On May 9, 2001, Dr. Steven Greer of The Disclosure Project paraded a convincing cast of military and government witnesses before cameras at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. And then......nothing. Almost 6 years of non-disclosure about why it never went beyond that single press conference, even though it was the brightest "flash in the pan" the UFO movement had experienced. Almost immediately, Greer set up a corporation dedicated to finding the elusive technology to provide the world's energy needs with "alien technology". He put all his efforts into that, and all we ever got was a video to remember the hope the press conference generated. The hope that, finally, we might get some answers from the government went the way of most alternatives to mainstream thought; it got sold. Even though very little has been done, not withstanding the efforts of Steven Basset and a few others to force government disclosure, something recently, almost out of the ether, seems to have generated that governmental UFO disclosure so important to the credibility of the entire UFO movement. And, interest in UFOs has spread from the generally ignored paranormal and UFO "community" to the mainstream media. Suddenly, the justified fear of ridicule connected with reporting UFO sightings is fading and acceptance by the mainstream is increasing.
Recent Disclosure History The best remembered UFO disclosure event to occur, which remains one of the largest "elephant in the room" in the UFO field, was Project Blue Book in 1969 that was undertaken by the United States Air Force. It was officially discontinued with the Air force citing the reason that UFOs did not present any threat to national security. It should be noted that this was not a denial of existence. We do not need to go back hundreds or thousands of years to find clues to the current interest in UFOs; a decade will suffice. • March 1997 - The Phoenix Lights event garnered the widest international attention of any UFO encounter in modern history in March 13, 1997. Less than two years later, in • January 1999 - Joe Firmage, a Silicon Valley CEO turned UFO evangelist, posted his a 700-page UFO manifesto, "The Truth". • May 2001 - The Disclosure Project National Press Club event mentioned above took place, and Stephen Bassett took up the cause of UFO disclosure in his independent candidacy in the 8th Congressional District of the State of Maryland. • May, 2004 The Mexican Department of Defense released videos of a sighting of multiple UFOs taken by an Air Force Merlín C26A, virtually admitting that UFOs exist. • July, 2004 - Governor of New Mexico and presidential candidate, Bill Richardson, stated, "It would help everyone if the U.S. government disclosed everything it knows." • February, 2005 "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing Is Believing" • May, 2005 - A year after the Mexican Department of Defense released its videos, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) releases all its files on UFO contacts. • September 2005 - Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister, publicly stated, "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head." • April 2006 the Paradigm Clock, which tracks proximity to a formal acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race, was reset to 11:59:45, just 15 seconds to midnight. • November 2006 - A significant sighting took place at O'Hare Airport in Chicago and received worldwide attention and media coverage. • February 2007 The Chilean Army discloses recordings and secret contacts with UFOs before over a thousand attendees at the 10th International UFO Congress. • March 2007 - The French national space agency, CNES, placed 1600 previously classified UFO sighting reports into the public domain on the Internet. • March 2007 - Former Arizona governor, Fife Symington, revealed that he had seen a massive black triangular UFO fly overhead early in the evening of March 17, 1997 - the first Phoenix Lights event. • April 2007 - The proposed "U.N. Decade Of Contact" to establish diplomatic relations with advanced E.T.s petition is well on its way to reaching its goal for submission to the United Nations. Of the 14 major events listed above, which are moving UFO disclosure closer to reality, 11 have occurred in the last 24 months. This indicates that the mainstream is moving rapidly toward an acceptance of the greatest revelation in human history. Or, is that better phrased as a return to the beliefs our ancestors held since the beginning of human history?
The UFO Paradigm Shift There is no record of recent influence in human affairs, by the occupants of UFOs, although there have been reports of high tech tampering with nuclear weapons and possible power interferences during exotic weapons testing. This is, of course, excluding the exotheological concept that the ancient religious writings were inspired by extraterrestrial contact. Most of the UFO contact recorded with the military is because of the mere presence of UFOs, not any aggressive action on their part. Just the fact that they are there seems to make those witnessing them presume they are, somehow, interfering with human activity. So, how did the concept originate that these incredible flying vehicles seen throughout the history of mankind were "evil aliens from outer space"? The telescope was not introduced to astronomy until 1609 by the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, but six of the nine planets are easily seen by the unaided human eye. This means that humankind has been looking at these objects, whether they understood what they were or not, since first gazing into the sky, and Earth was not even generally known to be a planet until the 17th century. Up until that time, it was believed all the known planets orbited the Earth. Before Galileo invented his telescope, the planets of the Solar System were not recognized as potential locations or worlds, they were only lights that moved differently from stars. The shift of concepts from gods commanding UFOs to visitors from other planets had its origin in two events: First, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory and an esteemed Italian astronomer, saw Mars in a whole new light through his telescope in 1877. He created the first "modern" map of Mars, on which he showed a system of what he called “canali”. Although canali in Italian means "channel“ or “gully”, without the implication of being an artificial feature, when his work was translated into English, the word “canali” was incorrectly rendered as canal. This mistakenly implied something made, rather than natural, and was immediately taken to mean that Schiaparelli had discovered evidence of intelligent life on Mars. Then, only 21 years later, the War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells in 1898, which described an invasion of England by aliens from Mars, was published. It was an instant hit in its day, and had a repeat impact 40 years later when Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theatre as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938, which caused panic throughout the United States. Combined with Schiaparelli's falsely labeled "Canals on Mars" hitting the public just two decades before, the die was cast. From that point forward, up to the present day, UFOs, have been connected with life from other planets. If we presume that recorded history goes back 12 to 14 thousand years, mankind thought they were gods for 13,900 years, and aliens from other worlds only a little over 100 years. We have no more proof that there is life on other planets than we did 14,000 years ago, yet, UFOs are thought by almost everybody to be from other worlds. This is a very strong point to consider when determining who is piloting them and what they actually are.
