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Announcing John Burroughs, Nick Pope and Pat Frascogna

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Gene Steinberg

Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
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Our three guests will be here to discuss a significant victory in the efforts to John Burroughs to receive medical disability coverage for the injuries he claims to have suffered in connection with the 1980 Rendlesham Forest UFO case.

We'll also be joined by former UK Ministry of Defence official and UFO author Nick Pope, and Pat Frascogna, the attorney who helped Burroughs achieve his victory with the Veterans Administration.

Obviously there are loads of questions about this development, not to mention the ongoing controversy about a recent free eBook published by Peter Robbins that attacks how Pope allegedly handled the case.

Here's the link to the full press release:

Earthfiles.com Science | Update with Press Release - John Burroughs Has Received Full V. A. Medical Coverage Due to Injury Caused by Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Radiation at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge in December 1980
 
Mr. Pope, is it true that you were not the "head of the UFO desk" at the Ministry of Defence as you sometimes say. In fact you were simply a low level clerk who worked there and you were not privy to any secrets at all.

The reason I ask is this statement from the head of your department in 1997...


"Turning specifically to your comments concerning Mr Pope, I
should point out that he was a junior desk officer in the
Secretariat(Air Staff)2a section from 1991-1994 and was not in
charge of, or the head of any part of Secretariat (Air Staff)2.
Mr Pope was an executive officer and shared the support of one
administrative officer"....according to one of his successors, Linda Unwin, "The first point to make is that there is no 'UFO Project'. Handling of UFO sightings is a very small element of our work."
 
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What? Somebody possibly embellished their credentials in order to appear to have greater credibility when it comes to topics related to Ufology? I am shocked, SHOCKED that this would ever, or could ever, happen!

In all seriousness, the quote above from the Head of Mr. Pope's department seems a little contradictory. First he seems to be minimizing Nick Pope's importance by referring to him as a "junior desk officer" but then goes on to expand his comments and refer to him as an "Executive Officer" who had someone serving underneath him. That seems, semantically at least, an important distinction. As for his successors comments, I don't think they contradict what Pope has always said about his experience in the Ministry of Defense. I never got the impression that ALL he did was chase UFOs. It's just the most interesting and relevant thing about his job that he has to talk about within the context of unidentified aerial phenomena.

It seems to me that Mr. Pope's decision to embrace the "fringe" aspects of his former position and become a rather vocal and highly visible proponent of UFOs in the media has probably embarrassed those in the UK Ministry of Defense that don't necessarily share his overt enthusiasm for the topic and feel it somewhat demeans them and the serious work they do in all other areas of their responsibility. I'm not defending them but simply offer a motive for them to downplay Mr. Pope's role and importance.

Still, I like DaveM's question and am curious to hear what Mr. Pope's answer will be.
 
Mr. Pope, could you also clarify your statement about being aware of possible ufo activities during the 2012 London Olympics. How did this relate to your representing the release of a Sony Playstation game?
 
DaveM said:
Mr. Pope, is it true that you were not the "head of the UFO desk" at the Ministry of Defence as you sometimes say. In fact you were simply a low level clerk who worked there and you were not privy to any secrets at all.

The reason I ask is this statement from the head of your department in 1997...


"Turning specifically to your comments concerning Mr Pope, I
should point out that he was a junior desk officer in the
Secretariat(Air Staff)2a section from 1991-1994 and was not in
charge of, or the head of any part of Secretariat (Air Staff)2.
Mr Pope was an executive officer and shared the support of one
administrative officer"....according to one of his successors, Linda Unwin, "The first point to make is that there is no 'UFO Project'. Handling of UFO sightings is a very small element of our work."
Click to expand...

Dave, can you provide a link to the source and context of that statement? Who was the head of Sec (AS) 2a in 1997, and what you can tell us about him?

Here is Wikipedia's brief summary of Pope's twenty-year employment with the British Ministry of Defense:

"Pope joined the Ministry of Defence in 1985. After serving in a number of different posts, he was assigned in 1991 to a section of Secretariat (Air Staff) known as Sec (AS) 2a, where his duties included investigating reports of UFO sightings, to see if they had any defence significance.

At the time, while the Ministry of Defence stated that it "remains totally open-minded about the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms", it also stated that there was no evidence to suggest that any UFO sightings posed any threat to the UK or that they were extraterrestrial in origin.[3] It is clear from material that Pope wrote whilst still at the MoD that he did not share the MoD's view that conventional explanations could be found for all UFO sightings.[4]

Pope's final posting in the MoD was to the Directorate of Defence Security. He resigned in 2006 and in 2009 MoD announced that UFO sightings would no longer be investigated.[5][6][7]"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Pope_(journalist)


As a died-in-the-wool sceptic, it's not surprising that you would frame your question to Pope in this hostile and prejudicial manner. What will be surprising is if the question is presented to Pope by the Paracast hosts in your own antagonistic words. Note that people who can express no respect toward others rarely receive any in turn.
 
