Judge makes "safe decision" in ordering Dept. of Defense to provide details of search
2/18/2000
Written by Wiggz...also known as the AlienZoo prohibitor of dullness.
When UFO lawyer Peter Gersten received a fax from U.S. District Court Judge Stephen McNamee on Wednesday, his eyes immediately raced to the bottom of the page.
The judge.s order bore incredible news: the Department of Defense (DoD) was instructed to provide a detailed account of how they searched for documents relating to a flying triangle, one that was seen over Phoenix, Arizona in 1997, one that was spotted over the Hudson Valley repeatedly one decade ago.
The case could have been dismissed on February 7, when Gersten, on behalf of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), presented his case (CAUS vs. DoD) orally. But it wasn.t dismissed. The judge could have ruled that the DoD performed a full and reasonable search for information. But he didn.t.
Instead, McNamee.s February 16 decision kept CAUS in court for just a while longer. The judge ruled that the DoD has until March 17 to provide CAUS with affidavits detailing how it searched for flying-triangle documentation.
.When I saw that he ordered additional affidavits, I was ecstatic,. Gersten told AlienZoo. .This is a good first step..
Gersten long had hoped for something more: A chance to depose DoD officials under oath. But even he admits that he was .overly optimistic..
.The judge was following the law. He was playing it safe,. Gersten said. .He wants to make sure all of the bases are covered, and this is first base..
Keywords and identifiers
At the heart of the case, Gersten wants DoD departments to disclose the keywords they used in their search. He.d also like to see responses to e-mails sent to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a DoD division. If people mocked the request, CAUS argues, then their attitude may have prejudiced their retrieval effort.
In its Freedom of Information Act request, CAUS asked for any documentation regarding a flying triangle . not a UFO in the general sense . so a highly specific search was required. CAUS submitted sketches, photographs, witness descriptions, and a list of locations where the object was seen. But not tendering a standard UFO question, CAUS was hoping to avoid a standard UFO reply, that of .no documents found..
Judge McNamee.s job now is to ensure that the DoD offers the proper documents in a complete form. If the detail of the search is not clear at that point, Gersten will be afforded .complete discovery,. in which he will be able to gather sworn witness accounts of triangular UFO sightings.
Support needed for CAUS
Being granted the opportunity to interview UFO witnesses over a 90-day discovery period would be a dream come true for Gersten. But doing so would require $25,000 to $30,000, Gersten figures . funds that CAUS doesn.t have.
Gersten thinks its time for CAUS to raise a legal fund, so that he could pursue the law full-time, year-round. Gersten wouldn.t mind expanding his mission to encompass non-UFO topics, such as chemtrails, NASA projects, and shape-changing orbs seen in the skies.
.Given the success we.ve had in this suit, we have opportunities to move forward,. the lawyer says. .We should have a staff for FOIA requests. And the more financial resources you have, the more you can do..
CAUS has valiantly pushed ahead despite budget constraints. As proof of its financial limitations, weeks ago, it started a .Surf for CAUS. campaign, where members can raise money for the organization by surfing the Internet.
The story of flying triangles
CAUS is searching for information on key flying triangle cases like the Hudson Valley, Phoenix Lights, and recent southern Illinois UFOs. Several Web sites describe these UFOs in detail.
Hudson Valley, New York UFOs:
The Museum of Unnatural Mystery explains that the object had red, green, and white lights, hovered slowly, and passed overhead at an altitude of 500 feet.
Temporal Doorway offers basic data on the sightings of 17 years ago, based on data presented in book Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings, by Hynek and Imbrogno with Pratt.
Philip Imbrogno writes about abductions in the the Hudson Valley: .It was no surprise to me that when the UFO sightings began in the Hudson Valley that soon abduction cases would follow..
The Phoenix Lights
CNN's coverage of the Phoenix Lights centers on the description provided by Tim Ley and subsequent photo-analysis work by Jim Dilettoso.
Skywatch International Director Bill Hamilton recounts the chronology of the mysterious lights.
The Millstadt, Illinois UFO
A description and sketch of the aircraft seen by officers of the Millstadt, Illinois, police department.