When Disclosure Happens Little thought is ever given to what will happen, how the world’s major institutions will react when the world becomes aware of the definite presence of UFOs, beyond the possible threat they may pose to humanity. Completely absent from the debate is any possible benefit this may bring to the world, even though there is no evidence they intend any harm. The reality is not the danger they pose directly to mankind, but the indirect negative effect such a presence would have on earthly institutions, especially the bottom-line, whether that line refers to wealth or power. Our history shows that society has been rapidly brought under the subtle control of the forces that have been able to gain the wealth and the power that affluence brings. Gerald Loeb, a founder of E.F. Hutton, once stated "The desire for gold is the most universal and deeply rooted commercial instinct of the human race." In our modern society pursuit of wealth and power is conditioned into our thinking from the cradle to the grave. Those forces, now seen in the form of global corporations, control almost every aspect of our lives, from the moment we are born in a hospital managed by a medical corporation, to the grave, which is controlled by the powerful funeral industry. Our history, social values, morals, scruples, and everything of real value to life are neatly tucked into a few minor lessons learned in the primary years of education. Everything else we are taught is focused on our predetermined future role as servants or consumers of capitalism. Lost in the mix is any sense of our place in the universe, our destiny. We are taught that life consists of three main activities, work, consumption, and death. Any exposure to extraterrestrial life comes in the form of entertainment or cheap tabloid news, which we are charged for, and is never taken seriously.
The Shock of UFO Disclosure No event in the history of civilization will have more of a shocking impact on society than the realization that we are not the master race in the universe, and that we have been, and are now, being visited by a superior intelligent life form. Life, as we know it, will change forever and all the things that were important the second before that realization happens will take a back seat to this new understanding. The mainstream media will be focused entirely on this new paradigm, government will be scrambling for answers, the military will go on high alert, science will be turned upside down, religion will be circling the wagons around the collection plates, and big business will be pondering the profit potential. The major institutions of our society will be huddled in contemplation about how to react and what their future will hold in the face of this sudden change in human perception. What the powers controlling the world will do is anybody's guess, but we can be certain that self-interest will be the priority. Protecting the wealth and power each institution holds will dominate any consideration and the interests of the masses will not be part of any response. There will be no need for any action on the part of the visitors; just their presence will be enough to deem them a threat. Those who have been warning of an “alien invasion” or satanic deception will be shouting form the rooftops and warning of the impending doom about to fall on humanity. The current “human” terrorist threat will become the “alien” threat as predicted by eminent scientist, Werner Von Braun, and all energies will be focused in that direction. We must consider the immediate impact either a high presence of UFOs in our skies, or the open admission by government or the media of that presence, would have on the major social institutions. In other words, proof, which the world will accept that UFOs exist. The ramifications of such a revelation would have no rivals in human history and, therefore, any concepts about this are purely speculative, so, the rare values of logic and common sense must be applied. In the second part of this article we will look at the possible motivations for, and reactions to a UFO disclosure, when the government, the military, science, education, religion, and other social institutions are faced with this amazing reality.
