Written by Staff member Thierry Wathelet.
The Belgian UFO wave: "backstage"

Monsieur D'Amato's travels

Thierry (UFOCOM) 1998 - translation from French by Yves (UFOCOM)

By the end of October 97, a French friend slipped the following
information in an E. mail addressed to me: "Did you know that a
Mister Richard D'Amato, official envoy of the US Congress, came
to Belgium a few month after the Belgian UFO wave to meet
privately General De Brouwer (Belgian Air Force, Operations
Section Commander) and the persons in charge of SOBEPS (Societe
Belge d'Etudes des Phenomenes Spaciaux)?" Well, no, I didn't
know that...

I must add that my French correspondent, whom identity must
remain secret, had always been a reliable source of information.
Besides, he is not a "ufologist".

From this day, I tempted to obtain more data on this Mister
Richard D'Amato. Once again, Internet proved to be a key tool
and a very powerful one.

First, I decided to interrogate an Internet search engine by
typing in the following keywords: "Richard C. D'Amato". I was
quite surprised to notice that the search engine only provided
me with very few entries. Four or five, no more.

The only entry dealing with "our man" was a digest of papers
which mostly emanated from the reputable "Washington Post". The
summary of papers is as follows:
 

[...] A secret Defence Intelligence Agency program that posed
tough military questions to a handful of full-time, salaried
psychics was kept alive for years at the insistence of a few
senators and a congressional staff aide despite opposition from
senior military intelligence officials.

[C. Richard] D'Amato, who was assigned to the committee staff by
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), a former Appropriations Committee
Chairman, confirmed in an interview yesterday that he kept the
program alive because four to six senators had expressed unusual
and sustained interest in its potential, and because similar
psychic research was being pursued by the Soviet Union, China
and "some of our European allies."

--Washington Post, Dec. 1, 1995
 

What can we conclude from this paper? First, it ascertains that
Mister D'Amato worked for the US Congress. One also learns from
it that he was "hired" by Senator Byrd to take part in a
Congress Committee in charge of evaluating and "reconducting" a
"psy" program from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Briefly, this resembles the so-called "Stargate Program" which
involves psychic spies, in other words persons with unusual
gifts such as "remote viewing"... Unbelievable, indeed! All of
this is quite official, and mostly "sponsored" by the US tax
payer!

Another interesting data is the allegation "...that he kept the
program alive..." : So D'Amato himself admits that he worked to
have the program renewed. Because he was appointed by the DIA or
even by another higher decision "structure". This would explain
why he was an official member of a Congress Commission.

The reference to similar projects being conducted by "some of
our European allies" was also of interest to me. But the
"priority" had to be given to D'Amato. Because there are
numerous unanswered questions about him. For instance, why did
this man, officially commissioned by the higher US Authorities,
come to SOBEPS Office and especially visit General De Brouwer?
Who is exactly D'Amato and why did the US Congress seem to pay
so much attention to "the Belgian UFO wave" of 1989-1991. Why
did Sen. Byrd choose D'Amato? Who is really Sen. Byrd? What is
the role of the "psychical spies" in this story. We will know
more soon.

Pursuing my administrative investigations, I succeeded in
obtaining several documents of interest: e.g. the following list
of the members of the Sub-Committee on Military Construction,
under the authority of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
The responsible person for the Democrats is Hon. Robert C. Byrd.
Under the 104th Congress, he even was the "chairman", i.e. the
President.
 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
 

SD-140 Dirksen Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-7204

Clerk: Sid Ashworth
Minority Clerk: C. Richard D'Amato
 

Republicans (4)

Conrad Burns, Mont. - chairman
Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
Lauch Faircloth, N.C.
Larry E. Craig, Idaho
 

Democrats (3)

Patty Murray, Wash. - ranking member
Harry Reid, Nev.
Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii

source: CQ NewsAlert
=A9 1996, Congressional Quarterly Inc. All rights reserved.
 

One can notice that Mr. D'Amato held a "key" position in one of
the sub-Committees on Appropriations. This was and still is a
very special sub-Committee! Indeed, Mr. D'Amato is a Consultant
for the National and International Security Affairs! Quite
normal altogether, since he is also a member of the staff of
Sen. Byrd. All these qualifications make him a specialist of the
US Army Intelligence Service. And this why he appears in this
story.

Just by looking at the list of the members of two committees
(Appropriations and Armed Services) during the 104th Congress,
one can note that Richard C. D'Amato (a.k.a. "Dick" ) always
holds very high positions.

