How Difficult Might Disclosure Be?

In the world of UFOlogy the government is often seen as a unilateral single entity, capable of always knowing what its various compartmentalized agencies are up to – to one degree or another.  And so when the subject of UFO disclosure comes about, a number of agencies are cited as being the source we should look to when it comes to the truth.  Some disclosure advocates approach the subject with the suggestion that NASA, the ABC agencies, the President, and the military are all on the same page.  But what if the issue is vastly more complex?

The unilateral vision of a government conspiracy to keep UFOs silent is often seen in the media by television and films as a sci-fi plot device, but the actual conspiracy would have to be far more compartmentalized, with whole agencies being left unaware of the true nature of the UFO phenomenon.  Others cite a single group, generally the Air Force, as the keeper of these secrets working behind the scenes to keep UFOs under wraps.

One of the most interesting points of view on the subject to come out of 2011 came from retired Colonel John Alexander who suggests that while he believes sincerely in UFOs, he does not believe the government is involved in any cover-up on the subject – and that disclosure in the form that we will see it has already happened.

To say governments all over the world don’t always know what they’re doing may sound harsh, but it may also be true – and not in the sense we generally mean.  To put it more colloquially “the left hand doesn’t know if the right hand is hiding aliens.”  and any single agency involved in disclosing an extraterrestrial presence would find it difficult to avoid criticism.  Add to this the often discounted possibility that extraterrestrials may not actually be in direct contact with government agencies, and soon it becomes even more difficult. 

Public opinion is often influenced heavily by the culture it creates as much as the actual reality surrounding a given subject.  Popular media such as the X-files no doubt had its influence on some of the UFO cover-up literature in the late 1990’s.  The fact that the show’s primary producer Chris Carter was himself a well read Fortean enthusiast at once set the stage.

So what if someone in NASA was covering up an extraterrestrial presence in our observable sphere of influence?  And what if he decided he would soon share these findings with the world?  If he came forward alone, he would be seen much like Bob Lazar was when he told his story of UFOs in the Department of Naval Intelligence.  As highly compartmentalized as the cover-up would most likely be, a willingness for disclosure would actually play a fairly small role in the end.

So when John Alexander says UFO disclosure has already happened, it may be closer to the truth than we realize.  While it doesn’t have the same Earth shattering vindication as some of us would hope, it does have one thing going for it.  It would be less troubling than the idea of a massive deception to keep the public in the dark about one of the greatest mysteries of all time.