A EULOGY TO ROBERT MOORE 1967-2023
Our memories of Robert
Tony Eccles and Heather Dixon
On
behalf of BUFORA, we would like to express our deepest sympathy to Robert’s
family and friends on his passing so suddenly at such a relatively young
age. We have all been shocked and
saddened by his untimely death, and he will be missed very much by us all at
BUFORA, particularly for his outstanding and exceptional contribution to
UFOlogy over so very many years of his life.
Tony’s
Memories of Robert
Robert was first and foremost one of Britain’s best UFO
researchers, and an advocate for facts and details. I first met Robert in the
early 1990s when I had first joined the British UFO Research Association
(BUFORA). He made me feel welcome, and I quickly became one of his UFO
investigator course students. I am grateful for learning about the subject from
one of the very best.
Robert was an active member of
BUFORA for many years, joining the organisation in 1982 at the age of 15! He
read as many books and journals he could access. Robert became a self-made
UFOlogical scholar, a fact openly acknowledged by his peers in the field. He
became the Special Projects Officer, and was a co-ordinator for the LIGHTBALL
research project. Additionally, he examined UFO reports in his home county of
Somerset.
Never seeking fame, or wanting to
gain wealth with his knowledge, Rob boldly fought the nonsense that frequently
appears in the UFO subject. When possible he published data and useful case
information in various boo
ks and journals. The first of Rob’s I read was a 1993
book chapter called Science v. Saucery. Here
we find his own Mundane-Synthesistic Hypothesis. This stated that only serious
scientific work will remove the subject’s mystery and expose the reality. It is
rare to find data tables and charts presented within a UFOlogical text, but
it’s exactly this presentation of information, which is sorely lacking in a
largely amateur subject. Sadly, people love mystery.
I recall him inviting me as a
speaker to one of his UFO ASSAP symposiums in Bath, and I noted how much effort
Robert had gone into making the subject relevant to the public again. UFOs were
just one major part of his life, games being another, but he was determined to
leave his mark, which he has done. His legacy will be found in publications and
on various websites, and in our minds and hearts. Robert was one for openly
sharing subject information – he never hoarded it. For as long as I’ve known
him, he was a sensitive, kind-hearted, unselfish, loving, passionate person.
Heather’s
memories of Robert
I
met Robert in the 1990s when he was a director with BUFORA, which was a limited company
in those days. I was always a little in
awe of his extensive knowledge and his incredible intellect. He could be shy and unassuming, unaware of the
tremendous respect held by so many towards him for his immense academic
contribution to BUFORA and ufology.
At the heart of Robert’s amazing contribution
to UFOlogy is his Ufology Handbook, now in its 3rd edition. This will remain as an accolade of Robert’s
work and honour him forever! BUFORA has his
Handbook on its website, and this is a major part of the preparation prior to
enrolment on to the BUFORA Investigators’ Training Course.
As I
remember Robert, I often think of that profound quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson
– ‘Do not go where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail’.
Robert
was a trailblazer, someone who blazes a trail to guide others. For me, and many others, this describes the
heart of Robert’s huge contribution to ufology and other subjects that he was
involved with during his life. He lead
the way for so many with his commitment to UFOlogy and his energy, during his
many years of mammoth and impressive UFO research. He paved the way for ufologists past, present
and future to travel those roads with a depth of incredible knowledge at their fingertips.. Thank you, Robert!
Robert
was a man of substance, decency, kindness, humility and wonderfully sharp
humour. I miss our chats on Messenger so
very much. You have left an empty space
in UFOlogy, Robert.
He is irreplaceable and unforgettable......
This photograph is of Robert Moore when he was a child.
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Recent US Government UFO study initiatives; an overview
Robert Moore
In 1969 the United States
government believed it had finally demystified the UFO controversy, following
the negative conclusions of
the University of Colorado study project. This was instigated
in 1966 when a wave of sightings in Dexter, Michigan generated
congressional
interest among various senators most notably future president Gerald Ford. The
USAF had, since 1952, been running a UFO
study effort called Project Blue Book but by the late 1960s
it was widely viewed as institutionally negative and at administrative low ebb
(having
less than half a dozen permanent members of staff).
