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Obama review of classified files linked to UFOs
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President Obama leaving Marine One. Photo: AP.
On May 27, Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum which reaffirms his commitment to Open Government and the Freedom of Information Act. He wrote:
As outlined in my January 21, 2009, memoranda to the heads of executive departments and agencies on Transparency and Open Government and on the Freedom of Information Act, my Administration is committed to operating with an unprecedented level of openness.
Obama further stated that he would declassify national security files that are classified for reasons that have little to do with national security:
a democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment.
The Memorandum instructed his National Security Advisor, General James Jones to lead a 90 day interagency review of current declassification procedures as outlined under Executive Order 12958.The review would address a number of points including the following:
(i) Establishment of a National Declassification Center to bring appropriate agency officials together to perform collaborative declassification review under the administration of the Archivist of the United States;
(ii) Effective measures to address the problem of over classification, including the possible restoration of the presumption against classification, which would preclude classification of information where there is significant doubt about the need for such classification, and the implementation of increased accountability for classification decisions;
President Obama is attempting to streamline the declassification process which was unnecessarily hindered during the last Bush administration. Many files were reclassified after being declassified. The onus had firmly shifted towards an overly restrictive approach where if there was any doubt about the need to classify a file, then it would be classified. Under Obama’s Memorandum, in cases of doubt, files would be declassified.
There is much at stake with Obama’s Memorandum. Rather than merely a bureaucratic fight over obscure declassification processes, there is a lot happening behind the scenes. Obama and his administration are attempting to gain access to the most secret files of all in the national security system – classified UFO files and related advanced technologies. A number of key figures in Obama's administration including the co-chair of his Presidential administration were involved in earlier efforts to declassify UFO files. It is worth considering the result of earlier public initiatives by presidents Clinton and Kennedy to declassify or share national security files - these initiatives were directly related to behind the scenes efforts to learn about UFOs.
In 1995, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12958 which prescribed "a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information" that would reflect a greater "commitment to open Government". EO 12958 was viewed as an essential tool in ensuring the release of many national security files that had been unnecessarily classified for decades. Clinton, however, was secretly attempting to gain access to classified UFO files that had been denied to him by the CIA and other Federal agencies and departments. Clinton's personal friend and Associate Attorney General, Webster Hubbell, was directly instructed to find out all he could about two questions: "One, who killed JFK. And two, are there UFOs?" Ultimately, Clinton's behind the scenes effort failed and his second term was engulfed by the Monica Lewinsky controversy.
In 1963, President Kennedy similarly attempted to gain access to UFO files by instructing NASA to participate in joint space and lunar missions with the Soviet Union. In putting into effect his commitment for joint space missions, President Kennedy issued a Confidential National Security Action Memorandum No. 271 on November 12, 1963 with the subject header:"Cooperation with the USSR on Outer Space Matters:"
I would like you to assume personally the initiative and central responsibility within the Government for the development of a program of substantive cooperation with the Soviet Union in the field of outer space, including the development of specific technical proposals.
Behind the scenes, however, President Kennedy had issued another Memorandum on the same day to the CIA. The Top Secret Memorandum instructed the CIA to release classified UFO files to NASA in order for it to cooperate with the USSR on outer space missions. The Top Secret Memorandum said:
[I] have instructed James Webb to develop a program with the Soviet Union in Joint space and lunar explorations. It would be very helpful if you would have the high threat [UFO] cases reviewed with the purpose of identification of bona fides as opposed to classified CIA and USAF sources…. When this data has been sorted out, I would like you to arrange a program of data sharing with NASA where Unknowns [UFOs] are a factor. This will help NASA mission directors in their defensive responsibilities. I would like an interim report on the data review no later than February 1, 1964.
Ten days after issuing his two memoranda to NASA and the CIA, President Kennedy was dead.
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