by C.B. Scott Jones, Ph.D.
1994
from
BrotherBlue Website
recovered through
WayBackMachine Website
Introduction
There is so much unreal about reported UFO phenomena that it is easy
to brush it off as either delusion or fantasy. When links can be
made with earth-base phenomena and UFO phenomena, there is a basis
for advancing the dialog.
The last speech in this collection is perhaps the most important of
the group. The reason for this statement is that this 1994 talk is
focused on what may be the government’s dilemma in trying to handle
UFO phenomena.
In some respects it is a tough speech, and probably upsetting to
parts of the intelligence community. I have enough enemies as it is,
and do not want to cultivate any more than I have to while moving
through life. However, the issue of excessive government secrecy is
critical to the survival of democracy. This is one issue that is
worth risk taking.
You will note that in the talk I link a particular aspect of UFO
phenomena, mind influence and mind control, with a earth-based
capability in the same area. More is known about the earth-based
capability than the reported UFO capability. The point is this, when
the full earth-based capability in this area is known to the
Congress and the American public, it should be an adequate wake-up
call to get serious about the dialog on UFO phenomena.
If Congress wants to continue to dodge its responsibilities
concerning UFO phenomena, perhaps it will want to look under the
rock that covers our nation’s activity in mind control technology.
Matrix Of UFO
Belief
The Directors of Project Awareness have selected a provocative and
appropriate theme for this convention: UFOs and New Frontiers --
Connecting with the Larger Reality. My contribution to this theme
will be centered around an anchor the
Human Potential Foundation has
found useful in its work in the UFO field for the past several
years.
The main thrust of the Foundation’s involvement in the UFO field has
been a low key approach to the current administration, encouraging
it to review the policy it inherited concerning secrecy about UFO
phenomena, and urging it to change the policy to one of openness --
sharing with the American public and the world what special
knowledge it may have on the subject.
I suspect most of you know, there is a world of opinions about UFO
phenomena, but we could not identify any body of evidence that would
be generally accepted as proof of any hypothesis concerning that
phenomena. We felt, therefore, that it would be helpful to have a
starting point for discussion that generally defined, in summary,
where we are on the subject. We were not seeking a consensus of
belief, but rather a statement about the spectrum of beliefs.
Personally I think that there currently
is only one reasonable consensus: there is not sufficient
information in the public domain to support a logical and rational
belief structure. I also believe that *somewhere* there is enough
information to support a logical and rational belief structure
concerning what we call UFO phenomena. I don’t want to disappear
into a semantic fog, but it would probably take a good deal of
effort to get agreement on what exactly is considered to be "UFO
phenomena." I know for sure that we have our labels wrong.
The issue is not Unidentified Flying
Objects: discs, triangular, cigar or other shaped craft. That is at
best merely one possible manifestation of what we really are
interested in. Abduction phenomena is another poor and misleading
label. Again, I suspect that it is another manifestation of a more
encompassing phenomena that so far no one has been smart enough or
bold enough to identify. I’ll give it a try later because it is one
of our Matrix entries.
The UFO Matrix of Belief presents the spectrum of scenarios found in
current literature which are used to explain so-called UFO or
ETI
activity, or the lack thereof. Each matrix item has a supporting
constituency. Some of these constituencies are quite vocal and
apparently confident that the data with which they are familiar are
adequate to support their belief systems in these areas.
Others are less vocal, but no less
confident that their current belief structures are the most
reasonable, given the data which are generally accepted. There most
certainly is a large minority which is not willing to commit to one
matrix entry over another, or in combination, until additional data
are available.
The following are Matrix of Belief entries which
purport to explain UFO phenomena.
-
All sightings except for a small minority which lack detail can be
explained in terms of naturally occurring phenomena.
-
The phenomena are explained by craft from off planet, but from the
visible universe.
-
The phenomena are explained by
interdimensional penetrations by
other intelligences or life-forms, based in or operating from
another (parallel) overlapping dimension than our own time-space.
-
The phenomena are explained by earth-based "others," referenced
throughout history, who may be other lifeforms, or predominately
resident in realms or dimensions we term spiritual.
-
The phenomena are explained by hoaxes or dramatic scenarios
perpetrated by various intelligence organizations as part of broader
security or disinformational campaigns.
-
The phenomena are broader social engineering, or population
mind-influencing programs designed to promote a more universal
planetary consciousness and to reduce the influence of nationalistic
or religious traditions.
-
The phenomena are examples of technologies springing from
multi-dimensional science, either Earth-based and surrounded by a
bodyguard of lies, and/or non-Earth-based but rejected by most as
outside the current scientific paradigm.
-
The phenomena are any combination of the above, including "all of
the above." Intent: unknown.
A second part of the Matrix concerns possible U.S. Government levels
of awareness, involvement and/or control of the phenomena termed
UFO.
-
There is no government activity inasmuch as the phenomena are
explained by naturally occurring events.
-
The government is aware, but not directly involved or in contact
with the perpetrating forces.
-
The government is in contact to some degree, and cooperating with at
least some of the source-phenomena or intelligences, either for
technology trading or because government believes it has no choice.
