CENTER LANE INTERVIEW SUMMARY - CL-1021/8305/08

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00788R001900200001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 10, 1983
• Content Type: MFR

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IAGPA-F-SD 10 June 1983
SUBJECT: CENTER LANE Interview Summary - CL-1021/8305/08 (U)
1. (S/CL-3/NOFORN) On 090900 June 1983, Source #08 was interviewed
by #66 concerning the activities within an unidentified structure.
The project 8305 sponsor had provided a photograph of the structure
(see Incl 1).
2. (S/CL-3/NOFORN) For this interview source was shown the
photograph provided by the sponsor. Source was asked to focus his
attention on the structure in the photograph and describe the
activities in the interior area. No further identifying information
was provided to source as the collection plan called for the use of
this information as "feedback" and cuing material for possible
subsequent interviews.
3. (U) A transcript of the interview was prepared including a
narrative explanation of the drawings which source provided (see Incl
2).
4. (U) A DA Form 341 (Agent Report) was prepared for the sponsor.
This report related the salient points of the interview. Attached as
an exhibit to the Agent Report was a copy of source's drawings (see
Incl 3).
3 Incl
as
FREDERICK H. ATWATER
CPT, MI
OPS/TNG Officer
CLASSIFIED BY: Cdr, INSCOM
DECL: OADR
CENTER LANE
SECRET
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#66: This will be a CENTER LANE Interview for 0900 hours
8 (9) June 1983. Relax and concentrate now. Focus
your attention on the building in the photograph
I've shown you. Focus today 8 (9) June 1983, and
describe the activity inside the building to me.
#08: The activity is a....being done by a...workers in
white coveralls. The activity....involves..a great
deal of...assembly through, through electrical
welding. The a..
#66: Simply describe your perceptions of activity you
perceive.
#08: ..A great deal of a. of a ..... of a number of
stations within the building involved with
welding.... very shiny metal.....and once assembled
the.. metal takes on the shape of a..fuselage or
something.
#66: Rather than labeling the shape, describe the shape.
#08: ...A rounded nose cone..highly....polished...--
#66: Describe the--
#08: --Thin
#66: Describe the shape and size.
#08: Okay. I can tell you what it is not. There's
nothing flat about the end product, everything is
rounded, rounded.
#66: In this roundness, describe the relative size.
..Perhaps comparative in size--
#08: Yes, hang on (mumble)--
#66: --to these people in white.
#08: That's what I'm doing.
#66: All right. I will wait.
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#08: .......... 8, 9 feet in diameter ..... I have a hard
time getting the length.
#66: Okay, describe the process--
#08: --About 7 or 8 times the length of a man in length.
#66: Um, um.
#08: Okay, go ahead.
#66: Now, describe this process which you have going on
in this building.
#08: Again, the process is one of assembly of these...of
these sections together. And the idea of a..and the
impression, the picture of a.. sophisticated welding
of this...highly polished thin material is
predominant. .....It's the assembly point of the
vehicle, I can not tell you anymore.
#66: Okay, the-building that I've displayed in the
photograph--
#08: Yes.
#66: --is very large.
#08: Yes.
#66: In looking at this as though it were a dollhouse
perceptive--
#08: Yes.
#66: Kind of walk me through from one side to the other.
#08: Yes. .......The a...There are divisions in the
building but they're theoretical, they're the size
of a...of a....divided into stalls the size of small
garages without.. without the walls separating one
section to the next. There would be, oh my
god,..Gees.... let's just say an extensive number,
cause I can't count them all.
#66: Okay. Go on.
#08: Counting may be..22, 24 plus stalls...and each one
is equipped like an independent work shop... They
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are-columns of the...that protrude ever so slightly
in front of the wall and these are the divisions of
these garage stalls, garage stalls.
#66: Describe what goes on in the stall areas.
#08: .............These stall areas have about 4 or 5
persons... again in...white coveralls and white hats,
hard hats and again the...purpose of the stall is to
work on...the assembly portion of...whatever the
hell that is. and the impression of a...welding,
particularly electric welding is predominant.
#66: Okay, now that you are perceiving a singular stall
in a confined area, describe the size of the object
on which they're working-and the shape.
#08: ....It is very important to realize that the metal
is not flat, that the entire process is on contoured
sheets of metal. ...... Aneach stall, that
particular stall, and each stall is responsible for
the assembly of that portion that belongs to a...the
assembly...of this contoured, sheeted material.
They're ...... That's about the best I can do for you.
#66: All right. Let's see if I understand. In these
individual stalls workmen are charged with
manufacturing or working on a particular piece of
metal which may be a section to something here.?
#08: Yes, for assembly,..for assembly in the center of
this building.
#66: Okay. Now, I'd like to move then, you suggested
that there's another area here besides the division
of the stall area?
