SUBJECT: SHOULD THE PUBLIC KNOW ALL ABOUT UFOs ? FILE: UFO3119
(The following article was published in Baltimore, Maryland in the March
2nd, 1993 Baltimore Sun newspaper:)
Should the government tell the public all it knows about UFOs?
by Tom Keyser, Staff writer
The concept of life elsewhere in the universe-- visitors from space, UFOs,
extraterrestrials, aliens, tantalizes earthlings. Yet in the United States no
top government official has ever said publicly that such activity exists.
"What's out there" consumes many researchers with sound academic and
professional credendials. Books and hundreds of papers on the subject have
been written, films have been made, and researchers meet occasionally to
discuss their opinions.
One such meeting last month in Silver Spring dealt with the question of
U.S. government disclosure. Assuming that the government has evidence of UFOs
four specialists gave their answers forandagainst official government
acknowledgement of the reality of unidentified flying objects.
Favoring government disclosurewere Bruce Maccabee, a civilian research
physicist for the Navy from Sabillasville who has long been a leader in UFO
research groups, and Elaine Douglass, director of the Washington Chapter of
the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
Tell the public all
Dr.Maccabee: a large portion of human society either knows or suspects
that at least some of the things reported as UFOs are in fact alien craft.
The increased interest is beginning to have an impact on society in the
form of public speculation, both trivial and serious, about the activities
and the intent of the aliens.
What is the true characteristization of the aliens?
In the absence of valid information, people speculate wildly. But the
government could end the wild speculation by releasing valid information--
even if it released only part of the available information.
Anyone who knows about the reality of identified alien craft (IACs) is
likely to agree with President Clinton's favorite song, which says, "I can't
stop thinking about tomorrow".
When will the IAC problem bubble up to the surface?
Will The people be ready?
Will the shock stop civilization in its tracks?
Is it better to wait for something to happen that nobody has thought about
that drops on us like a load of bricks fropm above, or is it better to bite
the bullet now-- and make some kind of announcement that causes people to
start thinking about what's going on so that we'll be prepared?
Ms.Douglass: The very worst outcome would be if the alien disclosed
itself and the government had stone-walled to the end.
So I ask our government: Do you want your own plan of disclosure, or the
aliens' plan? We get up one morning and turn on the TV and there's an alien
face and he says: People on Earth, be calm.
Dr.Maccabee: The UFO problem has been nipping around the heels of our
civilization for the last 45 years or so. For most people it has been at the
bottom of the list of things to think about, ranking below such all-pressing
problems as "Will Di really get a divorce?".
The government should come clean. This could legitimize the subject for
study by leading thinkers of the human race. The top quantum mechanics, or the
relativistic theorists, or the top world philosophers don't discuss the
subject. Why? Well [the subject's left to] kooks and nuts like those guys
at a hotel in Silver Spring on Saturday Feb 6.
Keep The Lid On
Not all those interested in UFOs favor government disclosure of what's
known "officially". Their arguments were made at the Silver Spring conference
by Robert Durant, a commercial airline pilot and ex-Navy helicopter pilot
from Pennington, N.J., and Michael Levintow, a computer analyst from
Washington. Both are UFO researchers.
Mr.Durant: We have collected a great mass of UFO sightings, photographs,
movies, videos, radar trackings, physical traces in recent decades. The
evidence is overwhelming.
But look at this thing from the eyes of the president of the United
States and his national security advisors. If the government releases its
files-- and the logical conclusion of those files-- the public will demand to
know not just the physics of the matter, but who the aliens are, where they
come from and why they are here.
The result would be chaos. The economic life of the country would be
paralyzed. there would be only one topic of discussion: The aliens.
Mr.Levintow: In addition to the risk of generating social chaos, or even
public panic, a political firestorm wouyld most certainly build for the
government to expel the aliens. This would put the U.S. on a collision course
with space aliens, who appear to be vastly technologically superior to humans.
Why risk provoking such a confrontation, since nothing whatsoever is
gained by politicizing the UFO-extraterrestrial matter, quite possibly the
biggest secret of all time?
Mr.Durant: You have had the luxury of slowly, over a period of many years,
absorbing the awesome secret that UFOs are real. But you want to hit the public
right between the eyes with this psychological bomb? We had the radio broad-
cast of "The War of the Worlds" in 1939 that caused a panic. Is this a
precedent we ought to pay attention to or not?
Mr. Durant: If we look historically at the UFO reports, they've mainly
been hit-and-run affairs.
Beginning in the 1980s, we've seen a shift to the long-duration, low-level,
multiple-witness sighting. The great risk is that we're going to have a
landing in a shopping mall someplace.
Mr.Levintow: If the government makes an official statement, will that
legitimize it or simply lead to more controversy as to whether the government
is telling the truth, or whether it is simply more cover-ups and deceptions
on their part?
It may be impossible to legitimize the subject of UFOs and extra-ter
restrials, because it is such a radical departure from traditional modes of
thought that have prevailed for the last 2,000 years.
How can you legitimize as subject that is so latent with fear and anxiety
on the part of virtually every individual on this planet-- the prospect of
meeting a superior or more powerful intelligence that somehow came into
existence elsewhere in this universe?
The alien agenda is basically unknown to humans. From a cosmic standpoint,
they're clearly a superior force, and they have powers far in advance of
anything humans can muster at this point.
We really aren't in a position to do anything about it, because we don't
have the ability to control the situation. The aliens have control of the
agenda. It is their program. They proceed with it.
Those who are seriously interested in the subject can research until
their heart's content and learn all sorts of interesting things about UFOs
and ETs.
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