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To: _Jim
Does John Blanton have any FLIR experience in his resume? The "North Texas Skeptics" doesn't give Blanton's credentials, and they aren't exactly a nationally known organization. Right now I will take them as well meaning Net kooks.

When they interview some FLIR experts, let me know.

52 posted on 04/14/2003 9:55:40 AM PDT by Free Vulcan
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To: Free Vulcan
     When they interview some FLIR experts, let me know.

Do the pseudo-patriot web sites you harken-to for information on this subject EVER detail the work done by a Mrs. Lena Klasén on this subject -

- or review the work performed by Vector Data Systems?

I'LL BET NOT.

Well then, I'll spell out for you in some detail what they found/determined via data and 'experiments' they participated in or reviewed -

- excerpted from "The Final Report"

(a) FLIR Testing and Analysis. Virtually the only evidence cited by those claiming government agents fired shots into the complex on April 19, 1993, is the FLIR videos recorded by the FBI Nightstalker aircraft from approximately 10:42 a.m. to 12:41 p.m. on that day. In fact, however, this evidence strongly supports the conclusion that no agent of the United States fired a shot on April 19.

The FLIR tapes show 57 flashes, emanating principally from alleged Davidian positions inside or on top of the complex. Eighteen of the flashes occur on the back side of the complex, with some occurring around government vehicles that were operating near the complex. During the past three years, representatives of the Davidians and several independent experts retained by the media and Congress have concluded that gunfire could have caused or did cause these flashes. The FBI and its experts have claimed that the flashes are reflections or “glint” coming from debris scattered in and around the complex.

The Office of Special Counsel retained two teams of experts to analyze the FLIR tapes from April 19. Working with the United States district court judge in the civil litigation brought by some of the Davidians and their families against the United States government, the Office of Special Counsel and its expert, Vector Data Systems (U.K.) Ltd., conducted a field test of FLIR technology at Fort Hood, Texas on March 19, 2000. The purpose of the test was to identify the thermal signature, if any, that gunfire and debris would leave on a FLIR recording.

The Office of Special Counsel conducted the test under a protocol agreed to and signed by both the attorneys and experts for the government and the attorneys and experts for the Davidians and their families. The protocol identified the FLIR equipment, the weapons, and the other conditions that would best approximate the scene at Waco in 1993.

Based on a detailed analysis of the shape, duration and location of the 57 flashes noted on the 1993 FLIR tapes, and a comparison of those flashes with flashes recorded on the March 2000 FLIR test tape, Vector Data Systems (U.K.) Ltd., concluded with certainty that each of the flashes noted on the 1993 tapes resulted from a reflection off debris on or around the complex. These conclusions are supported by color photographs which show the reflective debris at the exact location of many of the flashes noted on the 1993 tapes.

Mrs. Lena Klasén, a second independent expert retained by the Office of Special Counsel, concluded that thermal activity caused by human movement or motion did not exist near or around the area of the flashes noted on the FLIR tapes. She further concluded that photographs taken during the tear gas insertion show no people at or near the points from which the flashes emanated. Mrs. Klasén also performed a three-dimensional analysis of the reflection geometry existing at the complex on April 19, 1993. This analysis accounted for the Nightstalker’s movement, the position of the FLIR sensor, and the changing angle of the sun. Based on this analysis, Klasén, like Vector, concluded that the flashes on the 1993 tapes were from debris. The FLIR test and the expert analyses prove conclusively that the FLIR tapes do not evidence gunfire directed at the Davidians from government positions. Copies of the Reports of the FLIR experts retained by the Office of Special Counsel are attached hereto as Appendices H and I.


54 posted on 04/14/2003 11:31:04 AM PDT by _Jim ( // NASA has a better safety record than NASCAR \\)
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To: Free Vulcan
Does John Blanton have any FLIR ["Infrared imagery"] experience in his resume?

From reading his work - yes.

Does McNulty and his motley crew of filmmakers likewise have any industry exposure/practical use of same?

57 posted on 04/14/2003 12:20:16 PM PDT by _Jim ( // NASA has a better safety record than NASCAR \\)
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