Fighting a Losing Battle
The failure of Congress to do anything productive about ending UFO secrecy did not reflect the wishes of citizens who were directly affected by it. On December 22, 1958 came the report that 450 airline pilots had signed a petition – alas, futile – protesting the official policy of debunking UFO sightings. This was an extraordinary and unheard-of development. For such a large number of airline professionals to sign this required, one should think, a very strong belief in what they were doing. One pilot described the policy as "a lesson in lying, intrigue, and the ‘Big Brother' attitude carried to the ultimate extreme." Of the signatories, over 50 had personally reported UFO sightings [!] but had been told by the Air Force they were mistaken. Even so, the Air Force still warned them that they faced up to ten years in prison under JANAP 146 if they revealed details of their sightings to the media.
As usual, however, the military and intelligence people who ran UFO policy were not interested in whether people actually liked their policy. On December 29, 1958, the Continental Army Command at Fort Monroe warned its personnel to follow an Intelligence directive issued on May 27, 1958, regarding confidential reporting of all UFOs. The May order was itself classified, and NICAP was unable to get a copy of it. About the time of the Fort Monroe directive, Keyhoe received the final word on the Lackland AFB production of his book: not only had the production been completely stopped, but the radio station was dismantled, and all personnel involved in it were reassigned.
Throughout 1958, the ability of the Air Force and its allies to disable the movement against UFO secrecy was most impressive. It was certainly not above playing dirty pool: back in 1957 someone – most probably the NSA – was behind the attempt to feed NICAP false information in order to discredit it. During 1958, the Air Force exerted heavy-handed, but effective, control over television to censor Keyhoe, was deft and deceptive in managing the press and Congress, and – in the case of Ruppelt – seems to have disabled a key individual who threatened its position on UFOs. Not a bad year.
1959 continued the trend. In retrospect, it is astonishing that Keyhoe entertained the idea of besting his nemesis, "The Silence Group." He was going up against an organization that was into much more than he could dream of. . . .