A new book by Leslie Kean proposes a militant solution to the UFO phenomenon. UFO’s are real and elements within the U.S. government is covering them up, but we need to avoid the danger of assuming that they’re extraterrestrial visitors. UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials (Harmony Books, 2010) is an impressive book that conclusively shows the reality of the UFO phenomenon by focusing on the testimonies of senior military officers, aviation officials and former government figures. Yes, UFOs are real, and skeptics have it wrong when trying to debunk the voluminous evidence showing how serious UFOs are for the aviation industry and the national security apparatus. And, yes, elements of the US government is covering up the data, or at least the lack of knowledge among the vast majority of government officials about the UFO phenomenon. But the real danger is assuming that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors, and concluding this is why a cover up is underway by some elements of the U.S. and other governments.
Kean’s book advocates a middle path of ‘militant agnosticism’ where ‘debunkers’ (those claiming all UFOs have natural explanations), and ‘true believers’ (those claiming some UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin) are simultaneously challenged for their respective approaches to the UFO phenomenon. In the new militant agnosticism advocated by Kean, UFOs are real, but should NOT be assumed to be extraterrestrial visitors. Militant agnosticism is best articulated by two academic contributors to her book, Drs Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall who claim: “given our current knowledge, neither denial nor belief in the extraterrestrial hypothesis is justified” (p. 280). Consequently, a semantic purity should be restored to the UFO term to do away with its extraterrestrial connotation. Kean claims that a serious investigation of UFOs can then be launched by a newly created government agency that should not repeat the failures of earlier official investigations such as the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book.
Leslie Kean’s book has its high water marks. Her analysis of an independent French investigation of UFOs by a group of former senior military and aviation officials, is very helpful and insightful. The COMETA Report is examined in great detail in terms of the seriousness it attaches to UFOs as a national security issue, and the preponderance of evidence showing that UFOs are not a product of any known human technology. She outlines the extraterrestrial hypothesis - that UFOs have an extraterrestrial origin - proposed by the report. But this is emphasized as a POSSIBLE explanation that should not be excluded. That is the position Kean takes throughout her book. UFOs, no matter how unearthly they appear in flight performance, behavior and technology, should NOT be assumed to be extraterrestrial spacecraft. It’s simply a hypothesis to be investigated by an adequately funded and experienced team of researchers, with all the evidence and possible explanations before them of the thousands of international UFO reports available for closer study.
Kean’s analyses of the testimonies of a number of senior military officers from Belgium, Iran, Britain, Peru and France is both very competent and compelling. She goes into great detail into the evidence available in the various cases and the reliability of the expert witnesses who in some cases have contributed chapters to her book detailing what occurred. The conclusion to be drawn from the testimonies she examines reveal that UFOs are very real unidentified objects whose flight capacities are unearthly, and they do pose great national security significance. The extraterrestrial hypothesis is again raised as a possible explanation with the emphasis on ‘possible’. But it is pointed out that more investigation is needed. Kean’s approach here will win her many friends from the scientific community who stress the virtues of strict empirical solutions to problems, and eliminate troubling political and sociological elements that cloud the issue.
It’s when we get to the topic of an official cover-up of UFOs, however, that Kean’s logic takes a very strange turn. Yes, we are told that a cover-up of UFOs is underway, and that the U.S. Air Force and other key government bureaucracies are duplicitous in what they know and are doing about UFOs (p. 146). Kean explains that even the most senior U.S. military officers, as are most government officials, are simply out of the “need-to-know” loop (p. 233). Kean informs us that an “informal” group of unidentified individuals are likely orchestrating the cover-up. She writes: “a small yet powerful core group is actively hiding explosive knowledge, such as the extraterrestrial origin of at least some UFOs…. As far-fetched as it sounds, this radical supposition cannot be dismissed out of hand.” (p. 230). She goes on to inform us that these ‘officials’ are so deeply hidden within the government national security apparatus, that’s it's actually better to think of them as outside of government. She writes: “The fact is, even if we eventually learn that a secret research group has been operating, the state (meaning the government, military and scientific structures creating our society) is undoubtedly not privy to this intimate information about UFOs” (p. 232).