-
The government is the perpetrator of at least some of the
phenomenology, perhaps drawing on the source experience for ideas
and methods, but employing the events for other purposes such as
intelligence, disinformation, or to alarm other nations.
-
At least some UFO phenomena are results of government or other
agency sponsored experiments in mind-control, or social control
experiments or initiatives.
As an institution, the Human Potential Foundation does not endorse
any of the Matrix entries. As we have distributed it over the past
months, we have stated that it was prepared to stimulate discussion
and research into the broad spectrum of ideas that are represented
in current literature addressing what are popularly known as UFO
phenomena. Of course, everyone in the Foundation has his or her
favorite Matrix entry, but I have observed that these change from
time to time.
There has always been agreement in the
Foundation that we need more data, and that the U.S. Government and
other governments of the world can and should play a positive role
in sharing what they know, and openly to assist in gathering more
information and to be a full partner in interpreting all available
information. As tax payers we have paid billions to develop, deploy
and maintain land-based, sea-based and space-based sensors. There
can absolutely be no doubt that some of these systems have engaged
and recorded some aspect of UFO phenomena. Where is the data, what
does it mean?
There are several Matrix entries that I want to discuss, and I also
want to share some thoughts about the Cold War and what impact it
may have had on decisions to withhold information about UFO
phenomena from the general public.
It is generally accepted in Washington that the Cold War is over,
and that the West won. Personally, I think a better assessment is
that humankind won. However, the point I want to make is that the
energy that went into fighting the Cold War was huge on both sides.
It was ultimately a cost that the Soviet Union could not continue to
carry, and exhausted itself in the attempt. The economic burden of
sustaining an empire and maintaining a huge military establishment
was crushing.
As William G. Hyland and other close
observers of the world scene have observed, the Soviet system failed
because it was inherently and fatally flawed. Its political
philosophy was oppressive and supported a rigid hierarchy. Its
economic system was inefficient and suppressed incentives to perform
at anywhere close to normal potential. The Communist Party in the
Soviet Union was mirrored in Eastern Europe. The system had become
thoroughly corrupt. Communist leadership had degenerated into a
venal, arrogant oligarchy, living like oriental potentates while
their own people were desperate. However, if the system had been
efficient, the Cold War would either still be going on, or the West
would have lost. There was no lack of intent to defeat the West.
What does this have to do with UFO phenomena? I am suggesting that
in both the Soviet Union and the United States, decisions were made
to place on hold any effort to respond to UFO phenomena while the
Cold War was raging, and its outcome unsure.
I assume that throughout the period of the Cold War, both countries
were experiencing similar UFO phenomena, and very likely their
assessments and responses were also similar.
An argument can be made that due to cultural differences, the Soviet
and U.S. responses to the same UFO phenomena would be different, not
similar. I would agree that there would be some differences, but
suggest that there would be more similarities than differences, and
absolutely no differences in the area of vital national interests.
Most of us remember Winston Churchill’ s elegant and famous phrase
that described the Russian as "a riddle wrapped in an enigma;" but
the second half of his statement is usually overlooked.
Churchill added that the secret to the
riddle was the Russian national interest. The primal national
interest of all countries is to survive as a national entity, i.e.,
the protection of their existing territory, and the preservation of
their prestige from a massive loss of face. These are interests in
common with all nations, and the prestige issue on the subject of
UFOs is a current one for the U.S. government.
In regard to observed UFO phenomena, I imagine during the Cold War
that in both countries questions such as the following were raised:
-
Is this a threat to sovereignty and
national security?
-
Even without a direct physical
threat, is our country and culture somehow in peril from the
source of this phenomena?
-
What are the threat components from
UFO phenomena?
-
Can any of the threat components be
neutralized, or do we have to learn to live with them?
-
Is this a separate threat, or in
some way associated with my Cold War adversary?
-
Is there some way that UFO phenomena
can be used to my advantage against my Cold War enemy?
-
Can we be sure that our Cold War
adversary won’t be able to use it against us?
-
What are the technological
significances to be learned from UFO phenomena? Can we
capitalize on these in any way?
-
Will our Cold War enemy be able to
capitalize on these UFO technologies?
-
Should we consider ending or setting
aside the Cold War relationship in order to have unilateral or
joint resources available to address possible threats from the
source of UFO phenomena?
-
How do we handle the "threat
capability verses intention" issue, and finally -
-
In view of the Cold War economic and
psychological burdens being carried by our citizens, would
additional knowledge about the reality of UFO phenomena be more
than the citizenry could handle?
There is no evidence that I know of in
the public domain about how these questions may have been answered.
There is, as
Zecharia Sitchin has documented in his book,
Genesis
Revisited, the
provocative statements of President
Reagan and
Mikhail Gorbachev concerning the possibility of joint response to
some outside threat to the Earth. Following their meeting in Geneva
in November 1985, Reagan told about one part of their private
discussions.
Reagan, speaking of their meeting said:
"Just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings
that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some
other species from another planet outside in the universe. We’d
forget all the little local differences that we have between our
countries and we would find out once and for all that we are all
human beings here on this earth together."
Over a year later in
February 1987, Gorbachev confirmed what some up to that time had
considered to be merely Reagan’s musings.
