◆ SpookStack

“Concrete problems are raised that call for a response in terms of action” by General Bernard Norlain, Former director of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale [Institute for Advanced National Defense Studies (IHEDN)] When General Letty visited me in March 1995 at my office at IHEDN to explain to me his project for creating a new committee for study of UFOs, I assured him of my interest and referred him to the management of the IHEDN Auditors Association (AA), which * gave him its support. Knowing that some twenty years earlier the AA had produced and published a preliminary report on the subject in its bulletin, it was but time to update it. Denis Letty seemed to me to be the perfect one to spearhead this task; one month earlier, in February, he had organized, within the framework of the Ecole de I’ Air [Air Force Academy] Alumni Association, a conference on unidentified aerospace phenomena. Before a large public, some of our comrades, former pilots, spontaneously related their encounters with UFOs. The person in charge of studying these phenomena at the CNES then presented his results, and a well-known astronomer described a scientifically acceptable version of the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The fields of knowledge affected by the UFO phenomenon are very diverse, and General Letty was able to find within the AA, but on the outside as well, numerous experts whose efforts he coordinated. The list of high-level civilian and military degrees of the members of his committee is very impressive: officers, engineers, and specialists in physics, life sciences, and social sciences were able to deal with all aspects of the study. This is not a purely academic study. Concrete problems are raised, and not only for civilian and military pilots, that call for a response in terms of action. The makeup of COMETA [Committee for In-Depth Studies], which is the name of the committee, took these into account. Almost all of its members have, or had during the course of their careers, important responsibilities in defense, industry, teaching, research or various central administrations. I express the wish that the recommendations of COMETA, which are inspired by good sense, will be examined and implemented by the authorities of our country. The first report of the AA favored the creation within CNES of the only civilian government agency known in the world dedicated to the study of UFOs. May this new report, which is much more in-depth, give new impetus to our national efforts and to indispensable international cooperation. IHEDN will then have well served the nation and, perhaps, humanity. “Consider all of the hypotheses” —