Posts Tagged ‘government’
May 17th, 2013 | 
Author:  Open Minds UFO News |
News magazine examines UFOs and government transparency
Open Minds UFO News In an online article from The Week magazine, they examine the effect UFO research has had on government transparency. Interest in government sponsored UFO investigations has caused government agencies to make special concessions, and according to … |
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Tags: examines, government, magazine, minds, news, open, Transparency, ufos | 
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In an online article from The Week magazine, they examine the effect UFO research has had on government transparency. Interest in government sponsored UFO investigations has caused government agencies to make special concessions, and according to the article, some lawsuits initiated by UFO investigators have become landmark cases for governing what the government needs to release and how.
Kel McClanahan, an attorney specializing in national security and privacy law, told The Week, “Every major military agency receives an enormous amount of requests about UFOs.” He says they get a flood of requests every time the news reports a UFO sighting.
In particular they note the work of John Greenewald, the owner of the website TheBlackVault.com, who has amassed over 700,000 pages of government documents through Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA).
The Black Vault website houses the hundreds of thousands of files retrieved by John Greenewald via FOIA requests. (Credit: www.TheBlackVault.com)
The Week examines three cases in particular that have had a lasting effect on government transparency. The first is the case of Ground Saucer Watch versus the CIA. The Week refers to this as one case which Ground Saucer Watch lost. However, an article on the CIA’s website on their involvement in UFO research written by Gerald Haines, a historian for the National Reconnaissance Office, shows it was in fact two cases. The first of which was very successful.
According to Haines, in 1975, William Spalding, the head of Ground Saucer Watch, requested all files related to the Robertson panel. The Robertson panel was a group brought together by the CIA in 1953 to review the Air Force’s UFO investigation. Upon receiving the files, Spaulding replied to the CIA accusing them of a cover-up. The CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Gene Wilson, replied “At no time prior to the formation of the Robertson Panel and subsequent to the issuance of the panel’s report has CIA engaged in the study of the UFO phenomena.” Haines wrote, “Wilson was ill informed.”
That is because Spaulding sued the CIA, unconvinced by Wilson’s response, and he won. The CIA was forced to conduct an extensive search for UFO files, and sure enough, they found 355 more documents, totalling around 900 pages. Most of these files were subsequently released to the public. 100 pages were withheld, “on national security grounds and to protect sources and methods.”
Ground Saucer Watch filed another lawsuit to get the remaining files, but according to the CIA, this lawsuit was dismissed in 1980. McClanahan told The Week that Ground Saucer Watch versus the CIA has since been cited in many other decisions. It helped set the parameters for what the government is expected to search for. It also prompted the CIA to put their UFO files on their website.
Leslie Kean, author of UFOs on the Record. (Credit: ufosontherecord.com)
The second case is from 2007 when Leslie Kean sued NASA for information on a mysterious object that fell into the forest in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania in the 1960s. In this case the court ruled in Kean’s favor, agreeing that NASA had not adequately searched for the documents. NASA was ordered to conduct a more extensive search. Ultimately, NASA said they lost the files.
The final case The Week refers to is the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy versus the Department of Defense. McClanahan says this case is significant because of why the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy lost. They produced witnesses to testify that the DOD knew more than they were sharing, but the judge determined, “speculation that documents exist is insufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact.” The Week notes, “So even if Benghazi conspiracy theorists produced dozens of eyewitnesses to support a certain allegation, it makes no difference if the government doesn’t have any documentation of it.”
The Week makes the case that whether or not you think there is anything to the UFO debate, UFO research has had an effect on the government’s handling of FOIA. McClanahan asks, “What other advocacy group can say that they’re getting the government to proactively disclose everything there is to know about a subject?”
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Tags: examines, government, magazine, news, Transparency, ufos |
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 The Week Magazine |
How UFO believers make our government more transparent
The Week Magazine UFO believers have been dutifully trying to prove the existence of alien life forms for decades, largely by submitting countless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These requests are so exhaustive, they've actually spawned new laws for how … |
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Tags: believers, government, magazine, more, transparent, week |
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New WikiLeaks film discusses government secrecy
MSNBC Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney stopped by NOW with Alex Wagner Wednesday to discuss his new film “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” as well as the latest revelations about the Department of Justice's subpoenaing of … |
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Tags: discusses, film, government, msnbc-, Secrecy, WikiLeaks |
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 NitiCentral |
WikiLeaks: Indira Government charged two American under Official Secret Act
NitiCentral WikiLeaks reveal that Indira Gandhi Government had charged two Americans under Official Secret Act. The cable says: ” Two Americans await trial in India on charges of spying and are expected to go on trial here within two months in the first case in India of … |
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Tags: American, charged, government, Indira, NitiCentral, official-, secret, Under, WikiLeaks |
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Posted in UFO's in the news |
Tags: About, government, know, monsters, really, Them, there |
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 Salon |
Julian Assange: The government is a vindictive loser
Salon Assange, Manning and WikiLeaks, by making public in 2010 half a million internal documents from the Pentagon and the State Department, along with the 2007 video of US helicopter pilots nonchalantly gunning down Iraqi civilians, including children, and … |
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Tags: Assange, government, Julian, loser, Salon, vindictive |
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 NitiCentral |
WikiLeaks: Indian Government forced VOA to tone down criticism of Indira Gandhi
NitiCentral WikiLeaks: Indian Government forced VOA to tone down criticism of Indira Gandhi. WikiLeaks reveal that the US embassy said New Delhi told VOA to tone down criticism of Indira Gandhi. ” I am disturbed by the August 13 VOA treatment of events in India. |
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Tags: criticism, down, Forced, Gandhi, government, indian, Indira, NitiCentral, Tone, WikiLeaks |
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 NitiCentral |
Government used national dailies to leak stories
NitiCentral Government used national dailies to leak stories. According to WikiLeaks, the US embassy said that two dailies were used by Government of India to leak stories. The cable also names Indian Express journalist Pranab Dhal Samanta and gives reference to his … |
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Tags: dailies, government, leak, national, NitiCentral, stories, used |
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 Salon |
Government plays secrecy games in Manning trial
Salon This week, another pretrial hearing is taking place at Fort Meade in the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier who the United States military is prosecuting for disclosing information to WikiLeaks. It begins today and will take place over a period of at … |
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Tags: games, government, Manning, plays, Salon, Secrecy, trial |
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