A Dialogue with a former member of the Intelligence Community


This summer, while on vacation back to my families
residence, I encountered a family friend that I had not seen
since 1973. For obvious reasons I will not identify him, but
for this record will call him "Paul". Paul is retired from
over 30 years of distinguished government service, is a
widower, and is one of the most closed mouthed men I have
ever known. When I first came back from Viet Nam in 1972, I
saw Paul at a family get together, and even though he was
just back from South East Asia, he never mentioned it. I found
out through his brother. When I went back east, I had taken a
number of text files from my records, for my sister, who is
fascinated by the subject of UFO's. It so happened that one
evening, my sister and I and wife and another friend, Bob, were
sitting outside my mothers house, and were discussing several
of the files that I had taken back. Paul stopped out at the
house, as he was going to a function with his sister and my
mother. He sat down on the patio with us, and as usual, did
not say much. My sister was reading the file concerned with
the Majestic 12 papers and making some comments, that if this
file was for real, the implications of alien contact could be
staggering for the world if verified. At this point Paul
leaned forward and asked if he could see the papers. My
sister passed several of the texts to him, and until he
left, he spent the remainder of his time reading them.
Just before he left, he got me off to the side, and asked
how I was involved with UFO's. I told him that I was an
investigator for MUFON, and was involved with a computer
network system with Paranet. This was the first of several
conversations I had with Paul, and I don't ask anyone to
believe it, because, frankly, I have problems with several
things he told me. And you may wonder why Paul would tell me
anything, considering his government service, and the agency
he worked for. To begin with, Paul is very ill, the last time
I spoke with him, he told me that he doesn't expect to be around
for more than 18 months, maximum. Next, he told me that he never
agreed with all the secrecy that surrounded the government and
the subject of UFO's. And lastly, what he hinted at was actually
occuring seemed to haunt him. As he said, there wasn't a hell of
a lot that even the government was able to do about the situation.
I present the following, and you can make up your own mind about
whether to believe or not.

This summer past ( 1988 ) was the 20th reunion of my High School.
This was the reason that I traveled back, and besides, my wife
is in love with the east coast. While back, I became ill, and
ended up spending almost two weeks in the hospital. Paul came
and visited me, and this is how we ended having the several
conversations that we had.

Paul at first ask if I realized what dangers were present in
the subject of UFO's. I said "No", but I had heard rumors
that this could be the case. He said you damned betcha it
could. "If you stumbled over the right information you could
end up among the missing, and Don, this sure as hell wouldn't
be the first time."

I asked him how he came to know so much about the subject, and
he said with the job he held, it was his business to know about
a lot of things. I then said come on Paul, I had dealings with
spooks while in Viet Nam, so don't try that line on me. He
told me then, that this was to his knowledge, still one of the
most highly classified subjects in the intelligence community.
That brought to mind the "Smith Memo" from the 50's, and I
relayed it to Paul. I mentioned that Smith had stated that
the subject of UFO's had been rated higher than the H bomb,
and in perspective, was this still the case? Pauls reply
follows, and for the purposes of this file, I have condensed
into one session our talks.

In the 40's, when the "flying saucer" scare started, the
military and government were concerned that it was possible
that the Soviets had made a breakthrough in technology with
their German scientists, that our German scientists had not
been able to duplicate. It then became evident that this
technology was above and beyond what we were able to achieve,
so the phenomenon had to come from outside. For a while there
was a deadlock as to what to do, but then apparently the
military was able to secure one of the craft. I asked Paul
if he meant Roswell, and he only smiled. He said to read the
MJ 12 stuff again, that there were enough facts to get an idea
of what he was talking about. After that, it was apparent that
the technology was well above what we were capable of. There
were fears among certain people that this could be the prelude
to invasion, or possibly even worse. Others saw this a a
straight shot to technology that we couldn't even dream of,
and to exploit everything we could out of it. Paul stated
that there was a genuine fear that if the Soviets could get
one of these, and exploit it, the United States would be in
deep excrement. There was a "think tank" that was set up, and
the decision for secrecy was understandable in that scenario.
Many of these craft were flying over nuclear installations,
and one thought at the time was that they could be after uranium
among other things, if they were, as believed then, coming from
a "dying" planet. I asked if at that time, were they considered
to be benign, and Paul said yes, they were, but then several
things happened to change that idea. He would not elaborate,
so I mentioned the Mantell incident, and he said that is the most
well known case, but there were others, and some very bizarre.