At a conference in Moscow on the "Survival of Humanity,"
Gorbachev
said:
"In our meeting in Geneva, the U.S. President said that if
earth faced an invasion by extraterrestrials, the United States and
the Soviet Union would join forces to repel such an invasion. I
shall not dispute the hypothesis, though I think it’s early yet to
worry about such an intrusion."
By this time, the Cold War actually was over, and the leaders in
Moscow knew that. My personal contacts in the Soviet scientific
community had been telling me that this was the case and the
scramble for personal survival was on. They could not predict if the
pending revolution in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union would
be bloody or not. I will leave this side bar of Cold War history,
with some observations.
During a visit to Moscow, at the Institute of Theoretical Problems,
I was informed by the director that a very senior scientist wanted
to meet with me on an important subject. At the Institute we had
been discussing its parapsychological and UFO research. I was
informed that the scientist was a respected Hero of the Soviet
Union, and was responsible for the huge phase array radar near Krasnoyarsk. That particular radar had been cited by the United
States as a violation of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty.
The Soviets had denied this and were
going through extraordinary contortions to make their case. For
thirty minutes I was lectured on the short-sightedness of the U.S.
in trying to force the Soviets to dismantle the radar. The
insistence was that it was a vital installation, and technically not
in violation of the treaty. I countered by saying that I was not
knowledgeable enough with details of the treaty to make a judgment
whether or not there was merit to his argument, and observed that he
obviously was not making a technical case to me, but simply
asserting that the radar was important and needed.
I conceded that the Soviet military and
scientists would naturally feel that it was important, and be
resentful that their diplomats had given it away. I asked what he
wanted me to do about it. He requested me to carry his message to
Senator Claiborne Pell, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. I promised him that I would. The broader issue was the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the child of President
Reagan,
and the principal sticking point that Bush and Gorbachev had to
negotiate away.
When I briefed Senator Pell and senior members of the Foreign
Relations committee staff about the conversation I had in Moscow, it
met nothing special to them. Looking back on that incident, it is
obvious that I missed an opportunity in Moscow to question whether
the importance of the radar site was related to UFO phenomena. I now
suspect that it was, and that they made the assumption that Senator
Pell would make the link. Alas, the Soviets did not know how
compartmentalized UFO information is in the U.S. government, and
that the Congress has not been determined to have a "need to know."
Except for a small number of unreconstructed Cold Warriors in the
U.S. and Russia, the Cold War is over. That means that the energy
and treasure previously dedicated to that issue has become available
for other uses. However, don’t spend too much time looking for the
Cold War dividend. The nature of the bureaucratic beast assures that
nothing will be refunded to the tax payer. Recently the Campaign for
New Priorities (an organization I know nothing about) announced that
the Clinton budget for Star Wars and related programs is still
larger than the combined federal outlays for small business loans,
Head Start, child immunization, mass transit, summer youth jobs and
Pell educational grants.
Such a statement doesn’t mean much
without the availability of actual figures. However, parts of Star
Wars do survive. The question is why? The power of some Congressmen
to keep military spending in their home districts is part of the
answer. The known successes in developing various Star Wars
technology is so marginal, that it is hard to believe that another
answer is that a pending technological breakthrough justifies
continuing R&D expenditures.
The acknowledged value of Star Wars was
its use as a bargaining chip in getting the Russians to agree
actually to destroy missiles and nuclear warheads. Was there, is
there another reason for Star Wars technology that is intended to
address UFO phenomena? I don’t know, but we must think about this
because of the assumptions that drive such a consideration.
Reagan made two more public statements on the subject. In September
1987, in an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations,
he said:
"In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment we often
forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need
some outside, universal threat to recognize this common bond. I
occasionally think how quickly our differences would vanish if we
were facing an alien threat from outside this world."
Reagan’s last public statement on the subject came seven months
later in May 1988, in Chicago at a meeting with the National
Strategy Forum:
"What would happen if all of us in the world
discovered that we were threatened by an outer -- a power from outer
space -- from another planet."
What is important about these statements? A number of things, but
looking carefully at Reagan’s assumptions, they tell us much about
the man and about possible government policy on the subject. The
most important assumption is that there is a "threat" to the world.
Explicitly it is an "alien" threat, from some "other species," not
human.
This was the president of the United States speaking publicly for
the record, and the subject was confirmed by another head of state.
How many lead stories in national newspapers and weekly news
magazines picked up on this? How many editorials were written
exploring the subject and the president’s concerns? Zero. The reason
for that will be discussed later. But what about the assumptions of
a threat from a non-human alien species? Where did that information
come from?
We can look at this two ways. Either
Reagan had slipped a cog (after all, he was the person who said that
trees are a primary source of pollution), or he was making a
statement based upon information he received as the president of the
United States. Because it was repeated three times over a period of
nearly two years, it has the earmarks of an official statement. It
may be official, but is it accurate? Not knowing what the government
knows, it is impossible to answer that question. However, the same
question can be asked of the private UFO research community. Based
upon what they know about UFO phenomena, do you think that they
would agree with Reagan that the world faces a threat from non-human
aliens? You would get three different answers to this questions:
"yes," "no," and "I don’t know."
