Many of you will recall that gripping scene from the Showtime original movie Roswell when the oversight group of high level Pentagon officers and Washington officials are round-tabling the situation which has just transpired in Roswell, New Mexico. “What do we tell the people?” laments one of the generals invoking the most pertinent question of that time. “What if they realize that we are no longer in control of the skies!” he decries. The Secretary of War very stoically responds, “They’d be right.”
I have no doubt many such discussions have actually taken place since 1947 and at times within the Oval Office itself. Yet, most presidents appear to have simply voted “present.” Deep dark secrets such as the reality of the UFO phenomenon seem to go to the grave with those possessing the truth on such a seismic issue.
My fear remains that the “old order” is not passing it down to the new. That stated, I have long been aware of the growing faction within the military that desire the truth come out. But as evidenced with the four explanations of the Roswell Incident alone, the powers-that-be are clearly attempting to run out the clock until the final witness passes on… cover-up complete.
Donald Schmitt is the co-author of the best-selling book, Witness to Roswell, and is the leading specialist who continues to investigate the Roswell Incident. He is the former co-director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, where he served as Director of Special Investigations for ten years. Prior to that, he was a special investigator for the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek. The Showtime movie Roswell was based on first book, UFO Crash at Roswell. His latest book and life rights have been optioned, along with those of Stanton Friedman, as the basis for the feature film project, Majic Men.
When one addresses Disclosure, one need first consider -- to whose benefit? How could the United States government acknowledge a sixty year deception and still retain the trust of its electorate? Then there remains their culpability morass. Roswell remains a stark example of how people in power can resort to extreme measures to protect their own irrational behavior. Our Constitution prevents the government from resorting to such actions and today, which politician is going to admit that people’s civil rights were indeed violated. One does not threaten to “kill children” over the recovery of a weather balloon. We have accumulated ample testimony that this was a rather routine reaction at the time. Juries across the nation would decidedly rule in favor of civilians in such incendiary situations.
Historically, we know that the question was addressed back at that time. Based on official White House log records, the White House resembled a war room with the number of high level meetings which took place at the time of the crash in New Mexico. And, since then, there have been numerous other lost opportunities. Understandably, these were well beyond the boundaries of the official, public UFO study projects. Certain elements in Washington or elsewhere were contemplating what became the inconceivable: Should we tell the public the truth?
Rumors have prevailed that such sentiment arose on certain golf courses during the Eisenhower administration. Supposedly, Walt Disney was even consulted to produce a film to have something “in the can” in the event the government was forced to remain relevant when Klatu landed in Washington. UFO conspiracy buffs have speculated that JFK was assassinated because he planned on full Disclosure. Unfortunately, all such plans may now be within Disney’s cryogenic chamber.
Demonstrably, I can site specific examples where there may indeed have been, at best, attempts to marshal a small sampling of reality. Each situation was allegedly advanced by specific administrations connected to the subject, ironically, not officially, but for personal reasons. Not for having access to the “secret vaults’ but rather being told no vaults existed.
The first time was during the Ford administration following the resignation of Richard Nixon. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, former scientific consultant to the Air Force Project Blue Book, met privately in Washington with Ford’s Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Hynek didn’t mince words when he demanded to be told the truth after twenty years of service simply to be dismissed with no answers from the Pentagon. Rumsfeld forcefully lectured Hynek that he “had no right to know.” Hynek stirred the pot enough to receive a phone call about a year latter from a close friend within the Chicago media where the astrophysicist had established the Center for UFO Studies. The media had just been “tipped off” that an announcement pertaining to the subject was about to come out and they wanted Hynek in studio for an immediate reaction. “We’ll get back to you,” was the open promise that quickly evaporated. No excuse was ever given.
A few years later in 1977, the next possible opportunity surfaced under President Jimmy Carter. As before, Hynek received another late day call, but this time it was more direct and specific, and reliable. TV/radio station WGN had received an actual call from a verified source in Washington and the word was that the president or a presidential representative was about to break into live TV and make a special announcement… about UFOs! Hynek, always the curious scientist, was picked up by a cab and driven into downtown Chicago to sit and wait. And wait and wait, as the station remained on a total standby. After a number of hours passed, an exasperated Hynek was delivered back to his home in Evanston, none the better for this continuing twenty-year-old game. The last word the TV studio received was “Its all off. Forget about it.” But Hynek and certain powers in Washington would not.
