UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record

by Leslie Kean

  Yet all three controllers engaged with the pilots during the extended sighting filed statements that contradict this finding. “Several times I had single primary returns where JL1628 reported traffic,” wrote one. “I observed data on the radar that coincided with information that the pilot of JL1628 reported,” stated another.

  The FAA spokesman at the time, Paul Steucke, said it was just a “coincidence” that the split image happened to fall at the right distance and the same side of the aircraft where the object was reported visually by the pilot. And the final report simply outright ignored the three visual sightings with all their details and drawings, as if the event really had never happened. Remember, no one flying an aircraft can see a split image.

  So, who are you going to believe, your lying eyes or the government?

  CHAPTER 23

  Government Cover-up: Policy or Myth?

  The CIA’s directive that “this event never happened,” as reported by former FAA official John Callahan, may be familiar to those who have read statements from American military witnesses to UFO events. Many have been told more or less the same thing by their superior officers: Do not speak to anyone about the incident that you just experienced. In later years, some say they still cannot speak publicly because they’re bound by security oaths, and no doubt there are many others who, out of fear of breaking such oaths, have not even hinted of their involvement in a UFO event while in the military. But a number of fearless men and women have, years later, spoken out in spite of orders or oaths, without repercussions.

  This repeated demand for silence, coupled with the overzealous classification of government documents and the furtive misidentifications issued by Project Blue Book, and later the FAA, has led to much speculation about whether government agencies are involved in some kind of cover-up—a widespread, carefully orchestrated policy, hidden from almost everyone, to keep secret “the truth” about UFOs. While publicly ignoring and avoiding the UFO issue, underneath the surface and unbeknownst even to those issuing the orders muzzling subordinates, a small yet powerful core group is actively hiding explosive knowledge, such as the extraterrestrial origin of at least some UFOs. At least this is what many—even conservative—analysts have come to believe.

  As far-fetched as it sounds, this radical supposition cannot be dismissed out of hand. Documents prove that the UFO phenomenon became a concern to the Air Force, the CIA, and the FBI as long ago as the late 1940s, thereby giving U.S. authorities ample time to collect the best data and study physical evidence. Obviously the military would have been extremely interested in the technological capabilities demonstrated by these objects, if they could ever get access to them. We must consider the possibility that enough concise data—even physical material retrieved from crashed UFOs—could have been obtained and studied in secret. If our government officials were hungry to discover some of the keys to these exotic new technologies, or thought we were on the verge of unearthing a new physics, something from another space-time perhaps, these discoveries could give America unimaginable new capabilities.

  Of course, such a study would have been daunting and could take decades. No matter how intense, scientists might still not be able to figure out very much about the workings or origins of UFOs, given the sophisticated, perhaps undecipherable technological systems, so remarkable that they seem almost like magic to us. The analogy has been made to a group of cavemen suddenly coming into possession of a television set, before even understanding the fundamental concepts of electricity or radio waves. Of course, this is pure speculation. But even if our covert scientists made very little progress on understanding what we had, it’s not a stretch to imagine that those in charge would have been extremely careful to keep such revolutionary information away from any “enemy” countries or rogue nations, including the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They would have been mindful of any future economic benefits that could result from these exotic technologies as well, and would likely want to ensure that U.S. corporations would be the exclusive beneficiaries of any breakthroughs.

  As discussed previously, some official documents of the forties and fifties clearly show that, having eliminated the option of the phenomenon being some new manifestation within the natural world, a number of highly placed officials did take the position that UFOs were interplanetary. An inclination to withhold from the public information about something so unthinkable is conceivable given its potentially vast implications. Perhaps those in possession of the secret just wanted to put off its release until more was learned, but that day never came. Also, reflecting back to Nick Pope’s “threat = capability + intent” equation, there would have been much concern about inherent dangers. A rational governmental response would have been to understand and control the situation as much as possible before acknowledging anything about unidentified flying objects to anyone else, and to keep that explosive information highly classified. Our government would not have wanted to risk mass hysteria.

  Obviously, we don’t know with any certainty whether or not such a secret research program exists, although there have been hints and suggestions, usually from reports of individuals claiming indirect knowledge, that keep the question alive. It is raised repeatedly by those curious about UFOs, many of whom regard it as an issue of major, compelling importance. However, the alternative notion is much easier to accept: that the United States is as baffled as anyone else about this mystery, and just as helpless in confronting the unpredictable phenomenon as any other country. The world’s superpower simply shrugs its shoulders and looks away, as if there is nothing to be done, focusing on more urgent matters confronting human beings than the sporadic appearance of something odd in the sky.

  The fact is, even if we eventually learn that a secret research group has been operating, the state (meaning the government, military, and scientific structures creating our society) is undoubtedly not privy to this intimate information about UFOs. Any behind-the-scenes endeavor would have to be so exclusive, so entirely covert, that in effect its existence would make no difference to our government or country, to the people who know nothing about it, which is essentially everyone. In this sense, it’s unimportant to the business at hand: establishing a U.S. agency so that an open, worldwide investigation can take place.