In my view the most reasonable answer is
"I don’t know." Of course, the "yes" answer is correct for those who
are seeking a new enemy to replace the old Soviet Union, even if
there is no evidence of hostile intent on the part of the visiting
others. That may have been Reagan’s attitude. I would assume that
those who would answer "no" would include those who believe they
have had a personal interaction with the visiting others, and on
balance feel that the interaction was positive.
Without an informative data base, we should be conservative in
making judgments concerning the "threat" potential from UFO
phenomena. If any country of our contemporary world was capable of
extending its human presence to an inhabited planet of another star
system, I would be fearful for that community, given the general
track record of violence on earth. I don’t know who may be
interacting with us, but if we try to meet them with aggressive Star
Wars technology, the hopeless outcome is easy to predict.
On the other hand, if we meet visiting cultures with fearless
curiosity and a genuine willingness to try to understand their needs
and offer what we can, and to ask for assistance that we need, the
outcome may be uncertain, but the dance will have begun.
The point is that this critical decision is too important for any
government to make in secret. I am sure that the counterpart to the
"Better Dead than Red" group has already been formed.
I am certain that a major problem the government faces concerns how
to handle the "capabilities versus intention" issue. Those of you
with government intelligence experience know what this issue is. A
major responsibility of the intelligence community is to estimate a
potential enemy’s military capability. For example, how many ICBMs,
what range, what size warhead, what reaction time to launch, what
accuracy, what reliability, etc. However, political leaders
routinely ask additional questions. Given that the enemy has 1,000
ICBMs, under what conditions will he use them, does he intend to
launch a preemptive strike, etc.? In their minds is the apparent
logical link that the reason a country has a certain military
capability is that it intends to use it. This is always easy to
believe about an enemy state, while on the other hand, your country
has military capabilities for defensive use only.
We have to wonder how the world’s intelligence communities have
assessed UFO phenomena. What capability assessment have they made?
From public reports, craft can hover and then accelerate at such a
rate that they fly out of visual range in a matter of seconds.
Alternatively, they can "blink out" without obvious movement. This
is the ultimate stealth technology. There are reports that when the
pilot of an intercepting aircraft starts to arm his weapon systems,
he immediately looses other critical aircraft systems that keeps him
from pressing home his attack. The suggestion is that somehow his
aggressive intent is immediately known to his potential target, and
effective countermeasures are instantly engaged. Then there are
numerous reports that the visiting others are capable of taking over
the mind of an individual and obtaining a complete data dump.
Communication is also reported in terms of robust parapsychological
phenomena, for example, telepathy.
If they can control our weapon systems and take over our minds, they
apparently can do anything they want to do. But do these monster
powers make them monsters? And what are their intentions? If you had
the responsibility of briefing the president on these issues, what
would you tell him? Knowing the president, would you tell Jimmy
Carter one thing and Ronald Reagan another? And who are you, a
faceless bureaucrat in an unnamed agency?
The issue is too important to be handled by a faceless bureaucrat in
an unnamed agency. The American public and the U.S. Congress must be
involved.
Earlier I asked the question why there was no press response to
Reagan’s extraordinary statements concerning a space threat to the
world. The short answer is that the press has effectively been taken
out of the loop by the success of a counterintelligence program
targeted against the American public and the press. The government
wants no restrictions on how it attempts to handle what we are
calling UFO phenomena. To get this freedom of action, a clamp of
secrecy and stealth intimidation of the press has been employed.
The program has been so successful
against the press, that it doesn’t even recognize the wound. The
process apparently was to stage a number of "UFO events," get the
press charging to the bait and then with fanfare show that it was
either a hoax or misinterpretation of natural phenomena. When print
editors hear: "UFO," "UFO," we get the same response from them that
the village finally gave the young sheep herder who cried "Wolf" too
many times.
This program of ridicule along with super secrecy and an aggressive
way of dealing with individuals who officially know something about
the facts and begin to talk have been adequate to keep the lid on
what the government really knows and what it is doing about it. Of
course we all wish them well in whatever they are doing, but with
the pressures of the Cold War gone, and for the first time in over
forty years the Executive can turn fully to this "problem," I
frankly am very concerned about what decisions are being made
without involvement of the normal democratic process.
Now, it may not be as critical as we fear. There is the possibility
that a few government scientists and outside aerospace contractors
are still staring intently at some assumed or known other-worldly
crash material and continue to be unable
to reverse engineer it. If
that is the case, the super secrecy is based more on embarrassment
than anything else, and to admit this would be a huge loss of face
by some part of the government.
On the other hand, there are a host of scenarios that presume a rich
interaction between the government and various off-earth cultures.
The facts are that the public does not know what, if anything, has
been going on, and president Reagan’s ravings or trial balloons
didn’t move the mark one millimeter. What probably did happen was
that the director of the counterintelligence program was staggered
at the effectiveness of his efforts.
Here are two simple scenarios to consider:
-
UFO phenomena are real and a
counterintelligence operation involving disinformation has been
employed to protect this fact.
-
UFO phenomena, real or not, are also
part of a counter- intelligence operation of disinformation to
protect something of greater value, e.g., multidimensional
science and technology.