The lists of members are a bit long, but packed with valuable
data. This is the reason why I think that they are worth being
shown below. One name is remarkable: that of Sen. Storm
Thurmond. He is the very same person who wrote the forewords in
the first version of Colonel Philip Corso's book. At this time,
Corso was not call "The Day After Roswell", yet. But here are
the lists:
 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

Senator     Position     Ofc.     Ph.#      Fax#     Principal Staff Contact

Strom Thurmond (R-SC)SASC/Chair, SASC SR217  5972 1300   Tom Moore
Sam Nunn (D-GA) SASC/RMM, SASC  SD303   3521    0072   Arnold Punaro
Trent Lott (R-MS)       SASC SCST/ST&S  SR487   6253    2262   Sam Adcock /
6825~
Kay Hutchinson (R-TX)   SASC SCST/ST&S  SH703   5922    0776   Ken Johnson
Richard Bryan (D-NV)    SASC SCST/ST&S  SR364   6244    1867   Tim Hay
John McCain (R-AZ)      SASC SCST       SR111   2235    8938   Chris Paul
Robert Byrd (D-WV)      SASC/RRM,SAC/De SH311   3954    8070   Dick D'Amato
William Cohen (R-ME)    SASC            SH322   2523    2693   Dale Gerry
Dan Coats (R-IN)        SASC            SR404   5623    1966   Pam Sellars /
5623~
Bob Smith (R-NH)        SASC            SD332   2841    1353   Tom Lankford /
Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID)  SASC            SD367   6142    5893   Glen Tait
John Warner (R-VA)      SASC            SR225   203     6295   Les
Brownlee / 9356~ / SR228~
James Inhofe (R-OK)*    SASC            SR453   4721    ----   ---
Rick Santorum (R-PA)*   SASC            SDB40-2 6324    xxxx   ---
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)    SASC            SH110   5521    2852   Patrick Von
Bargen
Carl Levin (D-MI)       SASC            SR459   6221    1388   Mike Thomas /
6587~
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)      SASC            SR315   4543    2417   Gare Smith /
5112~
Joseph Liebermann(D-CT) SASC            SH316   4041    9750   Tom Parker /
8787~
Chuck Robb (D-VA)       SASC            SR493   4024    8689   J. J. Gertler
/ 8033~
John Glenn (D-OH)       SASC            SH503   3353    7983   Phil
Upschulte / 3353~

Legends:
* =3D freshman member of 104th Congress
SCST =3D Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
ST&S =3D Subcommittee on Science, Technology, & Space of SCST
SASC =3D Senate Armed Services Committee
SAC =3D Senate Appropriations Committee
De. =3D Defense Subcommittee of SAC
RMM =3D Ranking Minority Member
Wednesday 8 February 1995
 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator                    Position                            Ofc.
Ph.#  Fax#   Staffer

Mark Hatfield (R-OR)       SAC/Chair, SAC                      SH711
3753  0276
Robert Byrd (D-WV)         SAC/RMM, SAC/Def SASC               SH311
3954  1689
Christopher Bond (R-MO)    SAC/Chair,VA-HUD-IA/Def             SR293
5721  8149   Brent Franzel
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)    SAC/RMM, VA-HUD-IA                  S----
4654  8858   Kevin Kelley
Conrad Burns (R-MT)        SAC/VA-HUD-IA,SCST/Chair, ST&S      SD183  2644
 8594   D. McClellan
Robert Bennett (R-UT)      SAC/VA-HUD-IA                       SD241  5444
Robert Kerrey (D-NE)       SAC/VA-HUD-IA                       SH303
6551  7645   Carolyn Fuller
Phil Gramm (R-TX)          SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Def                   SR370
2934  82856  D.Ribbentrop
Richard Shelby (R-AL)      SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Def                   SH509  5744
J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA) SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Def                   SH136
5824  2952   Jeff Martin/
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)       SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Def                   SR433
4242  3595   J.P. Dowd
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)    SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Def                   SH506
4744  9707   Bruce King
Ted Stevens (R-AK)         SAC/VA-HUD-IA/Chair,Def,SCST/ST&S   SH522
3004  2354
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)       SAC/RMM, Def SCST                   SH722
3934  6747
Arlen Specter (R-PA)       SAC/Def                             SH530
4254  9029   Morrie Ruffin
Pete Domenici (R-NM)       SAC/Def                             SD427  6621
 7371   Marco Gonzales
Thad Cochran (R-MS)        SAC/Def                             SR326
5054  9450   Jack Hoggard
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)     SAC/Def                             SR120
2541  2499   Robin Cleveland
Connie Mack (R-FL)         SAC/Def                             SH517
5274  9365   Ross Lindholm
Tom Harkin (D-IA)          SAC/Def                             SH531
3254  7431   Sandy Thomas
Dale Bumpers (D-AR)        SAC/Def                             SD229
4843  6435   Bruce McDonald
Slade Gorton (R-WA)        SAC/SCST                            SH730
3441  9393   Terri Claffey
James Jeffords (R-VT)      SAC                                 SH513
5141
Judd Gregg (R-NH)          SAC                                 SR393
3324
Herb Kohl (D-WI)           SAC                                 SH330
5653  9787   Jeanne Bruns
Harry Reid (D-NV)          SAC                                 SH324
3542  7327   David Chartier
Patty Murray (D-WA)        SAC                                 SH302
2621  0238   Eric Ostrovsky

