Forgive me if I ramble but I'm just thinking out loud. The question of disclosure (or non-disclosure) by Govt's in relation to contacts made with extraterrestrial life perplexes me constantly.

There are of course, numerous reaons which can be forwarded for non disclosure but always there is a counter argument which makes sense - Some would argue that maybe America is the only nation to have had contact and wants to keep the technological and scientific discoveries they have made as a consequence? But if we accept even just a fraction of the claimed 'encounters' and contacts then many nations are 'in the know' so America's stance makes less sense in that context....I guess what I'm saying is non disclosure makes less sense in ALL the scenarios put forward when viewed in a global context - so what could be preventing the collective nations who are in the know from telling the people? It would have to be something univerally acknowledged. Arguments about disclosure being the end of religion for example don't stack up - indeed there are many religions which could in fact be enhanced by disclosure, arguments which say the people would be afraid and in turmoil don't stack up either, there are as many folks who would welcome them as there are who would shoot them on sight and don't forget there are nations who could or would gain from disclosing if it meant AMERICAN society were to fall apart at the seams as a consequence, and yet none of them have ever disclosed either truthfully or falsely....it has to be something else, something universal as I say - so what do all the different nations have that could be viewed as a 'common denominator?' What would prevent political adversaries from capitalising on the knowledge that aliens exist?

This is what I think -

In almost every nation on earth Govt's are democratically elected and their first imperative is to PROTECT the people. There are any number of threats which face the citizenry of any nation but every Govt worth its salt has depts specially set up to deal with them - quite simply EVERY threat to any nation is 'QUANTIFIABLE'. Take America for example - it more or less KNOWS what the defence (and attack) capability of China, Russia or Uzbekistan is - it can be translated into figures, analysed, and most importantly the PEOPLE know that the Govt can then take the appropriate action to counter that threat. Failure to do so is seen as 'political' failure and that's when heads roll, that's when parties are voted out of power at the next scheduled election if not sooner.

I emphasise there is NOTHING on this earth which our analysts, scientists, intelligence officers, politicians and even the people cannot quantify - we make errors of judgement, we may get it wrong, but fact is we know what shape the threat from the military of other nations takes, we know what global warming does, we know what geological faults do, we know something about everything (although in some cases loosely know) - we can quantify it and that means the politicians can always present a case to the people. The only 'IF' I'm going to present in this post is this one - IF we know little or nothing about aliens even after contact, then politicians the world over are in a fix - if they disclose then the people will demand that 'action A' or 'Action B' etc be taken - but no Govt on earth can do that because they are dealing FOR THE FIRST TIME with an unquantifiable entity....

Disclosure is a no win situation for any Govt, anywhere. The people will make demands that Govt's cannot (or will be reluctant to) fulfill because in doing so they may be exacerbating any future prolems we have with them.....No Govt in its right mind is gonna admit to something which leads to a lose/lose ending....

People - 'Why don't we defend against them?'
Govt - 'Because that may be seen as aggression by them or interpreted as an intention to harm them and then they strike at us with weaponry or methods we didn't know existed'
People - 'Why don't we welcome them then?'
Govt - 'Because we don't know what their intentions are - it is our job to protect you and we would be failing in our responsibility if we allowed the enemy in through the front door'

The more I think about it, the more political expediency is the reason for non-disclosure....Until the threat or otherwise from aliens is 'quantifiable' Govts have everything to lose politically and nothing to gain from disclosure....who's going to disclose in those circumstances?

Ben

Hmmmmm.... Ben, that is pretty interesting there..... ...... ......

Dear Ben,

In my opinion you are quite correct! Basically what you are saying is the basis for nondisclosure is fear. Fear is everything that love is not. Fear is loves' exact opposite.

In my opinion the greatest fear politicians and other officials with power have is their fear of losing their power, position and control. In reality, the greatest threat to these persons are the very people who they (supposedly) represent.

What if the aliens come from a world where love is the prevailing emotion and not fear? What if every member of their society automatically respects the rules for civilized behavior simply because it is obviously in everyones best interests to do so? What if their world didn't need laws, courts, prisons, taxes or rulers to consolidate power at the top? What would adopting a system like that here do to the current power base?

