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.

1. All sightings except for a small minority which lack detail can be explained in terms of naturally occurring phenomena.

2. The phenomena are explained by craft from off planet, but from the visible universe.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. The phenomena are explained by hoaxes or dramatic scenarios perpetrated by various intelligence organizations as part of broader security or disinformational campaigns.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

1. There is no government activity inasmuch as the phenomena are explained by naturally occurring events.

2. The government is aware, but not directly involved or in contact with the perpetrating forces.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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:

1. UFO phenomena are real and a counterintelligence operation involving disinformation has been employed to protect this fact.
2. 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 tech- nology. (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 coattailing 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 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; and 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 44 colleges and universities, 15 research foundations, chemical or pharmaceutical companies, 12 hospitals or clinics, and 3 penal institutions.

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:

1. 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.

2. U.S. Senate, Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification, Joint Hearing, 95th Congress, lst Session, August 3, 1977.

Excerpt from:
Phoenix in the Labyrinth
"Cosmic Cultures" Commemorative Edition
(c) 1995 by C.B. Scott Jones, Ph.D.
Human Potential Foundation, Inc.
POB 6, Falls Church, VA 22040-0006
ISBN 1-882658-02-7