Legends:
SCST =3D Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
ST&S =3D Subcommittee on Science, Technology, & Space of SCST
SASC =3D Senate Armed Services Committee
SAC =3D Senate Appropriations Committee
Def =3D Defense Subcommittee of SAC
VA-HUD-IA =3D Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing & Urban
Development, & Independent Agencies of SAC
RMM =3D Ranking Minority Member
date: Wednesday 8 February 1995

This document can be found on Internet at the following URL:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/fj04/homepage.html

All these data strongly support the view that D'Amato works for
the highest US authority. The article published by the
Washington Post and the Senate documents are consistent with the
above assertion. However, the agency for which really worked
(and still works?) D'Amato remains to be identified. CIA, DIA,
NSC, FBI, NSA, ONI, OSI, AFI? Your bet is as good as mine.

At the beginning of my investigations, I was tempted to believe
that D'Amato worked for the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
This conviction was based on the facts that: (i) he made
noticeable efforts to maintain and renew a "Psy" budget line at
the DIA; and (ii) "Dick" was a member of two Committees, the
activities of which being related to the Army;. However, the
National Security Council (NSC) could also be a reasonable bet.
The NSC controls most, if not all, of the Intelligence Services
of the USA. It is under the direct command of the President of
the United States of America.

These are the reasons why I got in touch directly with Major Ed
Dames, an ex-"psy-spy" now at the Stanford Institute. In the
meantime, and without any arrangement, Jeff, the person
responsible for the "Sciences" team at the UFOCOM, made a
similar approach. He contacted Ingo Swan, one of the "big
cheeses" of the "Stargate Program". As an anecdote, during tests
run jointly by the CIA and DIA, Ingo Swan succeeded in
describing very precisely a "top-secret" military installation
given only its geographical coordinates. Jeff and I are very
sceptical about this kind of stories and experiments. However,
The Ingo Swan trail could have been helpful to channel our way
towards D'Amato. But we never heard from Swan.

The person who provided us with a decisive argument to relate
D'Amato with the NSC was Jesse Marcel Jr... Yes, indeed! Jesse
Marcel Jr, the son of Captain Jesse Marcel. This latter was an
senior officer at Roswell, and he directly eye-witnessed the
recovery of a machine which would have "crashed" close to the
city of Roswell in 1947. We are living on a small planet, aren't
we? And may be, our planet is even smaller than this...

On April 13, 1995, Dr. Jess Marcel Jr, made the following
statement at a Conference held at Helena, Montana.

He claimed that he was invited in Washington, D.C., by a "Dick"
D'Amato, who introduced himself (showing him official
accreditation) as a staff member of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a
specialist of National Security and an "agent de liaison" at the
NSC. This "very private" meeting took place on a day of July
1991.

Later on, Jess Marcel told Michael Lindemann, a US investigator
and the editor of the ISCNI*Flash, that D'Amato asked him to
describe the objects, scraps and remains taken at Roswell by his
father, exactly fifty years ago. He also wanted to know what did
this event change in his life.

Dr. Jess Marcel also stated that, at one time during the
meeting, D'Amato moved towards a table and took a book laying
there. It was "Majestic" by Whitley Streiber. Showing him this
book, he said: "This is not a invention"... And yet, it was
supposed to be a fiction.

Dr. Marcel then asked a question to D'Amato, inquiring where now
were the remains of the machine recovered in '47. D'Amato
answered: "We, at the NSC, don't have any clue to answer this
question".

Monsieur D'Amato concluded the interview by kindly requesting
Dr. Marcel to keep him informed if some new elements came to his
mind, or if he received - again - some unpleasant phone calls,
or he felt harassed anyhow.

The truth is that one has been putting this sort of "pressure"
on Dr. Jesse Marcel for years.

Regarding this story, an investigator named James Easton wrote:
"[On 30 July], I was speaking with Graham Birdsall of Quest
International and editor of UFO Magazine (UK) and I asked if he
had ever heard of this claim. Like myself, it was news to him.
As he was due to telephone Stanton Friedman the following day
concerning the "Santilli affair" I suggested that Stanton may be
interested to hear of this.The following evening, Graham
confirmed he had mentioned this to Stanton and was somewhat
taken aback to hear Stanton confirm that not only had he heard
of this meeting, he was there! There was one other unnamed
person also
present.

