7/30/2019 Just Cause Zechel v1 i9

1/4

JUST CAUSEVol.l-No.9 (December 1979) - U.S.A.Published Intermittently by C i t i l C I 1 ~ AgainstUFO S e c r c c ~ (CAUS), Po O. Box 4743, Arlington, VA ,22204 - - rni tcd 5t:ltes of .\;t1"ri":-Io

A Primer on U FOlogy as aPublic IssueCiUzens who are newcomers to the ~ l i t i c s 'o f UFO-logy probably wonder vtiat is th e best means for acquiring a capsule explanation of the issues and principals involved in this sociopoli t ical drama of thepast 30-odd years. If you're one of those citizens,you JIIight find the answers to , your questions by reviewing two recent JIIedia evgnts of interest to UFO-logists and ordinary cit izens alike.

NYT

The f irst , is th e ground-breaking pUblication byThe New York Times Magazine (14 Oct 79) of an indepth article entIt led "UFO' Files: The Untold Story,"by !.'YC-based freelancer Patrick Huyghe. T r a c i n ~ therecord of the growing 'credibili ty gap between whatthe Federal Government secretly collects/evaluates onUFO's aDd what i t publicly acknowledges/releases,P . ~ y g h e ' s analysis leaves the'reader with a bi t tertaste over what essentially is a deliberate, continuous UFO-data coverup by such agencies as the U. S.Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), th e Federal Bureauof Investigation, th e National Securi ty Agency, th emilihry,..service departments, th e Department of Defense, and the state Department. Needless to say, aSUbstantial volume of docuJllentation and commentarydigested by Huyghe in th e course of his extensive research had to be edited froJII the piece to conform toth e magazine's word-space limitations. But even so,fo r a big-name mediuJII l ike th e New York Times tosponsor sober coverage of such a journal is t ical lysensitive topic as UFOlogy marks a JIIilestone in providing that investigative specialty i t s day in court.(Xerographic copies of the art icle lllay be ordereddirect froJII the author - - 2,14 East 83rd st reet - #5C,New York, NY 10028 - - postpaid at $2.50 per copy.)GS1J

And speaking of UFOlogy's day in court: th e otherJIIedia event occurred in Bronx, N. Y., on October 25 ,1979, in th e form of a press cc;nference held by CAUSlegal director Peter A. Gersten. Curiously unattended by local print media representatives (includingThe New York Times), the conference was called to pubiicize th e la test developments in th e litigation ofGround Saucer watch, Inc. Vs. CIA; to highlight theplans of Gersten to file (o n behalf of CAUS) Freedomof Information Act (FOU) lawsuits against the NatlO1;a1 Securi ty Agency (NSA) am the' Department of theAir Force; and to dramatize th e concern of CAUS JIIem-bers and others that the Federal GoverlDllBnt' s aoparent mishandling of legitimate, hard-core UFO datacoUld endanger the national interest. To support hisintentions and contentions, Gersten distributed a"press kit" cOmposed" in part , of selected government

, ,

~ .: < ~............. , - ., - :-"The [vidence will 'ioeak for Ttself"

documents recently obtained vi a FOJA actions.Among them was a n o ~ ~ A 1968 monogranh, enti t led"UFO Hypothesis and Survival Questions," th e

~ e a d oaragraph of which reads: "I t is the puroose of this Monograph to consider briefly someof th e human survival implications suggested bythe various principal hypothesis ISic.7 concernin g the nature of the phenomena loose!y categorized as UFO." (Xerographic copies of Gersten's8-page press release (with index to the presski t) may be ordered direct fran CAUS at the postpaid price of $2.00 apiece.)

