Air Force General Linked to UFO Research Disappears

A retired two-star Air Force General has. vanished without a trace. A man once. tied to UFO research and just days after. President Donald Trump ordered the. release of government UFO files and now. comments from Hillary Clinton in her. Epstein deposition are adding a new. twist. This is raising all kinds of. questions about yeah, aliens. Do they. exist and where is this General? We are. going to break it all down with a. private investigator help us unpack what. may really be going on here. Welcome to.

the sidebar presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, can we be honest about. something real quick before we jump into. this? When most people look at their. bank statements, the amount of DoorDash. orders over the last 2 years is probably. a little embarrassing, right? I mean, I. just saw a report that is going to make. you put your phone down right now. Why? There are serious allegations coming out. that the app may have tracked your. precise location and shared it with. third-parties without your consent. potentially capitalizing on sensitive.

data. It's actually a huge privacy deal, but here's the thing. Morgan & Morgan, they're jumping in to investigate. used. the app between 2023 and 2025, you can. easily check to see if you qualify for a. claim. And if you do, you may be. entitled to compensation. You can visit. forthepeople.com/sidebardash. or click the link in the description for. a free case review. It just takes 5. minutes or less and hope you can check. it out. A retired Air Force General with. reported ties to one of the most famous.

UFO research sites in the United States. seemingly has vanished in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Major General William. McCaslin, the former commander of the. Air Force Research Laboratory at. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has now. been missing for nearly a week. The. Sheriff's Office is asking for tips. right now. The FBI is assisting in the. search right now. And the timing of his. disappearance, just days after these. renewed calls to release government UFO. files, it has obviously sparked intense.

curiosity. According to authorities, on. the morning of February 27th, McCaslin. just disappeared. No confirmed. witnesses, no clothing description. released, no known direction of travel, just gone. Now, that timing, to be. clear, we can't ignore it, okay? But, we're also not suggesting that it is. related to this, but we have to mention, okay? 8 days before McCaslin vanished, President Donald Trump posted this. message on Truth Social. "Based on the. tremendous interest shown, I will be. directing the Secretary of War and other.

relevant departments and agencies to. begin the process of identifying and. releasing government files related to. alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and. unidentified flying objects.". And then what happened? Hillary Clinton, right? The former Secretary of State, former First Lady, sat for a deposition. in the House GOP's investigation into. Jeffrey Epstein. Remember we talked. about this, we covered it on Sidebar, the House Oversight Committee? Now, the. questioning wasn't about UFOs, but that.

topic did briefly come up. Listen to. this. >> When your when your husband was. president, um that is Laurence. Rockefeller had an effort to try to. disclose UFOs, UAPs. Um when you were running for president, John Podesta publicly stated that you. would disclose these files with with if. given the chance, if you had been. president. Um are you pleased to see. that these files may be disclosed. finally? >> I am pleased. As I say, I think. >> So, you heard a name there, John.

Podesta. Now, Podesta served as Hillary. Clinton's 2016 campaign chairman. Before. that, he was White House Chief of Staff. under President Bill Clinton and later a. senior advisor to President Barack. Obama. Here is where things take another turn. 2016, WikiLeaks published thousands of. emails from Podesta's account, and that. included messages from Tom DeLonge, the. guitarist from the band Blink-182, who. has since become very involved in UFO. research projects. In those emails,

DeLonge claimed he had been working with. individuals connected to the military on. UFO-related initiatives. One of the. people that he named was General William. McCasland. So, DeLonge wrote that. McCasland had advised him and helped. connect him with potential advisers for. his research efforts. Although it. doesn't appear that McCasland himself. confirmed that he did this. But, here's. the timeline. February 19th, the. president announces plans to release. government UFO files. February 26th, Hillary Clinton is asked about UFO.

disclosure during a deposition and. references Podesta's long-standing. interest in the topic. And the next day, February 27th, General William McCasland. is reported missing in Albuquerque. Okay, now again, to be clear, there is. no evidence linking these events. together and authorities have not. suggested any connection. But, I mean, how do I not mention this? When a. retired Air Force general with reported. ties to a major research laboratory. disappears and his name appears in past. discussions about UFO disclosures and. that's what the topic is right now, the.

case is naturally drawing attention. And. what happened to him? What actually. happened to McCasland? So, here's what investigators say they. know so far and why this disappearance. has people very, very curious. According. to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's. Office, William Neil McCasland is 68. years old. He stands about 5' 11", weighs roughly 160 lbs, white hair, blue. eyes. On the morning of February 27th, he was last seen in the area of Quail. Run Court NE in Albuquerque. That is.

