Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Thomas Stalcup, Chairman

CIA Deceived Nation Regarding TWA Flight 800

Falmouth, MA  July 16, 2003

Seven years ago this week, TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed off the coast of Long Island, NY.  During the investigation, the CIA created a video explaining eyewitness reports of a streak of light seen before the crash.  This video is contradicted by documents upon which the video was based, but that were not available when the video was aired.

The video was shown during a much anticipated FBI press conference and contained an animation showing Flight 800 climbing after it exploded.  The CIA's narrator said, "nothing in [the eyewitness] statements leads CIA analysts to conclude that these eyewitnesses in fact saw a missile."

But the witness statements are at odds with this claim.

Witness 73 "believed that she witnessed a missile, which had been fired from a boat."  She saw Flight 800's front section fall away, as depicted in the CIA video, but only after watching "a 'red streak' [that rose] up...and intercepted the aircraft."

Witness 88 "stated that the bright red object ran into the airplane and...struck the plane towards the cockpit area."

These witnesses were not alone.  By August of 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released two studies showing that over 90% of the witnesses with a clear view of the horizon and who gave information regarding the streak's origin said it rose off the surface.  Flight 800 exploded two and a half miles up.

Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization (FIRO) believes government officials should be held accountable for providing misleading information.  Like CIA Chief George Tenet's recent admission of his mistake regarding the language in the President's State of the Union Address, FIRO demands a similar statement regarding the now-debunked CIA video.

Tomorrow, on the anniversary of the crash, FIRO will be sending a letter to Director Tenet asking him to explain the CIA's language in the TWA Flight 800 video.

Formed in April of 1999, FIRO is a group dedicated to uncovering and publicizing the facts surrounding the crash of TWA Flight 800. Its membership includes former airline crash investigators, scientists, engineers, and aviation professionals.