• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Justin_Anstey

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 30, 2001
Messages
633
http://www.magonia.demon.co.uk/abwatch/aw12.html

By Kevin McClure:
"...But I have reason to doubt that, much as Pope may genuinely believe in the reality of an alien/RAF encounter and the rest of the alien presence/abduction construct, any significant proportion of what he says he knows arises directly from within the MoD.

In an early article - as in his first book and repeatedly since - Pope claimed that, "I held the rank of Executive Officer when in Sec(AS)2a; this civil service rank equates to that of an Army Captain. I am now a Higher Executive officer, which equates to the rank of Major." I have little doubt that this comparison has assisted Pope to give an impression of authority and access to inside knowledge that a clearer explanation of his position in the MoD - and the precise limits of his job in Sec(AS)2a - would not. In 1996 I wrote -

"It appears that while Mr Pope was collecting the apparently vital and significant information that he is now presenting to the public in various different formats, he was an Executive Officer in the civil service, a rank he says, "equates to that of an Army Captain". As an Executive Officer (EO) myself, in the HQ of another department, I found this an intriguing proposition.

After more than twenty years in the EO grade, on the maximum of the ordinary pay scale, and with some additions for good performance, I earn less than £16,000 a year (all figures are as of April 1996). When I joined the civil service, the entry qualifications for the EO grade were two 'A' levels of any description, and I don't think that has changed much since. I currently have no responsibilities for staff, and have never been responsible for more than seven. Occasionally, an EO might supervise up to a dozen staff, but he would rarely have personal responsibility for significant decisions involving their deployment. If you get fed up at your local social security office, or Jobcentre, and demand to see the supervisor, that will be an EO. It's a job where you need to be honest, accurate, and technically sound, but it's nothing special in the great scheme of things. Higher Executive Officer (HEO) is the next step up, and is a standard civil service 'middle management' grade.

The comparison with the Army ranks suggested by Mr Pope did not seem to ring true to me. I had this impression that a Captain could well, in combat, be responsible for the lives and deaths of a substantial number of men. A Major even more so. Using the straightforward investigative technique of finding out the facts, I compared the pay scales of the two civil service jobs with their supposed Army counterparts. This was enlightening.


Executive Officer between £11,433 and £16,826
Army Captain between £23,668 and £27,521
Higher Executive Officer between £15,363 and £21,491
Army Major between £30,054 and £36,010
In addition, Army officers receive subsidies for food and accommodation, and various allowances. Civil servants seldom receive any addition except London Weighting. The differences in income are actually greater than the figures suggest. The differences in responsibility are as great.
Continuing my investigation - actually, having a chat with the Sergeant in the local Forces Information office - I found that probably the only way in which civil service grades equate with Army ranks as Mr Pope has suggested is in the privileges given to civil servants if they visit an Army base. Where they eat - the Officer's Mess - and where they sleep. Otherwise, I suspect that they do not equate at all, and that Mr Pope's comments might possibly be regarded as misleading.

If the Government has entrusted responsibility for the conduct of its information-gathering, assessment and public relations regarding UFOs to a mere EO, then you can be pretty sure of one of two things. Either it has secrets to protect, and placed in the job someone who has no idea what they are, and whose ignorance is useful in protecting those secrets. Or - and this is far more likely - the Government has long since decided that UFOs have no defence or other significance, and decided to fill its 'UFO liaison' job as cheaply, and as at low a grade, as would be consistent with the rudiments of providing a service to its customers."

Later, as Pope's star continued to rise in the firmament of ufology, I wrote a couple of letters to the MoD asking about the nature of his job, his responsibilities, and the time he spent on it, as well as querying the sense of referring callers to the dubious skills of Quest International - which in a second letter they informed me they no longer did. Kerry Philpott's replies were consistent with my view that an EO would have been responsible only for dealing with incoming phone-calls, logging them, and sifting them for anything that would be of interest further up the line before issuing standard replies. It seems that this was far from a full-time job: Pope's 'Meeting the Ministry' interview, "There is no specific 'UFO budget', excepting the staff costs, ie around 20% of my salary", suggests it only occupied one day a week.

