Brad Sparks:
NICAP broke the original story in its UFO Investigator newsletter in Nov. 1976.  This was based on the leak of the teletype message by then Major (later Colonel) Roland B. Evans who later wrote the DIA Evaluation of the incident.  Evans also leaked the Loring AFB message and other documents to NICAP's President, Jack Acuff.  These were followed up by Huffer and others (myself included) by FOIA.

The leaked DSP satellite data printout that I discovered has the exact times of events to the second -- and the entry here is not at the time of the Iranian jet case--- so it has nothing to do with it, is not confirmation of the incident.

Francis Ridge:
As a result of conflicting publicity on this case, UFO researchers sprang into action. According to Barry Greenwood and Lawrence Fawcett, "one individual, Charles Huffer, a teacher at the Berlin American High School in Germany, attempted to locate information from the files of the Secretary of Defense relating to the Iranian report. They denied this request in a July 5, 1977, letter. Huffer appealed the decision and finally obtained the release of a three-page message about the report on August 31, 1977, via the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)." The details are fascinating. 

NICAP Home Page