The Government The worlds' governments, which will be the first to respond, can hardly be viewed as independent entities, but controlled by the nature of who, or what, power has the greatest influence over them at any given time. History and current reality testify that this will not be the people the governments claim to serve. Whether it is big business, the military, religion, or whatever entity at the helm of any particular government, those truly in control will determine the reaction. The theory that our government has developed, or is in the process of forming relationships with alien visitors is interesting, but has a very serious drawback. Michio Kaku, a professor in the field of theoretical physics, has proposed an interesting perspective about the way we view extraterrestrial visitors. He questioned the common view that these visitors may be thousands of years more advanced than humanity, and put forth the concept that we should be thinking in terms of millions of years more advanced. With this in mind, and even allowing that they might be from other worlds, they would surely know that we are destroying the very environment we inhabit and causing great harm to the majority of the less fortunate on Earth. They can hardly miss the thousand of space weapons, warplanes, bomb tests, wars in progress, the web of military bases worldwide, and the thousands suffering and dying every day from our war. Just to get to the planet they would pass through a virtual cloud of satellites and space junk shrouding the globe. Those satellites are sending and receiving massive quantities of information, including all radio, television, and other communication streams. How could they ignore the fact that billions live in stark poverty, while the few live in luxury? All they need do is to listen to what has occurred in our past, and what is currently happening, to get a good idea of what kind of intelligence controls this planet. We may think they are evil, they will certainly know that we are. And, by listening, they would learn that we are a warlike, aggressive, self-serving, crime-ridden, self-destructive, territorial, selfish, and an extremely greedy race. They would know that scandal, violence, deceit, murder, confrontation, and avarice not only infest the planet, but that these undesirable characteristics are, actually, staples of our entertainment. They would, also, find that the leaders of the peoples of Earth are fiercely protective of their own territory and possessions and, they would be shocked and distressed that most of the scientists and brilliant minds are engaged in the two most destructive pursuits on the planet, war and the chemical industry. Any consideration that they are just as deceitful, have a relation of convenience with human governments, and plan to take over the planet, also, has a great hurdle of logic to surmount, before it would make any sense. Ignoring the rest of the historical sightings record, it would be safe to state that they have had a clear presence since the end of World War II. If, invasion and control was their goal, they would not have waited several decades, while we advanced in leaps and bounds, militarily and technologically, while becoming more dangerous and destructive to initiate such a plan. There can be little doubt that if an extraterrestrial race were to have any relations with human government, they would either be completely naïve, or just plain stupid. The concept that this could be "intelligent" life from another planet makes little sense when reality enters the equation.
The Military Power is the prime directive, which guides the military establishment, and the main thing that a UFO disclosure will most threaten. All military forces will be "outgunned" and perceptively weak in every area, from weapons to technology, and will blindly follow the commands of the governments controlling them. Aggression against a far-superior force will, of course, defy logic, but will probably be the tactic they follow. Here we must try to determine how the occupants of UFOs will respond to "demands" and acts of aggression from a weaker entity. If history is any example, the military may be saved from any greater harm than is necessary. Despite uncounted numbers of encounters between the military and UFOs, there is no evidence that they have ever retaliated. Any race of beings with, even a modicum of tactical understanding would know that the easiest way to neutralize the power of the military, in this technological age, would be to disrupt the electronics. They would certainly realize that disabling the computers and technology that seem to control everything, military or otherwise would instantly leave us completely vulnerable. Take out the satellites, disrupt the communications, and crash the computers and the air forces would be grounded, the navies would be powerless, and the armies would be back to rifles and hand to hand combat, instantly. Just the presence of UFOs, as reported by witnesses, disturbs all things technological. We would literally be suddenly thrown back to the “Dark Age”. There is a prediction about a unified world force resisting the takeover of the planet by an overwhelming power, not of earthly origin, in the most widely published book in history, the Bible. Ironically, this battle, which takes place in a valley called Armageddon, and which did not occur in ancient times, describes only massive ground forces and horses, not sophisticated weaponry. Whether it is a divine, or an advanced alien power, the military probably will not, and can not, play a major role in defending the planet. The military would not be thrilled by a power that would effectively make it look weak by comparison, and with such overwhelming strength and highly advanced power running the show, the military would be rendered useless.
Big Business The true power behind the throne, global corporations, which are controlled by the world's rich and powerful elite, will be the institution to watch. If, as the ancient writings predict, our flying visitors decide mankind is not capable of controlling it's affairs, without destroying itself and threatening the rest of the universe, big business will find its power in extreme danger. Surely, the record written and controlled by the drive for profit, will serve as testimony for its complete overhaul and the elimination of greed-driven profit standards. Any threats to the chokehold global corporations have over almost every aspect of life will be intolerable and met with the swiftest of resistance. It is unlikely that, for all their money and power, they will be able to buy or deal their way out of it, and, they have nothing else. Big business will not lay out the welcome mat for a power that could end its dictatorial role over the world and eliminate the concept of the corporation altogether.
Science Science will have a lot to answer for when UFO disclosure becomes a mainstream reality. They are the ones with eyes out in space, the sophisticated technology, and they are the ones, who would and should, know about UFOs, yet they have consistently debunked and denied their existence. And, if a far superior intelligence appears on the scene, all their grandiose theories and suppositions will suddenly become unimportant. In fact, that very concept may be the reason they have denied the existence of UFOs with such fervor. In 1961, NASA commissioned the most influential think tank in the country, the Brookings Institute, to study the impact of revealing the existence of extraterrestrial life to the public. The following excerpt from the report titled "Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs", done by Brookings, shows why science could be severely damaged by such a revelation. On page 225 of that report we find this warning: “It has been speculated that of all groups, scientists and engineers might be the most devastated by the discovery of relatively superior creatures since these professions are most clearly associated with the mastery of nature rather than the understanding and expression of man. Advanced understanding of nature might soon vitiate, (corrupt), all our theories at the very least.” Considering that science, in its infinite wisdom, has gone so far, as to deceive mankind about the presence of UFOs, it is easy to see why it would not be all warm and fuzzy over accepting UFOs.
