Retired U.S. Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland has now been missing since Friday, Feb. 27. People last saw him headed out for a trail run near his home. Because of his role as an alleged key adviser on several UFO-related projects, at least one person is now calling his disappearance a “grave national security crisis.”
According to investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, 68-year-old Major General McCasland is “a man with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States in his head.” So, with his having gone mysteriously missing, Coulthart says it “has to be asked if there’s been any foul play.”
Coulthart says it is intriguing that McCasland vanished so soon after President Donald Trump pledged to reveal any government records on extraterrestrial life and UFOs. Coulthart also says people perceived McCasland as supportive of educating the public about classified subjects in recent years.
“The timing is screechingly relevant,” Coulthart said. “The fact that General Neil McCasland has disappeared off the face of the earth is a grave national security crisis for the United States of America. This is a man with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States in his head.”
What are the authorities doing to try to find General McCasland?
“How on earth does a man like that just disappear?” Coulthart asked on his show Reality Check. “Now, it’s interesting as well that he didn’t take his phone or his watch. And the interesting thing about that is, did he not want to be tracked?
“Obviously, we’re only speculating here, but was he going to a meeting? Is there something more to this than just a simple disappearance of a person on a running trail? I find it very implausible, based on what I’ve heard speaking to people in the local area, that a general with that kind of experience in running in the area could possibly disappear.”
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) in New Mexico has issued a Silver Alert for McCasland. New Mexico Search and Rescue and Kirtland Air Force Base have been assisting with the investigation. The FBI has also confirmed that it has joined the search.
“There are no signs of any criminal activity such as a kidnapping or anything else,” a spokesperson for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said last week. “His disappearance is only being investigated as a missing person/Silver Alert at this time.”
General McCasland has ties to UFO projects and research
McCasland served at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and commanded the Phillips Research Site and Air Force Research Laboratory at the base. He was previously in charge of research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where the military’s infamous Project Blue Book focused on UFO investigations. He managed a $2.2 billion science and technology portfolio and also oversaw $2.2 billion in customer-funded research and development while stationed at Wright-Patterson.
The 2016 WikiLeaks release also mentioned McCasland. Documents described him as a key adviser on several UFO-related projects. Supposedly, Wright-Patterson housed a lab where officials sent certain UFO-related materials. However, there are no official records of his involvement in UFO research.
“If you were Russia, if you were China, General Neil McCasland, God forbid, would be one of your targets,” Coulthart pointed out.