“They’ve Shot an Alien at Fort Dix”

Major George Filer, a retired U.S. Air Force navigator and intelligence officer with over 5,000 flight hours, walked onto McGuire Air Force Base at 4:00 AM on January 18, 1978, and immediately knew something was wrong. Guards stopped him at the gate — unusual for someone in uniform. On the runway, police cars, fire trucks, and security vehicles were clustered around bright lights. Inside the command post, normally dimly lit at that hour, it was “bright as day.” The officer in charge approached him and said: “They’ve shot an alien at Fort Dix and he’s escaping and running towards McGuire.”

That story, told on Unknown Origins Radio, anchors a conversation about military encounters with unidentified craft, the compartmentalization of UFO information within the armed forces, and the limits of what even high-ranking officers are permitted to know.

The View from Inside the Command Post