The caption to Pope's photo in Covert Agenda says "Nick Pope, who for three years (1991-4) investigated UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence." If he had the Sec(AS)2a job for three years, then if he spent only one day a week on it, the maximum number of days he could have spent on the UFO issue in work time was around 156. An average civil servant, even without sickness, will have around 7 weeks a year off, which would bring that down to around 135 days on the UFO task. In the Introduction to The Uninvited (p.xiii) he states of his time with the MoD "My conversion was not a blind leap of faith, but was based upon numerous instances where my rigorous official investigations had failed to uncover any conventional explanation for what was seen." In Open Skies, Closed Minds (p.3) he refers to "The hundreds of cases I investigated each year . . . " Considering that he had to man the phone and answer letters as well, I wonder what Pope's "rigorous official investigations" amounted to. It scarcely seems credible that he could have conducted hundreds of rigorous investigations each year in around 45 days.

From Kerry Philpott's letter to me dated 4 November 1996, it seems likely that Pope's job didn't actually require him to "uncover any conventional explanation for what was seen". Instead, Philpott explains - and this seems to fit the available work time much better than Pope's version - that

"The MoD examines any reports of "UFO" sightings it receives solely to establish whether what was seen might have some defence significance; namely, whether there is any evidence that the UK Air Defence Region might have been compromised by a foreign hostile military aircraft. The reports are examined, with the assistance of the Department's air defence experts as required and, unless there is evidence of a potential military threat, and to date no "UFO" sighting has revealed such evidence, we do not attempt to identify the precise nature of each report."

In other words, Pope's task may have been different to what he has intimated. Was he really, in the course of his work, looking for unknowns? Or was he looking only for reports of "defence significance". Despite his claim that "my official status gave me an edge over other researchers" (Open Skies, Closed Minds, p.3), was research actually part of his job? The MoD's real level of interest in reports from the public may be summed up in a brief extract from Hansard, August 1998.

Lord Hill-Norton Why [has] the MoD installed an answering machine to report UFOs? Lord Gilbert It carries a message that explains that callers will be contacted only in the event that follow-up action is deemed appropriate.

Unfortunately, nobody seems to have asked Pope just how he obtained all the remarkable information he claims to know. Maybe people have assumed that he would have access to it, by virtue of his job, maybe convinced by his Captain/Major comparisons. But I can't think of a situation in which a lowly EO would be given that access. Are we to believe that Pope has been accessing information for which he does not have clearance? That he's a master of espionage? I think not. So, should we really accept that what Pope says about secret and sensitive information comes from within the MoD? Why should we believe it? What proof has Pope provided not only that it's true, but also that it comes first-hand from official sources?

Although the part-time occupant of the 'UFO desk' would have heard and read some interesting reports going up the line from the public, he wouldn't have been told any more about a matter of serious importance or secrecy. Why would the MoD bother to pass secret, sensitive information back down the line to a desk EO who wasn't even engaged full-time on the UFO task, and had management responsibility for only one shared, junior member of staff? He had no need to know. He couldn't do anything with the information. The proposition that he would have been included in the distribution of secret and sensitive information makes no sense at all.

That Pope is still churning out 'new' secrets is also a surprise. I understand that he was promoted to Higher Executive Officer (HEO, the grade I'm now working in too, by chance) in 1994. I gather that this took him away from the Air Secretariat into, if I remember correctly, some sort of Finance/Admin work. The MoD is a huge government department, and the chances of Pope continuing to have access to any sort of 'secret' material after his change of job - let alone material about a UFO/RAF confrontation - are pretty much nil. Even if a rumour went around the MoD to that effect, Pope would know no more than anyone else who heard it, and it's unlikely that any such rumour would be more than fragmental, tiny suggestions of strange events. Any significant leak of information would undoubtedly be reported, and the appropriate security action would be taken. The civil service has clear and well-used disciplinary procedures, and I'm not aware that Pope has been made subject to any of them. The MoD isn't MI5, Pope is no David Shayler, and I suggest that any supposedly 'secret' material he appears to have accessed since his change of job should be scrutinised with particular rigour to identify its source.

