News · 6 June 2025
WSJ: Pentagon disinformation fueled UFO myths, from doctored Area 51 photos to a fake “Yankee Blue” briefing
article · The Wall Street Journal (Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha) · Original source
A Wall Street Journal investigation, drawing on interviews with officials involved in AARO's historical review under Sean Kirkpatrick, reported that the Pentagon itself had sometimes fed UFO mythology: doctored saucer photos handed out near Area 51 to shield stealth-fighter tests, and a fake "Yankee Blue" alien-technology briefing given to new commanders of classified Air Force programs for decades. The findings were left out of AARO's 2024 report; the Pentagon said a second volume would cover them. FOIA searches later found no record of the 2023 memo the Journal described.
Facts and claims
- claimed The Journal reports that AARO's investigators learned that in the 1980s an Air Force colonel gave a bar owner near Area 51 photos of what might be flying saucers. “The photos were doctored, the now-retired officer confessed to the Pentagon investigators in 2023.” The ruse protected stealth-fighter development at the site, such as the F-117. Source: wsj.com (archived)
- claimed It reports that “for decades, certain new commanders of the Air Force’s most classified programs” were shown a flying-saucer photo in their induction briefings and told their program, “dubbed Yankee Blue”, was reverse-engineering the craft; “Many never learned it was fake.” A memo from the defense secretary's office in spring 2023 ordered the practice stopped. Source: wsj.com (archived)
- claimed Defense Department spokeswoman Sue Gough acknowledged that AARO had uncovered evidence of fake classified program materials relating to extraterrestrials, and said: “The department is committed to releasing a second volume of its Historical Record Report, to include AARO’s findings on reports of potential pranks and inauthentic materials.” Source: wsj.com (archived)
- claimed On the 1967 Malmstrom missile shutdowns, the Journal reports that AARO traced them to an Air Force electromagnetic-pulse generator used to test the missiles' vulnerability, kept secret from the launch crews. Robert Salas disagrees: “There is a gigantic coverup, not only by the Air Force, but every other federal agency that has cognizance of this subject.” Source: wsj.com (archived)
- claimed Counterpoint: The Black Vault's FOIA requests for the spring 2023 memo (OSD case 25-F-3514) and related AFOSI records found no responsive records. Source: theblackvault.com (archived)
Connected files
Claims
- A UFO shut down nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base in March 1967 (evidence against claim) — The WSJ reports AARO traced the shutdowns to a secret Air Force electromagnetic-pulse test
Concepts
- Government UFO disinformation (about)
People
- Sean Kirkpatrick (about)
- Robert Salas (about)
Programs
Documents
Places
- Area 51 (about)
Incidents
- Malmstrom AFB missile shutdown (about)
Mentioned in this file
- Department of War (Department of Defense) (Organization)