I know, I know, I've displayed Al Chop's letter to Henry Holt Publishing Co. several times over the years. Well, here it is again because it needs to be seen, remembered and immortalized as a key artifact in the history of official UFO investigations. Is the extraterrestrial theory the final word? Heck no. But Chop's letter -- and remember, he never meant for it to end up on the jacket of Major Donald E. Keyhoe's book, Flying Saucers From Outer Space, but Holt made that decision -- shows us what the U.S. government was thinking in the fifties. (Chop's photo attached).
Former Pentagon official and key participant in the government's five-year secret UFO study, now blown wide open as a real, tangible entity, Luis Elizondo appeared briefly on Glenn Beck's radio show this morning. Beck, whose listeners, we suspect, include a number of deeply religious folk whose faith may or may not be shaken to the core over the very idea of a serious government UFO investigation, flat-out asked Elizondo if he thought UFOs represent a life form, and Elizondo replied without hesitation that he did. Of course, he could only speak for himself, but we're rather sure he isn't alone in that opinion.
This week's New York Times and Politico bombshell articles are important, not because we learned what UFOs are (we didn't), but because we now have a glimmer of hope that official secrecy will begin to unwind and the government will tell us the truth. For starters, there must be one hell of a lot of military gun camera films and photos worthy of public release -- you know, the ones with a history of "disappearing" over the years, the ones military folk and others know are darned well sitting in a secluded file somewhere.
Having followed the UFO circus since the early sixties, I'm cautiously optimistic. But I'm also self-warned not to expect an exotic surprise to jump out of a cake as this current party plays into the night. The last time we attended a happy dance like this, Dr. Ed Condon and associates promised us a fair UFO project from the University of Colorado. Everybody knows how that turned out.
