Observer

[Observer]

Hi all

There are a couple of points that i feel are being either neglected or people are unaware of. 1980 was at the height of the 'Cold' War.

The US military especially the USAF were hyper sensitive almost to the point of paranoia about what the Russians were up to. There was an extremely strict protocol to behavour and reaction to 'incidents' as they were very sensitive and self conscious to how the 'enemy' perceived their reactions to an incident. Losing face was high on the list.

The Pentagon and State department would have been informed of this incident quite quickly especially as it was unexplanable. They instantly would have laid the blame privatly at the Russian's door until proved otherwise. Due to this protocol a disinformation package would be put into place. We Brits invented the disinformation tactic during WW2.

Its worth keeping this in mind when checking who said what and when.
Its also worth remembering that those Brits like myself who signed the official secrets act carry the obligation even in retirement. The US military have a similar system.

This is why i think that not all is out in the open yet!

Observer