INTERNATIONAL PRESS CONFERENCE, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON D.C. November 12, 2007
Presenting official data on unidentified aerial phenomena
Promoting international cooperation among governments and the military in investigating UFOs
Moderated by former Arizona Governor
Fife Symington
Sponsored and organized by
James Fox, Documentary Filmmaker
Leslie Kean, the Coalition for Freedom of Information
Photo by Bernard Thouanel
The 14 members of the panel with James Fox and Leslie Kean, after the press conference on Novermber 12th, 2007
Read Nov. 1st media release with background about the press conference here
Photo by Bernard Thouanel
First meeting at the hotel, Sunday morning, Nov. 11th
Photo by Bernard Thouanel
UK pilot Ray Bowyer presents his statement at the National Press Club
Photo by Bernard Thouanel
The day after the event, Nov. 13th, in Washington D.C.
Photo by Bernard Thouanel
Leslie Kean with Iranian General and former Air Force pilot Parviz Jafari
PANELISTS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY SPOKE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE
Click on the name to read the statement
Wilfried DE BROUWER, Major General, Ret.
After spending 20 years as a fighter pilot, he was appointed to the Strategic Planning Branch in NATO while a Colonel in 1983. He then became Wing Commander of the Belgian Air Force Transport Wing and, in 1989, chief of the Operations Division in the Air Staff. It was in this function that he was confronted with the Belgian UFO wave. Promoted to Major General in 1991, he became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Belgian Air Force, in charge of Operations, Planning and Human Resources. General De Brouwer retired in 1995 and subsequently worked more than ten years as consultant in the United Nations to improve the UN Logistics rapid response capabilities during emergencies.
Dr. Claude POHER, engineer, astronomer and astrophysicist.
Had a 33 year career in space research at CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), the French equivilant of NASA and was awarded the National Order of Merit. In 1977, he created and directed, at CNES, the GEPAN (Groupe d’Etude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés ; Group for the Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena), the official French agency dedicated to the investigation and analysis of UFO reports. (Today, the agency is called GEIPAN.) He investigated numerous well-documented UFO cases while training investigators for GEPAN.
Jean-Charles DUBOC, Captain, Air France, Ret.
While piloting an Airbus A 320 over France in 1994, he observed a large lens-shaped UFO at about 25 NM to the left of the plane, also seen by the copilot and one steward. It didn’t move and then disappeared after one minute almost instantaneously. Duboc reported the sighting to Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Operations (CODA); simultaneously CODA recorded an unidentified object on radar crossing the track of the plane. The object seemed to disappear from the radar scope at the same instant as it did from the view of the crew. CODA investigations ruled out a weather balloon or any other aircraft.
Dr. Jean-Claude RIBES, Astrophysicist.
Radio Astronomer, Paris Observatory and associate director of National Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics. Member, New York Academy of Sciences. Contributed to the COMETA report, 1999, and the new book "Phenomenes spatiaux non identifies." As a long term consultant to GEIPAN, he was asked by the Steering Committee to represent GEIPAN at this event.
Parviz JAFARI, General, Iranian Air Force, Ret.
In 1976, as a major and squadron commander, he was ordered by the Air Force Command to approach, in his Phantom F-4 jet, a large UFO observed over Tehran. During a wild cat and mouse chase, he attempted to launch a Sidewinder missile at the brilliant object but at that instant his fire control consul became inoperable. The UFO exhibited an extraordinary degree of maneuverability. Other electromagnetic effects were reported. The object was pursued by a second pilot, recorded on radar and witnessed by a General and experienced air navigation crews. A US Government officer interviewed Jafari in Tehran and the incident was described in a detailed US Defense Intelligence Agency document, released through the Freedom of Information Act. The DIA assessment said “This case is a classic that meets all the necessary conditions for a legitimate study of the UFO phenomenon.” Later, as a General, Jafari became the coordinating officer between the Iranian Army, Navy and Air Force. He retired in 1989.
Rodrigo Bravo GARRIDO, Captain and Pilot for the Aviation Army of Chile.
In 2000, he was assigned to conduct an internal study titled "Introduction to Anomalous Aerial Phenomenon and their considerations for aerospace security" involving previous case reports military planes encounters with UAP. For the last several years he has continued this research on recent and current cases affecting aviation safety in cooperation with the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA), a branch of the General Administration of Civil Aeronautics, Chile's FAA.
