2017 UK UAP files release - Leslie Kean was right

Introduction

Earlier this year, the UK government's National Archives, released a further batch of fifteen UAP files. I recently had the opportunity to examine the contents of these files. In the files, we find a large number of low-level interest sightings, made by members of the public, police officers, pilots etc., relayed to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) via RAF bases, local police, the Civil Aviation Authority and other agencies. We also find details on a number of cases which cried out for, but did not receive, investigation and analysis. There are also copies of MOD internal memos on a range of topics, including sightings, and policy. There is much correspondence from members of the public asking all sorts of questions. Included in this area, are also, questions from sugch officials as Lord Hill-Norton; MPs, and UAP researchers such as David Clarke.

It is not my intent to conduct an exhaustive analysis of this large set of documents; no doubt others elsewhere, will do this. My intent is to simply sample things which interest me, and will therefore possibly interest readers of this blog.

Leslie Kean and Project Condign

On 3 February 2011, my former co-blogger, Pauline Wilson, published a blog post titled 'Secret UFO Studies in the USA?'

Pauline noted an intriguing paragraph in a then new book by US author Leslie Kean titled 'UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials go on Record.' [Harmony Books; New York; 2010.]

Image from my personal book collection

On page 238 of the book, Kean, speaking of an official UK government document wrote:

'...comes close to verifying the existence of such a secret group in America - the only legitimate, confirmed government document to do that, to my knowledge.'

What was the document?

Kean refers to it as written in 1993 as part of the precursor to the UK's Project Condign.

'The document mentioned by the Defence Intelligence staff...is written by his counterpart in the DIS, it was addressed to Pope's supervisor "SEC(AS)2," the Air Staff deputy director, and classified "secret UK eyes A." (p.238.)

Kean presents the text of paragraph 2:

'2. I am aware from intelligence sources, that xxxxxx believes that such phenomenon exist and has a small team studying them. I am also aware that an informal group exists in the xxxxxxxxxxxx community and it is possible that this reflects a more formal organisation.' (p.239.)

Kean's analysis in the book concluded that the first redaction was 'Russia' and the second was 'US Intelligence.'

Redactions uncovered

The newly released UK UAP papers now reveals the truth behind the redactions.

File DEFE 24/3152 page 176 is a formerly 'Secret UK eyes A' memo dated 2 December 1993, file reference D/DI55/108/15. It is addressed to DI(ST) and titled 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study - Proposed amendment to NNR2/113. Paragraph 2 of this memo reads:

'I am aware from intelligence sources, that Russia believes that such phenomena exist and has a small team studying them. I am also aware that an informal group exists in the US intelligence community and it is possible that this reflects a more formal assessment activity.'

This appears to be Kean's 1993 document's paragraph 2. It does reveal that Kean's interpretation of the redactions as, redaction one 'Russia' and redaction two as 'US intelligence, is indeed correct.

However, there is additional information available on DEFE 24/3152 pages 219-220. These are on a DI55 paper titled 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), dated 19 June 1995.

'THE US DIMENSION

24. During discussions with [redacted] I have been told that they do not study UAPs but I have been told that an 'unofficial' grouping exists between the agencies. This group has contacts with [redacted] personnel...'

'THE RUSSIAN DIMENSION

26. [Redacted] have confirmed that at least until the early 90's a small team studied UAPs at Ramenskoye.'

It is a pity that we have had to wait almost a quarter of a century to learn the above.

Was there a secret US government research group?

Hi,

As blog readers will be aware, I am currently writing a series of blogs derived from material I come across while reading Jacque Vallee's recent book, 'Forbidden Science-Volume three.'

This post will explore the question of whether or not, there was a secret US government UFO research program in the 1970's and 1980's, using both Volumes Two and Three of 'Forbidden Science.'

As readers of 'Forbidden Science' will be aware, the books are in the form of diary entries which Vallee wrote, either at the time, or within a short time of the events he describes. I will quote the exact words used in these entries, sourcing the page number and date. As you read through twenty year of time, from 1970 to 1989, be aware of the changes which occur within Vallee's thinking on the question of whether or not there was a secret US government research group during those decades.

Currently , many UAP researchers would answer in the affirmative, to the question as to whether there is a such a secretive research group behind the scenes today. Their views, are to a large degree founded on what researchers of the likes of Vallee, were thinking many years ago.

Vallee's diaries

1. (Vallee writing about Howell McConnell.)

'He asked me if I'd ever heard of a group based at Wright-Patterson which is supposed to do secret analyses on behalf of the Air Force. He's heard that the office in question confiscated UFO negatives in order to analyze them secretly.' (Volume two. p.160. Dated 28 October 1972.)


2. (Vallee in discussion with Hal Puthoff.)

'If there was a project actively investigating UFOs within the government I didn't want to step on their toes.

"Well, yes, there is such a project, " Hal finally admitted. "In fact they call me from time to time to find out what my psychics have to say on the subject and do remote viewing of certain places where they think there may be UFO bases...They have an official charter..." Hal went to a public phone and called someone in Washington. He wrote down a name on a piece of paper: David M..."That's one of the men in charge."...No contact with David M. He told Hal that his unit was being disbanded "because of the current events" (Watergate?), but he remained "Very interested in Vallee's long-term approach."' (Volume two. pp209-212. 16 & 27 October 1973.)


3. 'Spurred on by our conversation at the Perfect Recipe, Hal Puthoff tells me he has found the leader of the CIA group that monitors the UFO field. The team used to be under David "M", a middle-level manager who became overly excited when the recent wave struck...he was pushed aside and another man, a biologist, was put in charge. Hal says the new man doesn't want to see me yet.' (Volume two. p 214. 17 November 1973.)


Note: This new man sounds like Dr Christopher (Kit) Green, as Hal had Vallee meet Green on 11 February 1974.

(Vallee in disscussion with Kit Green.)

'The most important thing I learned was that Green had counterparts in every branch of the Executive. Like Howell McConnell, they mainly operated "out of personal interest," with the blessing of higher-level managers...'

Vallee went on. "Don't you agree there must be a secret effort somewhere?" He thought about it for a while."Yes," he finally said, "I do agree with that statement. In my group we've wondered if it wasn't being run within private industry."' (Volume two.  p 237. 11 February 1974.) 


4. Vallee records that he went to the CIA and met with David M. and colleague Mary S. 'the people in the room knew less than I did...' (Volume two. p.243.  21 March 1974.)


5. Hal Puthoff relays a message from Kit Green to Vallee. "...you ought to know there's a group of 12 highly-placed people in the government who've decided to create a focus for the study of UFOs, with full access and funding for researchers like you." (Volume two. p 254. 2 June 1974.)


6. 'Kit and I drove over to the Marriott to meet David M. and "Sams," who was introduced to me as a member of the new "Group of Twelve"'...I realized they were all space cadets, talking about pedestrian research worthy of the old Nicap...' (Volume two. p255. 16 June 1974.)


7. 'Hynek has gone to see Donald Rumsfeld at the White House. ...Allen described the work of the Center.,.. Therefore he had the need to know if there was a secret study somewhere. Rumsfeld replied abruptly: "You do NOT have a need to know." Now Allen wonders if the man was reacting purely as a  bureaucrat, or if he really knew something.' (Volume two. p293. 13 April 1975.)


8. (Vallee receives a call from an individual at McDonnell-Douglas Astronautics.)

