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From: Jerry Cohen <rjcohen@li.net>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 22:16:13 -0400
Fwd Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 14:52:09 -0500
Subject: -=[For The Record]=- Oberg/Cooper rebuttal.5a


Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:09:15 -0400
To: Errol Bruce-Knapp <ebk@nobelmed.com>
From: Jerry Cohen <rjcohen@li.net>
Subject: Oberg/Cooper rebuttal.5

Archival:

-----------------
Oberg/Cooper rebuttal.5a
continued from 4
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A researcher's response to James Oberg's:
"IN SEARCH OF GORDON COOPER'S UFOs"
by Jerry Cohen
-----------------

		----------------------------------
                 Excerpts from "The UFO Experience"
                (Hynek takes us INSIDE "Blue Book")
		----------------------------------


Skeptics, I hope you're still reading this.  This is where
things really begin  to get interesting. It's why Hynek became a
believer.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Getting back to Dr. Hynek. In "Oberg/Cooper rebuttal 1a"
(Preface, =B6 3 ) I mentioned that "it was that Air Force's own
scientific consultant who actually proved to us that the Air
Force has not been completely honest with us concerning UFOs."

This next section focuses on what the Air Force's main civilian
scientific consultant had to say concerning Project Blue Book
after it was closed and his job there had ended. His revelations
would have shattered every skeptic's "illusion" concerning the
accuracy of Air Force statistics and made them realize that
Project Blue Book was a sham and the Air Force had to know a lot
more than it was telling. The only problem was that most of the
skeptics never read it and/or, if they did, refused to believe
it.  It is my fervent hope that those following these essays
will become more enlightened in this regard.

To say the following data "is extremely important," is
definitely the greatest understatement I have ever made in my
life. It proves, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Dr. Hynek was
held back from studying the repository of "verified" evidence in
existence. In other words, the same people that had claimed all
along this important evidence didn't exist, were keeping much of
it buried from Hynek and outsiders.  As you will see in these
excerpts from his 1972 book, by his own words, Hynek was not
permitted to peruse the files himself.  The big question was
"Was it incompetence, a need to feel important on the part of
members of the Blue Book staff or a directive from upper
echelon?"



          The accuracy of the following can be checked by
     consulting the sources provided via your local libraries 


                     -------------------------
                     HYNEK & PROJECT BLUE BOOK
                      (The study that wasn't)
                     -------------------------

   {    . . . . .Spock said to McCoy . . . . . "Remember!"    }


When Blue Book closed, Dr. Hynek, having had access to Blue Book
files for approximately twenty years, and realizing how little
study had been done on some of the best cases, had decided that
there was a lot more to UFOs than most other  people realized.
The problem was, how was he going to get this information out 
to the public? He needed to let them know, what *he* knew; that
Blue Book was a  "sham", that the Colorado Study had come to the
wrong conclusions and that he had information he felt proved
there was indeed something to at least a core of these UFO
reports.

In 1972, his book "The UFO Experience" was published and was
earthshaking to those of us that had been following the UFO
controversy closely. Besides the classifications he delineated
concerning the phenomena, etc., Hynek also included revealing
inside details on both Blue Book and the Condon Study.  The most
shattering our consciousness regarding Blue Book concerned
twenty pages described as "Excerpts from a letter by J. Allen
Hynek to Colonel Raymond S. Sleeper" on Oct. 7, 1968.  <1>    It
aptly demonstrated that Blue Book had been a "non-study"  and
made those of us who read his book painfully aware of how little
was accomplished by the project the Air Force touted as its
"scientific analysis" of UFOs.  The letter is both his
evaluation of Project Blue Book and a plea for the Air Force to
take the UFO subject more seriously.

After reading this, it is hard to imagine that someone,
somewhere wasn't taking it more seriously.  Our Air Force has
been and is, the finest "human" Air Force in the world.

In "Oberg/Cooper rebuttal.4"  I made several statements that may
have appeared controversial to some.  Three of them were:  1) ".
. . things concerning the Air Force weren't as we had thought";
2)  "Eventually other things surfaced that made it crystal clear
the Air Force had to know a lot more than it was willing to
tell."  and  3) ". . . a project (Blue Book) that, as we will
discover later, had become an embarrassment to itself."

There are five sections of Hynek's letter to which I wish to
draw everyone's attention.  One of the sections I haven't
included was their own (the Air Force's) consultant's plea to
take UFOs more seriously.  Those wishing to view this text in
its entirety can view it in Appendix 4 of his book, delineated
in the bibliography below.  The following, labeled by section
and general area, are quotes directly from Hynek to Sleeper.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Section A:
HOW  "BLUE BOOK"  DEALT  WITH  ITS  MISSION.

