San Francisco, CA 12 June 1993
Dear Dale:
I welcome your inquiries, and I am glad to see that the
’Pentacle’ memo has come out of obscurity. The document you sent
me appears to be genuine. It corresponds to the one I saw.
The question of its origin may be unimportant. Perhaps the
people who released it will go public eventually (I have an idea
who they might be). The best course of action, however, would be
to seek access to the original document, and to others of the
same vintage.
I enclose a copy of my recent comments to Barry Greenwood on the
same subject.
With best regards,
/s/ Jacques
Dale: FYI
(I don’t know if this will be published by Greenwood.) J.V.
27 April 1993
Barry Greenwood
JUST CAUSE
Dear Barry:
Thank you for sending me your thoughtful commentary about the
Pentacle document. I do agree with you on one point: the
significance of the memo comes, in part, from what it does not
say. In particular, it makes no reference to any recovered UFO
hardware, at Roswell or elsewhere, or to alien bodies. The
greater significance of what it does say will slowly emerge in
coming years as the overall implications come to light. Let me
draw your attention to three specific points.
1. Project Twinkle and
other observational efforts by the military, which you
mention in an effort to show that Pentacle was only dusting
off an old idea, were purely passive projects. In sharp
contrast the Pentacle proposal goes far beyond anything
mentioned before. It daringly states that "many different
types of aerial activity should be secretly and purposefully
scheduled within the area (my emphasis)." It is difficult to
be more clear. We are not talking simply about setting up
observing stations and cameras. We are talking about
large-scale, covert simulation of UFO waves under military
control.
2. The greatest implication, which is perhaps not
obvious on first reading but which amounts to a scandal of
major proportion in the eyes of any scientist, has to do
with the outright manipulation of the Robertson Panel. Here
is a special meeting of the five most eminent scientists in
the land, assembled by the government to discuss a matter of
national security. Not only are they not made aware of all
the data, but another group has already decided "what can
and cannot be discussed (Pentacle’s own words!)" when they
meet. Dr. Hynek categorically stated to me that the panel
was not briefed about the Pentacle proposals.
3. Revelation of this document may seem irrelevant to
Just Cause, but its explosive nature wasn’t lost on
Battelle.
As I noted in Forbidden Science, and as Fred Beckman vividly
recalls to this day, the Project Stork team reacted with
fury when Hynek went back to Battelle in 1967, demanding to
know the truth. The man I have called Pentacle snatched his
notes away and told him in no uncertain terms that the
contents of the memo were not to be discussed, under any
circumstances.
I find it odd that a group that
claims to be interested in the historical study of our field, as
Just Cause does, should fail to see the significance of
the
Pentacle Memo, which is an authentic document, when so much
time, money and ink have been devoted over the last several
years to an in-depth analysis of
the MJ-12 papers, which were
faked. Perhaps the Pentacle memo only proves that scientific
studies of UFOs (and even their classified components) have been
manipulated since the fifties.
But it also suggests several avenues
of research which are vital to the future of this field: why
were Pentacle’s proposals kept from the panel? Were his plans
for a secret simulation of UFO waves implemented? If so, when,
where and how? What was discovered as a result? Are these
simulations still going on? I invite your group to turn its
investigative resources and its analytical talent to this
important task.
In reading Forbidden Science, you should recognize that the book
is a Diary, not an analytical report or a memoir. Therefore many
important inferences, many relevant details, can only be found
by reading between the lines. Your preliminary analysis of the
Pentacle memo is not unfair, but it is somewhat simplistic, and
it takes it out of context. I invite you to go back for a
second, closer reading.
/s/ Jacques Vallee
cc: Fred Beckman
SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
G-1579-4
cc: B. D. Thomas
H. C. Cross/A. D. Westerman
L. R. Jackson
W. T. Reid
P. J. Rieppal
V. W. Ellsey/R. J. Lund January 9, 1953
Files
Extra [handwritten]
Mr. Miles E. Goll
Box 9575
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Attention Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt
Dear Mr. Goll:
This letter concerns a preliminary recommendation to ATIC on
future methods of handling the problem of unidentified aerial
objects. This recommendation is based on our experience to date
in analyzing several thousands of reports on this subject. We
regard the recommendation as preliminary because our analysis is
not yet complete, and we are not able to document it where we
feel it should be supported by facts from the analysis.
