Originally Posted by
Longeyes
This sums his views up I think pretty well...
From p83 of his book
It was easy for the Air Force to maintain secrecy about incidents. It simply issued immediate and strict orders to those involved to remain silent. Everyone connected with our missile wing had a security clearance, and everyone knew it was imperative to keep one's mouth shut, not just with classified material, but also with verbal orders to keep silent. Failure to do so would spell the end of one's career, or worse. In some cases, we were simply told by a superior officer to zip lips. In other cases, it was necessary to sign a document swearing an oath of silence. In a majority of cases, the order for silence came down from the local Air Force Office of Special Investigations. It was usually delivered by someone dressed in civilian clothes with a badge under his coat, or in his wallet, or by a phone call.
So it was with me. I was told upon arriving topside from our underground LCC that I was to forget everything. I was to never say another word about the incident. Being instructed that "It Never Happened" was dismaying, but I had my orders, and I was proud of my integrity in being honorable and trustworthy. I never questioned the order, except to ask where it came from (the OSI). It would have been imprudent for me to challenge it further, since I valued my career and status. I never questioned what kind of security classification the incident had, and I was never told what the security classification was. I assumed of course that it was super sensitive, but I was never told whether it was secret, top secret, or exactly what it was all about, or why my commander and I were to pretend it never happened. That is why I continued to hold the secret for almost forty years, and long after I separated from the Air Force. That is why so many others did the same, and continue to do so. After a while, as the Air Force must have hoped, the incidents would become old lost memories. They did become old, but not lost.
Moral Responsibility
To be realistic, it's the aspect of not being "truthful' that has been bothersome in later years. There is always the conundrum of keeping true to a secret, but what if that secret involves a lie? You then ask yourself whether you have really been truthful, or have enabled perpetration of a lie toward society and the whole human community. How long can you assist in hiding a lie that would be of monumental interest to the scientific establishment, and to all of humankind? It then becomes a question of balancing moral responsibility toward a greater cause.
I have always held my government in highest regard, and respect. I fly the flag, my patriotism is beyond question, and I continue to participate with the national Air Force Association, which has a goal of promoting and advocating for strong national defense and a strong United States Air Force. I thoroughly enjoyed Air Force life and the camaraderie that came with it. I worked with very respectable, conscientious, and competent people who possessed high moral values and who worked hard to serve the Air Force in the best way they could. They all possessed college degrees, and were working to further their education. They were regular, normal Americans who were serious in their work ethic, and dedicated to home, family, friends, and their nation. Granted, this may not necessarily be a general characterization of many in the Air Force, but it certainly was in my experience, and the environment I was part of...
P85 ...When I and fellow missileers went "on-alert" in our Minuteman Launch Control Centers, with our finger on the nuclear trigger, we showed our teeth of deterrence, and we had no doubt that any would-be aggressor posing a threat to our existence would regret it. But our intent was to let world peace and freedom reign, and that is what we definitely preferred.
When I was told to never utter another word about my incident, I maintained trustworthiness in that regard. I didn't speak another word. I didn't speak to my commander again about it. I didn't talk to my wife about it. I talked to no one, because doing so was off limits. That is the way it had to be, even though flash-back memories of my incident would continue to haunt me for many years afterward. That's the way it was for many former Air Force officers who are now speaking to the Truth, and that is the way it remains for many who are still reluctant to do so.
The aspect of truthfulness, however, has come to my attention in the last few years when I learned that some Air Force officers, and other very reputable people, were speaking up about incidents they harbored quietly for many years. The incident experienced by Robert Salas became a tremendous grand awakening for me after some thirty-five years, and it made me realize that Truth was overdue. A long protected lie needed to be brought into the open.