In probably the most bizarre argument in her book, Kean goes on to claim that the cover-up is a side issue and we shouldn’t become too interested in it because it’s so deeply buried in the national security apparatus: “the question of a cover-up is really a side issue, and will continue to be as long as such a program – if it exists at all – remains deeply buried…” (p. 232). Consequently, we shouldn’t dwell too much about a possible cover-up of UFOs by deeply hidden elements of government, but instead appeal to more visible government officials for a new 'serious' investigation. That’s where logic goes out the window and Kean’s militant agnosticism reveals itself to be rather superficial. Why reveal the possible existence of a deep government cover-up of UFOs, and suggest its pervasiveness throughout the national security system, but conclude that it’s a side issue? The real work, according to Kean, lies in redefining the UFO term so it sheds its extraterrestrial connotation, so that an objective serious investigation of UFOs can be launched by a newly authorized U.S. government agency that cooperates with its international peers.
While this writer finds Kean’s militant agnosticism to be a strange solution to the UFO phenomenon and associated deep cover-up, she has her supporters. Prominent theoretical physicist, Dr Michio Kaku, gave a ringing endorsement of her approach in a recent televised interview. Kaku now endorses the UFO phenomenon as a very credible problem for scientists to seriously investigate. One also finds in the opening sections of her book an endorsement by John Podesta, as well as a series of endorsements by prominent scientists, and former public officials in a promotional flyer accompanying her book. So militant agnosticism on the UFO issue has its supporters among the scientific community, military and government who want to investigate the UFO phenomenon as a virgin set of possibilities where answers to key questions such as the extraterrestrial hypothesis are not known with any degree of certainty.
If one concludes with any degree of certainty that some UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft and elements of governments are covering this up from their populations, then one is deemed to be a ‘true believer.’ True believers, according to Kean, are obstacles to solving the UFO issue since they articulate firm conclusions from the available evidence, when only hypotheticals and possibilities should be used. Consequently, she concludes that a government agency needs to be created in the U.S. that can cooperate with similar agencies in other countries to independently investigate UFOs as a world wide problem. Ultimately, Ms Kean reveals a deep antipathy to advocating any clear solution to the extraterrestrial hypothesis associated with the UFO problem. Both debunkers dismissing the seriousness of the UFO phenomenon and ‘true believers’ claiming some UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin are impediments to serious UFO investigations. New investigations are the answer for bringing clarity to a nebulous field with far too many unhelpful connotations and historical baggage. A cliché often used in the alternative medical community is that modern conventional medicine is not interested in curing diseases, but in merely treating them. It appears Kean is advocating a similar methodological approach to UFOs. More investigations, not clear solutions to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, are what are needed to move forward on the UFO phenomenon.
Further Reading:
Does exopolitics make the scientific study of UFOs a dead end?
Exposing U.S. Government Policies: The Challenge of Exopoltics
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Comments
Round, round and round we go. Why do I feel like Bill Murray in the movie "Ground Hog Day?" Let's cut to the chase, folks. Some, not all, are indeed not of earthly origin. Geez...I wish Dr. James McDonald was alive see this. Now don't get me wrong, I wish the best for Leslie Kean and the hopes of moving disclosure forward. But, until we take the Extraterrestrial Reality and not the hypothesis seriously, we'll all be mincing our words as we try to ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the media room. Will someone just cut to the bullshit and say - 'Yeah, there here and have been here for eons.'
I do not understand why the government is covering up the existence of UFO'S.And now that they have created their own FLYING SAUCERS,Why do they continue to cover them up?Do they wish us to think UFO'S are invaders?I don't get it?Should we all assume that any ufo's we see are the property of the US government?The dis info on this topic is horrendous .May be they have been lying to us for so long they do not know how to tell the truth?Knowing that the masses have been deceived for so long One would think it rather difficult to believe anything they tell us now.One should also question who foot the bill for such back engineering projects?Is this where our social security went?Is this why our country is in such a financial pinch?
More disinformation, what a surprise...