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#08: No, the a...the vehicle or vehicles or portions of
vehicle are.. assembled.. eventually to the center of
the building.
#66: Okay.
#08: The individual contoured material is worked at from
the bench, so to speak, which are the stalls and
then ..... assembled..in part-in the center of the
building and the end result is...a curved, a
hollow... rounded tube of highly polished material.
It's...not finished in there, the assembly is not
completed in there.
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#66: Okay. Let me see if I can, if I accurately
understand what you've said here.
#08: Go ahead.
#66: You have initially described something that is very
round and is perhaps in diameter larger than a man--
#08: --That was the impression at the time.
#66: --And in length--
#08: --That was the overall product-after assembly.
It's..it may not be germane to the specific time
frame.
#66: Okay. At one point you did talk about these round
shapes.
#08: Yes.
#66: Okay. Then we moved into an area that you described
as stalls.
#08: Yes.
#66: And in these stalls, some sort of electrical
welding, some sort of manufacture of some pieces of
something.
#08: Yes.
#66: And these are shiny metal.
#08; Yes.
#66: Or polished metal?
#08: Yes.
#66: Now, there is a...Under the building structure,
within the building structure, there's an area
different from the stall area where some pieces of
something are put into some other form?
#08: Say that again.
#66: Okay. The building itself has a stall area--
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#08: Yes.
#66: --inside the building there's something different
than the stall area, there's a different area, the
whole thing is not just stalls. Is that correct?
#08: No.
#66: Part of the inside has stalls and part does not?
#08: No, the part I'm in is very shiny, very lighted,
it's very difficult to see in the other end of the
building, but when you asked me how or what was in
there, I just said there were about 24 stalls of the
same size. ...This is entire activity, is very
scientifically oriented.
#66: What's the perception that makes you say this?
#08: The metal involved, the care with which it's done,
the..very clean conditions under which this is
carried out, this is not activity that's associated
with grease or mechanics, this is...this is
something that has to do with aerodynamics with....I
can't describe it any better.
#66: Okay. Now these pieces of something are moved out
of the stalls.
#08: Yes.
#66: And they go where?
#08: In the middle, center.
#66: of this building?
#08: Yes.
#66: And what happens to them then?
#08: They're assembled. And the assembly is only a
portion of the end product.
#66: Okay, describe the shape of this thing when they're
assembled in the center of the building. Describe
this thing to me, this assembly to me.
#08: ..... I think I have already, but I'll try it again.
....It's tubular... again the roundness..and the high
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gloss of the metal is present...and the finished
portion in terms of the-responsibility of the stall
is...a portion....a portion of what the end product
will be. Perhaps I can explain that later.
#66: Yes, I think drawing it will be helpful. I want you
to remember in your mind now this concept you have
of the layout of the building so that you can draw
it for me.
#08: Sure.
#66: Okay, do you have anything further?
#08: Are we done?
#66: Yes, just remind you that you said, "Polished--
#08: Yes.
#66: --Electrical welding--
#08: Yes.
#66: --I believe you said a clean atmosphere as opposed
to a mechanics atmosphere?
#08: Yes, that's very important, the end product
involved, the-destined for aerodynamic purposes.
#66: Okay.
#08: Probably flight.
#66: Okay, Anything else?
#08: No.
#66: Okay that's fine.
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#08: Okay, sketch #1 which is the overview of the long
building in question. Okay, what I perceive there
was, were very clean work areas divided almost
theoretically by pillars with a..with stalls along
through the entire building which appeared to me to
be very huge when I looked at the width of one
individual stall, to give me an idea of perspective
and length, I came up with about a stall width that
was about 22 feet wide, really 16 to 22 feet wide.
And that just seemed impossible, but that's what it
came out to be. The a..also very, very important
impressions at the beginning, which I'll will
elaborate on in sketch #2 was one of overhanging
welding equipment with workers dressed in white
coveralls and white hard hats and whose
responsibility was to work and weld these metal
plates, which were not really plates, they're all
contoured, again that seemed very important, in
terms of impressions that the plates were never
really flat at the entire activity, surrounded the
fact that these plates were contoured like a huge
pipe. There was nothing flat about anything
involved here. Also an initial impression, even
before I started the session, was one of a huge
nose cone which seemed to be a principle part of
the assembly of this, this...this activity that
resulted in the weldings of portions of this thing
into this nose cone. So much for sketch #1 about
the overview.
#08: Sketch #2 is a result of impressions as to try and
figure out what the actual object was and the
impressions I had was that it had something to do
with aerodynamics, that it was extremely important,
aero dynamics was very, very important. That the
metal in question was thin, but very tough and very
shiny, in that the welding had to be very, very
accurate and somewhat sophisticated so as not to
leave and bumps or anything, that this had to be
very smooth. Tried to get an idea of the size of
the objects that ended up as being big cylinders
and I got the impression, trying to measure the
length of a person, they were about 8 feet in
diameter. And when I tried to measure the length,
I got lost, but it was about 7 or 8 times, 7 times
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the length of a man, which doesn't make sense. But
that turned out to be about 42 feet. But that is
an impression of an assembly after completion or
melding of parts. And I'm not too sure if this
involves the entire vehicle in question, or the
entire object in question.
#66: And does this final assembly take place in this
building?
#08: I didn't think so, because what I were a series of,
of a, of assembly of parts that were hanging on
these overhead cranes, if you wish, with supporting
wire guides. This was the completion of that
portion of the activity for which this particular
building was responsible for doing. That's the
best was I can describe it.
#66: Okay. That description seems to say things hanging from
center part of building you saw
chains that were components or parts--
#08: They were guides, not chains.
#66: Oh, I see, guide.
#08: It's all right. But as opposed to links, these
were straight cables.
#66: Oh, cable type as opposed to chains?
#08: Yeah, yes.
#66: Okay, but they were suspended from--
#08: Yes, eventually they hold the assembled--
#66: --But as to a final assembled product, you didn't
necessarily see one?
#08: No, I didn't see it there. Maybe that comes at a
later phase, I don't know, that would take
something else to find that out.
#66: Okay, so--
#08: But this is not the end product. It is the end
product as to the purpose of the assembly plant, so
to speak, but that is not the end product of
(mumble) object.
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#66: So, do I understand that sketch #2 may be more in
the realm of a concept drawing?
#08: Absolutely, because when you see these portions and
however big they, even when you're talking 8 feet
in diameter, what I was trying to get at, was an
idea of what the overall purpose would be later on,
or what it would look like later on. And I really
got lost because this thing I came up with which I
sketched with dotted lines at the bottom of the
page, the diameter was no problem, but the length
was just fantastic in terms of footage, 42 feet.
#66: Okay.
#08: I had a very tough time coming up with that,
because I got lost in the length of the thing, so I
said, how many times can I put the body in there to
come to an equivalent length of the object.
#66: Okay.
#08: That's where the 42 feet came in.
#66: But it would be safe for me to assume that in a
portion of this building, there are hanging on
cables are--
#08: --In the center.
#66: --are, in the center, are these rounded metal
welded things.
#08: Yes, yes. And I don't know why the nose cone is in
there, but that was an initial impression, I think
it belongs there.
#66: Okay. Do have anything else to add?
#08: No, no nothing.
#66: Okay, fine.
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For use of this form, sea FM 30-17(C); AR 38
UNIDENTIFIED BUILDING rL--1021/8305/08
On 9 June 1983, Source CL--08 was interviewed concerning
the activities within an unidentified structure. Source
stated substantially as follows:
The building or portion of the building described by
Source consisted of a well lit assembly area with overhead
cranes. This assembly area was centered between perhaps 22 to
24 individual stalls or work shops the size of small garages
(see drawing 1).
In the individual stalls 4 or 5 workers (not further
identified), dressed in white coveralls and white hard hats,
assembled/made components or pieces of a vehicle (not further
identified). These pieces were made with great care using
overhanging electrical welding equipment. The separate pieces
were contoured metal plates/sheets which Source described as
being rounded, thin, very tough, very shiny.and polished. The
welding of this highly polished thin material was
sophisticated so as to insure the end product was very
smooth. These components or pieces were then put together in
the center assembly area to make "portions" of a vehicle (not
further identified).
In the center area there were assemblies of polished metal
sheets hanging from cables. These "parts" were the end
product produced in this building or portion of this
building. The final assembly of a vehicle (not further
identified) did not take place here.
Source was unable to report information pertaining to the
final application or use of the contoured metal plates. He
did, however, report that because of their roundness they may
WARNING NOTICE: SENSITIVE CLASSIFIED BY: CDR, INSCOM
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES AND DECL: OADR
METHODS INVOLVED
NOT RELEASABLE TO FOREIGN
NATIONALS
(continued)
DP96-007 001900200001-0
AGENT REPORT
0; the proponent oysnsy is the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence.
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For use of this form. see FM 30-17(C); AR 381-20; the proponent agency is the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intaliigenca.
UNIDENTIFIED BUILDING
have something to do with an aerodynamic purpose. Source
provided a concept sketch (see drawing 2) of how a final
product might look. Source was very unsure about this concept
sketch.
No further amplifying information concerning unidentified
structure was obtained from Source during this interview.
Attached hereto as EXHIBIT I are drawings provided by
Source.
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;E AND SECURITY
COMMAND
EXHIBIT
SUBJECT:
COVER S141,114,
FILE NUMBER.- CL-1021/8305/08
PREPARING UNIT:
AGENT REPORT TE :
DESCRIPTION: Drawing 1
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