If Pope really were party to information about a UFO/RAF confrontation, if such a confrontation had ever actually taken place, then I am reasonably confident that he wouldn't be writing a book about it, let alone boasting about it in advance to acquaintances. For me, the fact that he is doing so, and so far in advance of publication, leads me to believe that what he has to say is of no concern to the government, however convinced he may be of its truth. I suggest that it may be wise to look at Pope's claims in the light of his unusual, possibly unsubstantiated, beliefs, rather than accepting an extraordinary access to state secrets - secrets which nobody else has dared to reveal. In Open Skies, Closed Minds he thanks, among others, Tim Good, Budd Hopkins, Tony Dodd and Colin Andrews. In The Uninvited he adds Peter Robbins, Betty Hill, Whitley and Anne Strieber, Philip Mantle and Harry Harris to that list. No doubt they would thank Pope, too, for carrying their beliefs to a wider public on the back of his employment with the MoD, but I suggest we should be more than cautious in assuming that Pope's information about alien reality - including an alien/RAF encounter - comes from the government, when it seems so much more likely that he heard it from his new-found friends. Who probably started him worrying about there being "er, a number of other agencies" interested in him, too!"
 
Well I can't say I'm surprised. Who would buy a book based on the premise "I used to man the MoD UFO desk, and it's all rubbish!"
 
"I held the rank of Executive Officer..."

When I left school in 1966, I joined the Civil Service, with no qualifications except a CSE Grade 1 pass in maths and the ability to spell 'necessary' (it was one of the questions in the recruitment test that I sat). I jogged along quite happily for five years as a CA (Clerical Assistant). Then one day my EO said to me: "You've got too many brains for that post. Why don't you start sitting the Civil Service exams - you could be sitting behind my desk in less than 10 years!" I put in my notice at the end of the week.
Y'know, I coulda been a contender...... Or a UFO investigator.....
 
I actually do know someone who, with work colleagues, saw a UFO during the 1970s and reported it to the local RAF base.

He/she got a letter from the MOD, then received a visit and later got a kind of certificate stating that the thing remained unexplained.

I'm pretty sure that was it, it was a few years ago I saw these things.
 
After a bit of hunting around, it would appear that Nick Pope is (or at least was) correct regarding the rank equivalence. Back then an HEO in the MoD would have been "equivalent" in rank to a Major in the army.

The reason, it appears, for this "equivalent rank" thing was that as MoD spend most of their time working with the armed forces (who are even more hierarchical than the Civil Service) then there is a need to determine some sort of equivalence for the purposes of determining, for example, what seniority of civil servant should attend a particular meeting. It could also be used for such practical issues such as "what standard of accomodation should a civil servant have when posted on a military base?" (I suspect that civilians have higher expectations of such things than servicemen.)

To "spin" this thing up into anything of real significance is a bit :rolleyes:
 
Duly extracted from:

Fortean Times Message Board > Fortean pursuits > Fortean
culture > 'Grolsch advert':

Therein it's proclaimed:

"Mr Pope, who is widely respected in UFO circles and ran
the Ministry of Defence's UFO desk from 1991-94..."

Are either of those claims trustworthy...?


"Up to 40,000 Britons and 4 million Americans claim to
have been kidnapped by aliens. But Nick Pope, who ran the
UFO desk at the MoD for three years, said the number of
sightings could be far higher.

'We must take into account widespread under-reporting due
to the fear of ridicule,' he added".

Where can we access inherent data for this proclaimed
evidence...?


Facts: Pope's job as a Civil Servant had, officially,
little, if anything, to do with investigating 'UFOs'.

'Officially'... according to Gaynor South, the Ministry
of Defence's 'UFO desk' incumbent as at 29 September,
1999, and who answered my intrinsic enquiries on that
date, responding:

"Mr Pope was employed as an Executive Officer in
Secretariat (Air Staff) 2. His post was designated
Sec(AS)2a.

The main duties of the post concern non-operational RAF
activities overseas and diplomatic clearance for military
flights abroad.

A small percentage of time is spent dealing with reports
from the public about alleged 'UFO' sightings and
associated public correspondence".


As I recently emphasised:

[BEGIN]
Asked if they would please comment on Pope's publicised
claim that, "I've worked for the MoD for over fourteen
years now, and three of those were spent researching and
investigating UFO sightings, alien abductions, crop
circles, animal mutilations and any other weird and
wonderful reports that came my way", Gaynor South
affirms:

"The Ministry of Defence has not investigated a case of
alien abduction, crop circle formations or animal
mutilation."

