Documents / Document
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.
·. ~-.~ ' ~. l " i284 :s ex- to cu~·ci ic~ ides. .Jost 'I UFr ')•) d:e F:. ~JCh ·r G2llev, in ;:o; th:;t his ,Jy and lh:::t :)y ;l sn~·""i·: l '· .Ind;~d, ) :·e:sc.trol, \ 1. to end Countless batics at :1credibJe it-second ollisions. weather :Oth cen- science further Men :rrdcd as ·eported ·:e~!V~ns. ::d have :J doubt Jts that )t long :~prdcd turalist c'bably :ntificd )eli eve, r more ~ they !lcrmo I four patrol urs of : fiery :o::~ing ~nJng~ . why 1285 Unidemified [ 18 JANUARY 1979] Flying Objects 1286 should these n·cn. of law enforc12mcnt :md 1 Every sighting and landing must be defence lie? Of <.:.Jmse, they d.id n:n lie. thoroughly inves1igated by the bureau, Why should t.h~y; cspeci:dly ns in t!lis c::sc in co-c;peration \\·:th the · police, the their sighting V<'S cacked lip by JJ",cn from Royal Air Force, the radar people an3 a nearby r:.dar W1tion wi:o s:.:w it, too. the British-based UFO investigators. Each year there arc many sightii:gs of UF.Os throughout the world. Some of them are very close at hand, while others arc not, but alw<.ys the ef:'"'c! upo;1 those who s~e them is one of concern; 2i1d yet this very point is ignord and ridiculed by most Go\'crnmcnts right around the globe. In the Un.;l.ed ~.:.ir.g.G·):l1's c::tse, those who report ~.ee:ng urcs arc taken to be misinformed, misguided and raiher below par in inteliig~nce. If this is so, why has some of nw information on this subject been give::; to me by the Ministry of Technology? Why should this Ministry waste its time gathering false inf~.mnation? Of course:, it is not false information: it is d:1ta reportd by civil and Air For::c pilots, police1:1en, sailors and members of the general public who have all had personal ex- perience which has intrigued and/or frightened them. l\Jy Lords, what are UFOs? I do not kr.ow; and nor, 3eemingly, do some Governments: but these machines do exist in one form or another, abstract or solid, and they do trawl at stunning speeds which seem to defv oroved natural physics. Let the U1~ited Kingdom he told by Her Ma._;esty's Government the real details on UFOs so far as they kno.v them, for by continu~d silence the posijoa only becomes worse. Only a few \'/eeks ago a UFO was seen near Kingussie, in the Highlands, and a few acres of Ashdown Forest were burned by another one. Is it safe to go on ignoring these appearances? Who is to knO\V where they come from? But come they have. Jf we accept, then, that UFOs exist, we must next wonder how they operate. Tbeir motive power would be of huge help to our transport and industrial life, for they apparently fly without wings at ·varying speeds from dead-slow to incredible onl!s, and even hover silently. This kind of information is above p1:ice, and therefore we as a country should make every effort to collect every scrap of information that we can. I therefore ask this Government to make the study of UFOs respectable by setting up a bureau that can be approached by all and sundry wiihout any red tape or opposition, in an attempt to clear the air. The ncble Lord, Lord Strabolgi, who is to wid up this debate, is no doubt sympathetic to the reasons for these t.peeches, for it has become patently obvious to a great many people that this subjec1 has got to the pc,int when Govem- mcm:ll c.xplanr.tio:1s ;;1U~t be forthcoming. A gr.::atcr measure of open govermncnt is long overd!le, and b_ringing the UFO saga into the realm of respectability would be cne way of achieving this, in part . I S'.tspcct that the British Government do have a Department studyhg UFO sigbt- ings, for why else should they bother to go to such trOlible to publicly debunk reportd ones if they are of no interest ~o them? Quite apart from the fact that the Govern- ment hav:! not admitt::d to the existence of UFOs, these machi;-:es are potentiaily dangerous. They give off blinding light, crippling rays and sometimes beams that immobilise humans; they start forest fires, eradicate crops and cause great distress to animals. If the British population \Vas aware of this, they could sometimes tc.kc precautio!lS. UFOs have been with us for maay generations, so is it not about time that we ofrkially recognised their existence ar:.d treated r~ports as less of a hot poU;to than hitherto? Bcfor;:: the noble Earl, Lord Halsbvry, takes me to task once again on the subject of' sonk boon1s, I haYe one suggested answer to the que:;tion why these high- speed UFOs do not produce sonic booms. It is thought that these cmft caa produce a near vacuum envelope around themselves, which in turn would allow them virtually tmlimited speed because they would thus be free of nearly ail normal resistance, as they would be flying within it. Not being a scientist, I cannot enlarge upo_n this explanation, but I hope it is of some assistance to the noble E~rl. 9.14p.m. Lord GAINFORD: My Lords, first may I add my congratuJat!ons to my noble friend Lord Oxfuird for his brilliant maiden speech. I hope t11at we are going to hear hir;1 many times again because it is quite obvious from what we have heard from him this evening that he Is going to I i,' ! i
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