out that the movement could be explained away as an optical illusion
or actual acceleration of the balloon caused by a gas leak and later
exaggerated by observers. . . . There are scores of possible
explanations for the scores of different type sightings reported."

Explained away . . . It might not mean anything. It could be just an
unfortunate choice of words. But suppose that the real mission of
Project "Saucer" was to cover up something. Or that its purpose was to
investigate something serious, at the same time covering it up, step
by step. The Project "Saucer" teams, then, would check on reports and
simultaneously try to divert attention from the truth, suggesting
various answers to explain the sightings. Back at Wright Field,
analysts and Intelligence officers would go over the general picture
and try to work up plausible explanations, which, if necessary, could
even be published.

{p. 83}

"Explaining away" would be one of the main purposes of Project
personnel. These words would probably be used in discussions of ways
and means; they would undoubtedly would be used in secret official
papers. And since this published preliminary report had been made up
from censored secret files, the use of those familiar words might have
been overlooked, since, read casually, they would appear harmless. If
the report had been thrown together hastily, the use of these telltale
words could be easily understood, and so could the report's strange
contradictions.

As an experiment, I fixed the idea firmly in mind that Project
"Saucer" was a cover-up unit. Then I went back once more and read the