Stanton was very surprised that Dr. Marcel had released the name
of Mr. D'Amato and said that D'Amato had indicated that he would
not confirm this meeting had taken place.

The following day, Graham told me that he had just been speaking
to Timothy Good and had mentioned this meeting to him. Tim was
also very surprised to hear of this. For the last few years,
both in Washington and in London, Tim had met with Dick D'Amato
in confidence. Tim was introduced to D'Amato by Whitley Strieber
and confirmed that these events are relevant to Strieber's
latest book, "Breakthrough." Again, Tim did not expect to hear
D'Amato publicly identified and said that some of the content of
his next book refers to these meetings and their implications,
but that he had not identified D'Amato. As this information was
now in the public domain, he would consequently be doing so."

This meting is also mentioned in a paper written by Dr. Richard
J. Boylan, a US psychologist and ufologist. The title of the
paper is: "Birds of a Feather No Longer: Policy Split Divides
'Aviary' UFO-Secrecy Group".

Here is a very interesting excerpt:

"Dick D'Amato, National and International Security Specialist
for Senator Robert Byrd and a member of the National Security
Council, stated in 1991 that an incredibly powerful "black arm"
of the government has been keeping UFO information secret and
has also been illegally spending enormous sums of money in this
operation."

To summarize, Richard C. D'Amato is a man "who knows".
Interestingly enough, the whole story started with a short
message dealing with the visit of a Richard D'Amato,
commissioned by the US Senate. But after some dozens of hours of
investigation, phone calls, fax and E mail exchanged, this
person was identified as a member of NSC, a specialist in
National and International Security working for Sen. Byrd
(Committee for Appropriations) and a "big cheese" who promoted
the renewal of a DIA budget attributed to a "Psy" program of the
Stargate type. Furthermore D'Amato probably met with Whitley
Streiber, Dr Jesse Marcel Jr., Stanton Friedman, Timothy Good,
SOBEPS members and Gen. De Brouwer.

Concerning these two last persons or group of persons, I had
nothing in my hands which confirmed their meeting with D'Amato
in Belgium. How could I verify these data?

If D'Amato had been officially delegated by the US Congress,
several Belgian Senior Officers (Defence Secretary, Senate, SGR,
etc...) should have been kept informed. Furthermore, this kind
of visit, the purpose of which can be termed "exotic", should
have left some traces in the memories if not in official
documents. It is reasonable to assume that the Chief Officer
responsible for the section "Operations" at the Belgian Air
Force (FAe) can only welcome a member of the Senate Staff (tied
with the Intelligence Services) under the approval of the
Defence Ministry and very likely under that of the Defence
Minister. At this time, the Belgian Defence Minister was Mr Guy
Coeme and his military counsellor was Lieutenant- General Michel
Mandl.

I have true respect for Mr. Coeme because he suffered from
several misfortunes, related both to his private and public
lives, keeping high morality without showing-off. To him,
Belgian people owe the "transparence" related to the events of
1989-91. To him also, SOBEPS owes its close collaboration with
the Army. To him again, and to Gen. De Brouwer, we all owe the
feeling that we have come closer to clarification...

With this state of mind, I wrote the following letter (note:
translated from French) to the residence of the Minister Guy
Coeme:

"Dear Mister Minister, First of all, please allow me to
introduce myself. My name is Thierry Wathelet, I am 32 and I am
currently preparing a first book dealing with the question of
UFOs. I am not a UFOlogist, but merely a citizen who has been
investigating this phenomenon for some four years now.

[...] At present, I am completing a chapter on the Belgian "UFO
wave 1989-1991" and I found myself in front of questions that
you may certainly better answer than I may.

At the end of the Belgian wave, the US Senate supposedly sent a
delegate, a Mister Richard C. D'Amato, with the mission to meet
with Gen. De Brouwer (note: he was a Colonel at this time) and,
on the day before, several responsible people at SOBEPS. Could
you tell me, Mister Minister, if this visit was an official one,
and, if it was, what were the objectives?

Could you, Mister Minister, give me some information on the
above point? I just remember that media mentioned it but you
know that journalists exhibit a clear trend to "adapt" the news
to their need... Your help might prove to be valuable to
understand what exactly went on at this time. Your willingness
to open the related files was, at that time, a world "premiere".
This behavior was also in complete opposition with that of Mr.
Poncelet who just officially closed this file on the basis of
two documents, one of which being erroneous. I am also quite
surprised to notice that there is no official reaction of the US
authorities following the accusation originating from our
Defence Minister. At that time, USA were conducting tests on
"top-secret" aeroplanes above Belgium. He even gave the name of
the planes: it was LoFLYTE. Mister Minister, what do you think
of this assertion?

My request is that of an historian, not that of a columnist. I
hope you may help me in my investigations.

