UFOs: A National Security or Science ETH Issue? Some Historical Analysis

From the get-go (circa 1947), UFOs (initially called 'flying discs' or 'flying saucers') were not viewed as a scientific issue or problem but rather one of national security - after all, unknown aerial objects were being tracked on radar and observed by credible witnesses including pilots and especially military pilots, invading the sovereign airspace of nations. By the time it became obvious UFOs were a scientific problem (as in are they alien spaceships), it was too little, too late for scientists to risk their careers on this topic. It was easier, wiser, and better to give thumbs-down to the UFO ETH (Extraterrestrial Hypothesis)

The Anti UFO ETH might have historical roots because from the get-go (circa 1947), UFOs (initially called 'flying discs' or 'flying saucers') were not viewed as a scientific issue or problem but rather one of national security - after all, unknown aerial objects were being tracked on radar and observed by credible witnesses including pilots and especially military pilots, invading the sovereign airspace of nations, and I do mean nations from around the world, not just the United States. This era was after all part of the beginnings of the Cold War, so unknown aerial objects would naturally be of intense concern to the governments of not only the superpowers but, in the era of this new nuclear weapons age, to all nations.

Further, from the beginning, the ‘flying discs’ were taken as representing a technology, albeit terrestrial technology, probably Russian (unless you were Russian and then it was American technology). This is represented by the fact that although there was never any official conformation; no press releases to the fact, it was still widely reported in the newspaper (press) that the American military was instructed to shoot down any UFOs that refused to land when so directed or which indicated any hostile intend. But, to acknowledge that, well let’s just say you don’t give shoot-to-kill orders against swamp gas, unmanned weather balloons, the planet Venus, temperature inversions, etc. Aerial technology that’s under intelligent control on the other hand you can (in theory) shoot down

Though in the early days of the then termed ‘flying discs’ era, national security was the issue, to avoid overreaction on the part of the public (‘the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!), this being just a few years after the turmoil of WW II, the flying disc issue had to be downplayed. Softly, softly and the less said about the Russians the better – flying discs had to be, in public admissions anyway, hoaxes, hallucinations, misidentifications, anything but the Russians or Chinese (or in Russia and China anything but the Yanks).

Clearly the powers that be had to be ever mindful of the panic that resulted on Halloween Night of 1938 with that radio adaptation of the Martian invasion novel “The War of the Worlds”. The broadcast was just a bit too realistic for comfort in hindsight. The public could be spooked, and back then the Russians or Chinese were just as nasty as any Martians as far as the public were concerned. So, softly, softly!

Ultimately nobody ever really had to worry about the Russians, Chinese or Americans (or any other terrestrial nation for that matter). But that wasn’t immediately apparent.

By the time the flying discs were becoming more obviously a scientific issue as official public and unofficial secret investigations started eliminating terrestrial explanations of the artificial kind (unknown but highly advanced and potentially secret Russian, Chinese, American, etc. aircraft), well, by then the subject was well and truly a part of the military complex and intelligence gathering agencies and not just in the USA, though in the USA one not only had the acknowledged U.S. Air Force flying disc investigation, but also the unacknowledged participation of the NSA (National Security Agency), FBI and CIA (as later Freedom of Information suits uncovered). The scientific community was pretty much left out in the cold. Your average Ivory Tower academics don’t normally hold top secret security clearances nor are they knowledgeable about foreign military technology capabilities.

So by the time it became clear and publicly acknowledged that UFOs weren’t a national security issue, well over two decades had passed, and since by then it was all a non-issue (the only issue that counted being national security), no wonder scientists (with few exceptions) didn’t take up the UFO baton as the military and intelligence organizations bowed out – at least they bowed out publicly, but behind the scenes, well that’s another story. While publicly and officially stating that UFOs have proved to be of no national security concern, prudence dictates you keep a behind-the-scenes; an unofficial eye on developments; on cases, on things – just in case. “Remember Pearl Harbor” - You don’t want to be caught off-guard again!

But the public never did acknowledge the flying discs, or by now termed UFOs were a non-issue – it never wavered in its fascination for UFOs, especially once it became obvious UFOs weren’t secret weapons of a terrestrial foreign power. By process of elimination, if UFOs had nothing to do with a terrestrial source, therefore, an extraterrestrial power must lie at the bottom of things – the UFO ETH was born and matured.

To recap, the UFO ETH only came to the fore when the UFO TH (terrestrial hypothesis) was found wanting by official military and other national security agencies. The scientific community was in the dark since UFOs weren’t associated with being a scientific issue, but the great unwashed did see the issue as a science issue and the UFO ETH obviously rang a responsive chord. Why? Well they (the public) had been preconditioned into accepting the notion that extraterrestrial life was not only possible but here, and here and now.

Extraterrestrials (usually nasty) in novels and short stories and films and TV shows were part and parcel of the culture of the times, often because it was easy for writers and Hollywood to substitute an alien menace for the red menace of communism. The aliens invaded, but that was just a roundabout way of saying the Commies were going to invade if we didn’t ‘watch the skies’. Aliens, as substitutes, were also popular in the pulps before WW II, again as stand-ins for representing nasty foreign powers. Aliens were also used as a whipping boy to make social commentaries. Aliens were well established in the public consciousness. 

So, left out in the cold by the official establishment, scientists hadn’t a real clue about the nature of UFOs any more than the military or public did, but at least the military’s jurisdiction – national security – had been eliminated as a possibility, so they now washed their hands of the problem (or so it seemed). The public however wanted answers; the military couldn’t provide them other than UFOs posed no threat to national security, so the public turned to the scientists for answers. But the scientists were caught on the hop. All they knew apart from the now non-existent national security issue was that there was not only flying discs being identified as just hoaxes, hallucinations, or misidentifications (for public consumption as reassurance that the flying discs weren’t Russian, etc.) but that there was this fringe element towards UFOs – the contactees and flying saucer cults which were loonier than just about anything going.

The scientists weren’t really aware that the cultists and contactees and alleged (for public consumption) hoaxes, hallucinations, and misidentifications were the chaff and the haystack. They didn’t know that there was wheat and a needle to be dealt with. So, the wishes of the great unwashed be damned, scientists weren’t going to dirty their lab coats by entering murky waters dealing with the only UFO residue they knew of – cultists and contactees and hoaxes and misidentifications and hallucinations. So, under pressure, their only possible response was a quick with respect to the UFO ETH “it can’t be therefore it isn’t – now excuse me for I got better things to do that will better enhance my career prospects”.

Scientists of course did have to come up with specific objections to the UFO ETH – The sweeping and generalist “It can’t be therefore it isn’t” wouldn’t sit all that well with the great unwashed. That their anti UFO ETH arguments failed to be convincing is why the UFO ETH debate still rages on, over six decades later.

UFOs: The Observational Reality Supporting Extraterrestrial Visitations: Part Two

The Fermi Paradox postulates that extraterrestrials should be visiting Planet Earth. That’s the theoretical part of the equation. UFOs provide the counterpoint – the observational part of the equation.

First I’d better define exactly what I mean by a UFO. To me, a bona-fide UFO is any UFO that remains a UFO after comprehensive investigation and analysis by qualified experts have failed to identify the object as any known natural or man-made phenomena. The tag ‘unidentified’ means that the conclusion was that it couldn’t have even been a possible or probable natural or man-made phenomena, but what exactly it was remains totally ‘unidentified’ and probably forever unidentifiable. Observational evidence is suggestive that these bona fide UFOs could be extraterrestrial visitations - the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH).

