UFOs - Generals, Pilots And Governmant Officials Go On

Page 155 of 229

Page 155 of 229
UFOs - Generals, Pilots And Governmant Officials Go On

Page Content (OCR)

resolution and gamble on the results." [5] Despite U.S. efforts to block the vote, the General Assembly eventually adopted a draft resolution submitted by Grenada. It all fell apart in 1979, when Gairy was ousted during an internal communist takeover that tragically led to his execution. Hynek had also informed the UN committee about a study inaugurated by CNES, the French national space center, carried out by scientists from many disciplines. He remarked that the resulting case studies were "exemplary and far superior to the previous studies in other countries ... the implications for science and the public at large of this French investigation are profound." [6] The official French government agency GEPAN had just been formed within CNES under the direction of Yves Sillard, as part of a natural and logical response to a scientific, space- related problem that needed more research. At the same time, efforts were also under way in America to create a new UFO investigation within our own national space agency, NASA. But in America, it wasn't so simple— even when the request came to NASA from the very highest office in the land: the president of the United States. Unbeknownst to most Americans, even President Carter could not get the publicly funded agency to look at the UFO evidence and see if perhaps, just maybe, an investigative body ar arorey Carter had had his own UFO sighting in 1969, before he became governor of Georgia. In 1973, while governor, he filled out a two-page reporting form by hand, in response to a request from a civilian UFO research group. According to his report, he was just about to give a speech at a meeting in Leary, Georgia, on an early October evening. He and ten members of the Leary Georgia Lions Club watched a bright, self-luminous object, at times as large as the moon. For over ten minutes, it changed colors and "came close, moved away, came close and then moved away," and at other times stood still; then it "disappeared." [7] A year and a half after Carter's election as president in 1977, his science advisor, Frank Press, wrote to NASA administrator Robert Frosch recommending that NASA set up a "a small panel of inquiry" to see if there were any "new significant findings" since the Condon report. "The focal point for the UFO question ought to be NASA," [8] Press wrote, and Frosch's initial response was enthusiastic. "A panel of inquiry such as you suggest might possibly discover new significant findings," he replied in September. "It would certainly generate current interest and could lead to the designation of NASA as the focal point for UFO matters." He suggested that NASA name a "project officer" [9] to review UFO reports from the last ten years and make a recommendation. The White House concurred without delay. [10] The U.S. Air Force, which had publicly declared UFOs not worthy of investigation, seemed to have deeply rooted hesitations about the Carter administration's request that NASA initiate a new inquiry. Colonel Charles E. Senn, chief of the Community Relations Division at the Air Force, within NASA was warranted.