For almost two generations, researchers in the UFO field have suspected that there is a cover-up by US government agencies which prevents any meaningful progress in discovering the facts behind the UFO myth. The single most important factor supporting this view has been the alleged crash of a UFO at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. In recent years the voice of a new generation of 'cover-up' supporters has grown stronger. 'Operation Right To Know'(1) continues to organise regular rallies, trying to raise public interest and knowledge on the UFO cover-up issue. Other UFO organisations in the USA, with the help of Congressman Schiff, forced the US General Accounting Office to conduct an investigation into the alleged 1947 Roswell UFO crash. In the course of these extensive investigations, Secretary of the Air Force, Sheila Widnall, commissioned Colonel Richard Weaver, Director of Security and Special Program Oversight, to resolve the matter. Weaver in turn delivered his verdict in line with official expectations, blocking access to much needed information – and used the occasion to further fragment the already fragmented UFO scene. In his memorandum of April 25 1994 to Jack Kriethe of the General Accounting Office, on the subject of the second set of notorious MJ12 documents, Weaver wrote: 'The exact rationale of the authors to create this bogus document is unknown. One could speculate that it is a desperate attempt to add legitimacy to the original 1987 vintage forgery of the "Briefing Document Majestic 12", which all but the hardest hard-core UFO buffs consider to be a fake. Unfortunately for the authors, this additional attempt at authentication has backfired on them. In future they need to study their history and technology better. A remedial high school English class wouldn't hurt either.' In fact Richard Weaver knows the identities of the alleged forgers. He wrote to me asking me to disclose their names – with the promise of bringing criminal charges where appropriate. When I raised the issue of the forgers' disinformation activities in New Mexico in the 1980s, and asked whether, in such circumstances, investigations would be proper or unbiased, he promptly back-tracked, adding 'that casts a totally different light on the matter'. Although Weaver's ultimate Roswell Report mentioned that the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), which had been the main recipient body for the analyses and investigation of UFO reports for the USAF's public investigation efforts, no longer existed, he failed to mention that it had been replaced by the National Air Technical Intelligence Center (NATIC), which is doing more or less the same thing. All the important data gathered on Fast Walkers and Slow Walkers (the terms used by Air Force Space Command to describe fast and slow moving unidentified objects in space), which includes vital data gathered by the Defence Satellite Programming on UFO's, are filtered through NATIC. The very existence of Fast and Slow Walkers is classified, and the US government will neither confirm nor deny their existence. In October 1992, the Human Potential Foundation (HPF), chaired by Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, embarked on a project to deliver to the White House compelling evidence of the reality of UFOs, in the hope of convincing the new administration to disclose government information on the subject. Clairborne Pell, at the time Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was a close friend of Laurence Rockefeller, son of John D. Rockefeller, and the member of the Rockefeller dynasty with a life-long interest in conservation and other charitable activities. HPF received $100,000 from Rocke-feller to prepare the ultimate case-log which would convince the Clinton administration that UFO's are real, and that the US federal government has concealed its true research and study findings. In these collective efforts there were a number of high-profile UFO researchers including New Age cultists and well-known believers in alien abductions. The Human Potential Foundation's president, C. B. Scott Jones, was a member of the notorious 'Aviary' group, and a keen UFO buff, who had funded several projects on UFOs and related subjects.(2) Some of Jones' funding and activities have been highly questionable. For example there was Paula Underwood Spencer, better known as 'Mohawk woman' (she was one-eighth Native American), who presented herself as the 'Story-teller' and a female shaman, calling herself 'Turtle Woman Singing', who accompanied Jones and his wife to the Vaduz palace of Prince Hans Adam of Lichenstein in 1989 to raise funds for Jones' Centre for Applied Anomalous Phenomena.(3) In 1991 Jones had funded several trips to Bimini, where John Alexander's former wife, Jan, a claimed 'psychic', had tried to contact dolphins, to ask them to show her hidden extra-terrestrial artefacts! Hoping to fulfill John Alexander's long-standing wish to find the lost continent of Atlantis, Rima Laibow, Alexander and Jan Northop (Alexander's former wife), participated in these trips. In 1993 Jones funded Dr Liz Sahtouris' trip to the Amazon in search of indigenous tribal legends regarding 'dophin spirits'. Another of Jones' Aviary colleagues, the CIA's Ron Pandolphi, was also keen on the idea and had suggested to Jones that one of his assets, a female herbalist and 'mind-influencing' student, join the trip – an offer Jones declined. Upon her return Dr. Sahtouris reported that she had not found the 'dolphin spirits', but instead was whisked up and down the native rivers in the company of a local shaman, with whom she had established an intense sexual relationship. As Jones' executive assistant and a former lover put it, 'Whatever else there is in DC, it's about power, pussy and politics'. In October 1992, Laurence Rockefeller commissioned the Human Potential Foundation to staff a UFO declassification initiative to the White House. After lobbying by Senator Pell and Jones, Dick Farley, now a free-lance journalist, was appointed as Director of Project Development for the HPF.(4) Farley's task, in support of the White House UFO disclosure effort, was to recommend and produce background material for Rockefeller to leave behind after his White House meeting to put his case.(5) On 29 March 1993, Henry L. Diamond, Laurence Rockefeller's attorney, wrote a memorandum to Dr. John H. Gibbons, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, in which he stated that Rockefeller, was 'anxious to have a brief meeting with Dr. Gibbons to discuss the potential availability of government information about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life…. [because] there is a belief in many quarters that the government has long withheld classified information regarding UFOs which has not been released and that the failure to do so has brought about unnecessary suspicion and distrust.'(6) In the requested 45 minute meeting, Rockefeller would be accompanied by Henry Diamond, his attorney, and Scott Jones. After Rockefeller's approach, Dr John Gibbons asked the White House liaison office with the CIA to provide him with a report on the UFO situation. The CIA officer concerned approached Ron Pandolphi, a CIA officer and member of the Aviary (Pelican), who is in charge of UFO material at the CIA. Pandolphi, in turn, contacted Bruce Maccabee, another Aviary member (Seagull), who is not a CIA officer, and asked him to write a paper for Gibbons. Maccabee hurriedly prepared a paper which recycled general information on the history of sightings since WW2, and some information derived from FOIA requests, with a heavy emphasis on the alleged Roswell landing in 1947, which was passed back to Dr. Gibbons.(7) Gibbons never got a report from the CIA. The Rockefeller-Gibbons meeting duly took place and in a subsequent letter to Gibbons on 21 April 1993 Rockefeller stated his appreciation for the meeting 'to discuss our interest in Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI)', and expressed his surprise at Gibbons' lack of knowledge on the information the US government had on UFOs or ETI. In the meeting Gibbons had suggested to Rockefeller that he and his team approach the Department of Defense, and in the letter Rockefeller confirmed that he would contact former Secretary for Defense Melvin Laird, and expressed the hope that they would be 'able to follow up with Secretary [of Defense] Aspin in this regard, as soon as he is available.' Rockefeller informed Gibbons that he would be writing to President Clinton 'to urge that he direct a reassessment of government policy regarding UFO and ETI information be carried out'. Rockefeller added, 'Let me emphasise that our approach to the President will be in the spirit of seeking to be helpful to him.' In mid-May 1993 a dozen selected UFO books together with a report titled 'Matrix of UFO Beliefs' were delivered to Dr. John Gibbons at the White House.(8) On 4 August 1993 Rockefeller invited Gibbons, or a representative of his, to participate in an informal Roundtable discussion, which he was hosting, on September 13-15, at his JY Ranch near Jackson, Wyoming, in the Grand Teton National Park to discuss UFOs and ETI. The letter added: 'The purpose of the meeting is to assess the current state of knowledge about UFOs and ETI phenomena generally, and in particular, the extent of information which may or may not be in the hands of the federal government…[to find] a productive way to encourage the Administration to include information on UFO and ETI phenomena in its current review of previously classified information, and the need to classify information so extensively.' Six 'students' of the the phenomena were invited to make presentations at the Ranch meeting: Steven M. Greer,(9) Linda Moulton Howe,(10) Bruce Maccabee,(11) R. Leo Sprinkle,(12) Jill Tarter,(13) and Keith Thompson.(14) In addition to these 'students', Rockefeller also invited Dr. Peter Sturrock, a scientific adviser to the President, and Dr John Mack.(15) Rockefeller stated in his letter of invitation that: 'The Roundtable will not be publicised but, of course will not be secret. Presentations and discussions will be on an off-the-record basis. Subject to group agreement, it is planned that the proceedings will be taped, and with permission, an edited tape and or a written document may be produced and published should that be considered to be helpful.' Rockefeller tried to focus the meeting on four key areas of the UFO topic: 1. The US government's attitudes and policies toward the specific research areas, and strategies for influencing government policy in the direction of openness on the issues. 2. International attitudes toward specific research areas and strategies for influencing open international co-operation on the issues. 3. Assessment of alleged psychological, economic and other barriers to a government policy of openness on the subject. 4. Spiritual and other dimensional aspects of UFO and ETI phenomena in addition to the scientific aspects.' The meeting at the JY ranch on September 13-15 1993 included Scott Jones, Richard Farley, Bob Teets (Contract Manager for HPF Press venture), Henry Diamond (Rockefeller's attorney), a few of Rockefeller's associates from New York, as well as those invited to give presentations listed above. Gibbons did not sent a representative. On 21 November 1993, at Laurence Rockefeller's request, Henry Diamond wrote a memorandum to Sue Betchel, Dr. Gibbons assistant, requesting a second meeting with him. In the UFO community rumours of Rockefeller's iniative were rife and a number of US UFO organisations submitted special reports on their understanding of UFOs, painting a black picture of cover-ups by previous administrations. Some of the well-known UFO researchers wanted their say. Jacques Vallée, the French researcher, residing in San Francisco, wrote to John Gibbons on 14 February 1994. After introducing himself and his work in the UFO field he wrote: 'My purpose in contacting you in this context is to inform you of relevant data that may not be available to your office through other briefings you have received. I hasten to add that I have no scientific solution to the puzzle and am not seeking financial support for my own work. I would be grateful for an opportunity to speak to you in confidence either in San Francisco or in Washington at your convenience.' Gibbons refused to see Vallée and asked Sue Betchtel to tell him to put his views in writing.(16) On 3 February Richard Farley resigned from the Human Potential Foundation. On 4 February 1994 Rockefeller and his team visited John Gibbons for the second time. In separate letters dated 14 February both Rockefeller and Scott Jones, after thanking Gibbons, provided him with synopses of the Roswell case, hoping it would push the government into the open. Gibbons faxed this material on 29 March 1994 to Sheila Widnall, the Secretary of the Air Force, with the hand-written instructions: 'Per our conversation skip Jones [presumably Scott Jones – author] and I would appreciate your thought about how the claim of classification could be resolved – thanks Jack.' (Gibbons was addressed as and called himself Jack.) In a footnote Gibbons added, 'Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded, in part, I believe, by L.R. [Laurence Rockefeller]'(17) On 31 March 1994 Scott Jones sent promotional material to John Gibbons about the conference 'When Cosmic Cultures meet'. On 25 April Laurence Rockefeller wrote to Melvin Laird, Nixon-era Secretary of Defense, and a close friend. On 9 May Laird cautiously replied: 'The whole question of declassification of any government projects which might have been associated with unidentified flying objects seems to be on the right track… I am sure that should classification be lifted, some individuals will be disappointed as certain of these phenomena will be pretty well explained. Any review will certainly disappoint some individuals who have built up some rather extreme anecdotal and uncollaborated accounts which the removal of classification might discredit to a large extent. I am sure Dr. John Gibbons will cooperate fully on this matter.' On 26 May 1994, Scott Jones wrote to Dr John Gibbons enclosing yet more public UFO material, none of which contained any compelling evidence. In his letter Jones commented: 'I have learned that one of the Foundation's former staff members, Dick Farley, has made independent contact with the White House on the UFO subject. Farley wrote me that as of a month ago he had sent three different packets of material that detailed the activities of the Foundation in support of Mr Rockefeller and his interest in declassification of government materials relating to UFO phenomena. Farley would only identify the White House staff person as an Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. I am sorry about this uncoordinated action. My major concern is that when you heard of Farley's approach you may have thought that we were trying to run a second separate program on this subject with another part of the White House staff. That emphatically is not the case. Farley had personal motivation for what he did and I suspect he will continue to try and maintain the contact. It is apparent that he is writing a book about this undertaking.' With this letter Jones enclosed copies of an exchange of letters between Richard J. Boylan and Congressman Steven Schiff. Boylan's UFO status report (wherein he named various US government departments and agencies, and their outlets, as components actively involved with, or withholding pertinent UFO information) contains several flaws, and reflects the author's lack of knowledge concerning the structure and the operational designates of the components named. Scott Jones also referred to another project, 'The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey', a survey of the beliefs about extraterrestrial intelligence of the clergy undertaken by Victoria Alexander, the wife of Aviary member (Penguin) John Alexander. The project's report was sent to Gibbons on 13 June 1994.(18) On 11 August 1994 Jones wrote again to Gibbons. In this letter he referred to his meeting with the former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell and the possibility of getting him involved.(19) Jones also mentioned the efforts of the then Director of Central Intelligence, James Woolsey, in declassifying further UFO records held by the CIA, and added: 'The Agency is not a logical place for a program on this subject. If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on the subject, I would take it completely out of the government's bureaucracy and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within the aerospace community, or perhaps General Motors. Then when the time comes, as it surely will, when Congress wakes up to the subject, it would not be a lie to say "No" to the question: '"Mr Secretary, is there a program on this subject located in the Department of Defence?"' Jones' statement, and in particular his reference to General Motors, is curious, for Dr. Christopher 'Kit' Green, an Aviary member, and a former adviser to the DCI on many topics, including UFOs, is currently employed by General Motors.(20) With two hand-written memoranda from the White House, John Gibbons sent a copy of The Summary Text of the Air Force Report on the "Roswell Incident" to Laurence Rockefeller and Sentator Claiborne Pell, which Rockefeller acknowledged on 5 September 1994. On 8 September 1994, Sheila Widnall, Secretary of the US Air Force, after having been briefed and assured by her senior advisers concerning the Roswell dilemma, issued a memorandum announcing the compilation of an Air Force Report to explain their findings regarding the Roswell incident.(21) On 23 September, Don Berliner, a UFO buff and later the co-author of Rockefeller's UFO Report, sent Dr. Gibbons a two-page report from the Fund for UFO Research questioning the validity and accuracy of the USAF's Roswell Report, . On 5 December 1994, Scott Jones in a letter to John Gibbons with a copy of the HPF's 'Assessment and Recommendation for Action' on the USAF's Roswell report, expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the USAF had handled the case. Jones also remarked again on the then forthcoming conference, 'When Cosmic Cultures Meet', held in May 1995, to which Bill Clinton and wife had been invited as speakers. (Neither attended.) On 13 December Jones sent yet another letter, enclosing a manuscript copy of Whitley Streiber's Breakthrough, adding that the book contained government-held information, revealed for the first time.(22) Records show that Gibbons did not respond to any of Jones' letters. Neither did he correspond with Laurence Rockefeller. Jones' last letter to Gibbons was dated 9 February 1995, and in it he showed his disappointment. 'It appears after Laurence's last meeting with you that we are not going to get feedback from our attempts to get the White House to open the books on this subject. Neither Laurence nor I need any encouragement or credit for what we have been trying to accomplish. We have done what we thought was reasonable and needed. For my own part I am shifting my energy on this subject to a new, supportive, strategy.' To this Gibbons did not reply. The entire approach by Laurence Rockefeller – engaging Scott Jones, and the manner in which Jones handled the case – was unprofessional. By repeatedly providing Gibbons with general, publicly available, UFO material, lacking any serious scientific, military or intelligence documentation, they undermined their cause. For example, in his letter to Dr. John Gibbons of 26 May 1994, Scott Jones included an exchange of letters between Richard J. Boylan and Congressman Steven Schiff. In one of his letter Boylan refers to the claims of US Army Sergeant (Rtd.) Robert O. Dean, and the need 'to get guarantees of Congressional immunity for former ex-military and ex-intelligence personnel who are ready to testify in Congressional hearings about this subject.' But who are these witnesses? Earlier this year Steven Greer, another former member of Jones' camp, and an earlier beneficiary of Rockefeller's funding, like Dean, claimed that there were witnesses whose testimony – given the appropriate immunities – would provide the evidence needed to force the government to disclose its information. Greer's 'witnesses' included: • Commander Graham Bethune (US Navy, retd.), who had some kind of sighting years ago. He believes that all the planets are inhabited by invisible beings. • Dona Hare who claims to be a former NASA employee. Checks with NASA proved otherwise. Hare claims that NASA removed all traces of UFOs on photographs before releasing them to the public. • Sergeant Charles Sorrell, a former military airport tower operator, who was stationed at one time in Edwards Air Force Base. Sorrell claims that he saw six UFOs over the base in 1965, and that US planes were scrambled but could not intercept the UFOs. There is nothing new in this claim. Many researchers possess documents released through FOIA containing such information. • Colonel Swatecki, USAF, who was stationed at Strategic Air command at Loring Air Force Base when UFOs hovered over the base for hours. Loring has been closed for some years now and records concerning the case were released many years ago. • Major George Filler, USAF, who claims to have knowledge of the killing of an alien at Fort Dix (McGuire Air Force Base). When I questioned Filler it transpired that the information he had was third-hand. The late Leonard Stringfield wrote about this case many hears ago based on similar, unsubstantiated general accounts he had heard through a 'source'. Filler also believes that the US Government possesses Nazi saucers that have been flying for almost 50 years! These are the best of Greer's 'witnesses'. Some of his others tell stories so hilarious that even the most hard-core UFO believers would find them hard to accept.(23) As well as their lack of scientific discipline, the Human Potential Foundation's bureaucratic naivety also played a major role in their failure. Despite having military and/or intelligence backgrounds, Jones and his colleagues totally failed to take into account the kind of strategies that the relevant government departments, agencies or contractors might adopt in response to their project. A clear example was Dr John Gibbons' approach to the CIA's liaison officer in the White House which resulted in a member of the Jones group – a UFO buff – and not the Agency hastily preparing a report for Gibbons. No wonder Gibbons expressed so little interest in the subsequent torrent of commonplace UFO material Scott Jones and others presented to him! 1. Operation Right to Know (ORTK) began in the autumn of 1991, with the help of Ed Komarek, Elaine Douglas and other UFO researchers. By staging various rallies, ORTK intends to increase public awareness of the cover-up in the United States and in some countries in Europe. 2. On Scott Jones see Lobster 25. 3. Hans Adam, a UFO believer, later funded Treat-92, a conference on UFO abductions, headed by Rima Laibow, the current wife of Major General Albert Stubblebine. Former head of Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Stubblebine was an enthusiastic supporter of the Remote Viewing programme, and was also a senior member of PSI-TECH, the firm started by Major Ed Dames, one of the Army's remote viewers. Dames 'remote viewed' the comet Hale-Bopp, confirming the (bogus) claim that a large UFO was accompanying it. Years ago, in the course of a telephone conversation, which I taped, Ms. Laibow told me that Jones' interest in her was not restricted to 'helping her in her research'. 4. 'Dick Farley, a biographical sketch', sent to the author by Farley. 5. 'The Matrix of UFO Belief', The American UFO News Letter, March/April 1997. 6. Memorandum of 29 March 1993, Henry Diamond. 7. On-line conversation with Bruce Maccabee concerning this issue, April 1997. Maccabee stated that Pandolfi asked him to prepare this report as soon as possible, which he did. According to Maccabee he heard nothing further 8. The main author of 'Matrix of UFO Beliefs' was Richard Farley. Of it he wrote, 'The Matrix of UFO Beliefs is an investigative and analytical tool that had its genesis during my 20 years of active inquiry into the "UFO" phenomenon. It reflects primary categories into which beliefs about UFOs seem to fall, when allowing for the broadest range of reported phenomena and perception. Contributors to my thinking included Dr. J. Allen Hynek, in a series of conversations we had (1981 to 1984), as well as Dr Jacques Vallée, who played an early consultative role in what HPF did to support Mr Rockefeller's interest in UFO disclosure.' Dismayed by the outcome of the entire White House project, Farley later wrote that, '"The Matrix of UFO Belief" was not designed to suggest to the President or his advisers what "all the UFOs might be"……on the contrary the paper reflects my assumption that, for at least some publicly perceived "UFOs", various of our government's branches would be expected to know very well what may have been witnessed.' Note 5 above. 9. Founder of CSETI, the Centre for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 10. Film-maker, most closely associated with the 'cattle mutilation' phenomenon. 11. US Navy scientist, Chair of the Fund for UFO Research. 12. Psychologist, veteran UFO writer and researcher, one of the first to take and interest in the alien abduction phenomenon. 13. NASA scientist, one of those behind NASA's SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) project. 14. Unknown to me. 15. A psychiatrist, Dr. John Mack's interest in UFO abduction was initially prompted by Bud Hopkins who believes in abductions on a massive scale. Mack's 'Centre for Psychological and Social Change' received a grant of $194,000 from Rockefeller through HPF's Contract Liaison Office. There remains an unresolved legal dilemma concerning Mack's abduction work. While he claimed his work on alleged abductees to be pure research, the actual patients whom he had diagnosed as abductees were referred to him by various medical insurance companies, and not as subjects for the 'research work' he was conducting. In his book Abduction (Simon and Schuster, 1994), Mack indirectly credits HPF, its senior members, Scott Jones and Dick Farley, as well as Laurence Rockefeller. A serious question mark hangs over the accuracy and diagnoses in Mack's later work on 'abduction cases'. With his forerunners in the field, Hopkins and Streiber, also presenting their understanding of the 'abduction' phenomenon as 'the facts', market forces in the UFO field created various camps, totally discrediting an objective approach or research. The rest of the scientific community wisely stayed clear. The US federal government's own research into this aspect of the UFO phenomenon, held in the DIA and CIA, which revolves more around the social interpretation of the individual targets of the 'phenomena' as abductees, may not see the light of day for years to come. 16. Hand-written notes on Fax-Transmission cover sheet. 17. Gibbons' hand-written note on Fax-Transmission cover sheet to Sheila Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force, March 29, 1994. 18. On John Alexander see Lobster 25. 19. Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in 1973. On its board is Senator Pell. IONS is a liberal, New Age organisation with 40,000 members. 20. On 'Kit' Green see UFO Magazine, Vol. 11 issue 3, 'The Birds'. 21. The USAF had been asked in February 1994 to provide all records pertaining to the incident to the GAO. 22. Streiber, originally a fiction writer, became a cause celebre after the publication of his book Communion in February 1987 in which he claimed to have been repeatedly abducted by aliens. 23. My archive contains much material from Greer, plus some of his private correspondence. Greer's output lacks any serious scientific discipline and is highly questionable.