PROLOGUE
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
UFOs are real! With no prevarication or qualification of terms, there are physical objects of unknown origin that do transit our universe. The evidence that supports those statements is simply overwhelming. That evidence includes both hard data collected via multispectral sensors and from high-quality eyewitnesses that are neither misreporting facts nor delusional. Determining what these objects are, let alone the question of origin, is another matter. There are no simple solutions that fit all of the facts. For about six decades I have been actively exploring the topic and I’m finally taking the time to write about it.
This book differs from all others written about UFOs because it details a personal exploration of the topic in ways that no other researcher has been able to accomplish. What is important and unique are the details of direct interactions with senior officials from many agencies—and finding that no one was responsible for this topic anywhere in the U.S. Government. That fact is very significant and runs counter to conventional wisdom. This book addresses those problems so that the reader can understand the government’s role in UFOs as it really is; not the way many people believe it should be.
Requirements for Researching UFOs
In presentations and discussions on the topic of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), I always begin by stating my position. This is important as there is considerable misinformation about me and my role in the investigation of this fascinating subject. There are three things that anyone who wants to become involved in the study of UFOs will require. While they will be more fully explained later, these attributes are:
— First, a sense of humor; as you will be attacked sooner or later.
— Second, an understanding of conspiracy theory; you are now part of the plot.
— And finally, a day job—or be independently wealthy; nobody is making big money from the topic.
My position is simple: by definition, UFOs must exist. At the most elemental level of understanding, this means that any object that flies, and is not identified, is a UFO. Of course many things begin as UFOs, and are later identified as some prosaic alternative, and thus move out of the UFO status. But that is not what you’re here for. What we are really discussing are mysterious craft that appear in physical reality and that have been observed and reported for millennia. Most important, the evidence supporting the reality of UFOs, as they are commonly understood by the general public, is proven beyond any reasonable doubt. There is a core set of cases—that after you eliminate all of the alternative explanations—just defy conventional wisdom. Any so-called skeptic that states, “There is no hard evidence to support the existence of UFOs,” is simply wrong! What he or she really means is that they haven’t taken the time to seriously review the data, and most likely you can infer that they aren’t about to start now.
Over the past decades I have had the opportunity to research the topic both officially and as an avocation. My interest in UFOs began with the first public pronouncements of Ken Arnold’s experience and various other sightings in 1947. When I was ten years old, I remember a broadcast of the topic on our school’s internal radio system. I attended the Training School, which was located on the campus of what was to become the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. As a side note, the name of the school was changed as some people thought we went to a reformatory, rather than a very progressive school that provided human guinea pigs for young student teachers.
Throughout the course of this book what I have learned will be covered in detail. I promise to tell you only things that are believed to be true. There will be no intentional misleading of the reader. It must also be accepted that people can, in good conscience, look at the same facts and arrive at different conclusions. In fact, I have some good friends whose opinions are highly respected that fall into that sector. Later some of those alternative opinions will be addressed specifically as well as the reasons that we see the conclusions quite differently.
Frequently I’m asked whether or not I’ve seen a UFO. The answer is yes, but it was not very dramatic. When visiting James Gilliland at his remote site in Washington State, well known for sightings, I did witness a minor unique event. This nighttime observation included what appeared to be a satellite moving across the sky from west to east. I was watching this high-altitude object through very good, third-generation night-vision goggles when it suddenly stopped moving. Satellites don’t do that. Compared to what others have reported, that is hardly earth-shattering, but it’s the best I have been able to come up with. More important, my studies indicate that while personal observations are interesting, it is the multisensor data that have been reported by many different systems that confirm the reality of physical craft beyond any reasonable doubt.
Who Do You Believe?
There have been some observations of UFOs in my immediate family. My brother Don told me about two sightings, one of which was confirmed by my other brother George. One he described as follows: “It was in the summer of 1958 in west Miami, Florida, around 2000 to 2030 hours. I was with several friends and we spotted several cylindrical shapes playing in the sky. They moved slowly and methodically in formation, coming in from the northwest sky and traveling in a westerly direction. There were three or four of these objects floating across the sky. We watched them for a short time from in front of [a friend’s] house when we heard the sound of jet engines from aircraft. We then saw three jet fighters starting to track after the objects, which in turn put on a blazing burst of speed and fled the area—in leaving they did not fly in a straight line, but made several abrupt angled turns and within seconds were out of sight.”
