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July 29, 2018 — Paul Dean with J. Randall Murphy


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
When it comes to government sources of FOIA information, UFO researcher Paul Dean is a walking, talking organizational chart.

And it made for a specially entertaining and informative episode.

We talked more about it and other subjects with one of Paul's favorite researchers, Curtis Collins on this weekend's After The Paracast, an exclusive feature of The Paracast+.

For information on our premium package, please check: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio
 
I regard Paul Dean's specialty as very valuable. It is important to establish what the government knows and thinks about UFOs. I also respect his levelheaded approach to the subject. He's skeptical without being a debunker. Also, he doesn't accept the ETH. However, it was less clear what he thinks UFOs are. I suspect he thinks they may be advanced terrestrial crafts, but I'm not sure.
 
Great show and breath of fresh air for the ufo crazy field. Like his comments on footnotes and especially credible to follow the source of information. Although the redacted information does give credence for muddying the field. Not forgetting the authorities would not break their security clearence for any archivist or journalist . Therefore agree with Mr Dean on the use of time as source to keep the goods locked under red tap.
 
Very nicely done. Paul was well spoken, cogent and did not sound at all credulous. I particularly like that he can acknowledge iconic cases like Westall and the disappearance of Frederick Valentich without necessarily taking them at face value. Open to other possibilities without having to hone the story to fit a particular view.

Stupid synchronicity/coincidence. At the moment he said he was a painter by trade he caught me covered with drywall dust getting ready to paint the interior of the house. Clear evidence of the paranormal at work. Or not.
 
Interesting show from somebody that understands how complicated research can actually be. A couple of points about US Govt. FOIA. I have worked for the National Archives and Records Administration for 18 years and did a short stint in the FOIA office. This is not a defense of the FOIA system, as it has its issues, but merely some first hand observations. Most FOIA offices from govt. agencies are short staffed. They will have a lead and perhaps one or two staff members. That is a huge workload for any agency. When a call for information comes in they will send out a request to the appropriate divisions/offices seeking for pertinent information. If individual staff members don't cooperate or forward the requested information you will never see it. Most good staff are carrying the weight of multiple staff and will not have the time to search all their files/spreadsheets/databases for the information. It isn't that they don't want to comply, it is more a matter of they don't have the manhours to comply. Unfortunately that trickles down to the researcher not accessing pertinent information.

The US govt. is so data heavy at this point that no FOIA office will be able to fulfil their workload in a timely manner. Yes, in a perfect world all the information that is requested would be available at the push of a button, but we are not at that point yet. FOIA is still very human centric and thus inefficient.

My point? I am not pretending that some information is not purposefully withheld, but in the large majority of cases the size of the government and the lack of staff and support for the FOIA operation is the likely culprit. Records management in agencies unfortunately usually get short shrift, and that does trickle down to the UFO researcher.
 
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