FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2011
CIA Knowingly Released False TWA 800 Video, Reported Directly to President Clinton
Within recently obtained CIA emails, agents admit that their video produced to explain eyewitness accounts from the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 did not match the evidence. In one email, an agent states that the video "could not possible (sic) match the radar data" that recorded the aircraft as it fell to the ocean.
In another, an agent discusses briefing then FBI Director Louis Freeh and President Clinton. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is by law, the government's lead agency in investigating commercial airline disasters. The CIA video did not "accommodate" NTSB-imposed time constraints on the crash sequence, according to a CIA agent in yet another email.
TWA Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island, New York fifteen years ago on July 17, 1996. The FBI interviewed 182 eyewitnesses who reported seeing a rising streak of light near the jetliner before it exploded in midair. Some said the streak collided with the aircraft.
The FBI tasked a small group at the CIA to explain these eyewitness accounts. On November 18, 1997 the FBI released a CIA-produced video at a nationally televised press conference. The video showed the jetliner breaking in half and then the larger half that included the wings climbing sharply 3,000 feet. The CIA narrator said this "may have looked like a missile attacking an aircraft".
In August of 1999, the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization (FIRO) showed how the CIA video did not match the radar evidence during a nationally televised press conference. The radar evidence indicated that the jetliner did not climb, but rather banked left and descended immediately after exploding.
On July 15, 2011, FIRO Chairman Dr. Tom Stalcup sued the CIA in federal court for more documents and information regarding the CIA's participation in the investigation of TWA Flight 800.
Contact
Dr. Tom Stalcup
Chairman, Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization
Sandwich, MA
Flight800.org
774-392-0856