Larry W. Bryant’s UFOview

(from the December 2007 issue of UFO Magazine)

By Larry W. Bryant

Had I not known better, I could've sworn I'd been transported, via a time-travel machine, back to the late 1950s, there in the ballroom of Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club, patiently awaiting discussion from a UFOlogical panel of international experts -- some assembled as UFO-encounter witnesses, and others as ex-official investigators of such encounters.

The ambience of the scene had all the earmarks of a gathering that readily could've been orchestrated by the late, great, 1960's-era National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). Indeed, several former NICAPians were in the audience on this Monday morning of Nov. 12, 2007. They were surrounded by about 50 news-media representatives invited to attend the event by its sponsor -- the Coalition for Freedom of Information ( http://www.freedomofinfo.org ).

The prepared testimonials being read into the record by the 14 panelists were meant to persuade the U. S. government's executive branch (ideally either the Air Force or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to spearhead an international reinvestigation of the UFO problem from the perspective of national-security readiness and public safety.

Presumably, the panelists feel that the U. S. treasury remains healthy and flexible enough to allot the necessary funding for such a long-term enterprise. But remember, folks: wasn't it the late Sen. William Proxmire who had objected to having the taxpayer pay for NASA's SETI-research project? So, imagine how some of today's congresscritters may regard the proposed public refinancing of official UFOlogy. Besides, America's colossal debt from funding tribal warfare across Planet Earth remains on a fast track toward reducing our economy to that of a Third Word nation.

What's a beleaguered UFOlogist to do?

If you agree with me that we needn't institute a USAF Project Blue Book redux, then does that course of inaction mean that our government should continue to keep the public in the dark about UFO reality and continue to consign serious UFO research to the realm of crisis management? After all, we know that Blue Book had all the scientific prestige of a high-school physics course -- its main (but latent) objective being to defuse, via public-relations spin and propaganda, the public's alleged overreaction to early reports of UFO activity.

Folks, it all comes down to one element of human interaction: trust. Today, how many of us can trust ANY federal agency with the task of determining the source, intent, and scope of the worldwide UFO presence -- and of fully sharing that information with the public? I submit that one reason for the U. S. government's resistance to reentering the overt UFO-research arena lies in the fact that such agencies as the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard know all they need to know about the UFO presence, for the time being. In this regard, the innermost desires of the Air Force/NASA remain irrelevant to the topmost UFO policymakers. Back during a post-Blue Book presidential administration, NASA formally nixed the opportunity to pick up where Blue Book had left off. I bet that, even if, say, financier George Soros were to volunteer to fund a NASA-directed probe, they'd turn him down.

I have a possibly better, more cost-effective approach than that spinning/reinventing of bureaucratic wheels. Let's first cease groveling for a hand-out from our recalcitrant public servants. Instead, let's ask the SciFi Channel (which for a few years now has had a key role in trying to shift the paradigm of so-called UFO disclosure) to create a mega-bucks monetary-reward project to entice prospective UFO-coverup whistleblowers to come forward with hard-core evidence of UFO reality. Focus the project's spotlight on former/current/future U. S. Navy personnel. Run pro-disclosure advertisements in newspapers and radio stations near key naval bases. If the resultant whistleblowers can prove prove that certain UFO evidence to which they've been privy remains classified, then that fact should be relayed to Congress so as to invoke that body's oversight prerogative (i.e., conducting open hearings on why ANY official UFO information warrants permanent classification).

Sci-Fi's management could convene a panel of distinguished judges to assess the value of any whistleblower-derived evidence. They could hold an annual reward ceremony, duly televised across the globe, honoring both the emergence of valid information and the incremental inroads into the UFO coverup. And, of course, they could claim as a business expense the cost of funding the project. Who'd lose here? -- certainly not the taxpayer, nor the whistleblower, nor any investors in the SciFi Channel. The chief losers would be the top power-hungry, short-sighted, and unconstitutionally deceptive officials running the coverup.

Meantime, let me make an atavistic return to the glory days of NICAP influence, with this observation: amidst the attenders was abductionologist Budd Hopkins. Upon greeting him during the panel's dispersal, I remarked: "Did you notice that elephant sitting right at the center of the table, being ignored by all present -- that 'elephant' we call the abduction phenomenon?" Budd offered only a quasi-shrug of his shoulders.

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Larry W. Bryant, since the mid-1980s, has had more than enough experience in crafting various whistleblower-solicitation ads for publication in the classified-ad pages of selected U. S. military-base newspapers. With a minimal success rate in placing those ads, he eventually encountered censorial resistance from the Powers that Be, resulting in his multi-year-long First Amendment lawsuit against defense officials. For a summary of that litigation, which now has entered the appeals stage to contest the government's victory at the U. S. district-court level, visit his attorney's web site: http://markskatz.com/militarycases.htm . Undeterred -- and undetained -- Bryant remains reachable at his e-mail address: overtci@cavtel.net .

