Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Should the US Congress investigate UAP?

Hi all,

I have been re-reading Don Donderi's recent book "UFOs, ETs and Alien Abductions" (click here for my previous post on the book.)

Donderi's views:

The last segment of the book provides an insight into Donderi's views on what needs to happen next. I pick up on page 195 "Congress should reopen the public debate about UFOs and extraterrestrials. America has the largest defense budget and the most powerful armed forces on the planet. Smaller allies as well as the larger powers that have a distant but mutually respectful relationship with the United States will have little choice but to follow the lead of Congress in dealing with UFOs...When Congress finally gains access to and then disseminates the United States' non technical information about UFOs and close encounters, then we can have an informed debate about extraterrestrial surveillance. The goal should be to figure out how to maximise the benefit and minimise the disruption of this unsolicited interest in us and our planet."

Alexander's views:

The above views of Donderi contrast sharply with those expressed by John B Alexander's (click here ) 2011 book "UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities."

"The ultimate gaol for many UFO disclosure enthusiasts is to have Congress hold hearings. There it is assumed the truth will suddenly pour forth and nefarious elements will emerge from the shadows and confess that they have been withholding information that ET is among us. Unfortunately, this is a very naive position, as most investigative Congress hearings go nowhere. They are useful for getting material on the record but rarely lead to action." (p.65.)

Alexander then goes on to describe an attempt to hold Congressional hearings, which he was involved in, in 1999, and another attempt in 2005. Neither managed to succeed.

Kean's views:

I recall another suggested approach as to how to proceed, which was described in Leslie Kean's 2010 book, "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record." (click here.)

I looked at the book again recently, to see what Kean thought about Congressional hearings. There were three references in the book's index. Page 110 describes the 1966 hearings; pages 111-112 and 285-286 describe the 1968 hearings. However, nowhere in her book do I see Kean proposing a call for new Congressional hearings. I

Instead, "Logically the first step on moving forward a solution is the establishment of an office in a small agency within the US Government to handle appropriate UFO investigations, liaison with other countries, and demonstrate to the scientific community that this is indeed a subject worthy of study." (p.211.)

These then, are three views expressed by US authors of UAP books, within the last three years, about the question of should the US Congress investigate UAP?

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