Looking forward to hearing from you, I remain, Mister Minister,
sincerely yours."

Sometimes later, Monsieur Coeme kindly answered my letter. He
said that he would have been delighted to help me. However, we
were dealing with an old story and he had kept no personal files
on these events, which still should be available from the
Defence Ministry.

Yes, indeed... Mr Coeme did not provide me with new data. I was
still unable to confirm the visit of Mr. D'Amato at SOBEPS, and
his meeting with Gen. De Brouwer.

Several months ago, I obtained the electronic address of Gen. De
Brouwer. At the beginning of my investigations, the idea to get
in touch with him came to my mind. I wrote to him to ask his
feeling on the recent "Belgian wave". He never answered,
therefore I though that it was not disturbing him once again.

My last chance to get a confirmation of D'Amato's visit was at
the SOBEPS association, the activity of which was prominent
during the Belgian wave and central to the UFO question between
1989 and 1992. The relationships between the people responsible
for the SOBEPS association and I were not always smooth. Who was
right or wrong is of no importance. Also, with respect to our
potential interest in the LoFLYTE affair, I decided that it was
time to look further than our differences. This was made
possible only because Michel Bougard, the director of the
SOBEPS, shared the same feelings.

I therefore sent a fax to Mr. Bougard's house, asking him to
confirm (or not) D'Amato's visit. A kind answer came pretty
fast: "Indeed, I hereby confirm that we received Mr. R. C.
D'Amato at the SOBEPS, on July 1992". M. Bougard also stated
that he did not attend the meeting with D'Amato, but that
several colleagues did. He told me that he was going to ask Pr.
Meessen, Lucien Clerbaut (Secretary General) and Patrick Ferryn,
and keep me informed.

Mr Bougard held his words. A few days later, with the kind
authorization from his colleagues, he sent me the following data
that were passed on to him by Mrs. Clerebaut et Ferryn (Pr.
Meessen will reply later):

Mr Richard D'Amato came to visit SOBEPS Office, Avenue Janson,
in Bruxelles, on July 9, 1992. He introduced himself as "an
official envoy", delegated by a group of US Senators who were
interested in the observations made in Belgium, and in the
putative relationship of these with what they called "Black
Programs". Supposedly, D'Amato came to determine whether the
observed phenomenon should be attributed to flying objects, the
existence of which being hidden to US people. His card
mentioned: C. Richard D'Amato, Counsel for International and
National Security Policies, Committee on Appropriations, United
States Senate.

According to the persons who attended the meeting, D'Amato
appeared to know very little about the "UFO" context, generally
speaking. His data on Roswell seemed to be exactly those
presented on TV and in the newspapers to the average US citizen.

Any way, we got it! The confirmation that D'Amato came at SOBEPS
was given to us by a very reliable source. Furthermore, the
willingness of the SOBEPS to open their files (an exceptional
fact amongst "serious" UFOlogists, allowed me to double-check
previous data. Indeed, Monsieur D'Amato played the same tune at
SOBEPS than that he played to Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr., the son of
the Intelligence Officer of Roswell Base, exactly one year
before.

What has been written by Dr Richard Boylan should therefore be
true... What has been claimed by Friedman, Good and others seems
to be corroborated by the people at SOBEPS and especially Mr
Bougard.

I have to say that, at this point of the story, nobody except
two of my fellows, Jeff & Stephane Kucharski, knew about my
investigation. Even my request addressed to SOBEPS was
voluntarily imprecise. Later on, to acknowledge the help of the
SOBEPS, I faxed more data on my investigation to Mr Bougard.

Sometime later, Pr. Meessen also shed some light on the meeting
with D'Amato. We exchanged numerous E. mails which constituted
at this time one of the most valuable contribution brought by an
UFOlogist to my investigation on this phenomenon.

Here is what Pr. Meessen wrote (note: translated from the French):

"M. Wathelet,

I thank you for your recent E. mail and the precise answers it
contains. I will discuss this point latter since I would like to
focus first on the most important topic: Mister D'Amato's visit.

M. Clerebaut explained me over the phone that Mr. D'Amato wished
to meet me, to obtain additional data on the Belgian wave. He
asked whether I could meet him, on such day at such time at the
SOBEPS Office. I agreed. The meeting lasted for the whole
afternoon. Mrs. Clerebaut & Ferryn also attended the discussion,
but they did not talk too much.

M. Richard C. D'Amato introduced himself as Sen. Robert C. Byrd
counsellor, who was heading at this time the "Senate Committee
on Appropriations". It is a very powerful organization since it
is responsible for the attribution (dispatching) of the military
budget. Mr. D'Amato explained that this visit was included
within a &qotvoyage (trip) to Europe"... he never said that he
was "officially delegated by the US Congress US", as stated by
your French friend. However, I could not believe that D'Amato's
visit was only motivated by a personal interest in the Belgian
wave. Rather, Mr. Byrd might have asked him to get data on the
SOBEPS, its personal and its research methods. This did not
disturb me. On the contrary, I appreciated that he took the
information directly from us, after "knockin' on the door".

I also knew that he would write a report that he would drop
somewhere. This only was of importance to me since it provided
me with a unique possibility to pass on a message to the
readers! The meeting took place on July 1992. D'Amato therefore
certainly knew about the Belgian wave, at least as it was
presented through the media to US "observers" in Belgium. At the
position he held, one does not travel without having prepared
the trip! Though he did not read the SOBEPS report published in
1991, he very likely benefited (at least) from a "briefing".
Anyway, this did not matter since his only presence sufficed to
demonstrate that he was interested in the UFO phenomenon, in the
SOBEPS studies and in the data obtained by the Belgian F-16.

I described to him our major observations in such a way he could
really understand the exceptional extent of the Belgian wave,
the high reliability of the eye-witnesses, and the capacities of
the observed flying objects which could not be explained in the
light of our technological capabilities and scientific
knowledge. I also told him that I was conducting personal
investigations and that I wanted to know what has been seen on
the Belgian Army radars. As a scientist, I think that I would
have betrayed my responsibilities if I would not have requested
these data. He probably realized how seriously we took the study
of the observations (the facts) and their interpretation. Mr.
D'Amato listened to me with a real attention. Though he was more
a specialist of political, military and judiciary questions than
a scientist, I felt that D'Amato caught fairly well the
"message" that I wished to have him passed on. I do not recall
that he asked questions, but I know that I led the discussion to
reach the goals that were mine.

The "official" approach of the UFO phenomenon by US political
and military authorities is inappropriate and must be modified!

Here is what I wanted him to understand and to bear in mind, at
least on a person to person basis. To reveal the content of this
meeting would not have come to my mind. Not because it deals
with "secret affairs" but because it is often more efficient to
work "in the shade". Given the current situation, it seems that
avoiding the propagation of misinterpretations may be useful,
especially if they may eventually be regarded as hoaxes.[...]

In front of D'Amato, I added that, undoubtedly, the highest
political and military US authorities have all investigation
means allowing them to be well-informed of the UFO
characteristics and the extraordinary nature of this technology.
They should therefore be aware that this technology was coming
neither from USA nor from any other country in the world. I told
him the following: I understand that, in 1947 and in the
beginning of the fifties (when the Robertson Committee released
a "semi-official" opinion), USA were essentially interested in
conducting secret studies of the UFO phenomenon to gain
potential military advantage. However, one has to acknowledge
that today situation is not the same. Because there is a
continuous flux of observations, and because the E.T. nature of
the phenomenon becomes more and more convincing in the light of
a thorough analysis of the observations, we are now facing
scientific and human interrogations of the utmost importance. We
are not only dealing with a National Security issue. The issue
belongs to Mankind and affects our future in the long term.
Nobody is allowed to disguize the truth.

The day will come when we will learn that the political and
military US authorities have been lying intentionally for long
years. This is not the choice of a single man, but that of
several people. On the long run, neither the power of the
weapons, neither that of money, nor the power of the power
itself (under all its aspects) can "win". The "essencial values"
have to be protected. USA claim they are the land - and the
protectors - of freedom and democracy, but it will become known
that they have been voluntarily misleading us. Whatever the
reasons that will be put forwards, the responsible persons will
have to take the consequences of this policy upon themselves.
This political system will loose all credit. Still, USA could
initiate a "new deal" in term of UFO which may proved to be more
profitable to them in the long run than will be their current
attitude consisting in fooling everybody on this planet. "Where
there is a will, there is a way"!.

So this is what happened at the meeting at the SOBEPS Office.
This may not be exactly what you were expecting. I do not recall
the exact words of our talk (note: with D'Amato), but I can
ascertain that the above described ideas were central to our
discussion. Mr. Ferryn followed what I said in English, and two
days ago, he confirmed to me that he indeed remembers the above
conversation. He was the person who drove Mr. D'Amato from and
back to his hotel. What they discussed together remained unknown
to me. However, from what I recently learnt, Mr. D'Amato acted
as someone who knew very little about the UFO phenomenon. All he
said about it was already known. He asked questions about the
SOBEPS, as a person who wished to better appreciate our Society.
We had nothing to hide. On the contrary, we had a message to
deliver. Some of the allegations that you "harvested" might be
re-examined in the light of the above "feeling".