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LWB Update Note (7 Jul 08):

A friend of mine recently asked me how much success my UFO-disclosure ad campaign has achieved. Here's what I told him:

"No true whistleblower ever responded to any of the 40 or so published ads. [Name deleted] did track me down to my home when he first encountered one of the ads, he being a [government employee] and, later, a co-founder of the Invisible College Press [ http://www.invispress.com -- the Woodbridge, Va.-based print-on-demand publisher that brought out the first edition (2002) of my book 'UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally 'round Jimmy Carter's Promise'].

"Otherwise, all that time, effort, and money went into the black hole of public disregard (sounds like the Perils of Freelancership, eh?). But I'm sure it all helped me become a better writer. Composing such ads helps the writer realize that he must strive to tighten his prose, since he's paying to have every word of it printed.

"As I once mentioned to you, I consider the ads to be a form of political poetry."

(from the October 2006 issue of UFO Magazine)

By Larry W. Bryant

"'Leaked' evidence fuels the FOIA reactor."
-- Larry W. Bryant (April 9, 2003)

Although he doubtlessly would disagree with me that his July 27, 2006, letter to me constitutes "news" (at least that genre of "news" valuable to UFO-oriented citizens), CIA FOIA chief Scott Koch cheerfully informs me, in response to my June 5, 2006, freedom-of-information request for all CIA-housed records pertaining to UFO debunker Philip Julian Klass:

"We searched our database of previously released material and located two documents, totaling 22 pages, that mention Mr. Klass. Because copying costs were minimal, there is no charge for the enclosed documents. We trust the material will prove useful."

Neither document reveals any smoking-gun evidence of an official Klass-CIA collusion to disinform the public about UFO reality. Besides, Klass long ago had cornered the market on that brand of deception, even authoring the ironically titled book "UFOs: The Public Deceived" (Prometheus Books, 1983); so why should he have to play second fiddle to the Agency?

What's more: just as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's recently released dossier on Klass (see my column in the April 2006 issue of UFO Magazine) reveals a distinct hands-off approach to his anti-UFO ravings and schemes, so, too, does the Koch-released material reveal nothing more than a scholarly, historical-literary interest in them.

Indeed, document No. 1 has nothing at all to do with Klass's "hobby" of torpedoing UFO witnesses and UFOlogists. This two-page excerpt from the formerly SECRET, summer 1974 issue of the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence ("A collection of articles on the historical, operational, doctrinal, and theoretical aspects of intelligence") consists of a book review by someone named John C. N. Smith. The 1971 item in question: Klass's "Secret Sentries in Space," which purports to tell ". . . the story of the U. S. and Soviet reconnaissance-satellite programs, and their impact on world affairs."

Reviewer Smith credits the book's early chapters as "especially well done." However: "Following this lively beginning, the book settles into a slightly tedious and inaccurate account of how satellite reconnaissance capabilities progressed from their humble beginnings to the sophisticated 'Big Bird' of the 1970s." An "inaccurate account" in a Klass-authored product!? Who knew? Could any such inaccuracies possibly have found their way into his several UFO-pooh-pooh tomes? The answer might be inferred from Smith's observation that "Klass is not always careful to inform his readers where fact gives way to speculation."

Document No. 2, FOIA-released to the public in July 1999, happens to be another product of the "CIA Historical Review Program." Consisting of 18 pages (five of them devoted to footnotes), this report by National Reconnaissance Office historian Gerald K. Haines bears the provocative (if not news-worthy) title "A Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947--90." (Maybe, some day, Mr. Haines might produce a similar historical survey, to be titled, say: "Another Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in Thwarting the Letter and Spirit of the U. S. Freedom of Information Act.")

In any case, the only Klass-related content in Haines's report consists of several footnotes referring the reader to Klass's 1983 minimal opus "UFOs: The Public Deceived" -- plus footnote 93, which refers to Klass's declaration, in the winter 1990 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, that all the MJ-12 leaked documentation constitutes a hoax. (If that be the case, Phil, then the key questions become (1) who's doing the hoaxing -- a Merry Prankster-styled adolescent, a disgruntled/frustrated UFOlogist, or a federal official?; and (2) why are they spending so much time and effort perpetuating this voluminous "hoax"?)

I realize that my posing such probing questions to a dead man is like demanding that the Citizens Intimidation Agency cease treating taxpaying FOIA requesters as if they were the enemy du jour. Get busy, Mr. Koch, in helping build and monitor that wall for sealing the border between the United States and Mexico; and let the UFO evidence (whether it be historical, contemporary, or future) speak for itself.

Meanwhile, Koch's July 27 letter piques my curiosity on another level of intrigue: has he reversed his rejection of my June 5, 2006, FOIA-appeal letter, wherein I contest his charging me $30 to offset the records-search expenses incurred via CIA processing of one of my requests dating back to 2004? If his action signifies no such reversal, then how can he extortionately continue to refuse to fulfill my Corso-related request of May 4, 2006, while at the same time going ahead and fulfilling my Klass-related one? Maybe it's time for Mr. Koch to take his annual vacation.

