Letter to the Editor:

This letter liberally references Brig. Gen. Jim Cash's article entitled "Another Government Cover-up" in the January 2011 edition of Military. I agree with his assessment that the contrail observed off the coast of California in November 2010 resembled a missile launch contrail, not an aircraft contrail.

In the 1980's Brig. Gen. Cash was a command director and assistant director of operations for the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD is responsible for the detection and reporting of aircraft and missile threats to the President for action. Brig. Gen. Cash was a USAF fighter pilot for over 25 years.

Why did the Obama administration put out information that the contrail recorded off the California coast was made by an aircraft. My initial reaction was the contrail came from an inadvertent launch of a missile by one of our Navy's surface ships or a submarine. Although this continues to be a possibility, I believe the likelihood of this event is somewhat remote because of the number of people who would have been aware of this occurrence. The other possibility is the launch came from a foreign submarine, probably Russian or Chinese, which went undetected across the Pacific Ocean to our coastline.

If it was a missile launch from a Russian or Chinese submarine, it calls into question our ability to detect the approach of potential threats to our national security and our ability to defend this country. It should also alert our President, the Secretary of Defense and Congress to the increasing capabilities of foreign militaries, especially Chinese and Russian armed forces; and the need to maintain a strong U.S. military establishment. We should not be cutting back our military forces in the face of a threatening environment.

I agree with Brig. Gen. Cash. The integrity of our administration is under scrutiny and "once again the leader of this nation chose to disguise the truth and keep the American people in the dark on an issue that possibly constitutes a major threat to the entire U.S. population."

Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH

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