I was doing some computer "house-cleaning" today and came across this Op/Ed piece I wrote for UFO Mag. in 1999. I am putting it here in the event some of you may find it of interest.
Don Ecker
Stuck on the UFO Trip: Some Timely Thoughts
by Don Ecker/UFO Magazine & Strange Daze
Anyone involved in UFO research for any length of time must be feeling the same sense of
frustration that has beset me in the last several years. And recently, recognizing my sense of
frustration, I sat down to ponder what was causing it.
I first entered this field of writing and research very late in 1987. The key catalyst was my
online reading of William Moore's MJ-12 documents found on the CompuServe system. I have
recounted my initial sense of awe and wonderment when first reading what was purported to be a
formerly TOP SECRET government document dealing with Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial
Life visiting this planet. In hindsight it is perhaps humorous, but at the time I felt like, "Wow!!, I
have been let in on some type of unbelievable Cosmic Secret!" and began to comb the files and
libraries trying to make sense out of this amazing document.
It has been almost 12 years since reading that file, and my life (on the night I read it
although I did not know it for some time) took a complete U-turn. The basic question causing my
frustration is, simply, how far have we traveled on the road to enlightenment? My answer? We
haven't even gotten out of sight.
When I became involved in researching and writing on this subject for my own purposes, I
did a very intense historical study on the UFO field. I went back to World War II and came
forward, reading and researching everything I could find on this subject. in the entire
50-plus years, the period of the 1950s is the richest in terms of data, sighting reports, research and
Congressional interest, yet today we are no farther along in understanding what UFOs are and
what they represent.
Why do I say this and how do I back it up?
In the 1950s, we had the "Dean of UFO Research" in the person of Major Donald Keyhoe.
Keyhoe was the best known researcher (and Director of NICAP) in the field, and the most
respected. Major Keyhoe had the ears of Congress and the board of NICAP had very respected
and respectable members sitting on it. They knew then the scope of the mystery surrounding the
topic of UFOs, but more importantly, they also knew that very powerful forces were successful in
subverting efforts to bring this topic to the American people.
I have recently asserted that abductions, and talk of abductions and implants, has become
the "tail that in recent years has been wagging the UFO dog," but in the 1950s. contactees tried to
wag that dog. The George Adamskis, Wayne Ahos and Howard Mengers obscured the very
important information and cases and potential Congressional interest with tales of "blond space
brothers" and taking "flying saucers to the Moon, Venus and Jupiter." Of course, the press and
media gravitated to this wild and sensational claptrap at the expense of solid research that the
Keyhoes of the world were trying to bring to the public's attention. Make no mistake, Keyhoe's
contacts in government and the military were top notch. Keyhoe himself was a medically retired
Marine Corp officer and a graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He knew everybody worth
knowing in the military in those days, and was also was aware of material that would have
shocked the nation to its core in the 1950s.
Keyhoe was targeted by the forces of secrecy on more than one occasion with attempts to
discredit him and the work he was doing. And what was that work? Making the government live
up to the agreement that "we the people" demanded when this nation was first conceived. "We
The People" *are the government, not the Washington, D.C. bureaucrats who dictate policy.
Keyhoe knew there was a "silence group" (his words) that was maintaining the lid on the UFO
subject. He was fighting a valiant but doomed fight to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the UFO
topic.
Keyhoe was also aware of facts that today we take for granted, but he was vilified and
called a liar when he attempted to inform the public. When he marshaled evidence of UFO reality
in the form of legitimate documents, such as the CIA-directed Robertson Panel report, the Air
Materiel Command's "Estimate of the Situation" and others, the Air Force had "floated" the story
that Keyhoe had "fabricated" the idea that these documents even existed, attempting to make
Keyhoe a liar in the eyes of the public. Today we know these documents exist, Keyhoe has been
vindicated but no one has been called on the carpet to explain why our government lied to us
about Keyhoe--or why these documents were lied about to begin with.
Frustration about facts in this field is more the norm than abnormal. Since the beginning of
the "modern age of UFO research," in 1947, obfuscation of facts by officialdom has been their
modus operandi. On the 50th anniversary of the Roswell event, the American Air Force once
again gave us the "final facts" on what really happened there. . . .or so they say. The Air Force has
admitted lying about Roswell, three times already! Should we believe them now? This latest
"admission" from the U.S. Air Force claimed that the debris reported found came from the then
secret Project Mogul, and reports of bodies that have surfaced over the years were actually from
parachute tests in the 1950's! In other words, they want us to believe that the most elite military
group in the world in 1947 could not tell the difference from a balloon and a "flying saucer," and
then confused the reported bodies of aliens with crash test dummies from 1953 or 1954.