Seemingly greatly at odds with Pope's recollections of
his tenure, one can only surmise how this can be
reconciled, as with his own 'abduction by aliens', which
it has been verified was seen in the draft manuscript of
Pope's book on 'alien abductions', yet for some reason
didn't appear in the subsequent publication.

[...]

In recent discussions with Prof. Chris French, I
elucidated why he should perhaps be aware that Goldsmiths
College press release of 2 October, 2003, publicising the
College's 'alien abductee' research, is arguably not
entirely accurate in profiling, "Nick Pope, head of the
UK Government's UFO project in the early 1990s".

I'm sure Nick appreciates the overall questions raised
and we can all hopefully look forward to invited
clarification.

Quoting from:

http://www.nickpope.net/

"Between 1991 and 1994, I was posted to a division called
Secretariat (Air Staff) and given the job of researching
and investigating the UFO phenomenon, mirroring the work
done in the US by the now defunct Project Blue Book.
Although most of the cases could be explained as
misidentifications of known objects and phenomena, a hard
core of sightings defied any conventional explanation.
Strong evidence emerged suggesting the presence of
structured craft capable of speeds and manoeuvres beyond
the capability of even the most advanced prototype craft
operated by the Royal Air Force or the United States Air
Force.

My unique access to new data and previous government
files convinced me that the UFO phenomenon raised serious
defence and national security issues. I came across
numerous instances where UFOs had been tracked on radar,
leading to jets being scrambled. There were also cases
where there had been terrifying near-misses between UFOs
and civilian aircraft. All this led me to believe that
an extraterrestrial explanation for some sightings could
not be ruled out.

Through my official investigations into UFOs I was drawn
into other mysteries such as alien abductions, crop
circles and cattle mutilations. Although no longer
carrying out this sort of work for the government, I
continue my research and investigations in a private
capacity".


Are our MoD being deceitful about the scale of your
"official investigations into UFOs", plus, "other
mysteries such as alien abductions, crop circles and
cattle mutilations" and that you did factually carry out,
"this sort of work for the government"?

You claim to have been, "given the job of researching and
investigating the UFO phenomenon, mirroring the work done
in the US by the now defunct Project Blue Book".

The MoD say you were an administrative clerk, dealing
with, "non-operational RAF activities overseas and
diplomatic clearance for military flights abroad".

What's going on, Nick...
[END]


James Easton.
 
I have a problem with Nick Pope. I'm bloody jealous of him. He came out of a cushy job and managed to market himself as some government authority on UFO's, writing books and becoming a minor celebrity. Obviously the guy's making the most of the situation - he's no more an "expert" than any of us here - but I say good luck to him, I'd have done the same thing in his position.
 
scotmedia said:
The MoD say you were an administrative clerk, dealing
with, "non-operational RAF activities overseas and
diplomatic clearance for military flights abroad".

What's going on, Nick...
[END]


James Easton.

I worked in the MOD, If Nick Pope was an exectuyive officer then he would not have been a "administrative clerk" administrative duties are carried out by lower grades, exectuive officers are generally considered to be junior management.
 
Having met the guy-he came across as a nice guy but very eager and over enthustiastic in his belief systems in regard to all things ET. I agree he has milked his previous desk job and loves refering his previous tenure at the MOD as the X-files dept or himself as the Fox/Spooky Mulder of the MOD (it got a little yawn-some)
Someone stated that he knows as much about UFO,crop circles, etc as us lot here, I would be so bold as to state that us lot here are a great deal more "educated" in the various theories,strands, histories etc-
Nick Pope was a relative newcomer to the subject in the mid 90's and had a lot of catching up to do, hence his gullibilatly at all things ET in his early years as a "Ufologist".....
 
I dont know what is is about that guy, I just can't seem to believe alot of the stuff he says. He seems quite a genuine bloke, but very gullible. Maybe it's just me? He seems to appear on all these UFO programs covering the same ground.
I must admit though, his book 'Open Skies, Closed minds' is very eye opening indeed.
 
Re: Re: Nick Pope

Kitsunegari said:
I worked in the MOD, If Nick Pope was an exectuyive officer then he would not have been a "administrative clerk" administrative duties are carried out by lower grades, exectuive officers are generally considered to be junior management.

I also worked for the MOD and am still a civil servant.