Education One of the saddest aspects of the UFO cover-up is the loss to mankind of the wonders of history. Gone from mainstream thought are the flying gods of the ancient world, who had a constant relationship with our ancestors. These are the same gods, who may have constructed the great megaliths of the world, and left traces of a technology mankind has not been able to rival in thousands of years of advancement. And, the gods who taught the world that love for one another and respect for the natural world was the only way to have peace among nations and true progress in human affairs. Instead, we are left with myriads of contradictions, benign theories, and a host of unanswered questions. Education has left voids in our history and great gaps in our understanding about our true origin and purpose in the universe. Not even the hint of an extraterrestrial presence can be found in academia and, what may be truth, is often presented as myth. No doubt, education will drastically change, and everything that was taught will have to be modified. It is hard to determine how academia will respond to a UFO disclosure, but it will certainly shake the world of education to its very foundations
Religion The beings of the Bible, called God, possess and use an advanced technology that allows them to fly in vehicles, which are described by the biblical witnesses as strikingly similar to UFOs. This technology extends far beyond flight. The church has chosen to ignore the evidence that supports this, in spite of hundreds of biblical verses proving it. Not only the obvious exclusion of this reality, but also the characterization of demonic association by the more zealous, gives rise to the evidence of a conspiracy of ignorance either in place, or in the making. The gulf religion has placed between mankind and its gods has no room for a superior intelligence. There is no reason to believe that it will re-examine its writings and find what may the true nature of UFOs, and will probably declare them ungodly. The very fact that the Bible, which the Christian Church claims as its foundation, clearly states that Jesus will come from the sky and is rejected by the world, seems to indicate that the Church will not be overjoyed by the prospect of UFOs.
Archeology and History The archeological field is in possession of direct evidence of advanced technology and beings in the remnants of ancient cultures. They don’t declare it as evil, just unknown. The fact that these objects could not possibly have been made by the culture they represent goes unmentioned. This reality is mirrored in many of the world’s ancient writings. The field of anthropology is silent on the written evidence, veiling it myth and legend. Our history is incomplete without a clear understanding that our ancestors were in direct contact with a race of advanced beings. Our remnants of the past are mislabeled and improperly associated to satisfy certain antiquated theories of our past. And, there is no other branch in the recognized orthodox scientific community that even admits there is anything strange going on in our skies. We cannot prove that they are withholding information intentionally, but that does not change the fact that they are withholding it. Neither archeologists, nor historians, are likely to welcome a UFO disclosure.
The Media Perhaps the most difficult of all social institutions to assess, concerning a UFO disclosure, would be the media. It will respond to the mood of people, the mandates of the government, and the concerns of all the rest, especially their sponsors, in an unpredictable way. Logic and reality have no effect on ratings, and they will gravitate toward the point of least resistance. Unfortunately, the media is where people will turn for answers and those answers will have little to do with reality and everything to do with editorial whim. And, considering the mainstream media outlets are owned and controlled by major corporations, the way those corporations react will probably determine how the media reacts.
In Conclusion The media has also formed the mainstream perception of UFOs and unearthly visitors through books, television series, documentaries, the print media, and movies. Just a simple assessment of the way this has been portrayed in the best known movies involving "alien" visitors shows what that perception is. Here is a list: Alien, The Andromeda Strain, The Arrival, The Blob, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cocoon, The Colony, Contact, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Deep Star Six, Dreamcatcher, E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Fifth Element, Fire in the Sky, Forbidden Planet, I Married a Monster From Outer Space, Independence Day, Interceptor Force, Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invasion, It Came From Outer Space, Lifeforce, Mars Attacks!, The Martian Chronicles, Men in Black, Not of This Earth, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Predator, Signs, Species, Starship Troopers, They Are Among Us, They Live, The Thing, The War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide, The X-Files - Fight the Future, and Xtro. Of the 40 movies listed, (over 50 with sequels included), about 90% portray "alien" visitors as a threat to humanity, either bent on the destruction of the planet or its most intelligent two-legged inhabitants. In other words, it is an extremely negative view. And, the portrayal of UFOs and their occupants in other forms of media is just as negative. Added to this discouraging reality the fact that the major institutions of government, the military, big business, science, education, religion, archeology, history, and the media don't seem to have any logical reason to portray UFOs as beneficial to the human race, and we have a very serious problem that many in the UFO community have not considered. And, also in the equation, are those within the UFO community, who have already, unjustifiably, declared UFOs and their occupants a danger to humanity or a satanic deception. One would be hard pressed to find any in society who would not be, at least, highly suspicious of the agenda of the UFO, which is the result of over a century of negative conditioning. There will be a UFO disclosure and it is probably very close to happening, but it would seem that rolling out the red carpet, an extension of welcome and friendship, and an invitation to the United Nations may not be the results of such an event. The code will probably be red, not the carpet, anxiety and fear will be the most likely attitude, and the United Nations will not meet to welcome the visitors, but to call an emergency session to deal with this newly perceived threat to humanity. E.T, will not ask to "phone home", but will be told to "go home". What happens after that will probably be stranger than any science fiction movie could ever portray. If, as the ancient writings, such as the Bible, describe how this will all play out is true, it will be the most disastrous period in the human experience, due primarily to the approach and attitude outlined in this writing. Our only hope is that this attitude is wrong, and that the "aliens" do have mankind's interest as their agenda. If they are not here to help us, but actually to destroy us, they would only be speeding up a process already set in motion. If global warming doesn't destroy the planet and every living thing on it, we have nuclear weapons, depleted uranium, chemicals, pandemics, pollution, or any number of manmade threats that will eventually wipe out all life on Earth. They have been here as long as we have, or at least as long as we have been able to record their presence. We are now in a time of great peril, and any logical consideration of world conditions reveals that only a miracle can save us now. We may not like it, and fight against it with every ounce of energy we can muster, but, what might seem like an invading force, may actually be the universal cavalry coming to save us from our own self destruction. UFO disclosure may eventually reveal much more than we ever imagined.
