Since the first major wave of UFO sightings in 1947, the number of people who believe that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin has steadily risen. Today, a majority of Americans, as well as other global citizens, believe this is so, and at least five percent claim to have seen a UFO.
The evidence that something strange has been happening is voluminous and convincing. All you have to do is look for it. Through the years, determined researchers have forced the release of classified reports prepared by the U.S. government and other nations. These accounts tell a story of contact through the eyes of thousands of professional witnesses, such as law enforcement, military pilots, and even astronauts. Most people now reject the theory that all sightings can be explained away as weather balloons, swamp gas flares, ball lighting, or mass hallucination. Instead, they have settled on one conclusion: Some UFOs appear to be intelligently controlled physical craft of some kind from some place that is not here.
Accepting that as our starting point makes our book different.
A.D. After Disclosure is the first project to focus on what might happen after an announcement that UFOs are real.
Even if you are skeptical about UFOs, or (if you believe in them) doubt that the secrecy will end any time soon, this book should still engage you. Consider it a fascinating “What if?”
What if UFO secrecy were to end? How would that change our world?
No secret can last forever. Our society is changing so fast, so completely, that we will be unrecognizable a mere century from now. In such a world, with intelligent computers, advanced quantum computing, and nearly unforeseeable developments in global communication, can we really believe that a secret such as the presence of an alien intelligence on Earth can continue to remain hidden and undisclosed? At what point between now and then do we cross the threshold of knowing the truth about UFOs, and having an open acknowledgment of them in our world? It might be as soon as next week, or as long as several more generations, but it won’t be forever. It will happen. The wall of official denial that has been in place for more than half a century is now crumbling.
And yet, an acknowledgment that “UFOs are real and some of them are not us” will not end the debate. It will only lead to more questions, and mark a new phase of the mystery.
Will Disclosure lead to social panic? Undermine religion? Destroy the stock market? Or will it lead to revolutionary new technologies, extended life spans, and world peace?
If alien civilizations have sent their own explorers across the universe to visit us, who are they? What do they want? And why would some of our people keep the news of their arrival from the rest of us? What will unmasking a truth of this magnitude do to our reality, our way of life, our culture, our society? Could it be that these beings are not “visitors” from another part of our universe, but full-time residents of our world already? Are even stranger physics involved, such as dimensions or time travel? Any such revelation will be a game-changer of monumental proportions. Unlike 9/11 when we said everything changed, in this case it really will. Full Disclosure could usher in an age of human unity or one of greater global conflict. It could lead to paradise or hell.
Those are the questions that have kept us up at nights; because we wanted answers, we have written this book. Both of us feel that our previous research has led us inexorably to this project. We may now be believers in UFO reality, but we did not start out that way. We followed the facts where they led.
Richard Dolan has a graduate degree in history from the University of Rochester, where he studied U.S. Cold War strategy, Soviet history, and international diplomacy. He was writing a book about U.S. national security policy during the early Cold War when he became fixated on the issue of UFOs. His research evolved into UFOs and the National Security State, a multi-volume historical study of the attitudes and policies toward UFOs by the military and intelligence community, and the fascinating development of citizen movements to end UFO secrecy.
Bryce Zabel grew up near McMinnville, Oregon, just a few miles from the spot where two of the most famous UFO photographs in history were taken. Even so, as a TV network correspondent and investigative reporter, he started as a skeptic. Yet, he found his mind opening when his research for several high-profile film and TV projects suggested to him that UFOs were not science fiction, but science fact. He created the NBC TV series, Dark Skies, wrote the SyFy Channel’s first original film Official Denial, and worked with Steven Spielberg on Taken.
Throughout both our careers, we have each sifted through the evidence, listened to the believers and deniers and, frankly, done the homework that investigative journalists and university scholars should have done, but which few have tried. And while the work has been rewarding, it has never been easy, and has often been troubling.
A detached review of the proven evidence, much of which is freely available in once-classified documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, tells us that militaries from around the world have been plagued by UFOs. There is no other way to characterize these events. Time after time, sensitive and restricted air space has been the scene of violations by objects tracked on radar and seen visually by base personnel. Attempts to intercept have often been made, typically ending in failure. The documents describe these unknown objects as performing maneuvers that would have destroyed our best fighter aircraft. UFOs could hover indefinitely, and then accelerate instantaneously. Witnesses often described them as roundish or disk-shaped, giving rise to the term flying saucer.
To read one or two such reports, we might well be inclined to dismiss them as mistakes: unknown natural phenomena, equipment malfunctions, or some other error in perception. But hundreds of such reports have come down to us. Their tone is serious. Higher level military and intelligence personnel discussed them and were left perplexed and sometimes distressed.