(The ultimate invisibility; stealth
-- invisibility; communications; greater propulsion; remote mind
control; unlimited, non-polluting energy)
One of the Matrix entries concerns
itself with multidimensional science. It reads,
"UFO phenomena are
examples of technologies springing from multi-dimensional science,
either Earth-based and surrounded by a bodyguard of lies, and/or
non-Earth-based but rejected by most as outside the current
scientific paradigm."
Most of the literature on this subject comes from Russia, and parts
of Eastern Europe. In the hours of briefings and discussions I have
had with Russian scientists, the subject frequently arises. They
seem to be both comfortable with it and knowledgeable about it. Only
a few U.S. scientists appear to have much interest in it. For both
U.S. and Russian scientists, the work of Tesla is a touchstone for
the subject. A few U.S. researchers have told me that when they
became involved in this type of research, serious problems developed
and persisted until they dropped their efforts. That suggests
that a classified program exists with military applications, and that these
particular scientists were not among the few to be allowed to work
in the area.
The Foundation has followed several of these trails. The easiest one
was mind control technology, and this, as you may recall, is one of
the Matrix entries for possible Government involvement and/or
control of UFO phenomena. This is a little discussed and disturbing
area of government activity. Stan Friedman talked a little bit about
this yesterday when he told about the success that John Marks had
under the Freedom of Information Act in obtaining documentation
about the
CIA MKULTRA program. Perhaps in the style of
Paul Harvey’s
"Now, the rest of the story," later I will pick up where Stan left
off on this particular case.
Over the years, a number of citizens have reported that following
what they thought and reported was a UFO sighting or some sort of
interaction with UFO phenomena, they were visited by "government
personnel" and questioned about their experience. Some also claim
that evidence in the form of photographs was either asked for or
demanded by these alleged agents of government.
More extreme claims have been made,
including various forms and intensity of harassment. This data
supports the existence of government policy to discourage activity
and discussion by private organizations and individuals on the UFO
subject. If this is true, then it predicts the existence of a
government organization to implement this policy. While there may be
no evidence concerning what level in government such a policy may
have been articulated, there can be no doubt that such a policy and
every enforcement action of it is illegal and a gross violation of
the rights of U.S. citizens.
It seems fair for anyone who is making an effort to get the White
House to change its inherited policy of secrecy to one of openness,
to know the type of personnel who play the important
counterintelligence game. In a Colloquium on Counterintelligence
they were described by Major General Edmund R. Thompson, U.S. Army,
former Assistant Chief of Staff, Department of the Army, this way:
"I too have long believed that
successful deception or counter-deception efforts require that
kind of outlook, skills and especially operational mind that
intelligence and counter intelligence people have -- or as Eric
Ambler has described us: ’the most suspicious, unbelieving,
unreasonable, petty, inhuman, sadistic, double-crossing set of
bastards in any language.’"
If a counterintelligence program has
been in effect against the American people, it is so abhorrent that
it virtually assures, in my opinion, that its development and
implementation is layers below the White House. There have been
enough men of integrity in the office of the president to believe
that they would not have allowed such a program to continue if they
had known about it.
This is not to suggest that the President is not briefed on the
subject of UFO phenomena when he comes into office. However, there
is speculation whether or not such a briefing is automatic with
every incumbent, and how complete each briefing may be.
If the above is correct or even partially so, how could the
government get into such a mess? It very likely had an innocent
beginning, but over the years has become a problem within and
outside of government, the extent of which is known to very few.
Here is one scenario. In the late 1940’s or early 1950’s, there was
one or more UFO incidents that convinced people in authority that
earth was in interaction with cultures of unknown origin.
The response was predictable. The
military insisted upon absolute secrecy while attempts to assess
potential threat to national security were being made. Whatever
tangible items for investigation were available, possibly material
from a crashed vehicle and bodies of crew members, either failed to
yield unambiguous evidence of a threat, or defied our best efforts
to reverse engineer the material in order to reach some conclusion.
A decision, not unreasonable, was made
to keep the secret in anticipation that future additional evidence
would add clarity to a confusing picture, or that our own future
engineering and technological advances would allow us to begin to
solve the mystery. Over forty years later we are essentially in the
same position, hoping that the next piece of evidence will be
critical to a denied understanding, and still blocked from
penetrating technology that may be ten thousand or hundreds of
thousands of years in advance of ours, or simply based upon another
metaphysics that we cannot handle.
The above is a simple scenario and it needs no embellishment to
explain the government’s continued want for secrecy on the subject.
What does need to be explained is what someone in government may
have been willing to do in order to keep the secrecy lid in place.
Concurrent with this there may be at least two opportunistic
coat-tailing programs, attempting to use the government’s policy of
UFO phenomena secrecy and the public’s interest in UFO phenomena to
cover other activity. One of these is essentially benign; research
and development programs of the military services and possibly NASA,
on advanced air and space systems. The attempt here is to shield R&D
(research and development) programs for as long as possible from foreign intelligence
penetration.
The motivation is not to keep U.S.
taxpayers in the dark, but rather the realization that if the
information is available to them, it is also available to other
countries’ intelligence services. This would be a legitimate
counterintelligence program, and the people running it, probably the
Air Force, need not know anything about real UFO phenomena. It is
associated in name only.
