I recently picked up this patch on eBay. It represents the Foreign Technology Division of NASIC:
The National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) is the source of air and space intelligence for the Department of Defense (DoD) and produces integrated, predictive air, space and specialized intelligence to enable military operations, force modernization and policymaking. NASIC is a global intelligence enterprise which fulfills the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s warfighter, aids in shaping national and defense policy and guides the development of future weapons systems. NASIC products and services play a key role in ensuring that United States forces avoid technological surprise and can counter existing and evolving foreign air and space threats.
[…]
After the war ended in Europe, Wright Field’s Colonel Harold E. Watson and a group of handpicked pilots gathered German aircraft from the battlefield and sent or flew them back to Air Materiel Command’s T-2 Intelligence Department at Wright Field and Freeman Field, Indiana for study. Operation Paperclip, a follow-on project, brought over 200 German scientists and technicians to Wright Field to work with their American counterparts. Some of the scientists eventually worked in the Wright Field laboratories. [NASIC is headquartered at Wright Patterson.]
What’s interesting about the patch is the symbology. Here’s the description they give (note that these colors differ from the patch I have, which is in more modern subdued colors that are issued for field use):
Blue and yellow are the Air Force colors. Blue alludes to the sky, the primary theater of Air Force operations. Yellow refers to the sun and the excellence required of Air Force personnel. The globe represents the Center’s support to the Air Force mission of global power-global reach. The Sphinx, a traditional symbol of intelligence, signifies the unit’s intelligence analyses, production and services. The flight symbol denotes the Center’s analyses of future technologies and weapon systems. The compass rose suggests analytic integration of all sources of intelligence in the formation of policies.
I’m mostly curious about the triangle shape I the upper left. NASIC claim it represents “flight,” but I’m unable to find this symbol used on other patches (the heraldry symbology tends to be used consistently). Knowing that this group may have been involved in recovering UAP only makes it more curious. The mysterious “Jonathan Grey” mentioned by Grusch worked at NASIC: https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
submitted by /u/MantisAwakening
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