Call for National Convocat ion on UFO SecrecyA CAUS meJllber in the Washington, D. C., areahas s u ~ e s t e d that a coalition of UFO researchgroups sponsor and conduct a day-long NationalConvocation on UFO Secrecy, to be held, aporopriately enough, in W a s h i ~ g t o n , D.C., to coincide vith the anniversary of the amended r. S.Freedoll of Inform tion Act (which took effect onFebruary 19 , 1975).The convocation's objectives would be to - - Foster wide-open, robust public discussionon the policies and oractlces of Federal, state ,and local agencies in perpetuating offic ia l UFOsecrecy. This could include (1) a program ofspeakers on specialized topics related to UFOsecrecy/UFO news management; (2 ) a panel of experts debating one or JIIore of th e issues involved;and (3) the publication of th e convocat ion's proceedings for sale' to the general public. Provide a secure forum for heretofore undeclared witnesses to off icial ly suppressed nFO d a t ~in which their testiJllony can receive its' day incourt without being subjected to the whiJIIS of repressive, retributive'authority. Presumably,

this JIIight incl,ude confessions of PFO secrecy bypast participants in off icial UFO research. Ttalso could include the coming forward of princi-. pals involved in cases of alleged retr ieval /s torage of "crashed saucers." ForJIIUlate direction of and plan:'! fo r an aggressive campaign to end UFO secrecy and to co ordinate th e release and publication of heretofore secret UFO data in the possession of ~ e U.S. and foreign governments. This could includea workshop on th e mechanics of using the FreedoJIIof Information Act as the prillBry tool by whichto ferret desired data. I t also could includeformation of'a lobbying corps to bring legisla-

7/30/2019 Just Cause Zechel v1 i9

2/4

tivtl ref01'll to th e Executive Branch's continuingefforts at maintaining UFO secrecy. ' Mfi1'll and renev the resolve of concerned c i t i lens, to counter' any present or tuture ins tance of

UFO secrecy perpetrated by any orfic ia 1 in 1he course of investigating UFO encounters or in th e pro- 'cessing/evaluating of UFO data submitted to goVernment ageneies for analysis., ' . Honor: th e work of Major Donald' E. Keyhoe (USMC,Ret.) , the "father" of anti-lIFO secrecy, as the im -petus .far "citizens against UFO secrecy."Thiscould inclUde a testillOnia1, "contributors' plate"dinner in his honor (with "roastinR"?), th e prOceedsof which would be applied to ,special projects. '

MANAGlt.C THE PROJECTOf course, any undertaking of 1his magnitudewould require thorough planning, sound ullage_nt,adequate fUnding, aDd the dedication and hard workof volunteer.s. Assuming those resources can be acquired and marshaled wi thin th e next year or so, isthere anybody out there who'd be interested in be

COIling the Project Manager for this ca l l to action?And are there any pers'oDS able aDd willing to joinhim/her in foraing the cadre of planners andcoordinators necessary for developing eel executing theproject? I f so , please send your names and qualif ications descriptors to'CAUS hea4quarters t . .ediately.Thisis your chance to get inw1ved, to h e ~ build.on our growing recOrd of success in dispelling ig-noranceor (lUId/or apathy toward) the dangers of su stained um secrecy ' ,"

" ,'Fore ign Forum, It doesn't take lOng for s.-groim UI010giststo realiae that offiCial UFO secrecy is confiDed noIIOre ' to North' AIIerica than is inflation. A aubacriDtion for one or two fore ip UFO joanals soOn bears, this out. Of ccnarse,in th e Soviet Union and othertota1i tarian nationS t evarything of pol l ica l :btyKnotance star ts out a secret. There, eftn the factthat UFO secrecy exis ts probably aught to be kept asecret in 1heeyas or, SO M gofer_ l i t leaders (Which was the case here in the United States whenUFO's debuted upon lIOdern . an ' s consciousness; now,with the evidence of Project Blue Book largely de classified, a l l t h o s ~ off ic ia l proDounc_nts of apolicy of Don-UFO secrecy have a distinctly hollowring. )

