Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library folder of NSC cables, filed under "Flying Saucer or UFO" and covering January to September 1997, holds several cables plus a withdrawal sheet listing three redacted items. A Tel Aviv embassy media report notes an Israeli cartoon about a January 5 UFO alert. An FBIS translation reports that a Colombian helicopter landed in Rubio, Venezuela, prompting UFO speculation. A DoD briefing transcript quotes Kenneth Bacon saying a CIA study found no evidence of UFOs, and an FBIS summary covers Cuban radio claims about the 1947 New Mexico crash.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
DEVELOPMENTS OR PRINCIPLES BEYOND THE RANGE OF OUR SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE WAS NOTHING OUTSIDE THE REALM UNCLAS SECTION 03 OF 05 OF OUR SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, OUR ABILITY TO BUILD AIRCRAFT, UNDERSTAND AIRCRAFT, ETC. THE THIRD CONCLUSION THEY REACHED WAS THAT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE INDICATING THAT SIGHTINGS OF THESE SO-CALLED UFOS WERE EXTRATERRESTRIAL VEHICLES. A VAST MAJORITY OF THOSE SIGHTINGS WERE EXPLAINED BY METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA -- LIGHTNING, ETC. OR THEY WERE EXPLAINED BY PLANES IN THE AREA, ETC. OF THE 12,618 SIGHTINGS, VIRTUALLY ALL OF THEM WERE EXPLAINED. THERE WERE, HOWEVER, 701 "UNIDENTIFIED" SIGHTINGS. THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT I REFERRED TO IN THE SECOND POINT I WAS MAKING, WHICH IS, OF THE SIGHTINGS IDENTIFIED OR CATEGORIZED AS UNIDENTIFIED. NOTHING REPRESENTED TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS BEYOND THE REALM OF OUR KNOWLEDGE. SO MANY OF THESE WE BELIEVE MIGHT HAVE JUST BEEN SKETCHY REPORTS THAT COULDN'T BE TRACKED DOWN TOTALLY; THEY COULDN'T BE PAGE 02 RUEKJCS8440 UNCLAS NAILED DOWN BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FACTS. Q: SO THE CALLS ARE ROUTED TO WHERE NOW? A: NOW THE CALLS ARE ROUTED TO PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS THAT LOOK INTO UFOS. YOU CAN GET THESE NAMES OFF THE INTERNET IF YOU ENTER UFO YOU CAN GET NAMES OFF THE INTERNET. BUT THERE'S ALSO SOMETHING CALLED GALE'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ASSOCIATIONS, WHICH LISTS ASSOCIATIONS BY INTEREST OR SUBJECT MATTER, AND IT HAS A LIST OF UFO-INTERESTED ORGANIZATIONS, AND PEOPLE CAN CALL THOSE ORGANIZATIONS. YOU MIGHT ASK WHY DID THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE STOP AFTER 22 YEARS INVESTIGATING? WHY DID IT STOP INVESTIGATING REPORTS OF UFOS? IT DID SO PRIMARILY BECAUSE IT DIDN'T FIND THAT THERE WAS ANY THREAT TO THE NATION'S SECURITY, AND IT DIDN'T FIND THAT ANY OF THESE WERE EXTRATERRESTRIAL VEHICLES AS CLAIMED BY MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THESE CALLS. IT JUST WAS NOT A GOOD WAY TO USE THE TAXPAYERS' MONEY. Q: A QUESTION ON THE FUTURE OF NATO COMMAND. HOW HIGH RANKING ON THE AGENDA OF GENERAL CLARK IS THE EXPANSION OF NATO? A: THE EXPANSION OF NATO WILL BE ONE OF THE MAJOR TOPICS ON HIS AGENDA. HE WILL NOT GET THERE PROBABLY UNTIL JULY OF THIS PAGE 03 RUEKJCS8440 UNCLAS YEAR. AS YOU KNOW, THERE WILL BE A SUMMIT IN MADRID IN JULY WHERE IT'S ANTICIPATED THAT THE LEADERS OF NATO WILL ANNOUNCE THE COUNTRIES WHO WILL BE ASKED TO JOIN NATO. IT WILL TAKE SEVERAL YEARS, PROBABLY, UNTIL THEY'RE ACTUALLY INTO THE ALLIANCE BECAUSE IT REQUIRES A UNANIMOUS VOTE BY ALL OF THE CURRENT NATO MEMBERS, ALL 16 MEMBERS. GENERAL CLARK, OR THE SACEUR--WHETHER IT'S GENERAL CLARK OR NOW GENERAL JOULWAN--IS INTIMATELY INVOLVED IN MAKING THE MILITARY SIDE OF NATO EXPANSION WORK. THE DECISION TO EXPAND NATO AND WHOM TO INVITE INTO NATO WILL BE MADE BY POLITICAL LEADERS, BY PRESIDENTS AND PRIME MINISTERS. THAT'S MAINLY A
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 48 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.