258 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
258 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: THE UFO EXPERIENCE - A SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY FILE: UFO2755
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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This is an excerpt from the book, "The UFO Experience - A Scientific
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Inquiry", authored by J. Allen Hynek. Published by Henry Regnery
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Company, 1972. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 76-183827
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This excerpt covers pages 182-187. I found this especially illuminating
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in regards to why not much got accomplished during Project Blue Book's
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time and in Hynek's words as to why it was that way.
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=======================================================================
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** Begin Excerpt **
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The popular impression through the years was that Blue Book was a full-fledged,
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serious operation. The public perhaps envisioned a spacious, well-staffed office
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with rows of file cabinets, a computer terminal for querying the UFO data bank,
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and groups of scientists quietly studying reports, attended by a staff of
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assistants.
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The actual situation was unfortunately the opposite. The operation was generally
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headed by an officer of lesser rank. In the military the importance attached to
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a mission is usually in direct proportion to the rank of the commanding officer.
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The relatively low-ranking officers in charge of Blue Book were usually assisted
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by a lieutenant and sometimes only by a sergeant. For one long period of time a
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sergeant with little technical training was given the chore of evaluating most
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of the incoming reports.
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This was not exactly a first-line, high priority operation. Blue Book had much
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too small a staff to do justice to a phenomenon that so often greatly concerned
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the public. Compounding the problem, the staff was able to devote only part of
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its time to the technical problem at hand. During my regular visits to Blue Book
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across the years I observed that much of the work in the office was devoted to
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peripheral matters all done at a leisurely pace.
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Further, Blue Book's low-ranking officers had no leverage to initiate the type
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of investigations that were needed and for which I frequently asked. The
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military is entirely hierarchical; a captain cannot command a colonel or a major
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at another base to obtain information for him. He can only request. As long as
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Blue Book did not have at least a full colonel in command, it was impossible to
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execute its assigned task properly. In reviewing cases that had come in during
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the previous month, I often asked that additional, often crucial information on
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a case be obtained. The results were at best minimal; officers at other bases
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were generally too busy to bother to investigate further. Why should they? They
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all knew it was a finger exercise anyway.
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Blue Book was a "cover-up" to the extent that the assigned problem was glossed
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over for one reason or another. In my many years association with Blue Book, I
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do not recall ever one serious discussion of methodology, of improving the
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process of data gathering or of techniques of comprehensive interrogation of
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witnesses.
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The reader may well ask at this point why I did not either lay siege to the
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Pentagon, demanding action, or simply resign in disgust. Temperamentally, I am
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one who can easily bide his time. I also dislike a fight, especially with the
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military. But most importantly, Blue Book had the store of data (as poor as they
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were), and my association with it gave me access to those data. In a sense I
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played Kepler to Blue Book's Tycho Brahe.
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As far as demanding action from the Pentagon, I knew only too well the
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prevailing climate and recognized that had I been too outspoken, I would have
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quickly been discredited, labeled a UFO nut, lost access to data, and certainly
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would have lost all further effectiveness. I have always been of the turn of
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mind that "truth will out" if given time; if there was indeed scientific
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"paydirt" in the UFO phenomenon, as time went on and the gathering of data
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improved, even the most hostile skeptics would be powerless to sweep it under
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the carpet. The astronomer traditionally adopts a very long time scale.
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By and large, however, Blue Book data were poor in content, and even worse, they
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were maintained in virtually unusable form. With access to modern electronic
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data processing techniques, Blue Book maintained its data entirely unprocessed.
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Cases were filed by date alone, and not even a rudimentary cross- indexing was
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attempted. Had the data been put in line readable form, the computer could have
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been used to seek patterns in the reports, to compare the elements of one report
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with those of another, and to delineate, for instance the six basic categories
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of sightings used in this book. Since all the thousands of cases were recorded
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only chronologically, even so simple a matter as tabulating sightings from
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different geographical locations, from different types of witnesses etc. was
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impossible except by going through, manually, each and every report. A proposal
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for elementary computerization of the data in the Blue Book files, devised by
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Jacques Vallee and myself and submitted by me directly to Major Quintanilla at
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Blue Book, was summarily turned down.