And, speaking of spatial-recon activity, I wonder how many of today's spy satellites are dedicated to detecting and recording incursions of alien spacecraft into Earth's atmosphere. How about it, Mr. Haines -- when are you going to give us a history lesson on that operation?

(from the June 2006 issue of UFO Magazine)

By Larry W. Bryant

A wave of UFOnostalgia -- that chronic, acute, but non-fatal
condition besetting anyone who's ever perused a "flying
saucer" book by the late Marine Corps major (Ret.) Donald E.
Keyhoe -- should sweep over most UFOmag readers when they
get their UFO-hungry hands on the first 12 issues of the
12-page, bimonthly Journal of UFO History.

Indeed, if it weren't for Keyhoe's UFO-literature archives
(now housed lovingly at the residence of Journal
publisher-editor Richard H. Hall, who happens to have been
Keyhoe's right-hand man during the 1960s-era
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena), we'd
probably have to look painstakingly elsewhere for the rich,
in-depth content that the Journal delivers.

I began subscribing for the Journal during a 2004 regional
MUFON meeting in Fairfax,Va. There, as featured guest
speaker, Dick Hall announced the availability of his latest
special report -- "Alien Invasion or Human
Fantasy?: The 1966-67 UFO Wave" -- published by the Fund
for UFO Research, Inc. ( http://www.fufor.com ) .

It so happens that Dick devotes the lead article in Volume 1,
Issue 2 to the "NBC TV Special on UFOs, 1966" -- concluding
the piece by noting: "Ironically, about two weeks after
this broadcast, a major wave of UFO sightings began, focused
initially in Michigan and New England. It set in motion a
series of events that led to congressional hearings, an
intensive internal review of the Air Force UFO
investigation, and establishment of the University of
Colorado UFO Project to conduct an independent study.

"Both Dr. Hynek and Dr. Menzel were invited to brief the
Colorado project scientists and staff members."
In a sense, that pivotal "series of events" has been
brought full circle by the publication of Dick's special report
and the debut of the Journal.

In Issue No. 1, Dick introduces a recurrent section called
"Historical Viewpoints," my favorite entry being this
typical put-down of UFO witnesses by Dr. Bernard Lovell, "a
prominent British astronomer and space scientist, director
of Jodrell Bank Observatory, [who] is quoted (Associated
Press, Boston Apr. 21, 1966) as saying, 'The UFOs are
natural phenomena or hoaxes. The people who see them must
be tremendous emotionalists.'" Well, to this day, such
would-be authoritative dismissal by the ranks of Scientism
continues to rankle the decidedly unemotionalist Hall. Of
course, no-one abhors more than he the various UFO-fixated
hoaxers and opportunists, not to mention disdaining those
shoot-from-the-lip scientists who dare not condescend to
putting the "UFO problem" on their official agenda.

From his days as a former columnist for both UFO Magazine
and the Mutual UFO Network's monthly journal, we all know
and appreciate Dick's persona as a walking Swiss Army knife,
able to cut through mountains of UFOlogical B.S. within a
millisecond.

In concluding his editorial for Issue No. 1, Dick sets the
tone and substance for future issues:

"A rich history exists of the popular, official, news media,
and scientific reactions to these [UFO-encounter] reports
(not to mention the reports themselves) which we propose to
present in the form of essays, commentaries, analyses,
reviews, documents, letters, photographs, and interviews."


As for the latter category of information, Issue No. 1
(March-April 2004) contains a "Dialogue with Wendy Connors"
(a specialist in preserving historical UFOlogical
audio-visual records), while No. 2 (May-June 2004) offers a
"Dialogue with Jan L. Aldrich" (a documentalist focusing,
via his "Project 1947," on the early history of UFO events).

And consider the unexpected consumer bonus here: as you
digest this trove of contemporary history, you're witnessing
the very creation of UFOlit history by a legendary figure --
a resource destined to be sought after by collectors and
scholars worldwide, long after Dick Hall takes his
equivalent of a Ph.D. degree in UFOlogy into the UFO
Research Hall of Fame.

As the proud owner of a complete set of Dick's college-days'
newsletter UFO Critical Bulletin, I salute his latest
addition to the annals of UFO research. (And, please, Dick:
find time to autograph some back issues of your Journal;
look, for example, at what various back issues of UFO
Magazine are commanding!)

Note: the Journal's annual U. S. subscription fee of $28
reduces to $25 when you sign up for two years' worth.
Make your check payable to Richard H. Hall: 4418 39th
Street, Brentwood, MD 20722; his e-mail address is:
dh12@erols.com, and his web site is:
http://www.hallrichard.com .

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Larry W. Bryant directs the Washington, D. C., office of
the public-interest group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy
from his home in Alexandria, Va., USA. He welcomes
communications from the public at his e-mail address:
overtci@cavtel.net .

