From TC Palm
Dom Armentano
On Jan. 10, just one day after my article on UFO secrecy appeared in
this newspaper and on this Web site (“Intelligent Extraterrestrial
life: The Other Inconvenient truth?” Jan. 9), I was unceremoniously
dropped as a Cato Institute adjunct scholar, a position I’d held for
more than 20 years.
First some background. I’m a Ph.D. economist with a national
reputation in the antitrust area. I’ve written books, journal articles,
and many dozens of op-ed articles over the years on a variety of
public-policy issues. My association with the libertarian Cato
Institute in Washington, D. C. goes back many decades. Yet they cut me
away in a heartbeat because I dared call for more government disclosure
on the UFO phenomenon.
I really didn’t believe that calling for more disclosure was all
that controversial. After all, John Podesta, former chief of staff
under Bill Clinton, has called for more government disclosure on the
UFO subject. Former astronaut Ed Mitchell has repeatedly called for
more disclosure, as has Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M. Former Canadian
Minister of Defense Paul Hellyer has stated that our government knows
that UFOs are interplanetary machines and that the secrecy should end.
Given these bold assertions by “insiders,” I thought that I was in safe
company; apparently I was wrong.
Actually the most classic call for disclosure came 48 years ago from
former CIA Director Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkotter. As reported in
The New York Times of Feb. 28, 1960, Hillenkotter (in a letter to
Congress) argued that “it is time that the truth (about UFOs) be
brought out in open Congressional Hearings.” He went on to say that
“through official SECRECY and ridicule, many citizens are led to
believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense …” and, further, that
the Air Force “has silenced its personnel” in order “to hide the facts.”
If a former CIA director could say that, why couldn’t I?
The most recent attempt to “chill” serious media interest in UFO
secrecy occurred in Stephenville, Texas. Stephenville currently is a
hotbed of UFO activity, and much of the newspaper reporting has been
done by the Empire Tribune’s Angelia Joiner. Ms. Joiner filed some of
the first stories, talked to many witnesses of the phenomenon, and even
appeared on a CNN Larry King special in January.
Yet despite a worldwide interest in the sightings, Ms. Joiner
recently was fired by the Empire Tribune for, among other things,
openly questioning the U.S. Air Force’s improbable explanation of the
sightings.
So much for courage and truth.
None of this intimidation and media censorship is new. I first
became interested in UFO secrecy when CBS aired an Armstrong Circle
Theater episode on UFOs on Jan. 22, 1958. On that program, an Air Force
spokesman recited the standard mantra that UFOs were all nonsense and
that the government wasn’t hiding anything.
Also on the program was Donald E. Keyhoe, executive director of the
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena and the leading
critic of an Air Force cover-up. At one point during the live
broadcast, Keyhoe broke away from his pre-approved remarks and said,
“And now I’m going to reveal something that has never been disclosed
before …” but then his microphone suddenly went dead. The live TV
audience saw his lips moving (me included) but his audio had been
terminated by CBS and the U. S. Air Force under a prior agreement.
Keyhoe intended to tell the American public that NICAP had proof that
UFOs were real machines under intelligent control but he never got the
chance. He’d been censored by those who claimed that they had nothing
to hide.
In this presidential year of “hope,” let us all hope that someone,
somewhere will finally be honest with the American people about
unidentified flying objects. Censorship and intimidation have no place
in a free and democratic society. We (they) continue this policy at our
peril.
Armentano is professor emeritus in economics
at the University of Hartford and has written op-ed articles for The
New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other newspapers. He
lives in Vero Beach.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/25/dom-armentano-ufos-and-censorship-why-cato-institu/
