Gersten pleased, but determined to have chance to question DoD officials under oath.
2/17/2000
Written by Wiggz...also known as the AlienZoo prohibitor of dullness.
The legal efforts of "UFO lawyer" Peter Gersten received a significant boost from U.S. District Court Judge Stephen M. McNamee on Wednesday, as the judge instructed the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) more detailed information regarding its search for documentation on an elusive flying-triangle object.
According to a prepared statement issued by CAUS, McNamee ordered the DoD to provide additional affidavits detailing the specifics of its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) search to CAUS by March 17th.
Gersten, the director of CAUS, announced the results February 16, nine days after the case was heard in a Phoenix, Ariz. courthouse.
"Judge McNamee agreed with my arguments and that is encouraging," said Gersten in the statement. "But I won't be satisfied until I am allowed to question DoD officials under oath. There is no doubt in my mind that they are lying about not having any information on something so obviously within their responsibility of intelligence and security."
In its suit against DoD, the UFO group has charged that the defense organization did not adequately search for records related to the football field-sized flying triangle seen throughout the U.S. over the last two decades. DoD argued that CAUS.s request was performed in full by both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
While in court, Gersten claimed that the DoD agencies fulfilled their duties in a sloppy manner. For example, a box denoting that documents were found had been crossed out, to report that no documents had been found. Gersten believes this lack of attentiveness clouded the whole of the search effort.
CAUS may get answers from DoD, but the group.s ability to dig more deeply into the case is still uncertain. In this motion for summary judgment case, Gersten is hoping to be granted the opportunity to gain sworn testimony from dozens of witnesses of the flying-triangle object, as well as government personnel who were directly involved in the FOIA search.
If witness testimony is allowed, Gersten would face another challenge: Money. The lawyer would have to travel throughout the U.S. to interview in person those who could support his case. Doing so would require perhaps tens of thousands of dollars, something the fledgling UFO organization is yet to secure.