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MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

The Black Vault · 492 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Ministry of Defence file, released through The National Archives and published by The Black Vault, holds the MOD's 2002 handling of Dr David Clarke's requests for UFO documents under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. It includes the MOD's 9 December 2002 reply, which covered reports from 1976, 1980, 1993 and 1996 and charged £260. It also contains internal emails and file requisitions, plus Foreign Office and United Nations papers from 1978 on Grenada's proposal for UFO research.

  • p. 47 …was to rir one of Ol national actudest; spaces sh whether this), wh Norfolk I importan…
  • p. 48 …produced r;-,a'.W sigl-itings in Norfolk; and our Eastern Dailv Press-- which is a…
  • p. 190 …en~; ire British regiment, the First Fotirth Norfolks, -was advancing towards Hill 60: a cloud descended…
  • p. 212 …en~; ire British regiment, the First Fourth Norfolks, -was advancing towards Hill 60: a cl6ud descended…
The most telling argument of all is that the scientific
community is unmoved by the claims of ufology. A visitor from
.tAN"\
outer space - or from another space time continu~, or the
depths of the sea, or an~there else they are supposed to be
one
hiding - would be/of the greatest events in human history,
and the greatest scientific event. You would expect serious
and sensible scientists to be devoting much time and effort
to making contact with these supposed space people. The
scientifi? community is as unimpressed as the Government~
.
If the ufologists claim that the Government has gagged the
scientific community, it would be as amazing as the alleged
conspiracY, of silence between Governments.
IS. One could gG on in~efinitely trying to chase the elusive -
indeed devious - ei.rguments of the u-fblogists. Yes, there has
---- --- -- - --- ---.----------·-
been ~n ·increase in the number of 'sightings' reported to the
Government: the biggest upsurges occurred when the BBC put out
a programme on UFOa, and when the Daily Express launched a
campaign in connection with the film premiere of 'Close Encounters
of·the Third Kind'. No, the Government is not in the least con-
I cerned by the increases. [As has been saig Grenada is
I
1 1 financing a study into UFOs, and the United Nations has, in a
moment of casualness, given that · ~i;udy a vague sort of
recognition,and one or two other countries have offered to con-
tribute reports. Her YAjest~'s Government, if it contributes at
all, will contribute on the lines of my speech.
19. There are tens of thousands of strange things to see in
the s1~. It bas become fashionable to call these things 1UFOs 1 •
·There are perfectly sensible explanations fc-. the8e sight:tngso
The ufologist explanations are not sensible at all. In 1968
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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 492 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.