A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth About Alien Contact

by Richard Dolan

  But video—not .jpeg files—is where it’s at. We have now entered an era in which high-definition video is just starting to become widespread on people’s cellular phones. Getting a series of outstanding videos in this manner is only a matter of time. In other words, we are talking about a mass sighting being captured on multiple portable devices. For as long at the Others continue to fly about in our skies, it is only a matter of time.

  Investigative Journalism

  Regarding UFOs, the Woodwards and Bernsteins have been missing in action. No serious American journalistic organization has devoted even a small portion of the resources to this subject as had been devoted previously to the Watergate scandal, to say nothing of such weighty matters as the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the O.J. Simpson trial, and the death of Michael Jackson.

  It is possible that journalism will rise from its slumber and lead an effort for Disclosure. Perhaps in one of the many universes postulated to exist by some physicists, this has already happened. In ours, such an outcome appears unlikely. It must be said, however, that there is always a chance that an enterprising journalist can make headway on this issue, albeit only with great and persistent effort.

  Such an outcome was achieved by the American journalist Leslie Kean in 2010 with her book, UFOs “On the Record”: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Talk About What They Know. Kean had written balanced articles on UFOs for such newspapers as the Boston Herald and San Francisco Examiner. After years of investigation and interviews with prominent government individuals, she published a sober, no-frills study demonstrating that these people took UFOs seriously, and that they had ample reason to do so. Her book garnered far more attention than most previous researchers had done, in large part because of the care with which she organized her data and thesis. Yet, despite briefly making the New York Times Best-sellers list, her work received mixed reactions from the mainstream, and it does not appear to have created a significant breakthrough toward opening up the discussion on Disclosure.9

  Journalists like Kean are the exception, not the rule. As discussed in Chapter 2, the media has had a longstanding close relationship with government through mutual need, as well as through financial relationships with secret government agencies like the CIA. Realistically, journalists do not even need to be offered money; working for the CIA and other Defense agencies is a major career-enhancer. And there is the obvious fact that the journalists of the establishment media have mostly decided that it is safer to ridicule the subject than to look into it.

  Indeed, when it comes to UFOs, most journalists blithely dispose of the investigative standards in which they were trained—with none of the repercussions they would normally expect from their peers and supervisors.

  In August 2010, for example, a British presenter for the BBC, Evan Davis, revisited the Rendlesham Forest case from 1980. He openly stated that “nothing could persuade” him that alien UFOs are real, and that “no evidence” would ever make him change his mind.10 This was rather brazen statement coming from a professional journalist, considering that they are expected to maintain at least the pretense of detached suspension of judgment. The extent of Davis’s investigation involved a stroll through the forest at night, 30 years after the event, with two known debunkers. They concluded that the many U.S. military witnesses—soldiers who were trusted with handling nuclear weapons—were so daft that they mistook a lighthouse and police car flashers for a landed UFO. Davis spoke to no witnesses, read no books, and closed the case the day he opened it.

  American journalist David Corn demonstrated the same level of ignorance. Noting that the world has exploded with photographic and video equipment, he asked “Where are all the UFO photos?” As mentioned a moment ago, there have been a number of exceptional images of UFOs taken throughout the decades. Any basic web or YouTube search would show so many recent ones that it is beyond the capabilities of any single person to analyze. While not confirmed by university scientists—who normally would not be caught dead trying—many of them, taken with ever-improving video resolution on cellphones and high-quality consumer video cameras, show activities in the sky that appear to defy our conventional realities. At the very least, they demand attention and analysis.11

  Across the landscape, news has given way to opinion. It is easier to offer views than news. Investigative journalism requires time and money. Important stories require weeks, months, sometimes even years of research. Such a luxury is at odds with today’s 24/7 news environment. The digital media revolution has only made things harder for established institutions such as Newsweek or the New York Times.

  Even though journalism, that once proud and now moribund profession, will probably not initiate Disclosure, it may be saved by it. For, as a news event, the revelation of ET-reality is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only is the announcement sensational, it only grows bigger the more it is covered.

  At some point, each reporter, each investigator must make a choice. Remain within the safe confines of the familiar, or leap into the unknown. Each leap must be taken alone, into the darkness of a new paradigm. To an accomplished journalist, who guards his or her public reputation above all else, nothing is more terrifying.

  And yet, in the final weeks before Disclosure, a few journalists will catch on. A few may take that leap. Then once the story breaks, it will burn white hot for years. In that first decade A.D., there will be more news to cover and more to talk about than anyone ever thought possible.

  Whistleblowers and Leaks

  Imagine a D.C.-based journalist who has been spoon-fed stories for years by press releases, whose idea of digging is to surf the Internet. She has covered beltway politics from sex scandals, to Congressional mud-fights over healthcare and immigration, to Supreme Court nominations. One night, though, she meets a source in a bar. Something big is going on, she is told. UFOs. She agrees to meet someone, an inside source, the next day.

