Stephen Bassett (Paradigm Research Group)
The White House is hiding the truth about UFOs and contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, according to Stephen Bassett. Bassett is far from alone in this belief, but what makes him stand out is that he is determined to force a change.
Bassett is the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group (PRG), established in 1996 to advocate "disclosure", defined as "an end to a government imposed truth embargo of the facts surrounding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race". In pursuit of that goal, last year PRG submitted the following "Disclosure Petition" to the White House's "We the People Petition Project":
We, the undersigned, strongly urge the President of the United States to formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and immediately release into the public domain all files from all agencies and military services relevant to this phenomenon.
The petition was submitted on 22 September 2011. By 27 September it had already received the 5,000 signatures necessary for it to be considered and responded to by the Obama administration. Before the 30-day deadline expired it received an impressive 12,078 signatures, but when the government response came it was not exactly the epoch-defining admission so many had hoped for.
In an official statement dated 4 November Phil Larson of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) replied:
The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye.
This failed to satisfy PRG. Refusing to be (in its view) fobbed off, PRG has returned to the attack. This time, though, it is focusing on what it hopes is a chink in the government armour.
According to letters obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by researcher Grant Cameron, as far back as 1993 Dr Jack Gibbons (then White House Science Advisor to the President) discussed the issue of UFOs/ETs with, among others, billionaire philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller.
PRG explains why this is so significant:
From early 1993 to late 1996 billionaire Laurance Rockefeller engaged the Clinton administration through the Office of Science and Technology Policy to convince President Clinton to release all files regarding the UFO/ET issue and end the truth embargo. Why is this relevant to the current administration? Those persons who at the time were either directly involved with or knew about what has come to be called the “Rockefeller Initiative” include: Bill Clinton (advisor to the President), Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State), John Podesta (Obama transition co-chair), Webster Hubbell, Leon Panetta (CIA Director/Secretary of Defense), Dr. John Gibbons - involved; Albert Gore, Bill Richardson (Governor of New Mexico) - knew.
None of these high level officials have ever spoken publicly about the Rockefeller Initiative or been asked a single question about the Initiative in public by the political media. Perhaps it is time for that to change.
On 23 February 2012 PRG (re)submitted “Disclosure Petition II - the Rockefeller Initiative”. If the official response to their first petition was true, PRG wants to know, then "what was Clinton's Office of Science and Technology Policy investigating from March 1993 to October 1996 in concert with billionaire, Clinton friend, Laurance Rockefeller?"
(This second petition was originally submitted in December 2011 but problems with the White House website meant that people found themselves unable to sign.)
Will this new pressure to explain the significance of the Rockefeller letters compel the Obama administration to admit the government knows more about the “UFO/ET issue” that it has hitherto said?
I recently asked Bassett to tell me more.
In his reply to the first Disclosure Petition, Phil Larson of the OSTP wrote: "The fact is we have no credible evidence of extraterrestrial presence here on Earth." The Paradigm Research Group responded (in a press release dated 8 November 2011): "Unfortunately for the OSTP and the Obama administration, that assertion is false. Furthermore, given that approximately 50% of the American people are now convinced of an extraterrestrial presence and more than 80% believe the government is not telling the truth about the phenomenon, it is an embarrassment."
What would you say to people who believe the OSTP statement to be true, and couldn't it be that the other 50% of the American people - those who are not convinced of an extraterrestrial presence - are the ones who are correct?
Those who believe the OSTP response is true are not informed. That 50% of the American people now believe the UFO phenomenon is ET in origin proves nothing. But it's worth mentioning to the Obama administration given it is lying to that 50%. Governmental lying is now almost institutionalized and the public is growing weary of it.
It is also worth noting when the polling is broken down demographically, the higher the education and income the more likely one is inclined to accept the extraterrestrial hypothesis for the phenomenon.
The proof of the extraterrestrial presence lies with the evidence, and the United States military/intelligence structures have worked very hard for six decades to minimize the impact of that evidence. A truth embargo was imposed. That embargo will end soon.
What reason(s) do you feel the US government has for covering up the "truth" about contact with extraterrestrials, and do you believe that such a cover-up might ever be justified?
This is one of the top five exopolitical questions. The government, of course, has never acknowledged the truth embargo or its motives. However, I am convinced it was initiated in the early 1950s because of the circumstances of that time.
