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aircraft with its transponder turned off, as we saw on 9/11? Given the current security climate, this is not the time that we should be taking our eye off the ball, simply because of the baggage associated with the term "UFO." have mixed I have mixed feelings about this recent and controversial development. On the one hand, cutting out the public seems a retrograde step in terms of accountability and open government, and perhaps even patronizing. On the other hand, UFO sightings in the UK were at a ten-year high, and the MoD was receiving more FOI requests on UFOs than on any other subject. Disengaging from this and concentrating on sightings from pilots and on uncorrelated radar targets may represent our best chance of making progress in our investigation of the UFO phenomenon. The reality is that UFOs will still be taken seriously and investigated. They will still be treated as something of potential defense significance, but unfortunately, now the general public won't necessarily be kept informed about these most important UFO cases. While the MoD has been unnecessarily defensive concerning UFOs, constantly seeking to downplay the subject and the department's about this and controversial recent constantly constantly seeking to downplay the subject and the department's involvement, I have seen no evidence to suggest the existence of a conspiracy to cover up some sinister truth about UFOs. Most sightings are misidentifications of ordinary objects and natural phenomena. But there is compelling evidence in the MoD files and in the files of other countries to show that some UFOs can not be explained in conventional terms. While nobody has a definitive explanation for the UFO phenomenon, my research and investigations show not only that it exists but that it raises important air safety and national security issues. Despite the extraordinary nature of some of the material in this 1 1 4 14 ce . 1 the and the to chapter, everything I've written can be checked by referring to documents freely available at the National Archives or on the MoD website. However, people often ask me to go beyond the facts and into the realm of speculation. Never mind what I know, what do I think? What do I believe? How has my official work on the UFO phenomenon affected me? Twenty- one years of working for the government taught me to choose my words carefully. In terms of my worldview, my government work on UFOs had a profound effect. Before I began my official research and investigations, I knew little about UFOs and had no particular beliefs about the little about UFOs phenomenon. Afterward, I felt that my eyes and my mind had been opened to a world that had previously passed me by. There was certainly more to the phenomenon than misidentifications or hoaxes. What of the 5 percent or so of sightings that defy conventional explanation? Could any of them be attributable to something exotic, or even extraterrestrial? Many scientists now believe there must be life elsewhere in the universe. If there are civilizations within 100 light-years of Earth, the Square Kilometre Array, the world's most powerful radio telescope due to particular beliefs