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almost insurmountable obstacles. The UFO story was journalistically elusive, contaminated by conspiracy theories, disinformation, and just plain sloppiness, all of which had to be carefully separated from the legitimate material. The questions raised by the UFO phenomenon were deeply disturbing to our accustomed ways of thinking. The subject carried a terrible stigma and was therefore a professional risk for those publicly engaged with it. But it also pointed to something possibly revolutionary, something that could challenge our entire worldview. Although frightening, that made it all the more appealing to me, I have to confess. And the more I learned, the better I understood the validity of additional case studies and government documents shedding light on the UFO question. The aggregate data, the accumulation of evidence over decades, was utterly compelling and completely mystifying. Despite the problems, there was simply no way I could force myself to ignore it. As it turned out, that unsolicited report from France radically changed the course of my career as a journalist in ways I never could have imagined at the time. UFOs became the focus of my professional life after the publication of my first story about them in the Boston Globe. The editor of the Globe's Sunday Forum, a weekly news analysis section in which I had published previously, was apprehensive about covering the subject of UFOs. It understandably unnerved her, but after much discussion she was courageous enough to run my lengthy story. I was extremely nervous about "coming out of the closet" professionally as a reporter who—God forbid!—found this silly subject worthy of attention. But I knew this was a scoop, and how could I resist? I broke the news of the that could entire our COMETA Report, just as my French colleague had requested six months before, and the stature of the generals and others authoring the report carried the day, exempting me from ridicule. I even included additional analysis based on revelatory information spelled out in official U.S. government documents pertaining to UFOs and national security, all of which backed up the French perspective. To my delight, the article was distributed through the New York Times wire service and picked up by newspapers across the country. Clearly, there was national interest. People following the UFO subject were elated that at least one prestigious newspaper had taken the story seriously, and a congressional staffer even sent a complimentary letter to the Globe. I received numerous e-mails from witnesses to UFO events in response to the article, including a few pilots, who had so far never dared to come forward. My eyes were opened by this, and I had now crossed the point of no return. The story carried that disquieting quote—printed in black and white, clear as the other stories of the day with which it oddly mingled—about "completely unknown flying machines with exceptional performances that are guided by a natural or artificial intelligence” as described by the retired French officials. I naively thought this would have to generate some kind of news buzz, and that other journalists would eagerly jump in to pick up almost insurmountable obstacles. but after much