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

Sceptics would argue that the burden of proof that extraterrestrials are behind (at least some of) the UFO phenomena lies with the believers – those who claim such is the case. And that’s true. But there’s another side to that coin. Sceptics need to look at what evidence is presented and not have a mind-in-a-closet attitude.

What’s the general evidence for UFOs? Well, you have multi-tens of thousands of sightings, probably six figures worth by now, many multi-witness sightings, more than a few independent multi-witness sightings; sightings by people used to outdoors aerial phenomena (like pilots), films and photographs that have defied the best experts to explain them in conventional terms, radar returns, physical traces, physiological effects on biological tissues, including humans, often more than one of these categories applies. You have a global phenomena, where countries from Australia, the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, France, Russia, Mexico, etc. have devoted considerable resources to finding answers to what some see as a ‘silly season’ with a high ‘giggle’ factor. That makes little logical sense – the ‘giggle’ factor, not the official investigations. There are neither psychological, sociological or cultural reasons to explain the origin of UFOs in general, nor specific UFO reports. It’s all evidence, and grist for the mill.  The crux of the matter is not lack of evidence; it is how that evidence is interpreted. So take the bona-fide UFO residue.  Now what is this residue and what happens if you apply Occam’s Razor to it? Well, maybe bona-fide UFOs are just ghosts, or angels, or the work of the devil, or some nation’s secret weapons, or craft from an advanced civilization that inhabits our hollow Earth! Or, maybe the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is the most plausible. I think Occam’s Razor would err on the side of the ETH.

There must be something suggestive within the evidence to point in the ETH direction, and nearly from the very beginning of the modern UFO phenomena (June 1947). The idea or association didn’t just pop out of the ether for no reason

The trouble with UFOs is that they won’t stand still! You can’t put them under a microscope, poke and prod them, or study and measure them at your leisure like you can most phenomena. You can’t predict in advance where and when and for how long they will appear. 

Anyone who poo-poos the extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs, “it can’t be therefore it isn’t”, clearly hasn’t actually studied the subject, read the literature, studied official government investigations and reports, done personal field investigations and interviewed witnesses. Out of all the hundreds of thousands of sightings, worldwide, over all these decades, all it takes is one (smoking gun) case to validate the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Is there anyone out there who can say for 100% certainty that at least one case isn’t the real deal?

Now I don’t want anyone to tell me that the University of Colorado UFO investigation on behalf of the USAF, the Condon Report, closed the book on the subject – not unless you have real the entire report and not just the introductory / summary first chapter. There is no similarity between the questions the actual report raises and the conclusions reached and given in that first chapter. Few people have taken the time to separate the wheat from the chaff in the Condon Report. The first chapter is the chaff; the bulk of the report contains the wheat. So, read the entire report – do so, and then talk to me!

Every major country has had, or does have, either an official UFO investigations programme, or at least investigates reports of UFOs – six decades after the ‘fad’ began! Australia, Canada, France, England, Belgium, the USA, etc., etc. all have or have had UFO investigation programs. So, conclusion number one is that senior officials took, and many still take, the phenomena quite seriously. FOI requests have shown serious interest in the UFO area by not only the USAF, but by the FBI and CIA as well, continuing even after the USAF supposedly got out of the UFO investigations area, as a result of the above cited Condon (University of Colorado) study. It’s not just the great unwashed, low IQ, blue-collar population who are interested. 

In contrast, have you ever heard of, or are you aware of, government bodies investigating Bigfoot sightings, or ghosts, or spoon bending, or the Bermuda Triangle (in general – specific incidents are of course investigated by relevant safety maritime and/or aviation and/or military authorities), or the Ouija board or astrology? You probably have not, because these concepts aren’t taken seriously, and the public would be outraged if their tax dollars were so used. 

As an aside, I find it interesting that the American Congress has often voted against publicly funding SETI (legit science if there ever was). To this day SETI is mainly funded by private individuals and institutions. However, the American Congress has never voted down, cut, or denied funds to the USAF to investigate UFOs. That’s interesting. I’m not aware of any American congressman or senator ever arguing or voting against official government funding spent investigating UFOs - how very, very interesting. Are you aware of any? What’s also interesting is that Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have revealed that both the FBI and the CIA have had an intense interest in the subject, despite pre-FOI denials of any interest. So, that’s a lot of top level interest in a silly-season subject with a high ‘giggle’ factor. Read into it what you will.

Each and every UFO investigation has yielded up a reasonable percentage of cases that despite the best scientific and/or military scrutiny remain unknown as to what the ultimate cause was. That is not in dispute.

Unknown cases include not only independent multiple witness testimony, but physical evidence – photographs, motion pictures, radar returns, electromagnetic effects, physiological and psychological effects and physical ground traces. That is not is dispute. You’ll find documentation in the official government investigations and reports. 

There are professional scientists, senior military officials*, senior government officials, and a host of other people in responsible positions who have witnessed UFOs (airline and military pilots; astronauts, police officers, etc.) who have either spoken out as pro-UFO or a minimum state that this is a legitimate phenomenon. That is not in dispute – it is on the public record. In particular, see the recent book by Leslie Kean listed below.

What we need is a/the smoking gun. Not quite THE smoking gun, but one of many, may highly unexplained UFO cases, is the events surrounding Frederick Valentich on 21 October 1978. It’s more a case of where there’s smoke, there’s smoke, but smoke there certainly is, and lots of it.

In a nutshell, on the evening of that date, Mr. Valentich piloted a private plane from Melbourne, intended destination, King Island in Bass Strait. He took off only to shortly thereafter radio in that there was this UFO hovering over him. The UFO was spotted by several independent witnesses. While radioing his observations, all contact ceased; all communications abruptly ended. Mr. Valentich, plane and all, vanished without trace. An extensive air and sea search failed to find any sign of Mr. Valentich, or his plane. No oil slick, no floating wreckage, no body – nothing, zip, bugger-all. No trace has ever been found of pilot or plane – not then, not since, not ever. The weather had been perfect for night flying.

One obvious explanation was that Mr. Valentich staged his own disappearance, although friends and family could offer no reason why he would do so. Of course many people voluntarily disappear themselves for various reasons; many eventually are found, are caught or reappear voluntarily. But keep in mind; it wasn’t just Mr. Valentich who disappeared. One entire aircraft vanished as well, never to be seen again. Surely if Mr. Valentich wanted to ‘drop out’, there were easier and less conspicuous ways of doing so.  If he had deliberately gone walkabout, in these decades since of security cameras and computer facial software recognition technology, it would be hard to remain an unknown walkabout in any populated area.

Was suicide a motive? Again, no wreckage or body was ever found, and who would go to all the bother of reporting a non-existent UFO overhead – a non-existent UFO that happened to be independently reported by others.

And what of the plane since no wreckage was ever found floating on the surface of Bass Strait; washed up on beaches, or found on the ocean bottom – Bass Strait isn’t that deep.

It’s a mystery, and while it doesn’t prove aliens nicked off with Mr. Valentich and plane, there’s not that much wriggle room. Now multiply this sort of unexplained case by the thousands worldwide, and you do have the ETH as a plausible hypothesis.

Interestingly, despite my asking for a copy of the Valentich ‘accident’ case report in an official capacity related to my employment at the time, the Department of Transport (Air Safety Investigations Branch) refused. To this day, to the best of my knowledge, that report has never been publicly released.