ONE  "CASE  EXAMPLE"  OF  WHAT  HYNEK  THOUGHT  WAS  A  REPORT
GOING  UNHEEDED.    DO  WE  REALLY  THINK  SOMEONE  ELSE  HIGHER
UP  DIDN'T  GET  TO  READ  THIS  CASE  WHEN  IT  OCCURRED?

"Blue Book has been charged with two missions by AFR 80-17, both
ostensibly of the same weight, since the regulations do not
specify otherwise.  They are: (1) to determine if the UFO is a
possible threat to the United States, and (2) to use the
scientific or technical data gained from study of UFO reports.
Neither of these two missions is being adequately executed.

First, the only logical basis on which it can be stated that
UFOs do not constitute a possible threat to the United States is
that so far nothing has happened to the United States from that
source.  First, many reports are not investigated until weeks or
even months after they are made; clearly, if hostility were ever
intended, it would occur long before the report was
investigated. (That is akin to having the Pearl Harbor radar
warnings [which went unheeded] investigated three weeks after
Pearl Harbor.) Nothing did occur, so it can be gathered that
UFOs, whatever they may be, have not so far had hostile intent.

Second, many reports of potentially high intelligence value go
unheeded by Blue Book.  Examples: (a) [Extract from a classified
document of reported sighting of 5 May, 1965, contents
unclassified, classification refers to name, and location and
mission of vessel.] " . . . leading signal man reported what he
believed to be an aircraft. . . . When viewed through
binoculars, three objects were sighted in close proximity to
each other; one object was first magnitude, the other two were
second magnitude. Objects were traveling at extremely high
speeds, moving toward ship at undetermined altitude.  At . . . .
four moving targets were detected on the . . . . air search
radar at ranges up to 22 miles and held up to six minutes.  When
over the ship the objects spread to circular formation directly
overhead and remained there for approximately three minutes. 
This maneuver was observed both visually and by radar.  The
bright object which hovered off the starboard quarter made the
larger presentation on the radar scope.  The objects made
several course changes during the sighting, confirmed visually
and by radar, and were *tracked at speeds in excess of 3000
(three thousand) knots.* (J.C. Asterisks are mine.)  Challenges
were made by IFF but not answered.  After the three minute
hovering maneuver, the objects moved in a southeasterly
direction at an extremely high rate of speed. Above evolution
observed by CO, all bridge personnel and numerous hands
topside."

This report was summarily evaluated by Blue Book as "Aircraft,"
and to the best of my knowledge was never further investigated.
By what stretch of the imagination can we say that the sighting
did not represent a "possible threat" to the United States? 
Only because nothing happened.  Do we ascribe such incompetence
to the officers of the ship, and to the CO, to have such a
report submitted unless all witnesses were truly puzzled?  Is it
conceivable that these officers could not have recognized an
aircraft had it had the trajectory, the apparent speed, and the
maneuvers ascribable to aircraft?  No mention is made in the
report of even the possibility that ordinary aircraft were being
observed.  The very fact that IFF challenges went unanswered
should have been a spur to further investigation.  This implies
enemy craft.  But the report does not even suggest the
possibility that these were ordinary enemy  aircraft.  The
classified document in Blue Book files does not contain further
technical data concerning the sighting itself.  Should not the
director of Blue Book have exhibited at least SOME curiosity
about this sighting?  Yet when I brought it up on more than one
occasion, it was dismissed with boredom. . . . . . *It is hard
for the public to understand how a country whose military
posture is so security geared could dismiss a case like this
out-of-hand unless the military knew more than they were
telling." * (J.C. asterisks are mine)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
J.C. Was Hynek only talking about the public understanding
or his own as well?
    After giving a second example similar to the above
he says the following:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ON  HYNEK's  ROLE  IN  BLUE BOOK  (GUESSING GAME PLAYED)
Appendix 4, Section A, Paragraph 9

"It must be pointed out that neither of these cases were shown
to me by Blue Book personnel.  I happened upon them by accident
during one of my visits as I scanned through material lying on a
desk, and not in the files; I am not permitted to peruse the
files themselves.  I have access to the files only when I
request a specific case.  But how can I request a specific case,
to examine its possible scientific merits, if I don't know of
its existence?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
J.C.  Does the above sound as though they wanted him
to examine the cases?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ON  THE  STAFF  OF  BLUE  BOOK
Appendix 4, Section B, Paragraph 1

"The staff of Blue Book, both in numbers and in scientific
training, is grossly inadequate to perform the tasks assigned
under AFR 80-17, even were they of a mind to do so."


----------------------------
End: Oberg/Cooper rebuttal.5a
continued in: 5b
-------------------------------------
HYNEK & PROJECT BLUE BOOK
(The study that wasn't)
----------------------------