*The Real Story of the FBI UFO "X-Files*
Antonio Huneeus | Apr 13, 2011 | 0 comments [Note: portions of this article was published first in the Japanese Borderland magazine and later in my “UFO Chronicle” column in Fate.]
The adventures of special agents Mulder and Scully in the TV series “The X Files” achieved phenomenal success worldwide with its episodes full of aliens and dark government conspiracies. Although the series is obviously fiction, there are probably many viewers who believe by now that the famous Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is involved in some kind of UFO research. Back in 1993, when the show was gaining popularity in North America, I was contacted by the Sci-Fi Channel (a national cable TV network devoted to science-fiction). Their news program “Inside Space” was looking for real, authentic FBI documents on UFOs for a segment on “The X Files” and they were somehow referred to me. Yes, I said, I have a bundle of UFO documents from the FBI released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I added the great majority were generated in the early stages of the modern UFO era–1947 to mid-1950’s. A few documents were shown in the program, where I explained that the FBI normally does not investigate UFOs and other paranormal events unless there is a perception of a crime.
The FBI was created in the 1920’s by J. Edgar Hoover to fight criminal acts like kidnapping and bank robbery across inter-state lines; in time Hoover amassed immense power (he served under seven presidents until his death in 1972) adding counter-espionage and terrorism to its duties. For a brief period between July 30 and October 1 of 1947, the Bureau assisted the Army Air Force (later USAF) officially in their incipient investigation of UFO sightings, then known as flying saucers or flying discs. (The USAF coined the acronym UFO around 1950.)
The modern UFO era began over 50 years ago on a sunny afternoon on June 24, 1947. Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and businessman from Boise, Idaho, was flying a single-engine Callair airplane on the Cascade Mountains in Washington, searching for a crashed military transport plane around Mount Rainier. He observed a formation of nine silvery objects crossing the sky between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams at high speed. He described some of the objects as “flat like a pie pan and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror.” Arnold’s most memorable phrase was his remark to a journalist in Pendleton, Oregon. “They flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water,” said Arnold. The journalist called it a “flying saucer” and the word was soon all over the news headlines.
Kenneth Arnold (1915-1985) was a prominent citizen with a solid reputation in his community, as was soon discovered by agent Frank Brown of the Counter-Intelligence Corps. Arnold entered politics later in his career, running for Lt. Governor of Idaho for the Republican party in 1962. Arnold became also associated with science-fiction publisher Ray Palmer, writing with him the classic book, The Coming of the Saucers. In 1948, Palmer launched a new paranormal magazine called Fate with a cover story by Arnold himself. Although Palmer died many years ago and the magazine changed ownership, Fate still exists and for some years I was its UFO columnist and Consulting Editor.
The Arnold case was followed by a wave of sightings across North America and afterwards in other countries too. They included the now famous Roswell affair in New Mexico in early July, which was quickly and successfully debunked as a weather balloon; a few photographs; a number of hoaxes but also many sightings by pilots, military officers and professionals. The air force was overwhelmed and on July 9, 1947, General George Schulgen asked an FBI official for help. Assistant Director Ladd was opposed to the idea, but he was over-ruled by Hoover, who in a July 15 memo scribbled by hand, “I would do it [help the air force] but before agreeing to it we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the La. case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.”