[Further reading: Haines, Richard F.; Melbourne Episode: Case Study of A Missing Pilot; L.D.A. Press, Los Altos, California; 1987: Dr. Haines was at the time a research scientist for NASA and an accredited air safety investigations officer.]

Kean, Leslie; UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record; Harmony Books, New York; 2010:

*For example, USAF Major-General John A. Samford, at a Pentagon press conference in late July 1952 made the statement with respect to the then recent Washington D.C. UFO flap that these sightings were by “credible observers of relatively incredible things”. It’s on the public record.

 

To be continued...

UFOs Don’t Exist, Because If They Did Our Surveillance Would Detect Them

If some orbiting piece of space junk threatens to intersect the orbit of the International Space Station, the powers-that-be know about it. If a piece of space junk reenters our atmosphere, we know about it. If a foreign power launches missiles or aircraft against another country, we know that too, and in real time. If a commercial airliner goes off-course, we also know about that. So, if alien spaceships were near or in Earth’s atmosphere, the powers-that-be would know that too – right? It’s obvious. It’s obvious they don’t know, therefore there aren’t any alien spaceships (UFOs) – right?

I had an interesting exchange with a SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) scientist who gave the thumbs down to the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) on the grounds that if solid alien craft were flying around our neck of the cosmic woods the powers-that-be would know about it. Every cubic inch of the sky is monitored from above and below 24/7/52 by highly sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment, always on the lookout for sneak attacks and to track satellites and space junk. The orbits of thousands of bits of space junk are known with high precision, even if that bit is no larger than a ham sandwich! Any alien spaceships that large or (obviously) larger that’s up there, well, we’d know about it. We don’t know about it, so there are no alien spaceships.

On the surface this seems to be a pretty ironclad argument that slams the lid on the UFO ETH. It’s hard to miss the elephant in the room when there are eyeballs and cameras covering every nook, cranny and corner of the room. However, the argument is riddled with false assumptions and other flaws.

The first assumption, hardly proved, is how do we, the public, really know that the powers-that-be really know there are no UFOs that are alien spaceships? Just because they say there aren’t any alien spaceship because their state-of-the-art surveillance would have detected them doesn’t mean they are telling the truth. The powers-that-be tell all sorts of little white fibs for all sorts of reasons. However, let’s give those powers-that-be the benefit of the doubt. They tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

Now a lot of countries don’t have spy satellites and probably not even total radar coverage of their territory. But let’s assume the Superpowers more than make up for that and that between them they do indeed supply 24/7/52 surveillance of the entire planet, its airspace and nearby outer space.

The next assumption is a real and immediate fly in the ointment that can be easily refuted. That assumption is that surveillance equipment hasn’t detected bona-fide UFOs. Surveillance equipment has indeed detected UFOs that have remained unidentified after proper and intensive analysis. We call that equipment radar, and the official powers-that-be literature (such as the USAF’s now terminated Project Blue Book archives, which can be accessed via the WWW) is full of unexplained UFO radar cases. The so-called ‘scientific’ study of UFOs by the Condon Committee of the University of Colorado, a study commissioned by the USAF in order to get out of the UFO business, couldn’t adequately explain roughly 30% of the cases they tried to come to terms with. Three of those unexplained UFO cases involved radar. So actually the study was scientific, it was only Condon’s conclusions that there was no case to be answered for the UFO ETH that wasn’t scientific. But that’s another story. 

In short, it doesn’t take a great deal of time and effort for UFO ETH skeptics to confirm that there are many official cases where radar has detected UFOs which defy prosaic explanation and thus remain as bona-fide hardcore unknowns to this day. Of course in fairness, that’s hardcore evidence for the UFO ETH, not proof of the UFO ETH. 

The next assumption is that our surveillance equipment can detect anything in the air or in nearby space. Maybe that’s the case with terrestrial stuff in the air or in nearby space, but we’re talking about extraterrestrial here.

In fact, it’s even a pretty big assumption that all terrestrial technology can be detected by our surveillance equipment.

Advanced stealth technology rules; okay anyone? Stealth technology is a major and ever ongoing R&D exercise that is of interest to the military, the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies on Earth. What might an advanced alien civilization 1000, 10,000 years in advance of our have in the way of such camouflage? They’d obviously use that technology to prevent being shot at by trigger-happy generals! In ‘Star Trek’ terminology, we’d call this sort of technology something akin to a ‘cloaking device’.

My bit about UFOs and stealth technology or ‘cloaking’ devices’ is nothing more than drawing a parallel between with we humans (the military in particular) do R&D on, and have adopted, and will continue to do R&D on and continue to adopt for obvious reasons. If stealth technologies exist, and some certainly exist, then it would surprise me that extraterrestrial intelligences wouldn’t have discovered this as well and adopted same, if for no other reason, assuming UFOs are the products of E.T., than it would be useful for them to often cloak themselves from human observation. E.T. is here on a scientific mission, IMHO, and like say wildlife biologists hide in the bushes so as not to disturb the objects of their study; or why a hunter uses camouflage in the woods so that their prey doesn’t spot them. Equally valid, the military has equipped their soldiers with combat uniforms that match background terrain, and ditto camouflage nets. I mean we’ve all seen footage of military camouflage.  If humans, why not E.T.?

Ongoing UFO Censorship and Cover-Ups: Part Three

From nearly day one of the modern UFO era, the subject has been associated and clouded with all sorts of conspiracy theories – official censorship and deliberate cover-ups of information and releases of disinformation (red herrings). Roswell (1947) is often citied as an example, but since I’ve dealt with Roswell before, I’ll focus elsewhere. Still, Roswell was part of the beginning, and in the beginning there were definitely national security and defence issues associated that required security classifications. But once started, censorship and cover-ups, well it’s a slippery slope that’s hard to climb out of.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

Nobody can deny that the military has levels of classified security ratings ranging from confidential through to secret and top secret. Anyone suggesting that the Americans (or British, Australians, Chinese, Russians, etc.) don’t have skeletons in their respective closets are in serious denial or in delusion mode. A UFO case might even be classified not so much because it’s a UFO, but because the surveillance equipment, type of radar or spy satellite, etc. might be classified.

The number of classified confidential / secret / top secret projects worldwide must number in the tens of thousands. The total number of classified confidential / secret / top secret documents (plus photos and films and related) must be in the millions, probably multi-millions if not more. The number of multi-decades old classified projects and documents are unknown, but some surely exist. Something old by itself doesn’t equal declassified. And it’s not just the military – all sorts of government civilian and diplomatic projects and decisions remain under wraps for a whole variety of reasons.

There’s no doubt in my mind that UFOs could be one of hundreds to thousands or more topics somewhat too-hot-to-handle and pretty much under classified wraps. That’s a conclusion that’s fairly obvious to me when it came to light, after much denial by the CIA, but pressured via Freedom-of-Information requests, that the CIA had some quite considerable interest in UFOs. Alas, FOI not withstanding, a vast percentage of the text from those released documents are blacked out. And that too is on the public record.

When it comes down to all things classified (a fancy word for cover-up because classified things are covered-up and tucked away out of sight) there is a phrase called ‘need to know’. If you don’t need to know, and you want to, that’s a cover-up as far as you’re concerned. Now Australia had a very long serving Prime Minister (John Howard) who was finally defeated in a 2007 general election, and left politics. I’m sure he knows many secrets – military and diplomatic – from his years in the top job. But, like all good citizens, he’s not telling tales out of class. Ditto all American ex-presidents and Commonwealth PM’s and all other manner of retired statesmen.

