Has there been a mega cover up by the CIA and FBI regarding UFO sightings and alien encounters since the 1950s? This is a long-debated question that both UFO seekers have no doubt about – there is a conspiracy – and skeptics too – there is no conspiracy.
Conspiracy theorists are convinced that the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) have been deceiving everybody, and are even responsible for controlling the legendary Men in Black. The FBI is responsible for events that occur within the USA, while the CIA is tasked with things that happen abroad.
The Men in Black are said belong to a group of secretive government officials who wear dark-coloured suits and sunglasses and go about putting the lid on UFO sightings or alien encounters by telling the witnesses that the episodes simply ‘didn’t happen’. They even made a tongue-in-cheek film (and sequels) about them.
Photograph of UFOs in the sky above the city of Sheffield in England. This picture came from one of the recently declassified CIA documents. It was listed as ‘unexplainable. (Image: cia.gov)
CIA released thousands of secret files
Last month, in what the CIA called a move to appear more open, it released thousands of former classified X-Files type documents with stories of witnesses seeing or meeting UFOs or aliens.
The release of the secret papers on its website coincided with the new season of the X-Files which is about to hit the screens. When it declassified the reports, the CIA listed five documents it thought Agent Fox Mulder of the X-Files would love to use to try to persuade others of the existence of extraterrestrial activity.
UFO seekers have poured through the documents, which include a large number of accounts that official investigators said they were unable to explain, with orders that sounded very much like instructions to put the lid on them (they ordered a cover-up).
Interesting 1950s documents
Jon Austin writes in the Express, a British tabloid, that up to 26% of reported UFO sightings in the 1950s could not be explained, and potentially could be alien-related.
One report, dated 1st August, 1952, was signed by Edward Tauss, who at the time was the Deputy Assistant Director/Acting Chief of the Weapons and Equipment Division of the CIA. The document was about the ‘overall evaluation’ of ‘flying saucer sightings’.
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) who was President of the United States from 1945 to 1953 once said: “I can assure you that flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on earth.” (Image: Wikipedia)
Mr. Tauss wrote that of the 1,000 to 2,000 reported UFO sightings, the vast majority were either ‘phoney’, US aircraft that were known to exist at the time, or natural phenomena including clouds, meteorites, reflections, or tricks of light.
However, he stated that there were nearly 100 reports that remained ‘unexplainable’ – he described them as ‘reasonably credible reports’.
According to Mr. Tauss, it was not possible to rule out the possibility of aliens or interplanetary activity in those 100 or so reports. This means that between five and ten percent of all the sightings were unresolved.
Other later documents quoted from 20% to 26% of all cases remaining unresolved.
Instructed not to tell the press or public
Mr. Tauss added that if he and his team had more data, there could be explanations for those reports. He said the CIA should continue investigating them, given that they were unsolved.
Mr. Tauss wrote:
“It is recommended that CIA surveillance of subject matter, in accordance with proper authorities of primary operational concern at Air Technical Intelligence Centre, be continued.”
“It is strongly urged, however, that no indication of CIA interest or concern reach the press or public, in view of their probable alarmist tendencies to accept such interest as ‘confirmatory’ of the soundness of the ‘unpublished facts’ in the hands of the US Government.”
When Winston Churchill was told some WWII RAF bomber pilots had seen a UFO in the sky, he ordered everybody to keep quiet about it. (Image: churchillcentral.com)
Churchill ordered UFO cover-up to prevent mass panic
Historically, the British government has taken the threat of UFO seriously. The BBC reported that according to declassified documents, in the 1950s UK intelligence bosses met to discuss the issue. Ministers even went on to demand weekly UFO sightings reports from a committee of intelligence experts.
According to declassified papers, during WWII, Prime Minister Winston Churchill became alarmed by a UFO sighting by RAF bomber pilots. He was concerned about the ‘mass panic’ such information could provoke if it became public.
The BBC wrote:
“The files also include an account of a wartime meeting attended by Winston Churchill in which, it is claimed, the Prime Minister was so concerned about a reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent ‘mass panic’.”
Many people are convinced that the CIA, FBI, NASA, and other agencies around the world know about authentic UFO sightings and alien encounters.
Nick Pope, a former UFO sightings investigator for the Ministry of Defense, said regarding UFO files:
“The interesting thing is that most of the UFO files from that period have been destroyed. But what happened is that a scientist whose grandfather was one of his [Churchill’s] bodyguards, said ‘look, Churchill and Eisenhower got together to cover up this phenomenal UFO sighting, that was witnessed by an RAF crew on their way back from a bombing raid’.”
“The reason apparently was because Churchill believed it would cause mass panic and it would shatter people’s religious views.”
According to public records, sightings of UFOs in the UK peaked in 1996, when the TV series The X-Files was very popular. There were over 600 official reports of sightings that year, compared to 240 per year from 1990 to 1995.
I and my colleagues at Market Business News have reported on dozens of alleged UFO and alien sightings. So far, not one of them, in my opinion, offers compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Video – Why can’t we see evidence of aliens?
There are trillions of planets in the Universe, many of them much older than the Earth. So, why haven’t we seen any compelliing signs of alien life? The potential answers to this question are numerous and intriguing, alarming and hopeful.