In article <iojn305eoikhevnck1004hb9774a9ciq2i@4ax.com>, David Patrick says...

You're cut-n-pasting your old arguments. Are you truly that devoid of
original ideas even when it comes to insults?

Patty, first off: your slip-up is showing.  Two, if you have nothing to say, 
Plllleeeaaazzzee don't say it and also, tell the rest of your Cult Of
Useful Idiots to stay off the Usenet also!!

What We Know About UFOs, and Whether It Matters by Richard Dolan

"It takes two to speak the truth�one to speak, and another to hear." �Henry
David Thoreau 

Truth in society is really a three-stage process. You learn it, you tell it, you
act on it. None of those steps are easy, and there are no guarantees that one
stage will lead to the next.  One may know that something is true-for instance,
the reality of UFOs-but so what? At the societal level, knowledge often fails to
translate into action. Frequently, it can't even get an official acknowledgment.

Pick a topic. Narcotics trafficking? Many detailed studies have linked narco
traffickers to the global intelligence community. The JFK assassination? Eighty
percent of Americans, supported by a mountain of well-researched evidence,
believe there was a conspiracy to kill the President. The environment? Most
scientists now agree that our civilization, within a mere century, has caused a
rate of species extinction that rivals some of the most vicious in our Earth�s
history. And, oh yes, we appear to be heating ourselves into the stratosphere,
too.

The result from such societal knowledge? Nothing much. Banks and spooks continue
to launder drug money, official quarters explain away the public's so-called
"need" to believe in an assassination conspiracy, and people continue to turn
the natural world into a toxic suburban development. Knowledge doesn't always
equal power.

Such is the case regarding UFOs. There is an overabundance of data indicating
that real objects with extraordinary capabilities have been the cause of serious
concern by the "national security state" for over 50 years. Many people, perhaps
a majority, believe the phenomenon is real and unexplained by conventional
means. Yet officially, UFOs don't exist. They continue to be ignored publicly by
the world of science.

The discrepancy between reality and official acknowledgment is great, even when
compared with other areas of subterranean history.  The phenomenon is real: why
is no one in official (or public) quarters inquiring about it?

Asking The Wrong Questions

After all, even if one argues that the good UFO cases are the result of
classified technology--which is the basic media response--we still have some
important questions. Consider the triangles that are so often reported in North
America and Europe. These objects are commonly described as immense and low
flying, capable of motionlessness, instant acceleration in any direction, and
no-radius turns. And they do all this silently.  No one is arguing seriously
that these things are hoaxes or misidentification of natural phenomenon�both
absurd in the face of an enormous body of witness testimony. So, just what does
that? 

The object seen in Illinois on January 5, 2000 is a good example. At least four
police officers and three civilians in several nearby towns described with near
uniformity a classic triangular UFO�enormous, silent, two stories high, and at
low altitude, perhaps as low as 500 feet.  The witnesses were credible; there
was even a Poloroid snapshot.  

Unable to dismiss the event, the media, predictably, blew it. Here was a golden
opportunity to ask important questions, such as what kind of science can make
those triangles do what they do. Instead, the media expended its energy
disproving that aliens were behind it. "Probably military," is all the public
learned, and that was that. Is it at least possible that there are staggering
energy implications? Yes, I think so. No one bothered to ask.

But, of course, we know how the media works. Just as in the world of science,
gone are the days of independent investigation. Journalists are no better
qualified than scientists to speak intelligently about the UFO topic, largely
because there is no institutional authority granting them the permission (i.e.,
paying them) to investigate. It's tough to be a lone gunman.

There have been a few sophisticated analyses of the event, such as the one done
by the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS). Its carefully worded
conclusion referred to NASA scientist Paul Hill's monumental work on UFOs and
stated that the craft's movements "can best be explained by the application of
localized, directed acceleration fields, which serve to both propel the craft
and modify the airstream surrounding it in order to eliminate aerodynamic
friction. Such acceleration fields are just a manifestation of space-time metric
engineering." In case you're wondering, NIDS did not imply that this was a
current, classified (i.e., terrestrial) project.

Within mainstream culture, however, the most accredited theory for the triangles
seems to be the so called stealth blimp.	Along these lines, one writer stated
blithely that "even big-time UFO buffs have to admit that it�s possible the
[Illinois] mystery craft was a top-secret, man-made experiment." Others have
suggested the object might be powered by microwave energy from a satellite. This
would, in theory, allow for such apparent impossibilities as instant
acceleration. Such technology would demand absolutely leading-edge technology.
Although no one knows for sure that there even is such a thing as a stealth
blimp, let us acknowledge that it's possible.

What no one seems to be asking, however, is whether it was also possible 20
years ago, when similar  objects were described many times over New York's
Hudson Valley. The stealth blimp explanation becomes more problematic the
further back in time we go. We can push this line of questioning back 30, 40,
and 50 years. The triangles were less common back then, but people reported
disk-shaped objects doing the same things. Did our military secretly possess
this type of technology back in, say, 1950?

An objective review of the available evidence	leads us to a resounding "no."
There is no evidence, not in the historical record, nor in any analysis of past
or present technologies, to suggest a breakthrough in "flying saucer" technology
back in the 1950s or earlier.	

Skeptics continue to argue there is no proof that UFOs are of alien origin. This
is a correct answer to the wrong question. What we do have is excellent evidence
that the UFO phenomenon did not originate with our military.  Let�s deal with
that.   

What We Know

For more than 50 years, unknown objects have violated the airspace of sensitive
American installations. The capabilities of these objects have astonished our
best pilots and intelligence officers. Regarding one UFO incident, a classified
CIA memo from 1949 stated: "Information is desired if this was some new or
experimental aircraft or for any explanation whatsoever." In 1951, the Air Force
reported an object that was "flat on top and bottom and appearing from front
view to have round edges and slightly beveled . . . described as traveling at
tremendous speed." A scientist who saw one in 1952 said it had  "some propulsion
system not in the physics books." An F-94 pilot, who encountered one in  1952,
said, "the power and acceleration were beyond the capability of any known
aircraft."

To a reasonable extent, we know how the American military responded to all this.
There is no shortage of documents that describe the seriousness of UFOs.  A 1949
FBI memo, for instance, stated: "Army intelligence has recently said that the
matter of 'Unidentified Aircraft' or 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,' otherwise
known as 'Flying Discs,' 'Flying Saucers,' and 'Balls of Fire,' is considered
top secret by intelligence officers of both the Army and the Air Forces."' 

Gee, no kidding. 

UFOs mattered to our military brass and intelligence officials. Americans who
studied them typically believed them to be technological. As early as the 1940s,
the situation became further complicated by American investigations that
indicated this technology was probably neither domestic nor Soviet. Read that
last sentence again, slowly.  Even after the classified Robertson Panel debunked
UFOs in 1953 (largely, as I have argued elsewhere, to defuse this topic for the
incoming Eisenhower administration), UFOs remained important and shrouded in
secrecy.

Nasty events continued to happen, such as the violation of air space at Maxwell
AFB in 1954, when, according to an "Emergency Report" from that base, a
"saucer-like" object hovered stationary at 2,000 feet. Comparable events
happened during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

None of this tells us what UFOs are, although I suspect most people can do the
math. The matter was, after all, top secret, and sweeping conclusions on such a
topic don't easily make it to public view, despite the Freedom of Information
Act.

But we know that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was discussed (and believed) by
many within the classified world. Beyond that, we can make a pretty good guess
that the extraterrestrial hypothesis was believed and acted upon from the 1940s
onward. At the very least, I would argue that the actions taken by the U.S.
national security apparatus fit better with this thesis than any other.

One might also recall the 1960 public statement of former CIA Director Roscoe
Hillenkoetter: "Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly
concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens
are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense."

Strong words from a former DCI. Yet, after 40 years, the academic community has
yet to comment on it. Not a single scholarly book or monograph on Hillenkoetter
has ever mentioned it.

What We've Done

Okay, so you and I can know all of these things about the phenomenon of UFOs.
Assuming that we should even act on this knowledge, the question becomes, how
can we act effectively? How can we, in other words, educate the public, foster
open discussion, obtain official acknowledgment, receive verified factual
information about the situation, and get a sense of what would then be the best
thing to do?

There is scarcely any credible institutional structure within which to study
this problem and, what's more, bring the results to the wider public. The
universities would be the obvious choice, but have been a circle of ignorance
for over 50 years. Professors, who know nothing of the topic, will not sanction
dissertation study by graduate students, who then become the next generation of
ignorant professionals. Part of this stems from the paranoia of academic life;
part of it is simply an issue of funding. Until money flows for the public study
of this topic, you can rule out universities as a viable engine for change.

As an aside, you might want to reflect on an apparent disparity. First consider
that the wellspring for so much university research in this country is our
military (either directly with federal money or through corporations and
foundations associated with the defense industry). Then think about the
importance of the UFO phenomenon to national security. If this issue were so
important, one might conceivably ask, then why isn't it being funded?

The answer is that it is not being publicly funded. We know UFOs are a
classified subject. It is reasonable to assume that funding for research into
UFOs would also be a classified matter.

Essentially, mainstream culture offers little in the way of enabling people to
organize and study this problem. Beyond the mainstream lies the fringe, although
not all fringes are created equal. Let's look at the larger UFO organizations,
such as MUFON, CUFOS, and the rest. This is something I will describe at greater
length in the second volume of "UFOs and the National Security State."  For now,
I will express my feeling that these organizations-successors, in a way to NICAP
and APRO--have not matched either of the older organizations in moving this
topic forward and presenting it clearly to the public. In practice, they act
more as vacuum cleaners: a great deal of data goes in, but very little trickles
out, except in journals that no one reads. The journals of CUFOS and MUFON are
not even in most libraries; none in my state of New York. Nor have these larger
organizations engaged in any extended efforts to end UFO secrecy.

It is fair to look upon the two above-named groups (and a few related
organizations) as encompassing most of what we might call professional ufology,
academic ufology, or simply the Old Guard. Perceptive readers will know who the
main players are. Over the years, they have stopped at the first rung of Truth's
Ladder; that is, knowing the facts, but not seeking to persuade or effect
change. They are academic in their approach to the problem, with prose to match,
unable or unwilling to draw inferences from their data, conducting specialized
research, and publishing monographs for the small community of UFO researchers.
Conclusions about the nature of UFOs?

You'll be hard-pressed to find them.  Ideas on the cover-up of information?
Ditto. Even when the research is excellent, such as in the aforementioned work
by NIDS, the conclusions are hardly evident, except to the most dedicated and
patient of	readers. It's taken professional ufology a long time to get nowhere.
Still looking to effect change, we now move to the fringe of the fringe.  Dr.
Steven Greer, for instance. I am fascinated by how the Old Guard of ufology
uniformly has savaged him.  It would be blindness itself not to see faults with
Greer and his approach. Anyone who wants to save the world is going to irritate
people, and by all accounts Greer has an ego to match, as well as a history of
alienating the people close to him. But consider the press conference Greer
organized in the spring of 2001: this was a major event given before a packed
house at the National Press Club. The speakers Greer brought in to discuss UFO
secrecy were impressive and credible, and the event was more proactive than
anything undertaken by Greer's detractors.

Media coverage, however, was abysmal. Nearly a year later, nothing really has
come from the event. I am even told there is no trace of it in the Press Club
archives, though I have not confirmed this for myself. Thus, despite his real
and alleged faults, Greer's biggest problem is the national security state
itself. It will always be true that, when it comes to winning and losing, money
and resources matter more than personalities.

There are other venues for getting the truth out. UFO Magazine does as good a
job as anyone at trying to raise awareness of this issue and to educate the
public, but the sum total of such efforts cannot match the magnitude of what we
are dealing with. What we have is an utterly fragmented movement, where "the
center cannot hold."

Does Knowledge Matter?

More than 50 years have passed, and we are no closer to ending UFO secrecy. In
fact, we are probably farther away than we were during the summer crisis of
1952, or the peak of UFO activity in the mid-1960s. This, despite the fact that
we know much more than researchers of prior generations. After all, we have a
wealth of material released by the Freedom of Information Act, something
unavailable before the mid-1970s.

What has changed, however, is public awareness of UFOs. Although it is still
impossible for most public figures to express their belief in UFOs, it is clear
that many people do. Although I'm not really old enough to discern this from
personal experience (still on the shy side of 40), it seems clear to me that
among younger people in particular there is a receptiveness to the reality of
UFO/ET phenomena in our world. Attribute it to "The X-Files," if you like, but
there has been a slow and steady shift at the foundations of our culture.

A century and a half ago, Karl Marx made the then-radical argument that a
society's political system reflects and rests upon economic power and
relationships. As the economic foundation evolves, at some point the cumulative
changes will be so great as to cause irreconcilable problems with the political
"super structure," forcing changes in the political system. If we despair of the
quick fix of ending UFO secrecy today, we might want to remember that insight.
The foundations of our culture have gone through tremendous change since the
days of the early Cold War, and this includes perceptions about UFOs. At some
point in the future, the dissonance between culture and power will be too great,
and the political structure will have to give. For this reason, knowledge about
the reality of UFOs does matter.

Given enough time, the change in official policy will eventually occur. The
problem is that we do not live in normal times. Given the rapid growth in human
population, the proliferation of dangerous weaponry, coupled with the alarming
stress and depletion of natural resources like water, arable land, and (soon)
petroleum, nothing is assured, not even the survival of our global
infrastructure.

But all we can do is our best. If we can make it past our current problem, our
knowledge of the ET presence will indeed translate one day into official
acknowledgment. Mass culture will continue to change, and will eventually force
the issue. The how or when, of course, is anybody's guess.

Looming behind the preceding discussion is the most difficult of all questions:
the nature of the UFO phenomenon and alien presence itself, what alien
intentions might be, and what all this means for our civilization. In my book,
and in the articles I've written for this magazine, I have studiously avoided
dealing with those questions in any detail. In my opinion, that domain is filled
with too many so-called experts who do little more than blow their own version
of hot air. Instead, I've tried to stay close to the verifiable facts.

But if you know the facts, at some point it becomes a responsibility to make as
much sense out of them as you can. This doesn't mean engaging in wild
speculation, but it does mean being willing to speculate reasonably on the basis
of known facts. That will be the subject of my next article.

~ Copyright 2002, all rights reserved.

Richard M. Dolan is author of UFOs and the National Security State. Visit his
web page at http://keyholepublishing.com. UFO
From the April-May 2002 edition of UFO Magazine