You know what pisses me off? This Leslie Kean writes a book with accounts that have been around for years and now she is getting all the credit for putting it out there-bullshit!! Steven Greers "Disclosure Project" has the same so-called military people that came forward with their accounts back in July of 2001. Then 911 happened and it was never again followed up by the MSM. Roswell happened and bodies recovered and technology reversed engineered-get over it!!! The "Rendlesham Forest" incident in England is a good as it gets. People need to start doing their own research and not wait for MSM to finally come on board and say "Holy Crap they really exist!!" Like Mr Michio Kaku said there are civilizations that are younger and there are civilizations that are older than humanity so it stands to reason that if they are thousands or millions of years ahead of us, their technology would be so far more advanced that it would be like showing an Iphone to a caveman. When I hear the argument "there may be life out there but the nearest star system is 10 light years away and it would take thousands of years to get here travelling at the speed of light" it makes my blood boil!!! People are basing that statement on our current technology. Does it occur to anyone that maybe they really aren't travelling this distance but bending space & time and getting here in an instant. How about the fact that some may be living here in the depths of our oceans as there have been numerous military accounts of ships entering and existing the water without making a splash!! Wake up people we are finally being prepped for disclosure so you better get used to it.
MUFON and other such organizations are very informative on the topic. Why would anyone think there needs to be a "new government" organization? The truth is beginning to come out, as Brazil, Spain and even Russia "hints" at disclosure, anyway. Seems to me the U.S. is already swamped with their own problems. I happen to think that yes, they're under the oceans, and under the earth's surface. (As to WHO they are - your guess is as good as mine, lol. Also, I read that inhabitants of other planets also live under the surface - sounds logical to me!
How egotistical to think that all UFO's are military/intel projects...as if all the credible reports of alien interactions are nothing....take Charles Hall's Tall Whites, a very real group, and there alone is proof.
Disclosure is a moot point when virtually everyone with a brain knows that we are not alone...the coverup artists have nothing to lose by waiting and nothing to gain by admitting being liars and deceivers for decades.
Extra-terrestrials exist; I know this in a very persoanl and visceral way. Anyone can know this, too, albeit with something less than 100% surety, if they are willing and able to perceive outside the human box. Extra-terrestrial spacecraft (UFOs) may exist too, but 100% conclusive proof for this remains elusive, to say the least. Personally, I find the physical evidence relating to UFOs far less compelling and useful than the phenomenological or communicational evidence. (I refer of course to the evidence presented in ETIGRAIL.COM)
This is to say, I find the beings themselves far richer and more interesting than their alleged cars.
What people need to appreciate more is that these beings are remarkable not so much for the technology they may or may not exhibit but for what's between their ears. Focus on that and the cars just don't seem very important.
Did they probe you?
” Kean’s approach here will win her many friends from the scientific community who stress the virtues of strict empirical solutions to problems, and eliminate troubling political and sociological elements that cloud the issue.”
I submit that the sociological elements clouding the issue include Mr. Salla himself who is a member in good standing of UFO Watchdog’s UFO Hall of Shame. His unsubstantiated claims like the Source A matter give him less than zero credibility. There is difference between authority and notoriety and I suggest strongly that Mr. Salla falls under the later category. There is a reason he was not consulted in the writing of this book and it involves his blanket promotion of nonsense, his selling of “Galactic Diplomacy Certificates”, etc…
Dr. Vallee, in his speech to the UN General Assembly regarding the UFO problem in 1978, warned us of the dangers of science failing to engage. That warning included a variety of social ills including the rise of UFO cults, conmen and an erosion of trust in government. Judging by the presence of Mr. Salla, he was right.
Leslie’s call for scientific engagement is the right thing and the only way to counter unfounded nonsense like that promoted by Mr. Salla.
Ted Roe
Executive Director
NARCAP.org
Ted Roe
Executive Director
NARCAP.org
The line 95% can be solved and the tiny 5 % seems to be mysterious. Is this not something they use since 1947?
We should not forget what is happening in our region of space. The activity of E.T. can’t be measured anymore. They’re already among us.
Do you really think that if it was just lights in the sky belonging to visitors from other planets that governments of the world would keep it secret? There is a sinister dark side that is present along side an altruistic one. One needs to only research the cattle mutilation and abduction phenomena to see that there indeed is some type of agenda going on that the governments have no control over-scary indeed!!
Investigating UFOs by digging into secret government and military files seems about as spitting-against-the-wind pointless an endeavor as it is possible to imagine. Here is a field whose body of main information is filled with bureaucratic BS, misinformation, hearsay, spin-mongering, and, yes, sheer nonsense.. One must remain therefore skeptical, if not humorous, in spite of the "volumes" of stuff.
