With Friends like Cavitt, Who Needs an Enema?
According to the Harassed Rancher article, Major Marcel, Master Sergeant Rickett, and his boss Special Agent Sheridan Cavitt, Counter-Intelligence Corps (1926 ca. – 1999), were dispatched from Roswell Army Air Field to meet a sheep rancher named Mac Brazel. He was waiting for them at the sheriff’s office in Roswell after reporting a crashed flying saucer. The 3 military men then followed Brazel almost 100 miles back to his ranch and retrieved the debris at the heart of the Roswell Incident mystery.
When you consider the debris description from the article, it’s hard to understand why Cavitt (in plainclothes no less) tagged along. Major Marcel went because he was a crash investigator, and Sergeant Rickett provided security—a good idea whenever a commissioned officer leaves the base on non-routine military business. But why Cavitt?
What is Counter-Intelligence?
In short, the C-I corps manufacture lies and misdirection to protect classified information about sensitive or top-secret military projects.
For example, consider Operation Mincemeat—a complex misdirection prior to the World War II invasion of Sicily using a recently deceased indigent from the back-streets of London. Dressed in a Royal Marines officer uniform, his body was released from a submarine off the coast of German-occupied Spain with phony plans in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. The Germans apparently believed the plans were legitimate, moved the bulk of their troops to the wrong location, and the allies landed with relatively few casualties.
The Air Force’s 1995 Roswell Report
The Air Force interviewed Cavitt at his home in 1994. He was retired from the USAF by that time, and his comments start on page 160. I suggest you take 20 minutes to read his interview and see how he pretends his memory is foggy to set up his ‘plausible deniability’ defense in case he slips and reveals anything classified. For instance, he said he never heard of Project Mogul (page 184), and yet he seems to remember incredible details of other events from the same time.
What was Project Mogul?
Project Mogul was an experimental attempt in 1947 to acoustically detect suspected Russian nuclear weapon explosions and ballistic missile launches. Even though it was a small-scale operation, it possessed a top-secret security rating (1995 Roswell Report, page 19). Moreover, because the spy balloons and their payloads of sensitive equipment often went astray in southern New Mexico, search crews listened for local flying saucer reports to find them (1995 Roswell Report, page 20).
Marcel and Rickett
Cavitt knew both Major Marcel and Master Sergeant Rickett very well, and said ‘both were known to exaggerate on occasion’ (1995 Roswell Report, page 160). Cavitt worked closely with Major Marcel, and said they were also social friends—Cavitt and his wife Mary (they had only arrived at Roswell in late June 1947, maybe 2 weeks before the ‘incident’), Jesse Marcel Sr., his wife, and their 11 year-old son Jesse Marcel Jr. (1995 USAF Report, page 164).
Master Sergeant Rickett
On page 170 of the 1995 USAF Report, Cavitt said his subordinate Sergeant Rickett told fantastic stories, and ‘would go off the deep end every once in a while’. Rickett had also worked in an insane asylum and told hilarious, ridiculous stories about the ‘nut house’.
So, was it Rickett’s specific task to get Major Marcel thinking they’d found a flying saucer? Was Rickett the person who told Major Marcel a sledgehammer couldn’t dent or damage the foil material (Roswell: Cover-Ups and Close Encounters Video, 14:40 minute mark)? Was Cavitt there to ensure everything went according to plan… to ‘be a friend’ and help Marcel overcome any doubts about Rickett’s suggestions?
Back to the 1995 Roswell Report
Based on statements from Jesse Marcel Jr., we know his father came home in the early morning of July 8, 1947, claiming he’d recovered a flying saucer (Jesse Marcel Jr. Roswell Legacy Video, 19:30 minute mark). Yet, on page 166 of the Roswell Report, Cavitt said they only found weather balloon debris at the sheep ranch on July 7.
If Cavitt thought the debris was only a weather balloon, and they were such close friends and co-workers, and they were standing next to each other looking at the same debris, the million-dollar question is why did Marcel believe they’d found a flying saucer? It’s a documented fact Marcel’s mistake ruined his reputation, embarrassed his family, and ultimately ended his career (The Black Vault p2–Jesse Marcel Jr., from the 4:00 minute mark forward).
The interviewer failed to ask the million-dollar question and Cavitt neglected to elaborate because he was probably an operative in a plan to have Roswell Army Air Field mistakenly identify a flying saucer and let Major Marcel take the fall for it.
Conclusions
Cavitt also said Major Marcel was just a little on the ‘outer scale’ (1995 Roswell Report, page 187). Did Marcel’s superiors share Cavitt’s assessment? Was he considered expendable? Could it be Major Marcel was ‘chosen’ to take the fall for the phony flying saucer press release? Is that why the Cavitts befriended the Marcels? To earn Major Marcel’s trust, to make him a convincing dupe at the press conference? Was this part of the scheme? Could it be they needed to scapegoat Marcel for the press release, to protect Colonel Blanchard? Is that why General Ramey publicly humiliated Marcel at the press conference?
We may never know the true story, but I believe Cavitt implicated himself in some sort of counter-intelligence operation when he admitted he knew the debris wasn’t a flying saucer and, yet, apparently allowed Major Marcel to believe it was.
The Patsy
Back to why Cavitt was assigned to Roswell Army Air Field. Based on his interview, it’s conceivable Cavitt was part of the Mogul debris recovery effort. His real job may have been to interview those who reported seeing flying saucers, determine the likelihood of it being a lost Mogul balloon, and relay the location to a search team if he deemed it necessary.
And maybe powerful people in Washington DC or the Air Force realized the potential in faking a flying saucer. The propaganda might have distracted Russian spies away from some of the many high altitude flight tests going on at the time and, if they played their cards right, might have fooled some high-ranking Army or government officials and leveraged the Air Force away from Army control. Classic Counter-Intelligence misdirection or what?
When it was decided to lie (issue a phony press release) about recovering a flying saucer and blame Major Marcel, I suspect it was Cavitt’s job to wait for the right flying saucer report, grab Marcel and Rickett, attend the scene, and convince Marcel they were recovering a flying saucer, not a Mogul balloon. Why was this important? Major Marcel had to be a convincing patsy at General Ramey’s press conference in order to deflect attention away from Blanchard for the egregious flying saucer press release.
Cavitt seemed somewhat evasive during his interview probably because he was hiding the fact he betrayed his ‘good friend’ Marcel.
NOTE: Search for the videos on YouTube