,CAtS correspondents in Spain, for example .-having a p p l a u d e d ~ r i c a n efforts a t ridding thetxecutive Branch of any hold-over UFO secrecypol!cypractices - - acknowledge their OWD, govarlllent ' s poorrecord in fostering.a free-flow of vi ta l UFO data toth e c i henry. , In recent corresPondence wi'th CAUS,Je-SE: carlos FerDandel Carcia, r reddent of Spain's

' I n s t i t u t ~ Reusense de Investigacion Ufologica, 6bsenes: , "The reasons or II,V le t ter is to express fItysolidarity with your efforts to get a planificationof ttte information about UFO's; so kept in sileDc;ea'ild in s e c r ~ c y by the gover..ants. We all-studioDst h j ~ p h e n o m ~ n o r . know th e risks that entrails thetiClnt: of information and ,the atti tude taken for many

countries of not submission of these objects."'lH EMEXICAN COfl.l.'ECTJON

, Back on this side of the Atlantic, we find thatMexico might be sittintt on a powder keg of UFO data.Case in point: Mexican embassy officials in washington, D.C., have ~ n o r e d CAUS inquiries about th eMexican role in th e r .S.-1ed recovery of an allegedflying saucer 1hat crash-landed on Mexican soi l onDecember 8, 1950. A c c o r d i n ~ to UFO researcher Todd Zeche1, t h e l l l i l i t a ~ ' rec'overy t e p out of Carswell Air Force Base, Tex., aflaged to dupe the Mexicans into thinkilltt that the saucer was n o t h i n ~ morethan an eXf'erimt!llta1 AIIIerican craf t - - and henc:e th eprovince/proDerty of th e border-crossing". S. re t r ievers .

One easi ly can' sptlculate on the' MexicBJI embassy'sdemonstrated reticence about the event. Maybe th eMexican officials merely are embarrassed by this momentous i n t e 1 l i ~ e n c e scoop s p r u n ~ on them by thefrneighbor to th e 'north; and so they wish not to reopen 1hat old wound in the:ir intemationa1 i_ge .ar maybe 1hey're a party to aU . s. -engineered cons ~ i r a c y to suppress a l l past/Dresent/future dataabout the recovery mission, with th e Understandingtha t the Mexican ,governaent share 1he wealth ofknowledge derived f ~ . any on-J!Oillg analysis of th ecraft . ' Then, a third theory Would be a hybrid of,the f i r s t tWo. Whichever t h e ~ ' sUrvh'es the testof time, you can be .are that th e next UFO thatcrash.;lands in Mexico wil l receiveliOl o n 1 ~ ' l'Oyaa1'

t r e a t m e n ~ by the natives, blat also th e careful attent ioncf a Mexican-led recovery team, acting ons t r ict orders to res is t interft/rence fl'Oll the ~ r e e d ygringosfl'Om Texas. 'In th e meantiae, CAlTS reaearchers are n,-ing BJIother approach for cracking M e x i c ~ ' s wall o f secrecy BIlrroanding no t just 'the 1950 case blat also,presuably, any present or nature body of wlid IFO'data. ,",e results o f this effor t wil l be reportedat a later date'.

'A NOTE TO CANADIAN CAUSfansAt least one Canada-based UFO researcher is on1he t r a i l o f alleged European retrievalS (hardwareandlor software). I f any of ' the incidents pans out,i t wil l disDe1 th e notion that disabled l ~ F O ' s somehow prefer to land on ou r side of the globe. CAt'SDlans to pursue the secrecy aS1)ect of these incidents, an! we coaend 0,.. Canadian brethren ffJr

their investigative prtlWess tf:' date. Carter 's Brok enPr 0 mi'se

LARRY 1i. BRTANT, 41, In today's trend towar! s i n ~ l e - i s s u e cBJI!idacy/recall on the "ar t of the eJecta-ate, 'Te-sident JilllllY carter 's chances at,reelection,areslim, indeed.

