Congressman Schiff-Initiated GAO Report on Roswell Records Published

In July 1995, the US General Accounting Office (GAO) published its report on the 1947 Roswell incident, concluding a multi-year audit initiated by Congressman Steven Schiff (R-NM). The report became the first formal federal investigation into Roswell records since the original 1947 files, and it framed the debate over government transparency on UAP for the following decade.

The Incident

Since 1993, Representative Schiff had pressed the Department of Defense for access to records related to the 1947 events near Roswell, New Mexico, after constituent inquiries repeatedly encountered opaque official responses. When the Pentagon failed to satisfy his requests, Schiff asked the GAO to conduct an independent audit of federal record-keeping on the Roswell matter.

Investigation

Beginning in 1994, GAO investigators searched records at multiple agencies — including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the FBI, the CIA, the National Archives, and relevant Air Force commands. The July 1995 report described the record search process, identified gaps in administrative record-keeping (notably missing incoming/outgoing messages from RAAF in late 1947), and found no evidence of extraterrestrial involvement or intentionally withheld documents outside standard classification procedures. In parallel, the Air Force issued follow-up reports linking the Roswell debris to Project Mogul, a classified balloon reconnaissance program.

Significance

Schiff's effort is widely cited as an early example of congressional oversight applied to the UAP topic. While the report did not substantiate extraterrestrial claims, it formalised the identification of Project Mogul as the official explanation and produced a template for later congressional inquiries. It is featured in Leslie Kean's "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record" (2010) as an example of the limits and possibilities of legislative inquiry. Schiff himself passed away in 2000.