UFOs over the UK
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense released 6,700 pages worth of UFO related documents today. The documents span a period of 43 years; the Ministry’s UFO program (DI55) closed in 2009. The Ministry of Defense says it was not, of course, looking to substantiate the extraterrestrial origins of any unidentified flying object but only to assess the possible threats to national security such objects might pose. This file includes a DI55 intelligence officer explaining in 1979 that actual visits to “an insignificant planet” like Earth by extraterrestrials “would probably not occur more than once in a thousand years or so, even if one assumes that every intelligent community made say 10 launches a year,” concluding that the “thousands of visits in the last decade or so are far too large to be credible.”
The program’s secrecy, though, spurred conspiracy theories about what the government was hiding about UFOs. Today’s disclosures suggest not much. In fact, many of the more recent documents involve the Ministry of Defense debunking claims by so-called ufologists. The 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, probably the most famous of alleged alien encounters on Earth, especially, prompted interested in the British government’s work. This file, for example, contains a letter from one ufologist, Nick Redfern, who urged then Prime Minister Tony Blair to release the government’s UFO documents. Redfern wrote to Blair:
Regardless of one’s opinions as to whether or not elements of the British Government and military are actively participating in a ‘cover-up’ of UFO data, I would urge you to consider making available for public scrutiny all of the many and varied UFO reports and associated data compiled by the Government which is currently withheld. To date, those files which have been released cover the period 1950-1968. I would urge those files covering the period 1969-1998 be declassified – if only to allay the very real rumours pointing towards an official cover-up of data.
The files present a pretty compelling case against unnecessary government secrecy. The files make the British government’s UFO work appear mundane and even boiler-plate; they’re only sexy because they were once classified. One of the files even contains a 1997 response to an inquiry about whether the CIA or the U.S. government shared any information on Roswell with the British:
[A] search of all existing UAP files showed no record of any meetings/briefings with the CIA, or any other agency. Similarly we have no data on the alleged "Roswell Incident" or any "crashed UFO incidents in the UK."
...In short DI 55 has no records of any UAP/UFO "crashes" in either the UK or US and have never, a [sic] far as we can tell from existing files, received and [sic] briefs from any US agencies, including the CIA."
Jesse Walker wrote about the UK’s UFO files for Reason back in 2006, when the UK declassified other documents that pointed to the existence of DI55.
Highlights of the file contents are here. There are many UFO sightings among the files, none substantiated as extraterrestrial in origin. If you do find something interesting in the lengthy files, let us know in the comments!
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a DI55 intelligence officer explaining in 1979 that actual visits to “an insignificant planet” like Earth by extraterrestrials “would probably not occur more than once in a thousand years
Not just an "officer" -- an EXPERT.
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assuming say, ten launches per year? did they give this guy a Drake Equation calculator or something?
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I'm not reluctant to talk about it — I won't talk about it. I'm telling you there was a box that had stuff in there having to do with Roswell, and I looked through it, and it validated everything I believed in, and that's all I have to say about it.
. (emphasis added)
Right, buddy.
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The Roswell crash was undeniably real. The mystery is what was it that crashed.
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It's just swamp gas reflected off of Venus.
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I saw a UFO when I was a kid. I had a very clear, lengthy viewing in daylight from not too far away...100 yards or so. I still wonder what it was.
Still, I do not believe in little green men, Santa Claus, Keynesian economics, the tooth fairy, Bigfoot, ghosts, spirits, or AGW.
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they do not require your belief for their continued existence
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Perhaps not, but my belief does require their existence.
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I saw a UFO when I was a kid. I had a very clear, lengthy viewing in daylight from not too far away...100 yards or so. I still wonder what it was.
I did too, and there was an adult with me to verify the sighting. When I was a kid I wanted to believe in little green men, but now I don't. But to this day, I wish I knew what it was we saw. Because it had a lot of lights and it was moving fast.
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Any civilization trying to make contact with humans through the agency of mouth-breathing rednecks living in remote rural areas cannot be described as intelligent.
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There are many UFO sightings among the files, none substantiated as extraterrestrial in origin.
Without checking the files: all the NEOs (near earth objects) that we didn't put up there are extraterrestrial in origin. NEOs are a good portion of UFOs.
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Depends if you are talking about brick sized NEOs or Mt. Everest sized NEOs.
One can typically spot a half-dozen or so of the former on a clear night if one is patient and willing to spend the time looking up.
By the time you have a naked-eye view of the latter, you have enough time to shit yourself, but not much else.
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NEOs still kind of "pertain to" the Earth, insofar as they're near it :-)
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Excluding man-made objects NEOs are by definition "extraterrestrial".
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The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense released 6,700 pages worth of UFO related documents today.
Meh. The Department of Justice has released over 7,600 documents detailing the Fast and Furious program.
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+1
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The State-Backed God Program isn't working on the livestock anymore. Time to ramp up the State-Backed Alien Program.
One thing I'll say for the State: they put on a hell of a show when they decide to produce one.
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"There are many UFO sightings among the files, none substantiated as extraterrestrial in origin."
See, that's the problem that people make. Why bring their alleged extraterritorial nature into it? The first step is "Do they exist?" not speculating the most outlandish cause possible.