Coining a laughable bit of military psychobabble, the Air Force Colonel giving this briefing
explained the time difference as "time compression." Looking through the Air Force report one
sees other reasons that witnesses might have confused terrestrial objects with flying saucers. The
Air Force used a number photographs of "NASA space probes" that resemble discs or saucers.
The problem with this Air Force explanation is that all these probes are from the 1960s and
1970s. Neither NASA nor space probes existed 1947, a fact not mentioned. More time
compression or fertilizer spreading?
When I became involved in UFO research, a cynic might call this time "The Third Age." It
was late 1987 and there were two major stories resounding throughout the field. The MJ-12 story
had just broken and was the major topic of discussion. The second story really set the research
field on its ear--it was known as the John Lear Hypothesis. In MJ-12, the thrust was that these
documents were allegedly briefing documents for incoming President Dwight Eisenhower. The
date on the documents was late 1952, and they dealt with the Roswell "UFO crash" and recovered
bodies. As astounding as that was, MJ-12 could not hold a candle to Lear's paper. The Lear
Hypothesis alleged that the American government had formed an unholy "secret alliance" with a
grey alien race from Zeta Reticulum. Lear claimed that the American government, in an exchange
of technology, "allowed" the aliens to abduct humans and implant them.
There was one more story in the wings just waiting to be let out. It originated in
Gulf Breeze, Florida and involved a man originally identified only as "Mr. Ed." "Ed" had taken a
series of very clear photographs of what appeared to be a flying saucer, and contrary to the norm,
this case was being pursued in the newspapers in and around Gulf Breeze. In some ways this was
a very "heady" time, but time was the problem. As time marched on, the ugly underbelly of the
Gulf Breeze case was exposed in all these stories. Allegations of forgery and fraud erupted around
the MJ-12 papers.
Since many more people were coming "online" in 1988 and 1989, the story spread around
the world quicker than anyone could have imagined even three or four years previously. The UFO
research community divided into polarized camps....pro and con versus MJ-12. Ad hominem
attacks became common. Fanning the flames even further, the Lear papers claimed "evil grey
aliens" were using some humans as food sources, implanting them with devices and applying
"mind control" to carry out unknown instructions from the aliens that would manifest "in three to
five years." Common sense was no longer common, and the level of discourse took a solid--
seemingly permanent--nosedive. Research headed into the toilet.
Then, an even bigger black eye smacked UFO research in view of the public. Operation
Majority, written by one Milton "Bill" Cooper threw, all the previous fringe conspiracies into one
large, slimy picnic basket . . . the assassination of JFK, CIA crimes, illegal drugs, secret one-world
government plans, and the ultimate destruction of the American Constitution by a "New World
Order" plot. Cooper had it all. He claimed that in the late 1950s and 1960s a secret American,
Russian and Alien project had human bases on the Moon, Mars, off-world slave labor camps, you
name it. What was so sad about all of this was the fact that so many people WANTED TO
BELIEVE this insane scenario. The few who asked for confirmation were either shouted down or
accused of being "agents of the conspiracy."
Yet there were cases begging for top notch research. At the time, it was obvious that many
areas around this country and the world were experiencing increased UFO incursions. The
Hudson Valley area in New York state was one such area. Wytheville, Virginia was another with
unbelievable sightings and events. Las Vegas, Nevada erupted with stories being broadcast
concerning an ultra top-Secret base known as Area 51. Radio talk shows began to cover this topic
and garnered millions of listeners who were enthralled by this information. Some real gems leaked
out, but so much more was claptrap. However, this was valid proof that millions of Americans
"knew" that the official party line of Uncle Sam was bogus. A few reporters tried to buck the
trend and honestly report what they found, journalists like Danny Gordon and George Knapp.
Gordon reported on the "Wytheville Sightings," and Knapp took the government to task with
reports about Area 51 and a young man named Bob Lazar who had allegedly worked on
recovered extraterrestrial technology while at the secret site. As more and more information was
"leaked" to the public, suddenly television "discovered" UFOs.