(an original essay dated July 6, 2008)

By Larry W. Bryant

A Call-to-Action in Tanka Form

UFO disclosure
depends on more encounters;
as we await them,
let's act on what we know now;
help fulfill our right-to-know!

-- Larry W. Bryant (6 Jul 08)

When it appeared in the April 18, 2003, edition of the Army's Fort Myer, Va., Military Community's weekly newspaper (the PENTAGRAM), my "issue ad" (aka advertorial) titled "Blow the Whistle on 'Hostile Aerial Craft'" became a turning point in my speaking UFOtruth to governmental authority.

For about 20 years previously, I'd been submitting to the PENTAGRAM's contracted printer (and to those of several other such military-owned "civilian enterprise" newspapers) a series of UFO-coverup-whistleblower-solicitation advertisements for paid publication in the "Announcements" category of the newspaper's classified-ads section. That practice has met with varying degrees of success.

In June 2003, when I switched to other, higher-profile public-issue subject matter (e.g., via my ad "Blow the Whistle on Bush's 'Gulf of Persia' Resolution!"), the PENTAGRAM's printer informed me that (1) the Myer commander's public affairs office had objected to the ad's content and (2) both the anti-Bush-policy ad and the UFO ad now were being construed as "political advertising" (a category arbitrarily excluded from acceptance since the early 1980s). In the ensuing litigation, which began in July 2004 (see http://www.markskatz.com/militarycases.htm ), the government prevailed in the U. S. district court. During this classic First Amendment case's appeal stage, the assigned U. S. attorney chose to label some of the rejected ads' content "inflammatory." This written pejorative remark confirms the government's censorial motivation as being viewpoint-discriminatory -- a distinct red flag upon which my appeal rests in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Washington, D. C.). On May 13, 2008, the court's three-judge panel (all Republican appointees, by the way) heard oral arguments as to whether the Department of Defense should be enjoined from enforcing its censorship of my so-called political ads. Their decision could come any day now, and the First Amendment right of the PENTAGRAM's readership to receive my speech unfiltered by censorial authority might be headed to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Meantime, the world's Court of Public Opinion remains in session. During his deposition-taking, the PENTAGRAM's printing-contractor representative based his rejection decision on the fact that certain military officials had expressed dislike for my ad submissions. When shown a few of my previously published UFO-related ads (including the one published on April 18, 2003); and when asked whether, today, he would reject those or any similarly worded ones, he answered in the affirmative.

On June 24, 2003, I succeeded in acquiring from that ad's principal a sworn declaration as to his whistleblowership. Before (and after) that, I'd sent a related freedom-of-information request to four federal agencies in Washington, D. C. (none of which has been highly regarded for its FOIA responsiveness): the U. S. Department of State, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the U. S. Defense Intelligence Agency (which manages the assignment and operation of U. S. military attaches at various U. S. embassies abroad). All four denied possessing any records pertaining to the whistleblower's bombshell disclosure. So, what are some details about that event? See for yourself (and then ask yourself some key questions) from the ad's text, as quoted below:

"BLOW THE WHISTLE ON 'HOSTILE AERIAL CRAFT'

"A brand-new UFO-coverup whistleblower has stepped forward to relay his account of having witnessed some 'smoking gun' telexes during his security-guard duty in 1975 at the U. S. embassy in Canberra, Australia. Emanating from the Tidbinbilla tracking range, these electronic messages reported hostile interference from UFOs with some of our supersecret military satellites. The reports characterized the interlopers as 'hostile aerial craft.' If you (or someone you know) have confirmatory evidence of those reports, please contact Larry W. Bryant at 703-931-3341 (e-mail: overtci@cavtel.net ). Be assured that at least one congressional committee would be interested in evaluating and correlating any evidence you choose to share with us."

Imagine this big, fat national-security elephant sitting at the center of the cafeteria in the basement of Congress's Rayburn House Office Building. Even were it to spray a steady stream of water into the face of, say, the chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, you'd find no-one there blinking an eye over the implications of the former security guard's sworn account. If any UFO-related event calls for intense congressional oversight, inquiry, and resolution, it has to be this one. How many other such incursions have taken place since 1975? And at what cost to U. S. defense preparedness? Who knew, how much did they know, and when did they know it? If there be any truth to recent rumors that one or more congressional committees are contemplating holding hearings (either closed or open) on the issue of UFO reality, have the mainstream media, in their ingrained smugness toward anything UFOlogical, once again dropped the ball on the Greatest Story Never Ever Told?

If no-one in Congress can bother to tickle the UFO elephant in the cafeteria, then perhaps some obscure member-nation delegation to the United Nations (Iran comes to mind) could rise to the occasion. Remember the apparently hostile Iranian Air Force UFO encounter of Sept. 19, 1976? If the rumored revival of official UN interest in UFO-E.T. awareness has any merit, then why let still another PEOPLE's opportunity to expose vital UFOtruth die upon the vine of benign neglect?

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SIDEBAR: An Ode to Whistleblowers, by Larry W. Bryant
(written on July 4, 2003):

Whistleblowers: Whether far-flung or shunned or unsung,
They link us to Truth, Reality, and Accountability.

