Witness Tells House UFOs Nearly Triggered Russian ICBMs in 1982, Cites Soviet Documents
Investigative journalist George Knapp told a House task force he obtained Soviet-era records that, he said, show unidentified aerial phenomena briefly activated launch systems at a missile base in October 1982
An investigative journalist testified Tuesday that Soviet-era documents he obtained in the 1990s show unidentified aerial phenomena briefly activated intercontinental ballistic missile launch systems at a Russian base in October 1982, an episode he said nearly precipitated a nuclear exchange.
George Knapp, testifying before the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, described documents he said indicate a four-hour encounter in which objects observed over an ICBM complex performed unconventional maneuvers and then, at the end of the event, caused launch-control indicators to activate. "The missiles were fired up and ready to launch, and they could not shut it down," Knapp said. He told the panel the base's personnel initially could not identify the cause and suspected the episode was a deliberate message from the origin of the objects.
Knapp framed his account as an effort to press for fuller declassification of records related to unidentified aerial phenomena, commonly called UAPs. He said the Russian officers at the site were "panicking" when the launch-control codes lit up and that, once the objects disappeared, systems returned to normal. Knapp told lawmakers the personnel did not attribute the malfunction to electromagnetic pulses, power surges or other technical explanations often offered after comparable incidents involving U.S. nuclear forces.
Other witnesses at the hearing included current and former U.S. military personnel who described separate incidents that they said involved UAPs. U.S. Air Force veteran Jeffrey Nuccetelli recounted the 2003 incident at Vandenberg that has been widely referred to as the "Red Square" event, saying he heard colleagues on radio describing an object approaching and then suddenly departing. Chief Petty Officer Alexandro Wiggins, testifying in a personal capacity as an active-duty Navy officer, recounted the 2004 "Tic Tac" encounter and said the object exhibited no conventional propulsion signatures as it departed the scene.
The task force, created to consider declassification of federal records, convened the witnesses as part of broader congressional scrutiny of UAPs and national security implications. Lawmakers on the panel asked about gaps in public knowledge and pushed for greater transparency about incidents that involve nuclear forces or sensitivity to strategic stability.
Knapp described obtaining the Soviet-era documents in the 1990s but did not provide them to the committee during the hearing. His remarks were delivered as allegations based on documents he said he had reviewed. Committee members asked follow-up questions about verification, classification status and whether additional records exist that could corroborate the account.
Congressional interest in UAPs has grown in recent years amid a series of public disclosures, military reports and testimony by former service members. Defense and intelligence offices have produced unclassified assessments and established channels for reporting UAP encounters, citing potential safety and security concerns. The task force's work is part of that broader effort to determine what records remain classified and whether more information should be made public.
Several lawmakers at the hearing reiterated calls for declassification of documents they consider relevant to national security and public understanding. The panel did not announce formal steps to obtain the specific Soviet-era records Knapp described, and agency representatives at the hearing said some records remain subject to classification and release procedures.
The session continued with additional testimony from military witnesses and policy experts who urged improved reporting mechanisms and clearer guidance for personnel encountering unidentified objects. The task force said it will review the testimony as it considers recommendations for handling sensitive records and possible future hearings.
The witnesses’ accounts join a record of separate incidents that federal and independent investigators have examined. Knapp’s allegation that UAPs nearly initiated a Russian missile launch underscores the policy questions that lawmakers say the task force must address about transparency, historical records and the potential implications of unexplained encounters with aircraft or objects near strategic forces.