-
- Last month's release of the first detailed satellite
images of Area 51, the top-secret US Air Force test site in Nevada, prompted
a Web site meltdown as people from across the nation logged on in search
of clues about unidentified flying objects.
-
- ''The interest has been really phenomenal,'' said David
Mountain, marketing director for Aerial Images Inc., which posted the high-resolution
photographs of Area 51 on the Internet.
-
- But those hoping to see signs that captured UFOs are
stored at the site (as some aficionados have suggested) were destined to
be disappointed. Most of Area 51's operations occur underground, making
photos meaningless.
-
- Anyone looking for fresh information on UFOs would have
better luck trying a new, but less publicized, source: a study (the COMETA
Report) by the French military, just translated into an approved English
edition.
-
- High-level officials - including retired generals from
the French Institute of Higher Studies for National Defense, a government-financed
strategic planning agency - recently took a giant step in openly challenging
skepticism about UFOs.
-
- In a report based on a three-year study, they concluded
that ''numerous manifestations observed by reliable witnesses could be
the work of craft of extraterrestrial origin'' and that, in fact, the best
explanation is ''the extraterrestrial hypothesis.'' Although not categorically
proven, ''strong presumptions exist in its favor and if it is correct,
it is loaded with significant consequences.''
-
- The French group reached that conclusion after examining
nearly 500 international aeronautical sightings and radar/ visual cases,
and previously undisclosed pilots' reports. They drew on data from official
sources, government authorities, and the air forces of other countries.
The findings are contained in a 90-page report titled ''UFOs and Defense:
What Should We Prepare For?''
-
- ''The number of sightings, which are completely unexplained
despite the abundance and quality of data from them, is growing throughout
the world,'' the team declared.
-
- The authors note that about 5 percent of sightings on
which there is solid documentation cannot be easily attributed to earthly
sources, such as secret military exercises. This 5 percent seem ''to be
completely unknown flying machines with exceptional performances that are
guided by a natural or artificial intelligence,'' they say. Science has
developed plausible models for travel from another solar system and for
technology that could be used to propel the vehicles, the report points
out.
-
- It assures readers that UFOs have demonstrated no hostile
acts, ''although intimidation maneuvers have been confirmed.''
-
- Given the widespread skepticism about UFOs, many will
quickly dismiss the generals' ''extraterrestrial hypothesis.'' But it is
less easy to do so once the authors' credentials are considered. The study's
originators are four-star General Bernard Norlain, former commander of
the French Tactical Air Force and military counselor to the prime minister;
General Denis Letty, an air force fighter pilot; and Andre Lebeau, former
head of the National Center for Space Studies, the French equivalent of
NASA.
-
- They formed a 12-member ''Committee for In-depth Studies,''
abbreviated as COMETA, which authored the report. Other contributors included
a three-star admiral, the national chief of police, and the head of a government
agency studying the subject, as well as scientists and weapons engineers.
-
- Not only does the group stand by its findings, it is
urging international action. The writers recommend that France establish
''sectorial cooperation agreements with interested European and foreign
countries'' on the matter of UFOs. They suggest that the European Union
undertake diplomatic action with the United States ''exerting useful pressure
to clarify this crucial issue which must fall within the scope of political
and strategic alliances.''
-
- Why might the United States be interested - albeit, privately
- in a subject often met with ridicule, or considered the domain of the
irrational?
-
- For one thing, declassified US government documents show
that unexplained objects with extraordinary technical capabilities pose
challenges to military activity around the globe. For example, US fighter
jets have attempted to pursue UFOs, according to North American Aerospace
Defense Command logs and Air Force documents. Iranian and Peruvian air
force planes attempted to shoot down unidentified craft in 1976 and 1980.
Belgium F-16s armed with missiles pursued a UFO in 1990.
-
- Further, the French report says that there have been
''visits above secret installations and missile bases'' and ''military
aircraft shadowed'' in the United States.
-
- Edgar Mitchell, the Apollo 14 astronaut who was the sixth
man to walk on the moon, is one of many supporters of international cooperation
on UFOs. Of the French report, he says, ''It's significant that individuals
of some standing in the government, military, and intelligence community
in France came forth with this.''
-
- Mitchell, who holds a doctorate from MIT in aeronautics
and astronautics, is convinced ''at a confidence level above 90 percent,
that there is reality to all of this.'' He says, ''People have been digging
through the files and investigating for years now. The files are quite
convincing. The only thing that's lacking is the official stamp.''
-
- Mitchell joins five-star Admiral Lord Hill-Norton, the
former head of the British Ministry of Defense, in calling for congressional
fact-finding hearings into the UFO question.