The second program that may be cruising along with UFO phenomena
cover is not benign. The subject is
mind control and mind influence
technology. It may be an unrevealed facet from one of the "family
jewels" from the mid-1970’s when the CIA was plunged into purgatory
by the investigation of the Senate’s Select Committee to Study
Government Operations with Respect the Intelligence Operations (the
Church Committee), and the Rockefeller Commission established by
President Ford. These investigations uncovered
Project MKULTRA, the
CIA’s program of research and testing the use of drugs in behavioral
modification.
The Senate Committee report on MKULTRA is critical reading for
anyone becoming educated on how a black (secret) project is run, and
why it is so difficult to locate the records. (U.S. Senate, April
26, 1976)
Few accounts of the MKULTRA program fully identify what is available
in the public record about it. Most attention is given to the use of
LSD, and the tragic loss of at least one life as the result of it.
Attention has been focused on the drug component of the program.
There were other identified components, and some subprojects that
never were identified.
The subjects of identified subprojects are:
-
effects of behavioral drugs
and/or alcohol
-
research on hypnosis and drugs
and hypnosis in combination
-
aspects of magicians’ art useful
in covert operations, e.g., surreptitious delivery of
drug-related materials
-
studies of human behavior, sleep
research, and behavioral changes during psychotherapy
-
library searches and attendance
at seminars and international conferences on behavioral
modification
-
motivational studies, studies of
defectors; polygraph research
-
research on drugs, toxins, and
biologicals in human tissue
-
provision of exotic pathogens
and the capability to incorporate them in effective delivery
systems
-
unspecified support for
activities connected with the Army’s Special Division at Ft.
Detrick, MD (this included project MKNAOMI, wherein the Army
developed darts coated with the biological agents, and pills
containing several different biological agents which could
remain potent for months)
-
electroshock; harassment
techniques for offensive use
-
analysis of extrasensory
perception
-
gas propelled sprays and
aerosols
-
crop and material sabotage
-
"Blood grouping" research
-
energy storage and transfer in
organic systems
-
stimulus and response in
biological systems
-
examination of techniques to
cause brain concussion and amnesia by weapons or sound waves
-
controlling the activity of
animals
Additionally, there were three other
subprojects about which there are no public details.
A reported 185 non-government researchers worked on the 149
subprojects in:
The argument inside the Agency for this research was the belief that
hostile powers had used chemical and biological agents in
interrogations, brainwashing, and in attacks designed to harass,
disable, or kill. This was part of the legitimate fear and paranoia
of the cold war.
The Chief of the Medical Staff of the CIA noted in
1952:
"There is ample evidence in the
reports of innumerable interrogations that the Communists were
utilizing drugs, physical duress, electric shock, and possibly
hypnosis against their enemies. With such evidence it is
difficult not to keep from becoming rabid about our apparent
laxity. We are forced by this mounting evidence to assume a more
aggressive role in the development of these techniques, but must
be cautious to maintain strict inviolable control because of the
havoc that could be wrought by such techniques in unscrupulous
hands."
(U.S. Senate, August 3, 1977, p. 73)
From the record, there is no evidence of
attempts to secure approval for the most controversial aspects of
this program from the executive branch or Congress, and that even
some of the various Directors of CIA during the period of MKULTRA
were uninformed about the details of the subprojects. It was also
deemed imperative that these programs be concealed from the American
people.
The CIA Inspector General wrote in 1952:
"Precautions must be taken not only
to protect operations from exposure to enemy forces but also to
conceal these activities from the American public in general.
The knowledge that the Agency is engaging in unethical and
illicit activities would have serious repercussions in political
and diplomatic circles and would be detrimental to the
accomplishment of the mission."
(Ibid., p. 74)
The list of the MKULTRA subprojects
provides a vital insight. Even though some of the cryptic
descriptions fail to reveal what the subject really was, it is the
absence of a specific subject that is most important. For discussion
let us grant that the CIA’s prime motivation for this undertaking
was as stated. It is believable that there was genuine concern about
Communists capabilities in these areas. It follows then that the
Agency would be thorough in its investigation of all relevant
technologies. The list belies thoroughness. What is not mentioned is
any subproject addressing electromagnetic technology. The reason
this is significant is both historical and contemporary.
It is known from open source literature
that during the time of project MKULTRA, scientists in several
countries were reporting research about using electromagnetic energy
to influence the mind. It is not believable that the CIA was unaware
of this research. Moreover, we now know that perhaps the largest
effort in this area was in the Soviet Union and Eastern European
countries. We also know that the Soviet Union achieved success and
the assessment from Russian scientists who have been interviewed is
that they were operating at least a third-generation system of the
technology when the Soviet Union imploded.
The MKULTRA Family Jewel may well have been a throwaway to protect
something much more valuable. We will all know someday what accuracy
there is in this speculation. As will be addressed below, there
appears to be more than one link to UFO phenomena and mind control
technology.
Contemplation of the broader meaning of UFO phenomena easily leads
to serious philosophical and practical areas. Two obvious ones are
the implications for organized religion and the current scientific
paradigm. These and other implications are the vital issues, but it
cannot be assumed that in the case of government these are the first
issues to be considered. It is likely that the government’s first
cut of the situation is a few notches below that level. More likely,
it is much more bureaucratically visceral: how can we handle this
and keep on doing what is normally expected of us?