There’s also the aspect or concept of ‘the superiority complex’. The ‘I know something that you don’t know’ – ha, ha, ha – that helps feed our egos. Maybe someone does have THE knowledge and THE proof positive of what UFOs are, but why should they share it with you hence share the Nobel Prize? Or, maybe they are just internally satisfied that they alone are blessed with THE answer and that’s the be-all-and-end-all of the matter.

5) Case History: Washington, D.C. 1952:  In July 1952, on two separate occasions, separated by one week, UFOs buzzed America’s National Capitol, making long term incursions over restricted air space. They were tracked, independently, by various civilian and military radars. Military jet fighters were scrambled to intercept and identify the UFOs, but were outmatched and didn’t succeed, although they were witnessed by the pilots. The objects were also witnessed from the ground. USAF Major-General John A. Samford, at the largest Pentagon press conference ever held since WWII, in late July 1952, made the statement with respect to the recent Washington D.C. UFO flap that these sightings were made by “credible observers of relatively incredible things”. It’s on the public record.

Now of course these sightings had to be explained by any means necessary since you just cannot admit to having unknown aerial objects fly over restricted air space. So the idea of ‘temperature inversions’ explained all - hogwash. It’s amazing that the common occurrence of ‘temperature inversions’ had never before, and never since, caused such commotion.  

One other point, SETI scientists poo-poo the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) saying there’s no PHYSICAL evidence. Eye witness testimony counts for absolutely nothing. Well of course there is PHYSICAL evidence for the UFO ETH of the exact same nature as that would satisfy a SETI scientist of E.T. – after all SETI scientists look for a PHYSICAL signal which they can study at their leisure, not an actual E.T. in the flesh. Well, UFOs have produced PHYSICAL evidence because they too can, and have, produced a PHYSICAL signal – radar returns, and there exist a fair few bona-fide radar returns of UFO events that have, after due investigation, remained unidentified. Now the PHYSICAL evidence left behind by bona-fide UFO radar cases, those unexplained radar cases, deserve intense respect, and the operators that interpret those radar returns. If radar operators can be trusted to distinguish a flock of birds from an incoming ICBM or foreign miliary bombers intent on doing us a mischief, the reason the radar DEW line was established and manned during the Cold War; if radar operators can have entrusted to them the lives of military and commercial pilots, crew and passengers, then they must have the ability to distinguish a radar echo from a temperature inversion from a solid object – in this case the aircraft. If you fly, you entrust your very life to the ability of those radar operators to tell who’s who; distinguish what’s what. Sorry, but UFO radar returns are solid PHYSICAL evidence for the reality of unidentified flying objects.  

6) Stargate: SG-1 / USAF / UFO Connection: Considering the number of movies and TV shows (not to mention documentaries) that accent UFO censorship or cover-ups or disinformation, etc. well the idea has obviously struck a responsive chord. That so much has been made of this via motion pictures and TV shows is suggestive that either the public don’t trust the government to tell the truth, and/or that the governments (way more than one government since the beginning of the modern UFO era) have failed pretty miserably in convincing the public it has disclosed all and has nothing to hide. Anyway, we’ve had blockbuster movies like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Independence Day” which highlighted the issues, and wasn’t “E.T.” treated pretty badly by those government types? On the TV front we’ve had “Dark Skies”, “Taken”, “Roswell” and “The Invaders”. Then we had “Stargate: SG-1”.

“Stargate: SG-1” was a TV spin-off of the feature film “Stargate” that ran for ten seasons and featured several alien races that in the main had links to ancient terrestrial mythology. One such race was the Asgards, and as the name suggests had connection with our Old Norse mythology. The interesting bit was that in appearance, the Asgards just happen to look exactly like the standard ‘greys’ of modern UFO (Roswell and abduction, etc.) lore. This was I’m sure quite by design and no coincidence. This fictional show also confirmed several times over that Area 51 both housed and studied alien/extraterrestrial technology. And so, the fact that both ‘greys’ and Area 51 feature on the show makes one other observation and interesting observation. That other interesting bit is that the stargate in “Stargate: SG-1” was a (fictional) USAF top secret enterprise. The TV show featuring the stargate had the endorsement and cooperation of the actual USAF, probably because the TV show portrayed the USAF in a positive light. In fact, two actual then currently serving USAF Chiefs of Staff (4-star generals) appeared in the actual TV show as themselves! How’s that for endorsement? So, we have the actual USAF assisting (by providing an advisory role, aircraft and personnel to the show) and endorsing a TV show that prominently featured UFO ‘greys’. Okay, I’m probably reading way to much into that. In all probability the USAF connection probably had no actual relevance to any indirect approval of the UFO ‘greys’ in the show by the USAF. That ‘endorsement’ is just pure speculation on my part. So I do have to admit that there’s probably no deep meaning underlying this connection, but I still find it interesting.

Further readings:

Darlington, David; Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles: The Legend of America’s Most Secret Military Base; Henry Holt & Company, New York; 1997: 

Dolan, Richard M.; UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover-up 1941-1973; Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, Virginia; [Revised Edition] 2002:

Dolan, Richard M.; UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-up Exposed 1973-1991; Keyhole Publishing, Rochester, New York; 2009:

Friedman, Stanton T.; Top Secret / MAJIC; Marlow & Company, New York; 1996: 

Good, Timothy; Need to Know: UFOs, the Military and Intelligence; Sidgwick & Jackson, London; 2006: 

Jacobsen, Annie; Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base; Little, Brown & Company, New York; 2011.

Kean, Leslie; UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record; Harmony Books, New York; 2010:

Maccabee, Bruce; UFO FBI Connection: The Secret History of the Government’s Cover-Up; Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minnesota; 2000: 

Patton, Phil; Travels in Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51; Orion Media, London; 1997:

Randle, Kevin D.; Project Bluebook Exposed; Marlowe & Company, New York; 1997: 

Redfern, Nicholas; A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed; Simon & Schuster, London; 1997: 

Steiger, Brad (Editor); Project Blue Book: The Top Secret UFO Findings Revealed; Ballantine Books, New York; 1976:

Ongoing UFO Censorship and Cover-Ups: Part Two

From nearly day one of the modern UFO era, the subject has been associated and clouded with all sorts of conspiracy theories – official censorship and deliberate cover-ups of information and releases of disinformation (red herrings). Roswell (1947) is often citied as an example, but since I’ve dealt with Roswell before, I’ll focus elsewhere. Still, Roswell was part of the beginning, and in the beginning there were definitely national security and defence issues associated that required security classifications. But once started, censorship and cover-ups, well it’s a slippery slope that’s hard to climb out of.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

2) The Official UFO Cover-Up: It might be somewhat possible for one country’s government to keep one or a few UFO incidents (crashes, etc.) that by chance fell into their laps first under wraps and hence keep their citizens in the dark as to the reality of ETI. And the motive, as hinted above, is with respect to the utilization of acquired alien technology. However, in the broader context, it staggers the imagination to suggest or believe that every government, and subsequent change of government, elected or otherwise, including every knowledgeable government official over 60 years, in every country in the world, would or could conspire collectively to do the same. The odds that every nation would pursue that same policy independently are so greatly against as to also stretch credibility.