  That night the reporter will start with a Google search. Because this is a topic she has never taken seriously, her search will be both revelatory and overwhelming. She will learn that while “real” journalists like herself were busy covering “important” stories, thousands of UFO sightings were being reported in alternative media sources every year, and hundreds of photographs and videos were being taken from around the world. Taken individually, the evidence could be dismissed fairly easily. Yet, she might wonder uneasily about the existence of such a large body of evidence.

  If she does her job well, she will also learn that UFOs appear to pose national security problems. She would learn of the air space violations, the attempted interceptions, the absurd denials by the government. She might just find her world on the verge of being turned upside down.

  At this point, her mind might recoil. Reporters are born and bred to be skeptics, sometimes arrogant ones. She thinks, if UFOs were real, I would have known about them. After all, she is a smart journalist who went to a good college. If these vehicles are flying in our skies, she reasons, it could never have been covered for so long.

  Having taken the bait, she meets the inside source, her Deep Throat. She is given classified documents. These make it clear to her that UFOs are actual physical craft, and that the government has known for a long time. Suddenly, the story becomes very real. If she can convince an editor to start covering the story aggressively, she might have the distinction of being the reporter who pushed the Disclosure story forward. She might win her place in the history books.

  So there is hope that the mainstream journalistic world can redeem itself. Yet, a more likely way of starting the fire is the emerging phenomenon of WikiLeaks, the organization that encourages submissions of classified or otherwise hidden documents by allowing the sources who leak them to remain anonymous. In July 2010, WikiLeaks released the Afghan War Diary, more than 90,000 documents about the war in Afghanistan. In October, the organization released about 400,000 documents relating to the Iraq War. The Pentagon called it “the largest leak of classified documents in its
history.” Then, just a month later, on November 28, WikiLeaks released the U.S. State Department diplomatic cables, which it described as seven times the size of the Iraq War Logs.

  Just a decade earlier, these leaks of classified information were not possible, because there was no global technological infrastructure in place to enable it. But times have changed, and they will continue to do so.

  It is not hard to imagine that key UFO-related documents could come into the possession of WikiLeaks. Indeed, WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange stated that some of the “yet-to-be-published” parts of the State Department cables include references to UFOs.12

  A few days later, Assange’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, told the BBC that WikiLeaks had information that it considered to be a “thermo-nuclear device,” which it would release if the organization needed to defend itself. Could this be a reference to the reality and seriousness of the UFO phenomenon? As of this writing, the “device” has not been released.

  Even if WikiLeaks were to release incriminating UFO data, obstacles to Disclosure would still remain. First, the WikiLeaks managers would have to not censor the material. Then, even if the documents were published, we could expect the usual sources to attack them as fabrications. We need only look to the 1980s and the MJ-12 documents to see how such a scenario might play out. Still, it is undeniable that action by WikiLeaks, or a similar type of organization, can play a major role in crashing the walls of secrecy.

  Public Statement or Deathbed Confession

  It might seem reasonable that a statement from an informed and presumably reliable source, especially from within the U.S. national security community, might be enough to spark the debate that ignites Disclosure. But such comments have happened before with little impact.

  As previously noted, the former Director of the CIA, Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, stated in an open letter to Congress in 1960 that high-ranking Air Force officers were “soberly concerned” about UFOs, but that the policy of secrecy and ridicule made citizens believe UFOs were “nonsense.”

  Whether Hillenkoetter was floating a trial balloon for Disclosure at the behest of Majestic, or had broken from them, or was simply speaking as a private citizen—press follow-up was non-existent.

  There have been several statements during the first decade of the 21st century by Apollo 14 astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, about his knowledge of a UFO cover-up. Mitchell was the sixth man to walk on the moon, so his statements might be considered worthy of some journalistic gravitas. Mitchell’s most explosive claim has been that two associates of his—individuals of highest national security clearances and of unimpeachable character—described first-hand knowledge of the deeply secret programs to study ET technology and bodies. He also spoke about Roswell as a true case of the crash of an extraterrestrial vehicle.13

  The Roswell case has largely been cracked by virtue of the men and women who were there in 1947 who have talked to researchers before their deaths. Roswell researcher Donald Schmitt described his task as “racing the undertaker.” One spectacular end-of-life confession came from Lieutenant Walter Haut, who was the Public Information Officer of the Roswell Army Air Field in 1947. Haut had written the initial press release about the recovery of a “flying disc.” Shortly before his death in 2005, Haut signed a sealed affidavit, which was opened after he died. In a matter-of-fact tone, Haut stated that he saw samples of the Roswell wreckage, which “was unlike any material I had or have ever seen in my life.” He added that he saw several bodies under a canvas tarpaulin. “I am convinced,” he concluded, “that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space.”14

  These statements by Hillenkoetter, Mitchell, and Haut all failed to make a dent. They did not generate any journalistic or scientific response, nor even spark a public outcry for more facts.

