Nexus - 0404 - New Times Magazine-pages

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE crash; to a NASA employee who saw a picture with a UFO, clearly in broad day- light, which was destined to be airbrushed out before release; to a Navy employee with a top-secret clearance who was pre- sent in 1981 during a major encounter off the eastern seaboard, which was tracked by satellite and radar and chased by military planes, with a resulting clear daytime pho- tograph. The richness of detail of this testimony and the down-to-Earth sincerity of these witnesses was very moving to the gathered officials. At the end of the briefing, one of the congressional staffers came to the podium and, unsolicited by us, appealed to those congressional staffers and members of Congress gathered, to take definitive steps to let this information out to the public. Numerous congressional offices repre- sented at this historic briefing expressed a sincere desire to move this subject forward and to work with us in obtaining open con- gressional hearings as soon as possible. There was great enthusiasm for this, and one staffer from a congressional office has volunteered to coordinate these efforts in Washington with CSETI. The combination of the extensive brief- ing materials, videotape evidence, first- hand witness testimony and the participa- tion of so many congressional offices and other Washington leaders and dignitaries certainly constitutes the most historic civil- ian gathering in UFO/ET history. In planning this event, we had hoped for positive RSVPs from five to 10 congressional offices. The participation of nearly 30 such offices, as well as representatives / from the executive branc Eo. and two state governors, . certainly exceeded our y expectations. ~~ q Each congressiona | office and VIP was pro- We t vided with: te * The CSETI Briefing Document and relate case materials; ~ * The videotape summa- ™ ry of photographs, videos tc and movie footage of UFOs; * A copy of the 1965 Ss. Edwards Air Force Base air traffic control tower tape of multiple UFO encounters, with transcript. Following the presentation, a number of congressional staffers remained to discuss this subject with the witnesses, CSETI staff and leaders. On the morning of 10 April 1997, a briefing was held at the Pentagon for very senior military staff. The CSETI team pre- sent included five members: Dr Steven Greer, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Shari Adamiak, CSETI's military advisor and an Eisenhower-era first-hand UFO/ET wit- ness. This historic briefing lasted nearly one and a half hours and was enthusiasti- cally received by senior Pentagon staff present. During the afternoon, a follow-up with various congressional staffers, other Washington VIPs and the media took place. At 7 pm there was a reception for an invitation-only media briefing. Uninvited media were not allowed into this meeting; for example, long-time debunker Phil Klass appeared without an invitation and was politely removed from the reception area. Similarly, had tabloid media appeared, they, too, would have been asked to leave. This meeting was a back- ground educational briefing for major media only. At 7:30 pm the media briefing began. Present were UPI, the Boston Globe, NBC, ABC the BBC and others. Seven first- hand witnesses provided statements to the media, and a general overview of the sub- ject was provided by Dr Greer. Following the briefing, a question-and-answer period took place, and the media all had excellent and insightful questions. It should be noted that the above meet- ing was a background press briefing, not a press conference. The purpose of the meeting was to provide scientific back- ground materials, and to introduce the invited media to the concept of open con- gressional hearings on the subject. The CSETI media team felt that such a meeting would be an important step towards preparing the mainstream media for a future disclosure, and would encourage them to cover the subject in an informed and serious manner... The time has come for the world to know that we are not alone in this vast uni- verse. The era of excessive secrecy, which is so corrosive to a free and democratic society, must end. Working together, we can create a truly open and free society, which, through much deliberation and wise efforts, may someday take its place among other planetary civilizations. 15 April 1997 Steven M. Greer, M.D. Director, Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) PO Box 15401 Asheville, NC 28813, USA Telephone: +1 (704) 274 5671 Fax: +1 (704) 274 6766 E-mail: Dr_ET@compuserve.com Website: www.cseti.org See, JUNE - JULY 1997 NEXUS - 63