When the findings of the
University of Colorado study were published in 1969, the project director, Dr.
Edward Condon (ironically chosen for
his reputation of being unafraid to
confront officialdom) rejected the reality of UFOs, prefacing the printed
version with a negative assessment
of the subject. However, it didn’t escape
the notice of various commentators that a quarter of the sightings assessed by
the project were
deemed “unexplained”. Additionally, certain staff members left
the project, unhappy at Condon’s negative approach
Nonetheless, while flawed as a
debunking exercise, its conclusions were deemed sufficiently sound to justify
the termination of Project
Blue Book in 1969. Thereafter, the US government resisted any further
initiatives to instigate another official UFO study efforts. When
Jimmy Carter (who
observed what he interpreted to be a “UFO” in 1969) was elected president in
1976 he asked NASA to establish a
study project on UFOs - which the agency
quickly rebuffed. Additional attempts, often involving prominent members of the
American
UFO community equally failed. Nonetheless,
Col. John Alexander founded the Advanced Theoretical Physics Project in 1985, a
semi-official
group where UFOs, parapsychology and the consequences of exotic
physics were discussed. They were careful not to generate paperwork
that could
be uncovered by Freedom of Information requests. It seems no significant conclusions regarding
the subject were made, other
than there was no official UFO “cover up” policy or any secret continuality study. This effort is a
little tainted regarding its connection to
Major General Albert Stubblebine (infamous for his
unsuccessful attempts to pass through walls) and indirectly to Jim Channon and
his attempts
to found a hippy army unit with Jedi-like powers (the “1st
Earth Battalion”). Indeed, if there were any breakthroughs in regard to UFOs
and
its relationship to US officialdom it came through the passing of Freedom
of Information Act legislation which released a torrent of
information of post
1960’s UFO events, although most of this documentation was often heavily
redacted.
Time passed but the UFO issue
failed to go away, especially in the United States... MUFON (Mutual UFO
Network) became the default
agency dealing with UFO incidents in America,
although not always without controversy... And there the status quo rested. A
notable event
at Stephensville, Texas in January 2008 caused notable interest
but in its wake left everything as it was. While MUFON concluded the event
was
inexplicable, the USAF claimed the sightings were instigated by an exercise
involving a mass formation of fighter jets
But before that, in 2004 (unknown
to even most informed people at the time) an event occurred that would be a
notable catalyst for change.
On the 14th November 2004, off the coast of San
Diego, a training flight of F18 jets associated with the aircraft carrier USS
Nimitz were asked
to investigate aerial anomalies in their vicinity, most
notably one described as resembling a “tic tac”. This was subsequently filmed
by
an additional aircraft vectored in to investigate this manifestation.
In December 2017 details of two “UFO”
videos - informally known as Gimbal
and FILR – were discussed by the New York Times
and subsequently posted
online. A similar video - termed Gofast
- was leaked a short time later and promoted by The Washington Post. Notably,
the FILR
video capture was reputedly related to the 2004 USS Nimitz event, while the
other two were filmed between 2014-2015 in
other locations. All seemed to have
been taken from a fighter jet cockpit, the display annotated with various
technical read-outs that
seemingly demonstrated their anomalous nature.
It subsequently transpired these videos had
been in the archives of a project called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification
Program). This
little-publicised - but unclassified - study initiative had been commenced in
2007 and had received $22 million of
government funding over a period of five
years. It had been initiated through the intervention of Democrat senator Harry
Reid in
conjunction with aerospace contractor Robert Bigelow. The later is
known to have an interest in UFOs and has lobbied for the
recommencement of
official UFO studies for several decades. Around 2009-10 he sponsored a UFO
study initiative in conjunction with
MUFON, focusing on detailed data recovery
in regards to potentially significant events; some confusion exists as to the
findings of this study.
