My name's Nick Pope and I used to run the British Government's UFO project, Ask Me Anything

Jesse Marcel Jr. has died

Jesse Marcel Jr. has died today. His daughter posted it on facebook earlier. She has control of his facebook page and will be posting funeral arrangements soon. First Kevin Smith and now Jesse. Jesse was on the Kevin Smith show I think earlier this year.

Jesse was a giant to many of us, a modest man whose father, Major Jesse Marcel, Sr., was the Roswell Army Air Field base Intelligence officer, the first to reach and examine the Roswell crash debris field, and who was marked by the Pentagon to take the fall when it was announced the following day that it had only been a crashed weather balloon. Jesse never once backed down in his all-too-credible account of his father's showing him debris from the crash.

~

Seems every day we lose more and more connections to the past, Rest in Peace Jesse.

Hello Mr Pope. Welcome to ATS, and for being as gracious as to answer questions here.

I have no question as to whether or not there *are* ETs visiting us. My question is, is there something in place, with said ETs, similar to the prime directive in star trek.
Wherein, the masses are not to know of such other worldly life, as to not upset the status quo, and possible interference with the planets natural progression.
Technologically speaking, or otherwise.
•﹏•

reply to post by gortex


In relation to the Cosford incident, the MoD was well aware of the re-entry into the atmosphere that night of a Russian rocket, and we duly took account of that in the official investigation. In relation to a police helicopter, we checked all aerial activity (civil and military) at the times in question. We were actually in touch with the local police force and no police helicopter was flying. The only apparent source for this dubious claim was a letter sent years later to the Daily Mail, following a feature on the case. I've actually heard it suggested that this was a completely bogus claim, made up by a skeptical ufologist dishonestly trying to position himself as an expert on the case.

One of the key witnesses that night did subsequently agree with a leading question that he might have misidentified a police helicopter. But this is because he became a press officer, and there's an old saying that a press officer - like a journalist - must never become the story! But whatever he might have suggested to ufologists, in order to kill the story, I was the one who interviewed him the morning after his sighting. To cut a long story short, personnel with 8 years service in the air force tend not to misreport police helicopters as vast, triangular-shaped craft capable of accelerating from a slow speed to a speed many times faster than a military jet aircraft in a matter of seconds!

reply to post by NickPope


are you still under orders to protect any information about real extraterrestrials?

reply to post by Pink Panther


The MoD's 'Project Condign' intelligence assessment of UFOs floated the idea of some sort of unknown atmospheric plasmas with highly unusual properties, but stopped short of speculating that this was some sort of life form. So we weren't quite suggesting something along the lines of Trevor James Constable's 'sky critter' theory.

reply to post by NickPope


HOUSE KEEPING QUESTION.

In the unlikely event that the questions wither out before your willingness to participate does . . .

WOULD IT BE A HELP TO YOU, attractive to you

if a staff person or member collected the better questions you didn't get to and offered them up again during lulls in the exchanges?

reply to post by fr33kSh0w2012


well rest in peace then, friend.

I just wanted to chime in and tell you thank you so very much for taking the time to do this thread. As I'm sure most everyone else is very thankful as well! I am not sure if it is allowed, but I sent a private message to you as I don't enjoy posting certain things in public view. I hope you can respond! 👍

Greetings Mr. Pope.

I am interesting, blah blah blah, anyhow, to the question:

1) In your opinion, does the UFO phenomena constitute a concern for the UK government that would justify paying tax dollars for further research, or has it been ultimately considered a non issue? (If yes, what evidence would you use to explain to the people why they should give their money up for this subject...as in actual damage done and potential risks)

2) Has there ever been any extensive followups towards sighting areas and supposed contacted people that has revealed any mysterious illnesses or readings that point to something unexplained (adding some potential credibility)

3) Are you The Doctor?

Originally posted by NickPope
The MoD's 'Project Condign' intelligence assessment of UFOs floated the idea of some sort of unknown atmospheric plasmas with highly unusual properties, but stopped short of speculating that this was some sort of life form. So we weren't quite suggesting something along the lines of Trevor James Constable's 'sky critter' theory.

"We" is interesting phraseology. That report, however, is the most interesting--and potentially telling--the public has available I certainly agree.

It's also interesting to note that while compelling, it's almost a "God of the Gaps" so-to-speak argument against "intelligent control" behind UAP. To wit: The report itself asserts and seems to basically say, "Admittedly, it sure as bloody-hell looks like intelligent control but, trust us, mate, it's not."

Further, the report seemingly concurs, "It's all natural plasma and EM effects that defy our total understanding, but we assume it can all be explained eventually."

Plasma/EM-based life-forms, it seems to me, make more sense than the dichotomies inherent in the report:

MOD-UAP-PLASMA

Anyone interested in UFOs that hasn't read the above probably should. Good stuff.

