While doing some "housecleaning" for my show I came across this file from "back in the day" that Vicki and I wrote and ran in UFO Magazine. (UFO Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 3, ATOMIC PERSPECTIVES) Since a lot of this information we got from Phil Imbrogno I thought some here would find this of interest. If you are not real clear on what has gone on in years past, this will be an eye opener. At any rate, here it is ... Incident at Indian Point (New York)
Incident at Indian Point
by Vicki (Cooper) Ecker
The threat of UFOs compromising reactor security, as
if the nuclear industry didn't have enough to deal with
already, became a very real concern in 1984. Although of-
ficials won't admit it, several researchers have information That
New York 's Indian Point Reactor complex endured such
a UFO problem during the long siege of sightings that
happened throughout the state's Hudson Valley area.
The portrayal of the event in this article is based primarily on
the disclosures of unnamed sources.
The summer of 1984 was a troublesome season for
authorities at the Indian Point nuclear reactor complex in
Buchanan, New York. Two UFO appearances, one of which was verified
by Carl Patrick, director of nuclear information for the New York
Power Authority (NYPA), and later documented by the press and the
1987 book Night Siege, apparently put the normally tight security
of the plant to a severe test. The first event entailed the brief
flyover of a huge craft, witnessed by three security policemen on
June 14. That was followed ten days later by a UFO incident of
unprecedented impact. It was one of hundreds of UFO sightings in
the Hudson Valley, but one the nuclear workers won't soon forget.
"Here comes that UFO again! " an Indian Point security guard is
said to have yelled on the night of July 24, 1984, alerting other
security personnel by way of the plant's internal
communications system. A UFO, variously described as looking like
"an ice cream cone " and "boomerang, " had lazily drifted over
to Reactor #3-the only active reactor at the time-lingering about
300 feet above the domed construction for some ten minutes, sending
security officials into an uproar. Now, six years later, the
principal UFO researcher on the case admits that many aspects of
the event remain confusing and undisclosed. And although he's still
receiving information, Philip Imbrogno calls his own lengthy
investigation "stagnant."
"Every time new information comes up or I get a lead on
something, I get very reluctant to deal with it again," said
Imbrogno, who heads the science department at the Windward School
in White Plains, New York. "The entire case has caused me quite a
bit of pressure . . . The event would indicate that whatever
appeared over there, our state-of-the-art technology in defense was
unable to deal with it. " He suggests that from what his sources
have said, a military aspect came into play. The Indian Point UFO
represented an intolerable security breach.
Military customers?
Imbrogno says that it is precisely that aspect which has had a
lasting effect, and which has generated repercussions that continue
to this day. But according to the New York Power Authority, which
oversees the reactor complex, Indian Point itself has no direct
military customers. Reactor #3 primarily services local and state
facilities in New York City and Westchester County, including local
school districts, the New York City subway systems and some of New
York's trains. Most importantly, in Imbrogno's mind, are several
military installations in and around Duchess County, which
allegedly get their power from Indian Point. According to his
sources, these are primarily satellite receiving stations, and "a
number of other military operations of which we can only guess, "
Imbrogno says. The official agency overseeing the reactor complex
is the New York Power Authority, although Consolidated Edison has
jurisdiction over Reactor #2 and is sold use of #3 for extensive
transmissions to New York residential users and, perhaps, military
facilities such as Camp Smith, an Air National Guard base located
north of Peekskill. (Reactor #l is inactive.)
It was NYPA whose officials apparently spent considerable human
energy trying to dissuade Imbrogno from writing about the July 24
event, concerned he would release information vital to the plant's
security. "I think other agencies were using (the NYPA) to harass
me, " he said, noting that he was constantly subjected to their
repetitive phone calls, threatening that he would be forced to
appear at a hearing on the incident. (He was never subpoenaed, but
Imbrogno subsequently, and perhaps coincidentally, was audited by
the IRS four times.)
The compulsion to publish was undeniable; of what may have been
as many as 70 UFO witnesses among Indian Point personnel, a number
quietly sought out Imbrogno, and on the condition of anonymity
provided him with the vital facts which led to the production of
Night Siege (co-written with Bob Pratt and J. Allen Hynek.) "My
sources involve people who work in security for the plant and also
people in secretarial and janitorial positions," he said.
"The only problem is that getting anything on paper-
documentation, something official-is very, very hard, I have
unofficial confirmation right now that a number of documents
pertaining to the sighting do exist at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. " Normally, NRC records can be opened to the public
under terms of the Freedom of Information Act, but when he in-
quired, Imbrogno was informed that the documents were being held at
the reactor complex, and as such were protected under national
security regulations. "It's a joint sort of thing, " he said, "In
other words, although the NRC is pretty open to the public, if they
want to keep a document classified, they'll store it with another
agency. I have an inside secretarial source who's actually seen the
documents filed." The NYPA's Patrick denies that any such
documentation exists, and dismisses the incident by claiming that
all Hudson Valley UFO sightings were later identified as light
aircraft, There was no videotape taken by on-site surveillance
cameras, Patrick insists, or audio recording of oral
communications, both pieces of evidence which Imbrogno strongly
feels do exist and are being retained somewhere. According to
Imbrogno's sources, a security shake-up ensued the very next day.
