Encounters: The UFO Phenomenon, Exposed!/Encounters - The UFO Phenomenon, Exposed (1995).iso/misc1/misc097.txt

Text File | 1995-10-20 | 13KB | 237 lines

The following is an article that was published in the HUFON
Journal, 1992.



Debunking Versus Counterintelligence: Reflections of a Pro-
Ufologist

by Richard D. Butler



To the pro-ufologist, debunking and counterintelligence (CI)
efforts are seen as the greatest hindrances to legitimate
research. The two terms are frequently used as synonyms. In fact,
they are two very distinct operations. Debunking has two sources:
the U.S. government and civilians.

The civilian debunkers are usually professional academics,  whose
motivationis principally reactionary protection against a
challenge to their world view. They see UFOs, and belief in UFOs
and even organized study of UFOs as a threat to their own reality
system. The protective strategy is, in psychological terms, the
well-known process called "denial." We see it in alcoholics, and
we see it in UFO-bashers. It is also quite an efficient way to
handle complex data and hypotheses. Simply deny it, make a joke,
and move on and away from the challenge. Ridicule is an almost
essential part of the denial process. The debunker strives to
convince not only his audience that the subject is nonsense, but
he must also convince himself. The self-imposed wall of denial is
enforced by ridicule. There is nothing new about the debunking
process. The history of science is, in a sense, the history of
debunking.

Clearly, every important advance in science has been met with
ridicule. A recent example is the development of the atomic bomb.
Top scientists were skeptical that the bomb would work. President
Roosevelt's military aide stated that, as an expert in explosives,
he could assure the President that the atomic bomb would never,
and could never, explode! Yet in the early morning hours over the
Trinity Site, a tiny flower of hell blossomed in the desert. The
impossible had become awesomely real. Physicist J. Robert
Oppenheimer was heard intoning, "Behold I become death, a
shatterer of worlds." This was an apt epitaph for the debunkers,
whose psychological world was shattered. Debunking has been with
us since the first debunker laughed at the man who decided to move
out of the cave. In a particularly difficult field of research
like ufology, the debunker must be accepted as something that
simply comes with the territory. We must groan, but accept the old
saying, "If you canÕt stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.Ò

The second category of debunking is the official U.S. government
version. This brings us into the deep waters of
counterintelligence.  CI is defined as specific and planned
activities conducted to destroy the effectiveness of a foreign
intelligence operation. There are various sub-operations within
the heading of CI. The one of most importance to this discussion
is counterespionage, which is those activities carried out to
neutralize another intelligence gathering group. Its operational
parameters include penetration, deception, and manipulation of
those suspected of conducting espionage activities. And it's all
perfectly legal: presidential executive orders have made it so.
Because these activities are necessarily covert, not much is known
about them by the general public.

CI operations are staffed by highly skilled and dedicated
personnel.  Their goal is to deny an enemy information which could
be used to  destroy our lives, property, and way of life. But how
does the UFO  business tie in? National Intelligence is the key
term. This is defined  as any intelligence information produced by
the CIA (or other equivalent agency) that bears on the broad
aspects of national policy and the national security of the United
States. This intelligence is then analyzed to determine if a
threat condition exists. If the answer is "yes," a Threat Analysis
Report is prepared. The report identifies and locates the threat,
and estimates the potential damage levels which the threat could
inflict. The Threat Analysis Report is sent to the National
Security Council (NSC) for review. The Council, in turn, advises
the President with respect to formulation and integration of
domestic, foreign, and military policies. Once the threat is
confirmed by the NSC, various agencies will be tasked to perform
both the intelligence and counterintelligence functions, as well
as accelerated defensive weapons programs.

It is time to look at the UFO intelligence gathering program. Most
ufologists will probably be shocked by the nature and dimensions
of this operation. Every ufologist and UFO organization in the
world is an overt intelligence-gathering asset of the United
States. Your job as a ufologist is to monitor all UFO activities,
including sightings, landings and abductions. This information is
published, providing an intelligence channel back into the system.

The CIA has the mission of collecting all published civilian UFO
intelligence data. An Air Force public information release (still
in use) tells us that their investigation of UFOs ended with the
deactivation of Project Blue Book. Further, it says that UFO
investigations have been turned over to academic institutions and
civilian UFO research organizations. In practice, this means that
information of genuine scientific value will not be overlooked. In
other words, Blue Book never really ended, it just changed hands.
And, whether you know it or not, or like it or not, you are part
of the intelligence-gathering network, feeding straight to the
CIA's UFO files. But this particular brand of intelligence data is
perfectly open to the public, in the form of UFO books, journals
and public meetings. And this presents the government with a
unique problem. As a UFO researcher, you are simultaneously
gathering data for the government, and trying to break through the
wall of secrecy to discover what the government knows. You are
spying for them, and spying on them. By spying on your own
government and, in fact, doing so in a very aggressive manner, you
automatically trigger the counter-intelligence machinery.