Can you tell us any discoveries or strange reports from the field of "Fringe Science" that most people aren't aware of.

reply to post by The GUT


To clarify, I wasn't the anonymous author of the Project Condign report, despite a few suggestions to the contrary. Indeed, I've gone on record as saying that the study was fundamentally flawed in a number of ways. As for my use of the word "we", when I didn't write the report, it's difficult to get out of the habit, given that I worked for the MoD for 21 years.

reply to post by Skjord


Are you REALLY

THAT skeptical that our 3 amigos are

THAT shallow about verifying who they invite?

They were bright enough to set up ATS.

Why would they suddenly be too dumb to verify who they were inviting to ATS????

Sigh.

I realize the culture here is to be skeptical that the sun will 'rise' tomorrow.

However, that's NOT REALLY evidence of wisdom.

I assure you . . . as a trained PhD level observer of human behavior . . . the bloke responding as Nick Pope hereon is 100% congruent with the Nick Pope seen in a long list of videos and many hundreds of pages of text. There's NO distinguishable difference.

Therefore, I have 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% trouble confidently believing HE IS

DRUM ROLL

NICK POPE!

Sigh.

We are cheeky enough with one another.

We do NOT

REALLY NEED

to be that cheeky with our invited guests.

Sigh.

reply to post by Thorneblood


I can't claim to have any fringe science insights to offer people. I cover the subject from time to time as a broadcaster and journalist, but I've been out of the MoD since 2006 and I'm a commentator on the subject, as opposed to someone with knowledge of current research or development programs. When a story breaks, e.g. about invisibility, I'm often asked to comment on why governments look into this sort of thing, and what the wider defense (or defence!) implications would be.

reply to post by NickPope


Sorry, Nick,

Some of the compulsive addictions on ATS involve cheeky questioning of

--the next breath
--the sun rising again
--gravity
--the reality of night and day
--the reliability of the tides.

Welllll, not really . . . but it sure often SEEMS that bad.

Please ignore the hyper skeptics and those given to compulsively questioning every nuance to the nth degree. Some folks evidently have too much time on their hands.

Sorry if someone has already asked this, I have not read the whole thread. I just want to ask one thing.

There are many reasons that cause me to believe that during the cold war, out of all the espionage that regularly occurred between the USSR and allied countries, some of it had to do with UFO investigations.

Do you know anything about this?

Originally posted by Skjord
NVRMND. Sorry. Didn't want our guest to be insulted.

Yours Truly,

Not a Mod.

reply to post by BO XIAN


In response to this housekeeping question, yes, it most certainly would be helpful if moderators could occasionally pick up a really good question that I haven't gotten to, and restate it. I'm trying to get through as many questions as possible, and will be here again on Tuesday, but inevitably I'm not going to be able to respond to everything. I'll also try to conclude the session with a post that addresses some of the common questions and themes, so as to draw a few strands together and wrap things up neatly.

With respect, once I've done this AMA, I'm not planning on becoming a regular ATS contributor. I don't generally post on forums, email lists, etc., due to the pressure of other commitments.

ATN MODS, please:

[color=6699FF]yes, it most certainly would be helpful if moderators could occasionally pick up a really good question that I haven't gotten to, and restate it


THINKING A BIT FORWARD toward more of these . . . I wonder . . . Springer et al . . . IF the members actively and deliberately starred the questions they most wanted answered . . . perhaps a software module could be built which would automate compiling the say top XX% most starred questions/posts minus those already responded to--to present toward the end of such events?

Or, failing that, at least the most starred would be easiest for the mods to quickly identify and copy/paste to a near closing post for last bits of answering such???

Just brainstorming with myself here.

Originally posted by NickPope
reply to post by BO XIAN

 

In response to this housekeeping question, yes, it most certainly would be helpful if moderators could occasionally pick up a really good question that I haven't gotten to, and restate it. I'm trying to get through as many questions as possible, and will be here again on Tuesday, but inevitably I'm not going to be able to respond to everything. I'll also try to conclude the session with a post that addresses some of the common questions and themes, so as to draw a few strands together and wrap things up neatly.

With respect, once I've done this AMA, I'm not planning on becoming a regular ATS contributor. I don't generally post on forums, email lists, etc., due to the pressure of other commitments.

THX for your kind reply. I'm sure our excellent mods will note the above and do their more or less best.

Much appreciate your perceptivity; rolling with the punches and your candid responses. You are a treasure in the field. It's an honor to correspond in this way. I'll be out most of tomorrow. Maybe back tomorrow evening. Certainly I'll read the rest of the thread. And I hope your latest book is out on Kindle, soonish.

A parting question before I head to the shower . . . sort of related but not necessarily . . . to UFO's etc.

What [color=6699FF]has been your greatest experience of AWE and WONDER in your life?

Blessings,
.