Summary
Famous billionaire and philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller sponsored and funded a number of UAP-related studies and projects in the 1990s. The most famous case was a report he backed titled “Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document – The Best Available Evidence” and was completed in December 1995. Rockefeller used the document to lobby the Bill Clinton White House to initiate investigations into the UAP issue.
Background
The project was coordinated by Marie Galbraith. She was the wife of investment banker Evan Galbraith- a former U.S. ambassador to France during the Ronald Reagan administration. Aviation journalist and UAP researcher Don Berliner, and UAP researcher Antonio Huneeus edited and authored the document.
The effort was assisted by the SOBEPS (the Belgian Society for the Study of Space Phenomena) and the official UAP bureau within the French space agency CNES, which is now known as GEIPAN. The copyright of the Briefing Document was given to the UFO Research Coalition, which was composed of three major UAP research groups: the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), and the Mutual UFO Netowrk (MUFON). The document had a letter of endorsement, dated December 15, 1995, signed by the heads of the three groups in the Coalition: Dr. Mark Rodeghier for CUFOS, Richard Hall for FUFOR, and Walter Andrus for MUFON.
The three wrote:
“For the editors of the book, this secrecy is essentially military in origin: the nation that is first to reproduce the exceptional characteristics of UFOs will dominate the world. The secrecy was justified during the cold war, but it is no longer justified now given the scientific and technical breakthroughs useful to humanity that one can expect [to obtain] from the study of UFOs.”
The original edition of the UFO Briefing Document was printed to a thousand copies, and was intended to be sent to select people in high positions of government in the U.S. and internationally.
The Document
Rockefeller sent a copy to the White House Science and Technology advisor Dr. John Gibbons on February 29, 1996.
“I sponsored this report because it seemed useful to bring together the most credible evidence about UFO sightings in the form of eyewitness reports, official statements, and scientific views,” Rockefeller said in a cover letter attached to the report. “While I do not necessarily agree with every finding and conclusion, I do believe that the evidence presented indicates that this subject merits serious scientific study. Toward that end, I hope that our government, other governments, and the United Nations will cooperate in making any information they may have available.”
The 144-page report included some of the most credible sightings from all over the world from citizen and military testimonials. The report also quoted scientists, astronauts, and prominent military officials from various countries.
The letter of endorsement section:
We believe that this Briefing Document on Unidentified Flying Objects presents the best available evidence for the existence of UFOs. Although just a brief sample of the scientific and military evidence available worldwide is given, it represents some of the most carefully documented incidents. While several governments of the world have dealt with this problem, as you can see in the enclosed report we think that these governments should make available now all the UFO evidence they have collected, for a thorough and open inquiry by the scientific community. The political constraints that imposed the rule of secrecy during the Cold War are no longer justified and the solution to the UFO mystery may represent both a scientific and social breakthrough.
The document called for transparency, and urged governments to be accountable for any information they had.
In the case of UFO phenomena, the question must be asked: what would give an un-elected government official the right to keep this information to himself, thereby depriving the rest of the world of possible knowledge of almost inconceivable magnitude and consequence? Such elitism by the officials of any government, much less a government based on the principles of democracy and individual rights, is a gross injustice not only to its own people, but to all people.
The document urged the scientific community to get on board as well. It quoted J.Allen Hynek, the former scientific consultant on UFOs to the U.S. Air Force from 1948 until 1969, and founder of the private Center for UFO Studies in 1973.
"UFO research is leading us kicking and screaming into the science of the twenty-first century. "I have begun to feel that there is a tendency in 20th Century science to forget that there will be a 21st Century science, and indeed a 30th Century science, from which vantage points our knowledge of the universe may appear quite different than it does to us. We suffer, perhaps, from temporal provincialism, a form of arrogance that has always irritated posterity."
Internationally, the document had more of an impact than domestically. The document struck a chord with the French government, as they used the Briefing Document as the model for similar reports prepared by high-ranking French military intelligence officers and scientists. They formed a study group called COMETA (Committee for In-Depth Studies) that led to the release in 1999 of their “UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?” report. Chile also used the report in its own UAP studies with CEFAA (Committee for the Study of Aerial Anomalous Phenomena).