The general scenario is clear. Advanced technology has been traversing the Earth. Regardless of who it belongs to, it is technology that is not supposed to exist—and yet it does. Moreover, those individuals in strategic positions of power were able to create and maintain a system of secrecy designed to keep the rest of the world in the dark.
Was it right to keep this secret from the people since the 1940s? To laugh at people who saw what they saw, to make them feel small and ridiculous for speaking out? To transform the most important information of our time into fodder for stand-up comedy?
No, it was not. Perhaps, after the truth is known, there will be efforts to bring some of these secret-keepers to justice. More likely, however, many people will shrug their shoulders and reflect that they might have done the same thing had they been confronted with the problem of UFOs. They will also find, as we have in the course of our research, that the problem of UFOs has seldom been clear, and never simple.
And yet, whatever the reasons for keeping us in the dark, we deserve to hear the full story now. We deserve to make our own plans. The truth may be wonderful, or it may be disturbing, but whatever it is, people have the capacity, and more importantly the right, to learn it and act upon it.
In any case, we as a society will learn it. The structure of secrecy, when it falls apart in the months or years ahead, could disappear with astonishing speed. One day it will be there and the next it will not.
Those who have held this secret for so long need to understand that the river of time cannot stop, and that truth cannot indefinitely be denied. The day is coming when they will be forced to come clean, and it is best for them, as well as for humanity, that they do this sooner rather than later. We will need all the wisdom, foresight, and time possible to make a smooth transition to the new reality, After Disclosure, or A.D.
To the group of beings we have come to call the “Others”—whoever and whatever they are—we want to remind them that, whatever their attitude about the human race, our scientific trajectory may soon enable us to leap into their world. It may well be that, at some point in the future, they will be forced to answer to us for past transgressions, or we may be than
king them for past services rendered. Either way, the human race is poised to advance to the next level of civilization.
If there is a final thought to the journey of A.D. After Disclosure, it is a couple words of advice: no fear. That means: Do not be afraid to express your views regarding the reality of other intelligences interacting with humanity, for the truth is that more people believe this than you realize. Do not fear the secret-keepers, for they are people, too, who have generally done what they have out of the belief that it was best. Also, do not fear their power, as they are not infallible, and time is against them. You have your own resources to marshal the truth. Do not fear the Others, either, no matter what that truth may be. Whether they are angels, demons, good, bad, or indifferent to our fate, do not fear them. You lived well enough up until now, and you will survive well enough after the Great Change. Above all, believe in humankind, in our ability to face unexpected challenges, in the strength and wisdom that reside within us, waiting for the moment to manifest.
Although the nature of this book is speculative we have worked hard to keep such speculations informed and supported by solid research. You will notice, however, that some of the sources we refer to are listed as “confidential,” rather than by name. Although we wish this were not so, there are many people who have been touched by this cover-up who do not feel comfortable speaking openly, either because of past oaths of secrecy, fear of personal jeopardy, or ridicule. We want our readers to know that, through our professional training in the fields of history and investigative journalism, we have applied standards of credibility to such comments. Only those individuals who cross a threshold of reliability have been included. Hopefully, the day is not so far away when all people can speak openly on this subject.
Because we are seeking, in a sense, to paint a picture of how we believe the future will look, we have added a series of vignettes, and have placed them between the chapters of this book. These fictional depictions are meant to convey some of the ideas we are expressing, and we hope that they help the reader form a concrete idea as to how Disclosure might affect our world. Better still would be to help the reader form his or her own ideas more clearly.
A final observation about this unique study: After assessing the probable transformations that will affect our society and ourselves following Disclosure, we have gained a deeper appreciation for why UFO secrecy has been maintained for so long. In that sense, even if Disclosure were never to happen, or at least never to happen as we think it will, we feel this book is of value by demonstrating the multifaceted, revolutionary nature of the UFO phenomenon. You may not agree with all of our examples, scenarios, or conclusions, but we welcome the debate.
We are, however, confident that the truth will come out. We are not alone. And the Others are not light years away, some kind of cosmic penpals chatting by radio telescope. They are here, now.
The day will come when humanity reviews its history and divides it between everything before the truth was spoken out loud and everything A.D., or After Disclosure. Soon enough, we will all be living in the brave new world of life after contact.
Richard M. Dolan
Rochester, New York
Bryce Zabel
Los Angeles, California
Chapter 1
Day One: The Day Everything Changes
However long the night,
the dawn will break.
—African Proverb
White House correspondents are in an uproar. A few hours earlier, the press secretary told them that the president would appear in the late afternoon to make a “major announcement” on a topic of “global importance.” This brought howls of protest concerning the lateness of it all, a bit of unfortunate timing that guaranteed missed deadlines and high-stress “live” shots.
