THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
July 29, 2018
www.theparacast.com
Explore Government Documents About UFOs with Paul Dean on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We also feature selected podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth,” and we are now offering special access to the first two episodes of the ghost haunting show he cohosts, "Haunted." Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $1.49 per week, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free print and eBook book offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: https://plus.theparacast.com/.
This Week's Episode: Gene and weekly cohost J. Randall Murphy present Australia’s Paul Dean. Paul specializes in the acquisition, assessment and archiving of official UFO records which have been generated for 80 years by myriad government agencies. He has been instrumental in obtaining never-before-seen UFO case files, military doctrine, and other important documents that will shape our understanding of the UFO issue for years to come. He also works with files that were first obtained by others, but thought long lost, and engage with the likes of archivists Barry Greenwood, Jan Aldrich and Francis Ridge. Working from more of a historical perspective than a field investigator or UFO cult personality, Paul attempts to assess which areas of governmental UFO history are lacking significant documentation, and he then focuses on those areas with Freedom of Information Act requests, Mandatory Declassification Review submissions, and other correspondence regimes.
Paul Dean's Blog: UFOs - Documenting The Evidence
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on July 29: Gene is joined by weekly cohost J. Randall Murphy, and long-time UFO researcher Curtis Collins exploring a variety of subjects related to UFOs and ancient mysteries. After briefly commenting on the work of Paul Dean, who specializes in retrieving government documents via Freedom of Information Act requests, the episode moves on to such topics as the mysteries of ancient civilizations, such as Atlantis, pointing out that one of the original people to write on the subject was Desmond Leslie, coauthor of “Flying Saucers Have Landed,” the controversial book that introduced contactee George Adamski. UFO research methods are also discussed.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
Millions of Documents and No Smoking Gun
By Gene Steinberg
Over the years, a small number of dedicated UFO researchers have been busy trying to retrieve government documents on the topic via Freedom of Information Act requests. Although the laws in various countries set very specific rules about requesting such information, results are often not easy to obtain.
In the U.S., where you have to know precisely which individual agency, department or specific office to contact, it may take years to to receive a response. Quite often the request will be rejected because there is supposedly nothing available, or the wrong department was contacted.
Even when documents are provided, significant portions may be blacked out (redacted), often due to security concerns or other excuses. It may well be that key evidence is also conveniently hidden this way. Then again, you can’t expect a government agency to reveal its secrets except to those with the proper clearance.
But it sure is a good excuse.
Now after enjoying this weekend’s episode of The Paracast featuring Australia’s Paul Dean, very much a researcher’s researcher, I came away with a greater appreciation of the complexities of the process. Paul is a walking/talking organizational chart.
And he’s not alone in this ongoing quest.
In America, John Greenewald claims to have posted over two million documents online at The Black Vault. The mind boggles until you begin to realize that governments probably have billions of documents on file on one subject or another. But it’s clear there’s an awful lot of UFO-related information that’s available if you have the patience and dedication to undergo the lengthy process.
Some of this material has been available for years. Even files from the Air Force’s Project Blue Book are freely available online.
But to what end?
Despite the sheer volume of data, much if it simply reflects what is already known about UFOs, other than the fact that sightings and related reports are probably more widespread than some might think.
So with all this material, have we actually learned much that’s new about UFOs?
Probably nothing major. It may well be that key evidence is being withheld by being redacted, but it’s not that there’s a way to remove those marks to see what lies beneath. Even then, the authorities might be right. Its national security information even if revealed, won’t solve the UFO enigma, but must remain a part of a nation’s secrets. So it may be mostly about secret weapons or unreleased information about flights of test aircraft.
In other words, they have the perfect right to keep it secret.
Are there any smoking guns to be found?
Well, certainly there’s data that may flesh out the details of one sighting or another, but it’s not that we have final evidence about UFO reality. There’s no ironclad proof that we are being visited by spaceships, time travelers, a breakaway civilization or any other unconventional source.
This doesn’t mean such documents shouldn’t be requested. They might also help us discover more details about the backgrounds of individuals connected with the mystery, such as the controversial Richard C. Doty, a former Air Force special agent.
Dean recently posted records about Doty’s military career, retrieved in the 1980s by researcher Larry Bryant, and on the surface it does appear that he was what he claimed to be. He retired after putting in his 20 years of service, and in that respect his background appears to be quite normal.