according to a missing person's bulletin. that the Sheriff's Office released to. the public. Authorities say they don't. have a description of what he was. wearing. They don't know which direction. he went. What they did say, and this is. directly from that bulletin, is that. McCasland has unspecified medical issues. and because of those issues law. enforcement is concerned for his safety. This is something that I want to talk. about a little bit more, but the. sheriff's office has specifically asked. residents in the Quail Run area to check. any security camera footage from the.

morning of February 27th. Doorbell. cameras, driveway cameras, anything that. might have captured McCaslin or a. vehicle leaving that area. Now you go. back to McCaslin. According to his. official US Air Force biography, William. McCaslin graduated from the Air Force. Academy in 1979 with a bachelor's degree. in astronautical engineering. Over the. next 34 years he held a variety of space. research, acquisition, operations roles, including positions with the National. Reconnaissance Office and at the. Pentagon. Now the National. Reconnaissance Office, by the way, is.

one of the most secretive intelligence. agencies in the whole country. They. build and operate America's spy. satellites, so obviously you're not. going to know too much about that. But. McCaslin wasn't just involved in. research. He was apparently involved in. the kind of research that happens well. above top secret clearance levels. But the position that matters most, at. least for this story, at least for the. circumstances that we're trying to get a. sense of, came in 2011. That is when, according to Air Force records, McCaslin. took command of the Air Force Research. Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force.

Base in Ohio. He held that command until. his retirement from the Air Force in. October of 2013. The Dayton Daily News and other outlets. have reported on the significance of. this role because as commander, McCaslin. oversaw the Air Force's $2.2 billion. science and technology program plus. another $2.2 billion. in customer-funded research and. development. And here's why that matters. for the UFO apparent connection. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was the. headquarters of Project Blue Book.

That's according to an article published. by Ohio State University titled The Air. Force Investigation into UFOs. According. to that article, Project Blue Book ran. from 1952 to 1969 and over those 17. years, investigators looked into nearly. 13,000 reported UFO sightings. And of. those, 701 remain officially labeled as. unidentified. The same article notes. that Project Blue Book was created by. the US government because of Cold War. era security concerns, and that it was.

fueled, in the author's words, by. American obsession with the. extraterrestrial. That article also features the original. 1947 sketch from pilot Kenneth Arnold, the man whose flying saucer description. kicked off the modern UFO era, as well. as headlines from the flying disc craze. that followed. Now, the program. concluded that UFOs. did not pose a national security threat, found no evidence of extraterrestrial. technology. But the location, that.

specific laboratory at Wright-Patterson, has been at the center of UFO lore for. decades. Why? In part because of. persisting claims that debris from the. 1947 Roswell incident was transported. there. Now, those claims have never been. officially confirmed, that's not. surprising, but they're part of why. Wright-Patterson comes up so often in. UFO research. And this brings us back to. McCasland. He commanded that laboratory. from 2011 until his retirement. And at. his change of command ceremony in July.

of 2013, General Janet Wolfenbarger, then the commander of Air Force Material. Command, had this to say. This is. according to an Air Force publication, quote, "General McCasland has played a. pivotal role in developing several. unique capabilities that this country is. not only using now, but will rely on in. the future to face emerging threats. His. contributions leave a lasting positive. impact on the Air Force Research. Laboratory, Air Force Material Command, and our Air Force, and will continue to. provide this nation with a technological.

edge for decades to come." And so then. McCasland retires, remains in New. Mexico. We know he was familiar with the. area. His Air Force bio shows he. previously commanded the Phillips. research site at Kirtland Air Force Base. in Albuquerque. That's where he was as. far as we know until February 27th, when. authorities say he reportedly left his. home without his Apple Watch or phone. This triggered a silver alert due to. safety concerns regarding a medical. condition. And friends who spoke to the. Dayton Daily News describe him as an.

avid hiker, a bike rider, a skier. So, this is someone who knew the outdoors, who knew how to take care of himself in. rough terrain. It gives you an idea. about maybe maybe what might have. happened. So, I want to bring in. somebody who can help us understand what. happens next in these cases. A missing. person's investigator is going to talk. to us about what police are looking for, how the timeline works, whether any of. this other stuff actually matters when. you're trying to find a missing person. But before even bring him in, I just. want to set the stage on one more thing.