Whistleblowers: The Achilles' heel of corporate and governmental wrongdoing.
They expose "smoking guns" of impropriety and incompetence.

Whistleblowers: Exposers of the sham, and marketeers of the qui tam.
They bring multiple motives for their cause.

Whistleblowers: Oftentimes hero, too often victim.
They risk their livelihood, their security, their health.

Whistleblowers: Beacons of altruism, and exemplars of citizenship.
They help us all point a finger at the Naked Emperor.

http://ufoview.posterous.com

Citizens of Earth now have an online petition in support of the proposed Denver, Colo., ballot initiative to create and operate in that city an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission ( http://petitiononline.com/etaffair/petition.html ). See my column about this project spearheaded by Denver's Jeff Peckman ( http://www.extracampaign.org ), as published in UFO magazine for June 2008. Current plans call for garnering the requisite 4,000 voter signatures for putting the measure on the city's ballot for the May 2009 election.

== The FBI Dossier on Philip J. Klass: No Class Act ==

By Larry W. Bryant (from the April 2006 issue of UFO Magazine)

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds
discuss people." -- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN

We may never know if the late consummate character assassin Philip
Julian Klass (1) ever knew that the U. S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation was keeping records of his activities and associations;
and (2) ever wondered whether his demise would trigger the birth of a
freedom-of-information request for public access to those records.

But we do know, now, that Event No. (2) indeed has occurred. As soon
as I'd learned of Klass's death of Aug. 9, 2005, I fired off an FOIA
request to FBI headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Sure enough, the Bureau, known for its having compiled dossiers on
such UFO researchers as Stanton T. Friedman, Leonard H. Stringfield,
William L. Moore, and Larry W. Bryant, had made no exception for the
notorious king of the "UFO debunkers." By its transmittal letter of
Jan. 19, 2006, the Bureau sent me a package of 56 "responsive
documents" from Klass's dossier, a portion of which was declassified
from its original "protective marking" of SECRET, while several pages
were redacted in whole or in part on grounds of (you guessed it)
"national security."

Let's jump right into the dossier's content and analyze it, as best we
can, right here.

Its very first document, dated Nov. 9, 1964, consists of a partially
censored, two-page memorandum from FBI director John Edgar Hoover to
the director of the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency ("Attention:
Director of Security"), subject: "PHILIP J. KLASS." In responding to
the CIA director's (apparently SECRET) letter of Oct. 26, 1964,
Hoover's memo's last paragraph states:

"In January, 1958, a matter was referred to this Bureau for
investigation by the District Commander, 4th District Office of
Special Investigations, Department of the Air Force, Bolling Air Force
Base, Washington, D. C. This matter involved the unauthorized
disclosure of information classified 'Secret' in 'Aviation Week
Magazine' article entitled 'Exclusive Report on Counter Measures' by
Philip J. Klass in 18 November, 1957, and 25 November, 1957, editions.
No investigation was conducted in this matter by this Bureau inasmuch
as this Bureau was advised by Department of the Air Force that such
classified information as was contained in the article could not be
declassified for purposes of prosecution."

The memo concludes: "No additional pertinent information regarding
Klass is contained in the files of this Bureau. Any pertinent
information developed at a later date will be furnished to you."

The executive branch's opting not to prosecute Klass and/or his
magazine (which today enjoys the dubious distinction of being labeled,
unofficially, "Aviation Leak") has much relevance to today's politics
of secrecy. Will the leaker of NSA's electronic-surveillance net
entrapping American citizens daring to communicate internationally --
along with the New York Times staff -- avail himself of the Klassian
escape route from Uncle Sam's vindictive assault on such messengers of
bad news?

Moving along to Feb. 21, 1975, we find an insightful and revelatory
three-page memo from FBI official "Mr. Heim" to colleague "Mr. Moore,"
subject: "PHILIP J. KLASS (SENIOR AVIONICS EDITOR, AVIATION WEEK &
SPACE TECHNOLOGY), CRITICISM OF FBI":

"BACKGROUND:

"Late in the afternoon of 2/10/75, captioned individual telephoned the
Bureau and spoke with the Editor of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
(LEB). In strong terms laced with sarcasm, he derided our publication
of the article by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, 'The UFO Mystery,' in the
February, 1975, issue of the LEB. Klass suggested that by publishing
this article, the FBI had given its endorsement to a hoax (that UFOs
are extraterrestrial in origin) and to a fraud (Dr. J. Allen Hynek).
Klass went on to state that he had investigated UFO sightings 'with
the thoroughness of the FBI' over a period of many years and found not
one shred of evidence that any such objects as UFOs existed, let alone
that they were from beyond the earth's atmosphere. He also contended
that his investigations have led to several books and many articles on
the topic.