Is this “blue gem”–as Hoover’s handwritten notes in FBI memos were later called–proof of the Roswell crash? Some ufologists have made the point, but others disagree. The word ‘La.’, where the Army supposedly “grabbed” a disc, makes no sense in the New Mexico context. However, La. is an abbreviation of Louisiana and, on July 7, a 16-inch aluminum disc with smoke coming out of it was found in Shreveport, La. It was a crude hoax but it was taken by the army. In any case Hoover was not a man to cross, so Gen. Schulgen assured the FBI in a new meeting that he would give instructions to field commanders “that all cooperation be furnished to the FBI and that all discs recovered be made available for examination by the FBI agents.”
Hoover gave the green light and an investigation authorization was published July 30 on the Bureau Bulletin Nº 42: “You should investigate each instance which is brought to your attention of a sighting of a flying disc in order to ascertain whether or not is a bona fide sighting, an imaginary one or a prank… The Bureau should be notified by teletype of all reported sightings and the results of your inquiries…” The FBI thus entered the UFO arena and began collecting all kinds of reports. The first batch of declassified FBI files–over 500 pages of documents–was obtained under the FOIA in 1977 by Dr. Bruce Maccabee. According to him, 40% are duplication of poor cases from air force files with many hoaxes, but “roughly 40% are teletype reports and transcripts concerning reasonably to very good UFO reports,” wrote Maccabee. The remaining 20% are FBI internal memoranda towards the UFO investigation, which shed additional light on the air force’s policies and attitudes. Dr. Maccabee has updated his earlier work in his book “The UFO/FBI Connection” (llewellyn Publishing).
An interesting memo from this period shows the discovery by the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Portland, Oregon, of a witness who saw a formation in the Cascade Mts. on the afternoon of June 24, 1947–exactly the same date of Arnold’s sighting! The Sept. 17, 1947 memo to Director Hoover is titled, “SUBJECT: REPORTS OF FLYING DISCS – SECURITY MATTER – X.” The X Files! Yet we must clarify the ‘X’ here is not related to alien activities, as in the fictional TV series, but to sensitive counter-intelligence. This was the beginning of the Cold War and Hoover was famous for his aversion of communist infiltration. The FBI saw “reds” everywhere and the Bureau amassed files on prominent writers, artists, jazz musicians, scientists like Einstein, pacifists, etc. So it’s not surprising many UFO memos are under the heading of “security matter-X,” “internal security” and “sabotage.”
UFO Memo from 1947 - credit: FBI
Back to the Portland memo, the SAC located a prospector who was that afternoon at a spot 5,000 feet above sea level in the Cascades. “He noticed a reflection, looked up, and saw a disc proceeding in a southeasterly direction,” wrote the FBI agent, adding the prospector observed one disc with telescope and later noticed five more. “He said the object was about thirty feet in diameter and appeared to have a tail. It made no noise.” The prospector was also carrying a combination compass and watch. “He noted particularly,” added the agent, “that immediately before the sighted disc the compass acted very peculiar, the hand waving from one side to the other, but that this condition corrected itself immediately after the disc passed out of sight.” The SAC finally added the “informant appeared to be a very reliable individual.”
The era of Air Force-FBI harmony, however, collapsed when the Bureau discovered a letter from Col. R. H. Smith of the Air Defense Command. It stated in part that, “the services of the FBI were enlisted in order to relieve the numbered Air Force of the task of tracking down all the many instances which turned out to be ash can covers, toilet seats and what not.” In other words, the military would go after the good cases and the Bureau was stuck with the garbage.
Director Hoover was not amused and he immediately pulled the plug. He wrote a letter to Major General George McDonald at the Pentagon on Sept. 27th, quoting the “toilet seat” paragraph from Col. Smith. “In view of the apparent understanding by the Air Force,” wrote Hoover, “I cannot permit the personnel and time of this organization to be dissipated in this manner. I am advising the Field Divisions… to discontinue all investigative activity regarding the reported sightings of flying discs.” The new instructions were duly published in the Bureau Bulletin Nº 57 of Oct. 1, 1947. Another reason the FBI was losing interest is that they didn’t find evidence of communist subversion in the saucers. A memo by Assistant Director Ladd noted: “The results of the investigation conducted by the Bureau Field Offices in this matter have failed to reveal any indications of subversive individuals being involved in any of the reported sightings.” Few UFO documents were collected by the Bureau in 1948 but by 1949 the situation began to change. Although the FBI was never again officially involved, as in the brief July-Oct. 1947 period, it continued to monitor certain UFO sightings and personalities (some contactees and researchers) until the mid-1960’s.
Many of these cases fell under the Bureau’s “Protection of Vital Installations” mandate to ward off potential spies and saboteurs. When UFOs were reported at top secret facilities like the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico or the Oak Ridge nuclear complex in Tennessee, the Bureau conducted background checks on witnesses to determine the danger of subversion or propaganda. None was found, but the authorities seemed worried. Beginning in 1948 and continuing until 1952, a sky phenomenon known as “green fireballs” was reported throughout the American southwest.