A worldwide active ET phenomenon was taking place at the same time the United States was aware the Soviet Union was developing fission and fusion bombs as well as ballistic missiles with their own cache of Nazi scientists. A third world war was in the offing and it would likely be nuclear. And, of course, there was so much that was not known about the ET presence and the technology in the craft recovered near Roswell, NM (and possibly other crash events).
The reality of the phenomenon had to be contained until the risks were better known and the geopolitical status was more stable.
There was no World War III, but there was a Cold War and it lasted until 1991. After then, Disclosure became a viable possibility. Why it has not happened 20 years later is a more complex assessment. But 20 years is not long given the can-kicking-down-the-road, dysfunctional nature of American governance over the past three decades. And to be fair, it is hardly a simple matter to resolve. That said, barring the odd war or massive terrorist event, resolution is close at hand.
Do you think the US government is the only power to know the "truth", and if not who else might be working with them?
No. Elements within every industrialized nation and likely any nations with air defense forces are aware of the extraterrestrial presence.
What are your thoughts concerning the nature of the assumed extraterrestrial presence?
Only the extraterrestrials know why they are here. We can only speculate based upon the evidence gathered to date. The Internet is awash with a thousand theories, not to mention an ocean of confabulation.
I have a working model I use as a guide. It's just a model. Every biosphere that evolves at least one sentient species with the ability to manipulate matter (digits) eventually goes through the transition we have been having since the late 1940s. Think of it as a coming of age process. Whatever the long historic interaction with Earth, a major shift occurs when we developed and used nuclear weapons. That transition leads to self-Disclosure (ideally) and Disclosure is prelude to open, formal contact. In other words, the human race will soon be introduced formally to its galactic neighbors. Then the real fun begins. It's a working model.
Do you believe that the tactics you are using can ever eventually force the White House to admit to something they presumably believe should remain secret, and if so how long do you think the process is likely to take?
Of course. Think of the Disclosure process as a chess game. The government (like the Catholic Church in the time of the Copernican revolution, that knew it could not indefinitely hide the true nature of the solar system from its flock) knows it cannot ultimately win the game, so it has played for draws for 60-plus years.
The advocacy process is about maneuvering the prevailing circumstances such that a draw is no longer possible. The advocacy process is about much more than demanding information. It is three-dimensional chess.
Regarding the Rockefeller Initiative, could it simply be that Rockefeller was in his own way trying to do exactly what you’re attempting? Perhaps he was merely responding to a widely held belief that information is being held back unnecessarily and wanted to encourage the Clinton administration to release that purported information, but this doesn't prove that the information ever really existed.
Simple answer. No.
The Rockefeller Initiative did not take place in a vacuum. There had been 46 years of the phenomenon and citizen science/activism by the time Laurance Rockefeller showed up at President Bill Clinton's door. The Cold War was over and Laurance felt it was time for the human race to finally learn the truth.
He did what he could, but he was quite old and Bill Clinton was compromised by his personal behavior. The effort failed - then. But it may yet be the linchpin that triggers the Disclosure event.
Finally, would you like to explain to our readers why you feel they should sign "Disclosure Petition II"?
"Disclosure Petition II - the Rockefeller Initiative" [is being resubmitted] accompanied by a considerable amount of media and web promotion. This will be done in coordination with the "Need to Know" petition being resubmitted by Bryce Zabel and Richard Dolan. These petitions are specifically formulated to challenge the White House formal statement of November 4, 2011 that, "The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye."
"Disclosure Petition I" and the White House response generated more media coverage worldwide than all other posted petitions combined. The political media have taken notice. Should "Disclosure Petition II" and the "Need to Know" petition quickly acquire the needed 25,000 signatures, the impact on the Disclosure process could be dramatic. But this depends upon the people.
Who should sign these petitions? Anyone who believes they have a right to know the true nature of the world they live in, who believes they can handle that truth, and who are no longer willing to accept institutional lying and propaganda in place of open transparent governance.
"Disclosure Petition II - the Rockefeller Initiative" was resubmitted to the White House website on 23 February 2012, but gathering enough support won't be easy.
Since the original petition last year, the threshold of 5,000 signatures necessary to ensure a formal response from the White House has been significantly raised and now a massive 25,000 signatures are required.
Anyone who wants to sign "Disclosure Petition II - the Rockefeller Initiative" has until 24 March 2012 to do so.
Images courtesy of Stephen Bassett and the Paradigm Research Group.