Over the next few years UFOs were all over the place. "Encounters," "Sightings,"
"Paranormal Borderline," "Unsolved Mysteries," "Larry King Live," "Oprah Winfrey," Jenny
Jones"--you name it, and they ran one or more UFO stories. (Today the trend lives on with
repeated documentaries on the cable channels and some network productions.) The sensational
aspect of UFOs reared its head . . . . Abductions, and for a time the abduction aspect seemed to
drown out everything else about the subject. You see, if you research a case or sighting or event,
this takes time and effort. Anyone can claim to have been abducted, and with a built-in believer
audience...voila!...instant celebrity!
I do not discount all accounts of abduction. Before it became the tail wagging this dog,
there was a core of accounts that needed in-depth investigation. Note I said investigation, not the
media three-ring circus it has become. It is kind of like comparing two recent news stories and
seeing which gets the most interest and coverage: The theft of nuclear secrets by Communist
China from Los Alamos and the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. By far the
most important story that has the potential to impact everyone in the United States is the theft of
our nuclear secrets by the Chinese, but everyone, according to our media, would rather hear all
the sordid details of the oral sex Lewinsky performed on Bill Clinton. What do you consider the
most important story, and which one should concern you?
Several years ago I broke a story on CNN that involved a shuttle flight and what
appeared to be a hostile act against a UFO. This all took place in orbit above Australia and New
Zealand, and the mission was STS-48. On missions since STS-48, a number of flights have since
also experienced anomalous objects showing up in orbit. They are routinely denied or discredited
by NASA spokespersons or astronauts, and the party line mantra is, according to James Oberg, a
NASA contract employee, "If we saw a spaceship in orbit, no power on earth could shut us up
from talking about it." Sure, and this writer has some very prime bottom land for sale in southern
Florida.
I guess my frustration comes from the fact that the entire charade it is so clear to me. It is
almost like the story about the "Emperor's New Clothes" or the "Wizard of Oz"-- "Pay no
attention to the little man behind the curtain! I am the Great and Powerful Oz!" It is as if our
government took a page from the propaganda book by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Tell the
bigger lie, long enough and loud enough, and sooner or later the people will believe it! With our
being at the mercy of a press that is subdued or compromised and a government whose stock in
trade is secrets and "spin control," I am not surprised that the UFO field is in the shambles it is, or
that our very freedom is in the greatest peril it has been in since the American Civil War. I am
very concerned.
Are you?
Don Ecker
Stuck on the UFO Trip: Some Timely Thoughts
by Don Ecker/UFO Magazine & Strange Daze
Anyone involved in UFO research for any length of time must be feeling the same sense of
frustration that has beset me in the last several years. And recently, recognizing my sense of
frustration, I sat down to ponder what was causing it.
I first entered this field of writing and research very late in 1987. The key catalyst was my
online reading of William Moore's MJ-12 documents found on the CompuServe system. I have
recounted my initial sense of awe and wonderment when first reading what was purported to be a
formerly TOP SECRET government document dealing with Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial
Life visiting this planet. In hindsight it is perhaps humorous, but at the time I felt like, "Wow!!, I
have been let in on some type of unbelievable Cosmic Secret!" and began to comb the files and
libraries trying to make sense out of this amazing document.
It has been almost 12 years since reading that file, and my life (on the night I read it
although I did not know it for some time) took a complete U-turn. The basic question causing my
frustration is, simply, how far have we traveled on the road to enlightenment? My answer? We
haven't even gotten out of sight.
When I became involved in researching and writing on this subject for my own purposes, I
did a very intense historical study on the UFO field. I went back to World War II and came
forward, reading and researching everything I could find on this subject. in the entire
50-plus years, the period of the 1950s is the richest in terms of data, sighting reports, research and
Congressional interest, yet today we are no farther along in understanding what UFOs are and
what they represent.
Why do I say this and how do I back it up?
In the 1950s, we had the "Dean of UFO Research" in the person of Major Donald Keyhoe.
Keyhoe was the best known researcher (and Director of NICAP) in the field, and the most
respected. Major Keyhoe had the ears of Congress and the board of NICAP had very respected
and respectable members sitting on it. They knew then the scope of the mystery surrounding the
topic of UFOs, but more importantly, they also knew that very powerful forces were successful in
subverting efforts to bring this topic to the American people.