"A number of agencies came in, including the NRC and military
personnel, and they supposedly cleaned out everything. You have to
remember that with nuclear reactors, you're only going to get 10
percent of the real story. They're overly terrified of bad
publicity, and are really afraid of the anti-nuclear groups, which
can cause trouble. Anything that happens is immediately covered up,
including UFO sightings. "
An 'irregularity'
Imbrogno further alleges that shortly after the UFO infringement,
a crack in the reactor's casing was discovered. The public didn't
hear about such a situation until a year later; the NYPA's Patrick
denied any "crack, " although he did recall a time when Reactor #2
may have developed an "irregularity. " Imbrogno says, "[Indian
Point officials] made a public statement that operations were not
affected, that everything was normal. But I've been told by several
people that they lost power, the security system dropped, and the
reactor controls went crazy. Apparently it was caused by the UFO."
No way, says the NYPA. "Any implication that the sightings of
these [light aircraft] in any way affected Reactor #3 is false",
Patrick said. Imbrogno's sources indicate otherwise. Supposedly, a
mass of sophisticated, high-accuracy tracking equipment was
installed at the complex, enabling security to quickly generate a
computer image of whatever aircraft might be affecting the
equipment. Apparently such problems are still going on. Patrick
would not comment on what kinds of security equipment protect
Indian Point, but stressed that nothing new has been installed
since the incident.
Imbrogno is also suspicious that the armed security forces at the
site may have had reason to attempt firing on the craft, again an
allegation flatly refuted by the NYPA. "I know a number of
helicopters with rocket launchers were sent up and followed the
craft for some distance," Imbrogno commented, citing his anonymous
sources for the info. "When these helicopters went on their way,
the object moved off and started crossing the Hudson, and
disappeared up north."
Officials will not talk to Imbrogno, nor answer his letters, he
says. UFO spoke with Cliff Spieler, vice president at the New York
Power Authority. He, like Patrick, basically dismisses the entire
affair. "Having looked into this thing and living two miles from
Indian Point, think the UFO reports are nonsense, " he said. "[All
Hudson Valley UFO sightings] are linked to small planes flying out
of Duchess County."
At one time, officials speaking for Indian Point made their
position quite clear to Imbrogno, "They said, 'you can cooperate
with us, or you don't have to cooperate with us. If you don't
cooperate with us, you have to face the consequences, because you
are dealing in an area of national security. The incident that took
place over there involved national security because it was a breach
of security at a nuclear reactor.' But they weren't ready to say
who was breaching security!" In considering the "who," Imbrogno
took in a number of hypotheses, including the possibility that the
incident was an elaborate test flight of a secret military craft,
such as the B-2 Stealth bomber, or a covertly-planned contingency
test of the plant's security operations, carried out under the
guise of a UFO overflight.
Nothing is impossible, he'll admit. But the most tenable answer,
he feels, is that the UFO was an extraterrestrial craft. "I don't
think our government could be so bold with a craft of the kind that
appeared at Indian Point," he said. "Talking to these security
people, and looking into their eyes," his voice trailed, " . .
. they tell a story of this one cop who got up on the roof below
the UFO, and the thing started moving a little bit. He pulled out
his gun, looked at it, then put the gun back in his holster and
ducked! . . . The people who were telling these stories are not
familiar with the UFO literature. If I really wanted to go into
this, with no fear of what would happen to me, I'm sure there's an
incredible story here. I am still being given
information about certain things going on there-In the nighttime,
people seeing little creatures coming through the walls of the
casing on the reactor, and military personnel indicating 'we're
aware of these creatures and we don't care if they're from outer
space-shoot 'em!' . . . On a newscast on Channel 7 in New York,
they were interviewing one guy, and he said, 'I saw it going over
the reactor! I think they're sucking the power from it! That's what
they're doing!' But a civilization that has this type of vehicle-
any intelligence, whatever it is-I'm sure doesn't need nuclear
energy."
Ed. Note: In a letter to UFO shortly after this article was
written, Imbrogno added to his remarks. "It is hard to believe
that people like John Lear and Bill Cooper are revealing 'top
secret' information with little or no repercussions. I just poked
my nose a little too deep into an area of national security and got
my ears pinned back for it. My next step is to approach this in a
legal way by asking for an investigation (preferably by a member of
Congress) to find out how and why the security at this
government reactor was violated and why information is being
withheld."
