> observation
>
> He was not briefed on the estimated location of the object
> when first detected and would not disclose the estimated
> speed or altitude of the object when first detected,
> saying only that it met the criteria of a 'small private
> aircraft.'
>
> Major Mike Snyder was not aware of any video or
> photographic documentation of the unidentified aircraft.
>
> "Keeping things at the NORAD level," Major Snyder said,
> "this was a track of interest. It was viewed as a
> reasonable security precaution to ascertain the intentions
> of the track and implement a graduated response."
>
> Major Snyder said that in extreme circumstances, such a
> response may include use of lethal force.
>
> "It never entered restricted DC airspace," Major Synder
> said while refusing to comment further about what point
> the radar track ultimately raised concerns.
>
> Major Snyder did not think that the Secret Service was
> alerted to the situation at any point.
>
> "NORAD is absolutely not concerned about this situation,"
> Major Snyder said. "We posture our forces according to the
> threat and at no time did this incident involve any threat
> to our country. It was an innocuous happening."
>
> When asked if NORAD was aware of civilian sightings of a
> UFO before, simultaneous or after their detection of the
> unidentified aircraft, Major Snyder said: "I don't have
> any info on that."
>
> Major Snyder was also asked if he felt the civilian
> sightings of a UFO were correlated to the jet dispatch or
> if the news media had drawn an inappropriate linkage. "I
> don't have any opinion on it, but since 9-1-1 we've been
> operating 23,000 sorties and many of these missions will
> generate requests for info," he said, "and whenever people
> see something since 9-1-1 they call the media. The media
> calls us and word gets around."
>
> When asked if he could recall the first news media
> operation to contact him regarding the story, he said: "I
> can't recall. All the big names have been calling though."
>
> When asked for his opinion on the discrepancy between
> civilian reports of the jets in pursuit of a UFO and pilot
> claims to have seen nothing, Major Snyder said: "People
> see what they want to see. What these people reported
> could have been exhaust from the jet itself, depending on
> whether or not the pilot was on or off afterburners. We
> don't think it was a UFO."
>
> When Major Snyder was asked if there was an explanation
> for the unidentified radar track, he said: "In this
> situation we found nothing at all. The radar return may
> have been caused by a small plane flying low, and
> sometimes that will cause them to drop on or off the
> radar."
>
> Major Snyder was asked of a Washington Post report that
> states the radar return 'faded' from sight, and he said:
> "I don't have any info on this. But it's not uncommon for
> either routine or unidentified radar returns to fade.
> Sometimes a plane will simply come down and land on a
> small airport in the area or on a grassy strip."
>
> The Command Spokesman was then asked if he could inform of
> a location, speed and altitude the object was last
> observed, and he said: "I cannot get into this with any
> specificity."
>
> Our discussion then focused on the dispatch of the ANG
> jets of the 113th Fighter Group out of Andrews Air Force
> Base and he suggested that I consult with ANG public
> affairs in this regard. I inquired if the radar returns of
> the responding fighter jets were visible simultaneous to
> the radar observation of the unidentified object and he
> said: "You know, I don't know the answer to that. It's a
> good question. I don't know if the jets appeared
> simultaneous on radar with the object but would not be
> certain if that information is even releasable due to
> operational policy."
>
> Major Snyder went on to add that there are many issues of
> operational policy and readiness that can't be discussed
> for security reasons. He was thanked for his time and I
> asked that he research the radar issue concerning the
> simultaneous track of the jets and the unidentified
> aircraft and that I would call him back next week for
> follow up.
>
> Filed,
> SATURDAY, July 27, 2002
> KENNY YOUNG
> --
> UFO Research
> http://home.fuse.net/ufo