I f you objectively can JK,int to a s t r i n ~ ofbroken campaign ,promises as th e c u l ~ t in Mr.One T i m ~ ' s decline 'and fa l l , you 'should includeamong them h i s ~ a p p B r e n t failure to, In his w o r 1 ~ ,

7/30/2019 Just Cause Zechel v1 i9

3/4

"make every piece or infol'll8 tion th is cowrtry hasabout oro sightiags available to the public UlC1 thescientis ts .- ,, '"Although he did ask his s c i e ~ e / t e c h n o l o g y adVisorto look into th e advisability or having the National Aeronautics and Space AdBdnistration reopen a forIII&l. Federal Governaent exaaination of the UFO J)roblell Can act cOllparable to asking the o il cartel toreport on th e causes of worldwide inf lat ion) , President tar ter nonetheless los t th e chaneefor a turnabout in the ~ r e d i b i l i t y of offic ialdom 's reaction to,'and 'handling of, that problea. '

la s his reneging due 'to a grand scheme to suppressvi ta l UFO data frCII public view? Some of the hundreds of citiaeDa who have bothered to write theirviews to the President probably would think so.mE RJISEOF DISIUDSIONKENr

Citiaens' le t ters to th e President on UFO's, reJlresenting a l l walks of l i f e , a l l pol i t ical / re- 0ligious persuasions, aU extremes Or UFOlogical orientation - - carry a popular message, best depictedin quotations ,froID a fey of th e let ters at randOli: '

In yOur recent televiSed talk to the Americanpublic, you stated that you were going to honor a llof your c8ll'paign promses. Mr. President, do y o i i l ~tend to honor th e abow pludse? , H ~ v i n g researchedth e problem of Gov81"1U11ent dOCUlllen1ation ,regai-ding, UFO's, I .. aware of quite a b i t of such dOCUlllentat ioncurrent lybeing held by various Goverament agendes and departments., I ,would be more th u v i U ~ing to aut . f t specific detai ls of 1IIe existence or ,this documentation to you for any action ,YOU de..apJlropriate. ' I va s SUJ'flrised to learn about your intendedaction concerr.ing, UFO's. The l lapaine U. s. Hews,, 'World ICiOrt states that the President hLiiSeifwould disc ose information on UFO's that wil l as-

o tound and SUl'J)rise the Allerican public. Is this inforat ion derived from the Project Blue Book ar anyother gownDnental projects? Or is this ney information that ha s been keJ)t from 1IIe public? As the....gazine reparts, Mr. President, you will disclOsethis infonaation towards the end of 1IIe year. ' Is,this a true statement? I .. concemed about UFO act ivity in 1IIe U. S. an i their meaning of existence.1 would appreciate a le t ter of reply. ,May r thankyOu for being concerned over this important _ t t e r .

Mr.' Carter, r have followed the UFO mystery forover 25 years. In that time, I have seen USAF officers a te cOllllllents about UFO sigh ters far worsethan the comment Paul land Dizon .. e recently aboutRalph t:ader. I would hope 1IIat you will very quick";1y make -every 'piece o f information" 1IIe governmeathas aboUt UFO's publicly available . I would hopethat this would include inforllliltion as' to just whoin the Federal Gove . . . . .a t is.currently investigatingthem. Official ly, or a t least for public conSumpt ion, the USAF has been out of i t since ~ t e 1969,but there are a great JIaIly people who feel ' t latheirs va s _re ly th e o' 'ert invest igat ion and thatc o v ~ r t 1 y another agency Ca special branch of 1IIe r,CIA has been mentioned by some researchers) has both -carried out investigations of 1JR) reports !!!': harried

Sighters into DOt .. l i d , reporting details orthe i r observations/encounters with UFO's. Yourassistance in p i e r c ~ ,the -sUence CUrtain- '1IIrowil 1IJ) around UFO s i g h t i ~ s fo r lIaJIy years byth e USAF and ottier aJ?!8ncies will be great l , ap,;.preciated. ' , ' T have read, seVeral books on f'FO's, and I ..convi need beyond any doubt tha t 1tIey are no t . . , . .

