The Wall Street Journal published an article by Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha claiming that UFO sightings near nuclear weapons sites were caused by secret EMP (electromagnetic pulse) experiments and Air Force hazing rituals — but the article is itself a piece of Pentagon disinformation designed to discredit legitimate UFO testimony. The episode systematically dismantles both claims, exposes the article’s sourcing problems, and argues that the WSJ’s editorial choices reveal a coordinated effort to suppress UFO transparency.
The Malmstrom Air Force Base Incident (1967)
On March 24, 1967, First Lieutenant Robert Salace at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana received reports of strange lights and a red glowing object hovering above the front gate. All 10 nuclear missiles on the flight went off alert simultaneously — an event Salace’s colleague Bob Jameson independently corroborated.
The incident was witnessed by multiple people: a local truck driver, a police officer, a Forest Service worker who described a huge spheroidal/elliptical object, and later missile technician John Mills in 1993.
Declassified documents confirm Strategic Air Command was “extremely puzzled” and hired Boeing to investigate — Boeing was also puzzled.
Author Robert Hastings has documented 167 cleared nuclear base employees who witnessed UFOs; his interest began because his father was stationed at Malmstrom, and a radar operator showed him “unknowns” on radar when Hastings was 16.
Why the EMP Theory Doesn’t Hold Up
The WSJ article claims the missile shutdowns were caused by a secret EMP test on the missiles with personnel present. This claim has no precedent, no documentation, and no logic:
EMPs were not even operational until the 1970s — the incident was in 1967.
Moving a 60-foot EMP science experiment to the front gate of an alert missile facility undetected is implausible.
EMPs cause irreversible damage to electronics; the Malmstrom missiles came back online, which is inconsistent with EMP effects.
No logs or records from any Malmstrom employee mention the missiles failing to come back online.
Salace himself stated it would have been “irresponsible and unthinkable” for the Air Force to jeopardize operational weapons this way.
The article’s primary source is Susan Goff, whose LinkedIn confirms she leads Booze Allen Hamilton’s psychological operations consulting practice for the Department of Defense — meaning the article was effectively fed by a PSYOPs professional.
The “Hazing Rituals” Claim and Its Problems
The article’s second explanation — that Air Force hazing rituals explain UFO mythology — fails to account for:
A 1949 Air Force document about an emergency meeting on UFOs and nukes at Kirtland Base attended by Army CIC, FBI, Office of Naval Intelligence, and CIA.
A 1947 memo from General Nathan Twining stating UFOs are “not visionary or fictitious.”
Witnesses like Bob Jacobs (Vandenberg, 1964), who was removed from his government job after a UFO sighting, had his mailbox blown up, and was harassed for years — his supervisor later admitted Jacobs had indeed worked there.
International cases: Fukushima, Japan and Barello, Argentina (where a commercial pilot in 1995 couldn’t land due to a UFO chasing his plane).
The idea that the government faked UFOs and harassed witnesses for 70 years as a “hazing ritual” is absurd on its face.
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Obstruction
Last year, Carl Nell — Army representative to the UAP Task Force — co-authored an op-ed with a former presidential cabinet member expressing frustration at the lack of transparency and civilian oversight of UFO programs in government.
The WSJ’s opinion section refused to publish it for no stated reason, despite the extraordinary credential of a cabinet-level co-author.
Journalist Jesse Michaels personally advocated for the op-ed with Lena Bell, a managing editor at the WSJ, meeting her in person at WSJ headquarters. She appeared sympathetic but said she was powerless.
Michaels was told the WSJ’s de facto adviser on UFOs is David Spergel, chair of the NASA UAP working group (which concluded “nothing to see here”). Spergel also heads the Simons Foundation, funded by mathematician Jim Simons — raising questions about potential conflicts of interest and undisclosed physics research programs.
The Broader Pattern and Call to Action
The episode frames the WSJ article as part of a long pattern of mainstream media disinformation: the Wuhan lab theory, Saddam’s WMDs, the Hunter Biden laptop story, and ivermectin coverage are cited as parallels.
If UFOs are truly just fake hazing rituals, then there should be no objection to the UAP Disclosure Act, which would establish civilian congressional oversight. Sean Kirkpatrick — former head of AARO — previously lobbied against it.
Michaels extends an open invitation to Schectman, Kirkpatrick, Goff, and others to come on the show and debate the evidence face to face. He suspects they will not accept.
He has also offered to write an op-ed rebuttal for the WSJ co-authored by Robert Hastings, Carl Nell, David Grush, Merrick von Rennenkamp, and others.
A petition supporting the UAP Disclosure Act is linked in the episode description.