Shortly after Mr. D'Amato's visit at SOBEPS, I met with Gen. W.
De Brouwer. He spontaneously told me that D'Amato came the day
after (note his visit at the SOBEPS Office). The key point of
our meeting seemed to be his wish to obtain a copy of the radar
recordings performed by the Belgian F-16, during the night of
March 30th to 31st. Gen. De Brouwer did not passed these
recordings onto "Dick". However, he assured D'Amato that he
could have them, provided an "official" request was sent by US
authorities. This request never came! It was only a "tactical"
game."

Quotation ends.

The letter from Professor Meessen was far longer. However, the
other topics presented in his mail were of private or general
nature. At the end of the letter, Pr. Meessen wrote that he
would not oppose the publication of this letter provided he
could read first all quotations. Quite normal, honestly.

Later on, however, Mr Bougard told me that this visit and the
related talks were perceived differently by the three persons
from the SOBEPS. Relating all view points and apprehensions
seemed pertinent to him.

Indeed, Mrs. Clerebaut et Ferryn appear to have a slightly
divergent opinion regarding D'Amato's visit. I would like to
acknowledge this difference of "perception". Essentially, we
will retain that Mrs. Clerbaut (secretary general) and Ferryn
(co- founder of SOBEPS) remember that some references to the
"black programs" were made, and that the visit had some
"official" character. Pr. Meessen has a more "lukewarm"
attitude.

In my opinion, D'Amato made a major goof when he met with Gen.
De Brouwer. He asked for a copy of the data recorded by the FAe
F-16. This was in opposition with the "etiquette". D'Amato
indeed knew that Gen. De Brouwer could not provide him with
these data. Was this some sort of "yankee" arrogance or a more
intentional manoeuvre? Here again, I agree with Pr. Meessen to
term pure "strategy" these unofficially "official" movements.

I would also believe that D'Amato's attitude constitutes a
message addressed to us, saying: "We (the highest Official US
Institutions) are very interested in the UFO phenomenon because
we are not at the origin of it".

D'Amato pretends that he is looking for clues to prove that
there is an incredibly powerful "dark force" in the USA which
would master a "mysterious" technology, allowing them to
disregard the borders and the authority of the US government.

Strangely enough, it seems to me that Mr D'Amato should be
well-informed and probably better informed than everybody else.
Thanks to the position of his boss, Sen. Byrd, he has full
access to the best of the US "Hi-Tech" companies and research
laboratories! He has also strong ties with all intelligence
services in the USA! He has permanent contact with all services
depending on the Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministries. And he
is regarded as a US specialist in these domains, as exemplified
by the fact that he gave a talk at the Annual Meeting of
Political Sciences, held at the Truman Auditorium of the
Sheraton hotel on August 1997. Amongst the speakers, there were
people from the Defence Department, the Navy, US
Representatives, and several University Professor (including
Stanford). The main topics were related with Strategy, National
and International Security, NATO, International Politics, etc...

Furthermore, it is difficult to admit that the technology
essential to build UFO can be developed in such a way that none
of the best secret services in the world heard about it. Just
think of the necessary infrastructure! Private companies would
have to contribute to it. You also need factories, hundreds of
people, large energy supply, and an incredible amount of
money... So, where does this technology come from? Is this so
"big" that people can defy the power of the US government and
that of the president of the USA?

In the paper from Dr. Boylan, a citation of which is given
above, there are some data on a company which could be a good
"choice" to deal with "Advanced Technology". Its name is "EG&G".
Interestingly enough, did you know that EG&G set up a plant in
Belgium? When? In 1989, of course! Where? Very close to
Bruxelles airport. Why there? Because EG&G controls a small air
company which they used only for their own transportation. We
have to admit that this is quite surprising, haven't we?

Anyway, we are now far away from the questionable speculations
reported in the media which have led allegedly the Belgian
Defence Secretary to close the "Belgian wave" file. Later on, I
learnt that this was not true; just a misinterpretation (?) of
these media.... Thus, Ministry Poncelet never mentioned anything
about the LoFLYTE! LoFLYTE...? Neeeh, it is not a "black
program". It is a common project involving the Defence
Department and several private companies. This is crystal clear!
But may be, the truth cannot be told... Hence, the whole file
must be re-open. Should it must not, then I want to know why it
must be closed. Monsieur D'Amato did not come to Belgium for a
scientific study on temperature inversion. And Chief Renkin, of
the "Gendarmerie" did not see a LoFLYTE but something completely
different...

Now, imagine that this whole story could be a controlled
released of information, "distilled" drop after drop, to
acclimate ourselves to new concepts... And would it be possible
that Mr. D'Amato, when he met with Gen. De Brouwer, told him
that NORAD and Space Command were under "Red Alert" during the
Belgian wave? Indeed the military Radar at Glons is part of the
NATO strategic device for air control. It is therefore difficult
to understand that the US controllers, somewhere in Colorado,
did not pay attention to the data recorded by this radar.
Unfortunately, I cannot check and warrant this piece of
information. It is one of the few of that kind that you'll red
in my book.

Another hypothesis may be that Mr D'Amato came to gather data
for the Senate, the NSC (and therefore for the US President).
There are several clues to indicate that this is still his job
today. D'Amato tries to identify the people who are developing a
quot;private" technology "in the back" of the Congress and of
the President. In this respect, how should we interpret the joke
made by President Clinton during his visit to Belfast for
Christmas on December 1995? Remarkably, this joke was published
as an official press release from the White House.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

(Belfast, Northern Ireland)

For Immediate Release November 30, 1995

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND THE FIRST LADY AT THE LIGHTING OF
THE CITY CHRISTMAS TREE

Belfast City Hall Belfast, Northern Ireland 7:36 P.M. (L)
 

"[...] And to all of you who have not lost your sense of humor,
I say thank you. I got a letter from 13-year-old Ryan from
Belfast. Now, Ryan, if you're out in the crowd tonight, here's
the answer to your question. No, as far as I know, an alien
spacecraft did not crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
(Laughter.) And, Ryan, if the United States Air Force did
recover alien bodies, they didn't tell me about it, either, and
I want to know. (Applause.) [...]"
 

Knowing how carefully the talks from Presidents are built,
especially those from the US President, one can ascertain that
this sentence is not ingenuous. To whom it was addressed remains
unclear.... But everybody knows that when the President wants
it, NSC does it!

There are people who know but refuse to talk. It is an
indisputable fact. For their defence, one can say that it might
be dangerous to release new pieces of information as long as
most of the citizens will prefer "to believe rather than to
know". In a school, the teacher always adapt his instruction to
fit the average capabilities of his students...

So what, Monsieur D'Amato, your "friends" did find something
really bizarre in 1947. But was it so important that all related
projects could not depend on political variations or electoral
caprices? Was it both so huge and frightening that an
investigation committee was set up to study this strange stuff
and develop new technologies from it, just in case... To keep
their hands free, and to avoid alarming the citizens, these
people might have turned away enormous resources, have benefited
and may still benefit today from protections. A sort of State
within the States.... Indeed, this looks like what you claim
here and there... Surprisingly enough, a US TV series, which has
become a "cult" series, tells exactly the same story! Do you
know someone called Chris Carter? Is the truth really else
where? If someone wanted us to believe it, it is exactly the
right way to do it!

All these facts are crucial to the evaluation of the UFO
phenomenon. Good questions were asked. Facts were established.
Double checks were exposed here, and other will be brought to
your attention in the following chapters.

Is it possible, indeed, to evaluate the role of D'Amato without
taking in account the peculiarities of his main "boss": Sen.
Byrd. In this respect, it is possible - but not proven - that
D'Amato could also be the spokesman of one of the more important
Internet access provider: America On Line (AOL). If he is, he
would then also be the person who proposed to "release" some
personal data concerning the AOL subscribers. For the sake of
developing the electronic business, he said, adding that this
would be done in full accordance with the current laws. AOL has
millions of subscribers around the world. Because all data
transferred to and from Internet are systematically recorded
within the computers of the provider, one can get a very
accurate view of Monsieur D'Amato's main interests, goals,
opinions and character... Besides, the fact that this company
decided to "sell" private data on their customers is certainly
not agreeable to everybody.

Good to know that anyway! But what follows is not less
interesting...

LINKS TO THE REFERENCES

* Capital Online: Naval Surface Warfare Center group packs up
* Relevant Committees of the 104th U.S. Congress
*"archives"
*(Untitled)
*B:.B:. =A9
*Birds of a Feather No Longer: Policy Split Divides "Aviary"
UFO-Secrecy Group
*Capital Online: Academy may resume donating leftover food
*Capital Online: Mid-sponsorship program still strong despite recent
troubles at academ
*CENTER OF ATTENTION NEWSLETTER #19
*Committee on Appropriations
*Congressional Budget Office Home Page
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article
*Deja News - Article1
*DSFP Panels and Poster Presentations for 1997 meeting
*HotBot results: D'Amato (151+)
*HotBot results: D'Amato (76+)
*HotBot results: Richard D'Amato (1+)
*Senators Kept Psychic Intelligence Program Alive, Staff Aides Say
*Stargate
*Roswell
*CICAP - I veggenti della CIA
*CQ NewsAlert - Committee Rosters
*DSFP Panels and Poster Presentations for 1997 meeting
*HotBot results: Richard C. D'Amato (26+)
*ISCNI*Flash 1.11
*talk.politics.space 93
*To Be Governed...
*AOL HANGS UP TELEMARKETING PLAN
*AMERICA ONLINE TELEMARKETING INFORMATIONS