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