At the same time, Doty has made some seemingly outrageous statements about UFOs over the years, most recently on The Paracast. If you believe him, the Roswell, NM crash did involve a spaceship from another planet. But that claim is more about something he heard than something he directly witnessed.
Of course Doty is also notorious for his involvement in the Paul Bennewitz episode, which apparently resulted in the latter being railroaded into a mental health facility. This appears to mean that, even if he was just following orders, Doty could do some pretty nasty things.
Or did he go rogue?
None of the publicly-available documents indicate whether or not Doty is still in the employ of his military commanders or working on behalf of another government agency. Some feel he’s a disinformation agent, or perhaps some of the more incredible comments he is known to make are of his own creation. Maybe he’s just trying to cash in, which is fine so long as one realizes he probably shouldn’t be taken very seriously.
Again, the FOIA requests for Doty’s military background revealed nothing amiss. He appears to be yet another retired non-commissioned officer.
As for all those other FOIA documents, their existence indicates that different governments took the subject more seriously than we were led to believe. But does it help us solve the mystery?
Not if it’s just about some more objects in the sky, there may be a flurry of useful information, but are there key details that might reveal something unexpected or significant?
I wouldn’t want to make any blanket assertions. With millions of documents online and in the files of different researchers, there may indeed be significant information that will reveal things we didn’t know before. Some of it may be hiding in plain sight, and it requires putting separate pieces of information together in a new way to deliver a compelling conclusion.
It may also be that the authorities are only too happy to inundate us with data, because it makes it all the more difficult to find needles in those gigantic haystacks. It sort of reminds me of those scenes on police procedural TV shows where a defendant’s lawyers provide boxes and boxes full of documents in other to make it all the more difficult for overworked and underpaid prosecutors to find meaningful evidence.
But maybe there is no smoking gun out there waiting to be discovered. It may just be that all those documents are what they appear to be, clear evidence of an ongoing UFO mystery but little in the way of revealing the answers we seek.
But there is always hope that the next FOIA request will deliver the goods.
Copyright 1999-2018 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
July 29, 2018
www.theparacast.com
Explore Government Documents About UFOs with Paul Dean on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We also feature selected podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth,” and we are now offering special access to the first two episodes of the ghost haunting show he cohosts, "Haunted." Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $1.49 per week, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free print and eBook book offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: https://plus.theparacast.com/.
This Week's Episode: Gene and weekly cohost J. Randall Murphy present Australia’s Paul Dean. Paul specializes in the acquisition, assessment and archiving of official UFO records which have been generated for 80 years by myriad government agencies. He has been instrumental in obtaining never-before-seen UFO case files, military doctrine, and other important documents that will shape our understanding of the UFO issue for years to come. He also works with files that were first obtained by others, but thought long lost, and engage with the likes of archivists Barry Greenwood, Jan Aldrich and Francis Ridge. Working from more of a historical perspective than a field investigator or UFO cult personality, Paul attempts to assess which areas of governmental UFO history are lacking significant documentation, and he then focuses on those areas with Freedom of Information Act requests, Mandatory Declassification Review submissions, and other correspondence regimes.
Paul Dean's Blog: UFOs - Documenting The Evidence
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on July 29: Gene is joined by weekly cohost J. Randall Murphy, and long-time UFO researcher Curtis Collins exploring a variety of subjects related to UFOs and ancient mysteries. After briefly commenting on the work of Paul Dean, who specializes in retrieving government documents via Freedom of Information Act requests, the episode moves on to such topics as the mysteries of ancient civilizations, such as Atlantis, pointing out that one of the original people to write on the subject was Desmond Leslie, coauthor of “Flying Saucers Have Landed,” the controversial book that introduced contactee George Adamski. UFO research methods are also discussed.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
Millions of Documents and No Smoking Gun
By Gene Steinberg
Over the years, a small number of dedicated UFO researchers have been busy trying to retrieve government documents on the topic via Freedom of Information Act requests. Although the laws in various countries set very specific rules about requesting such information, results are often not easy to obtain.
In the U.S., where you have to know precisely which individual agency, department or specific office to contact, it may take years to to receive a response. Quite often the request will be rejected because there is supposedly nothing available, or the wrong department was contacted.
