Former USAF Minuteman ICBM targeting officer (Combat Targeting Team Commander), 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron, Malmstrom AFB, Montana
Jamison states that he assisted in the re-start of an entire "flight" of ten Minuteman ICBMs which had simultaneously and inexplicably shut down immediately after a UFO was sighted in their vicinity by Air Force Security Police. Jamison is certain that the incident occurred at one of the missile flights located near Lewistown, Montana, perhaps Oscar Flight. This event probably occurred on the night of March 24/25, 1967, based on Jamison’s portrayal of related events.
Jamison said that while his and other teams were preparing to respond to the stricken flight, they were ordered—as a precaution—to remain at Malmstrom until all UFO reports from the field had ceased. He further states that his team received a special briefing prior to being dispatched, during which it was directed to immediately report any UFO sighted while traveling to or from the missile field. In the event that a UFO appeared at one of the missile silos during the re-start procedure, the team was directed to enter the silo's personnel hatch, and remain underground until the UFO had left the vicinity. According to Jamison, the Air Police guard accompanying the team was to remain outside and relay information about the UFO to the base Command Post. Jamison’s own team re-started three or four missiles but did not observe any unusual aerial activity.
Jamison said that while he was at the missile maintenance hangar, waiting to be dispatched to the field, he overheard two-way radio communications at the temporary Command Post, relating to another UFO having been sighted on the ground in a canyon near the town of Belt. He states he recalls hearing that a top commander—either Malmstrom's base commander, or the 341st Strategic Missile Wing commander—was on-site with other personnel. Based on these recollections, it appears that Jamison is describing the well-documented Belt, Montana UFO sighting of March 24/25, 1967.
Jamison said that immediately after the missile shutdown incident, for a period of approximately two weeks, his team received a special UFO briefing, identical to the one described above, before being dispatched to the field. Jamison said that approximately two weeks after the full-flight missile shutdown, his team responded to another, partial shutdown—involving four or five ICBMs. Prior to being dispatched, Jamison’s team received a report that the missile failures had occurred immediately after a UFO was sighted over the flight's Launch Control Facility. Jamison recalls that this incident took place at a flight located south or southwest of Great Falls, possibly India Flight, and during daylight hours.
Jamison said that he had subsequently spoken with several individuals, mostly missile security guards, who had witnessed various UFO-related incidents. He reports that they were “visibly shaken” by their experiences.
Comment: At least five other former or retired USAF personnel—all Minuteman missile launch officers stationed at Malmstrom AFB in 1967—have previously divulged their knowledge of UFO involvement in two separate, large-scale missile shutdown incidents. One of these individuals, former Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander Robert Salas, has extensively investigated these events, together with researcher Jim Klotz. Their revealing summary of the March 1967 incidents may be found at:
https://www.cufon.org/cufon/malmstrom/malm1.htm
The article above also discusses the Air Force’s formal denial of UFO-involvement in the one officially-acknowledged, full-flight missile shutdown incident at Malmstrom AFB—at Echo Flight—despite the missile launch officers’ testimony to the contrary. The official disavowal is found in the 341st Strategic Missile Wing’s “unit history”.
Significantly, the unit historian, David Gamble, told Klotz that while compiling material for the official history, he had learned of reports of UFO activity within Malmstrom’s missile fields. When he made inquiries, Gamble received “no cooperation” from those in-the-know. He further said that written changes regarding “the UFO aspect of the missile shutdown incident” had been made by superiors. The final version of the unit history states, “Rumors of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) around the area of Echo Flight during the time of the fault were disproven.”
Salas and Klotz have written a thorough and persuasive book, Faded Giant, which expands upon their earlier online report.
If Jamison’s recollections are correct, and he did indeed respond to a large-scale missile shutdown at Oscar Flight on the same date as the well-documented Belt UFO sighting, then the date proposed for the Oscar event by Salas and Klotz—March 16, 1967—would seem to be in error. Salas has now acknowledged this possibility, however, Klotz remains skeptical about the alternate date.
Prior to my posting the Jamison-related material on the NICAP and NCP websites, I sent it to Klotz for his review. He responded, "I think that while witnesses’ memories of ‘events’ tend to be pretty clear, memories of dates tend to be less accurate. I am a document-driven guy and I'd like to see some documentary evidence of multiple events. Lacking this, I only wish to keep open the idea that memories may be of a ‘single’ UFO-related missile shutdown event at Malmstrom. Certainly the indications from witness testimony are that multiple events may well have occurred."
For the record: I too would like to see unaltered documents relating to the shutdown events. In the early 1980s, I attempted to access, via the Freedom of Information Act, Office of Special Investigations (OSI) files relating to UFO sightings at Malmstrom’s ICBM sites, only to be told that all such documents had already been declassified. However, multiple source testimony strongly suggests otherwise. I think David Gamble’s comments above are telling. In my opinion, the documents that might shed light on the true facts relating to the missile shutdowns will remain hidden indefinitely, whereas those supporting the official version of events, including unit histories, will sometimes be declassified.
I also sent my Jamison-related material to Bob Salas. He responded, "What is interesting to me is the briefing Jamison received about how to respond if they sighted a UFO while working in the field. This would be a further indication that there had been experiences with UFOs at [Launch Facilities] prior to Jamison going out to the sites. We have also received similar information from a source we are protecting at this time."
Salas continued, "I [now] think it is more likely that Oscar Flight went down on some date after the Echo Flight [shutdown] and that it could very well have been on the same day as the Belt sighting. One of the factors that lead me to that 'opinion' is the lack of comment about two flights going down in the [now-declassified] telex that went out, and in the unit history. If the two had gone down on the same day, that would have been mentioned. The reason, I think, Oscar wasn't mentioned later is because by then the Air Force wanted to keep a secrecy lid on it and avoid the possibility of a leak by the indication of a growing and continuing problem. That would have made quite some headlines in the press."
Salas concluded, "Remember, from all we have heard from the maintenance people we have interviewed, the rumors and comments [about UFO activity] were rampant. I personally received a call from an NCO after the Oscar shutdowns, practically begging me to come talk to him and others about the incident. Believe me, it was all over the base and some of the troops were flat scared."
In conclusion, Jamison’s statements are important because they indicate that the Air Force was fully aware of UFO involvement in at least two missile flight shutdown incidents prior to dispatching the missile maintenance teams to restart the ICBMs. Specifically, according to Jamison, the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron undertook certain precautions and formally implemented various procedures to protect the teams’ safety while in the field. In this respect, his testimony is unprecedented.