"Mr. Klass was politely reminded that nowhere in Dr. Hynek's article
appearing in the Bulletin, or in numerous other of his writings which
were examined by us, does Hynek suggest that UFOs are
extra-terrestrial in origin. Additionally, it was pointed out to
Klass that the term 'UFO (Unidentified Flying Object)' leaves room for
all manner of phenomena both real and imagined.

"Furthermore, Klass was informed that the only thing the FBI endorsed
in the publication of Dr. Hynek's article was its clearly stated
premise that '[r]egardless of the source of UFOs or their legitimacy,
these sightings represented a real problem for law enforcement . . .,'
to whom persons would normally first report their observations.

"As to the suggestion that the author is a fraud, Klass was informed
that Hynek is a widely respected scientist, recognized by all
creditable professionals in his field of expertise, who is affiliated
with a leading university (Northwestern). At this, Klass replied:
'He won't be for long!'

"Klass would not elaborate on this statement, nor was he requested to do so.

"Moreover, Klass contended that Hynek's bias toward the notion that
UFOs are actually objects and creatures from outer space was
demonstrated following his interview of the two men from Mississippi
who reported they were held captive for a time by green, other worldly
beings who arrived on earth and departed from it in a saucer-shaped
spaceship. Klass stated that Hynek reportedly said, "There is no
doubt these men had a terrifying experience.' Mr. Klass was told
that many people would draw no such inference as he had from this
remark.

"The conversation was concluded when Klass suggested that we might be
interested in publishing an article by a newly formed organization
called the 'Center for Unidentified Ghosts.'

"INFORMATION CONCERNING KLASS:

"Bufiles disclose that Klass has, from time to time, come to our
attention by virtue of the fact that he has been in [deleted] [contact
with a Soviet national?] . . . this Bureau [deleted] . . . and not to
be of assistance to his government.'

"Klass has been affiliated with Aviation Week & Space Technology
magazine for at least the past 20 years. This periodical is published
by McGraw-Hill, Inc., with offices in New York. However, Klass is
based in Washington, D.C., and maintains an office in the Press
Building on 14th Street, Northwest, and is listed in the D.C.
telephone directory at 560 M Street, Southwest.

"A book review concerning one of his published works entitled 'UFOs --
Identified,' published by Random House, credits him with a scientific
approach to explaining the UFO phenomena, but specifically notes that
he is in disagreement with Dr. Hynek and others prominent in this
field.

"Klass' attempts to discredit Hynek are totally without foundation.
Hynek could scarcely have any better scientific credentials. All of
his writings and public statements that were examined prior to
publication of his article in the Bulletin disclose a meticulously
objective and scientific view of the UFO phenomenon.

"OBSERVATIONS:

"In view of Klass' intemperate criticism and often irrational
statements he made to support it, we should be most circumspect in any
future contacts with him.

"Recommendation:

"For information."

Apparently, the Bureau's telephonic rejection of Klass's protestation
left such a bitter taste in his mouth that he couldn't resist getting
in another dig at the Hynek persona. It comes in the form of a June
14, 1975, letter sent to Hoover's successor, Clarence Kelley. Would
Klass, some 30 years hence, have felt at all embarrassed at indulging
in such ad hominem rhetoric? (those of us who knew him personally have
no doubt that the word contrition had no place in his vocabulary):

"Dear Mr. Kelly [sic]:

"The enclosed photo-copy of a headline and feature story in a recent
issue of the tabloid 'The National Tattler' is a portent of the sort
of 'FBI endorsement' for the flying-saucer myth that you can expect to
see, repeatedly, as a result of the article on UFOs carried by the
February issue of The Law Enforcement Bulletin.

"That article was written by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the spiritual leader
of the vocal group of 'believers' and 'kooks' who claim that we are
being visited by extraterrestrial spaceships. While the FBI did not
endorse Hynek's views per se, the decision to publish his article and
to alert law enforcement agencies as to what to do 'if they land,' has
embroiled the agency for all time.

"For a quarter-century, the U. S. Air Force had this monkey on its
back and wisely, in 1969, bowed out of the UFO business. Now,
according to the enclosed article, the FBI's decision to publish the
Hynek article represents the first time that 'an agency of the federal
government admits that UFOs are worthy of concern.'

"The Hynek article published by the FBI encourages law enforcement
officers to take the time -- from much more pressing duties -- to take
calls from people who report seeing UFOs and to in turn relay such
calls to Hynek's own UFO group.

"Surely in these times law enforcement officers have more useful
things to occupy their time and attention.

"For the past 10 years, my hobby has been investigating, AND
EXPLAINING, famous UFO cases that Hynek and others proclaim to be
unexplainable. Recently, I have published a book entitled 'UFOs
Explained,' which has received very favorable reviews from such
prestigious publications as 'Scientific American.' (See enclosure.)

"I would welcome the opportunity to present the other side of the UFO
issue in The Law Enforcement Bulletin, and to thereby help remove the
earlier SEEMING FBI endorsement of flying saucers.

