An open letter released to the public has announced that the popular UFO reporting program MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) will have a new international director starting March 1st 2010. Those who have been following MUFON will remember that this comes after a particularly eventful year for the program. Reactions to the change have been mixed, as some welcome a change as others say MUFON is working more or less okay.
Clift was voted Unanimously into the position by the board of directors after volunteering to take up the position. The change is unrelated to the string of bad press MUFON received after several UFO investigation groups declared MUFON their enemy and began accusing the organization, which handles dozens of UFO cases per day of being a government cover designed to cover up the truth. The real reason he’s stepping down, says Carrion, is to have more time freed up to take care of his children and aging parents. Carrion will continue to work within MUFON as MUFON business manager.
MUFON has seen a great deal of change in the past year. After receiving a major grant from billionaire Robert Bigelow, the group expanded its investigations with the intention of discovering any information they could about the propulsion system of potential alien craft. The move was noted as interesting as Mr. Bigelow was more interested in the technological information gleaned from the craft than the actual occupants themselves. It also received some criticism, as it made Mr. Bigelow (according to some) indirectly in charge of the flow of information. One critic on a popular internet forum said, “How are we to know this information will be released to the public if MUFON discovers it? Bigelow will want the technological information for himself, and there’s no reason for him to want the truth aside from that.” Still others said the financial boon was a much needed shot in the arm for a field of investigation that previously lacked the financial resources to get itself off the ground so to speak.
And after the funding, the MUFON team discovered a hoax incident where Chinese lanterns were used to create the illusion of an extraterrestrial spacecraft floating through the heavens. To date, those involved with the hoax have not been discovered, but MUFON did come across debris suggesting the “crashed” hoax lanterns had used flares. Since the incident MUFON investigators have been more open to skepticism, but still content that the real truth is yet to be found.
Clifford Clift will be watched by an active UFO community in the hopes he will in time lend more credibility and secure more funding for the investigation of flying saucers and anomalous flying phenomena. MUFON may find its greatest success, however, when it puts down the video camera and thinks in ways to preempt UFO sightings, looking for patterns in what seems to be completely irregular flight paths. With more resources toward looking into genuine UFO sightings than most non-governmental organizations, they may be the key to unlocking the UFO mystery. What better time than now when sightings of anomalous aerial phenomena is at an all time high?