Not just anywhere, but by scientists, security guards and technical personnel at sensitive facilities like Los Alamos, White Sands and Sandia Base in New Mexico, and Fort Bliss in Texas. The subject was so highly considered that a total of 18 pages are devoted to it in the proceedings of the “top secret” Conference of “The Scientific Advisory Board to the Chief of Staff, USAF,” held at the Pentagon on Nov. 3, 1949. The prominent astrophysicist Dr. Theodore von Karman, founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the Chairman, and Prof. Joseph Kaplan the scientist who briefed on the “green fireballs.” A Conference of scientists attended by Dr. Edward Teller, among others, was also held in Los Alamos in Feb. 1949. Eventually, the Cambridge Research Laboratory set up for the USAF Project Twinkle, a system of tracking cameras to record the fireballs. Twinkle, however, was a failure and the phenomenon was never properly explained.
In 1950, the Bureau was busy again with a UFO flap at the Oak Ridge atomic plant in Tennessee. A Bureau log shows a total of 16 unidentified radar targets and visual observations by Atomic Energy Commission security patrols and other witnesses at Oak Ridge. Fighter aircraft were scrambled, witness depositions taken and scientific experts consulted, but in the end no “adequate explanation” was found. Similar incidents occurred also in 1950 at the Hanford AEC Plant in Washington state, and the Savannah River plant in South Carolina in 1952. UFOs were seen but no evidence of subversion was found.
The Bureau also kept dossiers on some UFO personalities, again looking for a subversive angle. I have memos on the Hollywood society columnist and left-wing politician Frank Scully, author of the first UFO book, Behind the Flying Saucers, published in 1950; and on the noted ufologist and author Major Donald Keyhoe, founder of the now-defunct but once influential UFO group NICAP. A 1958 FBI memo indicated “Keyhoe has been known to the Bureau since 1935” (Keyhoe was an aviation writer who became interested in UFOs in 1949) and that Hoover had ordered in 1951 that, “we should not get involved with him.” One of the early UFO figures which preoccupied the Bureau in the 1950’s was the famous contactee George Adamski. I have over 50 pages of declassified FBI memos on Adamski. They mostly deal with meetings and complaints that started on March 17, 1953, when FBI and USAF agents visited Adamski at his house in Palomar Gardens, California. He was given a statement to sign, which he did, saying that neither the USAF nor the FBI “have approved material used in my speeches.” However, Adamski turned the tables later, using that meeting and waiving the document as proof of US Government interest in his contacts with the “space brothers.” This bothered the Bureau greatly, so in December 1953 Adamski was visited again by two FBI agents and one agent from the USAF Office of Special Investigations (OSI).
According to a Telex from the FBI office in San Diego, “Adamski was emphatically admonished that he was immediately to cease and desist in referring to the FBI or OSI as having given him approval to speak on flying saucers… Adamski was advised legal action would be taken against him if he persisted in inferring or making these statements.” Yet other documents from 1956 show that Adamski continued to make similar statements. Another reason the Bureau kept an eye on Adamski and other contactees was their anti-nuclear philosophy which, they claimed, was given by the “space brothers.” Opposition to nuclear weapons was considered back then potentially subversive, so when a small UFO group sponsored lectures by Adamski in Detroit in 1954, the local SAC opened a file marked, “Detroit Flying Saucer Club, Espionage – X.” Hoover was not impressed and ordered the SAC to stop obtaining “from captioned club or its members, material concerning flying saucers.”
We could go on citing more scattered UFO documents from the 1960’s and beyond, although there are very few. The Bureau was losing interest in the subject, public attitudes about the Cold War were changing and, finally, UFO watching or research was and is not a crime.
You can now download and read documents released by the FBI Records: The Vault. Inspired no doubt by the TV show, the Bureau has posted its real files under the general category of “Unexplained Phenomenon” divided in the sub-categories “Animal Mutilation,” “Majestic 12,” “Project Blue Book,” “Roswell,” “Guy Hottel,” “NICAP,” “Extra-Sensory Perception,” and “UFO.” The Roswell file contains only one page, the famous July 8, 1947 FBI telex from Dallas referring to an object resembling a “weather balloon with a radar reflector” being flown to Wright Field, Ohio
Roswell FBI File (click to view full document) credit: FBI
The infamous, Roswell-related “Majestic 12” or MJ-12 documents (22 pages) fare even worse. The capsule description notes “this file relates to an FBI inquiry into the possible unauthorized disclosure of classified information when a document marked ‘Top Secret’ was made public. This investigation was closed after it was learned that the document was completely bogus.” The UFO sub-category, on the other hand, is huge (1600 pages), consisting of all the historical stuff discussed in this column. Check the documents by yourself. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader (also freely available on the net) to download the documents.
The latest news about John F. Kennedy's assassination is that it was because he was going to publicly admit that UFOs and space aliens existed.