Since it all boils down to individuals. Over the years one would have to believe that thousands to tens of thousands of those in-the-know wouldn’t blow the biggest story of the millennium, especially when on their death beds via death-bed confessions.  If just one current (or ex) prime minister/president/premier/king, etc. in just one country changed sides and spilled the beans…

In any event, no individual, no government, no country has any control over that ETI may, or may not, do. If Roswell had been Central Park in New York City in broad daylight, who could cover it up? If UFOs choose to hover over major inhabited locations, ala “Independence Day”, what official, government or country could prevent their citizens from knowing about it?

There are several solutions to the cover-up scenario. Firstly, there are no ETI; therefore no cover-ups were ever necessary. Secondly, ETI might be here, but there have been no UFO incidents, no acquired alien technology that have required the perceived need for an official cover-up. Thirdly, there have been UFO incidents, but so few and far between that a long term cover-up was possible. Lastly, there is a global conspiracy policy, a co-operation carried out by every nation in the world since day one to prevent the great unwashed from learning about the existence of ETI (for whatever reason – prevent panic, etc.), and there have been no deviations from that policy ever and no rouge individuals bucking the system for fame or fortune or because it was the right thing to do.

While one of the first two alternatives seems most probable, I think there is enough evidence to make the third alternative the most credible. Certainly the last one is so far out in left field that in fact it’s right out of the ball park.

Regarding the question of censorship and cover-ups over things alien in nature, as noted above, things like Martian microbes are too inconsequential to try to hide; ‘ancient astronauts’ are too old for a government to worry about; SETI aliens (if SETI succeeds) are too far away to worry about; but UFOs are a different kettle of fish. The possibility that highly advanced aliens with unknown motives might be present here and now – well can you imagine any government admitting to the great unwashed that they really have no control over their airspace! Any government that had, by accident, obtained alien technology would certainly not share that information with anyone, including allies, and thus wouldn’t admit same to their citizens.  Of course not all countries and their respective governments may even have the appropriate data which to cover-up. You can’t hide what you don’t know about in the first place.  

3) Freedom of Information (FOI): Why is it, if UFOs are total pseudoscience nonsense, that so many individuals have had to resort to Freedom of Information Act actions (in the United States in particular) in order to get official UFO related government documents, many of which, if released, have large portions and chunks blacked out? Further, not all FOI requests succeed. Why indeed if UFOs are just ‘silly season’ fodder claimed by the sceptics? 

4) Case History: Area 51, etc: If a government, any government of any country, had possession of alien technology, say the remains of a crashed flying saucer, there is little doubt that the powers-that-be would try to 1) figure it all out and b) keep it secret from other foreign powers-that-be. That would be the case as well if say the Americans were to obtain terrestrial technology with military applications from captured Russian or Chinese or for that matter even Australian hardware. Thus, it would come as no real surprise that such a government would have one or more top secret sites where such back engineering would be done, and secrets kept. However, even if no government had any alien technology, they still would have top secret sites for producing, testing, and etc. terrestrial technology vital to national security. Thus, the existence of Area 51 (also known as Dreamland for some reason) does not of necessity prove that the United States (in this example) has alien technology in its possession. But, if you accept Roswell (and/or other tales of captured alien technology), then Area 51 (or akin) follows of necessity.

Take Area 51 (Groom Lake, Nevada). Even assuming that the location has bugger-all to do with UFOs doesn’t negate secrecy going on. There’s no denying the place exists. That’s on the public record. Satellite and ground photographs exist. There’s no getting around the fact that signs are posted around the site that there will be ‘no trespassing’ and that if you do, ‘use of deadly force is authorised’ to keep you out. [That includes SETI scientists!] That too is on the public record, filmed and documented. Translated, there are things going on at Area 51 the American government doesn’t want anyone to know about. Pine Gap in Central Australia is another such location. Many more exist throughout the world. You want cover-ups, censorship and related – call it what you will. Well, something that immediately comes to mind was the Manhattan Project. Then there’s that U-2 spy plane (and a whole range of stealth military aircraft that remained top secret while in development). Likewise, the Project Mogul package designed to detect foreign nuclear weapons testing, launched to high altitudes by balloon, as beloved as an explanation for Roswell. (I’m sure Project Mogul existed, whether it really explains Roswell is quite another matter.)

To be continued...

Ongoing UFO Censorship and Cover-Ups: Part One

From nearly day one of the modern UFO era, the subject has been associated and clouded with all sorts of conspiracy theories – official censorship and deliberate cover-ups of information and releases of disinformation (red herrings). Roswell (1947) is often citied as an example, but since I’ve dealt with Roswell before, I’ll focus elsewhere. Still, Roswell was part of the beginning, and in the beginning there were definitely national security and defence issues associated that required security classifications. But once started, censorship and cover-ups, well it’s a slippery slope that’s hard to climb out of.

As the recent and ongoing WikiLeaks saga has demonstrated, as if any demonstration were really needed given such well known historical instances like ‘Watergate’ or ‘the Pentagon Papers’, governments and government officials, sometimes a whole succession of governments and government officials, not only can, but do try to keep secrets from the citizens and taxpayers that ultimately elected those governments and those officials and paid for all those activities now kept secret. And what leaks is probably the tip of the iceberg. There are probably more secrets than declassified or leaked secrets!

Now of course there are some things that need to be kept secret – at least for a time – things central to national defence and security are obvious examples. But some as yet undisclosed secrets of that nature have probably exceeded their usefulness use-by date, but it’s too much effort to release now – who, despite some stuffy academic historians of no consequence cares what was what from years gone by anyway? – and anyway who wants to take unwanted and unnecessary responsibility declassifying stuff? 

But, way too many secrets are secret just because they are, if made public, reveal an embarrassing skeleton in the closet or would reveal a black sheep in the ‘family’ or it’s just a plain diplomatic ‘oops’. I’m sure even ordinary families can relate to those sorts of issues. Once you dig yourself a non-disclosure hole, it’s not always easy to climb out again, but if you’re comfortable in your self-dug hole, why bother trying?

So, on to the issue of UFOs – are UFOs an ever ongoing necessary thing to censure; a classified topic that passed its use-by date a long time ago; or just one of those ‘black sheep’ skeletons-in-the-closet? 

I received an email from a SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) scientist along the line that cover-ups are the usual excuse for the claim there’s no obvious public evidence for the UFO ETH (ExtraTerrestrial Hypothesis), and that's an argument from ignorance, so it has no force.  It's also implausible that every government in the world is participating in a cover-up. I’m guessing here, but I’d wager that scientist hasn’t ever been in the military (I have) or worked for any defence, security or diplomatic related agencies.

Well, any time the powers-that-be classify, conceal, deny, cover-up things, you’re in the dark so obviously any debate or argument to the contrary by you is an argument or debate from your relative ignorance because you don’t have all of the facts.

1) Disclosures vs. Cover-Ups: There is intense interest in the question of whether or not we are alone in the cosmos. It has been one of the biggest philosophical, cum scientific questions ever. To date, all discussions revolving around the existence of life on other worlds, be it layman, academic, philosophical, political, etc. have remained if not idle speculation, at least educated speculation. The Big Question comes about when life on other worlds is actually discovered. What do those in the know tell those not in the know? To cover-up, or not to cover-up, that is the question.