The think tank that was set up in the 40's were concerned that
some of these cases would become public knowledge, and they
still remembered the "War of the Worlds" scare that Wells
threw into the public in 1938. They did not want a panic
that could affect the nations security, commerce, industry,
financess and so forth. The result was to debunk the whole
damn thing, and hope it would either go away, or they could
solve it in time before it did become public knowledge.

I asked Paul about several cases that I read about in "Clear
Intent", one of them being the Cuban Jet Incident. Paul
said that he had heard about that, he wouldn't say much,
but this is not the only case where one of these objects
had shot down aircraft, "and it didn't all happen outside
the U. S. either".

"Look", he said, "if you were out in a very primitive area,
and were lost, or hungry, or what ever, and came across a
primitive native tribe, and I mean compared to you, really
primitive, would you trade with them, or take what you
needed, food, women, whatever, IF YOU WERE VERY AMORAL?"
"Look, if in this case, you regard these natives as less
than dirt, and the only thing they have in common is that
they have what you NEED." You are familiar with the animal
mutilations aren't you? Many people think that this was a
government sponsored operation, testing chemicals or
something. Well, it wasn't, and farm animals are not the
only thing that has been tested. The guys I know that are
still active have said that right now, is one of the biggest
"UFO flaps" that they have ever heard of, and there is a lot
of concern as to how long it can be kept secret.

I hated to break in on Paul when he was talking this freely,
but had to ask about the reported astronaut sightings. Yes,
there were sightings on damn near all the "shots", and it
was always feared that the news services would pick up on
some of the reports. We did a damn good job of damage
control though. "Well Paul, what about reports that these
things have been seen on the moon?" I asked. "Yes" he said,
"they have been seen there, and some of this has come out, so
I don't think I am breaking any oaths, but , haven't you
asked yourself why after all the billions of dollars that we
had spent to get to the moon, after the early 70's No one,
us or the Russians, have gone near the place." Yes, I
admitted, I had wondered why, and then asked him if he knew
why. Paul just smiled and then pointed to the file that
contained the Lear Text. "You know", he said, "this guy has
hit pretty close on several points, and I wonder if anyone
has approached him?" I asked what he meant, and he looked
at me and said "Don, you know what I mean, and after all,
if a lot of the general public became aware of this, they
would scream like a mashed cat, and demand to know what the
hell the government is doing about it. The problem is,
there are some that still think that they can control events
and keep a lid on this, and others that know we are way in
over our head and are looking for a way out." Alright then,
what are these things, where do they come from, and what DO
they want? I must have looked pretty exasperated then,
and Paul looked at me and gave me kind of what I thought
was a sad smile. "Don" he said, "I don't know where they
come from, as to what they are, they are very different,
and as to what they want, you are gonna sleep a lot better
if I just go." And he did leave then.

I haven't talked to Paul since I got back home, and just
several days ago, I got word that he had a heart attack
and is in very poor condition. I have wondered about a lot
of what he said, and have decided that in lieu of keeping the
whole thing to myself, I would put it on my word processor,
and then make a decision whether to release it or not.

Paul had stated on several occasions that this subject had
the potential to be be very dangerous, and to be careful of
pursuing it. "With access to the right information, if
it became known, people have disappeared." I don't think
he was just trying to scare me, the guy had been a
professional intelligence agent for longer than I have been
alive, and I am sure he knew a hell of a lot more about
this, than I would even want to. He had mentioned several
things, that even now I hesitate to put down, but the thing
that inclines me to accept what he said, was knowing a bit
of what kind of man he was, he seemed haunted and scared.

Well, in light of several things that have occured recently,
with the "New and Improved" BlueBook, which I might add I
distrust wholeheartedly, the meltdown within MUFON, the
continuing "flap" that doesn't show any signs of slowing
down, much less stopping, and the fragmented community of
UFO investigators, I discussed this with my better half,
and have decided to throw it out, and see where it landed.
Take it for what it is worth, and remember, I have just
relayed what I was told, and I did warn you up front that
this was almost beyond belief.

Anyone with any additional information is requested to
contact me in care of Paranet RHO at 1-208-338-9187.

Don F. Ecker-State Section Director
MUFON, for the state of Idaho.


Ty Holder
telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
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