This is not an unimportant observation.
It may be that the determining factor in the policy of government
secrecy about UFO phenomena is that they have not been forced to say
anything about a subject that probably will be very awkward to
discuss with the American public. As long as they can keep the media
neutralized and either successfully ignore or intimidate the few
serious researchers in the field, they do not have to face the issue
of disclosure. There is nothing particularly mean spirited or
conspiratorial about this. It simply is delaying facing a problem
that they imperfectly understand, and about which there is only one
major area of agreement: they can’t do anything about it.
In some parts of government, the intelligence community for example,
there probably are some very practical concerns about the UFO
phenomena being observed. This is where the link between what
undisclosed mind control technology the CIA may have been
investigating (and may have gone operational), and UFO phenomena
takes place.
One of the most prevalent phenomena reported by participants who
claim UFO interactions is mind to mind communications. Additionally,
some participants report that the most commonly observed visiting
other, the
short Grays, have an ability to take over a mind,
apparently empty it of all knowledge, then later replace the data
base. During this process the mind may temporarily be given a
different data base which supports in the mind’s eye a complex
scenario of cataclysmic world ending.
Any agency that has an interest in mind
control and mind influence technology would have to be concerned
about that alleged capability. The interest may be high enough to
make doubly sure that any independent success the agency had in this
area was still deeply hidden, and that its new interest in this
component of UFO phenomena was also out of public view. When you
think this out, and accept that the mind control phenomena being
presented in UFO phenomena may be real, the potential impact on the
intelligence community would be nothing short of devastating. The
foundation of intelligence activity is secrecy. What happens when
there is a potential to remove that foundation?
The manipulation of truth to maintain secrecy can be seen in the
1977 joint hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,
and the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research,
chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.
The director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, Admiral Stansfield Turner, was being questioned
concerning aspects of the MKULTRA program.
Senator Huddleston: How about record
keeping?
Admiral Turner: Yes; I can’t imagine anyone having the gall to
think you can just blithely destroy records today with all the
attention that has come to this, and certainly we are
emphasizing that that is not the case. (Ibid., p. 23)
It wouldn’t be "gall" that was the
operative factor. It would be a rich mixture of belief that "this
nasty job has to be done by somebody, and no one else is more
qualified," and an addictive willingness to bask in the rush of the
power that secret knowledge provides. Of course, the practical
tradecraft explanation is that everything works on a need-to-know
basis. That is, all information is compartmentalized. This is
buttressed by the rule of never putting anything in writing that is
vital to the survival of the organization. But, if you must, never
allow more than one copy to exist.
The next example is very important. If you don’t ask the right
question, particularly about classified information, you cannot
expect to get the information you are after. The intelligence
community is bred to survive on limiting access to the next layer of
knowledge.
Part of the issue is "need to know," of
compartmentalization of information and operations.
Senator Huddleston: Is there any
indication that knowledge gained as a result of these
experiments as been useful or is being applied in any way to
present operations?
Mr. Brody: (Senior CIA employee) Senator, I am not sure if there
is any body of knowledge. A great deal of what there was, I
gather, was destroyed [by orders of the Director of CIA] in
1973. I would like to defer to Frank here. Do you know of any?
Mr. Laubinger (CIA Office of Technical Services): I know of no
drugs or anything like that developed under this program that
ever reached operational use or are in use today.
Senator Huddleston: So apparently any information that was
gathered was apparently useless and not worth continuing, not
worth further development on the part of the Agency.
Admiral Turner: I think that is basically correct. (Ibid., p.
43)
Look at Laubinger’s narrow, conditioned
and therefore probably truthful answer. It was focused strictly on
operational programs using drugs, and his knowledge about that.
Brody’s response was disingenuous. It denied the possibility that
the scientists doing the contract research would have their own
documentation. And, if that had been swept up by the Agency (a real
possibility), at least they would have memories of their work.
But there is another issue that
fleetingly surfaced and disappeared. Huddleston was the first
questioner to ask about "operational" use of these technologies,
versus "experimentation" with them. If an experimental program had
gone operational, continuing questioning about the experiments would
not easily lead to knowledge about its operational status. There is
more than a hint in this short exchange of CIA counterintelligence
at work. The objective is to move the issue to a safe part of
unimportant history.
The tactic is part of hiding in the
light, to be alert to every opportunity to turn truth, natural good
fortune, bad fortune and luck to maximum advantage. Reality really
sells. It requires little explanation and no defense. The Agency had
established an eager willingness to share all it could find about a
program that actually wasn’t very successful. That part was most
likely verifiably true. But this truth shadowed more important truth
that would not be volunteered.
Another trace of possible counterintelligence activity can be found
in this last question and answer example.
Senator Schweiker: Mr. Gittinger, a
moment ago you mentioned brainwashing techniques, as one area
that you had, I guess, done some work in. How would you
characterize the state of the art of brainwashing today ...
Mr. Gittinger (former CIA employee) ...By 1961, 1962, it was at
least proven to my satisfaction that brainwashing, so called, as
some kind of an esoteric device where drugs or mind-altering
kinds of conditions and so forth were used, did not exist even
though "The Manchurian Candidate" as a movie really set us back
a long time, because it made something impossible look
plausible. Do you follow what I mean?