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In view of the above and of the frequently contradictory and inane public
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relations statements concerning UFO reports, which even the man on the street
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found unconvincing, it is hardly a wonder that the charge was frequently made
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that the publicly visible air force "investigation" of UFOs was merely a front
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for a real investigation being carried on somewhere "higher up."
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Were I the captain of a debating team whose job it is, of course, to marshall
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the facts favorable to his side and studiously to avoid the other's, I could
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defend either side of the argument. At no time, however did I encounter any
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evidence that could be presented as valid proof that Blue Book was indeed a
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cover-up operation. However, many indications, bits of information, and scraps
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of conversation could be force-fitted into a yes for the cover-up thesis. Thus,
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for instance, one time when I inquired into the specifics of a certain case, I
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was told by the Pentagon's chief scientist that he had been advised by those at
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a much higher level to tell me "not to pursue the matter further." One can make
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of that what one will.
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In a country as security conscious as is ours where central intelligence is a
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fine art, it frequently seemed to me that very provocative UFO reports were
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dismissed without any seeming follow-up - certainly an illogical if not
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dangerous procedure unless one knew a priori that the report really was of no
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potential information value to the security of the country (or that it was but
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was being taken care of elsewhere). As an example, the report of five rapidly
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moving discs, made by a member in good standing of the 524th Intelligence
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Squadron stationed in Saigon and observed by him from the roof of the squadron's
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headquarters, went untouched by Major Quintanilla and Blue Book on the grounds
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that "the sighting was not within the continental limits of the United States."
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It would seem almost inconceivable that the intelligence officer in question
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would not have been further interrogated by some agency; certainly in an active
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battle area his sighting might have presaged a new military device of the enemy.
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Another example, one of many, was this, on the first day of August, 1965, and on
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the following two days there occurred the "Midwest flap." From several states
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strange Nocturnal Lights were reported by ostensibly reliable police officers on
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patrol at various places over an area of several hundred square miles. Blue Book
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dismissed this event as "stars seen through inversion layers," although I know
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of no astronomer who has ever witnessed inversion effects that produced these
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reported effects. Both past experience and calculations show that such illusory
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effects, in which stars move over at a considerable arc of the sky, simply
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cannot be produced by thermal inversions.
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However, police officers weren't the only ones to report. The following is a
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direct transcript of a Blue Book memo: In the early morning hours of August 1,
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1965, the following calls were received at the Blue Book oifices by Lieutenant
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Anspaugh, who was on duty that night:
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1:30 A.M. - Captain Snelling, of the U.S. Air Force command post near Cheyenne,
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Wyoming, called to say that 15 to 20 phone calls had been received at the local
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radio station about a large circular object emitting several colors but no
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sound, sighted over the city. Two officers and one airman controller at the base
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reported that after being sighted directly over base operations, the object had
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begun to move rapidly to the northeast.
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2:20 A.M. - Colonel Johnson, base commander of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base,
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near Cheyenne, Wyoming, called Dayton to say that the commanding officer of the
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Sioux Army Depot saw five objects at 1:45 A.M. and reported an alleged
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configuration of two UFOs previously reported over E Site. At 1:49 A.M. members
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of E flight reportedly saw what appeared to be the same uniform reported at 1:48
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A.M. by G flight. Two security teams were dispatched from E flight to
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investigate.
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2:50 A.M. - Nine more UFOs were sighted, and at 3:35 A.M. Colonel Williams,
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commanding officer of the Sioux Army Depot, at Sydney, Nebraska, reported five
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UFOs going east.
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4:05 A.M. - Colonel Johnson made another phone call to Dayton to say that at
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4:00 A.M., Q flight reported nine UFOs in sight; four to the northwest, three to
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the northeast, and two over Cheyenne.
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4:40 A.M. - Captain Howell, Air Force Command Post, called Dayton and Defense
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Intelligence Agency to report that a Strategic Air Command Team at Site H-2 at
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3:00 A.M. reported a white oval UFO directly overhead. Later Strategic Air
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Command Post passed the following: Francis E. Warren Air Force Base reports
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(Site B-4 3:17 A.M.) - A UFO 90 miles east of Cheyenne at a high rate of speed
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and descending - oval and white with white lines on its sides and a flashing red
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light in its center moving east; reported to have landed 10 miles east of the
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site.
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3:20 A.M. - Seven UFOs reported east of the site.