As with the so-called MUFON STAR TEAM project AATIP
focused on data potentially of use in the development of better aerospace
technology (including offensive technology).
The head of ATTIP was an
individual with a colourful and contested past called Luis Elizondo, who resigned from
the project in 2017 in
protest over undue secrecy in relation to (and
affecting) this study effort. It is widely believed (and claimed by Elizondo
himself) that he
leaked the Gimbal,FILR and Gofast videos to the US
media as a response to his misgivings. While ATTIP was officially terminated 2012
it is suspected other initiatives continued its work. At least one assessment
was published by AATIPP, including one (it is said) in excess of
400 pages, but
has never been publically released. Since that time Elizondo has been involved in various public UFO
initiatives (most notably
To the Stars
Academy) and has assisted with various US UFO documentaries for the History
Channel and other broadcasters.
Shortly after the videos were
released (in December 2017) the existence of AATIP was formally acknowledged by
the Department of Defence
and that the now famous three videos were authentic
A hint of what ATTIP may have
concluded is possibly reflected in various interviews made by Elizondo relating
to what he terms the “5
notable “Observables and Physics of the Phenomenon”,
these being:
1: Anti-gravity
lift (flight without wings and with little resistance from gravity/atmospherics).
2: Sudden and
instantaneous acceleration (a noted attribute of UFOs since 1947).
3: Hypersonic
velocities without signatures (reported high speed manoeuvres by UFOs generating no sonic boom).
4: Low observability (i.e. “cloaking”)
5: “Trans-medium travel” (i.e. the ability to
seemingly easily traverse between environmental mediums such as the atmosphere,
bodies of
water - and possibly space).
The use of the term “UAP”
(unidentified Atmosphere Phenomena) instead of “UFO” in this and subsequent US
government study efforts
is notable. It has been suggested this is due to the
term “UFO” being equated with “alien spacecraft” in popular culture, while
“UAP” is
more neutral; the former definition rendering project funding more
difficult. Equally, the “new” term has been adopted to frustrate Freedom
of Information
Act requests. It is also likely preferred as it’s a more neutral term; “UFO”
implies the phenomena observed is both “flying” and
an “object”, while “UAP”
merely implies it’s merely a manifestation visible in sky. In all likelihood it
is a combination of all three. The term
was also used by the 1997 British Condign study (enacted on behalf of DI
55 (tech)) and has over the past decade seems to be popular
amongst those
conducting any official study, whatever the underlying motivation. The Condign
report’s author, Ron Haddow, It is likely to
have acquired the term from the
British UFO researcher Jenny Randles, who used it to define a type of “UFO”
likely to be explained as a
natural atmospheric plasma-type effect. It was
seemingly created sometime during the
mid-to-late 1970’s - the earliest printed use the
author can find is in Randles
and Warrington’s UFOs a British
Viewpoint, published in 1979. Haddow referenced several notable
concepts
discussed by British UFO researchers during the 1990’s in his report and this
represents his most socially significant “borrowing”.
On June 24 2020, as a consequence
of these developments, the US Intelligence Committee made it an official
requirement for
selected government bodies to monitor and assess UAP events. Following
this, on June 25 2021, the Office for the Director of
National Intelligence
publically released a preliminary assessment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,
now widely known as the Pentagon
UFO Report. Various Government agencies contributed to this assessment (including
the US Army, Navy and Air Force along with the FBI,
FAAM NOAA the NIC etc). Their
main conclusion was that “limited data leaves most UAP events unexplained".
This comparable to the British
Air Ministry’s oft cited stance on the issue. But
while the MoD believed that, with further data input, most (if not all) reports
are likely
explicable in prosaic terms, the Pentagon report adopted a
different, more broad-minded interpretation. While it concluded these events
could
be instigated by objects such as drones from rival foreign powers it
considered this unlikely. It also
alluded to a number of reports within
the study dataset it considered difficult
to explain in rational terms; exhibiting to some degree the various 5 notable
“Observables and Physics
of the Phenomenon” cited by Elizondo. It is notable
that, while three notable events contributed to this new wave of governmental
concern (including the Nimitz event), the study assessed a further 141
accounts, of these, only 1 could be given a rational solution.
