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Our study would be conducted almost exclusively by nonbelievers who, although they couldn't possibly prove a negative result, could and probably would add an impressive body of evidence that there is no reality to the observations. The trick would be, I think, to describe the project so that, to the public, it would appear a totally objective study but, to the scientific community, would present the image of a group of nonbelievers trying their best to be objective, but having an almost zero expectation of finding a saucer. [18] The specific language he used in his memo— particularly the word "trick"—helped give his game away. The term "flying saucer" was often used in conjunction with "believers" and ' ‘enthusiasts, " who assumed the o4 1 ‘ a4 . a . ae objects were extraterrestrial and were (presumably) not using the scientific method to address the problem. Condon was infuriated that this was made public, and he fired the two staffers who had leaked the memo the day after he heard about it. Although Low attempted to keep his own views secret, Condon had no problem making his negative attitudes toward his subject public. In a January 1967 lecture he remarked, "It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there! S nothing to it." He added, "But I'm not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year." [19] In response to public concern about all of this, and in reaction to continuing dramatic UFO sightings, a second congressional hearing was called by the House Science and Astronautics Committee in July 1968. A host of scientists from outside the Air Force presented compelling papers on their own studies of UFOs; many of them had grave reservations about the effectiveness of the Condon study and advocated the continued study of UFOs despite its outcome. The testimony of Dr. James E. McDonald, from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and a professor of meteorology at the University of Arizona, was the most extensive, providing a series of compelling UFO case reports. A respected authority and leader in the field of atmospheric physics, McDonald had written many highly technical papers for professional journals. Due to his personal interest, he spent two years examining formerly classified official file material and radar tracking data on UFOs, interviewing several hundred witnesses, and conducting in- depth case investigations on his own, details of which were provided to the committee. McDonald testified that no other problem within their jurisdiction compared to this one. "The scientific community, not only in this country but throughout the world, has been casually ignoring as nonsense a matter of extraordinary scientific importance." He indicated that he leaned toward the extraterrestrial hypothesis as an explanation, due to "a process of elimination of other alternative hypotheses, not by arguments based on than we could possibly gain by undertaking the investigation. So, Low offered a way out: