UK-UFO Secrets
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UK-UFO Secrets
Over the past couple of months I have highlighted the story of the British Government’s so-called Condign Report on UFOs that was declassified in 2006 as a direct result of the work of researchers David Clarke and Gary Anthony, and that revealed the details of a secret study of purported UFO activity in Britain’s skies. This morning I received from Dave an update on the story, that follows:
STATEMENT FROM DAVID CLARKE:
Efforts to bring to light further information concerning the UK MoD’s ‘Condign report’ have paid off. Last week Norman Baker, the Member of Parliament for Lewes in Sussex, who has taken an interest in this story (and who I have advised on the issue), tabled a series of Written Questions to Defence Ministers in the House of Commons.
Mr Baker is known for his persistence in pressing for answers on controversial issues (such as the circumstances surrounding the death of MoD scientist Dr David Kelly) and has proved himself a ceaseless campaigner against the Government’s proposals to curtail our limited Freedom of Information Act.
So far the MoD have refused to answer some critical questions relating to the circumstances in which the Condign report was commissioned and delivered, citing various exemptions under the FOIA and the DPA (Data Protection Act). Mr Baker’s questions have been tabled in the same week in which MoD are due to release the results of an independent internal review I requested into their decision to censor certain information on Defence Intelligence interest in UFOs contained within records dating back to 1971 released to me under the FOIA.
The original questions drawn up were:
a) how much it cost
b) the name of the author
c) his
scientific/technical qualifications
d) why was it commissioned and what was
its purpose
e) why the conclusions were kept secret
f) why the UFO desk -
(Sec (AS) or DAS - were excluded from the
circulation list
g) Have the
recommendations been acted upon and if not why not?
Four of these (a, b, c and g) were tabled yesterday in the Commons for answer by Defence Ministers and answers are expected early next week.
The precise wording of the PQ is:
Norman Baker (Lewes): To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent producing the report Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region; who the author was; what the author’s qualifications in the subject were; to whom the report was circulated; what actions were taken on the recommendations of the report; and if he will make a statement.
Full background on the significance of these questions can be found in the article I wrote with Gary Anthony on the UK Condign project, published by IUR Vol 30/4 (2006), available here. And the article published by The Guardian on 22 February available here. I’ll post the results of the questions here when they become available. Dave Clarke.
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