Bob Oechsler

Bob Oechsler (1949–2020) was a UFO researcher. According to his obituary he served four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, studied accounting and architecture at the University of Maryland, and later worked in robotics, including with NASA [S1]. Accounts of his 1989 call with Admiral Inman describe him as a NASA or aerospace engineer. He edited the International UFO Library Magazine and wrote several works on the subject [S2][S3].

The Inman call (1989)

Oechsler is best known for a 1989 telephone call that he recorded with Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, the former NSA director. He had obtained the call by invoking the interest of Britain's Admiral Lord Hill-Norton. Asked whether recovered vehicles might ever be opened to outside study, Inman said he honestly did not know, and named Everett Hineman, then the CIA's Deputy Director for Science and Technology, as the best person to ask. Inman also suggested that Oechsler approach Sumner Shapiro at BDM, and Oechsler told him that Louis Cabot had taken an interest in his findings. Inman's words were hedged: the call is a referral, not a disclosure.

Oechsler met Hineman at CIA headquarters on 10 August 1989. By Oechsler's account Hineman gave nothing away, and on 1 September he phoned to say he saw no prospect of "doing any business". Afterward the CIA's Ronald Pandolfi contacted both Hineman and Inman to ask what they had said (Pandolfi 1989 Damage Control - Oechsler Meetings).

Gulf Breeze

Oechsler spent 18 months investigating the Gulf Breeze sightings. He claimed that the military used electromagnetic-pulse devices to disable the craft, and that it downed and recovered several and trucked them to Pensacola Naval Air Station. These claims are his alone; they are unverified, and other investigators of the wave dispute them.

Sources

[S1] Obituary of Robert "Bob" Oechsler | The Capital Gazette (Annapolis) URL: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/capitalgazette/name/robert-oechsler-obituary?id=13392602 Claim: born 1949, died 6 June 2020; Air Force service; studies; robotics and NASA work

[S2] "Bob Oechsler" | IMDb, biography URL: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1989457/bio/ Claim: background and publications

[S3] "Bob Oechsler" | Goodreads author page URL: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23031890.Bob_Oechsler Claim: books and magazine editing