  In addition, there have been several impressive statements made by prominent figures around the world, none of which achieved a true media breakthrough or forced open a public discussion on UFOs.

  During the 1950s, the Commanding General of the French Air Forces, Lionel M. Chassin, wrote: “We can therefore say categorically that mysterious objects have indeed appeared and continue to appear in the sky that surrounds us. What intelligence is it that guides these objects?…Human intelligence? Perhaps…nonhuman intelligence? Why not?”15

  The British Admiral, Lord Peter Hill-Norton, who was Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom, also openly discussed the UFO reality. “There is a serious possibility,” he said, “that we are being visited by people from outer space. It behooves us to find out who they are, where they come from, and what they want.”16

  The French Minister of Defense, Robert Galley, stated during a 1974 radio interview that, “if your listeners could see for themselves the mass of reports coming in from airborne gendarmerie, from the mobile gendarmerie, and from the gendarmerie charged with the job of conducting investigations…then they would see that it is all pretty disturbing.”17

  The Spanish General, Carlos Castro Cavero, told a journalist in 1976 that “the nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data.”18

  Japanese General Akira Hirano, Chief of Staff of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force, stated in 1977 that “we frequently see unidentified objects in the skies. We are quietly investigating them.”19

  Former Canadian Minister of National Defence Paul Hellyer made several statements in the mid-2000s, including “UFOs are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head,” he said, adding, “The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning.”20

  In a television interview from May 2010, president of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the only Buddhist Republic in Europe, claimed that he had been taken aboard an extraterrestrial craft 10 years earlier. The abduction occurred, he said, in a Moscow apartment while on official business. Benevolent alien beings took him on a craft to another star system. Ilyumzhinov, incidentally, was also elected President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1995, a position he retains as of this writing.21

  Any time a head of state, anywhere in the world, makes a claim like this, one might think that people would take notice. Ilyumzhinov’s statement, however, received a modest amount of coverage and then was quickly disabled. BBC News spoke about his “reputation as an eccentric character.” This, apparently, was because he had spent millions of his own dollars to promote chess within his republic. A great deal of speculation followed: Was Ilyumzhinov pulling a publicity stunt? Was he delusional in some way? No mainstream journalist ever asked whether his claims might be true. Ilyumzhinov, after all, was an intelligent and serious man. By making the claim he did, he was exposing himself to certain ridicule. The story quickly died.

  Clearly, it will take a very big name making specific statements to tip the public to the breaking point; someone such as Colin Powell, a former U.S. Secretary of State and a man who had been the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Imagine a deathbed confession from Powell, or perhaps a signed affidavit from him to be read at his funeral. Such an event would trigger a massive public outcry, and would even shake the media into action. Other names that could qualify as trigger events if they spoke out at the end of their lives include former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush Sr. (who was also CIA Director), and National Security Advisors Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

  They could certainly start a discussion. However, even their last-minute statements might not end it. None of them would be immune to counter-attacks. He suffered mental deterioration toward the end of his life, it might be claimed. Or, he had a personal ax to grind.

  Ultimately, these individuals are precisely among those who would be most implicated in the cover-up. None of them are likely to lead the charge, or they would have done so already. If one of these prominent individuals speaks out publi
cly, it will probably be after Disclosure has begun.

  Physical Evidence

  Just because these strange visitors have not seen fit to meet our block-buster film fantasy of contact and hover above the Earth’s major cities demanding our surrender, they may still, accidentally or on-purpose, leave us something with which we can do business. Indeed, this happened at Roswell and subsequent crash sites.

  Clearly, if we could get a civilian lab to study such wreckage, it could prove the existence of the outsiders. For example, researchers Donald Schmitt, Thomas Carey, William Doleman, and others conducted an archeological dig at the Roswell crash site to search for wreckage that the Army may have missed in its cleanup from 1947. In particular, they hoped to find a piece of the so-called “memory metal” that several witnesses described. They did not. Yet, perhaps a piece of hardware continues to hide in the attic of some soldier, something that will not be found until his grandchildren clear it out after his funeral.

  It may also be that a new crash occurs. If so, might somebody besides the government gets there first? Or, perhaps a government other than one of the main co-conspirators in the cover-up takes possession of an object, sends materials to multiple labs for analysis, and alerts the media. Given the dominant reach of the U.S. military and intelligence community, this is a long-shot. Moreover, based on what happened at Roswell where authentic wreckage was swapped out for a weather balloon, the possibility of fraud and illegal activity to prevent materials from being adequately analyzed is a strong likelihood.

  There is an entire sub-section of UFO research that focuses on physical traces, not necessarily of crashes, but of landings where either heat or radiation has modified the Earth’s surface. Indeed, thousands of ground trace cases have been studied throughout the years. Many are compelling evidence of unusual phenomena; a handful are of outstanding evidentiary value that something anomalous occurred. Yet, they have not broken through into mainstream discussion.