  Nonetheless, even though the question of a cover-up is really a side issue, and will continue to be as long as such a program—if it exists at all—remains deeply buried, it remains a focus for the interested public, hotly debated and often explored in television documentaries. In interviews about UFOs, it is usually one of the primary questions asked.

  When I first became involved with the subject of UFOs, I sought out reliable, trusted sources as any responsible investigative journalist would, attempting to find out what our government actually knows about UFOs. The process took many years, requiring great care and discernment, and eventually sources began seeking me out as well. Whether or not I choose to take any person seriously comes down to personal judgment, which for me is based on meeting the person whenever possible, talking at length, knowing them over time, learning about their background, checking the accuracy of facts they’ve reported, and understanding their motivations. Also, I always look for corroboration.

  When probing the question of a possible secret government research program into UFOs, or anything, for that matter, that is highly sensitive, the sources will rarely go on the record, for obvious reasons. Their accounts are also extremely hard to verify, because even if they provide names of others involved, these people will deny any knowledge of such a program. Alarm bells could be set off by an attempt to locate these individuals, so sometimes I have been asked not to do so. This type of information, therefore, as exciting as it may be, has to be relegated to what reporters call “deep background.” It may help inform how one views the issue, but not centrally. It can nudge us in a certain direction, or inspire future inquiries. It’s all very intriguing, but always just out of reach.

  I am willing to take such sen
sitive information seriously when two or more credible, qualified sources report the same thing independently of each other—for example, when men from different branches of government who don’t know each other, with years separating their statements, provide essentially the same reports. And concerning the question of a secret government research program on UFOs, this has occurred. A number of reliable sources have told me about their conversations with high-level military contacts who say they are aware of a deeply hidden program for UFO research, one which is so closely guarded that even people at the highest levels of the military are denied access to it. Some of these independent accounts include names and specific details. Much case evidence over the years has also pointed to the plausibility of this kind of program, although it can’t authoritatively be determined one way or the other.

  Some of the anonymous sources I refer to include mainstream scientists, all Ph.D.s with impressive, lengthy resumes, some of whom have worked for the CIA or other intelligence agencies—an astrophysicist, a physicist, an astronomer, among others—and a NASA aerospace engineer. One military source, Commander Will Miller, U.S. Navy (Ret.), has gone on the record while keeping certain specifics confidential. He agreed to reply to a series of questions I presented to him in late 2009 about the question of government secrecy.

  Although still very active, Miller, who now lives in Florida, retired from active duty in 1994, the same year he was awarded the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal. As a naval officer and decorated Vietnam combat veteran, he had his own sighting from a Navy vessel while serving near Vietnam. He later became a senior Department of Defense command center operations action officer, a senior intelligence analyst, and a program manager for DoD future operations programs such as WWIII planning, nonlethal weapons systems, and future space systems. He was an advisor to U.S. Space Command and U.S. Southern Command and its international counterdrug operations, Joint Interagency Task Force East. As an expert in special contingency operations, Miller held a Top Secret clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access, meaning he had access to sensitive information whose handling is restricted one step further than the Top Secret classification, including that which is related to topics and programs not publicly acknowledged.

  While an officer on active duty throughout the 1980s, Miller did not hide his interest in UFOs. “I was simply a concerned officer who studied the subject, looked at the facts, and talked to people in the military,” he says. “People with personal knowledge would seek me out because they knew I had an interest. I’ve done this for a long time.”

  By 1989, Miller had become acutely aware that high-ranking military officers were not properly informed about the UFO phenomenon, and he became concerned, like the COMETA authors, about possible national security issues arising, not from the UFOs themselves, but from a lack of preparedness. He believes that we must assume UFOs have the same right of self-defense to hostile intent or hostile acts as we accord our own military forces. Fortunately, these rights have not been acted upon by the UFOs, as far as we know, when attacked. “Only a small fraction have demonstrated even a remote semblance of hostility, and that was only with severe provocation, usually an attack by military aircraft,” he says. “If the entire body of data were examined, the obvious conclusion would be that UFOs are not hostile. That is precisely what the U.S. military declared after many years of UFO study: that UFOs pose no threat to the national security of the United States.”

  After he retired from the U.S. Navy, Miller began taking steps to set up a series of information briefings that culminated in meetings in 1997 with Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, vice director for intelligence on the Joint Staff, and in 1998 with Lieutenant General Patrick M. Hughes, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). (Wilson later became director of the DIA and Hughes, the corporate vice president for intelligence and counterterrorism at the Department of Homeland Security.) Miller has provided me with a confidential, detailed account of these meetings and those leading up to them, including attendees, preparatory briefings, topics discussed, and reactions from attendees.

