As published here at Soul:Ask, the Royal British Air Force – RAF is preparing to publish its classified UFO documents. But will we find impactful facts in these documents?
The UK Ministry of Defense recently announced plans to publish the “final batch” of files related to the work of its closed UFO investigation unit.
Now, the man who headed the Ministry of Defense’s UFO study department has spoken to reveal the content of these ‘British X Archives’.
Nick Pope, a former defense chief who is now a global authority on ‘unexplained aerial phenomena,’ told the Subway that the dossier that will be published this year is actually the third “final batch” made public.
He said:
While I welcome the news of this upcoming file release, the whole thing is in danger of becoming a Whitehall farce.
That’s because this is the third time that the MoD has talked in terms of the release of a “final batch.
The first time was in June 2013, when a project to declassify and release the entire archive of UFO files was – supposedly – completed. It had taken five years, involved 209 files and around 60,000 pages of documentation.
Then, embarrassingly, a further 18 files were located, which had supposedly been missed the first time around. The last of these were released in April 2019.
Each time the MoD claimed it had released all the files, conspiracy theorists in the UFO community said they didn’t believe it, suspecting there were more files – and they were right. One wonders how many more “final releases” there will be!
Pope went on to criticize the secrecy and bureaucracy surrounding the archives, which helped fuel conspiracy theories about the content.
He added:
I’m irritated by all this because I have a personal stake in it.
I came out of retirement to help promote the file release project – not least because I’d written many of the documents being released, so could give the media and the public an insider’s perspective on them.
At the time, I felt this was a good news story about our commitment to open government and freedom of information. Sadly, things went off track.
Delay crept in and the original plan that the entire project would be completed in around 3 years soon fell by the wayside. Furthermore, the practice of charging a small fee for access to the files was understandably unpopular.
The public argued that they’d already paid for these files, by virtue of government business being funded through taxation. Charging for the files was seen as “double-dipping”.
Then came complaints that in the final stages of the release project, some of the more controversial UFO files sent to The National Archives weren’t being digitized, and thus couldn’t be accessed online. Finally, there’s the embarrassment over the multiple “last ever files” claims.
It’s a typical government story of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Unfortunately, the latest batch of X-files is unlikely to finally solve the UFO mystery.
Pope said:
As to what’s in these soon-to-be-released files, it’s essentially public correspondence.
This may include sighting reports from people who weren’t aware that the MoD axed its UFO project at the end of 2009. It may also include Freedom of Information Act requests sent to the MoD, along with the MoD responses.
The files will be interesting, of course, but people shouldn’t expect a smoking gun – sadly, there isn’t one.
The release of the most recent documents did little to allay suspicions about what is really happening in the corridors of power – mainly because previous releases were also described as “final” …
Pope has raised several rumors that are unlikely to be confirmed at this stage:
There are also rumours that the US government took over the MoD’s UFO project. While I can’t comment on these allegations, there are two intriguing clues.
Firstly, in describing UFO sightings in recent years, the US Navy has used the phrase ‘UAP’ [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena]. This was a phrase we used in the MoD, in internal policy discussions in the Nineties.
A US Navy spokesperson stated that UAP “is a term we borrowed from the UK.
Secondly, it’s clear that several people involved with the Pentagon’s UFO project or AATIP have a good knowledge of British UFO cases such as the Rendlesham Forest incident, as well as Project Condign – an intelligence assessment of the UFO phenomenon that I helped set up in the Nineties.
The revelation concerning the existence of these new UFO files is fascinating, but the bizarre circumstances of this upcoming release will only strengthen people’s suspicion that the government knows more about this subject than it’s letting on.
And on a personal basis, long after I thought my job was done, I find myself on the receiving end of new questions about all this. As someone once said: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”‘
A release process for the documents is currently underway before publication, which is expected to take place “sometime in the first quarter of 2020”.
In response to the request for the Freedom of Information Act, the RAF described the files it contained as “fully understanding correspondence with members of the public”.
She further reported:
The MoD has no opinion on the existence or otherwise of extra terrestrial life and does not investigate UFO reports.