It stated this overview was
merely an overview and gave recommendations and objectives for future study. On
its release there was
controversy as to its actual composition with anything
from 2 to 300 or more pages reputedly classified and not released to the
public.
Shortly afterwards a new official
UAP study project - the Airborne Object Identification and
Management Synchronization Group – was
launched to continue the work
initiated by the Pentagon UFO Study. On July 20th 2022 a new
directive was released by the Deputy Secretary
of Defence renamed and expanded
this initiative, rebranded as the All-domain
Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Additional to this, on
June 22 2022
NASA announced the launch of their own UFO study initiate, unrelated to any of
the UAP projects; its aim being to use the
various tools available to modern
science to shed more light on the UAP issue.
So, what is to be made of this?
It is clear, despite the wishes of some in the US Government back in the
1960’s, the UFO issue has not
gone away. The topic has continued to linger in
the public consciousness for decades, both in America and globally. It appears
the
US government’s renewed interest was instigated by a number of apparently
inexplicable events involving service personnel (most notably
the USS Nimitz
incident) which have galvanised efforts for a renewed assessment of the UFO issue.
The influence of influential lobbyists such
as Robert Bigelow has also been a
factor. The DoD and NASA are both relatively new initiatives but do appear to
be relatively impartial. The
final conclusions of these studies thus could go
either way and will doubtless be influenced by the quality (or otherwise) of
the case studies
they encounter. One
hopes that they will be unswayed by ideological actors on either side of the
“UFO debate” and provide some
definitive answers. But also that it will not obsess
over exotic technological solutions and take into account both psycho-social
factors and
the long history of encounters with “the other”.
Sources (accessed 24/07/22):
Condon E U
(et.al.) Scientific Study of
Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report) Bantam 1969
Randles J and Warrington P UFOs a British Viewpoint Robert Hale 1979.
Hynek, J A. The Hynek UFO Report Sphere 1981
Alexander, J UFOS: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities St. Martin's Press; 2012
Ronson, J. The Men Who Stare at Goats. New York: Simon &
Schuster. 2004
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Nimitz_UFO_incident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_UFO_videos
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/pentagon-ufo-navy-warship-video-b1830418.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Aerospace_Threat_Identification_Program
https://www.history.com/news/ufo-sightings-speed-appearance-movement
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3100053/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-all-domain-anomaly-resolution-office/
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2853121/dod-announces-the-establishment-of-the-airborne-object-identification-and-manag/
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-set-up-independent-study-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena/
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BUFORA NEW YEAR 2023
On behalf of everyone at BUFORA we would like to take this
opportunity to wish all our visitors, readers and everyone reporting sightings
and photographs or video footage, a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to each one of you, and
hope for the future in 2023.
We have all
been through an unprecedented year of huge uncertainty and terrible loss for so
many, and I and the rest of the team would like to pause for just a moment to address these strange
times and extend our profound thanks and appreciation to our extraordinary NHS
and every health worker, key worker, care worker in addition to the spirit and
kindness of all our communities across the United Kingdom for their courage and
inspirational strength in coming together as a country during this
heart-breaking pandemic.
Now, as we
look ahead during this third lockdown, to a massive vaccination programme and a
new variant of Covid-19 with a much faster transmission rate, let us hope that
we can hold our resolve for the final stages of our fight against this virus
and see clearly ahead as the virus fog dissipates.
Our human need
to be together as families, friends and work colleagues will be there to renew
us and help us to go forward.
At BUFORA, we
would like to share our deepest sympathy and compassion with every person who
has lost a beloved member of their family, a loved friend or work colleague to
Covid - or to another life threatening illness because of Covid.
With our
thoughts and warmest wishes to each of you.
The BUFORA team.
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