RUMOR CONTROL Volume 1.1, December 19, 1994 A Department of the ISCNI News Center This edition of Rumor Control was written by Michael Lindemann UFO RESEARCHERS WHO WORK FOR THE CIA One of the most-often-heard complaints against certain UFO researchers is that they "work for the CIA." In many cases, this is simply untrue. In some cases, it it (or was) true; and some cases are not entirely clear. ISCNI's Rumor Control makes no pretense of having the last word on such complex questions as this. We do hope to offer information that may assist your own assessment of issues that matter to you. A few so-called UFO researchers have admitted to working for the CIA. One example is Karl Pflock, author of the controversial 1994 report "Roswell in Perspective," which purported to show that the Roswell debris field discovered by ranher Mac Brazel was probably caused by the crash of a top-secret "Project Mogul" balloon array. Pflock is unabashedly proud of the fact that he worked for several years as a full-time field operative for the CIA. Today he makes his living primarily as a free-lance writer. He claims a genuine interest in getting to the truth about UFOs, and says he thinks the "other Roswell crash site" may have involved an alien craft. In July of 1993, optical physicist and long-time UFO researcher Dr. Bruce Maccabee came under public fire for allegedly briefing the CIA on several occasions concerning his UFO research. Maccabee admitted that he had in fact made several presentations to CIA personnel regarding UFOs, the first in 1979 and the most recent in 1993. He denied any ongoing or systematic relationship with the CIA, and also denied any involvement in deceptive or counterespionage activities on the CIA's behalf. MUFON International director Walt Andrus was quick to defend Maccabee, whose work as a photo analyst has been crucial in a number of controversial UFO cases, particularly the Gulf Breeze sightings. "It is not a crime to talk to the CIA," Andrus said. Maccabee's CIA relatinship was discussed at length in UFO Magazine, Vol. 8 #5. Perhaps the most notorious admission of involvement with the intelligence community came in 1989, when researcher William Moore admitted before a large audience at a MUFON symposium that he had knowingly engaged in disinformation activities on behalf of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). To this day, Moore defends his actions. He says he was trying to get an inside look at what the Air Force and other agencies really know about UFOs. In this, apparently, he failed. He did succeed, however, in earning the permanent disdain of many in the UFO community. At the recent International UFO Congress in Mesquite, Nevada, (see CNI News, Vol 1.3) Dr. Richard Boylan invited more than a dozen participating UFO researchers to meet openly with a presumed intermediary to the CIA, one Dn Smith, who was said to report directly to Roland "Ron" Pandolfi of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. While it is in fact doubtful that Smith reports to Pandolfi as claimed, it is clear that Boylan regards direct and open contact with the CIA as a desirable, not disreputable, thing. In this, Boylan is enthusiastically seconded by Air Force Col. Donald Ware (ret.) and Dr. Steven Greer, among others. In this writer's view, however, one should not assume that most of the researchers who attended Boylan's meeting had any particular interest in "working with (or for) the CIA." Many other researchers have been accused over the years of directly or indirectly working for the CIA. It is impossible in this short space to address all these claims and accusations. In most cases, however, there is no compelling evidence to support such claims. In particular, there is no good evidence known to this writer that Linda Howe, Stanton Friedman or Budd Hopkins have ever "worked for the CIA," though all of them have been so accused from time to time. In recent weeks, some members and friends of ISCNI have brought to my attention that I stand accused of working for the CIA. It is perhaps the task of some other researcher to do the background check that would easily clear me of this charge. But for the record, let me categorically state that I have never done anything whatsoever to knowingly inform, assist or cooperate with the CIA, or any other intelligence agency, or any department of the U.S. military. Ill-founded accusations and mistrust cause destructive dissension, when what is most needed in the CNI research field is openness and cooperation. If you wish to accuse someone of deception or other misconduct, make sure you have good evidence beforehand. Michael Lindemann