007: Accident or Conspiracy? - The Black Vault

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A
S•r•
Part of our College mission is distribution of the
students' problem solving products to DoD
Ssponsors and other interested agencies to
enhance insight into contemporary, defense
related issues. While the College has accepted this
product as meeting academic requirements for
graduation, the views and opinions expressed or
implied are solely those of the author and should
not be construed as carrying official sanction.
",oinsights into tomorrow"
REPORT NUMBER se-c:22s
In, 4AUTHOR(S) MAJOR FREDERICK 0::. BARTH, USAF
TITLE
THE SHOOTDOWN OF KAL 007: ACCIDENT OR CONSPIRACY?
I. Ejrj.gz2L This paper analyze% the main thesis of the booc,:
Shooctdown by R.* W. Johnson. Hi's thesis concludes that 11:Korean Air
Lines flight O07 was shot down while participating in a US
sponsored reconnai ssance mlissi on.
II. Prob em: The first task in this research was to identify
Johnson's logic as well as his con,: lusions.. When this was done,
insight into his wo:,rk from other points of view was ex,:amined by
studying reviews of his bocok. Finally, Johnscon's arguments were
balanced against alternative interpretatio~ns -=-f evidenc=e ais well
as new in for maticon.
III. Data: Johnson's thesis that flight 00'7 was participating
as a passive probe in a US sponsored reconnaissanze mi ssiozn is a
direc:t result of his logic. He Io,:ks at the eviden,:e to, support
or refute four theories. The first thec,:ry proposes that the
flight crew ,of 007 made an inno:cent navigational error. The
second is that the Captain was short-cutting his route in order
to save fuel. The third theory claims the Soviets used an
ele,:tronie- interference system to lead the airliner off coIurse.
The final theory, whic h Jozhns:on believes, pr,::,p,,ses t hat f1l ight
-.)07 willfully penetrated Soviet airspaze to assist in a US
intelligenc:e gathering eff°-,rt of the Soviet air defense system.
His logic argues the conspiracy theory is moist souqnd, not bec0ause
vi
0k