Vallee writes. 'They have an on-going secret project, well funded, with the blessing and official monitoring of the CIA and they're discreetly connected with major UFO groups...' (Source: Vallee. Forbidden Science volume two. p.412. 8 June 1978.)


9. 'Kit has been told that the Agency didn't have a mission to monitor the subject...which brings us back to the big question: If these guys actually know nothing, who the hell is in charge?' (Source: Vallee. Forbidden Science Volume two. p 417. 29 January 1978.)


10. 'A great deal of activity, if not research, is indeed going on about UFOs among government organizations...McDonnell-Douglas is continuing their quite but well-funded study with John Schuessler, also monitored by the agency. They seem to be looking for exotic alloys.' (Volume two. pp439-440. 15 October 1978.)


11. 'The intelligence agencies of several countries, notably the U.S., the U.K. and France (often acting in concert) encouraged a few private scientists and physicians drawn from UFO groups and aerospace companies to conduct semi-official, deniable full investigations.' (Volume two. p.491 "Reflections.")


12. 'Over lunch with Hal Puthoff at SRI, I told him I no longer believed the government had an ongoing UFO project. He has reached similar conclusions.'  (Volume three.' p.32. 21 May 1980.)


13. (With Kit Green.)

'We discussed the possibility that a secret project existed somewhere either in France or here. Kit remains sceptical.' (Volume three. p.75. 6 September 1981.)


14. 'Dick Haines told me about a recent visit to Vandenberg Air Force base. He came back certain there was a secret government project to study UFOs.' (Source: Vallee. Forbidden Science. Volume three. p. 93. 6 April 1982.)


15. (Vallee.)

'I have drawn two conclusions from the Toulouse meeting: first, Richard Niemtzow has convinced me that there was a secret project within the US government.' (Volume three. p.197. 6 July 1985.)


16. (Discussing John B Alexander's group.)

'...they came to the conclusion there must be a secret UFO project, somewhere else!' (Volume three. p.199. 24 July 1985.)


17. (McMann - number two at the CIA, was asked):

'Are other groups already doing it?' [Studying UFOs.] He responded "No." (Vallee writes.) "This surprised us: there must be an investigation somewhere and if McMann doesn't know about it, who does?"  (Volume three. p. 228. 23 March 1986.)


18. (Quoting Joe McMoneagle - best remote viewer in the Army.)

'There must be a higher level of authority that controls UFO data.' (Volume three. p.316. 26 March 1988.)


19. (Quoting Hal Puthoff.)

'No body with any brains seems to be tracking this...' Vallee then writes, 'I disagree with him.'
 (Volume three. p 407. 11 July 1989.)


20. (Vallee writes.)

'If Lundahl is unaware of a black project, if Kit has come up with nothing, if Admiral Houser and General Tommy Johnson strongly deny ever being briefed about any high-level UFO threat that leaves me with no evidence, not even the hint that a black project is active.' (Volume three. p.435. 17 September 1989.)


21. (Vallee writes.)

'I am as puzzled as ever: there is evidence of a large disinformation campaign. It must be designed to cover-up something, but when I peer behind the fence I can find no trace of what is supposed to be covering up.' (Volume three. p.436. 17 September 1989.)

UFO researcher masquerades as ASIO officer

Hi all,

I have just had another RAAF UAP file digitised by the National Archives of Australia. File series J63, control symbol 5/40/Air Part 2 is titled "Reports on Unidentified Flying Objects." It originated with RAAF base Townsville and has a date range of 1971 to 1974. It is a 331 page file.

The file is a mix of reports of low level interest lights in the sky with a couple of more interesting reports. I summarise two of these in this post:

18 June 1971. Burketown, Queensland.

At 6.38pm, according to a report from the Burketown police, to the Naval Intelligence Centre, a UFO was seen by several residents. It was an "illuminous cigar shaped object", orange into red colour and then a "clear light colour." It was seen to the west, on the southerly side of the setting Sun. The sky was clear. It travelled north to south along, and above the horizon. It travelled slowly, became momentarily stationary; then lost altitude; then changed to an easterly course. Moments later it changed to a south-west course. It disappeared into the south-west. Total duration was 17 minutes.

The police report was signed by Sgt 2/c W G Boon and stated in part, "The circumstances of the sighting are regarded as unusual and cannot be explained here." There were no aircraft in the area at the time.

4 January 1974 Townsville, Queensland.

At 8.50pm, weather observer Leslie William Onley, was using a met. radar type 277F at the Townsville aerodrome.

He observed an unusual radar trace bearing 280 degrees, elevation 85-87 degrees. He stated "There are no signals in this area at 11 nautical miles/66,000 ft high. Aerial 85 to 90 degrees elevation."

Heightwise, "First sighted 66000 ft descended to 4600 ft in ten minutes."

To the question "Describe any deviation or manoeuvres" he responded "Slight spiral through 280 deg to 360 deg north to 140 deg."

It was last observed by radar at 85/90 deg elevation on a bearing of 140 deg. "Heavy pulsing of all radar scanners plus "A" scan blotted trace radar parked and turned down."

A hand written note, signed by Onley reads:

"Radar scan noted 40 deg arc, from 90 deg down to 50 deg. This particular radar does not go over 90 deg elevation. Azimuth arc measured 40 deg, also clear cut signal. Dimension on "A" scan - range 2,500 yards through target. First sighted 66,000 ft tracked to 4600 ft.

"When heavy pulsing on all scans blotted out signal, and radar was parked and rapidly turned down."

The RAAF investigating officer typed:

"Mr Onley estimates that the actual length of the echo was about 2,500 yards."

DCA radar technicians suggested that the radar may have experienced a period of "heavy pulsing" during the range wind down stage. Mr Onley is quite certain that this was not the case and the radar has not displayed this type of malfunction since the unusual echo was sighted."

The RAAF's conclusion was "...the most probable cause of the unusual contact on the radar was the effect of anomalous propagation."

ASIO:

On this file is an unusual Department of Air Minute paper dated 21 August 1973, that reads:

"1. Contacted today by (name on the file) ASIO...concerning a Mr John West ostensibly a member of the "UFO Shadow Project."

2. West claims to be an investigating officer but he interests ASIO because he has masqueraded as an ASIO officer.

3. Any information on contact with West is to be passed to Brian asap.

4. West is reported to be in Cairns."

The document is signed by W G Canniffe, Flg Offr AIR 4.

Have any blog readers any information on "John West?"

UK intelligence agencies and their interest in UFO researchers

Dear readers,

Long time readers of this blog will know of my interest in the involvement of various government's intelligence agencies in the UFO phenomenon. This blog contains a number of posts on this subject (e.g. click here and here.)

I recently came across a book, which I missed reading when it first came out, but which has quite a few accounts of intelligence operatives and UK UFO researchers. I'll summarise some of it, in case you have never read the book yourself.

Saucer spies:

The book in question is titled "On the Trail of the Saucer Spies: UFOs and Government Surveillance." The author is Nick Redfern, and the book was published in 2006 by Anomalist Books, San Antonio. ISBN is 1933 66 5106.

APEN:

The first thread tells the story of a UK group calling itself the "Aerial Phenomena Enquiry network" (APEN). APEN (click here) contacted a range of UK UFO researchers and groups in the period 1974-1992.