If Nick Pope was an Executive Officer then he is/was just 2 steps up from the lowest civil service grade. He would indeed do admin work for those grades above him. Many EOs have no staff to manage at all. In effect he would know no more about UFOs (if there is anything to know) than anyone below him and almost certainly no more than anyone quite a number of grades above.

He knows nothing.
 
Re: Re: Re: Nick Pope

Georgie Pin said:
If Nick Pope was an Executive Officer then he is/was just 2 steps up from the lowest civil service grade.
Wasn't an EO just the first rung on the ladder for a new graduate? Nice enough, but not that impressive when you consider how many grades there are above him.
 
If Nick Pope was an Executive Officer then he is/was just 2 steps up from the lowest civil service grade.
True. I joined (and resigned) as an EO. Before going to university. The AOs were A level (failed) joiners. The grade below that was (IIRC) Administrative Assistant (typists basically).

But (in terms of posh jobs) it did slightly depend what department you were in. So being an EO in Whitehall was a much tougher gig to get than being an EO in a regional Benefits Office. Same pay but different prospects.

I don't know if this is still true. But in the old days it was down to the 'panel' system. It was much easier to go up within a given department - than it was to go sideways into a 'posher' department. You used to need French or Russian (in broad terms) for the Foreign Office. Even at the same scale.

All that said. Nick Pope is definitely a bit of a fraud - trading on the (now thankfully dying) UFO conspiracy publishing boom.
 
Re: Re: Re: Nick Pope

Georgie Pin said:
I also worked for the MOD and am still a civil servant.

If Nick Pope was an Executive Officer then he is/was just 2 steps up from the lowest civil service grade. He would indeed do admin work for those grades above him. Many EOs have no staff to manage at all. In effect he would know no more about UFOs (if there is anything to know) than anyone below him and almost certainly no more than anyone quite a number of grades above.

He knows nothing.

I'm still in the MOD, I am an Executive Officer and I have had staff under me. I don't have staff under me at the moment but I don't do admin duties for the grades above me. It depends on where you are and what you are doing, I think Pope is just milking it to sell books - I dont blame him its much better than working in the MOD !!
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Nick Pope

Kitsunegari said:
I dont blame him its much better than working in the MOD !!
IIRC, he still is. Worst of both worlds. ;)
 
Oh boy:

London, Friday 10.11.06

'Aliens could attack at any time' warns former MoD chief

09.11.06

UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies.

So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed.

During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain.

His concern is that "highly credible" sightings are simply dismissed.

And he complains that the project he once ran is now "virtually closed" down, leaving the country "wide open" to aliens.

Mr Pope decided to speak out about his worries after resigning from his post at the Directorate of Defence Security at the MoD this week.

"The consequences of getting this one wrong could be huge," he said.

"If you reported a UFO sighting now, I am absolutely sure that you would just get back a standard letter telling you not to worry. ''Frankly we are wide open - if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored.

"The X-Files have been closed down." If these words had come from a sci-fi fanatic, they could be easily dismissed by cynics.

But Mr Pope's CV - he was head of the UFO project between 1991 and 1994 - cannot be ignored.

When he began his job, he too was sceptical about UFOs but access to classified files on the subject and investigation of a series of spectacular UFO sightings gradually changed his mind.

And while Mr Pope says that there is no evidence of hostile intent, he insists it cannot be ruled out.

"There has got to be the potential for that and one is left with the uneasy feeling that if it turned out to be so, there is very little we could do about it," he said.

"If you believe these things are extra terrestrial craft then you cannot rule out that what is happening is some kind of covert reconnaissance."

One incident which persuaded him of the existence of alien lifeforms was in 1993. There were reports of a "vast, triangular-shaped craft" spotted flying over RAF bases in the West Midlands.

"Most of the witnesses were police and military personnel," he said.

"Hundreds of members of the public also had sightings over a period of several hours."

In another incident in 1980 at RAF bases in Suffolk, staff investigated a suspected plane crash after bright lights were reported coming from nearby woods.

They found a kind of lunar landing module standing on three legs which then flew off. The indents it left in the ground were found to emit ten times the normal levels of radiation. Mr Pope said: "These sort of incidents are why I got so frustrated.

"In my time I would brief the more interesting sightings up the chain of command to people like the Chief of the Air Staff and would get the answer back that it was very interesting and I had clearly done a good job investigating it and that was it.