#Microbial Life on Mars: Viking and/or the Mars Rock (ALH84001): No Cover-up. In fact, the powers that be, scientific and governmental, have been very open about presenting analysis from, for example, the 1976 Viking space probes that landed on the surface of Mars and initially give positives results for current microbial life on the Red Planet. Ditto the possible discovery of fossil microbes in a Martian meteorite than landed in the Antarctic – with the rather dull name of ALH84001. The jury may be still out on Viking and ALH84001, but it was all open and aboveboard. Maybe that’s because Martian microbes, past fossil, or alive in the present, however interesting, aren’t going to cause any revolutions, apart from scientific ones off course.

#ETI at A Distance: SETI: No Cover-up. Since positive SETI results can be verified across international boundaries, no one country can control disclosure that a radio (or optical or IR signal – leakage of beacon) has been detected. SETI scientists have various protocols in place regarding the announcement of discovering the existence of an ETI civilization that’s somewhere ‘out there’, millions if not trillions of miles away. It will be up to the scientists concerned to make the announcement. Replying however, will probably have to take in political realities and will be up to the United Nations.

#ETI Here but not Now: Ancient Astronauts: No Cover-up. The ‘Face on Mars’, spires photographed by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, the avalanche of tomes and documentaries on ‘ancient astronauts’, while interesting, probably didn’t alter any voting patterns, effect the stock market, or increase the price of your shopping. Even if some prominent scholar proved the concept of ‘ancient astronauts’ to the satisfaction of, and with the full backing of, the entire academic community and scholarly society in general, it wouldn’t cause any change, even minor, in the day-to-day affairs of the world and her citizens. The powers-that-be would have little, if even that, control over the pronouncements of private academics in any event, at least in most countries.

#ETI Here and Now: UFOs: Cover-up. If alien beings land on the White House lawn with a traditional ‘take me to your leader’ spiel, or start zapping us with photon torpedoes, or if they’re forced to land, or crash-land, in a densely populated area where there are lots of witnesses and cameras, then the question of a cover-up, the need for the powers-that-be to reveal all, is moot and of only academic interest. Apart from that scenario, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that some nations and their governments have actual physical evidence, hence knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence(s) on Earth in the here and now. Roswell comes to mind as an obvious example. Why would a UFO cover-up exist? And why wouldn’t a UFO cover-up ever be negated at a later date? Okay, let’s assume that you are The Big Cheese, the one who knows that UFOs are here and are spacecraft from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. It’s in your power to reveal or censor that information vis-à-vis the rest of the world. What would you do?

Perhaps incoming administrations aren’t ever briefed or told. The old ‘if they don’t ask, don’t tell’, what they don’t know won’t ever come back to haunt them philosophy, also translated as the less in the loop, the better, could be one reason.

Perhaps everyone in the know, including incoming administrations who are briefed and who have the power to show-and-tell and reveal all, have been convinced of the need for ongoing secrecy (i.e. a cover-up). What might such reasons be?  

Well, it’s hard to say you’re sorry for the past actions of others, and it’s hard to own up to having done something that has caused others injustice, and it’s hard to admit to lying and deceiving your citizens and doing things that just appear outright wrong. Why spoil your lilywhite image – and re-election chances – or your nation’s and predecessor’s reputation.

Well, no government is going to share that sort of knowledge with any other nation, for obvious national security and military advantage reasons. Thus, you don’t tell anyone, be they your allies or your citizens. As time goes by, it becomes even harder to admit to having done this.

No government is going to admit to its citizens (and thus to the rest of the world) that it has no control over its airspace and territory. They may know they don’t, but you’re not ever going to hear them broadcast that fact.

Any government admitting to its populace and the rest of the world that an advanced ETI civilization is in close proximity to ours with unknown motives is adding one hell of a knuckleball into a game situation that’s already close to the brink. There’s enough major political and economic uncertainty and trauma in the world without introducing another loose cannon such as extraterrestrials-in-our-backyard if this can be avoided.

To be continued...

Exobiology: UFOs: The Official UFO Cover-Up

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. Assuming one or more extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced, interstellar spaceflight capability exists; then they know about Planet Earth. Say ‘hi’ to those pesky UFOs. The Big Question is, is there an official UFO cover-up? There are many people who have investigated this issue and decided the question in the affirmative. Are they right?

It might be somewhat possible for one country’s government to keep one or a few UFO incidents (crashes, etc.) that by chance fell into their laps first under wraps and hence keep their citizens in the dark as to the reality of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). And the motive, as hinted in a previous essay, is with respect to the utilization of acquired alien technology. However, in the broader context, it staggers the imagination to suggest or believe that every government, and subsequent change of government, elected or otherwise, including every knowledgeable government official over 60 years, in every country in the world, would or could conspire collectively to do the same. The odds that every nation would pursue that same policy independently are so great as to also stretch credibility.

Since it all boils down to knowledge held by individuals, over the years one would have to believe that thousands to tens of thousands of those in-the-know wouldn’t blow the biggest story of the millennium, especially when on their death beds.  If just one current (or ex) prime minister/president/premier/king, etc. in just one country changed sides and spilled the beans…

In any event, no individual, no government, no country has any control over what ETI may, or may not, do. If Roswell had been Central Park in New York City in broad daylight, who could cover it up? If UFOs choose to hover over major inhabited locations, ala “Independence Day”, what official, government or country could prevent their citizens from knowing about it?

There are several solutions to the cover-up scenario. Firstly, there are no ETI; therefore no cover-ups were ever necessary. Secondly, ETI might be here, but there have been no UFO incidents, no acquired alien technology that have required the perceived need for an official cover-up. Thirdly, there have been UFO incidents, but so few and far between that a long term cover-up was possible. Lastly, there is a global conspiracy policy, a co-operation carried out by every nation in the world since day one to prevent the great unwashed from learning about the existence of ETI (for whatever reason – prevent panic, etc.), and there have been no deviations from that policy ever and no rouge individuals bucking the system for fame or fortune or because it was the right thing to do.

While one of the first two alternatives seems most probable, I think there is enough evidence to make the third alternative the most credible. Certainly the last one is so far out in left field that in fact it’s right out of the ball park.

Further readings:

Dolan, Richard M.; UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover-up 1941-1973; Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, Virginia; [Revised Edition] 2002:

Dolan, Richard M.; UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-up Exposed 1973-1991; Keyhole Publishing, Rochester, New York; 2009:

Friedman, Stanton T.; Top Secret / MAJIC; Marlow & Company, New York; 1996: 

Good, Timothy; Need to Know: UFOs, the Military and Intelligence; Sidgwick & Jackson, London; 2006: 

Kean, Leslie; UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record; Harmony Books, New York; 2010:

Maccabee, Bruce; UFO FBI Connection: The Secret History of the Government’s Cover-Up; Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minnesota; 2000: 

Randle, Kevin D.; Project Bluebook Exposed; Marlowe & Company, New York; 1997: 

Redfern, Nicholas; A Covert Agenda: UFO Secrecy Exposed; Simon & Schuster, London; 1997: 

Steiger, Brad (Editor); Project Blue Book: The Top Secret UFO Findings Revealed; Ballantine Books, New York; 1976:

Exobiology: UFOs: Official Censorship?

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. Assuming one or more extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced, interstellar spaceflight capability exists; then they know about Planet Earth. Say ‘hi’ to those pesky UFOs. The Big Question is, has the entire be-all-and-end-all of the UFO story been told, or is there more to be told – stories that only the powers-that-be are currently knowledgeable and aware of?