One more time with what happened in the. days before McKasson vanished because. the timing is going to be something that. we have to ask about directly. February. 26th, Hillary Clinton sat for a. deposition in the House GOP's Epstein. investigation. At one point, the. conversation turned to UFOs. We showed. you some of it before. Here is that full. exchange. >> When your when your husband was. president, um there was Lawrence. Rockefeller had an effort to try to. disclose UFOs, UAPs. Um when you were running for president,

John Podesta publicly stated that you. would disclose these files with with if. given the chance if you had been. president. Um are you pleased to see that these. files may be disclosed finally? >> I am pleased. As I say, I think they. have to be. carefully scrutinized so that no. national security. information is disclosed, but. this is an issue of real. importance to so many people. And I I I.

whatever can be disclosed should be. disclosed. >> Was there a program that that. specifically that that was referencing. that you were aware of? >> I was not. As you mentioned John. Podesta, who was one of my advisers, was. deeply. interested in the issue. And if I had. been elected, I certainly would have. listened to his advice. >> Well, thank you for indulging us on. that. Joining us to help make sense of all of. this is a friend of the show, Steve. Fisher, private investigator who.

specializes in missing persons cases. Actually, by the way, as we have Steve, he just came off of a search and rescue. mission. He's in a hotel right now. This. is the dedication to Sidebar that we. have from Steve. Steve, thank thanks so. much for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. >> Yeah, thanks for having me. >> So, I just laid everything out. The. general's background, the Wright. Patterson connection, the Trump. announcement, the Clinton deposition, the Podesta emails. I want to start with. a big question here. When you're looking. at a missing person's case like this,

which is very different, with all of. this going on, context swirling around. it, you can't ignore it. How do you, as. an investigator, begin to sort through, I guess the best way to say it, what. might be relevant and what might be. just noise? >> And and that's the whole That's the. whole trick here is is cut through that. noise because. with this individual's background, and you know, there's going to be a ton of noise, conspiracy talk.

And as searchers, we don't know, you. know, we can only go off what we. actually have. And and I think that. what's in, you know, what I'd be looking. at. if I was one of the search commanders. would be. the fact that the phone and watch was. left behind. And that. there's this talk of. Well, they activated the So, I think. it's the silver alert out there because. of some health issues. And although he's. seems like a very fit physically active. guy, they are talking about some sort of.

health issues. So there seems like. there's something going on there. But you can't ignore. you know, his his background. >> By the way, talk to us why is that. significant they activated the Silver. Alert? >> Well, so they they activate that when. somebody's. vulnerable, especially vulnerable. And. usually that's because they have they're. dependent on medication or they have. some underlying health condition where. they can't really maybe survive, you. know, a couple days out in the elements. And this is the guy who.

is. you know, from what I've heard from his. friends' accounts, super active, knows. the area very well. And one of his. friends actually described him as an. Olympic level skier. So. super physically fit, knows the. wilderness, military background, but. they activated Silver Alert, makes me. wonder maybe he got some sort of recent. diagnosis or something, you know, along. that lines. But that's pure speculation. >> Where it it's not like a situation where. necessarily somebody.

a Silver Alert says, "Oh, there's some. mental incapacity. They walked out on. their own. They don't know what's going. on." It could also be, let's say, I. mean, not to make a comparison, but the. Nancy Guthrie case where she needed. active medication daily. And if she doesn't have access to that. that medication, it could be, you know, dire consequences. Could it be something. like that? You know, he was getting. Again, I've no idea about his medical. history, but it could be something just. a health-related issue why he needs to. be found sooner rather than later. >> Absolutely. And the fact is is that they.

are so. strict and worried about HIPAA. violations that the searchers probably. don't even know what that health. condition is. The search commanders do, but they're probably not even. they're just saying it's somebody. dependent. But instead of being a. voluntary missing or it's somebody. that's particularly vulnerable. And it's. kind of like an Amber Alert for the. kids, you know. >> I want to ask you about this timeline, okay? And I just want to be clear again. as I say this because before. investigators, you know, are not.

necessarily connecting these dots, we're. not trying to connect them, too, but. we're just asking questions here. I. mean, I think I think we have to. When. you look at that timeline of right when. they're going to be talking about. releasing. these UAP UFO materials, does that raise. any red flags for you, or do you just. set that aside, you just focus on the. ground level facts, you tell me. >> You got to try and set it aside and and. and just work on the search theory, but.

it's very it's always going to I listen, even though the investigators aren't. talking about it, it is in the back of. their mind, right? I mean, it's it's hard to ignore, but. more often than not, these end up just. being. weird coincidences, you know, and you. know, the thing that the bottom is I guess I. guess as far as the search goes, you. know, with that background, what's going. to happen is it's going to be a massive. response. And you know, I had a case. last July of a JPL scientist, a NASA.

