Exopolitics: political implications of the extra-terrestrial presence
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Exopolitical Comment # 21

Reply to Phenomena Magazine Editorial :

Galactic Diplomacy with Extraterrestrial Races

November 25, 2004

Dear Mr Miller

I read with interest your November 19, 2004 editorial in Phenomena Magazine (read here) and wish to clarify some points you made about my recent research paper and my exopolitics research more generally. First you refer to me as a 'controversial figure'. I have cited sources such as Paul Bennewitz, John Lear, Phil Schneider, William Cooper, Michael Wolf, Val Valerian, and others who are regarded as controversial by many Ufologists. It does not logically follow however that I become controversial simply because I cite controversial sources. Does one for example become controversial citing the controversial Peak Oil theories of Michael Ruppert as a factor in driving the war in Iraq (www.fromthewilderness.com )? No, I believe one can provide an objective analysis of the Iraq war using controversial sources such as Ruppert without becoming controversial oneself. The role of political science is to provide scholarly analyses of the chief actors, institutuions and processes driving global politics, and this often involves citing controversial sources. I'm not making first hand experiential claims regarding extraterrestrials or the UFO phenomenon based on my experience as a whistleblower, contactee, remote viewer, etc. I'm instead using political analysis based on a more eclectic methodology than the parsimonious technical approach favored by many Ufologists.

You refer to 'serious'Ufologists, presumably a collection of researchers with competence largely in the natural sciences who rigorously use their professional training to work through UFO reports, photographic evidence, FOIA documents, archival records, etc., to reach some agreement as to what can be known with reasonable certainty regarding UFO related evidence. To set the record straight I don't consider myself to be a UFO researcher or Ufologist in search of evidence proving the existence of the UFO phenomenon, but a political scientist using qualitative analysis of the various sources of evidence pertaining to non-disclosure of an extraterrestrial presence.

This premise establishing exopolitics as a field of study is based in events such as General Voyt Vandenberg rejecting the initial Estimate of the Situation presented by the Project Sign team in 1948 on grounds that were political and national security related rather than technical (click here).This in my view merits political analysis by qualified researchers in political science, rather than an exclusive technical analysis by Ufologists using natural science methodologies gained from professions in engineering, physics, aviation or astronomy.

You point out in your editorial that I use "material from the internet" rather than presumably reports, interviews and analysis gained from field research, laboratory analysis and archival research favored by 'serious Ufologists'. This is what was actually said in the Washington Post interview by Peter Carlson where I referred to my use of the internet to support my exopolitics research on the alleged Eisenhower-extraterrestrial meeting: 'he [Salla] says, he found evidence of ET visitations -- including the Ike encounter -- on the Internet. "There's a lot of stuff on the Internet," he says, "and I just went around and pieced it together"' (read here). Now the quote refers primarily to extraterrestrial visitations and the Eisenhower-Extraterrestrial encounter where most of the material for that meeting was found using sources available on the internet. It should be pretty clear that evidence of an Eisenhower-extraterrestrial meeting is not going to be readily available using FOIA requests, archival research, and involves citing some of the controversial whistleblower sources I mentioned above whose work is freely available on the internet. In addition, I conducted a number of interviews with various individuals with information on the alleged Eisenhower meeting which I did not disclose in the Washington Post article. While I see no problem in using internet sources for building a case for an undisclosed extraterrestrial visitation that resulted in a series of secret agreements with the U.S. government, I was never claiming that this was exlusive and sufficient for exopolitics research, and I did use additional sources of information such as confidential interviews to support this research.

The sources of evidence for the exopolitics research I conduct is wide ranging and the internet is an acceptable though not exclusive source of evidence for exopolitics. I assume you agree with this since Phenomena Magazine provides online articles for its readership. Part of the problem with internet research is that there is an inherent bias in Ufology which uses primarily methodologies appropriate to the natural sciences, rather social sciences. The qualitative methodologies I use involve analysing the credibilty, coherence, consistency and clarity of whistleblowers whom I cite and who I have interviewed in a number of cases. Serious Ufologists would instead focus on credentials and hard evidence that can be validated which in the case of whistleblowers such as Phil Schneider, Bob Lazar, Michael Wolf, could not be done for various reasons I would be happy to elaborate upon in further communications.

The justification I use for the different exopolitical sources I cite is found in an online study paper I published in January 2003 (http://www.exopolitics.org/Study-Paper1.htm ), which was revised for the first chapter of my book, Exopolitics (Dandelion Books, 2004). Many sources of whistleblower, abductees/contactees, remote viewing and other information is found on the internet. Some of the figures I mentioned earlier, Paul Bennewitz, John Lear, William Cooper, Phil Schneider, Michael Wolf, etc., gave lectures/interviews or released material that is widely available and in some cases ONLY available on the internet. While the internet is an important source for gaining evidence of the extraterrestrial visitations, this does not make it exclusive, nor does it obviate the need for field work, interviews, archival research and laboratory analysis when appropriate. There is some sort of balance in qualitative and quantitative methodogies required here and while elusive, this is something worth exploring when it comes to the extraterrestrial phenomenon.

As for needing a 'BS filter' to sort through my latest research paper on 'Track Two Galactic Diplomacy' I find that kind of gratuitous off hand remark consistent with the generalizations used by 'serious ufologists' in dismissing exopolitics research. I look forward to a constructive dialogue with 'serious Ufologists' based on substantive discussion of key arguments and ideas raised in exopolitics, rather than general insults aimed to buttress Ufology as the exclusive approach to the extraterrestrial phenomenon. Ufology is premised on ideas and research methodologies that were established by individuals such as Donald Keyhoe and Allen Hynek who were biased towards the hard sciences and dismissed approaches that did not share their technical approach to investigating evidence and evaluating testimonies.

Exopolitics is gaining popularity because the general public have tired of 'serious Ufologists' debating ad nauseum technical information supporting the existence of UFOs. The public are seeking objective political analysis of the extraterrestrial phenomenon which is substantiated by an overwhelming body of evidence that shows that such a presence is real and undisclosed by government authorities. I hope that Phenomona Magazine consider giving exopolitics research more serious attention rather than simply promoting approaches that belong to Ufology as a disclipine that is losing touch with what most concerns the general public about the undiscosed extraterrestrial presence. Thank you for taking the time to have read my latest research paper, and to have drawn the attention of your readers to this.

Best wishes

Michael E. Salla, PhD
www.exopolitics.org
www.galacticdiplomacy.com

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