By John-Michael Talboo
A little piece I penned at Care2.com a few years back.
Flying Saucers, little green men, little grey men for that matter, all really silly stuff, right?
Every government agency from NASA to the NSA officially denies the existence of true UFOs. Some don't only deny believing there is any validity to the subject, they also have tried at times to deny ever caring to even remotely study the matter. In 1973 the then FBI Director Clarence M. Kelly stated that it was "not and never has been a matter that is within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI." That statement was made to be eaten by Kelly years later when documents surfaced to the contrary. These days you needn't look any further than the FBIs own website to find tons of info relating to the past study of UFOs. http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/ufo.htm
Well at least no US government officials were among the followers of UFO cult leader Marshall Applewhite who killed themselves in 1997 while awaiting a spaceship carrying Jesus!
And I'm sure these FBI files that surfaced were the only government documents on the subject brought to light by the 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Just silly stuff that took place within one agency years ago, right?
Maybe similar thoughts, and the benefit of the doubt went through 15 year old John Greenewald JR's head when he embarked upon a fact finding mission regarding the topic of government interest in UFOs. Almost 10 years later, after writing letter after letter, and making request after request, he has compiled thousands of declassified government documents pertaining to that very subject. Maybe he wasn't sure, maybe he didn't believe, but he found out by sheer numbers that his government seemed to.
The CIA alone has 2,763 documents on the subject! That is a whole heap of files for the agency to have about something that according
to many personal and official pronouncements by government officials throughout the years has no merit to it. If you're thinking all of these files are from the 1970s like the aforementioned ones from the FBI you are wrong. The Defense Intelligence Agency for instance has UFO files from 1990 to date. Greenwalds website http://theblackvault/.com covers a wide variety of government secrecy and features over 440,000 declassified government documents.
Of course the government does not always make obtaining this information easy, or always put it out there in a way that isn't a pain to navigate. However, Greenwald has done a lot of the legwork and organized what the government won't. As his site states "The Black Vault has put organization to an unorganized world -- Government Secrecy."
Most of the information Greenwald has obtained has been through the FOIA. However, there a few serious problems that resemble tyranny more than freedom when it comes to getting to the truth that we deserve. FOIA documents are sometimes almost totally blacked out!
Nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman is a very well known UFO researcher and advocate for disclosure. He has detailed the blacking out of documents many times on his various TV appearances. In March 2001 Mr. Friedman spoke to a packed house at the University of New Mexico. There he showed slides of FOIA documents he and others obtained through years of requests. The CIA files they eventually received were 75% blacked out. So, as he commonly asks, if there is nothing to hide, then why won't they let us see all of the information?
I thought the whole point of the FOIA was that government was trying to become more transparent? There of course things covered in the exemptions to the FOIA that could possibly account for the lack of information. However, after reading them the only one that seems to be able to account for the extreme censorship is the first dealing with issues of national defense. But how could that be when as UFO researcher Richard M. Dolan put it "For nearly 60 years, the United States government and military has told us that UFOs are not a matter of national security."
The information they have provided to us is mind-blowing to be sure, but the first exemption to the FOIA ensures that we will never see the really juicy stuff, it states...
1-A. specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and B. are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
So despite the fact that the establishment line is that no national security threat is posed, one person's warped view of what constitutes an issue of national defense in the "we the people" government is all it takes.
Grant Cameron of http://presidentialufo.com has cataloged many interesting facts regarding American Presidents and how they have dealt with the issue of UFOs. The first one of interest to many is Harry Truman since he was the first Commander and Chief that had to deal with the subject, and founded what would later become the UFO document haven of the CIA. As Camerons' site says "There has always been a controversy as to what President Truman's views were on 'flying saucers.'" However many things detailed by Cameron point to Truman being very interested indeed.
Could a picture of Truman and UFO author Frank Edwards I obtained through a friend of my grandmother be further evidence of his interest? It is hard to say seeing as how Edwards was also a newsman and I don't know the circumstances of their meeting. I also don't have any idea if Truman was fully aware of who Edwards was, or his UFO research. I no longer own the picture, but while I did I shared it with the world via the internet, it can now be viewed HERE.
In regards to more recent presidents Bill Clinton said "If the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies" in Roswell, the Air Force didn’t tell me about it, and I would like to know."