Addendum to "Incident at Indian Point", this was taken
from UFO Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 3, ATOMIC PERSPECTIVES.
Incident at Indian Point
by Vicki (Cooper) Ecker
The threat of UFOs compromising reactor security, as
if the nuclear industry didn't have enough to deal with
already, became a very real concern in 1984. Although of-
ficials won't admit it, several researchers have information That
New York 's Indian Point Reactor complex endured such
a UFO problem during the long siege of sightings that
happened throughout the state's Hudson Valley area.
The portrayal of the event in this article is based primarily on
the disclosures of unnamed sources.
The summer of 1984 was a troublesome season for
authorities at the Indian Point nuclear reactor complex in
Buchanan, New York. Two UFO appearances, one of which was verified
by Carl Patrick, director of nuclear information for the New York
Power Authority (NYPA), and later documented by the press and the
1987 book Night Siege, apparently put the normally tight security
of the plant to a severe test. The first event entailed the brief
flyover of a huge craft, witnessed by three security policemen on
June 14. That was followed ten days later by a UFO incident of
unprecedented impact. It was one of hundreds of UFO sightings in
the Hudson Valley, but one the nuclear workers won't soon forget.
"Here comes that UFO again! " an Indian Point security guard is
said to have yelled on the night of July 24, 1984, alerting other
security personnel by way of the plant's internal
communications system. A UFO, variously described as looking like
"an ice cream cone " and "boomerang, " had lazily drifted over
to Reactor #3-the only active reactor at the time-lingering about
300 feet above the domed construction for some ten minutes, sending
security officials into an uproar. Now, six years later, the
principal UFO researcher on the case admits that many aspects of
the event remain confusing and undisclosed. And although he's still
receiving information, Philip Imbrogno calls his own lengthy
investigation "stagnant."
"Every time new information comes up or I get a lead on
something, I get very reluctant to deal with it again," said
Imbrogno, who heads the science department at the Windward School
in White Plains, New York. "The entire case has caused me quite a
bit of pressure . . . The event would indicate that whatever
appeared over there, our state-of-the-art technology in defense was
unable to deal with it. " He suggests that from what his sources
have said, a military aspect came into play. The Indian Point UFO
represented an intolerable security breach.
Military customers?
Imbrogno says that it is precisely that aspect which has had a
lasting effect, and which has generated repercussions that continue
to this day. But according to the New York Power Authority, which
oversees the reactor complex, Indian Point itself has no direct
military customers. Reactor #3 primarily services local and state
facilities in New York City and Westchester County, including local
school districts, the New York City subway systems and some of New
York's trains. Most importantly, in Imbrogno's mind, are several
military installations in and around Duchess County, which
allegedly get their power from Indian Point. According to his
sources, these are primarily satellite receiving stations, and "a
number of other military operations of which we can only guess, "
Imbrogno says. The official agency overseeing the reactor complex
is the New York Power Authority, although Consolidated Edison has
jurisdiction over Reactor #2 and is sold use of #3 for extensive
transmissions to New York residential users and, perhaps, military
facilities such as Camp Smith, an Air National Guard base located
north of Peekskill. (Reactor #l is inactive.)
It was NYPA whose officials apparently spent considerable human
energy trying to dissuade Imbrogno from writing about the July 24
event, concerned he would release information vital to the plant's
security. "I think other agencies were using (the NYPA) to harass
me, " he said, noting that he was constantly subjected to their
repetitive phone calls, threatening that he would be forced to
appear at a hearing on the incident. (He was never subpoenaed, but
Imbrogno subsequently, and perhaps coincidentally, was audited by
the IRS four times.)
The compulsion to publish was undeniable; of what may have been
as many as 70 UFO witnesses among Indian Point personnel, a number
quietly sought out Imbrogno, and on the condition of anonymity
provided him with the vital facts which led to the production of
Night Siege (co-written with Bob Pratt and J. Allen Hynek.) "My
sources involve people who work in security for the plant and also
people in secretarial and janitorial positions," he said.
"The only problem is that getting anything on paper-
documentation, something official-is very, very hard, I have
unofficial confirmation right now that a number of documents
pertaining to the sighting do exist at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. " Normally, NRC records can be opened to the public
under terms of the Freedom of Information Act, but when he in-
quired, Imbrogno was informed that the documents were being held at
the reactor complex, and as such were protected under national
security regulations. "It's a joint sort of thing, " he said, "In
other words, although the NRC is pretty open to the public, if they
want to keep a document classified, they'll store it with another
agency. I have an inside secretarial source who's actually seen the
documents filed." The NYPA's Patrick denies that any such
documentation exists, and dismisses the incident by claiming that
all Hudson Valley UFO sightings were later identified as light
aircraft, There was no videotape taken by on-site surveillance
cameras, Patrick insists, or audio recording of oral
communications, both pieces of evidence which Imbrogno strongly
feels do exist and are being retained somewhere. According to
Imbrogno's sources, a security shake-up ensued the very next day.