I received an email from a SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) scientist along the line that cover-ups of UFO information are the usual excuse for the claim there’s no obvious public evidence for the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), and that's an argument from ignorance, so it has no force.  It's also implausible that every government in the world is participating in a cover-up. I’m guessing here, but I’d wager that scientist hasn’t ever been in the military (I have) or worked for any defence, security or diplomatic related agencies.

Well, any time the powers-that-be classify, conceal, deny, cover-up things, you’re in the dark so obviously any debate or argument to the contrary by you is an argument or debate from your relative ignorance because you don’t have all of the facts.

Regarding the question of censorship/cover-ups over things alien in nature, things like Martian microbes are too inconsequential to try to hide; ‘ancient astronauts’ are too old for a government to worry about; SETI aliens (if SETI succeeds) are too far away to worry about; but UFOs are a different kettle of fish. The possibility that highly advanced aliens with unknown motives might be present here and now – well can you imagine any government admitting to the great unwashed that they really have no control over their airspace! Any government that had, by accident, obtained alien technology would certainly not share that information with anyone, including allies, and thus wouldn’t admit same to their citizens.  Of course not all countries and their respective governments may even have the appropriate data which to cover-up. You can’t hide what you don’t know about in the first place.  

Take Area 51 (Groom Lake, Nevada). Even assuming that the location has bugger-all to do with UFOs doesn’t negate secrecy going on. There’s no denying the place exists. That’s on the public record. Satellite and ground photographs exist. There’s no getting around the fact that signs are posted around the site that there will be ‘no trespassing’ and that if you do, ‘use of deadly force is authorised’ to keep you out. [That includes SETI scientists!] That too is on the public record, filmed and documented. Translated, there are things going on at Area 51 the American government doesn’t want anyone to know about. Pine Gap in Central Australia is another such location. Many more exist throughout the world. You want cover-ups / censorship and related – call it what you will. Well, something that immediately comes to mind was the Manhattan Project. Then there’s that U-2 spy plane (and a whole range of stealth military aircraft that remained top secret while in development). Likewise, the Project Mogul package designed to detect foreign nuclear weapons testing, launched to high altitudes by balloon, as beloved as an explanation for Roswell.

Nobody can deny that the military has levels of classified security ratings ranging from confidential through to secret and top secret. Anyone suggesting that the Americans (or British, Australians, Chinese, Russians, etc.) don’t have skeletons in their respective closets are in serious denial or in delusion mode. A UFO case might be classified not so much because it’s a UFO, but because the surveillance equipment, type of radar or spy satellite, etc. might be classified.

The number of classified confidential / secret / top secret projects worldwide must number in the tens of thousands. The total number of classified confidential / secret / top secret documents (plus photos and films and related) must be in the millions. The number of multi-decades old classified projects and documents are unknown, but some surely exist. Something old by itself doesn’t equal declassified. And it’s not just the military – all sorts of government civilian and diplomatic projects and decisions remain under wraps for a whole variety of reasons.

There’s no doubt in my mind that UFOs could be one of hundreds to thousands or more topics somewhat too-hot-to-handle and pretty much under classified wraps. That’s a conclusion that’s fairly obvious to me when it came to light, after much denial by the CIA, but pressured via Freedom-of-Information requests, that the CIA had some quite considerable interest in UFOs. Alas, FOI not withstanding, a vast percentage of the text from those released documents are blacked out. And that too is on the public record.

When it comes down to all things classified (a fancy word for cover-up because classified things are covered-up and tucked away out of sight) there is a phrase called ‘need to know’. If you don’t need to know, and you want to, that’s a cover-up as far as you’re concerned. Now Australia had a very long serving Prime Minister (John Howard) who was finally defeated in a 2007 general election, and left politics. I’m sure he knows many secrets – military and diplomatic – from his years in the top job. But, like all good citizens, he’s not telling tales out of class. Ditto all American ex-presidents and Commonwealth PM’s and all other manner of retired statesmen.

There’s also the aspect or concept of ‘the superiority complex’. The ‘I know something that you don’t know’ – ha, ha, ha – that helps feed our egos. Maybe someone does have THE knowledge and THE proof positive of what UFOs are, but why should they share it with you hence share the Nobel Prize? Or, maybe they are just internally satisfied that they alone are blessed with THE answer and that’s the be-all-and-end-all of the matter.

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: Freedom of Information Act

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena, this time why, if there’s nothing to the UFO phenomena, why do UFO documents often have to be obtained via the FOIA?

Why is it, if UFOs are total pseudoscience or paranormal nonsense, that so many individuals have had to resort to Freedom of Information Act actions (in the United States in particular) in order to get official (FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.) UFO related government documents, many of which, if released, have large portions/chunks blacked out? Further, not all FOI requests succeed. Why indeed if UFOs are just ‘silly season’ fodder as claimed by the sceptics?  Rather strange don’t you think?

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: Area 51

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena this time the top secret military base known as Dreamland, Area 51 or just plain Groom Lake, Nevada, and claims the remains of crashed UFOs are present there being back-engineered and providing the United States with alien technologies.   

Assuming one or more extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced, interstellar spaceflight capability exists; then they know about Planet Earth. Say ‘hi’ to those pesky UFOs. The Big Question not only is, is there an official UFO cover-up, but is Area 51 part of that cover-up? There are many people who have investigated this issue and decided the question in the affirmative. Are they right?

“Area 51”, as it is commonly called, is a large military base in the remotest of the remote part of the U.S. state of Nevada. It clearly deals with a lot of top secret high technology R&D work, for the most part involving prototypes of futuristic military aircraft and various technologies that will (ideally) make them better than that possessed by any other country. The question most often asked is whether of not 1) America has in its possession one or more ‘flying saucers’, crashed or otherwise; 2) if ‘yes’, are the saucers extraterrestrial, and if so, 3) is any associated alien technology being back-engineered in order to give America that futuristic edge in military aviation?

Many UFO investigators will tell you, but obviously can’t prove is that if UFO sceptics could have access to the secrets of Area 51, well, they just wouldn’t be sceptics any longer. The idea that Area 51 is a geek’s paradise getting to play with all sorts of alien high-tech gadgets is also well re-enforced in the film and TV industry, and a common plot in sci-fi alien cover-up conspiracy novels. An obvious example was the many references to Area 51 in the hit sci-fi TV series “Stargate: SG-1”. 

If a government, any government of any country, had possession of alien technology, say the remains of a crashed flying saucer, there is little doubt that the powers-that-be would try to 1) figure it all out and b) keep it secret from other foreign powers-that-be. That would be the case as well if say the Americans were to obtain terrestrial technology with military applications from captured Russian or Chinese or for that matter even Australian hardware. Thus, it would come as no real surprise that such a government would have one or more top secret sites where such back-engineering would be done, and secrets kept. However, even if no government had any alien technology, they still would have top secret sites for producing, testing, and etc. terrestrial technology vital to national security. Thus, the existence of Area 51 (a.k.a. Dreamland) does not of necessity prove that the United States (in this example) has alien technology in its possession. But, if you accept Roswell (and/or other tales of captured alien technology), then Area 51 (or akin) follows of necessity.