Redfern writes "When APEN surfaced the intense, official surveillance of practically the entire British UFO research community began in earnest." (p.136.) Redfern source his knowledge, in part, to a character he refers to as "the Sandman." This individual claimed to have been involved in an "...operation...designed to carefully monitor a number of low-profile individuals in the north of England, Nottingham, Cambridge, Birmingham, London, Leicester and elsewhere, who were all tied...with underground and extremely ultra-right wing fascist organisations in Britain." (p.136.)

Sandman claimed the operation involved Special Branch, Scotland Yard and MI5. The Sandman went on to say that "...six of the people being carefully watched 'for extremist actions" had a personal interest in the UFO controversy." (p.137.) The thinking of the government agencies was that perhaps the UFO interest was just a cover for something else. The Sandman told Redfern this group of individuals created APEN to attempt to destabilise UK UFO groups, and recruit people for right-wing groups. The Sandman admitted to Redfern that to counter APEN's methods "We decided at Special branch and GCHQ that there was one way we could stop this: we began creating our own APEN letters and began sending them out." (p.142.) Redfern says that confirmation of Sandman's information came from another source via Andy Roberts. (p.142.)

Matthew Bevan:

Redfern interviewed "...a self confirmed computer hacker who lives in Wales..." (p.183) Bevan got into the subject of UFOs when "One guy in Australia - had on his bulletin board all these text files about UFOs. This was about 1994." (p.185.) He later hacked into computer files at Wright Patterson USAF base, looking for UFO information. Bevan's hacking activity came under the notice of Scotland Yard and the US "Defense Information Systems Agency" and the USAF Office of Special Investigations. Bevan was arrested and charged. later, be believed he was still under surveillance. (Click here for more on Bevan.)

Mathew Williams:

Williams was a South Wales UFO researcher, who in the mid to late 1990's was "...delving into claims that a crashed UFO and alien bodies were held deep below ground at a sensitive Royal Air Force installation in the south-west of England called RAF Rudloe Manor." (p.194.) Redfern asserts that Williams was under government surveillance, and that (citing the Sandman) "...questions would be asked at an official level about Williams' intentions - including even whether or not he was utilising his UFO research as a cover for working with none other  than the Irish Republican Army. " (p.220.) Click here for other views on Williams.

"The British Roswell:"

Following a lead to a reported UFO 'crash' in the UK in early 1964, Redfern interviewed one Harold South. South told a story of seeing what appeared to be an Army, Police and RAAF operation to remove "...a large object had been lifted on to the trailer and had been a partially covered by a tarpaulin." (p.224.)

This object seemed to be a triangular shape, and South said that he was later interviewed by a police inspector, and his camera and photographs he had taken of the scene were taken by police. South told Redfern that Ministry of Defence Police had called him shortly before the interview with Redfern. Redfern wrote "There seemed only one conclusion: somebody in the intelligence or defence community wanted to let us know that by  probing into the complexity of the Pentridge crash, we had opened up a sensitive can of worms." (p.228.)

GCHQ:

The UK's Government  Communications Headquarters, was the target of research by UK researcher Robin Cole. Redfern reports "...that GCHQ has a large and impressive library that contains a considerable number of books on UFOs; that GCHQ was implicated in the study of military originated UFO encounters as far back as the early 1950's; and that GCHQ was involved in the investigation of an intriguing UFO incident that occurred off the East coast of England in October 1996..." (p.232.)

On 1992 Cole wrote a booklet titled "GCHQ and the UFO Cover-up." Someone from GCHQ rang Cole up to ask for his source. Later, he was interviewed by a Detective Sargent from Special branch, and apparently surveilled by the Ministry of Defence. For more on Cole click here.

Summary:

If you have never caught up with this book of Redfern's it is worth getting hold of a copy and studying it.

I'd be interest to hear from any blog readers who were caught up in the APEN saga and for your views on the accounts given in Redfern's book.

Australian government UFO files I would like to find

Hi all,

Introduction:

Over the years I have accessed over a hundred Australian government UFO files, via either the Archives Act or the Freedom of Information Act. However, there are a number of files which I have not been able to locate. I'll describe what I know of these; perhaps a blog reader has come across them?

Darwin RAAF files:

National Archives of Australia (NAA) file series E1327 contains three files which I have  seen, namely control symbols 5/4/Air Parts 1, 6, and 6/7. The file titles are "Unusual sightings and incidents." I asked a reference officer at the NAA Darwin office if they could locate parts 2,3, 4 & 5 of this series. Their response was that they had "...no record of thse files coming into our possession." The originating agency for the series at the moment is  RAAF No 321 Combat Support Wing, Darwin, based at RAAF Base Winnellie.

HQ Support Command:

NAA file series A9755 control symbol 4 is a file formerly numbered B 5758 control symbol 5/6/1 Air part 8 with a date range of 1978-1989. I had a copy of the file digitised. It contains UFO reports from 1978. File series A9755 control symbol 5 has the same title with a  date range of 1986-1992, hence not available under the Archives Act. I asked a reference officer at the NAA Melbourne office if they could locate parts 1-7? Their response was that an examination of file series B5758 and B5759 had failed to locate any other parts held by them. This could imply that the files had been destroyed in accordance with standard Archive procedures, or that the originating agency still holds onto them.

SEC.CD2/2:

There are references on a number of files e.g. file series PP4741/1 control symbol 5/5/Air (16 Jan 1951); A11339 control symbol 5/7/Air Part 1 (21 Nov 1953) andA703 control symbol 554/1/30 part 1 (16 Nov 1953), to a file numbered SEC.CD2/2.

In March 2005 a Disclosure Australia representative, David Hearder, found a file series A1196 control symbol 29/506/13 Part 1 which contained a top numbered document from a DAFI file numbered CC1/3. It had some top numbered documents in exactly the same format as the Jan 1951 document mentioned above. David therefore deduced that file SEC/CD2/2 was an early DAFI file.

Folio 37 of file series A703 control symbol 554/1/30 Part 2 has a memo on it, which in part, says, "...the loss of Part 1 of the file 114/1/197 (ex CD2/2) in the move of the Department from Melbourne to Canberra. Two searches through records and the archives has failed to trace this file."

A request by me in 2005 to the RAAF Historical Section also failed ot locate this file.

The 1954 Nowra incident:

Australian researcher Bill Chalker interviewed the main witness to this case, Shamus O'Farrell, involved in the 31 Aug 1954 aircraft encounter near Nowra, NSW. In an article, by Bill, he wrote that O'Farrrell met J Allen Hynek in 1973. Farrell said "I had a telephone call one day from Sir Arthur Tange saying that Hynek was coming and he would like me to meet him. I said, well, I haven't got all the facts, they're all a bit hazy. So he sent me the two Defence Department files over to read, to refresh it all..." It was all investigated by the Joint Intelligence Bureau."

I'd like to locate these two Defence files.

Department of Supply files:

The Disclosure Australia Project located a number of Department of Supply files dealing with UFOs. However, on some RAAF files there appear reference numbers to Department of Supply files apparently dealing with UFOs. Yet, these have never been located.

The Westall incident:

RAAF officers were reportedly involved in the 6 Apr 1966, Westall High School, Clayton, Melbourne event where students and at least one teacher, reported observing an unusual object both in the sky, and at close range. However, despite searches by a number of people, no-one has yet located any RAAF or other agency documentation on this spectacular case. If any blog reader knows of such material, I'd like to hear from them.

Hope:

There is always hope that files such as the ones above, and others currently unknown, will in fact, turn up. I have had a couple of instances myself of just this.

