: Alex Persky <Alex.Persky@p16.f4.n457.z2.fidonet.org>
: Fwd:  p COMETA
: 24  1999 . 15:32

p :

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 ,
Alex

- ---
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 18:35:39 +0200
From: Perry Petrakis - SOS OVNI <sosovni@pacwan.fr>
To: updates@globalserve.net
Subject: IHEDN Report


It has come to our attention that an important report should be 
released on newstands throughout France on 17th July. This 
report is said to be an assessment of the ufological situation 
and current status of official research in France and was 
prepared by a committee from the Association of Former Junior 
Officials from the French Institute for High Defence Studies 
(IHEDN) of which the association is a subset. The committee was 
said to have held private hearings on the subject for the past 
two years, in which military personnel, among others, where able 
to testify.

The report, which was due out several months ago was postponed 
after the outbreak of the conflict in the Balkans. It is said to 
be over 100 pages long, and could have been forwarded, according 
to information having reached SOS OVNI, to the highest political 
figures in France although it is not known if they have endorsed 
the proposals.

It is expected the report will underline the interest of first 
hand reliable testimony and the need for an intensification of 
means granted to SEPRA, the french official investigative body 
headed by Jean-Jacques Velasco.

Perry Petrakis
Editor Phenomena
http://www.sosovni.com
- ---
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 00:39:56 +0200
From: Perry Petrakis - SOS OVNI <sosovni@pacwan.fr>
To: updates@globalserve.net
Subject: French COMETA Report


The COMETA Report

We announced in a recent press release the publication of a 
report which was to be an assessment of the French UFO situation 
by former junior officials from the french Institute for High 
Defence Studies (Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defence National 
- IHEDN). This report was published as a special issue of the 
weekly VSD and is said to have been distributed with a 
circulation of 70,000 copies throughout newstands in France, on 
July 17th.

Bernard Thouanel, editor of this issue of VSD -Hors Serie- must 
be praised for his role in bringing the report to the public as 
it was first intended to circulate mainly within the official 
military or political spheres. As Bernard Thouanel seems to have 
decided to make no comment or statement on the report over the 
net, and that much has already been said, although with little 
informative value, by enthusiastic French ufologists, we have 
decided to bring to your attention an -assessment of the 
assessment- so to speak, so that colleagues from abroad know 
where to stand with this report. The following only expresses 
views from the French group SOS OVNI.

Titled Les OVNI et la Defence (UFO-s and Defence), the 90 page 
long issue is sub-titled A quoi doit-on se preparer ? (What 
should we prepare for ?). The issue, although published by -VSD 
Hors Serie- is signed by the acronym -COMETA-, initials which 
are not explained through the text other than that they belong 
to a non-profit organization which one understands draws it-s 
members from the Association of Former Junior Officials of the 
Institute for High Defence Studies.

The report is split into four very unequal parts titled :

1. Facts and testimony
2. An assessment of what we know
3. UFOs and Defence
4. Conclusion and proposals

It goes without saying that the report is unofficial since it is 
published by a private non-profit organization which only 
reflects the views of it-s members. Confusion is nevertheless 
skillfully kept over whether the report should be considered 
official or not. In his introductory note for instance,  
General Bernard Norlain, former head of IHEDN says:

"I hope that the proposals from COMETA, inspired by good sense, 
will be examined and carried out by authorities from this 
country. The first report from the Association of former Junior 
Officials had helped create, within the French Space Center, the 
only civil office in the world dedicated to the study of UFOs. 
May this new more complete assessment give a fresh impetus to 
our nation-s efforts as well as to an essential international 
cooperation. The Institute for High Defence Studies would have 
then well served the country and even, maybe, the whole of 
humanity ".

The report was obviously prepared so that French political 
authorities may reconsider their position towards the study of 
unidentified aerial phenomena in general, and, more 
particularly, the funding of SEPRA (Service d-Expertise de 
Phenomenes de Rentree Atmospherique - Service for the Study of 
Reentry Phenomena) headed by Jean-Jacques Velasco. Unlike the 
first report in 1977, it-s goals where not to sum up the current 
state of ufological affairs on a global scale, where private 
research would have been scanned. One then wonders on which 
basis cases where selected by and for the military. For 
instance, Lakenheath (1956), the RB-47 case (1957) or Teheran 
(1976) are mentionned while there is not a word on the  Belgian 
sightings flap (1989-1991), a situation which has led to much 
speculation in France and Belgium.

Contrarily to what has been said, although members of COMETA may 
be considered couragous to have come forward, there has been no 
threat to their careers as most, if not all, are formerly from 
the military or from civil service.

But their assessment of the situation is more than questionable, 
at least in the last part of the report which, although 
unsigned, bears the marks of industry with close ties to the 
military and research facilities whose names have already been 
cited in relation with GEPAN-s, then SEPRA-s long history.

Unless these people have insider information, which would have 
yet to be revealed, their leaning toward the more paranod 
trends of ufology is more than alarming. They consider for 
instance Corso-s assertions to be possibly reliable much as they 
do with Nick Pope-s views. Roswell is taken for granted and 
North America is portrayed as the -Big Black Wolf- who-s 
debunking scheme, especially (but not only) over Roswell would 
seem logical if we are to believe they have aquired otherworldly 
objects. In one of the unsigned annexes, titled -The Roswell 
Affair - Disinformation-, one can read the following statement:

"It seems the crash at Roswell happened on the 4th of July, 
-Independance Day-, at around 11h30 pm. The date and place 
symbolise the power of America, henceforth the question: if the 
crash is that of an extraterrestrial craft, could it really be 
considered an accident or could it possibly be deliberate, thus 
being some sort of a message and/or authenticating it?".

Considering the final destination of the report, which is said 
on the front cover, to have been President Jacques Chirac and 
Prime minister Lionel Jospin, and the rank of the people 
involved, one can only be very alarmed by such statements which 
will no doubt go against the goals COMETA wished to serve. One 
understands, why other suggestions like the creation of a 
gouvernmental office (yet another...) which would go hand in 
hand with SEPRA, or re-funding of the latter will probably go 
unaddressed.

We sincerely hope we are wrong but if we are not, this report 
will jeopardize any serious or official interest on the UFO 
phenomenon in France for years to come.

Perry Petrakis
Editor Phenomena
http://www.sosovni.com
On (24 Jul 99) Alex Persky wrote to All...

         !

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 AP>    17   p p   ,  p
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 AP> - ---
 AP> Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 18:35:39 +0200
                ^^^^^^^^^^^
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 AP> From: Perry Petrakis - SOS OVNI <sosovni@pacwan.fr>
 AP> To: updates@globalserve.net
 AP> Subject: IHEDN Report
 AP> It has come to our attention that an important report should be 
 AP> released on newstands throughout France on 17th July. This
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 AP> The report, which was due out several months ago was postponed 
 AP> after the outbreak of the conflict in the Balkans. It is said to 
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