COMETA Report

From: JONIFERRIS <jferris@mindspring.com>
Stunnng High Level French Government Report On UFOs And Defense
From CNI News, Vol 5 No 11, 8-1-99
Note - Our thanks to Michael Lindemann for permission to bring this report to you

[CNI News thanks our French colleague and correspondent Gildas Bourdais (GBourdais@aol.com) for providing this exclusive report on the historic new UFO assessment from France. The following text has been approved for publication by members of COMETA, the "Committee for In-depth Studies" which produced the UFO report. Requests for translation and publication rights to the full report should be addressed to Mr Michel Algrin, 25 boulevard saint-Germain, 75005 Paris, France.]

By Gildas Bourdais

On July 16, 1999, a document was published in France called "UFOs and Defense -- What Must We Be Prepared For?" ("Les OVNI et la Defense. A quoi doit-on se preparer?") This ninety-page report is the result of an in depth study of UFOs covering many aspects of the subject, especially questions of defense.

The study was carried out over several years by an independent group of former "auditors" at the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defense, or IHEDN ("Institut des hautes etudes de defense nationale"), and by qualified experts from various fields. [NOTE: Many participants in IHEDN defense-study programs are known as auditors. - ed.]

Before its public release, it was sent to French President of the Republic Jacques Chirac, and to Prime minister Lionel Jospin.

The report is prefaced by General Bernard Norlain of the Air Force, former Director of IHEDN, and begins with a preamble by Andre Lebeau, former President of the National Center for Space Studies ("Centre national d'etudes spatiales" or CNES), the French equivalent of NASA. The group itself, collective author of the report, is called "COMETA," which stands for "Committee for In-depth Studies," and is presided over by General Denis Letty of the Air Force, former auditor (FA) of IHEDN.

A non-exhaustive list of COMETA members is given at the beginning of the report. It includes General Bruno Lemoine of the Air Force (FA of IHEDN); Admiral Marc Merlo (FA of IHEDN); Michel Algrin, Doctor in Political Sciences, attorney at law (FA of IHEDN); General Pierre Bescond, engineer for armaments (FA of IHEDN); Denis Blancher, Chief National Police superintendant at the Ministry of the Interior; Christian Marchal, chief engineer of the national "corps des Mines", Research Director at the "National Office of Aeronautical Research" (ONERA); General Alain Orszag, Ph.D. in physics, engineer for armaments.

The committee also expresses its gratitude to outside contributors, including Jean-Jacques Velasco, head of SEPRA at CNES; Francois Louange, President of Fleximage, specialist of photo analysis; General Joseph Domange of the Air Force, general delegate of the Association of auditors at IHEDN.

General Norlain tells in a short preface how this committee was created. General Letty came to see him in March 1995, when Norlain was Director of IHEDN, to discuss his project of a committee on UFOs. Norlain assured him of his interest and directed him to the Association of Auditors (AA) of IHEDN, which in turn gave its support. It is interesting to recall here that, twenty years ago, it was a report of that same Association which led to the creation of GEPAN, the first unit for UFO study, at CNES.

As a result, several members of the committee come from the Association of Auditors of IHEDN, joined by other experts. Most of them hold, or have held, important functions in defense, industry, teaching, research, or various central administrations. General Norlain expresses hope that this report will help develop new efforts nationally, and an indispensable international cooperation.

General Letty, as president of COMETA, points to the main theme of the report, which is that the accumulation of well documented observations compels us now to consider all hypotheses as to the origin of UFOs, especially extraterrestrial hypotheses.

The committee then presents the contents of the study. In the first part, they discuss some remarkable UFO cases, both French and foreign. In the second part, they describe the present organization of research in France and abroad, and studies made by scientists worldwide which may bring partial explanations in accordance with known laws of physics. The main global explanations are then reviewed, from secret aircraft to extraterrestrial manifestations. The third part examines measures to be taken regarding defense, from information to pilots, both civilian and military, to strategic, political and religious consequences, should the extraterrestrial hypothesis be confirmed.