One time, I submitted a request for any files on various Australian UFO groups held by the intelligence agency, ASIO. The initial ASIO response was that they held no such files. A year later, an ASIO file on the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau quietly turned up, unannounced in the NAA. I came across it by accident while looking for other material.

A more recent example is the discovery of the Department of Transport Aircraft Accident Investigation file on the 1978 disappearance of Frederick Valentich, which again, quietly turned up in the NAA. Its presence went unseen, until I literally stumbled over it looking for other files.

So, there just may be hope for us to come across the files I have mentioned in this post.

Intelligence officers and UFO reports

Dear readers

Today's post arises from an interesting article in the March 2012 issue of the English Fortean Times magazine (issue 284 pp390-31.)

Researchers David Clarke and Andy Roberts, in an article titled "On the Saucer Beat" explore the issue of official UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) investigations into U.K. UFO reports.

They quote the head of S4(Air) MOD, John Peduzie, speaking of the MOD's specialist intelligence branches, "[These] branches have their own methods - and [the UFO desk] has 'no need to know' about them - but we are aware that DI55 ( click here for more) sometimes makes extensive enquiries." Clarke and Roberts go on to say that  "It's no surprise then, that most of the intelligence files on UFO investigations were destroyed long before the arrival of Freedom of Information."

A number of papers survived and were located in the Archives, which showed "...that, on some occasions, intelligence officers were sent out to conduct field investigations." (Click here for my previous post on UFOs and British Intelligence agencies.)

The authors cite a UK March 1966 instance, where a Police Constable, Colin Perks, reported an object hovering over shops at Wilmslow. "...the MOD...sent a Defence Intelligence Officer from London to interview Perks, and to visit the scene.

MIB?

Roberts and Clarke note that "It is possible - indeed likely - that some of these visits were responsible for rumours about the activities of the sinister 'Men in Black.'"

In another case, Police Constable Martyn Johnson was out walking with his girlfriend, when they both saw two colourful lights moving slowly, soundlessly, close to the ground. Then the two lights became four, and vanished at speed. The PC was told to attend his boss' office, where he found two other men present.

"...they were dressed just like the spies on TV, in trench-coats and trilby hats...He was reassured when his boss told him he wasn't in trouble and that the two men were 'members of a government investigation department in London..." The men questioned the PC about the UFO sighting. The next day they accompanied him to the location of the event.

The PC ran into them again later, and they told him "What you have seen is an unidentified flying object or UFO. Some people call them spaceships and if the people of the world knew how many genuine sightings there were like yours, they would panic."

Clarke and Roberts found PC Johnson's report on a file and note "All the reports on this file were copied to the RAF Strike Command and to DI55."

Australian and New Zealand intelligence agencies:

I have previously written about the involvement of Australian and New Zealand intelligence agencies and UFOs (click  here.)

Britain's X-files

Dear readers

A refreshing cool change swept through Adelaide overnight, after a few days of warmer weather.

The subject of today's post, comes from issue 280, November 2011 of the English Fortean Times magazine.

In an article about the latest release of UK Ministry of Defence UFO files, containing 8600 pages, David Clarke takes a look at some of the contents which interested him.

DI55:

In a document dated July 1995, and written by a desk officer of the Ministry's scientific intelligence area, Clarke writes:

"In what I believe to be the most important revelation so far, an intelligence officer reveals that '...lack of funding and higher priorities' had prevented any detailed study of the thousands of reports they had received since the end of world war II." This was just one year before the Ministry conducted Project Condign (click here for details.)

RAAF Lakenheath:

"...it is worth noting  that the new files contain details of a more recent incident involving RAAF Lakenheath that occurred in January 2007. In this case an unusual object was detected by the pilot of a USAF F-15 on his airborne radar during a routine exercise...When the captain of the F-15 took a closer look he found the "UFO" was actually the size of a soccer ball and was drifting in the wind at between 17-18,000 feet..." For a look at details known prior to the release of these new files click here.

Balloons:

"Balloons were also responsible for a type of UFO sighting that spread like a virus across the British isles from the summer of 2006. These are the ubiquitous orange lights in the sky that drift slowly across the night sky in formation that resembles fleets of flying saucers... Chinese lanterns..."

Comments:

The continuing release of thousands of papers from the UK's UFO files, reveals more about the background interest of intelligence agencies, in the UFO phenomenon. The official line is that intelligence areas of the British Ministry of Defence; the Australian Department of Defence and the New Zealand state in summary that some UFOs are not explainable in conventional terms; that they are scientifically interesting but are of no defence threat. See a previous post on just this topic (click here.)

For more material by David Clarke on these files, click here.

"Plane spotting"

Dear readers

Adelaide is in the grips of a cold spell. Yesterday's minimum of 1 degree Celsius was a three year record.

Today's post concerns an article by English ufologist Jenny Randles which just appeared in the June 2011 issue of the English Fortean Times magazine (issue no 275, page 27.)

In the article Jenny takes a look at two previously unknown pilot encounters from the United Kingdom, which were discovered in the latest batch of UFO files released by the UK Ministry of Defence.

The first was on 28 August 2001 when a light aircraft pilot was flying over Cherry Valley, near Belfast. In clear sky, he reported seeing "...a large, circular white light moving silently and at high speed at an estimated height of 500 feet."

The second pilot encounter took place on 13 Aug 2005 from an Air France aircraft flying at 30,000 feet 10 miles west of Gatwick airport, near London, at 5.11pm. The object was travelling in front of the plane. The pilot adds that this sausage-like object was "...one-two metres long...and shaped like a 'yellow cylinder'."

Jenny then goes on to relate other aircraft observations she had investigated over the years.

Findings:

The 2001 observation was investigated by the Ministry of Defence which concluded"...nothing of any defence significance."

Jenny comments that "This is a useful insight, because it illustrates the futility of chasing major UFO secrets within the official files..."

At the end of the article Jenny writes "...makes us consider just what does or does not get documented when it comes to aviation source. How much more evidence exists 'out there,' but not on the official record?"

Comments:

I was taken, by Jenny's comments about the negative possibility of finding major UFO secrets in government files.

A previous post of mine (click here to view) looked at what the New Zealand, Australian and British government's defence intelligence agencies had said about UFOs. They all said that the UFO phenomenon had no defence implications. However, they also said that the UFO phenomenon deserved scientific study.

ASIO and Australian UFO groups

Hi

During the period when the Disclosure Australia Project (http://disclosureaustralia.freewebpages.org/) was actively pursuing Australian Federal government UFO files, I requested files, if any, held by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) (http://www.asio.gov.au/) on a number of Australian UFO groups.

Initially, none was found. However, later, unannounced, one file did turn up in the files of the National Archives of Australia (http://www.naa.gov.au/)

The file:

File series A6122, control symbol 2155 titled "Flying Saucer Research Bureau (Qld)" was that file.

Recently, on revisiting this ASIO file in the Archives, I was surprised to find that the digital version now has more released pages on it.

There is now a memo from the OIC South Australia Police Special Branch, dated 4 January 1962 with a copy to ASIO, South Australia, which went on to ASIO headquarters. This memo is a cover letter for a report.

The report, reference 2188/67) has a subject of "Australian Flying Saucer Research Society. Allegations of attempted take-over by pro-communist Sydney group." It states that Fred Stone, a former president of the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (AFSRS) had called into South Australian Police's Special Branch (click here for more.) Stone told them that he feared the AFSRS "...were in danger of being taken-over by a Sydney group known as the UFO Investigation Centre, whose headquarters was situated in Sydney, New South Wales."