But by 1962 and 1963, the
general idea that we were able to come up with is that
brainwashing was largely a process of isolating a human being,
keeping him out of contact, putting him under long distress in
relationship to interviewing and interrogating, and that they
could produce any change that way without having to resort to
any kind of esoteric means.
(Ibid., p. 62)
Gittinger was sharing accurate
information about brainwashing techniques. But did it also mean that
while "esoteric means" were not necessary to achieve the effect,
that such means did not exist? That certainly is the thought left
dangling by his statement. What makes this whole episode especially
interesting is that the reason the Agency went back to the records
one more time after exhaustingly searching for MKULTRA records for
the Church Committee set up in 1975, is that they were responding to
a FOIA request brought by John D. Marks.
Marks was perceived by the Agency as an
indefatigable foe. With co-author Victor Marchetti (who spent 14
years with the CIA), they had written an extraordinary expose of the
CIA. Their book,
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, was touted by
the publisher as the first in American history to be subject to
prior government censorship. In a brilliant move, they printed the
book with exactly the same amount of white space of the censored
lines and words. Nearly 200 passages were printed in boldface type.
These were lines first censored but subsequently yielded up by CIA
in legal proceedings. The net result was to highlight what the
Agency wanted to keep secret.
Now, John Marks was at it again. Very likely the CIA actually did
surprisingly discover seven new boxes of MKULTRA documents in the
Retired Records Center. They said that for the first time they
checked the retired records of the Budget and Fiscal Section of the
Branch responsible for the research, and -- there they were!
Actually it makes little difference whether they were salted there
or truly located for the first time. From a counterintelligence
perspective it was an opportunity to get back on top after being
upset.
Marks "won" his FOIA battle, was given
some of the newly discovered material, but was denied the critical
data that may have led him to the fullness of all MKULTRA research.
It was determined by Admiral Turner that the Privacy Act and the
moral obligation to protect the researchers and their institutions
from any unjustified embarrassment or damage to their reputations,
kept him as Director of the CIA from revealing their names to the
public. However, they were identified to the Senate committees on a
classified basis.
Now, seventeen years later in 1994, how
many of these researchers are alive? How many of them are willing to
remember details about research not yet in the public domain? What
did this do to Marks? It substantiated that he was able to use the
system to get theretofore classified material, and that there was
still something to learn about MKULTRA. Importantly from ClA’s view,
it kept him on a trail that they had marked and could grumble about
while inwardly smiling.
It should be considered that a variety of fears on the government’s
part probably have played a role in maintaining its policy of
secrecy. One wonders whether the level of fear has remained
essentially the same over the last forty years, or whether it has
increased or decreased because of additional knowledge or lack of
additional knowledge?
We think that it is responsible to encourage the White House to
change its policy, and suspect that until the public is fully
informed, that no process will be identified that will bring the
phenomena out of the apparent "magic" category. Whatever its source,
the phenomena is leading in this dance. We only get what is offered,
and understand little of that. And to the frustration of the
nation-state system, the source of UFO phenomena appears to have a
preference to deal with individuals, not governments.
There is no evidence that the Congress has been informed by the
Executive branch about information it may have concerning UFO
phenomena. If that is correct, and Congressional interest in the
subject can either be identified or developed, this would nominate a
strategy to influence the White House to change its policy of
secrecy.
There is a specific issue that should provide a strong incentive for
Congress to get involved. On the subject of mind control
technologies, Congress was probably misled during two separate
hearings about the MKULTRA program, and it is possible that an
operational mind control system has been in the inventory of some
government agency for a number of years. The Congressional
intelligence committees may or may not see a link between mundane
mind control technologies and UFO related mind control, but I would
be surprised if questions along that line were not asked if hearings
were held.
In summary, do we see government secrecy? Lots of it, and probably
most of it is the common garden variety. Are there secrets about UFO
phenomena? Absolutely. At a minimum are the lines censored out of
FOIA released documents. And, if there wasn’t more, then the
government’s policy of silence and counterintelligence activity
would not be justified. Remember that the government has never said
that there is no additional information. However, government silence
and secrecy does not prove the reality of any UFO phenomena. What is
needed is all the data.
What to do about this? I suspect that in the end all of the fringe
speculation will be lopped off as simply nuts. The truth will be
exciting enough without trying to force-fit UFO phenomena with the
fear based cries of those against income tax, the Federal Reserve
System, international Jewish bankers, the
Club of Rome, the
Council
of Foreign Relations, etc., etc. These fear mongers have a variety
of other agendas which have nothing to do with UFO phenomena.
Let us work together responsibly to encourage and to allow the White
House to face its responsibilities on this issue. Additionally, the
U.S. Congress needs to be brought into the loop, first to assure
that it has all the information available on the subject, and then
to perform its constitutional role as a check on the executive.
Whatever the truth on this subject, it is time to face it.
End Notes:
-
U.S. Senate, Foreign and Military
Intelligence, Book 1. Final Report of the Select Committee to
Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence
Activities, 94th Congress, April 25, 1976. See pp. 385-422.
-
U.S. Senate, Project MKULTRA, the
CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification, Joint
Hearing, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977.
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