Senate confirmation of Panetta opens door to CIA X-Files

February 14, 8:43 AM

by Michael Salla, Ph.D.

On Friday morning, Leon Panetta was sworn in as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. This was after the U.S. Senate, the night before, confirmed Panetta as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on a voice vote. A day earlier, on Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved him without dissent. At 70, Panetta becomes the oldest man ever to take charge of the CIA. In his first message to CIA employees, he said: "Throughout my 40-year career in government, I have made it a point to speak honestly to my colleagues, my coworkers, my constituents, and my president. I hope that we can speak honestly to each other and to those we serve."

Panetta achieved prominence as President Clinton’s Chief of Staff (1994-1997). He is a veteran political insider and his supporters hope he can rebuild morale in the CIA which was badly tarnished by faulty intelligence assessments that led to the Iraq war. Significantly, Panetta is close to John Podesta who served as Panetta’s deputy during the Clinton Administration. Podesta eventually succeeded Panetta as Clinton’s Chief of Staff from 1998-2001. Podesta served as co-chair of Obama’s transition team, and the selection of Panetta reflected Podesta’s influence.

Podesta has been an outspoken advocate of increased declassification of government documents. Both Panetta and Podesta were in key positions to support President Clinton’s Executive Order 12958 passed on April 17 1995. EO 12958 made it easier to declassify national security information that had been unnecessarily classified for decades. Podesta's influence was more recently seen in Obama's January 21 Presidential Memoranda on Open Government and Transparency, and Freedom of Information Act.

During the Clinton administration, Podesta was open about his interest in possible X-Files hidden in different government agencies as depicted in the hit television series. In fact, a video of a Clinton administration X-Files party is soon to be released under the Freedom of Information Act according to a Canadian UFO researcher. The X-Files was a term that could be traced to the FBI’s historic efforts to get to the bottom of the UFO phenomenon. These files were often categorized under "Flying Discs: Security Matter-X".This led to Podesta's support for declassification of many national security files, especially those concerning UFOs. On October 22, 2002, Podesta made a statement at the National Press Club concerning the legality of UFO information that has not been released to the public on national security grounds. He said: "I think it's time to open the books on questions that have remained in the dark on the question of government investigations of UFOs.”

Interest in finding about UFOs in the Clinton administration wasn’t just limited to Podesta. Webster Hubbell was a personal friend of President Clinton who had appointed him as associate attorney general of the Justice Department. In his autobiography, Hubbell wrote: "Clinton had said, 'If I put you over at Justice I want you to find the answers to two questions for me. One, who killed JFK? And two, are there UFOs?'... Clinton was dead serious. I had looked into both, but wasn't satisfied with the answers I was getting."

Bill Clinton’s interest in finding the truth of UFOs very likely influenced his choice of the last Intelligence Community outsider, who like Panetta, was asked to head the CIA. Former CIA Director James Woolsey was very interested in finding out about any UFO information secretly kept at the CIA. In fact, Woolsey was given an informal ‘briefing’ by Dr Stephen Greer in 1993 who told him what civilian researchers had discovered about UFOs. Woolsey then ordered the CIA to prepare a report on all its information about UFOs. Woolsey was part of a hushed up effort by the Clinton administration to find the truth about UFOs. His failure to force the CIA to give the Clinton administration access to its X-Files, is possibly why Woolsey eventually became estranged from President Clinton and rarely got to meet him.


Video: Bill Clinton speaks in Belfast about the Roswell UFO Crash

The initial nominations of Panetta as CIA Director and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State first signalled that the Obama administration was also interested in the declassification of X-Files from different government agencies. John Podesta was a key figure in the selection of Panetta and Clinton by Obama, and appears to be playing a similar role to what he played in the Clinton administration in encouraging the declassification of X-Files. The subsequent confirmation of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State meant that a key Clinton era figure involved in an earlier effort to release government X-Files would once again be in a position to seek declassification of UFO information. Panetta's February 12 Senate confirmation now adds a powerful new element in what increasingly appears to be a coordinated effort by former Clinton era figures to steer the Obama administration towards locating and declassifying UFO files. Panetta is now in a position to finally finish what the Clintons had first attempted and pressure the CIA to release its deepest held secrets – X-Files concerning UFOs and extraterestrial life.

Source: Honolulu Exopolitics Examiner

UFO enthusiasts call on Obama to release X-Files

UFO enthusiasts are pressing Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, encouraged by support from within the President-Elect's own White House team.