Even while jammed into their windowless, cramped cubicles and spartan offices in the basement of the West Wing, these elite journalists from around the world had known for days that something was going on upstairs. They had reported about the late-night comings-and-goings around other power centers of Washington, D.C., but no reporter broke a story about what it meant. Instead, they tried to draw out the truth from each other without revealing any of their own suspicions.
Now, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the anxiety is palpable. Each of the lucky occupants of the 49 assigned seats claimed their space early to avoid poaching. Meanwhile, the rest of the room is packed, with nearly as many reporters standing on the sidelines. This is not the first time they have been told of an inconvenient forthcoming announcement, but no one can remember one coming this late on a Friday. The reporter for the Associated Press, now seated front-row center, scribbles potential first questions. He stops, however, when the correspondent for National Public Radio, seated in the row immediately behind, wonders half-jokingly to no one in particular if it matters that the stock market just closed.
The news reaches them that the president is on the way. The informal betting pool, run by the photographers, is closed to new wagers. The short odds now tilt toward military action against a terrorist training camp, followed by a radical new trade deal with China. The acknowledgment of a classified U.S. defense technology remains a long-shot that could pay off nicely. And while no one has placed a bet on it, a few wonder if this has something to do with that inexplicable “event” from last week. Clearly, there has to be a rational explanation for it, but what if….
The president enters. With him are key members of the U.S. Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This assembly of power seems to favor the military angle. Then someone notices that the Secretary of Commerce is also, inexplicably, standing with the group.
The Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America checks his watch and steps up to the familiar podium.
“After consultation with key members of our defense and intelligence community,” the president begins, “including the officials accompanying me here at this podium, it has been made clear to me that there is persuasive evidence that the Earth has been, and is currently being, interacted with by one or more intelligent non-human species.”
He pauses and surveys the room, allowing time for his statement to settle into the minds of those listening.
Within a single minute, the world has changed.
The president preaches calm, although deep inside he is a bit panicked, too. He has only last week learned the details of this reality himself. He explains that recent highly visible sightings of UFOs, including a mass sighting that had been well-documented, caused him to demand a full investigation into what the United States government knew on the subject.
Witnessing A.D.1: The world changes instantly and forever. Presidential News Conference, East Room. Photo courtesy of The Associated Press/Susan Walsh.
“Despite the issues that disclosure of this fact now obviously raises, I do believe that the people of the United States, and the people of Earth, have a right to know,” the president continues. “Because of the need for calm debate, I have taken the precautionary move of making the National Guard available to any state governor who feels that its use is necessary to maintain public safety. Additionally, to protect our nation’s economic security, through my executive authority, I am closing the nation’s banks for a period of one week, and ordering the closure of the stock market until further notice.”
From here, the press conference becomes decidedly more challenging. Under questioning, the president promises an on-going, “transparent” review of all classified files dealing with the UFO phenomenon and the ET presence. This will be supervised by members of Senate and House intelligence committees. He even announces the formation of an Office of Contact Affairs. Meanwhile, foreign leaders worldwide have begun to make similar announcements, part of a coordinated effort at Disclosure that rolls across the time zones of the Earth. Even the Pope will speak to thousands from his balcony at the Vatican Sunday at noon.
The presiden
t does not take all the heat alone. This is why he has brought the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Defense to answer some of the pointed questions in the news conference that will follow. That news conference will be the most eventful one that the world has ever seen, creating more headlines, spinning off more “live” shots, and generating more demand for follow-up than anything we have ever seen before, or ever will.
This Disclosure scenario only serves purposes of illustration. It is possible that the lifting of the veil will not originate in the United States, or even involve its elected leader. It could even come courtesy of insiders within the secrecy group itself who force the issue into the open and take the world by surprise. There are many roads that can be taken on the journey to truth.
Whatever specific actions precede the announcement, however, the first 24 hours will be like none that have ever existed before. The world has never experienced a planetary event of this magnitude. Not even the existential shock of the Kennedy assassination, the dark impact of 9/11, or the reverent awe of the Moon landing.
The day will become the “Where Were You?” moment for all people who live through it. For the rest of their lives, they will talk about what they were doing when they first heard the news. History will have a new dividing line, one that heralds the first day of a new world, the end of an old one.
Originally, the term A.D. came from the Latin phrase Anno Domini, and referred to the time after the birth of Christ in the Gregorian calendar. It will still continue as the unofficial global standard and as the basis of scholarly dating.
Now the phrase “A.D.” will be appropriated by the world culture as the reference for the time After Disclosure. There will be surprising global acceptance of this re-interpretation, given that more than two-thirds of the world isn’t even Christian. Even B.C. will come to stand for something else: Before Confirmation.
A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth About Alien Contact Page 2