Roswell: what a records search can establish.
Compare a federal records search with later official reports while keeping their findings and limits separate.
Identify the search question
The GAO report describes a search for government records concerning the 1947 event near Roswell. Its search scope is essential to interpreting what it found. U.S. Government Accountability Office ↗
Compare reports without conflating them
The Air Force reports are separate publications with their own explanations and documentary bases. Compare the records they cite with the propositions they advance. Department of the Air Force History and Museums Program ↗
Absence requires a bounded conclusion
A missing file can reflect retention, destruction, incomplete searching, or a genuinely absent record. It does not by itself identify the cause of the original event. U.S. Government Accountability Office ↗