NICAP-RESEARCH THREAD ON SARBACHER
18 Feb 2017

The Sarbacher - Smith interview was on Sept 15, not 12, 1950, and it is not at all clear whether it was in-person or by telephone. The sensational comments that the saucer subject was "classified two points higher than the H-bomb" is absurd on its face as there has never been a "point" system of classification, and the person uttering the nonsense (Sarbacher) was either deliberately misinforming Smith (I have some evidence suggesting it was 1950 CIA disinformation) or didn't know such basic things as what the Atomic Energy Act "RD" (Restricted Data) control system involved, nor the Greek letter subdivisions of RD material not "points." No substantiation has ever been found for any of this, not the "small group," not the "two points higher," nothing.  Something like the design of the H-bomb was SECRET or TOP SECRET RD SIGMA-1 for thermonuclear weapons design data, Sigma-2 for fission weapons, etc. (Sigma-1 through 13 have been retired).  I see no "insider" knowledge of this by Sarbacher (or Smith).

Brad Sparks
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Hi, Fran,
I may be the only person on this list who actually spoke with Sarbacher.  He was a pleasant man who seemed sincere, but nothing he said has added up in the decades since. I think his testimony, whatever its inspiration (I don’t claim to know), is of no value, barring independent confirmation which has never come to light.

Jerry Clark
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I agree that he was pleasant and seemed to be apologetic that he couldn't recall all the details. What he told me is substantially the same as what he wrote to\ Steinman,
I seem to recall that Stan located one man who worked in the same group as Sarbacher but he didn't know anything.

Bruce Maccabee
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Sorry, Bruce, it had slipped my mind that you’d talked with Sarbacher, too.  I should have checked with my own account, titled “Sarbacher Episode,” in the 2nd ed of my UFO Encyclopedia (pp. 813-817). You’re mentioned there as having interviewed the man.  It sounds as if he said to you pretty much what he said to me. In the entry I detail the various aspects, including the roles played by William Steinman, Whitley Strieber, and Philip Corso who exaggerated (i.e., lied about) Sarbacher’s claims, which were already problematic if relatively modest compared to those the fabulists attributed to him.

Jerry Clark