Roswell Incident -- Randle and Schmitt: The Second Wave of Roswell Research

Roswell Incident -- Randle and Schmitt: The Second Wave of Roswell Research

The Second Generation

Following Stanton Friedman's foundational work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a second wave of Roswell researchers emerged in the late 1980s who significantly expanded the witness interview program and produced the first detailed books by investigators other than Friedman and his collaborators.

Kevin Randle

Field	Detail
Full name	Kevin D. Randle
Military background	Army officer; Vietnam veteran; reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; military intelligence background
Academic background	Multiple degrees; history; psychology
Key Roswell books	"UFO Crash at Roswell" (1991, with Schmitt); "The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell" (1994, with Schmitt); multiple subsequent Roswell books
Current position	Has revisited and revised some early positions; maintains active blog and podcast on UFO research

Donald Schmitt

Donald Schmitt co-authored the early major Roswell books with Randle but became a controversial figure when it was revealed that he had exaggerated his academic credentials -- claiming a Master's degree he did not hold and describing his occupation in ways that misrepresented his actual background. This revelation damaged his credibility and led to a break with Randle.

"UFO Crash at Roswell" (1991)

Randle and Schmitt's first major Roswell book conducted hundreds of new witness interviews and presented the most comprehensive witness account assembled to that point. It introduced or substantially documented:

• The second crash site testimony (particularly from Frank Kaufmann, whose account was later discredited)
• Additional military witnesses
• Medical personnel accounts
• The detailed timeline of the military response

The book was important both for its genuine contributions (extensive witness documentation) and for its weaknesses (over-reliance on Kaufmann and other witnesses whose accounts later collapsed).

Differences with Friedman

Randle and Friedman have had a productive but sometimes contentious relationship over Roswell research. Key points of disagreement:

• The second crash site: Randle initially featured the second-site testimony heavily; Friedman was more skeptical; both eventually concluded that specific witnesses (Kaufmann, Anderson) were unreliable
• The MJ-12 documents: Randle became increasingly skeptical of the MJ-12 documents while Friedman maintained his measured support
• The date of the crash: Randle concluded the crash most likely occurred on July 4-5; Friedman's timeline was somewhat different

Despite these differences, both Randle and Friedman agreed on the fundamental point: the debris Mac Brazel found was not a weather balloon, the military's response was far beyond what a balloon misidentification would warrant, and the official explanations are inadequate.