Donna Hare — NASA Airbrushed UFOs from Satellite Photography

Donna Hare worked as a design illustrator and space illustrator at Philco-Ford (a NASA subcontractor) at NASA's Johnson Space Center from 1967 to 1981. She held a Secret clearance and had access to Building 8, the photo lab. THE DISCOVERY: Hare testified that while visiting a restricted area of the photo lab, a technician showed her a high-resolution satellite photograph with a clear, distinct disk-shaped object on it. When she asked about it, the technician told her: 'We always airbrush these out before they're released to the public.' The airbrushing was routine. Standard procedure. THE BROADER PATTERN: Hare spoke with multiple NASA employees who confirmed various aspects of suppression: security guards told to shoot anyone who got too close to downed objects, astronauts who saw objects but were threatened with loss of their pensions, photographs routinely altered before public release. THE DISCLOSURE PROJECT: Hare testified at the National Press Club Disclosure Project on May 9, 2001. Her employment records at Philco-Ford/NASA are verified. She stated she was willing to testify before Congress. THE INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISM: Hare's testimony describes suppression as a bureaucratic process, not a conspiracy of silence. Individual technicians knew. Guards knew. The process was routinized — there were procedures for airbrushing, protocols for handling anomalous objects in imagery. The suppression wasn't maintained by a few people keeping a big secret. It was maintained by many people each performing a small routine task within a larger system they were not encouraged to question.