News item April 18, 2011: JFK was interested in UFOs before his assassination. There was an allegation that he might have riled his administration officials when he asked for information about them. The FBI created a new website, The Vault, that allows the public to see UFO documents. While history teacher William Lester was doing research for his book, A Celebration of Freedom: JFK and the New Frontier, he used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain previously classified documents.
Lester Finds JFK-UFO Connection Documents The author discovered two memos, written by JFK on the same date, November 12, 1963, ten days before his assassination. One was to CIA director Richard Helms, asking for UFO files. The other was to NASA administrator James E. Webb, in which JFK expressed a desire for cooperation with the, then, USSR for mutual outer space pursuits.
Lester said one of JFK’s issues was that many UFOs were sighted over the USSR and he was concerned that the Soviets might misinterpret them as US aggression, believing that it was some of US technology and thinks JFK wanted to remove UFO files from NASA’s control.
JFK-UFO Connection: MJ-12 Documents Lester reprinted a 1961 letter written by rocket scientist and scientific adviser to JFK, Maxwell W. Hunter from the National Aeronautics and Space Council to Robert F. Packard from the Office of International Scientific Affairs, in his book. The memo was about the top-secret MJ-12 review describing an assessment of the UFO situation. This referred to a top-secret unit of military officials and scientists, said to be appointed by President Truman in 1947, to monitor aliens after a reported UFO crash near Roswell New Mexico. Finally, Roswell UFO Incident Information was Released Years After the Event.
In 1984, UFOlogist Jaime Shandera received an envelope that contained a roll of film that was developed into a 1952 document, apparently created for President Eisenhower about MJ 12. When these documents were made public about three years later, skeptics branded them “counterfeit.”
JFK with members of the MJ12 Group
Robert Wood PhD Researches JFK- UFO Connection The physicist led a McDonnell Douglas team to study UFOs and the MJ-12 documents in the 1960s. He hired respected UFOlogist Stanton Friedman, the Nuclear Physicist who Said US Government Covered Up UFO Incidents, to help. They delved into reports. Their report wasn’t submitted to the government because it was a company project.
During the 1990s, Wood got a series of MJ-12 documents, including the burned memo, thought to have been written in the early 1960s, that was, allegedly, saved from being burned to hide important UFO information, including parts that referred to JFK. The memo references Lancer, JFK’s Secret Service code name. The first page of the memo, reportedly written by Helms, said that Lancer asked questions about their operations, which they couldn’t allow.
Wood’s Conclusions about the JFK-UFO Connection He thinks the most important set of documents are the ones that show that the US started the program in 1942, after recovering the first spacecraft in 1941, a few days after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Wood thinks the second most important one, is the burned memo.
The third most important documents were the ones that evidence what the US was doing about UFOs in the 1950s. The program wasn’t under the President’s control and when he was about to make it public, he was assassinated. Lester agrees with Wood’s evaluation.
Professor Lawrence Merrick: JFK-UFO Connection Led to his Assassination The JFK researcher and author of Killing the Messenger: The Death of JFK believes that JFK was going to announce that there was US and space alien contact and he was killed by people in the US government before he would make his speech. Merrick said he began to search for the speech after learning that Texas Governor John Connally, who was riding in JFK's car that day in Dallas, had the President's original handwritten notes. He put the speech’s index cards in a safety deposit box with orders to a trusted aide that the contents not be revealed until after his death. When Connally died in 1993, the aide took the cards. Merrick found the aide, who gave the cards to him and was granted anonymity. Merrick took them to five handwriting analysts, who said the speech was 95% positive to have been written by Kennedy.
Research revealed that days before his trek to Dallas, JFK met with President Eisenhower. Merrick believes the meeting was about JFK’s intent to tell the public that UFOs and space aliens were real and the Roswell incident happened.
Helms’ Part in the JFK-UFO Connection Thomas Powers, one of Helms’ biographers, called the former CIA Director a "gentlemanly planner of assassinations." In his book, The Man Who Kept the Secrets, he wrote that, in 1962, JFK wanted to assassinate Fidel Castro. Helms asked his friend, gun toting operative William Harvey, who recruited some of his Mafia friends to help kill Fidel Castro. They were unsuccessful.
In 1963, Helms contacted the dissatisfied former revolution hero Rolando Cubela, CIA name, AMLASH. At the moment that JFK was shot, one of Helms' agents was delivering a poisoned pen to Cubela in Paris.
Helms put respected senior staffer John Whitten in charge of reviewing all CIA files about Oswald, JFK’s alleged assassin. Whitten was outraged that Helms hadn’t divulged the Cubela plan to members of the Warren Commission, the panel that probed Kennedy's death.
Is the JFK-UFO Connection Genuine? Are the link and MJ-12 documents real or bogus? Many mysteries surround JFK’s assassination. There are documents that won’t be released until after Caroline Kennedy’s death. The public didn’t believe the findings of the Warren report when it was released. There were conspiracy theorists who were vociferous about their postulations. The debate about JFK’s assassination will continue. Will we ever know the truth?