The white paper, now commonly referred to as The COMETA
Report, was compiled by a group of thirteen retired top-tier generals, admirals and
government scientists (including General Bernard Norlain, the former head of the
French Tactical Air Force, and Andre Lebeau, the former head of CNES [the French
equivalent of NASA]) and documented the existence of unidentified flying objects
and their implications for national security.87 Copies were received by President
Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. The report concluded that for the
small percentage of UFO sightings which after exhaustive investigation and analysis
could not be attributed to any known earthly technology or phenomena, the
extraterrestrial hypothesis was valid.
The report stated that some UFOs represent
“completely unknown flying machines with exceptional performances that are guided
by natural or artificial intelligence”
88 and noted that, although the extraterrestrial
hypothesis “has not been categorically proven... strong presumptions exist in its
favour.”89