figilents of 1IIe imagination, but actually aliensJ)acecraft fl'Oll other wnrlds. , My own sightings convinced _ ewn more. I have read C n that same art icle) that you haw seen a UFO yoanielf . When If i r s t became interested in "ro's I ws "1 7 .. h asbo t ic . But noV I .. completely th e opposite. In .these books I have read about government co.ar-ups,.. ecia11y J ir Force. I have read'and ram convinced that both th e goverl1!ll8nt and th e Air Forced" in fact know that . . UFO's are al ien spacecraft . Of course, I am aware there have been lllanyhoaze,. I have read that th e Air Force has e..threatened people who have had sightings with gooderidence not to talk to the press cr anYbody about1IIeir si lht ings. This should stoJ) iatediatelylShould g o O d ~ decent cit izens be intimidated whenthey have 1IIe right 't o know th e t ruth?! I am sureth a by nOv you know th e truth abcJld UFO's. Ofcourse, I ban heard theories that there wau.ld bewidespread panic, ,bat T believe th u , is ' telTiblyuDdereatiat ing th e collllllOn sense or the . -aricenJ)80ple. I believe if the goverllllBnt released, forpublication, a l l lm ) intor.. ion over the 'courseof th e next fey years i t VOl ld not come as sUch ashock. Atter a l l , in a recent natiomride 'poU, 15million Aaericans sa y they have seen a UFO. I rea l b e UFO's are not a major national concel"ll, so Ican ' t UJ)8ct you to do a n y t : h ~ about i t right away., I strongly bel iew that releasing a l l infer_tionon UFO's i s soaething you can ' t pu t off. ' I baveseen that in jus t your f i r s t 1II0nth in office youare a .an, ofact ian , an ! not afraid to do things

d i f f e r e n t ~ . Far th i s reason I belie.. it you.don't do i t , nobody wil l for along , long time. I do be l i e . . 1IIe ,time' has C D . to l i f t thel id off and release a l l the infor_tion the OvermaeM has. Does 1IIe goverDlll8nt in fact have anintact aliea, spacecrid't hidden af wright-PattersonA.F.!. aloDK with i t s froaen occuoants? As it "

s t r .ds 'nov there is enough eyavitness testimony tosa y that something is or was hidden a t the base.I realize this inform tion woUld have to be released slt'IW& because of the effect it would haveon SOll8 people. But i t would be a great step inbringing back an oJ)en ~ v e r n z e D t - no t one shrouded,ia secrecy. , R e p ~ wanted, please.The Secretary o f th e Ai r Force's replies tothese honest expres,ions of anticipation and, concern generally have consi sted of a form-letter response that says, in effect, "Thanks fo r vri i nR ,but we neit"er seek nor need :vour advice/supporton this irksOlll8 matter / isoecially for our various _il processors alonR th e way from White Rouseto Pentagon7.- L i t ~ 1 e wonder that any registeredto';'vote recipient of that pat AF resl)Onse wuldbe disinclined to renew his/her faith in the Carte r oersona come election time.Of course, i t ' s possible that th e ~ 9 i . t e n c y

7/30/2019 Just Cause Zechel v1 i9

4/4

is not th e fountainhead of of f ic ia l UFO secrecy.considering Carter ' s apparent overal l naivetee onother issues of national concern or commitment,who's to say that , as regards th e UFO controversy;he's not merely accepting a t face value th e out-offanswers of his" intell igence advisors?

Whether BSer or bungler. President Carter hasl e f t a sizable chunk of th e electorate d i s i l l u . ~ i o n -ed and dismayed over the nonfUlfillment of his a l-

EDITORIAL

leged campaign promise. Rut, r ea l ly , when youthink about i t - - you who've s ~ e n previous "res i dents d o d ~ e the l ~ issue, terM af ter term - - whatUFO-oriented ci t izen act-Jally ever has exr>ected. Jimmy Carter to p l u n ~ ~ into th e pol i t ics of UFO-logy?

