Background Wikipedia offers the following summary of the Watergate scandal, and it is republished here, in part, for reference. You will find the declassified documents obtained below. The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration’s attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration’s resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.…
Author: John Greenewald
Background An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an unpiloted aircraft. UAVs come in two varieties: some are controlled from a remote location, and others fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans using more complex dynamic automation systems. Currently, UAVs perform reconnaissance as well as attack missions. They are also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as firefighting. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too “dull, dirty, or dangerous” for manned aircraft. Declassified Documents Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), April 1994[170 Pages, 19.2MB] Counter UAV Optical Detection, Location, and Negation…
Background John A. McCone was the sixth Director of Central Intelligence, serving from 1961 to 1965 during some of the most tumultuous events in American history. The United States narrowly averted nuclear war with the Soviet Union when the Soviets tried to put offensive ballistic missiles into Cuba. An incumbent president fell to an assassin’s bullet. The United States committed itself to defending the Republic of Vietnam against communist aggression and escalated its military support to that beleaguered country. The Intelligence Community, of which McCone was titular head, saw some of its bitterest bureaucratic battles over control of the National…
Background While sifting through thousands of different pages of documents, I found references to some previously, never-before-released (that I saw) documents about nuclear accidents. I have always been fascinated by the topic, ever since I saw the 1996 film Broken Arrow. Yes, I know, a bit cheesy, but I was 15 when it came out – and I was just about to start The Black Vault. I was fascinated to learn, that Broken Arrow was a real term, and in fact, nuclear accidents have plagued American history. So, when I saw these documents existed, I had to get them! It…
Background On 5 January 1978, in response to a memorandum from the Department of Defense (Appendix 1), the Chief of Naval Research directed the Naval Research Laboratory to form a study team to carry out a short, intensive investigation to determine the causes of a series of startling acoustic events that had disturbed residents of coastal New Jersey and South Carolina. Significant public response to these events began on 2 December 1977 and continued at intervals to the present (end of February 1978). To meet the objectives set forth by the tasking memorandum, the Naval Research Laboratory established an Ad…