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181 elusions? Or do you release it in carefully measured doses, observing the response of the "patient" to the "medicine" in order to determine what to do next? You are taking a very large risk that the release of the first bits of news will unleash a tidal wave of press curiosity that you will not be able to control. If you tell the people that UFOs are (or even were) flying overhead, they may accept that and think no more of it. Or they may decide that if you are willing to admit that much, there must be more to it, and so they may be receptive to reports (authoritative or sensational) of landings, crashes, confronta- tions, and abductions. If you have the time, you may be able to conduct some tests of public reaction, releasing a small amount of relatively mild information to a limited audience and carefully monitoring the reactions. But if you are under pressure as a result of waiting until the last moment in hopes they will go away, this may not be possible and you'll just have to take your chances. The real danger lies in the nature of the information you have been withholding. If it is fairly benign, then the risks are minimal. But if it is truly shocking, it may be worth almost any risk to keep it from becoming public knowledge. The least upsetting possibility is that while UFOs may have been cruising through our skies for uncounted decades, they have never given any indication of being unfriendly, or of inter- acting with us. If that is the case, then the main risk is to Man's pride. Long accustomed to seeing himself as the ultimate ex- ample of power and knowledge, capable of overcoming any challenge to his stature, Man's realization that there are those flying right over our heads who have superior technology and are able to proceed with impunity could be a severe blow. Since prehistoric times, Man has lorded it over the animals and over other men, and he has felt secure in his position at the top of the mountain. Alien craft—and, by implication, aliens, whether flying the UFOs the way pilots fly airplanes or operat- ing them by remote control—would reduce Man to a position of subservience. But a novel form of subservience which has not yet produced any real changes in Man's behavior. No IMPLICATIONS