MoD UFO department closes down

[Forestgrove111 Profile]

December 4th, 2009 SindhToday
London, Dec 4 (ANI): The Ministry of Defence department that investigated UFO sightings over Britain for 50 years has been secretly closed, according to reports.

The MoD department was used to assess threats posed by any Unidentified Flying Objects sightings throughout Britain.

Any reports made would now not be investigated or followed up as the hotline had secretly been axed.

UFO experts expressed anger at the decision, reports the Sun.

Nick Pope, who worked with the MoD for 21 years investigating the phenomenon, stormed: ‘This is outrageous.

‘UFO sightings are at an all time high. There has been no announcement in Parliament and no public consultation.’

Top brass buried the December 1 closure of the 50,000-pounds-a-year department on the official MoD website. Chiefs branded it an ‘inappropriate use of defence resources’.

The MoD said: ‘In over 50 years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the UK.’

The move comes a year after the team was moved from the MoD’s Whitehall HQ to RAF Air Command in High Wycombe, Bucks.

It has dealt with more than 12,000 reports since the 1950s. Last year there were 135.

Pope warned mystery objects in our skies may not all be the result of little green men.

‘We’re leaving ourselves wide open to terrorist attack,’ he said. (ANI)

[Abyssdnb Profile]

The Ministry of Defence department that investigated UFOs sightings has been closed after almost 60 years, it has been disclosed.

MoD chiefs said there was no benefit to investigate any UFO sightings.


The MoD department, which has dealt with more than 12,000 reports – including 135 last year - was used to assess threats posed by any Unidentified Flying Objects sightings throughout Britain.

Any reports made would now not be investigated or followed up as the hotline had been closed, a spokesman said. UFO experts expressed anger at the decision.

MoD chiefs made the decision to close the £50,000 a year department, established in 1950, after deciding there was no benefit investigating sightings which were “an inappropriate use of defence resources”.

It comes after the team was moved from the MoD’s team, similar to the FBI team featured in the TV programme the X Files, was moved a year ago from the Whitehall Headquarters to the RAF Command in High Wycombe, Bucks.

After an application under the Freedom of Information Act, the MoD admitted that responding to every UFO sightings “diverts MoD resources from tasks that are relevant to Defence”.

No decision was announced and the disclosure was instead buried on its website earlier this month.

It said that in more than 50 years “no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom”.

After investigation, around 5 per cent of reports remain unexplained.

“The MOD has no opinion on the existence or otherwise of extra-terrestrial life,” the spokesman said.

“The MOD has no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings.

“Accordingly, and in order to make best use of Defence resources, we have decided that from the 1 December 2009 the dedicated UFO hotline answer-phone service and e-mail address will be withdrawn.”

He added: “MOD will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them.”

Nick Pope, who ran the Ministry of Defence UFO project from 1991 to 1994, said it was “outrageous”.

“We’re leaving ourselves wide open to terrorist attacks,” he told The Sun.

The spokesman said the programme to release departmental files on UFO matters to the National Archive would continue.

[Bladerunner Profile]

With closure, is the message to all that the Mod have an answer for all there accumulated data over time and that the sightings are
1 Nothing
2 Friendly aliens
3 man made phenomena
this is closure??
They have indicated that all the archives will become available, a bold statement and welcome if they are indeed all revealed to the public, especialy the 5% of cases which have been unexplainable .

[Wilbert Profile]

Maybe this is leading up to some sort of disclosure if the goverment know whats going on and are about to admit the truth the department might not really be needed any more

[Rizze Profile Website]

Heres what Pope has to say on the matter.



British UFO sightings in the early 1990s. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

On December 1 the Ministry of Defence terminated its UFO project. After over 50 years of investigating the phenomenon, the plug was pulled in a most unceremonious way.

The news was slipped out so as not to attract attention. An amendment was made to an existing document in the freedom of information section of the MoD website, entitled "How to report a UFO sighting". The announcement states: "In over fifty years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom." It goes on to say that the "MOD will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them". When rumbled, the MoD press office implyied that the money saved (about £50,000 a year) would be spent on body armour in Afghanistan. I doubt it will be. As someone whose 21-year MoD career included a posting in a financial policy division, I suspect that's not how it works. Finance has played a part in this, I am sure. The defence budget is under huge pressure and the UFO project was doubtless an easy target for the Treasury and MoD financiers.

Between the 1950s and the present day, the MoD received around 12,000 UFO reports. While most were misidentifications of ordinary objects and phenomena, about 5% remained unexplained. These included instances where UFOs were seen by police officers and pilots, or tracked on radar.

Having worked on the UFO project from 1991 to 1994, I am very sorry to see the MoD disengage in this way. I believe that where evidence suggests that UK airspace has been penetrated by an unidentified object, this must automatically be of defence interest and should be investigated properly. Not because I believe Britain is vulnerable to an alien attack, but because "if it doesn't behave like a conventional aircraft, we're not interested" is a very dangerous mindset. Britain remains vulnerable to espionage and terrorist attack. What if the "UFO" turns out to be a prototype spyplane or drone? What if it's a hijacked aircraft with its transponder turned off? This is not the time to take our eye off the ball but this is precisely what has happened. Because of the baggage that the term "UFO" carries, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/04/ufo-ministry-of-defence

My only hope is that – away from the public gaze – sightings from pilots and uncorrelated targets tracked on radar will continue to be looked at, albeit outside of a formally constituted UFO project. But by cutting out the public, the MoD will only fuel conspiracy theories. UFO sightings are at record levels and public interest is at an all-time high. Whatever one's views about them, this is a sad day for science. One of the greatest mysteries of the modern era is now much less likely to be resolved.

One of the greatest mysteries of the modern era is now much less likely to be resolved.

I doubt that very much Popey boy

What did they tell us in the first place? eh
The pdf files are still being released I am hearing.