-
- Although Congress seems disinclined to pursue the matter,
the public's interest in UFOs is undiminished. A ballot initiative underway
in Missouri, certified by the secretary of state in March, urges Congress
to convene hearings. The initiative states that ''the Federal Government's
handling of the UFO issue has contributed to the public cynicism toward,
and general mistrust of, government.''
-
- US Naval Reserve Commander Willard H. Miller has long
been communicating this same concern to high level federal officials. With
over 30 years in Navy and joint interagency operations with the Defense
Department, Miller has participated in a series of previously undisclosed
briefings for Pentagon brass about military policy regarding UFOs.
-
- Like many, Miller says he worries that the military's
lack of preparation for encounters with unexplained craft could provoke
dangerous confrontation when, and if, such an encounter occurs; ''precipitous
military decisions,'' he warns, ''may lead to unnecessary confusion, misapplication
of forces, or possible catastrophic consequences.''
-
- And he says he is not alone in his concerns. ''There
are those in high places in the government who share a growing interest
in this subject,'' Miller reports.
-
- If the US military is concerned about UFOs, it is not
saying so publicly. Indeed, the French report chastises the United States
for what it calls an ''impressive repressive arsenal'' on the subject,
including a policy of disinformation and military regulations prohibiting
public disclosure of UFO sightings.
-
- Air Force Regulation 200-2, ''Unidentified Flying Objects
Reporting,'' for example, prohibits the release to the public and the media
of any data about ''those objects which are not explainable.'' An even
more restrictive procedure is outlined in the Joint Army Navy Air Force
Publication 146, which threatens to prosecute anyone under its jurisdiction
- including pilots, civilian agencies, merchant marine captains, and even
some fishing vessels - for disclosing reports of sightings relevant to
US security.
-
- Although researchers have been able to obtain some information
through the Freedom of Information Act, many UFO documents remain classified.
-
- In earlier decades, issues that remain pertinent today
were openly discussed. In 1960, for example, US Representative Leonard
G. Wolf of Iowa entered an ''urgent warning'' from R.E. Hillenkoetter,
a former CIA director and Navy vice admiral, into the Congressional Record
that ''certain dangers are linked with unidentified flying objects.'' Wolf
cited General L.M. Chassin, NATO coordinator of Allied Air Service, warning
that ''If we persist in refusing to recognize the existence of the UFOs,
we will end up, one fine day, by mistaking them for the guided missiles
of an enemy - and the worst will be upon us.''
-
- These concerns were taken seriously enough to be incorporated
into the 1971 US-Soviet ''Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Outbreak
of Nuclear War.''
-
- The French report may open the door for nations to be
more forthcoming once again. Chile, for example, is openly addressing its
own concerns about air safety and UFOs. The now retired chief of the Chilean
Air Force has formed a committee with civil aviation specialists to study
recent near-collisions of UFOs and civilian airliners.
-
- As the international conversation about UFOs unfolds,
sightings continue, as they have for decades. Perhaps the most notable
recent USsighting took place in March 1997. Hundreds of people across Arizona
reported seeing huge triangular objects, hovering silently in the night
sky - a sighting that, as the state's US Senator John McCain noted recently,
has ''never been fully explained.''
-
- As recently as Jan. 5, four policemen at different locations
in St. Claire County, Illinois, witnessed a huge, brightly lighted, triangular
craft flying and hovering at 1,000 feet. One officer reported witnessing
extreme rapid motion by the craft that cannot be explained in conventional
terms. Nearby Scott Air Force base and the Federal Aviation Administration
purport to know nothing.
-
- The Defense Department maintains it can find no information
acknowledging the existence of the triangular objects. In response to a
suit by curious Arizonans, it provided details of its search to US District
Court Judge Stephen M. McNamee of Phoenix. On March 30, McNamee concluded
that ''a reasonable search was conducted'' even though no information was
obtained, and he dismissed the case.
-
- There is one government agency in the country that has
taken steps to prepare for a UFO encounter. The Fire Officer's Guide to
Disaster Control, second edition - used by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and taught at the seven universities offering degrees in fire science
- warns of ''UFO hazards,'' such as electrical fields that cause blackouts,
force fields, and physiological effects.
-
- ''Do not stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitudes,''
the book warns. ''Do not touch or attempt to touch a UFO that has landed.''
-
- The text leaves little room for skepticism. John E. Mack,
professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and a Pulitzer Prize-winning
author, stopped being skeptical a long time ago.
-
- ''No culture from the beginning of time, no culture from
anywhere on the planet, has ever voided the idea of all other intelligent
life other than ourselves,'' he told a UFO conference at the New York Hall
of Science two weeks ago. ''That's arrogance.''
-
- Leslie Kean is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco
Bay area.
-
- This story ran on page E3 of the Boston Globe on 5/21/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
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