Even when documents are provided, significant portions may be blacked out (redacted), often due to security concerns or other excuses. It may well be that key evidence is also conveniently hidden this way. Then again, you can’t expect a government agency to reveal its secrets except to those with the proper clearance.
But it sure is a good excuse.
Now after enjoying this weekend’s episode of The Paracast featuring Australia’s Paul Dean, very much a researcher’s researcher, I came away with a greater appreciation of the complexities of the process. Paul is a walking/talking organizational chart.
And he’s not alone in this ongoing quest.
In America, John Greenewald claims to have posted over two million documents online at The Black Vault. The mind boggles until you begin to realize that governments probably have billions of documents on file on one subject or another. But it’s clear there’s an awful lot of UFO-related information that’s available if you have the patience and dedication to undergo the lengthy process.
Some of this material has been available for years. Even files from the Air Force’s Project Blue Book are freely available online.
But to what end?
Despite the sheer volume of data, much if it simply reflects what is already known about UFOs, other than the fact that sightings and related reports are probably more widespread than some might think.
So with all this material, have we actually learned much that’s new about UFOs?
Probably nothing major. It may well be that key evidence is being withheld by being redacted, but it’s not that there’s a way to remove those marks to see what lies beneath. Even then, the authorities might be right. Its national security information even if revealed, won’t solve the UFO enigma, but must remain a part of a nation’s secrets. So it may be mostly about secret weapons or unreleased information about flights of test aircraft.
In other words, they have the perfect right to keep it secret.
Are there any smoking guns to be found?
Well, certainly there’s data that may flesh out the details of one sighting or another, but it’s not that we have final evidence about UFO reality. There’s no ironclad proof that we are being visited by spaceships, time travelers, a breakaway civilization or any other unconventional source.
This doesn’t mean such documents shouldn’t be requested. They might also help us discover more details about the backgrounds of individuals connected with the mystery, such as the controversial Richard C. Doty, a former Air Force special agent.
Dean recently posted records about Doty’s military career, retrieved in the 1980s by researcher Larry Bryant, and on the surface it does appear that he was what he claimed to be. He retired after putting in his 20 years of service, and in that respect his background appears to be quite normal.
At the same time, Doty has made some seemingly outrageous statements about UFOs over the years, most recently on The Paracast. If you believe him, the Roswell, NM crash did involve a spaceship from another planet. But that claim is more about something he heard than something he directly witnessed.
Of course Doty is also notorious for his involvement in the Paul Bennewitz episode, which apparently resulted in the latter being railroaded into a mental health facility. This appears to mean that, even if he was just following orders, Doty could do some pretty nasty things.
Or did he go rogue?
None of the publicly-available documents indicate whether or not Doty is still in the employ of his military commanders or working on behalf of another government agency. Some feel he’s a disinformation agent, or perhaps some of the more incredible comments he is known to make are of his own creation. Maybe he’s just trying to cash in, which is fine so long as one realizes he probably shouldn’t be taken very seriously.
Again, the FOIA requests for Doty’s military background revealed nothing amiss. He appears to be yet another retired non-commissioned officer.
As for all those other FOIA documents, their existence indicates that different governments took the subject more seriously than we were led to believe. But does it help us solve the mystery?
Not if it’s just about some more objects in the sky, there may be a flurry of useful information, but are there key details that might reveal something unexpected or significant?
I wouldn’t want to make any blanket assertions. With millions of documents online and in the files of different researchers, there may indeed be significant information that will reveal things we didn’t know before. Some of it may be hiding in plain sight, and it requires putting separate pieces of information together in a new way to deliver a compelling conclusion.
It may also be that the authorities are only too happy to inundate us with data, because it makes it all the more difficult to find needles in those gigantic haystacks. It sort of reminds me of those scenes on police procedural TV shows where a defendant’s lawyers provide boxes and boxes full of documents in other to make it all the more difficult for overworked and underpaid prosecutors to find meaningful evidence.
But maybe there is no smoking gun out there waiting to be discovered. It may just be that all those documents are what they appear to be, clear evidence of an ongoing UFO mystery but little in the way of revealing the answers we seek.
But there is always hope that the next FOIA request will deliver the goods.
Copyright 1999-2018 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!