"Cordially,

"Philip J. Klass"

The National Tattler's June 16, 1975, edition happens to present, on
page 9, a straightforward account of Hynek's 5,000-word article "The
UFO Mystery -- Investigating Reports of Sightings." Tattler's only
lapse into poetic license centers on the headline: "FBI Admits UFOs
Exist (Story in Agency's Official Magazine Instructs Lawmen on
Procedure to Follow When Saucer Is Spotted)." I'm sure that Hynek
would've preferred that the headline had read: "FBI Admits UFO
REPORTS Exist." After all, as the good professor used to emphasize:
we're studying not UFOs but REPORTS of UFOs.

For his part, director Kelley wasted little time in replying to our
cordial Mr. Klass. Kelley's kiss-off letter of June 23, 1975, a
monument to how bureaucrats can handle a peskily officious citizen,
offers these two closing paragraphs:

"I could not agree more with your implication that law enforcement
personnel should look after their primary responsibility -- crime, not
UFOs. This is precisely the reason we believe the Center for UFO
Studies can help to free law enforcement personnel from investigating
and reporting on phenomena unassociated with crime.

"While we are most grateful for your offer to prepare a manuscript for
publishing consideration in the Bulletin, a careful review of the
magazine's commitments, regrettably, leaves us no opportunity to
accept your proposal in the foreseeable future."

The author of Kelley's letter to Klass, presumably from the Bureau's
external affairs office, appended a background note to the Bureau's
file copy. It concludes:

"Hynek has been associated professorially with some of the finest
universities in this country and is recognized in the most prestigious
scientific circles. On the other hand, Klass has no such sterling
reputation and has twice been under FBI investigation in connection
with the unauthorized publication of classified information. Both of
these cases are closed. 'The National Tattler,' a clipping from which
Klass enclosed, is a tabloid which, until recently, specialized in
bawdy sex stories but now deals in sensationalism manufactured by
grossly distorting stories associated with prominent persons and
agencies."

Egads! Could this possibly be the same Phil Klass who, back in the
eighties, got on the phone to pressure officials at the University of
Nebraska (at Lincoln) to withdraw their offer of facilities for
holding a UFO-research conference -- on the grounds that some of the
anti-UFO-secrecy conferees might have communistic leanings? As one of
those conferees, I'll always remember my own close encounter with
Klass in the public square during that period.

It came as we both accepted the invitation of a Baltimore TV talk show
to present a point-counterpoint segment on the UFO issue. In the
"Green Room" as we were preparing to go on stage, Klass tried his best
to display his cordial side, as if he merely were a harmless garden
snake sunning himself amidst the marigolds. His small talk focused on
querying me about where I'd attended school and who's my current
employer. Uh-oh, I said to myself: here comes the (expected) tactic
by which he's planning to, some day, subject me to the same harassment
he'd visited upon the late UFO-oriented scientist Dr. James E.
McDonald, whose effects from being thus Klassifried became tragic.

Things went downhill swiftly. During my brief slide-show presentation
of some key cases from UFOlogical history, Klass seethed with anger
and accusatory remarks, labeling each case a hoax without providing
any evidence thereof. During a commercial break, the show's staffers
tried to coax me into arguing -- Jerry Springer-style -- with this
would-be "expert on the UFO myth"; I declined, preferring to just
laugh at him whenever he deigned to ply his role as professional
bully. I needn't have bothered to laugh -- for the audience already
had summed up the event as a case of "Klass dismissed." I still have
a videotape of that show, and I hope it'll fetch some big bucks when
my daughter puts it up for auction on E-bay.com upon my own demise.

Some day, historians might view Klass's dossier as being more
important for what it excludes than for what it includes. In
particular, where's all the Klass-related documentation fueling the
controversy over the 1980s-leaked information about the so-called
"Operation Majestic-12" (the alleged supersecret 12-member panel of
high-ranking military personnel and senior scientists set up by
President Truman in 1947 to conceal and technologically exploit
various knowledge/artifacts retrieved from one or more crash-landed
"flying saucers")?

In this regard, see Nick Redfern's article titled "MJ-12 and the
Bureau" in the June-July 2003 issue of UFO Magazine. "According to
[author Howard] Blum," writes Redfern, "on June 4, 1987, UFO skeptic
Philip J. Klass wrote to William Baker, assistant director of the
[FBI's] Office of Congressional and Public Affairs: 'I am enclosing
what purport to be Top Secret/Eyes Only documents, which have not been
properly declassified, now being circulated by William L. Moore,
Burbank, California 91505.'"

Most of us familiar with Klass's nasty tactics for countering his
UFOlogical opponents view his letter to Baker as just another example
of his obsessive, desperate campaign to smear, intimidate, and assault
the opposition.

Savor this irony: here we have Klass -- himself an unabashed,
pants-down-caught publisher of leaked defense information -- parading
around town with his flag of righteous indignation over certain
UFOlogists' receipt of (alleged) documentation confirming and exposing
the government cover-up of the Deepest Secret. If his dossier settles
anything important, it's this: no agency in its right mind would've
hired him for so much as file-clerking, much less for leading any
counterintelligence effort to deflect researchers' coming too close to
the Secret.

