00-11-10          0700    Morning routine.  …..

            Andy KERR advised that he had contacted the DND lab on the West coast regarding the analysis of aircraft material for the change in the isotopes in reference to the ‘Black’ weapon theory.  They are willing to do the work at no charge to us.  The method is to strike a small amount of material (less than one square centimetre) with a laser beam.  It vaporizes a small portion of the material, which is then analysed to determine the isotopes present.  This is then compared to another known sample, to be provided as material from the original source, not from this aircraft post crash.  Preferably, samples should be taken from the area of the burn, as a ‘beam’ would cause the fire in the area that it strikes, in theory.  The whole process should take only a short period of time (likely a day).  I advised Andy to send of a message to Insp. LATHEM to advise him of the results and that we would start collecting samples as if we were going to conduct the examinations.

            Later, Andy received a phone call from Insp. LATHEM who advised him to hold off on it until he could contact Vic GERDEN.  He was not as yet authorized to conduct the tests.  This seems rather strange as I was of the impression that GERDEN had asked that we undertake the tests.  Also, time is running out and samples have to be collected.