2012-07-12 Los Angeles (Cal.) Reason Online (blog) (UF,r,crash,U.K.)
This is a false hit, because there is no Wisconsin here (only in the
margin). But I saved it anyway because of its interest.—R.Heiden
Editorial & Production Offices
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245
Washington Office
1747 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 986-0916
GOOGLE NEWS
UFOs over the UK
Reason Online (blog) - Jul 12, 2012
The 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, probably the most famous
of alleged alien encounters on Earth, especially, prompted interested in
the British ...
http://reason.com/blog/2012/07/12/ufos-over-the-uk
UFOs over the UK
Ed Krayewski | July 12, 2012
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense released 6,700 pages worth of
UFO related documents today. The documents span a period of 43 years;
the Ministry’s UFO program (DI55) closed in 2009. The Ministry of
Defense says it was not, of course, looking to substantiate the
extraterrestrial origins of any unidentified flying object but only to
assess the possible threats to national security such objects might
pose. This file includes a DI55 intelligence officer explaining in 1979
that actual visits to “an insignificant planet” like Earth by
extraterrestrials “would probably not occur more than once in a thousand
years or so, even if one assumes that every intelligent community made
say 10 launches a year,” concluding that the “thousands of visits in the
last decade or so are far too large to be credible.”
The program’s secrecy, though, spurred conspiracy theories about what
the government was hiding about UFOs. Today’s disclosures suggest not
much. In fact, many of the more recent documents involve the Ministry of
Defense debunking claims by so-called ufologists. The 50th anniversary
of the Roswell incident, probably the most famous of alleged alien
encounters on Earth, especially, prompted interested in the British
government’s work. This file, for example, contains a letter from one
ufologist, Nick Redfern, who urged then Prime Minister Tony Blair to
release the government’s UFO documents. Redfern wrote to Blair:
Regardless of one’s opinions as to whether or not elements
of the British Government and military are actively participating in a
‘cover-up’ of UFO data, I would urge you to consider making available
for public scrutiny all of the many and varied UFO reports and
associated data compiled by the Government which is currently withheld.
To date, those files which have been released cover the period
1950-1968. I would urge those files covering the period 1969-1998 be
declassified – if only to allay the very real rumours pointing towards
an official cover-up of data.
The files present a pretty compelling case against unnecessary
government secrecy. The files make the British government’s UFO work
appear mundane and even boiler-plate; they’re only sexy because they
were once classified. One of the files even contains a 1997 response to
an inquiry about whether the CIA or the U.S. government shared any
information on Roswell with the British:
[A] search of all existing UAP files showed no record of
any meetings/briefings with the CIA, or any other agency. Similarly we
have no data on the alleged "Roswell Incident" or any "crashed UFO
incidents in the UK."
...In short DI 55 has no records of any UAP/UFO "crashes"
in either the UK or US and have never, a [sic] far as we can tell from
existing files, received and [sic] briefs from any US agencies,
including the CIA."
Jesse Walker wrote about the UK’s UFO files for Reason back in 2006,
when the UK declassified other documents that pointed to the existence
of DI55.
Highlights of the file contents are here <
http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/ufos/highlights-guide-12-07-12.pdf>.
There are many UFO sightings among the files, none substantiated as
extraterrestrial in origin. If you do find something interesting in the
lengthy files, let us know in the comments!