The task of screwing you up, meaning the official CI operation
against ufologists, is assigned to Security and Counter-
intelligence Special Operations departments within various
intelligence agencies. Note the three main mission criteria: (1)
Denial to ufologists of the government's offensive and defensive
weapons capabilities; (2) Denial to ufologists of the government's
intelligence gathering capabilities and level of analysis; and (3)
Prevention of direct or indirect Psychological Warfare effect. Are
these measures justifiable? In the balance are our rights as U.S.
citizens versus the degradation of America's national security
caused by release of the UFO information? With this in mind, let's
review the three criteria in detail. Item (1) is fairly obvious.
If a potential enemy learns our weapons technology, he can develop
countermeasures. This in turn would render the weapons system
useless, and make us vulnerable to attack. So the answer is a
clear and resounding "No!" to release. Item (2) is the reverse
side of item (1). We are gathering information in order to make
the enemy's weapons ineffective. Here is a purely hypothetical
example. Suppose we are successful through FOIA, or through what
you must admit amounts to standard espionage techniques which we
call "UFO research," and discover that the government has photos
of a UFO hovering above a submarine. Moreover, the information we
have obtained tells us that the submarine is at a depth of 50
fathoms. We also get pictures taken at 100 and 200 fathoms, and
quickly publish all the facts. The Soviet submarine commanders
would get the message at once. The U.S. anti-submarine
surveillance technology is only capable of imaging down to 200
fathoms. So they would design attack strategies in which they
would cruise without worry at depths below that level. Bad news
for our side, and it puts ufologists on the wrong end of the logic
of item (2). Item (3) is by far the most complex issue.
Psychological Warfare is accomplished by two main methods. First,
direct aggressive efforts aimed at the enemy, and second, indirect
damage caused by release of information regarding the enemy's
capabilities and intentions. The purpose of "Psy War" is to erode
the will of the enemy nation, and it can have a devastating impact
on military effectiveness. A battle lost in the mind usually
translates directly to military defeat.

But the effects of Psy War go beyond military targets. Both
government and private institutions can be severely damaged.  An
example is the stock market crash which took place just before
the Gulf War. This is minor compared with the psychological shock
waves that would be produced by release of certain UFO
information. In fact, the harm would almost certainly be
unprecedented in terms of damage levels, with major impact on
basic religious and economic institutions.

The major methods employed by UFO counterintelligence are
debunking and disinformation. Debunking can be as simple as using
the technique of over-simplification of analysis. For example, the
time-honored quick answer to a UFO sighting, such as "weather
balloon," or "swamp gas." Disinformation, however, should be our
main area of concern. It uses a technique known in the trade as
"plausible denial." One way to view this is that the information
is 2% truth and 98% nonsense, of some mixture of the two, but
never the whole truth. It must appear legitimate on the surface,
but have enough bunk in it to send you off in a totally wrong
direction.

By far the most powerful weapon in the UFO counter-intelligence
arsenal is the ufologists themselves. A former CI officer once
remarked to me about a prominent New York City ufologist, "If he
didn't exist, we'd have to invent him." There is nothing that
counterintelligence operators appreciate more than a gullible
ufologist i.e. born again lesbian lizards from Antares, seven-foot
alien cockroaches with hyperactive libidos, etc. The result is
that the credibility of the entire UFO research community is
debased. Little wonder that the press treats the subject as a
joke. That's what the CI people work so hard to accomplish. The
"aliens are eating us" crowd is the answer to the CI prayers. This
brings us to the question of whether the government is justified
in withholding certain information from the public based in its
psychological impact alone. The first NSC meeting was held in
September, 1947. One of the main topics is rumored to have been
the retrieval of a crashed alien aircraft at Roswell. We might
know if this rumor is true, but the minutes of that meeting have
been removed by the CIA from the National Archives. Interestingly,
they were removed in February, 1979. This is when intelligence
operatives discovered that a book telling the truth about the
Roswell crash was about to be published. It then became necessary
to clean up the "paper trail," among other CI moves to protect the
Roswell secret. The NSC had to consider the Roswell UFO crash only
eight years after the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" broadcast,
in which panic ensued when the public thought Martians were
invading. Little wonder that President Truman kept mum. Was this a
sound policy? I believe it was in 1947, and on through to today.
At least in the sense that the public was not ready for the
stunning revelation of aliens in our midst. But the public will
never be ready! Nor is there any way to prepare the public.
Therefore, further concealment is futile, as well as morally
unjustifiable.

In terms of national security, when a government is forced to
treat its own populace as an enemy, then that government is
already defeated and has lost its right to exist. Abductees are
the only directly affected portion of the population. Granted, it
is a very tiny fraction. But have we decided to write them off, to
list them as an acceptable loss in this shadowy but nevertheless
very real War of the Worlds?

In closing, I wish to express my sympathy for those in government
who are faced with these terrible decisions. I know you desire to
do the right thing. To my colleagues in ufology, my advice is: be
very careful what you ask for, because sometimes your wishes are
granted. If your fervent wishes are granted, our whole
civilization will suddenly have a new, revolutionary set of ideas
about who and what we are. Can you take responsibility for the
cataclysm? Although I have used the term "threat" in this
discussion, it should be obvious that if the aliens are truly
hostile, we would have learned that the very, very hard way long
ago.

That there are great changes in store for mankind is certain. How
we as a people handle those changes will determine the level of
loss to our social and spiritual realities. There is much to lose
but equally as much to gain. Or, as the alien may have said, "Lose
a planet, gain a galaxy."

Think about it.