Former JFK Advisor Claims US Navy Retrieved ‘Orb’ UFO in 1962 Cold War Missile Test

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By Staff Writer with Agencies

In a startling revelation that revisits one of the most turbulent moments of the Cold War, a former presidential aide has disclosed that a mysterious “orb” UFO was shot out of the sky and recovered by the US Navy during a missile test in October 1962. Harald Malmgren, who served as a senior advisor under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford, detailed the incident—a story that was published on dailymail.co.uk—through the blog of his daughter, economist, and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Dr. Pippa Malmgren.

According to Pippa Malmgren’s March 18 blog post, her father had decided to “tell his full story for the sake of history” before his passing on February 13 at age 89. He recounted being briefed by top CIA and Atomic Energy Commission officials on a videotaped missile test conducted during the Cuban Missile Crisis—a period marked by extreme global tension.

A video from the test, dated October 25, 1962, shows a mysterious “white orb” circling a missile as it soared through the sky. The missile, fitted with what was described as “an X-ray machine in the nosecone” designed to neutralize incoming enemy nuclear missiles, inadvertently emitted a burst of radiation that appeared to disable the orb. “The X-rays knocked it out of the sky. The US Navy retrieved the orb out of the ocean,” Pippa recounted.

Harald Malmgren explained that this was not an isolated event. “We called them ‘tagalongs’,” he stated, referring to other orbs that had been observed trailing US missiles on previous tests. His role as the official in charge of the missile testing program’s budget placed him at the center of these top-secret briefings, which were conducted under the highest levels of security.

JFK advisor reveals US Navy secretly shot and retrieved 'orb' UFO during 1962 missile test https://t.co/2uGi5nCmlc

— Zicutake USA Comment (@Zicutake) March 24, 2025

Malmgren’s disclosures have reignited interest in Cold War-era UFO encounters. In a tweet from his final months, he alluded to being “informally briefed on ‘otherworld technologies’ by CIA’s Richard Bissell,” a former deputy director involved in clandestine operations at facilities such as Skunkworks and Los Alamos. “I swore secrecy to him, not under any law,” he noted, hinting at the sensitive nature of the information he was privy to.

Pippa Malmgren further claimed that the incident played a role in shaping President Kennedy’s approach during the Cuban Missile Crisis. “The reason JFK reached out to Khrushchev and commenced arms limitation talks was because he was made aware that UAPs were appearing and even being brought down in anti-ballistic missile tests,” she wrote. “We learned that these strange craft were susceptible to X-rays. That was another reason we were testing X-rays at high latitudes.”

While the US government has long maintained that UFO sightings are misidentifications or natural phenomena, the revelation of an actual retrieval operation adds a new dimension to the narrative of Cold War secrecy. Independent researchers have noted that declassified records and archived footage hint at unusual events during this era, though no official acknowledgment has ever been made.

For now, the story of the “orb” remains a fascinating footnote in history—a glimpse into a time when the boundaries of known technology and the possibility of extraterrestrial encounters seemed perilously intertwined with the fate of global politics.

Further details remain under wraps as officials continue to review declassified documents from that period. Historians and UFO researchers alike are calling for a thorough investigation into the incident, arguing that it may hold significant insights into both Cold War defense strategies and the enduring mystery of unidentified aerial phenomena.