Open Skies, Closed Minds: Official Reactions to the UFO Phenomenon

First published in 1996 shortly after Nick Pope left his three-year posting as head of the UFO desk but whilst still employed by the Ministry of Defence, "Open Skies, Closed Minds" is a thoughtful, literate and occasionally amusing summary of the author's tenure as a full-time, government-paid researcher into the UFO phenomenon. He turns out to be a good writer, and although there may be few new revelations here for the serious student of the subject, Nick's unique official position and his fair-minded, diligent approach make for an original and valuable contribution to the field. It's the impartiality, the outsider parachuted into the job with no previous interest and no preconceptions who then undergoes gradual conversion to realise there is real substance to the UFO issue that makes for a compelling read. The level of commercial success and subsequent publicity for the UFO phenomenon gained by this book in the UK has only to date been equalled by the best work of Tim Good. This review is of the original hardback edition, which has a good 8-page monochrome photo section in the middle and a comprehensive index. Quote from the author: "One of the first things I did on taking up the UFO post was to read into the subject...there were also things called `close encounters'...where people saw a UFO and then arrived home much later than expected unable to account for a lost period...I had responsibilities both to the MOD and to the public as a whole to investigate all sightings and experiences in a totally impartial way, irrespective of my own views about a witness... ...many in the world of UFOlogy regarded me as just `the man from the ministry' as likely as not up to my eyeballs in crashed UFOs, dead aliens and cosmic cover-ups. But as I began to deal on a daily basis with people who had experienced events which appeared to go beyond human understanding, I formed working relationships with UFO researchers and a mutual trust developed." Has this trust been maintained and built on by Nick's successors? Alas, no. The book is written with a broadly chronological narrative which proves to be a more engaging style than the fragmented listing of sighting reports. The author shares his discoveries opening up the MOD's existing UFO files and his own evolving conversion from admitted ignorance and skepticism to an appreciation of the reality of a mysterious, multi-faceted phenomenon of some complexity. He comes to the conclusion that the ETH best fits the facts, and that the evidence is that the ETs in the main do not appear to have humanity's best interests at heart. This is a remarkable public admission from someone working at a high level in the MOD, and in the absence of any official denial or disclaimer represents the nearest thing we're likely to get for the moment to a government acknowledgement that there is an ET presence and that it ain't friendly. A whole chapter on attitudes to the subject begins: "There can be few subjects other than ufol

Mr. Pope is one of the extremelly well-informed ufologists who spent years on researching, cataloging and assessing extraterrestrial phoenomena. While working for the British Crown at the Ministry of Defense in England, Mr. Pope examined a considerable number of extraterrestrial occurances that froze the world of ufology. His guest appearences on world television enlightened viewers around the globe. His candor, honesty and open mind shed lights on areas that were totally ignored by the media and mainstream ufology. Although, Mr. Pope is cautious in his statements and press releases, Mr. Pope always told the truth to the best of his abilities. This book is a strong example. American readers should look at the UFO phenomena from an European perspective. Sometimes it is quite different and even astonishing. This book is written to serve this purpose. It is an open invitation to the serious Ufology authors and inquisitive minds. I highly recommend Mr. Pope's present work, a man you can really trust.

For all of us who understand the looming confrontation that is building between alien, space-based, and human, earth-based, species, Nick Pope comes to our rescue. I mean do we really know what this trauma will bring to a society that is still split in every way imaginable? We can't even pull together politically on a national-level let alone internationally to face these close encounters with courage and wisdom! So I shutter once this convergence of consciousness, this melding of minds, begins in a undeniable way in era-2012 as we enter into Solar Cycle 24. Indeed, the closest we come to this new paradigm, model of reality, is the shaman where extraordinary reality ultimately becomes ordinary to those who have mastered the seemingly miraculous third-eye open skills of shapeshifting, self-healing, as well as telepathy. The larger truth is you simply cannot open your third eye and stay the same. Whether you become a mystic, prophet, or shaman, afterwards is your business but, as I discovered and spent 15-years of my life researching and writing and speaking about, you will never ever be the same person again. Thus, do not overlook this book for it is a master-reference on this phenomenon and the sensational case histories and their impact on fragile egos. Personally, I doubt that we have time to bridge-the-gap between science and religion on this topic to circumvent the mass suicides I envison, due to misunderstanding that the cosmos itself is a living being that co-creates an infinite set of life forms to carry its very own consciousness both in time and eternity, but I salute my public-servant colleague for making every attempt to do so. Our people are so closed-minded to the catastrophic Earth Changes to come this year alone that they still look to our elected-leaders to save them from natural disasters, when these myopic folks have about as much collective foresight as FEMA in 2005. Nonetheless, I also highly-recommend his OUTSTANDING new DVD NICK POPE -The Man Who Left the MOD Dr. John Jay Harper is author of the international bestseller Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century

From 1991 to 1994 Nick Pope was posted as the British MOD investigator of UFOs. That means he worked for the Ministry Of Defense. Pope believes that UFOs are real and explains what he discovered while working for the MOD. Although a lot of the information here is known to most UFO researchers he does uncover some new UK material. This is a good book about UFOs from an MOD insider. A worthy addition to any UFO book collection.

This book should be required reading for anyone even mildly interested in UFOs. In this book, Pope tells us the story of what he himself calls his three year "voyage of discovery" during which he came to the conclusion that the "Extraterrestrial Hypothesis" was the best (and, possibly, the only) explanation for the twenty percent or so of cases that could not be explained otherwise. To come to this conclusion, however, Pope had to start with an "open mind." Given the title, the reader should be instantly aware that this is not the way most of officialdom approaches this topic. But, Pope does something most Civil Servants would never do: he takes his new responsibility as the Ministry of Defense's (MoD's) UFO Desk Officer SERIOUSLY! He reads into the topic (which shows up clearly in his knowledge of the history of the phenomenon). To extend his capability to investigate sightings, He develops good relations with civilian UFO investigation groups like the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) and QUEST International, and actually shares data with them. Not only that, but Pope actually tries to help and comfort witnesses and abductees. When he says "I'm with the Ministry and I'm here to help you," he actually means it!So, what we have thus far is an MoD Civil Servant who, after three years of dealing with civilian and military close encounters, has come to the conclusion that some significant percentage of these events involve extraterrestrial craft piloted by some form of extraterrestrial intelligence. I cannot stress how important this publically stated conclusion is. It has, insofar as I can tell, happened only once before and that was in the first edition of Edward Ruppelt's book "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects." In that case, though, so much pressure was placed on Ruppelt's employer that he was forced very quickly to write a second edition with a new chapter that contradicted the conclusion of the previous edition. So far, at least, no such pressure has been placed on Nick Pope. And, that, too, is also extraordinary.Also like Ruppelt, Pope seems unaware that there may be a UFO cover-up going on in the UK. As we finally learned in America, the best cases never went to Blue Book. Instead, they went directly to Air Intelligence Service Squadrons. And, there is evidence that the best cases in the U.K. did not go to Mr. Pope's office at Whitehall but, instead, went to a secret group at RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire. Yet, despite the evidence, Mr. Pope insists that there is no cover-up in Britain. I am certain that Mr. Pope is not party to one and is not knowingly telling a lie. But, I cannot bring myself to believe that there is none - especially given the close relationship between the U.S. (which seems to follow a strict code of secrecy) and the UK, which would have to agree to follow the same policy if it expected U.S. cooperation and support.Finally, being objective, Pope broaches the issue no one seems willing to con