The Official MUFON Podcast Episode 34(b) - The Fight for UFO Disclosure with Captain Robert Salas

When you entered the service, did you sort of feel like a lot of folks did, that the United States could simply do no wrong, that we were clearly on the side of God, that maybe we even had a direct line to the Almighty that guided our hands so that everything we did was just and right? Did you have that sort of sense, like a lot of young folks did,

Well, when I first entered the service, I went to the Air Force Academy, of course, when I entered service.

And at that point, yeah, I think you describe it pretty much the way I felt.

I had had relatives serve in World War II, and I felt that the United States was a righteous country that was trying to do good in the world.

And of course, I still feel pretty much that way, but with some changes, I guess, modifications.

Okay.

So do you feel that the United States relative to the recovery of alien spacecraft, if you will, for lack of a better term, I don't know if there is something else to it, but are we somewhat ahead in that particular game or do you see things like that anymore? I think that you're you would advocate for the complete abandonment of nuclear weapons and is that accurate?

Well, I wouldn't say abandonment, I would say abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide, and that would be a cooperative process.

I don't advocate for the United States unilaterally to walk away from their nuclear arsenal, but I certainly would like to see us working hand in hand with other nuclear powers to abolish all nuclear weapons.

They are absolutely... objects of mass destruction, which could and would end our civilization if we continued down this path.

I think a nuclear war is inevitable if we continue to hold a large arsenal of nuclear weapons.

And in your book, as I mentioned a little earlier, you give a pretty sobering overview of the current nuclear situation.

And I think you've probably elaborated on that later on in your writing.

But you sort of see the world at a precipice, you know, go one way or go the other.

Is that how you view things?

Well, I think it's critically important that we revisit this whole idea of why we have these weapons.

Right now, the most recent nuclear posture review, I guess it's called, which comes out, I think, every four years at least, but maybe more often, the Defense Department puts nuclear weapons at the very foundation of our national security protection.

And that to me is something I think we need to rethink, that because this concept of nuclear deterrence commonly known as MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, whereby if we maintain a superior nuclear force, other nations with nuclear weapons would not attack us with their nuclear weapons because of the consequences or potential consequences of doing so.

But if that deterrence or fear of other nations, fear of our attacking other nations is the basis for our national security, then what if deterrence fails? In other words, what if another nation or, let's say, some rogue actor like, well, some violent group gets a hold of a nuclear weapon and uses it against us.

If deterrence fails, the only alternative is to retaliate, and that's the way we've set everything up.

And by retaliating, we would be initiating a nuclear war where there would be no winners of a nuclear war, obviously.

And it would very quickly escalate into massive, massive destruction all over the world.

What's frightening to me in your book, and it's kind of kept me up a little bit, was how many times we've actually seriously considered using nuclear weapons since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

That we've actually seriously, presidents have seriously considered using nuclear weapons in other situations, including Nixon in Vietnam.

Right.