The Simone Mendez case

APIGuy

Independent Field Investigator
Simone Mendez was a 21 year old Airman in the USAF in 1981, and was trained as a telecommunications specialist. By all accounts her job performance was exemplary, and she held a Top Secret clearance. In the Summer of 1981, she was transferred to Nellis AFB in North Las Vegas. She had for some time before that been interested in UFOs, and had discussed UFOs with some of her friends and coworkers.

In October of 1981, one of her coworkers ("Airman Green") showed up at her apartment door with a carbon copy of a classified document that seemed to provide evidence that NORAD had been tracking UFOs. We still don't know how Green obtained the document, or whether he may have created it himself. Mendez asked - against her better judgment - if she could hold on to the document for a while.

Several months later (January 1982), Mendez went with Green's ex-girlfriend to Nellis with the intention of returning the document. No one was interested, but just as they were leaving, someone came and told them that they had to destroy the document. One thing led to another, and Mendez found herself under interrogation by the FBI and AFOSI. This included polygraph tests, which she failed because she found them very distressing. This led to an emotional breakdown, hospitalization, and medication. There were more interrogations of the next few months, and another hospitalization. Eventually, the Air Force decided to clear her of criminal charges, but her security clearance was stripped, and she was transferred to another base.

She stayed in the Air Force several more years, and was promoted in rank. Here's the odd thing - AFOSI then tried repeatedly to recruit her, apparently for counterintelligence work (not clear). She turned them down, and then left the Air Force. Why this happened is a mystery. She was very attractive, so maybe they thought they could exploit that, but she certainly doesn't seem to have a Mata Hari personality. More likely, it had something to do with her interest in UFOs.

Later, she conducted a FOIA campaign with the help of CAUS, and obtained a number of documents (many heavily redacted) related to her military service and the investigation. Her story seems to be well backed up, although the actual document that go her in trouble was never surfaced.

This happened right about the time of the Paul Bennewitz affair, and a few years before MJ 12. One wonders if they are related.
 

APIGuy

Independent Field Investigator
Several months later (January 1982), Mendez went with Green's ex-girlfriend to Nellis with the intention of returning the document. No one was interested, but just as they were leaving, someone came and told them that they had to destroy the document.

She now denies that she asked people if the document was legit.
 
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