The report continued "Former members of the Adelaide committee, who resigned on the 3rd November 1961, were concerned at this manoeuvre as they believed the Sydney society was "pink" in outlook..."

Stone stated that the present unrest had been instigated by Mrs J Ingram-Moore, otherwise known as June Marsden..." For more on June Marsden see a piece by Bill Chalker here.

Stone mentioned the names of some UFOIC members; namely Andrew Tomas, Dr Lindtner and Dr Clifford.

In preparing the report, the South Australian Police Special Branch had obtained information from the News South Wales Police Special Branch. The information provided by the NSW branch included personal details on each of the three men, then concluded "The UFO Investigation Centre has not previously come under the notice of this Branch. The only person referred to in the attached report...is Dr Lindtner." The report included information about organisational affiliations of Lindtner's.

The NSW Special Branch's input concluded with "In view of the above information, it would appear that Mr Stone's fears may not be entirely groundless."

My comments:

1. It would appear that some unknown person requested ASIO to review its previously non-release of this specific report, and was successful.
2. The release of these papers provides a little more insight into Australian UFO group "politics" of the 1960's.
3. From this ASIO file we know that ASIO had looked into three Australian UFO groups, namely the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau (based in Brisbane) the UFO Investigation Centre (Sydney) and the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society (Adelaide.)
4. For more on this ASIO file please read the Newsletters of the Disclosure Australia Project at http://disclosureaustralia.freewebpages.org/.
5. You can look at the digital version of this file by following:
a. Go to http://www,naa.gov.au/
b. Click on "RecordSearch" top right hand corner of the screen
c. Click on "search now as a guest"
d. Click on the tab "RecordSearch advanced search"
e. Click on "items"
f. In the box "item control symbol" type in 2155
g. Go through the list until you find the Queensland file
h. Click on the file and then open up the digital version.

Secret UFO study in the USA?

Dear readers

If you have been watching the news, via any source, you will see that our state of Queensland has been battered by a category 5 cyclone - a very unusual weather event indeed. Here in Adelaide, South Australia, in the last week we have experienced 42 degree Celsius heat. Today it is forecast to be 34 degrees.

In today's post I return to a subject dear to my heart, which is intelligence agencies and UFOs. I have previously posted about the CIA's interest in the subject in the 1970's (see posts on Dr Christopher "Kit" Green.) Have we any evidence that intelligence agencies continued an interest beyond the 70's?

Leslie Kean's book:

In her new book, "UFOs'" (see the post re this here) Leslie Kean, discusses this topic in chapter 23 titled "Government cover-up: Policy or Myth?" Among other things, she relates the finding of a document from the United Kingdom. The document, Kean states, "...comes close to verifying the existence of such a secret group in America-the only legitimate, confirmed government document to do that, to my knowledge." (p.238.)

The document:

The one page document was written in 1993, titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study" and proposed a study, which was later carried out as Project Condign. "The document "Initiated by the Defence Intelligence Staff... Written by his counterpart in the DIS, it was addressed to Pope's superior "SEC(AS)2," the Air Staff deputy director, and classified "Secret UK eyes A." (p.238.)

Kean presents a relevant paragraph:

"2. I am aware, from intelligence sources, that XXXXX believes that such phenomena exist and has a small team studying them. I am also aware that an informal group exists in the XXXXXXXXXXXX community and it is possible that this reflects a more formal organisation." (p.239.)

Kean's analysis concludes that the first redaction is "Russia" and the second redaction "US intelligence."

Later she says "If indeed, this interpretation is correct, and I have every reason to believe that it is, this document references a secret group within the US intelligence world actively studying UFOs." (p.240.)

Then "The public position of the US government is that they haven't investigated UFOs since 1970...But this British document-the provenance of which is beyond dispute-potentially blows this claim out of the water." (p.240.)

Have any readers come across any more information of this secret study, and any others since 1993?

Defence intelligence agencies and the UFO

Hi readers,

Well its a really hot 39 degrees celsius in Adelaide today, so it's a very good time for sitting under the air conditioner and doing some thinking.

The subject of today's post has been at the back of my mind for several weeks now. I wanted to compare the conclusions reached about UFOs by the Australian, United Kingdom and New Zealand Defence Intelligence areas of their respective Defence Forces. This line of thinking all started when I re-read some material on the Disclosure Australia (DA) website (http://disclosureaustralia.freewebpages.org )

Australian considerations:

The DA website contains a paper by my co-blogger, Keith Basterfield, titled "Scientific Intelligence and the UFO question in Australia" written in 2008. A two year correspondence between Keith and the Minister for Defence, resulted in the release of a formerly "secret" file. This file was titled "Scientific Intelligence - General - Unidentified Flying Objects" and is available from the National Archives of Australia, being file series JIO63, control symbol 3092/2/000, date range 1957-1971.

The file was held by the Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) which later became the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO,) within the Australian Department of Defence (DOD.) It is currently called the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO.)This agency, whatever its name has been the main intelligence area of the DOD.

The role of the JIB/JIO was to collect, collate, analyse and distribute within the government, information relating to defence intelligence, i.e. strategic political, military, economic and scientific, about other countries.

What was the JIB/JIO take on UFOs?

The following is taken from papers on the formerly "secret" file. Mathams, DSTI replied to the DD(C) on 2 February 1970:

"...my views on the subject of UFOs, from a scientific point of view , are as follows:
(a) The present establishment of DSTI...no surplus research capacity within the establishment that could be diverted to problems such as the investigation of UFO reports.
(b) I am not convinced that there is a sufficient scientific intelligence component in the UFO problem, such as to warrant any diversion of Australia's very limited resources for scientific intelligence research..."

On 3 February 1970 the DD(C)McMichael, wrote to DSTI:

"I am sure that there is an area of investigation that should be pursued by some authority...I have considered carefully whether a part of the subject might be undertaken by us, but this approach doesn't seem practicable..."

On 27 March 1971 the Director JIO R W Furlonger, wrote to the Deputy Secretary B:

"There appears to be sufficient evidence from RAAF and US reports of investigations of UFO sightings to indicate that some reports cannot readily be explained by natural phenomena or man-made activities..."

To sum it up, the Australian DOD defence intelligence area said that there was some merit in the UFO phenomenon that should be investigated by someone, but it wouldn't be them.

Elsewhere, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) a part of the DOD were officially charged with investigating Australian UFO reports (which they referred to as Unusual Aerial Sightings UAS) stated time after time in their files that their task was to assess UFO reports for any possible threat to Australian national security.

After investigating UFO reports from at least the early 1950's to 1984, on 2 May 1984 the DOD announced:

"The RAAF in future will investigate fully only those Unusual Aerial Sightings (UAS) which suggest a defence or national security implication."

In 1994 the DOD went further:

"Consideration of the scientific record suggests that, whilst not all UAS have a ready explanation, here is no compelling reasons for the RAAF to continue to devote resources...The RAAF no longer accepts reports on UAS..."

With that announcement, the Australian government officially closed any UFO investigations.

In summary, in 1971 the Defence Intelligence area of the Australian DOD recognised that there some unexplainable UFO reports, and in 1994 the DOD agreed that not all UAS reports had a ready explanation, the official Australian government UFO agency, the RAAF closed its doors on the phenomenon. UFOs might be scientifically interesting but they were no defence threat.

