CSETI: Center for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
November 1996
To: President William Jefferson Clinton
From: Steven M. Greer, M.D., Director of CSETI
Re: Planned Disclosure on the UFO/ET Subject and National Security Oaths
The CSETI Project Starlight initiative has now identified several dozen former and current military, intelligence and defense contractor related witnesses to UFO/ETI events and projects. As set out in a number of documents and briefings (see enclosures) it is our intention to have these important witnesses provide open, public testimony on this matter in the very near future.
In the summer of 1995, we requested that the President take appropriate steps to allow these witnesses to speak openly, without civil, military or other penalties. Since then, there has been an exponential growth in the number of such witnesses who wish to come forward. Some of them are elderly, and suffering from serious medical conditions. We feel that these patriotic and courageous heroes of our country―who very much wish to tell their fellow citizens the truth on this matter―must not take this information to their graves. Therefore, we are asking from you a clear determination regarding their freedom to speak openly on this subject.
Over the past three years, we have found that members of Congress, the Executive Branch, military and intelligence leaders have not been briefed on this important matter, and that operations related to the subject exist as ‘unacknowledged’ special access projects. Most operations exist in the private aspects of the military industrial sector, with apparently extra-constitutional funding and oversight.
As such, and until established otherwise to our satisfaction, we regard these operations, and all so-called ‘security oaths’ derived from them, as illegal, and therefore non-binding for these witnesses mentioned above.
Therefore, Unless Otherwise Directed by 1 January 1997, we will move forward with a series of events whereby these witnesses may provide open, public testimony. If we do not hear from you, or if we hear that you concur, we will proceed with a public disclosure after that date. Only if you notify us specifically that such witnesses to UFO/ETI related matters are still bound to silence will our plans for a disclosure by them be altered. As mentioned in previous briefings and documents to members of the Administration, the military, the Congress and others, it is our intent to affect this disclosure in a way which is scientific, forward looking and hopeful. It is not our intent to cause instability for our nation or the world, but rather to mitigate the clear dangers which current covert management of this issue presents. We invite your advice, assistance and support in this process of disclosure on a matter which is arguably the most important of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Testimony from these witnesses will include but not be limited to:
• Retrieval of disabled ET devices and ET life forms
• Reverse-engineering projects related to ET technology
• Reconnaissance and tracking of UFO/ET vehicles
• Covert projects related to the subject
• Confirmation of military/UFO encounter cases
• The nature and scope of disinformation programs related to the subject
We hope to hear from you regarding this matter as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this request for a determination on the status of these witnesses as it relates to providing public testimony during 1997.
Respectfully,
Steven M. Greer M.D.
Director of CSETI
More recently, I’ve been asked why Eric Snowden didn’t use this strategy. Snowden’s mistake was that he disclosed things that were legal― however Orwellian they may have been. Even though those programs are Big Brother-esque, they were being overseen by the president and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Had he instead limited his disclosure to operations that were unacknowledged and illegal, he would not be in any legal trouble.
In my opinion, he just didn’t know; he was young and had very bad advisors. The journalists and people who were working with him didn’t understand the system well. As a whistleblower, it’s okay to disclose the illegal programs, but not the legal ones, no matter how outrageous they are. Of course, there are far more potential witnesses who will never come forward because of the threat to their families. This is the type of criminal behavior you’d associate with organized crime, which is exactly what it is… organized crime.
Many of the people we reached out to who were involved in USAPs would say to me, “I want the truth out, but I’d like to breathe the free air of Earth for another 30 days.” Their fear was stronger than their sense of duty, and they felt that if they spoke out, they were dead men walking.
In August of 1996, I met with Congressman Christopher Cox, who was later head of the Securities and Exchange Commission for President George W. Bush. Harvard-educated, he’s a very bright man representing Orange County CA, and was on a number of key committees. A friend and supporter of CSETI who knows Congressman Cox, and who is an executive with IBM in Orange County, asked me to brief him.
Shortly after the meeting began, Cox said, “I have no doubt this is true, but I’ve never heard of it, and I’ve been on some pretty important committees.” So I told him about all the folks I’ve met with who are out of the loop who should be in the loop and that this is a common theme.
He then asked for a list of facilities and companies working with UFO matters.
I followed up our meeting by sending Congressmen Cox the letter and list you will find in Appendix 13. The list has since been updated.
In 1997, we held a meeting at the Westin Hotel in Georgetown for the group, along with a few members of Congress… a very private, closed event. Congressman Dan Burton, who was Chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee showed up; he was interested because one of his closest friends had a UFO encounter in Indiana some years earlier and told him all about it. Burton was a mover and a shaker; he wanted everything we had on the subject. But a short time later, someone got to him and he backed off.
From 1998 until 2000, we gathered together more and more of these top-secret military people and others. I went all around the world and interviewed them. I had completed 110 hours of testimony that I had to cut down to the four-hour and two-hour DVDs that you can get on our website. There’s so much material… and it’s on digital film. I did most of the filming back then―we didn’t have the funding to do this like a big project.
Everything we had was dedicated to The Disclosure Project.
On May 9, 2001, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., I hosted The Disclosure Project, an event which featured the testimonials of more than twenty military, government, and corporate witnesses to unambiguous UFO and extraterrestrial events. The event was a live webcast, and at 9 a.m., over 250,000 people were waiting online for the live press conference to begin. The next biggest webcast event at the National Press Club was less than 25,000 people.