Having said this, in a democracy, the decision where to draw the line between a citizen's right to know and the government's right to secrecy for national security reasons must be made by appropriate members of the society. This issue is especially relevant to an ongoing discussion regarding UFO phenomena.
For obvious reasons, military services and the intelligence agencies maintain a cloak around everything they hold so dear. However, in recent decades, and especially since the end of the Cold War, many observers believe that the use of government secrecy has become excessive. The phrase "National Security" is a trump used more and more frequently to justify the most amazing and trivial things. It is, in fact, how a government may be taken over by the very same military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned of.
The whole UFO secrecy issue does impinge on this in piquant and telling ways.
Did I forget lies? Can't forget lies. Intelligence today is all about telling lies, how to tell you something (actually, its not supposed to tell you and me anything), anything, your grandmother would believe. The President is told only what it wants to tell him and he wants to hear, so long as it advances its own agenda. Intelligence is for maintaining the sham and for those who control it, which is not the executive branch, or the American people, or the country. For all intents and purposes virtually anything and everything that filters down to you and me from the intelligence is a lie. "Freedom of Information" (Act)? "National Security"? Don't make me laugh. Just another lie for you and your grandmother.
When you start to do your research about the UFO subject missing pieces of the puzzle will be found. But there are still questions unanswered.
Why doesn’t the Disclosure movement challenge the White House for a live debate? This would probably be the biggest event in the human history.
OK, here's Leslie Kean's point. So what if the government has a bunch of people meeting in secret? Are they really the only ones who can do scientific study on this issue? I think she's correct saying it's irrelevant. People outside the 'gov't' have their own resources to investigate this scientifically. Frankly no one in Gov't has ever invented anything. All of our fighter planes are developed by commercial companies. All the armed forces do is write specifications. We give WAY TOO MUCH credit to employees in the government and i think people including Dr. Salla have watched way too many movies. The only thing the government has is the public's permission to be treated special. I think Ms. Kean is on point -- We the People, the non-governmental scientists, engineers, pilots, writers, etc. should be doing our own work on this. we are the people who do the inventing, researching anyway under DoD contracts. So we actually have the knowledge to do this. This includes you Dr. Salla. You do NOT need to permission of the 'government' to do what you are doing, writing about this. the government is just a bunch of people getting a salary who wouldn't be doing it if they weren't paid for it anyway. they're just employees who are playing 'i'm important'.
I agree with not needing the government to tell us UFO'S are real.Its like expecting them to tell us all apples are not red.And yes our american public already has what it needs to prove the existence of UFOS.How many photos and videos do we need to look at?How many eye witnesses and UFO reports do we need to confirm their existence?There must be millions of reports, videos and photos world wide by now.A court of law only needs a few photos to prove a persons car was damaged .Surely millions of photos would be a plenty to prove the existence of ufos in a court of law but why bother?It would be interesting to know who is responsible for abducting all the people who claim abduction.Did the US government abduct these people?or did they just give visitors permission to do so?Maybe this is why all the UFO phenomenon is kept under wraps?
Instead of trying to prove the existence of UFOS,Perhaps we should be looking into who or what abducted all these people?We already know a lot of people were probably considered mentally ill when they came forward with their claims of abduction but why?Who set the standards to determine this?In a society where millions of people go to church every Sunday and say prayers to an unseen God we all assume exists ,and talk about spirituality,Who are we to claim or disclaim any real or even paranormal experiences as a disorder of the mind.For hundreds of years There have been and still are religious groups who handle snakes and talk in tongues,We all talk about angels as if they were an every day experience and some people see this as religious faith and some see it as a mental psychosis .Perhaps the whole field of psychology has been re-designed based on what authorities want us to believe is" real "to protect themselves from persecution and possibly prosecution.
Ok If we all assume all the UFOS we see are just government experiments (prototypes)then Did the government also abduct cattle and horses and butcher them?Did the government also abduct humans?Maybe the government or those in charge of the back engineered projects (human made flying saucers ) are responsible for these abductions ????I should think the only national security threat here is to hide the crimes of the guilty.As with the legalization of cannabis ,Is the government afraid,we will find out it is a cure for cancer?Perhaps this is why it still remains illegal.I sometimes think this government does not have our best interest in mind.
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