United Kingdom considerations:

The UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (DSTI) studied UFO reports for years.

Dr David Clarke and Andy Roberts in their 2002 book titled "Out of the Shadows" documented DSTI's involvement.

In 1967, the Deputy Director of Intelligence wrote:

"In our case we have tailored our efforts to meet the minimum requirement of protecting UK airspace from any incursions which might pose a threat or a hazard." (p179.)

By 2001 DSTI ceased reviewing UFO reports made to the MOD, as it had been determined that UFOs were of no defence interest.

However, a formerly "secret" study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) was conducted in the late 1990s by a consultant hired by the Defence Intelligence area of the MOD. The study was later released to the public. Titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region: Scientific and Technical Memorandum - No 55/2/00."

The terms of reference of the study as indicated in the aims was "The aim of this task is to determine the potential value, if any, of UAP sighting reports to defence intelligence."

Page 4 of the Executive Summary adds "Consistent with MOD policy, the available data has therefore been studied principally to ascertain whether there is any evidence of a threat to the UK."

Page 6 of the same summary stated:

"Based on all the available evidence remaining in the Department (reported over the last 30 years), the information studied, either separately or corporately contained in UAP reports, leads to the conclusion that it does not have any significant Defence Intelligence value. However, the study has uncovered a number of technological issues that may be of potential defence interest..."

"No evidence exists to associate the phenomenon with any particular nation."

"No evidence exists to suggest that the phenomenon seen are hostile or under any type of control, other than that of natural physical forces."

Key supporting findings included:

"Aerial phenomena of the type consistent with those reported as UAP, and with exceptional characteristics, certainly exist - but the available evidence suggests, that apart from those which can be more easily and satisfactorily explained, they are comprised of several types of rarely encountered natural events within the atmosphere and ionosphere. Some of them are still barely understood."

My summary of the UK's Defence Intelligence area's thoughts, is that UFOs certainly exist. Some are scientifically interesting, but there are no significant defence threats.

New Zealand considerations:

File 244/10/1 of the New Zealand Defence Force, recently released by the New Zealand government has a memo on it dated 4 November 1976 from Secretary for Transport to Secretary of Defence (Ref Def66/20/1 DDI.) Included is the statement:

"I agree that there seems to be no need to have a committee to investigate reported sightings of UFOs...As we have no interest other than to ensure...eliminate the possibility of an unknown intruder..."

This memo was a response to the Defence Intelligence area of the NZ Defence Force's query as to whether or not the NZ "Unidentified Flying Object Investigation Committee" should continue. The DDI chaired this committee.

Also on file 244/10/1 the official New Zealand government position on UFOs was stated in a memo dated 5 October 1976 from the Secretary of Defence." All I can say is that empirical evidence shows conclusively that there are no defence factors involved with UFO sightings."

An earlier memo, dated 8 August 1972 from the Minister of Defence stated:

"...the overall subject does appear to be primarily a matter of scientific interest than defence..."

In short, UFOs are scientifically of interest, but no defence threat to New Zealand.

Comments:

Dear readers, do you see a pattern here? Australian, New Zealand and the United Kingdom's Defence Intelligence areas have studied UFO reports for years. They state in summary that some UFOs are not explainable in conventional terms; that they are scientifically interesting but are of no defence threat.

There would seem to be value for researchers to take a look at the conclusions of other global governments to see what their take on the UFO phenomenon has been.

Curveball - an example to the UFO research community

Dear readers

Long-term readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with intelligence agencies and their involvement in the UFO phenomenon.

I have posted on Jacques Vallee's interaction with the NSA and CIA in the 1970's (click here); Richard M Dolan's observations on the CIA, NSA and DIA (click here); FOI documents located by Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood (click here); and pointed out that you can read UFO documents held by the NSA, CIA and DIA on their own websites (e.g. click here). Lately, Mark Pilkington's book "Mirage men" covers, both a lot of history plus recent interviews with people who were in the intelligence field.

Here, in Australia, the Disclosure Australia Project, following Bill Chalker's pioneering work, interviewed the Department of Defence's own internal intelligence area expert on the UFO phenomenon (click here.)

Lastly, the recent release of the New Zealand Defence Force's UFO files revealed that it was their Defence Intelligence area which co-ordinated the New Zealand Unidentified Flying Object Investigating Committee (click here.)

Curveball:

In today's post I'd like to present a cautionary tale from a 2007 non-fiction book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Bob Drogin, titled "Curveball" and published by Edbury Press, New York. ISBN 978-0091-9230-20. My copy from Adelaide Booksellers off the shelf.

It is not a book about UFOs but after my notes on the book, I will draw some lessons to be learnt, by the UFO research community.

1999:

In November 1999, Iraqi Ahmed Hassan Mohammed (a pseudonym) arrived in Munich, Germany and came to the attention of the Bundesenachrichtendienst (BND) (click here , Germany's intelligence service. Ahmed told the BND tales of his involvement in Iraq's germ warfare program, and included "Saddam was using German-manufactured equipment to build his WMD..." (p.28.)

The BND sent reports on Ahmen to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) (click here)(p.32.) Ahmed as a source was given the code name "Curveball."

The BND initially refused to allow the DIA to interview "Curveball" (p.36) but shared information "His hands-on accounts, rich with vivid details, provided a crucial missing piece of the WMD puzzle. German intelligence shared their debriefing reports with their closest partners: U.S., British and Israeli spy services." (p.49.)

Distribution:

Gradually, the distribution of "Curveball's" information widened to include the CIA, via DIA HQ. However, what was being received by the CIA was BND summaries of Ahmed's Arabic, in German, which was then translated into English and summarised again. (p.66.)

Among Ahmed's claims was the existence of mobile germ warfare laboratories. As late as September 2002 "Not one CIA operations officer had debriefed the defector." (p.109.)

Ahmed's information continued to be passed upwards. "A National Intelligence Estimate represents the best collective judgement of the entire intelligence community...For the first time, biological weapons took the lead. The section labelled "Biological Warfare Program-Larger than Before" contained the NIE's most assertive and alarming language.And virtually every paragraph derived from Curveball's information." (p.126.)

Britain:

A British Government Joint Intelligence Committee report included "A year later, they cautioned that "our picture of Iraq's BW programme is unclear" other than "good intelligence on one facility that could be used to support BW production," meaning Curveball's worksite..." (p.128.)

Despite internal misgivings as to the fact that the "BND cannot vouch for the validity of the information" (p.142) from Curveball, on 28 January 2003 President Bush stated "From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990's had several mobile weapon labs..." (p142.) "Curveball was "the other tangible source." None of the others had actually seen the mobile bioweapons lab. They had just heard about them. (p.144.)

On 5 February 2003 US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, addressed the United Nations Security Council, speaking out against Iraq. "Powell used the estimate (the NIE) as the foundation for his Security Council address" (p.153.) Powell's speech included the case for mobile weapons labs, "Virtually every word from Powell now was coming from Curveball..." (p.157.)

The UN's inspection team in Iraq (UNMOVIC) on 8 Feb 2003 started to check locations in Iraq mentioned by Curveball, including Djerf al Nadaf "...the complex where Curveball worked." (p.168.)

The UN team found no evidence to support the claim of mobile weapons labs.

"In late July, three deep-cover operatives...drove out of Slayer to search fro Curveball's parents." (p.229.)What they learned sent them off to the BND. An examination of Curveball's Iraqi academic record did not support his claim to have graduated first in his class (p.239.) "On other days, the bio-team pored over the defector's official government employment records...supervisors at the Chemical Engineering and Design Center had fired the young engineer in late 1995 for unspecified...offences...(pp 239-240.)