scientist, who went missing in LA. National Forest. And I mean, it's first. time I've ever been on a search with. National Guard was out there with Black. Hawks. And I think it's going to be the. same kind of response for this gentleman. as well, you know, and they're going to. get everybody. Everybody's going to be involved. It's. going to be a massive response. And. that's interesting. >> That's an interesting point. You have. the Sheriff's Office who's the lead. agency, but now we also have the FBI, right? The Albuquerque Field Office is. now assisting. Can you walk us through. why we might be seeing that and what.

this actually means. When the FBI gets. brought into a missing person's case, what does assisting look like on this. from from their perspective? What what. do they do? And why would they be. necessary for a case like this? >> So, there's a couple different ways. They've been requested, you know, so. agencies can request the FBI's. assistance if it's not in FBI. jurisdiction. So, if this wasn't you. know, national forest or whatever, but they can request the FBI's. assistance and a lot of agencies like.

we've seen in. you know, Tucson maybe are are hesitant. and. a lot of agencies will take that. assistance and so the FBI will be there. as. a support agency cuz the local. jurisdiction will be the lead, but they. have much more resources. And then if. you get like um, border if you get like. you know, border control, their search abilities. and canines and helicopters and if you. get National Guard in there which I. think they're bringing in, then you got.

unbelievable thermal imaging. capabilities. You got military level. stuff and even though they're supporting. agencies, nobody's really telling them. what to do. You know, it's like they're. they're assigned search areas and and. they're you know, they have much greater. capabilities than local sheriffs do. >> What about the Air Force connection? The. sheriff's office says they're. coordinating with the. the Kirtland Air Force Base, but. McCaslin retired again, I believe in. 2013. He's been from what we can tell. just living kind of like a civilian life. for more than a decade. Why would the. Air Force Base be involved? What role.

would they play in a case like this? >> My my guess and it's really guess is. just because he was such high level and. and. the connection there you know, he wasn't. just uh. you know, anyway, he he ran you know, the. big programs there. So, I think it's. it's that. It's the same thing that you. saw with this JPL scientist. You know, it was what it was. It was somebody at. NASA. put call out for assistance to a federal.

agency said, "Hey, one of our scientists. has gone missing on a hike." And and. next thing you knew every every was. willing to help and and I think that's. probably going to be the situation here. Um. but you know, who knows for the real. >> Ju- Just generally speaking, okay? Even. if you put aside, um, his credentials, his past, no. confirmed witnesses, no clothing. description released, no known direction. of travel, he has just disappeared. It's. been, you know, a little bit right now.

Is that weird? Is that very unusual? Or. do you say to me, Jesse, look, this is. this happens sometimes in missing. persons cases, you know, it's not. necessarily an outlier. >> The, um, cell phone and watch left behind. we see a lot, and it's not a good sign. Um, does make me wonder if he got some sort. of diagnoses or something, um, recently. But when we see those tracking. devices left behind, those devices that. are. are can be tracked, and somebody like him that really knows.

the outdoors, and they haven't found him. in the first four days with a lot of. assets, it makes me wonder if. he wanted if he, you know, if something's going on in his. life where he, uh, you know, he didn't want to be found. >> And And by the way, we To be clear, we. don't we don't know that for sure. And. to be clear, we also authorities. haven't, you know, said outright. publicly to suggest that there was foul. play, right? That this was a kidnapping, that this is a criminal investigation. You're seeing this multi-agency effort.

to try to find him. We've talked a. little bit about McCaslin himself, the. person, right? You know, not the. general. His wife, you mentioned, said he loves the outdoors, he's an avid. skier, he's an he's a hiker. Um, but I. do want to discuss, obviously, the. elephant in the room, because we'd be. lying if we said this wasn't part of, you know, why we're all here. So, General McCaslin's name appears in those. hacked Podesta emails I mentioned. earlier from 2016. Um, you know, Tom DeLonge, the Blink-182. guitarist, UFO researcher, wrote to.

Podesta claiming that he'd been working. with McCaslin. Claimed that McCaslin. helped assemble his advisory team. Claimed that McCaslin knew what he was. trying to achieve. According to the. documents that were reviewed by Rolling. Stone magazine, in one exchange, uh. DeLong appeared to write to Podesta, "When Roswell crashed, they shipped it. to the laboratory at Wright-Patterson. Air Force Base. General McCaslin was in. charge of that exact laboratory up to a. couple years ago. He not only knows what. I'm trying to achieve, he helped.

assemble my advisory team. He's a very. important man.". Now, here's what we need to be clear. about. According to Newsweek, there are. no official records indicating that. McCaslin actually advised DeLong. The. general himself has never confirmed or. denied it. And by the way, just add. another layer to here, uh DeLong has. spent years building credibility in the. space. He founded uh To the Stars Inc. wrote a 2019 Newsweek op-ed arguing that. America has been investigating UFOs for. years, appeared in a Netflix docuseries. on the topic. So, whether or not.

