New investigations, are uncovering startling evidence indicating that a UFO may have crashed in the New Mexico desert in July 1947. A rancher named Mac Brazel discovered strange metal strewn across a wide area of range land he tended. Because of the material's unusual characteristics, Brazel took pieces of the debris to the authorities in Roswell, New Mexico. Intrigued by the debris, Colonel Blanchard, commanding officer at Roswell Army Air Field, ordered two intelligence officers to investigate. These two men were Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt. Upon their report, Colonel Blanchard quietly ordered that the ranch area be cordoned off. Soldiers removed the debris, sending it to Army headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. 

At first the Army command at Roswell issued a press release announcing it had recovered a "flying disk," as UFOs were then called. This press release was retracted, and further press coverage restricted. At a press conference in Fort Worth, the Army explained that the intelligence officer and others at Roswell had misidentified the debris, which was, in fact, the remains of a downed balloon with a metallic radar reflector attached, and not a UFO. Public interest faded, and the Roswell event became a part of UFO folklore, with most ufologists accepting the official government version of the story. 

It was not until the late 1970s, with Jesse Marcel's decision to comment publicly on the strange material and other aspects of the Roswell event, that the UFO crash story was revived. Since that time, new evidence indicates the weather balloon explanation was part of an elaborate government coverup, and in fact, the original report of a recovered flying disk was probably true. Investigations into the UFO crash story continue with the goal of pressuring the United States government to end the coverup and to reveal to the American public what actually crashed on the New Mexican desert that night in July 1947. 

Rumors about the existence of secret alien bases have persisted for a long time. These bases are said to be located in various places, such as the moon, under the ocean, or in a tropical rain forest. A few extremists in ufology claim that aliens have already contacted government officials. There are even stories of alien installations within United States military bases. Some people have gone so far as to claim that they have worked on secret UFO projects for the government and seen UFOs at military installations. For the most part, individuals who have claimed knowledge of secret alien bases or secret UFO projects have proven to be unreliable witnesses; therefore, their statements must be considered cautiously until there is reliable and independent verification of their claims. 

Whether the United States possesses alien technology is also open to question. If the Roswell UFO crash story is true, then the government has had some alien technology since 1947. Whether the United States has been able to understand and use that technology is another question. One researcher theorizes that the boomerang-shaped UFO seen in the mid-1980s around the Hudson Valley in New York was an American super-secret stealth aircraft based on UFO technology. Further investigation will be needed to prove this hypothesis.