It seems obvious to me that aliens would have had to have found a way to live peacefully, without fear, for them to have evolved to the point where they are capable of the technologies they obviously possess.

It seems very likely the powerful men who are 'in the know' regarding the aliens have more of their own 'self-interest' concerns at stake than the noble sentiments you've expressed about their major concern being the protection of their constituents.
________________________
'Wicked people obey laws from fear, good people obey them from love.'

SC Russ you may indeed be quite correct. You see if any of what I have said above is true, then there are only a small number of reasons why they would pursue such a course of action. I've been somewhat benign in my reasoning of their actions...but I accept that at root of it all there could be nothing more than naked preservation of power. The hypothesis I forwarded above infers that there must be something in common to ALL Govt's which may be weakened by disclosure - given that they all have different political persuasions, different perspectives, different values and even religions then what do they have in common which could be so threatened by disclosure? The common denominator appears to be POWER, as you so correctly pointed out.

Ben

Why won't Governments disclose??? That's an easy question to answer! The technology obtained from the Aliens, by whatever means, is extremely valuable financially.
Free, safe, clean Power that doesn't cost anything to produce or run. That technology alone is worth Billions and Billions of Dollars/Pounds to whoever possesses the knowledge/secrets.
Medical cures for virtually every disease known to mankind. Medical proceedures and techniques that make our own present day practices look at the least medieval. How much would this knowledge be worth???
Finally we come to the question of Armaments and Flight capabilities. Does any of you suppose that the American Government would give up any of the secrets that they'd amassed???
Don't believe me??? Well, I'll give you two quotes to consider;
The first is by BEN RICH; Head of the Lockheed "Skunk-Works" at a Lecture he gave just before his death.
"We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in "black projects" and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity".....
"Anything you can imagine, we already know how to do".....
The second quote is by VICTOR MARCHETTI; Former Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the C.I.A. (in 1979)
"We have indeed been contacted by extraterrestrial beings and the U.S. Government in collusion with other National Powers of the Earth is determined to keep this information away from the general public". "The purpose of the inter-nation conspiracy concerning the reality of UFO's is to maintain a workable stability amongst the nations of the World and for them in turn to retain institutional control over their respective populations".
All of you!!! Get real!!! No Government is going to disclose anything at all to anyone. The only time that disclosure will take place is when the Aliens themselves appear in our skies above our cities for our benefits. All this Disclosure Project is a load of bollocks, it ain't gonna happen.
:smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin:

Amen to that-the reason governments will not disclose is because....there is absolutely nothing in it for them.

The only way the world will know aliens exist is if they land on the fron lawn of the White House. It makes me think they don't want to communicate with us, they want something from us, or else they would just openly declare their presence and to hell with the government.

good one Ben. I agree. we could be at an impasse, a juxtaposition.

I've often thought as well, perhaps the diplomacy process is hindered by language and cultural barriers so we have to hold hands before getting straight to the honeymoon.

Power and control are behind every move any government makes. Therefore the prospect of ETI brings on the assumption of being confronted with or by a more advanced civilization... that would be the ONE thing more frightening to them than population taking control of its own destiny... being strong-armed by a foreign influence. If one of those 'what ifs' happens, the other is probably soon to follow.

Also... just holding onto vital Intel gives one a strategic advantage. Relinquishing that could be viewed as social, political, and military suicide. Brings a new light to the term 'Info-war'.

Which could also be used as a false flag. Lets say that this information is not held by all or is a rouse. "Hey look, don't mess with us. We have Powerful allies. Oh you think we're joking?" .... enter experimental / above top secret craft for aerial display... "See. Now hand over your opium, oil, and cheap labor." I know that line of thinking is out there, but it only stands to reason that if one species is able to be or has been contacted they might be or there may be others with a materialistic-type agenda seeking to strike a bargain or conduct business under the table.

Good one, Ben

Let me add my $0.02…

Every square meter of our planet Earth is scrutinised, spied, observed and analysed by satellites.

Thus it is very hard to design and build, in a word, to develop a top-secret prototype.

So what better way than to use disinformation to do it?

To disinform properly you need to create a diversion – to use a smoke screen.

