From KTOK Radio in Oklahoma City
Air Force Took Seriously Man's Missile Claim
Monday, August 1, 2005 at 2:27pm
Documents show Tinker Air Force base security personnel thought a man's story of seeing three Middle Eastern looking men aiming a shoulder fired missile at a plane was credible, but an FBI spokesman says today that's no longer the case.
By Jerry Bohnen
When Doug Clayton Yeaman went to Tinker Air Force base officials last month with a story of seeing three Middle Eastern looking men aiming a shoulder fired rocket at an approaching military airplane, they took him seriously. The FBI said today, however, that they unable to give credibility to the report.
Military documents obtained by KTOK News reveal Air Force investigators thought his story was 'credible' the day it was filed. Yeaman went to them the morning of July 13th. A so-called TALON report identified the location as 13003 SE 119th street and the Air Base Detachment 114 did the investigation. The documents revealed a day after the incident, the Air Force considered the matter to be 'Open/Unresolved'.
Item eleven of the report described Yeaman as a 'one time source. It read: "Credibility: Source is deemed credible however he has provided no information in the past."
The TALON report went on to describe in detail how Yeaman claimed to have seen the three men while he was visiting a storage shed where he keeps his business equipment. It was a few minutes before 10am on the 13th.
Initially Yeaman went to Oklahoma City police and as reported last week by KTOK News, the police report indicated he saw only two men. But the Air Force documents reveal he clarified things when he was interviewed by the FBI and AFOSI or Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
During the subsequent interviews, Yeaman said he saw three men. One was near the driver's side of the car and was using binoculars to observe the man. A second man was at the passenger's side of the car and was using a camera to take pictures. The third man was holding the weapon at chest level.
The report read: "YEAMAN described the weapon as a military green, tubular object, longer than a shotgun, two trigger grips on the front and rear and a diameter larger than YEAMAN's arm." When the men saw him, they fled in an older model four door GM Model car, a Buick or Oldsmobile.
The documents reveal the Air Force at that point took several actions, among them 'Coordinate with all base commanders, especially those in charge of flying wings.'
Another of the actions of the Tinker personnel was to notify the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Field Investigative Region 1 at Wright Patterson Air Force base in Ohio.
The national advisory was reportedly issued by U-S Army Major Mike Jackson of the
USNORTHCOM J34 Operations, AntiTerrorism/Force Protection.
When contacted today and told he was talking to a reporter, he hesitated and said the reporter should be talking to Public Affairs.
"That's about all I'm going to give you. You can talk to them," he added. While he looked up the Public Affairs telephone number, Major Jackson declined to give the geographic location of the phone number. "Thank you, have a nice day," he said shortly after providing the phone number.
Thanks for the info ND.