Uncle Sam and UFOs
A new article by Gus Russo provides a good overview of and introduction to the current state of saucers and spies. Russo chronicles the history of failed UFO disclosure, beginning with Disney animator Ward Kimball in 1956, and continuing through the Robert Emenegger and Linda Howe stories of promised UFO footage which never materialized.
He conducted an email interview with me, and stated that he was hired to write the article by one Dan Smith, who enjoys no small amount of notoriety in the UFO research community for his strange stories passed along by “UFO insiders.” Russo readily admits this in the article, which vouches somewhat for his impartiality.
One fact he brings to light particularly interested me: A conference from May 20-25 of 1985 in McClean VA, which was called “The Advanced Theoretical Physics Conference,” a title which concealed the actual agenda, which appears to have been a meeting of current and former government intelligence personnel to find out what the government knew about UFOs–in other words, a high-level UFO conference. Apparently nothing was concluded, but lowly citizens like us might never know if anything positive transpired in any case.
In 1999, I published an article in my old magazine (The Excluded Middle) entitled “PSI + mc (squared), + R&D = MJ12: UFOs, Physics, Parapsychology Mix In Secret Group,” describing something that was known at the time as “The Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group.” The article examined evidence (from the research of Melinda Leslie and Randy Koppang) that the group had continued on to look for answers to the UFO question in the minds and files of the U.S. government, and was composed of people who supposedly had high-level access to the information.
At the time, the only names on record were people like John Alexander, Ed Dames, Hal Puthoff, Bob Wood, and Jack Houck–all former employees of the government (or government contractors) and all certainly interested in the UFO question. Russo brings up more names (although disguised in aliases but which students of the subject can readily guess at.)
Russo concludes and generally agrees with my own opinion:
…there is certainly a very small percentage government officials with intelligence clearance — some active, some retired — who are interested in the UFO research community, if not UFOs themselves. Some of these men are of the impression, rightly or wrongly, that a very few individuals in government and the private sector are keeping the big secret even from them. This is small consolation to earnest UFO researchers, but at least they should no longer feel alone and marginalized as kooks completely at odds with officialdom
Definitely worth checking out, even if there are a couple of minor factual errors that I spied in the text - which is a hazard I have found when writing and reading about this subject.
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Jun 14 2007 
June 16th, 2007 at 3:35 am
I don’t understand what the reason for government security and intelligence infiltration of UFO groups could be.
Either they are concerned to secretly monitor investigation of the ETH out of a genuine interest in the truth, or they do so to ensure they have advanced warning of possible discovery by these civilian organizations of issues and facts that are still considered too sensitive. Could they be so reactionary as to consider the themes of the Brookings Institute report in the sixties as still being relevant in the 21stC. ? Can they be so foolish and ’sensitive’ as to believe that ‘disclosure’would unhinge social order? Or was that simply a camouflage for wanting to maintain a status quo wherein they owe their existence to the support provided by the current power monopolies?
Maybe the long-awaited second volume of Richard Dolan’s, UFOs And the National Security State will reveal more on governmental ‘attitudes’.
Who knows, maybe this apparent hard-sell volte face from the supposed insiders is all about damage control over a ‘limited hang-out’exercise over which they lost the ability to control the flow and dissemination of information?
Flavius Snappicus.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Snappy,
I tried to imply that various departments of the U.S. government may know much more than the populace when it comes to the UFO subject, but they are clueless when it comes to explaining or controlling the phenomenon. I believe that they do however, know how to use the subject as a valuable intelligence tool.
Please see my posts on this for more on my opinions about the intel/ UFO game.
June 17th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Yes Greg and I totally got what you said. For my part I’m trying to understand (if the assumption that the grain of truth in the core story is a reality) what purpose is now served by running the game, apparently, still in terms of providing enough rope for outside investigators to discredit themselves by false elaboration.
In the light of the fact that France, Mexico and at least one very senior Canadian government minister have taken a more overt stance on the release of info and material I’m at a loss to account for the usg leakers running what appears only to be a psy-op. The Russo article tended to take the view that the usg leakers do not know what the core element of the story is. One of them actually believes a very large percentage of those interested in this type of material are mentally ill. So I’m uncertain as to why they are running this game. Who could doubt what you say is true, that they are clueless about some aspects of the phenomenon. I’m in doubt as to how this subject, or the tailored release of some elements of it actually is a valuable intelligence tool.
von Snappyratz
June 18th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Snappy,
I’m not sure what the grain of truth is at the heart of these stories, but I have a feeling that it is not that the government is keeping aliens in captivity, or have a secret agreement with them, etc.
The one former “aviary” member that believes that many UFO buffs are mentally ill is referring I think to the fact that belief drives their search for the “truth,” when it should be driven by open-minded inquiry.
UFO revelations from the government (at least the more sensationalistic ones) are probably not any attempt at “disclosure,” but are efforts in furtherance of different ends.
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:45 am
A final offering from me in this thread comes from Caryn Anscom’s Trickster Tales at Starstream Research which quotes a released usg intelligence agency document that confirms that there was once an official interest in keeping tabs on UFO groups for the reasons mentioned above. Reasons that stem from the old Cold War paradigm that such groups could be useful to the extent that they might uncover exotic ‘enemy’ hardware and mis-identify it as UFOs (etc,.).
I agree with Greg that government revelations are unlikely to herald ‘Disclosure’. The furtherance of other agendum has to be the case but I reiterate - in the 21st Century they can no longer run such disinformation operations as the Project Serpo ‘gambit’ and justify mal-adroit harrassment behind that old ‘Cold War’rubric.
Snaphappy