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156 being a scientific investigation, it was phony. But for more than two decades it was used to portray the government as taking the mystery seriously and finding nothing to support the idea that UFOs are real and unexplained. The government's insistence that it had closed its doors on UFOs in December, 1969 was seen by science and the press as proof that the subject had little basis in fact. After twenty-two years of fighting off attacks based on the demonstrated inepti- tude of its official, public investigation, the government dis- covered in 1969 that silence is a good defense. Faced with documentary evidence that, for instance, Project Blue Book never received reports having national security implications and that such reports would continue to be handled through intelligence procedures set up for the purpose, the air force continues to issue its stock denial of both interest and involve- ment. The CIA, despite the existence in private hands of its own documents that show interest well into the 1970s, insists it has had no interest in UFOs since 1953. CRASH AT CORONA