In short, Curveball's claims could not be supported.Later,it was found that "...all three of Curveball's supposed corroborating sources had lied." (p.245.)

"...Curveball was a liar, a con man, an out-and-out fabricator..." (p.277.)

Comment:

I have spent so much time above, in relating the account of this major intelligence failure for a purpose. It shows human nature at its worst. Intelligent people wanted to believe Curveball's account, so interpreted the evidence to support their belief, rather than the other way around.

In the UFO field, UFO cases are often presented in abstract form, rather than producing all the raw data for people to examine themselves. This is the case in many of the "crashed UFO" stories which have been circulating (see my previous posts here and here.)

Mundrabilla:

As an Australian example, take a look at the 1988 Mundrabilla, Australia, "UFO car encounter" case. (Click here for an example of the legend.)

Most wesbites, books and magazines suggest that the case is a classic example of a UFO picking up a car and dropping it and its occupants back onto the road. However, my co-blogger, Keith Basterfield led a team in a detailed investigation of this case and published a document via the US Based Fund for UFO Research (click here) which, when carefully read, suggested that the event was, in fact, a series of events which could be re-constructed as having no UFO connection at all. However today the Mundrabilla "legend" lives on and will probably continue to do so.

My point with this post is to suggest that when faced with a UFO event, you need to demonstrate that your data comes from original on-site investigations, original interviews with the witnesses and an analysis which takes into account all of, and not just part of, the data. This doesn't always happen and too often the source of the account is an anonymous one, or a document which is no longer widely available.

Final comment from Drogin:

"Declaring Curveball a fabricator in the end was a cop-out for the CIA. It implied that U.S. Intelligence had fallen for a clever hoax. The truth was more disturbing. The defector didn't con the spies, as much as they conned themselves." (p.281.)

Final comment from me:

I'll close with a very relevant quote from paranormal researcher, Jacques Vallee, from a diary entry dated 20 March 1977. The reference to "Kit" is to Christopher (Kit) Green, a former CIA analyst with an interest in UFOs and the paranormal. Kit and Vallee met a number of times in the 1970's.

"I am unimpressed by people with secret clearances. UFOs and psychic phenomena are best studied in the field, not in the secrecy of Washington circles. Kit's colleagues make mistakes like everyone else. In fact they are probably easier to fool, compartmentalised as they are. They can even fool themselves." (Vallee, J. Forbidden Science Volume 2. Documatica Research, LLC. 2008. ISBN 978-0-615-24974-2.)

Wikileaks and UFOs?

Hi readers

From previous posts you will know of my interest in the work of intelligence agencies and their relationship with the UFO subject.

It was therefore interesting to read a quoted comment from Julian Assange of Wikileaks:

"...it is worth noting that in yet to be published parts of the cablegate archives there are indeed references to UFOs."

The full story is at: http://au.news.yahoo.com

UFOs and British Intelligence agencies

Hi readers

It's a rainy day in Adelaide. I've just been out for a long lunch at a pub in the City and am feeling rather comfortable. My brain is back into UFO phenomenon mode, after a busy week at work. Do you sometimes wish that you could give up your day job and study UFOs full time? I do!

So, to the subject of today's post. I am returning to a topic dear to my heart - intelligence agencies and the UFO phenomenon. If you are new here, you might wish to go back over any posts dealing with intelligence agencies, to get up to speed with what comes next.

I have finally managed to re-read the book "The UFO files: The inside story of real-life sightings" by English researcher, Dr David Clarke. The book was published late last year by The National Archives in the United Kingdom. The ISBN number for those who might wish to go out and purchase the book is 978 1 90561550. My copy, surprisingly, comes courtesy of my local Council library.

Introduction:

David's book is a look at UFOs, as described in official Government documents held by the National Archives of the U.K. As he says in the introduction "The sightings described in this book were mostly made by ordinary people, from all walks of life who felt they should report their experiences to the authorities." David's work describes some of these sightings and the response to them by the authorities.

Although I found the entire book fascinating, and an absolute must read, it was the mention of the actions of the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), and specifically its intelligence areas, which was the main focus of my attention.

Why did the Government look at UFO reports?

"The MoD states that it examines UFO reports solely to establish if what was seen has any 'defence significance.'"

This post will therefore note some of David's comments about the MoD's intelligence agencies' response.

1950

Writing about Sir Henry Tizard - Chief Scientific Advisor to the MoD, "It was as a direct result of his influence that the British Government was persuaded to set up a small working party to investigate the mystery, reporting to the Directorate of Scientific Intelligence/Joint Technical Intelligence Committee (DSI/JTIC), part of the Ministry of Defence." (p41.)

1953

"...a decision was taken in 1953 that the Air Ministry should investigate UFO reports...and responsibility was delegated...to a section of the air technical intelligence branch, DDI (Tech)." (p51.)

1955

"An analysis of 80 reports received to the end of 1954 formed the basis of an article in a classified publication known as the Air Ministry Secret Intelligence Summary ..." (p60.)

1967

"A number of Defence Intelligence Staff branches were secretly involved in UFO investigations, but from 1967 all unexplained incidents were reported to DI55. Their primary role was to collect intelligence on Soviet guided missiles and satellite launches that were occasionally reported as UFOs." (p70.)

In 1967 there was a UFO flap in the U.K. including a case where two police officers in Devon chased a UFO. "...DI55 sent a scientific officer, Dr John Dickison, to interview the two Devon police constables." (p74.)

Also in 1967, The MoD "...assembled a small team of experts drawn from the RAF and the Defence Intelligence Staff, who were placed on stand-by to make field investigations of credible reports." (p75.)

1980

The U.K. Government files on the Rendelsham Forst case were released in 2001, "They reveal the Defence Intelligence staff were unable to explain the sightings, but offered to follow up the unusual radiation readings described by Holt. " (p106.)

1985

Writing of English crop circles , "An Army team, led by Lieutenant Colonel G.J.B. Edgecombe, visited the field...Lieutenant Colonel Edgecombe's report and photographs were sent to the UFO desk and then on to the Defence Intelligence staff branch DI55..." (p113.)

1993

"...a RAF Wing Command, working for the Defence Intelligence Staff lobbied MoD officials at a Whitehall briefing on the need for a properly funded study of UFOs..." (p138.) "The Wing Commander said the key priority for the MoD was 'Technology Transfer,' which he explained in this way,'if the reports are taken at face value then devices exist that do not use conventional reaction propulsion systems, they have a very wide range of speeds and are stealthy. I suggest we could use this technology, if it exists.'" (p139.)

1996

"...senior intelligence officers...reluctantly agreed to earmark 50,000 pounds of public money from an existing defence contract for a UFO study." (p140.)

"The UFO study was hidden by the codename 'Project Condigm.' (p140.)

"Its foundation stone was a sample of UFO sightings taken from reports held in defence intelligence files." (p140.)

"A copy of the Condigm report was released under the Freedom of Information Act in 2006." (p141.)

"The 'Summary of findings' led the author to conclude that although UFOs, or 'UAPs' certainly existed, they posed no threat to defence..." (p143.)

"...the Condigm report's key recommendation was that UFOs had no intelligence value and that the Defence Intelligence Staff should cease to receive the reports..." (p145.)