I have recently asserted that abductions, and talk of abductions and implants, has become
the "tail that in recent years has been wagging the UFO dog," but in the 1950s. contactees tried to
wag that dog. The George Adamskis, Wayne Ahos and Howard Mengers obscured the very
important information and cases and potential Congressional interest with tales of "blond space
brothers" and taking "flying saucers to the Moon, Venus and Jupiter." Of course, the press and
media gravitated to this wild and sensational claptrap at the expense of solid research that the
Keyhoes of the world were trying to bring to the public's attention. Make no mistake, Keyhoe's
contacts in government and the military were top notch. Keyhoe himself was a medically retired
Marine Corp officer and a graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He knew everybody worth
knowing in the military in those days, and was also was aware of material that would have
shocked the nation to its core in the 1950s.
Keyhoe was targeted by the forces of secrecy on more than one occasion with attempts to
discredit him and the work he was doing. And what was that work? Making the government live
up to the agreement that "we the people" demanded when this nation was first conceived. "We
The People" *are the government, not the Washington, D.C. bureaucrats who dictate policy.
Keyhoe knew there was a "silence group" (his words) that was maintaining the lid on the UFO
subject. He was fighting a valiant but doomed fight to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the UFO
topic.
Keyhoe was also aware of facts that today we take for granted, but he was vilified and
called a liar when he attempted to inform the public. When he marshaled evidence of UFO reality
in the form of legitimate documents, such as the CIA-directed Robertson Panel report, the Air
Materiel Command's "Estimate of the Situation" and others, the Air Force had "floated" the story
that Keyhoe had "fabricated" the idea that these documents even existed, attempting to make
Keyhoe a liar in the eyes of the public. Today we know these documents exist, Keyhoe has been
vindicated but no one has been called on the carpet to explain why our government lied to us
about Keyhoe--or why these documents were lied about to begin with.
Frustration about facts in this field is more the norm than abnormal. Since the beginning of
the "modern age of UFO research," in 1947, obfuscation of facts by officialdom has been their
modus operandi. On the 50th anniversary of the Roswell event, the American Air Force once
again gave us the "final facts" on what really happened there. . . .or so they say. The Air Force has
admitted lying about Roswell, three times already! Should we believe them now? This latest
"admission" from the U.S. Air Force claimed that the debris reported found came from the then
secret Project Mogul, and reports of bodies that have surfaced over the years were actually from
parachute tests in the 1950's! In other words, they want us to believe that the most elite military
group in the world in 1947 could not tell the difference from a balloon and a "flying saucer," and
then confused the reported bodies of aliens with crash test dummies from 1953 or 1954.
Coining a laughable bit of military psychobabble, the Air Force Colonel giving this briefing
explained the time difference as "time compression." Looking through the Air Force report one
sees other reasons that witnesses might have confused terrestrial objects with flying saucers. The
Air Force used a number photographs of "NASA space probes" that resemble discs or saucers.
The problem with this Air Force explanation is that all these probes are from the 1960s and
1970s. Neither NASA nor space probes existed 1947, a fact not mentioned. More time
compression or fertilizer spreading?
When I became involved in UFO research, a cynic might call this time "The Third Age." It
was late 1987 and there were two major stories resounding throughout the field. The MJ-12 story
had just broken and was the major topic of discussion. The second story really set the research
field on its ear--it was known as the John Lear Hypothesis. In MJ-12, the thrust was that these
documents were allegedly briefing documents for incoming President Dwight Eisenhower. The
date on the documents was late 1952, and they dealt with the Roswell "UFO crash" and recovered
bodies. As astounding as that was, MJ-12 could not hold a candle to Lear's paper. The Lear
Hypothesis alleged that the American government had formed an unholy "secret alliance" with a
grey alien race from Zeta Reticulum. Lear claimed that the American government, in an exchange
of technology, "allowed" the aliens to abduct humans and implant them.
There was one more story in the wings just waiting to be let out. It originated in
Gulf Breeze, Florida and involved a man originally identified only as "Mr. Ed." "Ed" had taken a
series of very clear photographs of what appeared to be a flying saucer, and contrary to the norm,
this case was being pursued in the newspapers in and around Gulf Breeze. In some ways this was
a very "heady" time, but time was the problem. As time marched on, the ugly underbelly of the
Gulf Breeze case was exposed in all these stories. Allegations of forgery and fraud erupted around
the MJ-12 papers.