Comandante Oscar Alfonso SANTA MARIA HUERTAS
Commander with the Peruvian Air Force (FAP), Ret. Specialization as an Air Force fighter jet pilot. In 1980, while a FAP Lieutenant, he encountered a UFO while flying his SU-22 "SUKOI" jet over the La Joya Military Base. He fired at the object, strafing it with sixty-four 30mm rounds, but the UFO remained unaffected. A US Department of Defense document for the CIA and the NSA, titled “UFO Sighted in Peru,” describes the incident. “The Peruvian Air Force tried to intercept and destroy the UFO, but without success," it states, adding that the vehicle’s origin remains unknown. CMDT Santa Maris is currently a Flight Safety and Accident Prevention Consultant for the airline industry.
Dr. Anthony CHOY
Lawyer and founding member in 2001 of the Air Anomalous Phenomenon Investigation Office (OIFAA), of the Peruvian Air Force, with a Masters from the Peruvian Air Force in High Management in Defense and Aerospace Development. He conducted a three year investigation on a sequence of sightings and landings of a UFO on behalf of the OIFAA in 2002, which were recorded on video. In 2003, this case became the first official UFO investigation in Perú to be disclosed by the Air Force.
Ray BOWYER, Captain, Aurigny Airlines.
In April 2007 he observed a UFO estimated as being up to a mile long, visible from about 50 miles away, in the vicinity of the Channel Islands. Some of his passengers saw the object, as did at least one other pilot in the area. An anomalous radar return was detected and the incident was reported by the BBC.
Nick POPE, official for the UK's Ministry of Defence from 1985 to 2006.
From 1991 to 1994, he was the desk officer responsible for investigating officially documented UFO sightings to determine whether they involved any potential threat to the UK. As a result of his thorough study of some incidents involving the police and military during his watch, he and some colleagues became privately convinced that there were important defense, national security and flight safety issues involved with the unexplained phenomenon.
Jim PENNISTON, TSgt USAF Ret.
Also stationed at RAF Bentwaters, he witnessed a landed UFO with two military patrolman in nearby Rendlesham Forest. He conducted a 45 minute ground investigation and filed an official report. He has the original log book with drawings including details of symbols on the craft; radiation records; and plaster casts of landing gear imprints. He is the only person out the three witnesses that actually touched the UFO.
Charles HALT, Col. USAF Ret.
Deputy Base Commander of RAF Bentwaters, former US Air Force facility in the UK. He witnessed multiple UFOs at close range with six other military personnel in December, 1980, and documented this event on a pocket tape recorder. He also saw a UFO shooting beams into sensitive weapons storage areas at the base. He wrote an official memorandum for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) describing a UFO maneuvering through the forest and ascending, which was released through the US Freedom of Information Act.
John CALLAHAN, Ret.
Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA in Washington DC, for 6 years during the 1980’s. He investigated an incident in which a 1986 Japanese Airlines 747 flight was followed by an unidentified object for 31 minutes over Alaska. The UFO also trailed a United Airlines flight until the flight landed. Data includes visual confirmation, air-based and ground-based radar confirmation, videotape radar evidence, air traffic voice communications and official reports.
Fife SYMINGTON
Two term Governor of Arizona in the nineties; cousin of the late Missouri Senator Stuart Symington; former Captain, USAF. While Governor, he witnessed to a massive craft up to a mile across over Arizona in 1997, also seen by hundreds of citizens. Although he attempted to investigate at the time, he also publicly spoofed the sighting so as not to add to the public hysteria, while keeping his own observation secret. He first revealed his sighting last March, and states that the craft is of unknown origin and the incident remains unsolved.
Photo by Randall Nickerson
Former Arizona Governor Fife Symington
Photo by Randall Nickerson
(left to right) De Brouwer, Poher, Duboc, Ribes, Jafari, Garrido,
Symington, Santa Maria
Photo by Randall Nickerson
(left to right) Santa Maria, Choy, Bowyer, Pope, Penniston, Halt, Callahan
Photo by Randall Nickerson
John Callahan at the podium
International Declaration to the U.S. Government
Requesting a new investigation by the U.S. Government
into UFOs
For links to the extensive, worldwide media coverage on the press
conference, go to
http://www.ufomediawatch.com/
For short video clips from the press conference, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YPZAso2eSI&feature=related
For information about the movie "Out of the Blue," and to obtain a DVD of the press conference, go to www.outofthebluethemovie.com