Well if Clinton wasn't briefed it seems that maybe Dick Cheney was. On April 2001 Grant Cameron asked Dick Cheney if he had been briefed on UFOs, and if so what had he been told. Cheney apparently could neither confirm nor deny stating "Well if I had been briefed on it, I'm sure it was probably classified, and I couldn't talk about it."
If he HAD BEEN briefed it PROBABLY WAS classified! Thanks for clearing that up sir! I'm guessing Mr.Cheney likes the executive order exemption in the FOIA!
We often hear about The Roswell Incident, but one person in the saga that is often left out is former Pentagon Official Colonel Philip Corso. In his book The Day After Roswell the former member of President Eisenhower's National Security Council details efforts led by him to reverse engineer alien technology found at the Roswell Crash. But are there any modern day officials coming forward with similar stories?
Steven M. Greer, MD who founded a nonprofit research project known as The Disclosure Project has gathered "over 400 government, military, and intelligence community witnesses testifying to their direct, personal, first hand experience with UFOs, ETs, ET technology, and the cover-up that keeps this information secret." Just as in the case of the enormous amount of flies of the CIA and others, the question must again be posed.Why is there so much information from government sources about what is commonly still regarded as a fairy tale topic by so many including the media?
Documents are one thing, but an even better question is why would so many credible people come forward to Dr. Greer and put their reputations on the line? The best answer in my mind is beacuase they are being honest and believe humanity deserves all the facts. You generally don't get rich from telling wild stories about these type of things, you get ridicule, and these people already have good careers. Dr. Greers website http://disclosureproject.org has many ways the average person can get involved in calling for the truth of these matters. I strongly suggest all who read this take a look at his efforts and support him in anyway you can.
UFOs are of course not an exclusively US phenomenon. For lots of good info regarding official government study programs looking into the subject throughout the world, please click HERE.
To visit this article on the Care2 News Network click HERE.
Related:
Richard Dolan on Steven Greer
A little piece I penned at Care2.com a few years back.
Aug 5, 2007
Every government agency from NASA to the NSA officially denies the existence of true UFOs. Some don't only deny believing there is any validity to the subject, they also have tried at times to deny ever caring to even remotely study the matter. In 1973 the then FBI Director Clarence M. Kelly stated that it was "not and never has been a matter that is within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI." That statement was made to be eaten by Kelly years later when documents surfaced to the contrary. These days you needn't look any further than the FBIs own website to find tons of info relating to the past study of UFOs. http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/ufo.htm
Well at least no US government officials were among the followers of UFO cult leader Marshall Applewhite who killed themselves in 1997 while awaiting a spaceship carrying Jesus!
And I'm sure these FBI files that surfaced were the only government documents on the subject brought to light by the 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Just silly stuff that took place within one agency years ago, right?
Maybe similar thoughts, and the benefit of the doubt went through 15 year old John Greenewald JR's head when he embarked upon a fact finding mission regarding the topic of government interest in UFOs. Almost 10 years later, after writing letter after letter, and making request after request, he has compiled thousands of declassified government documents pertaining to that very subject. Maybe he wasn't sure, maybe he didn't believe, but he found out by sheer numbers that his government seemed to.
The CIA alone has 2,763 documents on the subject! That is a whole heap of files for the agency to have about something that according
to many personal and official pronouncements by government officials throughout the years has no merit to it. If you're thinking all of these files are from the 1970s like the aforementioned ones from the FBI you are wrong. The Defense Intelligence Agency for instance has UFO files from 1990 to date. Greenwalds website http://theblackvault/.com covers a wide variety of government secrecy and features over 440,000 declassified government documents. Of course the government does not always make obtaining this information easy, or always put it out there in a way that isn't a pain to navigate. However, Greenwald has done a lot of the legwork and organized what the government won't. As his site states "The Black Vault has put organization to an unorganized world -- Government Secrecy."
Most of the information Greenwald has obtained has been through the FOIA. However, there a few serious problems that resemble tyranny more than freedom when it comes to getting to the truth that we deserve. FOIA documents are sometimes almost totally blacked out!
Nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman is a very well known UFO researcher and advocate for disclosure. He has detailed the blacking out of documents many times on his various TV appearances. In March 2001 Mr. Friedman spoke to a packed house at the University of New Mexico. There he showed slides of FOIA documents he and others obtained through years of requests. The CIA files they eventually received were 75% blacked out. So, as he commonly asks, if there is nothing to hide, then why won't they let us see all of the information?
I thought the whole point of the FOIA was that government was trying to become more transparent? There of course things covered in the exemptions to the FOIA that could possibly account for the lack of information. However, after reading them the only one that seems to be able to account for the extreme censorship is the first dealing with issues of national defense. But how could that be when as UFO researcher Richard M. Dolan put it "For nearly 60 years, the United States government and military has told us that UFOs are not a matter of national security
."The information they have provided to us is mind-blowing to be sure, but the first exemption to the FOIA ensures that we will never see the really juicy stuff, it states...
1-A. specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and B. are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
So despite the fact that the establishment line is that no national security
threat is posed, one person's warped view of what constitutes an issue of national defense in the "we the people" government is all it takes. Grant Cameron of http://presidentialufo.com has cataloged many interesting facts regarding American Presidents and how they have dealt with the issue of UFOs. The first one of interest to many is Harry Truman since he was the first Commander and Chief that had to deal with the subject, and founded what would later become the UFO document haven of the CIA. As Camerons' site says "There has always been a controversy as to what President Truman's views were on 'flying saucers.'" However many things detailed by Cameron point to Truman being very interested indeed.
Could a picture of Truman and UFO author Frank Edwards I obtained through a friend of my grandmother be further evidence of his interest? It is hard to say seeing as how Edwards was also a newsman and I don't know the circumstances of their meeting. I also don't have any idea if Truman was fully aware of who Edwards was, or his UFO research. I no longer own the picture, but while I did I shared it with the world via the internet, it can now be viewed HERE.
This is an autographed photo of Harry S. Truman and Frank Edwards, a 1950's UFO author, taken in 1954. Frank also used to write for Fate Magazine. It was given to me by a friend of my grandmother because of my interest in UFOS. Kind of makes you wonder.
--John T.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/truman_and_the_ufo_author/43569
In regards to more recent presidents Bill Clinton said "If the United States Air Force did recover alien bodies" in Roswell, the Air Force didn’t tell me about it, and I would like to know."
Well if Clinton wasn't briefed it seems that maybe Dick Cheney was. On April 2001 Grant Cameron asked Dick Cheney if he had been briefed on UFOs, and if so what had he been told. Cheney apparently could neither confirm nor deny stating "Well if I had been briefed on it, I'm sure it was probably classified, and I couldn't talk about it."
If he HAD BEEN briefed it PROBABLY WAS classified! Thanks for clearing that up sir! I'm guessing Mr.Cheney likes the executive order exemption in the FOIA!
We often hear about The Roswell Incident, but one person in the saga that is often left out is former Pentagon Official Colonel Philip Corso. In his book The Day After Roswell the former member of President Eisenhower's National Security Council details efforts led by him to reverse engineer alien technology found at the Roswell Crash. But are there any modern day officials coming forward with similar stories?
Steven M. Greer, MD who founded a nonprofit research project known as The Disclosure Project has gathered "over 400 government, military, and intelligence community witnesses testifying to their direct, personal, first hand experience with UFOs, ETs, ET technology, and the cover-up that keeps this information secret." Just as in the case of the enormous amount of flies of the CIA and others, the question must again be posed.Why is there so much information from government sources about what is commonly still regarded as a fairy tale topic by so many including the media?
Documents are one thing, but an even better question is why would so many credible people come forward to Dr. Greer and put their reputations on the line? The best answer in my mind is beacuase they are being honest and believe humanity deserves all the facts. You generally don't get rich from telling wild stories about these type of things, you get ridicule, and these people already have good careers. Dr. Greers website http://disclosureproject.org has many ways the average person can get involved in calling for the truth of these matters. I strongly suggest all who read this take a look at his efforts and support him in anyway you can.
UFOs are of course not an exclusively US phenomenon. For lots of good info regarding official government study programs looking into the subject throughout the world, please click HERE.
To visit this article on the Care2 News Network click HERE.
Related:
Richard Dolan on Steven Greer