Don had an earlier sighting that took place in La Crosse, Wisconsin, before the days of satellites circling the globe. He stated, “We were looking up as kids do, when we saw two lights in the sky that were moving from east to west and were very bright in appearance. When they did a turn to the south, it was not a normal graduating turn like an airplane, but a sharp right-angle turn. We watched it for a while. It was coming toward our direction in the sky when it made a sharp turn, put on a burst of speed, and was gone in seconds.”
Similarly my son Mark, now a lieutenant with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, has told me about two sightings he had. One was while fishing one evening in his small boat in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. There he saw a bright object that moved across the entire sky, but did not behave as a meteor would. The other incident involved a UFO in close proximity to the ground, which resulted in a massive power outage in the western residential area of the county that encroaches on the Everglades. When the electricity went off, Mark left his house. At that point he saw the UFO that had been hovering shoot rapidly straight upward and disappear into the night sky.
As UFO sightings go these are not terribly unique or remarkable. However they do have two important qualities. First, like most sightings, the witnesses never reported the event to any agency. Rather, they remain tucked away as family lore. But that is the second point: they do come from a trusted source, one who has no reason to lie. There are many stories about UFOs that are hard to believe and where the source’s credibility is unknown. However, if you cannot believe your own family, then who can you trust? That is a theme often repeated as people relay relatively unknown accounts of personal observations.
There are those in the conspiracy theory crowd that believe that I’m part of MJ-12, or some other mystical group that is part of a sophisticated cover-up scheme. Depending on which conspiracy one believes in, this cover-up is run by the U.S. Government; possibly some rogue element of a black organization, or an international cabal controlled by the Bilderbergers, Trilateralists, or the Council on Foreign Relations. Many conspiracy theorists (CT) just seem to believe that there exists some great unidentified THEY. This is not true. I’m not part of any covert group and I will have much more to say about conspiracy theories later. Of course, in the convoluted logic of that same CT crowd, just denying association is proof that THEY exist.
I will discuss in some detail an ad hoc, interagency group that I formed explicitly to explore the subject of UFOs. Part of that journey found me briefing quite a few very senior people and their responses were quite revealing. It can be safely said that what was found was not what was expected at the beginning. While many researchers, and even the general public, indicate they believe the U.S. Government is withholding critical information about UFOs; that is not a position in which I concur. The vast majority of the independent UFO researchers who believe in cover-up and conspiracy theories simply do not understand how the government works. This is the greatest shortfall that I have found with the conclusions they have drawn. Hopefully some light will be shed on how macro-systems function and why understanding that social psychology applies to the UFO field just as much as in any other endeavor. Despite what you may think, UFOs are not an exception to the rules and norms of social sciences.
Whenever I give a presentation on phenomena I list a set of my obligations. They apply in this book as well. Those rules are:
— I will tell the truth as I know it
— There will be no intentional disinformation
— There are things I will not tell you (Because they are formally classified)
The information provided is as straightforward as I know it. I still hold security clearances and am bound by the applicable laws. However, I have never encountered a situation regarding UFOs that came close to divulging classified information. Security and classification issues will be discussed in a separate chapter. What most people think about those issues is wrong. Throughout the book people who have agreed to be identified, or have already exposed themselves in other fora, will be named. Anyone who has died will be named. There are people who were engaged in various projects whose identity I agreed to protect at that time. I will continue to honor that agreement.
It is acknowledged that there are those critics who think I just missed the mark and was lied to, or intentionally misled, by those senior officials with whom I interacted. While that is possible, I believe it to be highly improbable because of the number of people involved and my relationships with them.
Whatever UFOs Are, the Answers of Origin Are Not Simple
For the record, I’m convinced that there is no single concise explanation that fits all of the data. Whatever we are looking at, the epistemology is terribly complex, some of the events are very real yet may have a temporal component, and they present elusive attributes that perplex even the best minds. All that is asked is that you review the material and apply common sense to your evaluation. If there is one ingredient most lacking in UFO studies it is that—common sense.
First we will explore how this internal ad hoc UFO investigation came about. There were many moving parts and understanding how they all came together is a bit complex. However, to comprehend the significance of our conclusions it is important to have some of the background elucidated. Note that synchronicity places a role that should not be ignored. Key people kept emerging, often in unique or unanticipated ways. The project covered next has never before been revealed in writing by a participant.