Desperate to see the US emulate the British Government and disclose reported "contact" with UFOs, the enthusiasts have written to Mr Obama to ask that his administration comes clean about the contents of America's "X-Files".

They believe they have good prospects of success after public statements of support from both John Podesta, who is running Mr Obama's White House transition team, and Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico - a UFO sighting hotspot - who is expected to secure a cabinet post.

In the letter to Mr Obama, the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee calls on the President-Elect to "end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race".

The group wants the incoming president to insist on a "full briefing from your military services and intelligence agencies regarding what they know" and to open congressional hearings "to take testimony from scores of government witnesses who have already come forward with extraordinary evidence and are prepared to testify under oath."

The campaigners, who resent their common portrayal as nuts and conspiracy theorists, have high hopes of success due to their inside track with Mr Obama.

When he was the White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, Mr Podesta led a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents. In a press conference, still available to watch on the YouTube website, Mr Podesta said: "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon."

(and here's the video....)

Gov Richardson, a former presidential candidate and fellow UFO aficionado, has written a forward to a book on the so-called Roswell Incident in New Mexico, where campaigners believe an alien spacecraft crash landed near the town of Roswell in 1947 and that the corpses of humanoid aliens have been kept hidden under lock and key by the government.

He has called for full disclosure by the Pentagon of what really occurred and reiterated his belief that there had been a "cover-up" during a presidential debate last year.

The campaigners, who want the truth "out there", believe that the British Government's decision to declassify thousands of UFO sighting documents this year has made it untenable for the US to maintain its policy of non-disclosure.

Only last week a US Air Force pilot, Milton Torres, whose testimony was released from the British archives, appeared on US television explaining how he was ordered to shoot down a large UFO over the UK in 1957 and then silenced by military officials, who told him never to speak of the incident.

Stephen Bassett, Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee, expects to have gathered 40,000 signatures via email and fax by Mr Obama's inauguration day on Jan 20 in support of his calls for openness.

(send your letter too! http://www.x-ppac.org/)

He told The Sunday Telegraph: "The truth embargo is now at the end of the line. The release of documents in Britain and France has put huge pressure on the US. It makes the government here look pretty stupid.

"I think we are seeing the Democrats moving towards disclosure. John Podesta has outed himself as an enthusiast. He thinks the American public can handle the truth. Bill Richardson thinks there was a cover-up."

Mr Bassett also believes that military and intelligence officials have studied the technology of alien spacecraft, material that would help the US develop new energy resources, as Mr Obama wishes, that will lessen US dependency on Middle Eastern oil.

Obama called to release X-Files

By Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 1:30PM GMT 30 Nov 2008

UFO enthusiasts are pressing Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, encouraged by support from within the President-Elect's own White House team.

Desperate to see the US emulate the British Government and disclose reported "contact" with UFOs, the enthusiasts have written to Mr Obama to ask that his administration comes clean about the contents of America's "X-Files".

They believe they have good prospects of success after public statements of support from both John Podesta, who is running Mr Obama's White House transition team, and Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico - a UFO sighting hotspot - who is expected to secure a cabinet post.

In the letter to Mr Obama, the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee calls on the President-Elect to

end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race".

The group wants the incoming president to insist on a "full briefing from your military services and intelligence agencies regarding what they know" and to open congressional hearings "to take testimony from scores of government witnesses who have already come forward with extraordinary evidence and are prepared to testify under oath."

The campaigners, who resent their common portrayal as nuts and conspiracy theorists, have high hopes of success due to their inside track with Mr Obama.

When he was the White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, Mr Podesta led a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents. In a press conference, still available to watch on the YouTube website, Mr Podesta said: "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon."

Gov Richardson, a former presidential candidate and fellow UFO aficionado, has written a forward to a book on the so-called Roswell Incident in New Mexico, where campaigners believe an alien spacecraft crash landed near the town of Roswell in 1947 and that the corpses of humanoid aliens have been kept hidden under lock and key by the government.

He has called for full disclosure by the Pentagon of what really occurred and reiterated his belief that there had been a "cover-up" during a presidential debate last year.

The campaigners, who want the truth "out there", believe that the British Government's decision to declassify thousands of UFO sighting documents this year has made it untenable for the US to maintain its policy of non-disclosure.

Only last week a US Air Force pilot, Milton Torres, whose testimony was released from the British archives, appeared on US television explaining how he was ordered to shoot down a large UFO over the UK in 1957 and then silenced by military officials, who told him never to speak of the incident.