McCaslin was actually involved, we know. that DeLong has positioned himself as. someone with insider access. Steve, I go. to back to you on this. Um look, one of. the things I'm thinking about, again, elephant in the room, is let's say. there is foul play here. Let's say this. is connected to his past. W-. Wouldn't it have been done in a way. where it wouldn't have alerted. authorities or the public to the fact. that he's been missing? I mean, I think. that's that's something interesting to. think about, right? It's creating now.

more of an uproar. It's making its way. in the news. People are looking at this. It's looking more suspicious. So, for. those who might believe that something. happened to him in connection with his. past, I you know, I. I don't know if this is the way that you. would go about it. >> Well, so those people that that are. going to believe that and they'll. they'll continue to believe it no matter. what, you know, they're the loudest. voice in the room. So, just shining a. spotlight on this just amplifies them. So, I don't think they'd go about it. this way. In fact, his you know, his.

wife um I saw a quote from her where. she. you know, said that she didn't believe. she didn't have anything to suspect foul. play is involved. But, you know, the guy. has a very interesting past. But, they. got you got to understand you got to. realize too that the UFO stuff is is not. all alien based. It's anything that's. you know, it's it's these these weather. balloons, these spy balloons, and you. know, any unidentified type of stuff. But, he was working on propulsion things. and very interesting. He probably knows.

a. I mean, he does know a lot of things. But, like you said, he's been retired a. very long time, too. So, I think it's going to just end up being. noise and a coincidence and and. something else is going on. But, I mean, you just never know. I mean, it's such a. strange times that we're living in. >> It's very strange. And I wonder how what. is your ability to actually look at what. he was working on, what his past are is. I mean, I would imagine all those. records would be classified, whether. you're a private investigator, your. local law enforcement, maybe the FBI has.

better access to it. How far can they. get into actually looking at those. records? It feels very complicated to. me. >> My business is just speculating. I would. guess there's probably only a handful of. people at the FBI that could even access. that information. And those aren't. people that are on the search. Those are. the very highest level. These are. military classified things that even in. the military level, I mean, I can't. imagine that many people have access to. it. So, at the. private investigator as a searcher, as a. sheriff or sheriff deputy, probably zero.

access. They probably have. you know, so they probably can't even. really factor that in besides the. speculation. I don't think anybody's. briefing them on here's exactly what he. knew and was working on and stuff like. that. That's all going to still be kept. top secret, I would think. >> Before I let you go, just want to circle. back to to this this. theory that you have and you've talked. about it and it could be very very true. If he were dealing with a situation. where someone voluntarily left on their. own, okay? How tough is it to avoid.

being detected? How tough is it to avoid. being, you know, found by authorities if. you have all these agencies looking into. it? I've seen cases like that before. Sometimes in, you know, kind of. mountainous terrain or wilderness. terrain. But how difficult would it be. for someone to just pick up, leave, and. not be found? >> Well, somebody that knows the outdoors. well can can actually they think it. through. You know, they come up with it. Typically what happens in these. situations, if it's that, um they're. found in the water. And.

you know, it's. you have to wait a certain amount of. days before, you know, what happens with. what bodies do when they are in the. water. And um. But some people, you know, will find if. if let's say they got this diagnosis and. and they just decide that they don't. want to live with that. If they have like life insurance and. stuff like that, sometimes they will. hide themselves best they can because. they don't pay out on. you know, if if people take their own. lives. So, you know, and. people think that stuff through.

So, it's really hard but a guy like this. that knows mountain terrain, knows. military, you can make it hard. But my. guess is if there's bodies of water. there, you're going to start seeing some. intense searches in the water. >> And again, just to be a 100% clear. >> Exactly. >> This is all this is all speculation. This is all theories. We do not know. definitively the circumstances. surrounding. >> Absolutely. >> point that he can't be found or that. >> Yeah, in search and rescue we go off, you know, statistics from past like.

markers that we see. We actually and. these are these are models that are. built. or maintained by the Department of. Justice. that we have access to and it takes all. so it's just it's just giving us. probabilities and and they have some. markers of that. But but I have no. inside information on what's going on in. that search. So, it's just it's just. based on probabilities. Hopefully, he is. injured and alive and you know, they'll. find him. >> Steve Fisher, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it.

>> Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcast. We're also up on NBC's Peacock. as well. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse. Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11:00. p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.