And what better smoke screen than ‘UFOs’ (as you call them).

To disclose is to reveal in a sense.

If you disclose the fact that ‘UFOs’ – true unknowns – are a real phenomenon, then you lose your precious smoke screen - which is utterly impossible!

Hence the non-disclosure situation we have now.

Spy satellites do little to hinder the building of any secret prototypes.

They are built inside hangers or other buildings, often hidden in mountain sides. They can be tested under heavy cloud cover or at nightime.

See part 9 of 9

For his talk about his sighting of a football field sized UFO and his
supposition that indeed they might go into lakes in Switzerland.

Remember James Bond.

"Man Mad UFOs 1945 to 1995" has some discussion on this subject.

Ed: on disclosure, see other parts like 6 where we lost the knowledge of disclosure

That’s true. Real stealth aircraft – not the ones on display – fly at night and at altitudes ≈60km.

But sooner or later you’ll need diversion – the developing process is long enough. The Military and/or the Intel community always use diversion in one form or another (and for whatever reason they need) – it is the essence of the art of war.

i agree with you completely, but may i add something.

i like to pretent stuff, so lets pretend that the Government had resurched aliens and ufo's for years and they honestly came up with the conclusion that no ET's existed on earth. Even if they did conclude this they would never offically disclose the subject because they would be to embarresed to ever have resurched the subject. The government would be a laughing clown. So either way we will never know the truth.

Absolutely right.

If UFOs did not exist a UFO story would have been made up – after all that is what disinformation is all about - in order to hide whatever research(es) and/or project(s) the Military/Govts (etc.) were conducting. False UFO stories would have been sent to any potential enemy – allied nations included (when it comes to national security no ally is a real friend )…

But ‘true unknowns’ are a reality period. And this reality (a) is cleverly concealed by spreading obreption and/or disinformation – diversion tactics (i.e. smoke screens); ( is diversionally used to hide whatever highly classified projects the Military wants to conceal at all costs.

That’s why I don’t believe in disclosure full stop.

Yes,but I think that most of the governments of the world are aware of their intentions.
The reason of the nondisclosure is multiple one, as you said.

Religion..while there will be those that will do well, there are undoubtedly others that will not.
Remember the Serpent & the Garden of Eden? What if our visitors really turn out to be a snake faced reptile looking entity...how would our worlds religion handle that? And what if there really is dozens and dozens of visitors of different appearances?

Technology... certainly everyone would know that they have great revolutionary technologies that they could offer us.
Think of the millions of demands and requests for that technology, both by individuals and by big corporations. (OVERLOAD!)
What would free energy do to our economy?
If cars ran on this, where would the governments get its money to keep up the roads and highways?(same for electric & hydrogen)
I believe the most important is this issue.
The technology they would offer would totally and permanently change our way of life and destroy the commercial throw-away economy.
I see stocks plunging. Businesses going bankrupt.


The other issue.
To disclose, is to admit that they have lied to us all along. And that would open up a can of worms that could lead to other lies that had been told, and the governments would be trusted, by no one.

All & all it would create pandemonium. A world turned upside down.

I believe that while the governments may know something...and assuredly more so than the public knows....they dont know enough to make any sense out it...the technology used to pilot these crafts as well as the confirmation of intelligent life...are both areas that can be exploited beyond measure and I do not believe that any government will disclose until they are firmly convinced that they alone are holding all the cards because to show one's hand at this point would be national suicide...its not a race to the moon..its a race to the stars and the first one to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together wins..

I always thought it was strange that the Military didn't roll with the UFO story at Rosswell, if they were trying to coverup a Top Secret balloon experiment. I know Ben stated that it is in their best interest not to disclose to keep faith in man and to stay in power or to keep people from losing it, but It would have been a perfect cover story for the Military to have stuck with . By not doing so, and saying it was a "weather ballon" to hide a top secret Balloon (used to find atomic weapons) seems irrresponsible of Military Intelligence. Why even say "Balloon" when you're trying to keep one a secret? And there is strong evidence that the mogul project didn't take place until the 1950s. Rosswell happened in 1947.

I believe it will take an act, on the part of the visitors, to let it all out.

Trouble is... they would have little to nothing to gain by it.