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3:25 A.M. - E Site reported six UFOs stacked vertically.
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3:27 A.M. - G-1 reported one ascending and at the same time, E-2 reported two
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additional UFOs had joined the seven for a total of nine.
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3:28 A.M. - G-1 reported a UFO descending further, going east.
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3:32 A.M. - The same site has a UFO climbing and leveling off.
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3:40 A.M. - G Site reported one UFO at 70' azimuth and one at 120' . Three now
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came from the east, stacked vertically, passed through the other two, with all
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five heading west.
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When I asked Major Quintanilla what was being done about investigating these
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reports, he said that the sightings were nothing but stars! This is certainly
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tantamount to saying that our Strategic Air Command responsible for the defense
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of the country against major attacks from the air, was staffed by a notable set
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of incompetents who mistook twinkling stars for strange craft. These are the
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people who someday might have the responsibility for waging a nuclear war.
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For some, incidents such as the above would be prima facie and conclusive
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evidence that the cover-up hypothesis was the correct one, on the grounds that
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no group charged with serious defense responsibilities for the country could
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have been so stupid.
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On the other hand, our hypothetical debating team captain could amass an even
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more impressive cache of evidence to conclude quite the opposite: that the
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entire Blue Book operation was a foul-up based on the categorical premise that
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the incredible things reported could not possibly have any basis in fact. After
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all, science pretty well understands the physical world and knows what's
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possible and what is not. Since the reported actions of UFOs clearly didn't fit
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this world picture, they simply _had to be_ figments of the imagination produced
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in one way or another.
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All my association with Blue Book showed clearly that the project rarely
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exhibited any scientific interest in the UFO problem. They certainly did not
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address themselves to what should have been considered the central problem of
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the UFO phenomenon: is there an as yet unknown physical or psycho- logical or
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even paranormal process that gives rise to those UFO reports that survive severe
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screening and still remain truly puzzling?
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Such lack of interest belies any charge of "cover-up"; they just didn't care.
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There is another argument for the "noncover- up" viewpoint: the underlings in
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the military hierarchy (and all Blue Book officers were such - generally
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captains or majors, two of which finally made lieutenant colonel but never full
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colonel) looked mainly toward two things, promotion and early retirement.
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Therefore, in controversial issues it was always considered far wiser not to
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"rock the boat," to please the superior officer rather than to make waves. Thus,
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when the superior officers, who did not know the facts but were wedded to a
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rigid framework of military thinking handed down from above, let it be known in
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any controversial issue (whether UFOs or not) what the "right way" of thinking
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is, no underling officer was going to oppose or even question it unless, of
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course he was 99 percent certain that he could prove himself correct in the
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controversy - and quickly.
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Since the Pentagon had spoken in no uncertain terms about UFOs, no Blue Book
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officer in his right promotion-conscious military mind was going to buck that,
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even if he had private opinions on the matter.
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Another factor added to the noncover-up theory. Turnover in the Blue Book office
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was rather high. Sooner or later the officer in charge would be out of it, just
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that much closer to promotion and retirement, if he just sat tight. From 1952 to
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1969 the office was headed in turn by Captain Ruppelt (who did not make his own
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views known until he was out of the air force), Captain Hardin (who had
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ambitions to be a stock broker), Captain Gregory (to whom promotion was the
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be-all and end-all of existence), Major Friend, and finally Major Quintanilla,
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who had the longest term of office. Of all the officers I served with in Blue
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Book, Colonel Friend earned my respect. Whatever private views he might have
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held he was a total and practical realist, and sitting where he could see the
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scoreboard, he recognized the limitations of his office but conducted himself
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with dignity and a total lack of the bombast that characterized several of the
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other Blue Book heads.
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Thus one can have one's choice of whether Blue Book was a front or merely a
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foul-up. But that there was certainly foul-up and complete divorce from the
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scientific community within Blue Book was apparent. The members of the
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scientific fraternity were, of course, wedded to the misperception-delusion
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hypothesis (there was no need for interchange of ideas with Blue Book, which
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held the same views), and some members rose to heights of vitriolic verbiage in
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denouncing reporters of UFOs. This phase of the total phenomenon had many of the
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aspects of a modern witchhunt.
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** End excerpt **
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |