Are We Getting Closer to Disclosure?

Since the passing of the Freedom of Information Act many UFO researchers, and conspiracy buffs have dredged deeply into the U.S. Governments once classified files looking for answers.  The fact that governments all over the Earth have programs designed to deal with the UFO phenomena is no longer considered “need to know” information, and many countries have even begun declassifying their UFO programs much to the disappointment of the USA.

Although, disclosure right here at home might be much closer then you may think.   Retired Army Col. John Alexander has gone public with his desire to petition not only the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, but also CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, and National Intelligence Director Gen. James Clapper, to offer amnesty to military personnel that have witnessed UFO activity in the past but were sworn to secrecy.

Retired Army Col. John Alexander

Why is Col. Alexander’s voice any more important than say… mine or yours?  Well, Alexander was a military insider with top secret clearance, who also created Advanced Theoretical Physics – a group of top level government officials and scientists put together to study none other than…UFO reports. 

It is important to note that Col. Alexander also led Special Forces teams in Vietnam and Thailand in the 1960’s, and was a program manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  Not a bad resume. But more recently he has been trying to disclose information uncovered by a study group he was in charge of in 1980 which concluded:

•    Some UFOs are real and of unknown origin.
• About 5 percent of all sightings remain unexplained.
• Many sensor systems do have anomalous recordings.
• There are numerous UFO sightings reported by highly credible observers.
• There have been incidents involving interactions between UFOs and military systems.
• There have been interactions between UFOs and airplanes that raise safety issues.
• Over 70 percent of American adults believe the U.S. government is covering up information on the topic.
• Polls indicate that 20 percent of the global population believes aliens are here on Earth and living among us.

Alexander is scheduled to publicly announce his government request for UFO amnesty today at the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, Nev.   The museum is one of the newest in the country and focuses on the history of the countries development of energy and nuclear technology.  Oddly, it also contains an exhibit on the top secret base known as Area 51, which showcases numerous UFO related exhibits, one even claiming to be an "Authentic AlienArtifact."  Below is the video ad for the exhibit. 

Museum CEO and director Allan Palmer told the HuffingtonPost that he is glad that military officials who have seen or have knowledge about UFO’s will be able to come clean.  Palmer, who was also a highly decorated Air Force and Navy pilot, went on to say "The reason is because we all had very high-level security clearances," he said. "Just the mention of seeing something that you didn't know or you thought might be a UFO would be enough for a visit with the flight surgeon, if not the psychiatric staff at the base hospital. And that would be reason to pull your security clearance, at least temporarily, which means that you wouldn't be flying …”  Palmer goes on to say “At least as far as retribution or career penalties, if things could be lifted or suspended, that would probably help the process.”

Alexander does not appear to be attempting to get the government to disclose that UFO’s are extraterrestrial, but rather to promote a feeling of security among military officials where it is ok for them to report and discuss UFO sightings without fear of ridicule or penalty.  Col. Alexander claims in letters to some of the most powerful men in the world that "some level of secrecy has been invoked on U.S. military personnel.” and goes on to cite the Milton Torres story.   The tale of pilot Milton Torres and how he was forced into silence from 1957 – 2008 over orders he was given to fire five missiles at a gigantic UFO over Great Brittan in 1957 is well known to the UFO community.

This is a step towards full disclosure and is an exciting time if you are a UFO researcher.  Not only does this affirm that many in the military have seen UFO’s, but also that a program of threatening and silence has governed how the US government has handled UFO cases for the past eighty years.  I can’t help but be happy to see this environment start to take root, and find myself quoting folk singer Bob Dylan, “Times they are a’ changing…”