733667-001-003-0006

AU US Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Viemorandum Subject ACTION: Release of Incident Information March 10, 1987 re. JAL 1625 (UFO) Date PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER, AAL-5 Reply to From Attn of ToDIRECTOR, AAL-1, CC: AAL-500 Attached for your review and information is correspondence and records of telephone conversations which document my inquiry into the source of an unauthorized and premature release of investigative information by someone in the Washington, D.C. FAA office. The material they released was created by the Alaskan Region Air Traffic Division as part of the JAL 1625 (UFO) investigation. Premature release of this material, as cited by Mr. Klass in the attached news article, was embarrassing to me and the agency, as several hundred other news correspondents had been told that they could not review or receive the material until it was officially distributed by the Alaskan Region Flight Standards Division and the Public Affairs Office. A considerable amount of effort went into the planned release of this material which if leaked to the press, or released to "selected" news sources, would create the impression that the agency is not to be trusted. The unauthorized and premature release of investigative materials relative to the flight of Japan Air Lines 16526, (UFO) as reported by a Mr. Pnilip Kiass in the Anchorage Daily News wire service story, (dated January 30, 1957), appears to be attributable to a Mr. John Callahan, (AAT-63) in Washington, D.C., who probably received access to the meterial from one of the two FAA employees who received the material from tne Alaskan Region Air Traffic Division. I am not certain by what authority the Air Traffic Division released the material when the incident was still under investigation by the Alaskan Region Flight Standards Office. It seems that if such authority 1s policy that it should, as set forth by the attached example, be examined for its possible negative consequences to the agency. continued...