Well Constance, I prefer some facts before put on my tin foil hat. I don't see that I am antagonistic or hostile in any way. I will state simply that I believe Mr. Pope has inflated his resume and I have never believed he was any 'head of the UFO desk' at the Ministry of Defense.

As for someone who doesn't respect me and seems to be antagonistic to my died-in-the-wool skeptic ways, I will let you find that link on your own. It only took me ten minutes or so.
 
DaveM said:
I will let you find that link on your own. It only took me ten minutes or so.
Click to expand...

It's standard internet forum courtesy to automatically provide the link to statements likely to be controversial and argumentative. But courtesy does not seem to be a part of your vocabularly either.
 
Hi Gene,Chris and Guests,
Q.1 What are your thoughts on speculation what "devices " if man made or ? were used at RAF Bentwaters?
Q.2 Did you know of any other incidents at other Bases ?
and you privy to military space data and access to British Air Space Command?
Q,3 Mr Nick Pope during your service in the British Forces did you ever feel your investigations were stonewalled and did you have access to radar data from NATO bases or question individual Servicemen or Women NATO regarding UFO Cases on operational matters? Furthermore, did you ever meet any other nations officers outside NATO who investigated UFOS/USOS.
 
Gene Steinberg said:
[...]I'm more curious about what excuses the VA might offer to granting John Burroughs coverage for his ongoing illnesses.
Click to expand...
Me too. I wonder if it's a non-disclosure type of agreement for coverage, and the VA just wants this whole matter to go away. It took a high powered attorney and a lot of publicity within UFO circles, but I'm not sure that is such a big deal considering UFO people are very marginalized anyway.

TWO QUESTIONS for John Burroughs:

1) What precisely is the diagnosis? PTSD and its related debilitation issues? Do you think there was some kind of "mind weapons" exposure when these events happened? Anything before, during, and after?

2) Do you agree with Jacques Vallee that what happened was some kind of Human probe "security threat" assessment "tests" [or other Human war games or hoax] and not ET from off-planet?
 
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As you didn't attend etiquette school either, no courtesy needs to be extended. Spend the ten minutes and search for it. I am sure it will do you some good.
 
I've just started reading Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell The People, and am curious to know if Nick has read it, and if so, what his opinion is?

Secondly, what do John and Nick make of claims that were made about alien entities being seen in the vicinity of the craft and communicating with General Gordon Williams? Can they categorically rule out any such thing occurring?

Thirdly, will we ever be able to get to the bottom of what happened on those fateful nights in 1980? Or is Rendlesham just another Roswell-type event? Is it even worth talking about anymore?

Finally, what's the most interesting or surprising aspect of the case?
 
All questions for Burroughs:

1. Your case is landmark as it is one of the few rare encounters with UAP's that had physical effects on the observer. In your case your health was physically affected in a very serious manner, which must have been a great burden for you. How does it feel to occupy that first, confirmed position of having had an encounter with something otherworldly and how has it changed your own personal outlook on being a human here on earth?

2. We know that memory is a very tricky thing and that we really just remember the details of the last time we remembered something. How have you come to terms with the many complex memories that have unfolded for you and do you ever feel sometimes that the events that took place have been altered or shifted in any way by the very act of remembering? Do you ever doubt what happened to you or feel that your own mind has altered or imbued the experience with elements and feelings that were not present originally?

3. As you look back on your own attempts to come to terms with this experience how do you view the role of hypnosis and would you say overall that's been helpful or more of a distraction in terms of trying to understand what happened to you?
 
I hope you can give Mr. Burroughs most of the air time. His attorney will tend "to edit" what he can say, and Pope has so much air time everywhere it's a waste of time for Paracast to not let Burroughs have "the floor". No one else was there, and there are other agendas all these other people [on the show] will have that I think could detract from Burrough's story, imo.
 
Looking forward to Nick addressing the Peter Robbins allegations as I for one couldn't really get my head around what he was accusing him of...
 
Goggs' participation never fails to elevate The Paracast episodes he joins in on. I really appreciate the addition of intelligent, thoughtful and thought-provoking veteran forum participants on episodes of The Paracast and would urge Gene and Chris to do it more often.
 
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