Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library folder holds NSC cables from January 1999 to December 2000, filed under the heading "Flying Saucer or UFO". A withdrawal sheet lists eleven cables that were withheld in full or in part under Presidential Records Act and FOIA restrictions. The released cables include an FBIS summary of a Bogota TV newscast, which notes that a UFO photograph printed by El Espectador was a hoax. They also include a US Embassy Beijing report on Quanzhou, Fujian, and a Vladivostok cable on Governor Yevgeniy Nazdratenko.
“Cooper”3 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
SUBJECT: NGO'S IN SYRIA: BUILDING BLOCKS OF CIVIL SOCIETY? BASED PROJECTS WITH DEVELOPMENT COMPONENTS. A SERIES OF TOWN MEETINGS IDENTIFIED A NURSERY AS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNITY NEED; PROJECT STAFF WORKED WITH THE COMMUNITY AND THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH SUCH A NURSERY. PROJECT ENGINEERS DOUBLE AS SOCIAL WORKERS INVOLVING RESIDENTS IN URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS. ONE OF THE SOCIAL WORKERS IS A MEMBER OF POST'S CORE CIVITAS GROUP AND ATTENDED THE USIA AMMAN CIVITAS CONFERENCE IN AMMAN. QUASI-NGO'S: AN EXCUSE TO GATHER 10. INTERESTING HYBRID NGO'S EXIST. THE SYRIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY (SCS) DRAWS TOGETHER INDIVIDUALS FROM DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS SUCH AS ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS. IN THE SCS, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS FIND A DEGREE OF STATUS NOT FOUND IN THE PARTY-RUN ENGINEERS SYNDICATE WHERE BUILDING ENGINEERS REIGN SUPREME. THE SCS PRESIDENT, THE SON OF THE SYRIAN PRESIDENT, HAS INSISTED ON DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS. THE SCS TO SOME EXTENT REWARDS COMPETENCE RATHER THAN PARTY STATUS. THE SCS PLAYS MANY ROLES -- AMONG THEM, SUPPORTING Y2K INITIATIVES AND PUSHING THE INTERNET, AS IT JUST DID IN THE SHAM 99 INTERNATIONAL INFOTECH CONFERENCE (SEE SEPTEL REPORT ON PARTICIPATION BY POST'S THREE SPECIALISTS). WITH NO REAL "MARKET ARENA" HERE, SCS OFFERS ITS MEMBERS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO GENERATE CONTACTS AND CONTRACTS. MEMBERS WHO VOLUNTEER TO DO PRO BONO CONSULTING WORK FOR GOVERNMENT PROJECTS ARE OFTEN CONTACTED LATER FOR MORE WORK. 11. WHILE MANY NGO'S PROVIDE SOCIAL SERVICES, SOME STUDY ARCHAEOLOGY OR PROVIDE EMERGENCY RELIEF. THE "SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF URBAN HERITAGE" IN ALEPPO WAS FOUNDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY IN RESPONSE TO THE PURLOINING OF A MAGNIFICENT PRAYER NICHE FROM A MOSQUE INSIDE THE ALEPPO CITADEL. RECORDS OF THE ASSOCIATION INDICATE LECTURES AND ARCHAEOLOGY STUDY TOURS THROUGHOUT THIS CENTURY. TODAY THE SOCIETY SPONSORS MORE THAN A HUNDRED LECTURES AND CULTURAL EVENTS A YEAR. ON THE MARGINS OF THESE "POWER LECTURES," THE AUDIENCE NETWORKS SOCIALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY. A LOCAL SCHOOLTEACHER DESCRIBED THE SOCIETY AS "A PLACE TO GO, SMOKE A CIGAR AND LOOK FOR A JOB." ANOTHER SOCIETY, THE DAMASCENE "SOCIETY FOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY," WAS DESCRIBED BY A CYNICAL OBSERVER AS "A GROUP FOUNDED TO ASSIST PEOPLE IN DISTRESS WHICH NOW HAS SO MUCH MONEY IT DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT." THE GROUP FINDS SUITABLE PROJECTS, BUT IT ALSO SPONSORS LECTURES ON SOCIOLOGY AND CULTURE. SOCIETY MEMBERS ENJOY AN EXCUSE TO GET TOGETHER. ANOTHER DAMASCENE SOCIETY, "THE COSMOLOGICAL SOCIETY," SPONSORS LECTURES ON UFO'S AND SCIENCE FICTION. ALL OF THESE NGO'S PROVIDE PRIVATE FORA FOR DISCUSSION OF A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES FROM JOB PROSPECTS TO HUMAN
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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. 64 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.