So, even assuming that Area 51 (Groom Lake, Nevada) has bugger-all to do with UFOs doesn’t negate secrecy going on. There’s no denying the place exists. That’s on the public record. Satellite and ground photographs exist. There’s no getting around the fact that signs are posted around the site that there will be ‘no trespassing’ and that if you do, ‘use of deadly force is authorised’ to keep you out. [That especially includes UFO believers!] That too is on the public record, filmed and documented. Translated, there are things going on at Area 51 the American government and military doesn’t want anyone to know about. Pine Gap in Central Australia is another such location. Many more exist throughout the world. You want cover-ups, censorship and related – call it what you will. Well, something that immediately comes to mind was the Manhattan Project. Then there’s that U-2 spy plane (and a whole range of stealth military aircraft that remained top secret while in development). Likewise, the Project Mogul package designed to detect foreign nuclear weapons testing, launched to high altitudes by balloon, as beloved as an explanation for Roswell. (I’m sure Project Mogul existed, whether it really explains Roswell is quite another matter.)

In conclusion, if the American government/military has in its possession alien technology, probably from a crashed UFO (flying disc), probably the one from Roswell, then Area 51 is a likely place for it to end up, and you, part of the great unwashed with no need to know, aren’t likely to find out the real facts of the matter anytime soon. The powers-that-be will deny have extraterrestrial technology in their possession, but they would have to say that regardless of whether or not it was really true.

Further readings:

Darlington, David; Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles: The Legend of America’s Most Secret Military Base; Henry Holt & Company, New York; 1997: 

Jacobsen, Annie; Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base; Little, Brown & Company, New York; 2011.

Patton, Phil; Travels in Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51; Orion Media, London; 1997:

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: Censorship

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena this time the claims of the cover-up of the UFO ETH – official censorship.  

I received an email from a SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial) scientist along the line that cover-ups are the usual excuse for the claim there’s no obvious public evidence for the UFO ETH, and that's an argument from ignorance, so it has no force.  It's also implausible that every government in the world is participating in a cover-up. I’m guessing here, but I’d wager that scientist hasn’t ever been in the military (I have) or worked for any defence, security or diplomatic related agencies.

Well, any time the powers-that-be classify, conceal, deny, cover-up things, you’re in the dark so obviously any debate or argument to the contrary by you is an argument or debate from your relative ignorance because you don’t have all of the facts.

Regarding the question of censorship/cover-ups over things alien in nature, things like Martian microbes are too inconsequential to try to hide; ‘ancient astronauts’ are too old for a government to worry about; SETI aliens (if SETI succeeds) are too far away to worry about; but UFOs are a different kettle of fish. The possibility that highly advanced aliens with unknown motives might be present here and now – well can you imagine any government admitting to the great unwashed that they really have no control over their airspace! Any government that had, by accident, obtained alien technology would certainly not share that information with anyone, including allies, and thus wouldn’t admit same to their citizens.  Of course not all countries and their respective governments may even have the appropriate data which to cover-up. You can’t hide what you don’t know about in the first place.  

Take Area 51 (Groom Lake, Nevada). Even assuming that the location has bugger-all to do with UFOs doesn’t negate secrecy going on. There’s no denying the place exists. That’s on the public record. Satellite and ground photographs exist. There’s no getting around the fact that signs are posted around the site that there will be ‘no trespassing’ and that if you do, ‘use of deadly force is authorised’ to keep you out. [That includes SETI scientists!] That too is on the public record, filmed and documented. Translated, there are things going on at Area 51 the American government doesn’t want anyone to know about. Pine Gap in Central Australia is another such location. Many more exist throughout the world. You want cover-ups / censorship and related – call it what you will. Well, something that immediately comes to mind was the Manhattan Project. Then there’s that U-2 spy plane (and a whole range of stealth military aircraft that remained top secret while in development). Likewise, the Project Mogul package designed to detect foreign nuclear weapons testing, launched to high altitudes by balloon, as beloved as an explanation for Roswell.

Nobody can deny that the military has levels of classified security ratings ranging from confidential through to secret and top secret. Anyone suggesting that the Americans (or British, Australians, Chinese, Russians, etc.) don’t have skeletons in their respective closets are in serious denial or in delusion mode. A UFO case might be classified not so much because it’s a UFO, but because the surveillance equipment, type of radar or spy satellite, etc. might be classified.

The number of classified confidential / secret / top secret projects worldwide must number in the tens of thousands. The total number of classified confidential / secret / top secret documents (plus photos and films and related) must be in the millions. The number of multi-decades old classified projects and documents are unknown, but some surely exist. Something old by itself doesn’t equal declassified. And it’s not just the military – all sorts of government civilian and diplomatic projects and decisions remain under wraps for a whole variety of reasons.

There’s no doubt in my mind that UFOs could be one of hundreds to thousands or more topics somewhat too-hot-to-handle and pretty much under classified wraps. That’s a conclusion that’s fairly obvious to me when it came to light, after much denial by the CIA, but pressured via Freedom-of-Information requests, that the CIA had some quite considerable interest in UFOs. Alas, FOI not withstanding, a vast percentage of the text from those released documents are blacked out. And that too is on the public record.

When it comes down to all things classified (a fancy word for cover-up because classified things are covered-up and tucked away out of sight) there is a phrase called ‘need to know’. If you don’t need to know, and you want to, that’s a cover-up as far as you’re concerned. Now Australia had a very long serving Prime Minister (John Howard) who was finally defeated in a 2007 general election, and left politics. I’m sure he knows many secrets – military and diplomatic – from his years in the top job. But, like all good citizens, he’s not telling tales out of class. Ditto all American ex-presidents and Commonwealth PM’s and all other manner of retired statesmen.

There’s also the aspect or concept of ‘the superiority complex’. The ‘I know something that you don’t know’ – ha, ha, ha – that helps feed our egos. Maybe someone does have THE knowledge and THE proof positive of what UFOs are, but why should they share it with you hence share the Nobel Prize? Or, maybe they are just internally satisfied that they alone are blessed with THE answer and that’s the be-all-and-end-all of the matter.

Those who have investigated UFOs with maximum time, energy and resources are of course those from government agencies, representing the government. Therein lays a problem. No government is ever going to admit – assuming an extraterrestrial intelligence behind UFOs – that is doesn’t have full control over its airspace. No government is ever going to admit it is near powerless against possible invaders, including a hypothetical extraterrestrial one. Any government that has insights into the artificial (extraterrestrial) nature of UFOs technology is certainly not going to share that information with other governments, however allied, far less their great unwashed Joe Doe public.

Now sceptics will argue that some countries with official UFO investigations programs have shut them down (or at last that’s the official line). There are two possible reasons for that, assuming everything is on the up and up. The obvious one, to sceptics, is that there’s nothing to the subject – time, money, manpower, resources have been wasted and it’s time to bail out and cut the losses. The quite less obvious one is that we now know what we needed to know and therefore there’s no point in carrying on. That means either a secret admission that we’re helpless no matter what, so no point, or there’s been a conclusion that UFOs pose no threat, so again no particular point in carrying out more studies. In fact, if you example the reasons governments (American and British immediately come to mind) have given for getting out of the UFO business is that phrase – ‘no threat’ - UFOs, whatever they are, or aren’t, pose ‘no threat’ Note that there’s never a definitive statement that absolutely no UFO has represent  extraterrestrial intelligence technology, that aliens aren’t here, it’s always that UFOs pose ‘no threat’ and therefore we’ve got better things to do – like dealing with things that are threatening! That ‘no threat’ phrase might represent a possibility that the powers-that-be know more than they’re telling – ‘no threat’ means different things to those in the know vis-à-vis the great unwashed who might not be quite as convinced if they knew what the powers-that-be knew. That’s a good reason for not confiding in the great unwashed!