  He explains that he raised two national security concerns at his briefings: the risk of uninformed human aggression toward UFOs, leading to a possible disaster, and the government’s disregard for public concern about UFOs and its refusal to provide honest answers to legitimate questions. Miller feels strongly that unnecessary secrecy threatens the public’s sense of personal security while eroding trust in the government institutions mandated to inform and protect U.S. citizens. “The officials have universally received these briefings with the same serious consideration as briefings on any other national security issue,” he says.

  I first contacted Commander Miller ten years ago, in 1999, through the introduction of a mutual colleague. I was repeatedly struck by the similarity of his conclusions and approach to those expressed by retired French military officers in the COMETA Report, communicated to me before Miller had any idea of its contents. He and the French officers had all been through a similar process to arrive at these positions, but within two different militaries. They were all meticulously careful about what they said, suggesting that they knew more than they could reveal. Of course, Miller has never had the strength-in-numbers of the French group—his is a lone voice in a vast wilderness, by contrast, and a particularly courageous one given the risks to his reputation through association with the UFO subject.

  I sent him a confidential copy of the translated COMETA Report while writing my first UFO story for the Boston Globe. I then spent many months in substantive telephone interviews with him, and we met in person a year later. Over time, I came to know and trust him as a person of integrity, clarity, and devotion to his country, and have regularly consulted with him about issues involving UFOs and the military. Well connected at high levels within the impenetrable military and intelligence world, Miller is a true “insider” of the highest order. He is one of the few who has persistently taken his concern about UFOs to authorities above him, and has spent many years assessing the official relationship to the phenomenon through his access to American generals, admirals, NSA contacts, and other sources of sensitive information.

  “The military officers I talked with were extremely interested in getting factual information on the UFO subject, since even at the flag-officer level, they were unable to get that information through normal military intelligence channels,” Miller told me. Throughout the years, as he continued to speak with his contacts, he became more and more convinced of the existence of a well-concealed, “need-to-know” UFO program, based on statements that he says confirm this fact, made by military personnel attending his Pentagon briefings and others.

  I asked him in late 2009 about his overall assessment. He replied in an e-mail:

  It is a fact that there are those in high places in the government who have an interest in this subject (in many cases it is because they or a member of their immediate family has had a sighting or personal experience with the phenomenon).

  When the American people say the government is in the middle of a massive cover-up, in most cases that is absolutely NOT the case; those people in positions where you would say “they’ve got to know” absolutely don’t.

  I remain firmly convinced that many military and civilian personnel at the highest levels of various agencies, departments and organizations are purposefully kept in the dark so that those leaders may plausibly and honestly deny knowledge of the subject.

  I asked Miller to elaborate further on who is keeping whom in the dark:

  The “control group” cannot allow any information on their closely held UFO research to be accessed by anyone outside of those specially cleared for that Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP). Neither Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence nor the director of DIA himself could get ANY information on the subject; this is a fact. Yet I know that sources within multiple organizations maintain such information. Leadership remains “protected” from such knowledge. As far
as I am concerned, the question is answered.

  He added further comments on the issue of secrecy:

  To the best of my knowledge, members of the Joint Staff in general are only aware of UFOs and any related secrecy issues from what they read and watch on TV. In fact, there are no secrecy issues related to UFOs since the consensus is that they have not been proven to exist and therefore do not hold a place in the list of secrecy topics about which Joint Staff members are forbidden to speak. That said, however, if a person were to encounter documents or other information related to the subject of UFOs that were classified, then that person would be bound not to discuss that classified information.

  The phenomenon is ignored as if it was an unproven myth despite the existence of classified information about it. I know for a fact that such information resides within several “three-letter agencies.” That is no surprise, since multiple agencies in the past have tracked these objects, received reports on these objects, and created reports related to military and/or civilian encounters with these objects and/or their effects. Especially where surveillance and detection systems are concerned, a reasonable person might assume that agencies tasked with detecting and monitoring air, space, and sea via various technical surveillance systems would periodically detect these UFOs/crafts or have reports of such sent to them, which they would then disseminate to appropriate authorities/end users with the need to know.

  Would it be possible to keep something like this secret? CDR Miller referenced the possibility of an Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP) as one potential location for a group controlling access to UFO information. USAPs are one of the known mechanisms in place within the Department of Defense for controlling sensitive information without public knowledge of its existence. An investigative report by Bill Sweetman in Jane’s International Defense Review sheds tremendous light on the extent to which the DoD is capable of keeping secrets. These “black projects” within the DoD, officially called Special Access Programs (SAPs), are structured so that those involved in one component do not know what is going on in another, preventing knowledge of the bigger picture. Buried even deeper is the USAP referred to by Miller, a black program so sensitive that the fact of its existence is a “core secret,” defined in U.S. Air Force regulations as “any item, progress, strategy or element of information, the compromise of which would result in unrecoverable failure.” This means that all participants are required to deny the very existence of the program if confronted, since even “no comment” is considered a confirmation.1