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panel of scientists could rapidly be assembled from its ranks to deal effectively with this new area of research. Given current conditions, however, it is probably best for these people to continue their investigations in private. The history of the Condon investigation at the University of Colorado convinced many of us of this. My own impression of the Condon fiasco is not simply a coverup scenario. I believe that the Air Force late in 1966 was utterly fed up and wanted to get out of the business. After over twenty years of analysis of this problem, the military was in essence saying to academia, with good reason, "We have found no evidence that it lies within our mission. The objects are not openly behaving as enemies of the United States. We do not even know what they are made of, and every time we submit a case to the scientists they ridicule our pilots, who are only guilty of trusting their own eyes and their own instruments. We have had enough of this. Here are the data. It is your turn to see what 1 eu 1 " you can make of these phenomena." The scientific community, which had been so eager to make statements before the cameras to explain UFOs as long as the Air Force was in charge, reacted coolly to the suggestion that their own pet explanations should be seriously tested on a larger scale. Several universities, including Harvard and Columbia, were contacted by the Department of Defense, but they turned down the assignment and the research money for it. The Europeans followed this development with keen interest and eagerly anticipated the American decision, for their official policy would be modeled after the U.S. stand on the matter. There was explosive material in the European files. Many of the sightings were extremely well documented, and classified investigations of the highest caliber had been made much more thoroughly and professionally than even the best cases in the U.S. Air Force files. And no wonder. Some of the witnesses had been of the highest political rank. In one European country, a near landing had taken place on the chief of state's private estate! The craft had been described in detail by members of the official's entourage. This meant that the investigation had been conducted at the very top level. The chauffeur of this high political authority, as described in a report of the sighting, while driving a toa sees what he believes to be an aircraft trying to land on the road, directly in front of him. He stops the car immediately. The object passes just a few meters above the stopped car and, while doing this, causes violent vertical vibrations in the vehicle. A few seconds later, the object reverses its course and passes again, now in the opposite direction, with the same effects on the car. Then, having regained its position above some trees where it had initially appeared, it makes a fast change of altitude, a ninety-degree tilting with respect to the horizontal, and darts away to the west. The witness is highly reliable [the report goes on]. We found that the object, an upside-down plate with a central turret and portholes, could be of the dimensions reported by the witness, Such an observation was no joke. Yet neither the U.S. Air Force nor the American academic community was aware of the extent of the problem in Western Europe. The Soviets were possibly even more interested than the West Europeans. The rumor that spread in Europe through "informal channels" during the summer of 1966 was difficult to verify, but in view of later events in the history of the Condon committee it has some interest. According to that rumor, the Air Force was completely frustrated with the UFO problem and was looking for an excuse to get rid of it. The only problem was to find a university willing to write a negative report after a cursory examination of the facts. This, I repeat, was only a rumor. But this rumor was taken seriously enough in Paris to prevent the creation of an investigation committee What Condon Didn't Know through the estate, namely twenty meters.