Salinger 'totally sure' TWA 800 missile theory is true

Pentagon, federal investigators insist he's wrong

March 13, 1997
Web posted at: 10:49 a.m. EST (1549 GMT)

In this story:

Salinger: Video 'confirms a missile'
Report: Russian satellite has proof
Missile theory discredited
Tape seized from pilot
Related stories and sites

PARIS (CNN) -- Former newsman Pierre Salinger insisted again Thursday that a Navy missile downed TWA Flight 800, this time offering a 69-page document and a set of radar images to bolster his case.

"We have now reached the point where we are totally sure what we are saying is true," Salinger, a former ABC News correspondent and press secretary to President Kennedy, told a Paris news conference.

T R A N S C R I P T S CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre interviews Pierre Salinger

CNN interview with NTSB Chairman James Hall

The FBI, Pentagon and federal air safety investigators previously have discredited the theory, which spread through the Internet following the July 17, 1996, crash. On Thursday, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall called Salinger's allegations "irresponsible."

All 230 people aboard the Boeing 747 were killed when the plane went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island, New York.

At the news conference, Salinger and Mike Sommer, an investigative reporter and former Salinger colleague at ABC News, showed radar images they said were taken from an air traffic control video from John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the flight took off.

"The Navy has not been honest..."
--Mike Sommer

(94K/8 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

Salinger: Video 'confirms a missile'

The images, also released in Paris-Match magazine Thursday, show a blip identified as Flight 800, and another blip heading toward it that Salinger claims is the missile that brought down the plane.

The tape "completely confirms a missile fired down TWA 800," Salinger said. (196K/10 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

At the news conference, Salinger and Sommer claimed the 'missile was fired during a "super-secret" U.S. Navy exercise off Long Island and was meant to target a Tomahawk missile, but hit Flight 800 instead when it "lost its lock on its original target."

They claimed the missile was either a kinetic energy missile or a continuous rod missile. Sommer said the kinetic missile would explode near the target and a continuous rod missile would "slice through" the plane.

Salinger's report says witnesses monitoring secret Navy anti- terrorism exercises reportedly heard a male voice say, "Oh, my God, I just hit that plane."

Salinger said there was, to his knowledge, no audio tape of a U.S. sailor saying a missile from his ship had shot down TWA 800. Instead, Salinger said he spoke with the father of a sailor who said his son told him, "Dad, we shot it down."

Report: Russian satellite has proof

Meanwhile, Salinger told the Washington Times in an interview published on Thursday that the U.S. government should "reveal the truth" or face Russian disclosure based on satellite photography.

"We don't want to get the Russians involved, but unless the U.S. government cooperates, we may have to," Salinger told the newspaper.

Two Russian satellites active above the scene of the disaster produced videotapes showing a missile hitting the TWA aircraft, according to the report Salinger released in Paris.

Salinger said a presidential commission was established last year to look into similar alleged incidents of military missiles shooting down or threatening civilian aircraft. He said there had been 44 such cases since 1978, and of these 26 had resulted in planes being shot down and 600 passengers killed. The report, he said, was now allegedly in the hands of Vice President Al Gore.

Missile theory discredited

In an examination of an early draft of Salinger's report, CNN found it to be littered with errors and misinformation. The report lacked legitimate attributions, beyond unnamed sources and unnamed experts.

The FBI's lead investigator in the Flight 800 disaster, James Kallstrom, repeatedly has said investigators have reviewed every available radar picture and concluded there was no evidence of a missile being fired.

The NTSB and the Pentagon also have dismissed Salinger's work.

"Our investigators have looked at all the radar tapes that exist from that evening and have not seen anything that indicates a missile track or missile hit," NTSB Chairman Hall told CNN in a live interview Thursday.

"We're going to continue this investigation. We'll be responsible and responsive to anything that's put out on the public airwaves," Hall said. "But this just borders on irresponsible to say the Navy shot this down and that whole ships of people are involved in some massive government coverup."

Over 90 percent of the downed plane has been recovered from the ocean and "there is no physical evidence today of a bomb or a missile hitting that aircraft," Hall said, adding that he was willing to have NTSB investigators talk with Salinger and review his evidence.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon on Wednesday described Salinger's work as "bunkum."

Tape seized from pilot

Investigators say three possible crash theories remain -- a bomb, a missile or mechanical failure -- but they insist the investigation has ruled out an errant missile strike by the U.S. military.

The FBI this week launched a criminal investigation, hoping to stop missile theorists. On Tuesday, agents seized a videotape that former pilot Richard Russell claimed was FAA tape showing radar images of a missile near the doomed plane.

Salinger first based his friendly fire claim on a memo Russell wrote and circulated on the Internet.

The videotape was examined closely and found to have no indications of any missile, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The FBI also has been trying to question a former California police officer who said he obtained and did tests on an actual piece of the wreckage.

Paris Bureau Chief Peter Humi, Correspondent Peg Tyre, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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