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<xml><p>Date: 20-Jun-87 20:31 MST
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From: Executive News Svc. [76374,303]
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Subj: APfl 06/20 1301 UFO Investigations</p>
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<p>By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer
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FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A retired Air Force pilot says he
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suspects, contrary to official denials, an unknown federal agency is
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investigating reports of unidentified flying objects and other close
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encounters with extraterrestrial beings.
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Donald M. Ware, Florida state director of the Mutual UFO Network Inc., a
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private "ufology" organization, says he doesn't have any direct knowledge but
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nearly a lifetime of study leads him to believe probes are secretly being
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conducted by some national intelligence agency.
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"That idea doesn't bother me. I don't mind being an unequal partner," Ware
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said in a recent interview. "I support the policy of secrecy."
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He said secrecy would be necessary because, official statements
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notwithstanding, he is convinced the subject involves national security in the
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form of advanced alien technology.
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Ware said he intends to take that message to the Annual MUFON UFO Symposium
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June 26-28 at American University in Washington, D.C., where he is to be part
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of a panel discussion on UFOs and the government.
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His position is unlikely to be shared by many UFO investigators, Ware
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admitted. A common complaint of ufologists is the government's professed lack
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of interest and its failure to cooperate with private UFO studies.
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"I'm so bold as to suggest there is a possibility of cooperation with some
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unknown government agency if we show a little more tolerance of their policy
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of secrecy," Ware said.
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"As long as we publicly take such an antagonistic attitude, as long as we
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place the government in an adversarial relationship," Ware said, "we are not
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going to get much cooperation from them whoever they are."
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The Air Force closed its Project Blue Book investigation of more than
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12,000 UFOs in 1969 after a panel of scientists found no evidence of visitors
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from outer space. Most sightings were found to be such things as planets,
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stars, meteors, weather balloons, satellites, false radar echoes, marsh gas,
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clouds, aircraft or optical illusions, but a few have remained unexplained.
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The official word ever since has been that the government has nothing to do
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with UFO investigations and whatever they might be they pose no threat to
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national security.
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Ware, 51, joined the service in 1957. He said he was uninvolved in the Air
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Force's UFO activities during his 26-year military career as a teacher, staff
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scientist and fighter pilot, including two combat tours in Vietnam.
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"That's one reason I can speak so freely," he said. "I have no information
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from the Air Force."
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His interest began as a teen-ager in 1952 when he saw star-like objects
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streaking through the sky while walking near his home in the nation's capital.
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Similar sightings, including radar returns, had been reported a week earlier
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and Ware said they remain unexplained.
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He began reading everything about UFOs he could get his hands on, including
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books in the library at Duke University where he received a mechanical
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engineering degree. He later earned a master's degree in nuclear engineering
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from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
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Ware kept up his interest in UFOs, building up a personal library on the
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subject and questioning other pilots.
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"I had no qualms about saying, `Anybody seen a UFO?' " Ware said. The
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answer, he said, usually was "yes."
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However, until March of 1970, military personnel were ordered not to talk
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about UFOs, Ware said.
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"I think that in the late '40s and early '50s the U.S. government really
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wanted the public to tell them what they saw and that those people primarily
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responsible for investigating UFOs were not listed in the phone book," Ware
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said. "The U.S. Air Force was chosen as Uncle Sam's public relations agent
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because they were listed in the phone book."
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No one thing has convinced him of government involvement, Ware said. "Two
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years of study after I saw the UFOs in 1952 convinced me that somebody is
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watching us," he said. "Ten more years of study caused me to think somebody
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in our government has known that as a fact at least since 1947."
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Ware said his goals in becoming state director of MUFON, an international
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scientific organization based in Seguin, Texas, were to improve relations
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between "ufologists" and the government and to learn all he could about alien
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technology from abductees and other witnesses of close encounters.
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Ware said he hasn't seen any more UFOs since 1952 and doesn't expect to.
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"I haven't been selected," he said. He still scans the skies, but not for
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UFOs. When he's not investigating UFO reports or giving talks about the
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subject to civic groups, he is bird watching. He is treasurer of and runs an
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annual bird count for the Choctawhatchee Audubon Society and does surveys for
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the Florida Breeding Bird Atlas project.
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Ware said his two avocations are unrelated. "Lots of people have accused
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me of getting a lot of satisfaction from identifying feathered objects," he
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said, grinning. "No, I'm just a nature boy."
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</p>
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<p>Copyright 1987 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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</p></xml> |