Eisen-Suppressed-Inventions-and-other-Discoveries-True-Stories-of ...

350 Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries
constitute a direct physical threat to national security." While this ruling
is considered contentious by many UFO researchers, it was the panel's
second conclusion that really shocked. The panel decreed there was no
national security threat from UFOs, however, its members did see a real
and distinct danger posed by UFO reports!
In the panel's own words, it concluded "that the continued emphasis on
the reporting of these phenomena, in these perilous times, result in a threat
to the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic."
"We cite as an example [of such danger]," the Panel continued, "the
clogging of channels of communication by irrelevant reports, the danger
of being led by continued false alarms to ignore real indications of hostile
action, and the cultivation of a morbid national psychology in which skillful
hostile propaganda could induce hysterical behavior and harmful distrust
of duly constituted authority." In other words, UFO reports might
induce national psychosis that could be subject to manipulation by the
Soviets.
In the final list of recommendations, the panel calls for "national security
agencies to take immediate steps to strip the Unidentified Flying
Objects of the special status they have been given. . . ."
The CIA had effectively halted any serious research into the phenomena,
and now controlled all ongoing U.S. military investigations.
RUPPELT VS. THE CIA
The public became aware of the panel a few years later with the publication
of "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" by Captain Edward
J. Ruppelt, former commander of Project Blue Book. Both Ruppelt and
his Intelligence Liaison Officer, Major Dewey J. Fournet, gave evidence
to the Robertson Panel.
Although the panel relegated UFOs to the dustbin of history, Walter
Smith, then director of the CIA, saw fit to keep all evidence classified.
The CIA's decision shocked Captain Ruppelt and Major Fournet. Both
were part of the minority of intelligence officials that believed the evidence
for UFOs was incontrovertible. They also believed the possibility
of hysteria would be reduced if the public were told the truth.
Ruppelt had fought hard to keep the Air Force investigations afloat,
after joining the Project Grudge team in January 1951, but soon found the
CIA constantly interfering and withholding valuable information. Project
Grudge evolved into the now famous Project Blue Book in March 1952
with Captain Ruppelt appointed as its chief. All this came in response to a
spate of UFO sightings, beginning with the 25 August, 1951 famous sightings
at Lubbock, Texas, which caused an enormous stir with the American
public. And soon after, on 12 September, 1951, a major UFO sighting