Decades may have passed since the height of the Cold War, but for retired U.S.
Air Force officer Robert Salas, memories of a baffling—and chilling—incident in 1967 remain fresh.
At 84, he’s not backing down from what he believes is one of the most critical and overlooked warnings humanity has ever received…
and it didn’t come from another country—it came from above.
The Day UFOs Took Out U.S. Nukes in Montana
Salas vividly recalls what happened at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
While stationed there, he says he witnessed a group of UFOs completely disable 10 nuclear missiles—not damaging them, just taking them offline.
“They weren’t attacking,” Salas explained.
“It was like a deliberate message.
A signal. Within six months, 30 ICBMs had similar encounters.
These were not accidents.”
Not a Threat, but a Wake-Up Call?
Despite growing Pentagon interest in Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), Salas is pushing back on the narrative that these encounters are dangerous or hostile.
In fact, he believes the opposite.
“If they wanted to harm us, they could’ve destroyed everything.
But they didn’t. They’re telling us something: Get rid of these damn weapons,” he said.
“We keep calling it a threat, but maybe we’re the real danger—with our own nukes.”
Hidden Truths and Historical Records
Salas isn’t alone. He testified before the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office last year, alongside other retired military officers.
Their accounts are now part of the official record—but still, most people have never heard their stories.
According to him, the U.S. government has known for years but continues to keep the public in the dark.
“Our testimonies are now part of the Department of Defense’s history.
So why is the public still in the dark?”
It’s Not Just the U.S.—This Is Global
Joining Salas in sounding the alarm is TV writer and UFO researcher Bryce Zabel.
Speaking at the Contact in the Desert conference in California, Zabel shared that similar shutdowns of nuclear systems have been reported in Russia, France, Chile, Japan, Ukraine, and more.
One of the most alarming? A 1982 case in Soviet-era Ukraine, where a saucer-shaped object hovered over a missile base—and even triggered launch sequences that were only halted seconds before firing.
Are They Watching or Planning?
Zabel has a slightly more cautious take than Salas.
While he agrees the UFOs seem intentional and focused—“surgical, not random”—he also warns we can’t rule out darker motives.
“Maybe it’s indirect communication.
Maybe monitoring.
But what if it’s battlefield prep?” he asked.
“If we were preparing to interfere in a foreign conflict, we’d study their nukes first.
Maybe they’re doing the same.”
Why the Real Danger Might Be Us
Salas, however, doesn’t buy into the fear.
To him, the real threat lies in how we humans handle nuclear weapons.
“We’ve built these doomsday machines and called it ‘deterrence,’ but it’s a myth,” he said.
He pointed out that even top U.S.
generals once tried to use nuclear bombs in conflicts like Korea and Vietnam.
“If military leaders have the option, they will eventually ask to use it.”
The Problem with Deterrence
Salas criticizes the U.S. policy of Mutually Assured Destruction as outdated and dangerous.
He warns that with at least nine countries possessing nuclear arms—and possibly more on the way—the chances of even one small bomb being used are higher than we think.
“Once a nuke goes off, there’s no going back.
There will be retaliation, escalation.
That’s the terrifying reality we live in,” he said.
Governments Are Still Keeping Secrets
Both Salas and Zabel agree on one thing: full disclosure isn’t likely anytime soon.
According to them, intelligence agencies around the world are actively keeping these incidents secret.
“There’s an international network keeping this under wraps,” Salas said.
“It’s about power, control, and keeping advanced tech for themselves.”
Zabel added, “We’re seeing more leaks and whistleblowers, but until governments come clean, we’re still in the dark.”
Hope for Global Cooperation
Despite all this, Salas remains hopeful.
He’s spoken to leaders and testified before Congress in countries like Mexico and Brazil, calling for global collaboration.
“We can’t solve this divided.
If we ever hope to understand what’s going on, the world needs to work together,” he said.
That urgency was reinforced by a 2024 study analyzing 500 well-documented UFO encounters during the Cold War.
The research revealed a clear focus: these unidentified crafts seem deeply interested in nuclear weapon sites—and they know exactly what they’re looking at.
Patterns from the Past That Point to the Future
The study, led by former Air Force Staff Sergeant Larry Hancock and Harvard’s Ian Porritt, zeroed in on U.S.
military and police reports from 1945 to 1975.
The team found a pattern: as the nuclear arms race intensified, so did UFO visits to missile silos, air bases, and production facilities.
In one 1949 case, a silver disc was spotted hovering over Washington state’s Hanford nuclear plant—the same place that made plutonium for the first atomic bomb.
Air Force investigators at the time noted, “The UFOs were faster than jets.”
Their research suggests deliberate surveillance, not coincidence.
The mysterious crafts appeared more at night, shifted focus with the arms race, and showed signs of advanced understanding of nuclear processes.
“These objects aren’t random,” said Hancock.
“They know what they’re looking for—and it’s nuclear.”