Perhaps the most charitable conclusion we can draw from his dossier is
that Klass -- clueless about the value of legitimate UFO research, and
classless in his interpersonal relations -- had become a caricature of
Scientism. As such, he would've fared well in the Bush II
administration, making one Karl Rove look like an angel. Alas, he
rightfully merited no respect from true scholars and real gentlemen.
Within that big cranium of his was housed, along with an obviously
high I.Q., the smallest, meanest of minds -- one that jinxed any
chance he might've had toward achieving greatness.

What does the U. S. Navy know (and when did it know it) about UFO reality? Not only that: to what extent are certain Naval officials orchestrating the U. S. government's cover-up of the UFO experience? These happen to be the key questions motivating me to center one of my next UFO-magazine columns on the Navy-UFO Connection. If you, or someone you know, can help me find some answers (especially by leading me to various smoking-gun evidence), I urge you to contact me soon. Of course, I shall honor any source's request for anonymity. Here's your chance, all you active and retired sailors, to help me rock the Navy's boatload of UFO data. Peer into your documentary periscopes, please; and let me know what's been hovering out there above and below the waves!

Death notice re MUFON board member Robert H. Bletchman of Avon, Conn.: A casualty of lung cancer, Bob Bletchman, long-time director of public relations for the Mutual UFO Network, Inc., left the planet on June 18, 2008. Perhaps his most notable UFOlogical achievement was his 1999 creation and shepherding of the proposed "UFO Ballot Initiative," by which the nearly 20 U. S. states offering their citizenry the "direct initiative" legislative process could achieve a gubernatorial proclamation designating the year 2000 as the Year of UFO Awareness. Though the project failed to garner sufficient public support, it inadvertently did portend the advent of today's proposed Denver ballot initiative to create the first-ever municipal Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission. In his last several days, Bob learned of the project's late-May inauguration -- and congratulated its proponents. By his exemplary commitment to serious UFO research, Bob leaves us with a leadership legacy that will be hard to match.

Section 1. PREAMBLE (July 2, 2008):

UFOview: An online anthology of Larry W. Bryant's monthly column published in various issues of the U. S. newsstand periodical "UFO magazine" ( http://www.ufomag.com ).

EDITOR's Note: These pages bring together the textual content of "Bryant's UFOview" into a single, online resource. In doing so, this project seeks to preserve the material's integrity, to export it to a wider audience, and to encourage reader feedback on past/current/future editions of the column. Occasionally, the author may choose to augment a given column with update commentary, or to append previously unpublished material when deemed appropriate. If enough reader interest ensues, perhaps a print-on-demand book may emerge from continuation of this compilation. Readers may contact the author as follows: snail-mail: 3518 Martha Custis Drive, Alexandria, VA (USA) 22302; phone: 703-931-3341; e-mail: overtci@cavtel.net .

COPYRIGHT Notice: The author retains copyright protection for all his text posted upon this internet web site. Please honor that protection by requesting and obtaining his express permission to reprint, adapt, or otherwise make commercial use of this material.

BIOGRAPHICAL Snapshot: As an independent writer focusing on national-security affairs, Larry W. Bryant also directs, from his home in Alexandria, Va., the Washington, D. C., office of the public-interest group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy. His two books published by Galde Press, Inc. ( http://www.galdepress.com/ ) remain in print, as follows: "UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally 'round Jimmy Carter's Promise"; and "Conjuring Gretchen: The Saga of Virginia's Preacher-Hypnotist" (published in August 2007).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The author extends gratitude to the originators and managers of http://posterous.com for their offering this public-service space not just to him but also to all other researchers, scholars, students, journalists, bloggers, and activists. And, of course, he renews his appreciation for the solicitude shown him by the publisher and staff of UFO magazine. To his long-time colleague Patrick Huyghe (editor of the Anomalist anomalist and Anomalist Books anomalistbooks, Bryant extends thanks for still another milestone -- i.e., Patrick's discovery of http://posterous.com -- in LWB's journey toward cyberspace competence.

FOR MORE INFO: Persons desiring to track more of Bryant's earlier UFOlogical writings may view them at the "UFO Updates" listserv page of the web site http://www.virtuallystrange.net . Note: this site operates via paid subscription only. For those unable to get enough politically oriented prose, he refers them to his e-serialized book The Bu$ch-Cheezey Impeachment Chronicles being published at http://www.bushbusiness.com/Bryant_OP.htm .

Section 2. AUTHOR'S PERIODIC UFOnews UPDATES:

View entries as separately enumerated items (throughout the blog; e.g.: Item 2.1).

Section 3. Selections from UFO Magazine's Column "Bryant's UFO View":

View entries as separately enumerated items.

Section 4. ARTICLE POTPOURRI:

Here you'll find some of Bryant's miscellaneous UFOlogical material previously published elsewhere. View the entries as separately enumerated items.