Since many more people were coming "online" in 1988 and 1989, the story spread around
the world quicker than anyone could have imagined even three or four years previously. The UFO
research community divided into polarized camps....pro and con versus MJ-12. Ad hominem
attacks became common. Fanning the flames even further, the Lear papers claimed "evil grey
aliens" were using some humans as food sources, implanting them with devices and applying
"mind control" to carry out unknown instructions from the aliens that would manifest "in three to
five years." Common sense was no longer common, and the level of discourse took a solid--
seemingly permanent--nosedive. Research headed into the toilet.
Then, an even bigger black eye smacked UFO research in view of the public. Operation
Majority, written by one Milton "Bill" Cooper threw, all the previous fringe conspiracies into one
large, slimy picnic basket . . . the assassination of JFK, CIA crimes, illegal drugs, secret one-world
government plans, and the ultimate destruction of the American Constitution by a "New World
Order" plot. Cooper had it all. He claimed that in the late 1950s and 1960s a secret American,
Russian and Alien project had human bases on the Moon, Mars, off-world slave labor camps, you
name it. What was so sad about all of this was the fact that so many people WANTED TO
BELIEVE this insane scenario. The few who asked for confirmation were either shouted down or
accused of being "agents of the conspiracy."
Yet there were cases begging for top notch research. At the time, it was obvious that many
areas around this country and the world were experiencing increased UFO incursions. The
Hudson Valley area in New York state was one such area. Wytheville, Virginia was another with
unbelievable sightings and events. Las Vegas, Nevada erupted with stories being broadcast
concerning an ultra top-Secret base known as Area 51. Radio talk shows began to cover this topic
and garnered millions of listeners who were enthralled by this information. Some real gems leaked
out, but so much more was claptrap. However, this was valid proof that millions of Americans
"knew" that the official party line of Uncle Sam was bogus. A few reporters tried to buck the
trend and honestly report what they found, journalists like Danny Gordon and George Knapp.
Gordon reported on the "Wytheville Sightings," and Knapp took the government to task with
reports about Area 51 and a young man named Bob Lazar who had allegedly worked on
recovered extraterrestrial technology while at the secret site. As more and more information was
"leaked" to the public, suddenly television "discovered" UFOs.
Over the next few years UFOs were all over the place. "Encounters," "Sightings,"
"Paranormal Borderline," "Unsolved Mysteries," "Larry King Live," "Oprah Winfrey," Jenny
Jones"--you name it, and they ran one or more UFO stories. (Today the trend lives on with
repeated documentaries on the cable channels and some network productions.) The sensational
aspect of UFOs reared its head . . . . Abductions, and for a time the abduction aspect seemed to
drown out everything else about the subject. You see, if you research a case or sighting or event,
this takes time and effort. Anyone can claim to have been abducted, and with a built-in believer
audience...voila!...instant celebrity!
I do not discount all accounts of abduction. Before it became the tail wagging this dog,
there was a core of accounts that needed in-depth investigation. Note I said investigation, not the
media three-ring circus it has become. It is kind of like comparing two recent news stories and
seeing which gets the most interest and coverage: The theft of nuclear secrets by Communist
China from Los Alamos and the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. By far the
most important story that has the potential to impact everyone in the United States is the theft of
our nuclear secrets by the Chinese, but everyone, according to our media, would rather hear all
the sordid details of the oral sex Lewinsky performed on Bill Clinton. What do you consider the
most important story, and which one should concern you?
Several years ago I broke a story on CNN that involved a shuttle flight and what
appeared to be a hostile act against a UFO. This all took place in orbit above Australia and New
Zealand, and the mission was STS-48. On missions since STS-48, a number of flights have since
also experienced anomalous objects showing up in orbit. They are routinely denied or discredited
by NASA spokespersons or astronauts, and the party line mantra is, according to James Oberg, a
NASA contract employee, "If we saw a spaceship in orbit, no power on earth could shut us up
from talking about it." Sure, and this writer has some very prime bottom land for sale in southern
Florida.
I guess my frustration comes from the fact that the entire charade it is so clear to me. It is
almost like the story about the "Emperor's New Clothes" or the "Wizard of Oz"-- "Pay no
attention to the little man behind the curtain! I am the Great and Powerful Oz!" It is as if our
government took a page from the propaganda book by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Tell the
bigger lie, long enough and loud enough, and sooner or later the people will believe it! With our
being at the mercy of a press that is subdued or compromised and a government whose stock in
trade is secrets and "spin control," I am not surprised that the UFO field is in the shambles it is, or
that our very freedom is in the greatest peril it has been in since the American Civil War. I am
very concerned.
Are you?