"A number of agencies came in, including the NRC and military
personnel, and they supposedly cleaned out everything. You have to
remember that with nuclear reactors, you're only going to get 10
percent of the real story. They're overly terrified of bad
publicity, and are really afraid of the anti-nuclear groups, which
can cause trouble. Anything that happens is immediately covered up,
including UFO sightings. "
An 'irregularity'
Imbrogno further alleges that shortly after the UFO infringement,
a crack in the reactor's casing was discovered. The public didn't
hear about such a situation until a year later; the NYPA's Patrick
denied any "crack, " although he did recall a time when Reactor #2
may have developed an "irregularity. " Imbrogno says, "[Indian
Point officials] made a public statement that operations were not
affected, that everything was normal. But I've been told by several
people that they lost power, the security system dropped, and the
reactor controls went crazy. Apparently it was caused by the UFO."
No way, says the NYPA. "Any implication that the sightings of
these [light aircraft] in any way affected Reactor #3 is false",
Patrick said. Imbrogno's sources indicate otherwise. Supposedly, a
mass of sophisticated, high-accuracy tracking equipment was
installed at the complex, enabling security to quickly generate a
computer image of whatever aircraft might be affecting the
equipment. Apparently such problems are still going on. Patrick
would not comment on what kinds of security equipment protect
Indian Point, but stressed that nothing new has been installed
since the incident.
Imbrogno is also suspicious that the armed security forces at the
site may have had reason to attempt firing on the craft, again an
allegation flatly refuted by the NYPA. "I know a number of
helicopters with rocket launchers were sent up and followed the
craft for some distance," Imbrogno commented, citing his anonymous
sources for the info. "When these helicopters went on their way,
the object moved off and started crossing the Hudson, and
disappeared up north."
Officials will not talk to Imbrogno, nor answer his letters, he
says. UFO spoke with Cliff Spieler, vice president at the New York
Power Authority. He, like Patrick, basically dismisses the entire
affair. "Having looked into this thing and living two miles from
Indian Point, think the UFO reports are nonsense, " he said. "[All
Hudson Valley UFO sightings] are linked to small planes flying out
of Duchess County."
At one time, officials speaking for Indian Point made their
position quite clear to Imbrogno, "They said, 'you can cooperate
with us, or you don't have to cooperate with us. If you don't
cooperate with us, you have to face the consequences, because you
are dealing in an area of national security. The incident that took
place over there involved national security because it was a breach
of security at a nuclear reactor.' But they weren't ready to say
who was breaching security!" In considering the "who," Imbrogno
took in a number of hypotheses, including the possibility that the
incident was an elaborate test flight of a secret military craft,
such as the B-2 Stealth bomber, or a covertly-planned contingency
test of the plant's security operations, carried out under the
guise of a UFO overflight.
Nothing is impossible, he'll admit. But the most tenable answer,
he feels, is that the UFO was an extraterrestrial craft. "I don't
think our government could be so bold with a craft of the kind that
appeared at Indian Point," he said. "Talking to these security
people, and looking into their eyes," his voice trailed, " . .
. they tell a story of this one cop who got up on the roof below
the UFO, and the thing started moving a little bit. He pulled out
his gun, looked at it, then put the gun back in his holster and
ducked! . . . The people who were telling these stories are not
familiar with the UFO literature. If I really wanted to go into
this, with no fear of what would happen to me, I'm sure there's an
incredible story here. I am still being given
information about certain things going on there-In the nighttime,
people seeing little creatures coming through the walls of the
casing on the reactor, and military personnel indicating 'we're
aware of these creatures and we don't care if they're from outer
space-shoot 'em!' . . . On a newscast on Channel 7 in New York,
they were interviewing one guy, and he said, 'I saw it going over
the reactor! I think they're sucking the power from it! That's what
they're doing!' But a civilization that has this type of vehicle-
any intelligence, whatever it is-I'm sure doesn't need nuclear
energy."
Ed. Note: In a letter to UFO shortly after this article was
written, Imbrogno added to his remarks. "It is hard to believe
that people like John Lear and Bill Cooper are revealing 'top
secret' information with little or no repercussions. I just poked
my nose a little too deep into an area of national security and got
my ears pinned back for it. My next step is to approach this in a
legal way by asking for an investigation (preferably by a member of
Congress) to find out how and why the security at this
government reactor was violated and why information is being
withheld."
Addendum to "Incident at Indian Point", this was taken
from UFO Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 3, ATOMIC PERSPECTIVES.