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Much of my motivation for examining critically the extraterrestrial theory has come from a study of the information of witness accounts, processed on a computer using modern techniques of analysis. Many of these accounts come from witnesses who describe the occupants of the craft; this material is rich enough for us to form a good idea of these beings’ physiology and behavior, if it in fact corresponded to the conditions of biological evolution we can assume on other planets. What we obtain instead is a picture of a different reality that seems to cut through our own at right angles. It is the reality of Magonia. But there is more. In 1971, after an unusual UFO sighting, several puzzling objects fell from the sky. These mysteious fragments were picked up by a Texan who made the mistake of showing them to his friends. The next day two men from Air Force Intelligence came to his door, exhibited their identification papers, and politely requested the evidence. The witness threw them out rudely with a statement that I find admirable: "God has made everything in this world, and He has made flying saucers, too, whatever they are. These fragments have fallen into my backyard, and therefore God clearly intended for me to have them. If He had wanted the Air Force to have them, He would have dumped a won. mn them on the Pentagon!" In a survey of technically trained witnesses who had seen an unidentified flying object, it was found that the proportion of those who had bothered to call the Air Force while Project Blue Book was operating was only one in twelve! This attitude toward the authorities is an important component of the UFO phenomenon. The idea of a cosmic mystery lingers in the more shadowy areas of our imagination. Could it be that the reaction of our society to suppress the reports, to "cover them up" individually and collectivity, is as much a part of the UFO phenomenon as the objects themselves? The first level of coverup is in the reporting of UFOs. It is the result of the closed mind and negative attitude of government, scientific, and military authorities. More specifically, I call the "first coverup" the efforts made by those in a position of authority to discourage the reporting of a UFO incident. This can range from the hostile laughter of a local deputy sheriff to intimidation of pilots by their commanding officers, or confiscation of evidence from witnesses. In some cases, the public is led to believe that reporting UFOs is unnecessary because the government knows all about them. Late in 1964, for instance, several friends in Paris sent me interesting data. It seems that somebody there was trying to spread UFO stories through the French news media (the French word for such spreading of rumors is intoxication). A former member of the Intelligence Service who was regarded as a reliable source made statements to the effect that the British military was carefully monitoring the UFO situation and was pooling its information with the Russians! He went on to say that both countries had now come to the conclusion that the objects were real. Another story circulated among Paris journalists came from an American who claimed that the FBI had compiled exhaustive studies of the U.S. cases, a rumor that appears at least partially true, because some landing cases have had elements that brought the event within the jurisdiction of the Bureau. In both of these stories, which originated from quasiofficial sources, there was the same reassuring theme: people should not worry about UFOs and should leave the investigation in the hands of the competent authorities, who knew everything there was to know. We were well protected. In the meantime, there was mounting uneasiness among the scientists who had been involved in the UFO debate. Observations were not only coming from witnesses who have outdoor activities, like farmers and truck drivers, but from technically trained observers like engineers, doctors, and professors. The U.S. government must not have known everything there was to know, because in August 1965, Colonel Spaulding made inquiries among top scientists associated with his office at the Air Force. He asked them specifically what they thought of submitting the UFO files to the Academy of Sciences, or to some such highly respected body, in a renewed effort to reassure the public and find out the truth. As a result, early in November 1965, the Scientific Advisory Board of The First Coverup: Official Denial