The article below was published in the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest, France, on May 28, 2004.
UFO. -- Rare aerospace phenomena are shunned by research, while paradoxically, voices are rising to demand that this subject finally be taken seriously.
Is official research in France turning away from the study of UFOs? Several indications suggest this may be the case. The Service for the Study of Rare Aerospace Phenomena (SEPRA) has quietly disappeared from the organizational chart of the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) following the reorganization that took place at the beginning of 2004. SEPRA was responsible for monitoring UFOs, a term little appreciated by scientists who consider it to be a matter of interpretation.
SEPRA had only one staff member among the 2,500 employees of CNES. Its creation in 1987 had already marked a significant reduction in the agency’s involvement in the issue compared to the resources previously allocated to GEPAN (Group for the Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena), from which it originated. Founded in 1977, GEPAN had up to twenty experts, including a polytechnic engineer, who attempted to provide rational explanations for the waves of UFO sightings occurring in France at the time. Study protocols had even been established back then by a scientific committee led by Hubert Curien, president of CNES, later Minister of Research, and a member of the Academy of Sciences.
"The monitoring and expertise unit for rare aerospace phenomena still exists. And its mission manager, Jean-Jacques Vélasco, is now directly attached to the Deputy Director of the CNES Technical Center in Toulouse," Arnaud Benedetti, director of communications at CNES, told our newspaper this week. This nuanced statement contradicts the "revelations" from the June issue of "Ciel et Espace," which had announced the complete termination of UFO studies by CNES.
"In reality, the goal for 2004 is to consider setting up a steering committee to properly organize this activity, as it needs to evolve," admits Arnaud Benedetti. "The question arises as to whether it should still be conducted within CNES. But there is no intention of suspending our agreements with institutions (Air Force, Civil Aviation, Gendarmerie, etc.) that collect field observations on these phenomena."
Jean-Jacques Vélasco, who has led SEPRA since 1987, continues to safeguard these highly sought-after data, the result of meticulous investigations carried out across France. The analysis of these observations led this optical engineer, initially skeptical, to personally confirm in a book published by Carnot a few days ago the existence of UFOs and their probable extraterrestrial origin. "This position is solely that of Jean-Jacques Vélasco," insists Arnaud Benedetti.
Nevertheless, voices within the scientific, political, and military communities are calling for more resources to study UFOs. In July 2002, in "Armée d'Aujourd'hui," Air Corps General Patrick Thouvenez, commander of air defense and operations in Taverny, stated: "The influence of these phenomena on the aviation environment (distraction, trajectory deviations, avoidance maneuvers, collisions with objects invisible on radar, etc.) requires that they be taken very seriously and that studies be conducted with full scientific rigor." However, the COMETA report, made public in 1999 and recently republished by Éditions du Rocher, remains to this day the most compelling plea for the serious study of these unexplained phenomena.
"Our initial goal was to submit this work only to the highest authorities of the state, namely the Élysée and Matignon. But ultimately, we opted for wide dissemination because we wanted the public to be informed as well," explains Denis Letty, retired Air Force general and member of this private study committee, which includes many former auditors of the Institute for Advanced National Defense Studies. "The UFO phenomenon is real and is not merely the fantasy or delusion of a few eccentric individuals," continues General Letty. "By examining all the cases documented in our study, knowing that more have been added since, it is difficult to doubt the reality of UFOs. Silent, completely unknown craft, with flight capabilities impossible to reproduce on Earth, and apparently maneuvered by a non-human intelligence." For all these reasons, COMETA has called for the establishment of a high-level government unit capable of developing hypotheses about these phenomena. "If the extraterrestrial hypothesis is confirmed," concludes General Letty, "it will have not only strategic implications but also scientific, technical, political, and religious consequences."
Given the current context of budgetary constraints, securing additional funding for such research seems challenging. But is that really the only reason? In a book published a month ago, François Parmentier argues that France suffers from a blindness that goes far beyond intellectual and cultural barriers, relegating UFOs to the realm of the irrational.
The author explains that the subject is also a strategic issue for several countries. UFOs are part of an information war that includes disinformation and ridicule. While UFOs may be a laughing matter in France, thousands of declassified official documents from U.S. authorities prove that they have been taken seriously in the United States since 1945.
So, which country is being more reasonable? France, which considers American interest in UFOs to be just another aspect of Yankee folklore? Or the United States, where, as François Parmentier’s well-documented book reveals, even firefighters receive training on UFO-related hazards? One thing is certain: for more than half a century, UFOs have been observed all over the world, and preconceived notions will not help solve this mystery.