"The completion of the Condigm report in 2000 brought to an end half a century of intelligence interest in UFOs that began officially in 1950 when Sir Henry Tizard asked the MoD to set up a Flying Saucer Working Party..." (p145.)

Is this the end? "In Britain the MoD's UFO desk continues to receive sightings and every year a small number are sent to the Directorate of Counter Terrorism and UK Operations for expert scrutiny. Today it is this branch that is responsible for the air defence of the UK, and their responsibility to decide if any UFO report should be investigated further..." (p146.)

In summary

"Today British intelligence agencies have washed their hands of UFOs while the MoD approaches the subject as more of a public relations than a defence problem." (p150.)

Comment:

To me, this book is an incredibly fascinating review of the U.K. Government's response to the UFO phenomenon. The approach of the intelligence agencies within the MoD is mirrored in the response of the Australian Government's Department of Defence's appraoch to UFOs. If readers have not yet read the final report of the five year long Disclosure Australia Project, I would urge you to do so. It can be found here.

If you have taken note of David Clarke's comments above you will experience a sense of 'deja vu" when reading the Australian experience.

Contactees and intelligence agencies

Hi

Issue 259 of the "Fortean Times" magazine also carried a book review by Andy Roberts. The book is Nick Redfern's "Contactees:A History of Alien-Human Interaction" published by New Page Books. ISBN 978 160 1630 964. (Click here to go to Amazon.)

The book is an examination of the accounts of "contactees." However, the following section of the review caught my eye. Those readers of my blog who know of my fascination with the role intelligence agencies have played in the UFO phenomenon, will understand why.

"And, of course, despite the unproven claims of the contactees and their proponents, the intelligence agencies were interested in the contactees. Not because they had a hotline to the stars, but because the 'messages' given to them by space folk were essentially antithetical to the consumer boom of the '50s and '60s.

"Messages of equality, love and peace , early ecological concerns and speculations about new ways of living were emphatically not what the military-industrial governments of the US and UK wanted spread around. There was real belief that communists and their organisations could harness the contactees and their organisations for their own subversive ends. Redfern cites UK police files, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which indicate that the AEtherius Society was watched for that very reason. But within UFOlogy, there are always at least two sides to every story, and Redfern suggests it could have been possible that the FBI were using the contactees to spread disinformation about UFOs and aliens in order to bury genuine UFO cases."

Comment:

We know from the work of the Disclosure Australia Project, that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) kept files on at least the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Society and the Australian Flying Saucer Society. (Click here and here.)

Redfern's latest book looks like it will be a great read.

NSA FOIA documents 32-42

Here are the final batch of National Security Agency, Freedom of Information Act documents listed on the NSA's website.

32 General Accounting Office report to the then Steven H Schiff re search for records re Roswell 1947 crash.

This is a 21 page report. The General Accounting Office advised that "...we conducted an extensive search for government records related to the crash near Roswell." All that was uncovered was a 8 Jul 1947 FBI teletype "...discusses the recovery ...of a...balloon..." and a USAF report of Jul 1994 "Report of Air Force Research regarding the Roswell incident; plus a history of the 509th bomb group Roswell with an item re the "flying disc/balloon."

Comment: This suggests a fairly wide search was undertaken and makes you wonder if there are in fact any other documents relating to Roswell, out there? Click here for the USAF's own website comments.


33 Memorandum and Order -Citizens Against UFO Secrecy v NSA

In the civil action no 80-1562 undertaken by CAUS against the NSA, the court found for the NSA. It decided the public's interest in UFOs was "...outweighed by the sensitive nature of the materials..."

Comment: Interesting that we are here probably talking about such things as the NSA's ability to listen to Chinese intercepts commenting on balloons launched from Taiwan with the help of the CIA!


34 Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Lambros D Callimahos

This is a nine page, 1965 document, stamped unclassified. It discusses how we might communicate with extraterrestrials using coded radio waves.


35 UFO hypotheses and survival questions

A seven page, 1968, formerly secret discussion paper stamped "draft." It looks at the hypotheses that UFOs may be hoaxes, hallucinations, natural phenomena, secret earth projects or related to extraterrestrial intelligence. Each possibility is explored and discussed against the idea of how the hypothesis would affect the human race.

Comment: It is interesting to note that the sources cited as references for this paper are all public documents. If the NSA was hiding something, you might expect the references to be something along the line of (1) NSA file -UFO16 - analysis of 19 physical trace cases or (2) NSA file UFO21 - analysis of case 2346.


36 UFOs and the intelligence community blind spot to surprise or deceptive data

A seven page, undated, document originally stamped "secret" and "draft." Although there are large areas blacked out, the gist is to be aware of novel, innovative or surprise data or tactics.

Comment: The work of Jacques Vallee is heavily utilised in the paper.


37 Memorandum for the record - subject - information request solicitation

This is a five page document dated 29 Aug 1978 from USN to D4. As an NSA employee with an interest in UFOs who was attending a UFO symposium in Ohio in Jul 78 the person discussed this with their supervisor and others at NSA before attending.

At the MUFON Symposium, following a lecture by Mr Leonard Stringfield, the employee gathered copies from a Mr Robert Barry, of some letters the employee thought were fraudulent. Eventually, some agency either the NSA or another, wrote to Mr Barry and advised him that the letters were indeed fraudulent.

Comment: Makes you wonder what was the content of these letters and why they would interest the NSA? A list of papers presented may be found by clicking here. The papers themselves may be read here. Some interesting comments about the talk may be located here.


38 United States Air Force Fact sheet 95-03

A USAF fact sheet about Project Bluebook (current as of Jun 1995.)

Comment: Visit the Project Bluebook archive here.


39 Report on Air Force research regarding the "Roswell Incident."

A twenty-two page, Jul 1994 summary of the USAF's report on Roswell.

Comment: Why was the NSA keeping a copy of this?


40 JANAP 146

An undated, thirteen page document concerning what should be reported as "vital intelligence sightings" to whom it should be reported, and how. Things that should be reported are "Unidentified Flying Objects."

Comment: For more on JANAP 146 click here.


41 Key to the extraterrestrial messages by H Campaigne

"Dr Capaigne presented a series of 24 messages from outer space in "Extraterrestrial Intelligence" NSA Technical Journal Vol XI No 2 pp101ff...the following article develops a key to these messages."

Comment: Apparently a hypothetical ET message!


42 Extraterrestrial intelligence by Howard H Campaigne

A two page, unclassified paper along the same lines as 41. Released by NSA Oct 2004.

New book on MI5 and MI6

I'm back in heaven! I have just found and started reading a new book on the British intelligence agencies MI5 & MI6. For regular readers of my blog you will know about my avid interest in all things to do with intelligence agencies!

The book is "Secret Wars" written by Gordon Thomas, (click here and here for more info) who lives in London and has published several books dealing with the international intelligence agencies. Published by Thomas Dunne Books, New York in 2009. ISBN 978-0-37998-8.

There's lots of behind the scenes, recent information about variously formerly secret operations. Lots of things you have partly heard about are given more detailed treatment in this work.

In any book on intelligence agencies I always keep an eye out for any mention of the UFO phenomenon. Is there any such mention in this work?

Well, yes, a brief one. On page 230 there is a short piece on the NSA's UK based station at Menwith Hill, Yorkshire. "Later there were rumours Menwith Hill was going to track flying saucers. There had been a number of claims of strange objects in the heavens."

For more on Menwith Hill click here

or here

or here