We are making this recommendation prematurely because of a
CIA-sponsored meeting of a scientific panel, meeting in
Washington, D.C., January 14, 15, and 16, 1953, to consider the
problem of "flying saucers". The CIA-sponsored meeting is being
held subsequent to a meeting of CIA, ATIC, and our
representatives held at ATIC on December 12, 1952.
At the
December 12 meeting our representatives strongly recommended
that a scientific panel not be set up until the results of our
analysis of the sighting-reports collected by ATIC were
available. Since a meeting of the panel is now definitely
scheduled we feel that agreement between Project Stork and ATIC
should be reached as to what can and what cannot be discussed at
the meeting in Washington on January 14-16 concerning our
preliminary recommendation to ATIC.
Experience to date on our study of unidentified flying objects
shows that there is a distinct lack of reliable data with which
to work. Even the best-documented reports are frequently lacking
in critical information that makes it impossible to arrive at a
possible identification, i.e. even in a well-documented report
there is always an element of doubt about the data, either
because the observer had no means of getting the required data,
or was not prepared to utilize the means at his disposal.
Therefore, we recommend that a controlled experiment be set up
by which reliable physical data can be obtained. A tentative
preliminary plan by which the experiment could be designed and
carried out is discussed in the following paragraphs.
Based on our experience so far, it is expected that certain
conclusions will be reached as a result of our analysis which
will make obvious the need for an effort to obtain reliable data
from competent observers using the [... unreadable...] necessary
equipment.
Until more reliable data are available, no positive
answers to the problem will be possible.
Mr. Miles E. Goll
2- January 9, 1953
We expect that our analysis will show that certain areas in the
United States have had an abnormally high number of reported
incidents of unidentified flying objects. Assuming that, from
our analysis, several definite areas productive of reports can
be selected, we recommend that one or two of theses areas be set
up as experimental areas. This area, or areas, should have
observation posts with complete visual skywatch, with radar and
photographic coverage, plus all other instruments necessary or
helpful in obtaining positive and reliable data on everything in
the air over the area.
A very complete record of the
weather should also be kept during the time of the experiment.
Coverage should be so complete that any object in the air could
be tracked, and information as to its altitude, velocity, size,
shape, color, time of day, etc. could be recorded. All balloon
releases or known balloon paths, aircraft flights, and flights
of rockets in the test area should be known to those in charge
of the experiment. Many different types of aerial activity
should be secretly and purposefully scheduled within the area.
We recognize that this proposed experiment would amount to a
large-scale military maneuver, or operation, and that it would
require extensive preparation and fine coordination, plus
maximum security. Although it would be a major operation, and
expensive, there are many extra benefits to be derived besides
the data on unidentified aerial objects.
The question of just what would be accomplished by the proposed
experiment occurs. Just how could the problem of these
unidentified objects be solved? From this test area, during the
time of the experiment, it can be assumed that there would be a
steady flow of reports from ordinary civilian observers, in
addition to those by military or other official observers. It
should be possible by such a controlled experiment to prove the
identity of all objects reported, or to determine positively
that there were objects present of unknown identity. Any hoaxes
under a set-up such as this could almost certainly be exposed,
perhaps not publicly, but at least to the military.
In addition, by having resulting data from the controlled
experiment, reports for the last five years could be
re-evaluated, in the light of similar but positive information.
This should make possible reasonably certain conclusions
concerning the importance of the problem of "flying saucers".
Results of an experiment such as described could assist the Air
Force to determine how much attention to pay to future
situations when, as in the past summer, there were thousands of
sightings reported. In the future, then, the Air Force should be
able to make positive statements, reassuring to the public, and
to the effect that everything is well under control.
Very truly yours,
[unsigned]
H. C. Cross
HCC:??
Addendum: 18-February-2000 - Thanks to the work of
several dedicated researchers into the historical aspects of
UFO, much more is known today than was known back in 1993, but
much yet remains to be uncovered. Wendy Connors of the
Project
Sign Research Center, is one of these fine researchers; she
provided the following comments:
"Col. Miles Goll was an
early kingpin at Wright Field and first worked as head of
Fire Control for the Armament Lab during the war. Later, he
was in T-2 and controlled access to the special situation
room. Very little else is known about him, but he did have
great connections at Wright Field and the Pentagon. I’ve
been trying to dig up stuff on him, but it’s pretty sparse."
