| Philip J. Corso | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 22, 1915 |
| Died | July 16, 1998 (aged 83) Jupiter, Florida |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | February 23, 1942 – March 1, 1963 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Commands held | Battalion Commander of European Air Defense Intel Staff Officer Plans & Estimate Branch GHQ Far East Command Chief Special Project Branch G-2 Section of the HQ AFFE 8000th AU Command Chief Foreign Technology Division of the United States Department of Defense Staff Officer in the Plans Division OCRD Washington DC, Fort Riley |
| Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards | American Campaign Medal American Defense Service Medal Bronze Star Commendation Ribbon EAME Campaign Medal Legion of Merit World War II Victory Medal |
Philip J. Corso (May 22, 1915 – July 16, 1998) was an American Army officer.
He served in the United States Army from February 23, 1942, to March 1, 1963,[1] and earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Corso published The Day After Roswell, about how he was involved in the research of alleged extraterrestrial technology recovered from the 1947 Roswell UFO Incident. On July 23, 1997, he was a guest on the popular late night radio show, Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell where he spoke live about his Roswell story. This interview was rebroadcast by Coast to Coast AM on July 3, 2010.
Contents |
After joining the Army in 1942, Corso served in Army Intelligence in Europe, becoming chief of the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Rome. In 1945, Corso arranged for the safe passage of 10,000 Jewish World War II refugees out of Rome to the British Mandate of Palestine.
During the Korean War (1950–1953), Corso performed intelligence duties under General Douglas MacArthur as Chief of the Special Projects branch of the Intelligence Division, Far East Command. One of his primary duties was to keep track of enemy prisoner of war (POW) camps in North Korea.[2] Corso was in charge of investigating the estimated number of U.S. and other United Nations POWs held at each camp and their treatment. At later hearings of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, Corso provided testimony that many hundreds of American POW's were abandoned at these camps.[3][4]
Corso was on the staff of President Eisenhower's National Security Council for four years (1953–1957).
In 1961, he became Chief of the Pentagon's Foreign Technology desk in Army Research and Development, working under Lt. Gen. Arthur Trudeau.
When he left military intelligence in 1963, Corso became a key aide to Senator Strom Thurmond.
In 1964, Corso was assigned to Warren Commission member Senator Richard Russell Jr. as an investigator into the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
In his book The Day After Roswell (co-author William J. Birnes) claims he stewarded extraterrestrial artifacts recovered from a crash near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
Corso says a covert government group was assembled under the leadership of the first Director of Central Intelligence, Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (see Majestic 12). Among its tasks was to collect all information on off-planet technology. The US administration simultaneously discounted the existence of flying saucers in the eyes of the public, Corso says.
According to Corso, the reverse engineering of these artifacts indirectly led to the development of accelerated particle beam devices, fiber optics, lasers, integrated circuit chips and Kevlar material.
In the book, Corso claims the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or "Star Wars", was meant to achieve the destructive capacity of electronic guidance systems in incoming enemy warheads, as well as the disabling of enemy spacecraft, including those of extraterrestrial origin.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||