Stephen Bassett, Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee, expects to have gathered 40,000 signatures via email and fax by Mr Obama's inauguration day on Jan 20 in support of his calls for openness.

He told The Sunday Telegraph: "The truth embargo is now at the end of the line. The release of documents in Britain and France has put huge pressure on the US. It makes the government here look pretty stupid.

"I think we are seeing the Democrats moving towards disclosure. John Podesta has outed himself as an enthusiast. He thinks the American public can handle the truth. Bill Richardson thinks there was a cover-up."

Mr Bassett also believes that military and intelligence officials have studied the technology of alien spacecraft, material that would help the US develop new energy resources, as Mr Obama wishes, that will lessen US dependency on Middle Eastern oil.

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3536229/UFO-enthusiasts-call-on-Obama-to-release-X-Files.html

http://www.x-ppac.org

John Podesta: from Clinton's X-Files man to Obama's Transition Chief

Obama's Transition man is John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton and the current President and Chief Executive Office of the Center for American Progress - a Washington, DC progressive think tank.

If anyone knows the truth about Roswell, N.M., it’s Mr. Podesta. He is said to be the only White House chief of staff ever to appear on the Sci Fi Channel. A fanatic jogger and marathon runner also known as a master chef who once wrote a monthly cooking column in a Washington magazine. Also known for occasional dark moods that prompt friends and colleagues to refer to his “evil twin, Skippy.”

He’s not kept it secret that he’s quite interested in UFOs, and is apparently friends with Stephen Bassett, the Washington “UFO Discosure lobbyist,” the Executive Director of the Paradigm Research Group that organizes the X-Conferences. Why Energy Secretary? There’s the interesting twist. Many in the UFO community believe that the U.S. Government possesses alien technology that would offer new forms of clean energy if it could only be wrested from the control of the military-industrial complex. The Washington Post also referenced Podesta's "fanatical devotion to the X-Files." They quoted Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry who stated, "John can get totally maniacal and phobic on certain subjects. He’s been known to pick up the phone and call the Air Force and ask them what’s going on in Area 51."

Podesta’s public position on UFOs is also conservative. In speaking with the Las Vegas Journal he simply stated, "I think it’s time to open the books on questions that have remained in the dark on the question of government investigations of UFOs."

When asked about Area 51, Podesta stated, "My tendency is to try and err on the side of openness rather than on the side of secrecy, and I think a thorough review about whether more information could be brought to light (about Area 51) would be a worthwhile enterprise." Asked if "Area 51 harbors government information about UFOs," Podesta said, "I can answer that, no."

On October 22 Sci-Fi Channel hosted a Washington UFO news conference. Podesta appeared as a member of the public relations firm hired by Sci-Fi to help get the government to open up documents on the subject. In reporting on the news conference, CNN.com quoted Podesta as saying "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the true nature of the phenomena."

The 25-year concept was a tenet of a Clinton administration policy embodied in the Clinton 1995 Executive Order 12958. This policy of classification and declassification was set up to deal with a concern shared by Podesta and President Clinton. They sought a proper balance of "openness in government" vs. what Podesta coined as "unthinking secrecy." In short the Clinton EO set up a policy that all government documents would be declassified after 25 years except in exception circumstances.

The 12958 Executive Order had exceptional success in moving government documents into public view. Between 1995 and 2000, 800 million pages of documents were declassified, compared to 188 million documents in the 15 years previous.

The Sci-Fi strategy of employing the high-powered John Podesta is part of an effort by the Sci-Fi Channel to gain release of secret government records on unidentified flying objects. According to Ed Rothschild, the coordinator of the new group formed by Sci-Fi to help achieve that end, ‘The Sci-Fi channel has had an interest in (UFOs) for some time. The difference here is that they are focusing attention to the serious, factual side of the issue, and that scientists have not had a chance to thoroughly examine it."

The strategy, however, comes with a few drawbacks. Firstly, Podesta is from a democratic administration, which appeared to have been cut out of the world of people who control the UFO secret. There are many stories told of how the Clinton administration attempted to initiate disclosure on UFOs but failed.

http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/11/meet-john-podesta-obamas-transition.html

http://cofcc.org/?p=3295

http://michaelsheiser.com/EveryThoughtCaptive/2008/11/john-podesta-ufos-energy-and-barack-obama/