Since the termination of Project Blue Book in the Sixties, there has been no concerted effort on the part of the government to collect UFO data. In fact, there has been some effort since then to clear any remaining or newly generated UFO data off of agency and departmental logs by turning it over to the National archives for declassification.

Nonetheless, there is a general perception that the UFO phenomenon is a continuing one, and so it seems reasonable that the policy of non-collection should be reviewed from time to time to see if there are any changes in the circumstances that would warrant a new collection effort.

However, a senior member of the government's phenomenology network has informed me that no such review has been undertaken. When I ask if there is any official position or policy pertaining to this matter, I am told that there is not. The non-collection of UFO data by the phenomenology network is due entirely to a perceived lack of interest on the part of its participants and customers.

There have, however, been some exceptions to this general rule. There have been, since the termination of Blue Book, some UFO briefings that were either administered by or reported to the phenomenology network. Since the UFO topic is no longer classified, neither would these briefings be. Nonetheless, my information about these briefings remains rather sketchy.

In my estimation we are faced with a potentially noteworthy discrepancy between an apparent continuing public interest in the UFO phenomenon and a pocket of informed disinterest on the part of the phenomenology network. One might reasonably infer that the public is misinformed in this area, although I would not want to prejudge that issue. Hopefully then, in the interest of better informing the public, I would like to put together an informal UFO briefing packet for the public, and do so in consultation with members of the phenomenology network. I also hope to consult with an Intelligence committee staffer. The packet would be disseminated over the Internet.

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rev. 5/25/98