Hr . Bryant is th e comoiler-editor Qf an un published book enti t led Ji:mny car ter Answers HisUFO Mail: Cit izens ' Letters to t:1e---pr;;ident on 1fFOs.

TheWhy

Crashed Saucer Secret: How We're Gett ing It-We,l l Tell ItLARRY W. BRYANI'

Nov that i t s major hsue is s e t t l ~ d -- i . e . , th e r ight of a M.'lgazino to publhh infor!lI1.1:ion gleanedfrom unclassif ied sources - - the ce19brated case of th e U. Government Vs. The PrOgressive Maga1.ineraises questions about th e Federal Government's possible intervention in the pregent future effor tsof UFOlogy media to publicize the facts/myths surround in g th e growing s u s ~ i c i " ' n that downed UFO hardware/occupants have been retrieved/stored by U. S. off ic ia l s .

I f upon s i f t ing through rumor af te r TUmor, claim af te r claim, unsubstantiated fa.d af te r unsubstanti" ated fact , a researchf)r stumbles across th e crucial clup. that u n l o c k ~ Ali ~ b a ' s cave nf rFO gOt)dies,what is he to do with tha t key to th e ultimate mystery of UFO's'A FOOT IN mE DOOR

Well, i f th e researcher i s Leonard str ingf ield of Cincinnat i , Ohio, th e nat ion 's leading soecial is t inthe lore of "crashed ' saucers," he will pl"!:'cped 'In a careful, methodical course of documentati(ln Wlt i l a l lthe pieces of th e puzzle are put in the i r pro"per places. In s t r ingf ie ld ' s case, tnt!! means numerl)us man-hours of chasing frui t less leads, of enduring th e sacr if ice of his time needed for family matters , I) f reDining frus t ra ted because of th is or that missing element of data or lack of oonfirmatiTY evidence forth e diversity of accounts relayed to him. It also means subject ing himself to abuse from pers:)ns vh.,can ' t accept the seriousness of his work or 'll'ho resent his leadership rule in it. Anti i t means eJqlosinl!one's published interim reports to cr i t ical whims of other researchers am mass-media analysts , whoto o often forget tha t what the report offers is no t th e final solut ion to the UFO "controversy but rathera means for arr iving a t tha t solut ion.

Thus. i f you're a Leonard Str ingfie ld hot on the t r a i l of retro-UFOlogy (the c o l l ~ ~ t i o n / e v a l u a t ~ o n ofhistor ical evidence gleaned from newly acquired evidence and testimony), you have every r ight tf) be anprehensive over whether your government is going to clalllp down th e secrecy l id on your f i n d j n ~ s . Shouldsuch a governmental incursion into your private l i fe occur, what recourse you have to protect your interests as a free ci t izen and to aSSlre that the public 's r i l t to know is maintained free of prior. ,res t raint censorship?HAVE NO FEAR

If you follow the example of The Progressive's publisher. you ' l l en lh t thf! aid of !'Iuch public-interest groups as c j thens Against UFO Secrecy and th e American Ci dl Ubert ies Union, hoth of which standready to advise you of your legal r ights and obligati(lns wh..;on Big Brother COIIICS call ing. Am :".:ou'U relyon the glare of widespread PUblicity as a weapon to counteract any unconst i tut ional act t h a ~ ~ ) v e r n m e n toff icials might be contemplating using agai.nst you.

With that knowledge and assurance in hand, you wil l remain in a 5 t r o n ~ posi t ion to withstand unwarranted government control and to perservere in your e f f o r t ~ at b e i ~ a Cl)ndUl t of informaHon from. and among,sources heretofore entrenched in ret icence. . . . .----------------------itizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAllS)

P.O. Box 4743Arlington, VA 22204