"Every one is a piece of a puzzle but no one takes it seriously. There needs to be more resources and people who are prepared to look past the philosophical issues, look at the reports and investigate them properly.

"Whether you believe these things are foreign air forces testing prototype aircraft or whether you believe they are something more exotic, with the speeds and movements they are capable of, it's technology we would very much like to get hold of."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence insisted that all UFO sightings were investigated for "evidence to suggest that UK airspace has been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity."

She said: "Unless there is such evidence, the MoD doesn't attempt to positively identify what was seen."

Mr Pope is continuing his UFO research in a private capacity since leaving the MoD and is recognised as a leading authority on UFOs and the unexpected.

He has written four science fiction books drawing on his experience at the MoD, and lectures around the world on the subject.

He has appeared on BBC Newsnight and Radio 4's Today programme and has acted as consultant on numerous television documentaries.

http://tinyurl.com/yzmkjw
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Oh boy:

London, Friday 10.11.06

'Aliens could attack at any time' warns former MoD chief

09.11.06

UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies.

So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed.

During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain.

His concern is that "highly credible" sightings are simply dismissed.

And he complains that the project he once ran is now "virtually closed" down, leaving the country "wide open" to aliens.
I have recently had it explained to me that the reason Mr Pope appears to have gone a bit funny is that he knows too much, and as a result the powers that be are conducting a very subtle smear campaign, making him appear a tad fervent.

This is hard to argue with, however potentially loopy an assertion it may be.
Mr Pope is continuing his UFO research in a private capacity since leaving the MoD and is recognised as a leading authority on UFOs and the unexpected.
The unexpected? How can you be an expert on surprises?
 
Anyone who recognises him as 'a leading authority on UFOs' probably needs to read into the subject a bit more ;)
 
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence insisted that all UFO sightings were investigated for "evidence to suggest that UK airspace has been compromised by hostile or unauthorised air activity."

She said: "Unless there is such evidence, the MoD doesn't attempt to positively identify what was seen."
Are we to assume, then, that UFOs are authorised visitors to UK airspace...? :shock:
 
Wasn't Nick Pope scorned upon for going back on a lot of the stuff he'd come out with, about UFO's and the genre in general?
I remember spending a very long time going through a bumper find of text files i'd found on Fidonet (they were the days), and although a good few thought Nick Pope was the messiah, the ones written at a later date seemed to think of him as a sell out/liar, etc.

This latest news story sounds like a PR stunt, he's probably written a book.
 
Once you sign the official secrets act you never leave them really.....

What this resignation tells us is that the military cant really win with this stuff. Either way when info is released more questions will be asked. So its a case of lock down the hatches and ignore the elephant in the room.

A good question to ask would be , who authorised the "aliens" presence in the UK? Was there american blackmail , to station/allow them in East Anglia/North Sea/Scotland? Who gave them permission to sanction abductions? Was it an issue over access to gizmo's or technology. Or did the UK government not have a choice in the matter?
 
wowsah156 said:
.

A good question to ask would be , who authorised the "aliens" presence in the UK? Was there american blackmail , to station/allow them in East Anglia/North Sea/Scotland?

Those aren't aliens in East Anglia, just the locals....
 
AMPHIARAUS said:
scotmedia said:
During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope...

...was in truth [click on 'enlarge']:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o240 ... D_Pope.jpg

Hehehe basically an a*sewipe then - if you take the MOD at their word.

You may want to post the text here for posterity.

I wouldn't say he was an a*sewipe, there are 2 grades lower than executive officer. He definately wouldn't have been head of his team though.
 
IMHO, he never was any sort of big cheese in the intelligence community, and isn't really an expert on UFOs - unless, let's face it, being an expert involves rehashing previous ideas, theories and accounts. He hasn't, as far as I can tell, brought anything new to the subject, especially given his background. He seems instead to be using his past employment as a gimick to help sell his books, relying on it to give his books a sheen of authority.
 
Jerry_B said:
IMHO, he never was any sort of big cheese in the intelligence community, and isn't really an expert on UFOs - unless, let's face it, being an expert involves rehashing previous ideas, theories and accounts. He hasn't, as far as I can tell, brought anything new to the subject, especially given his background. He seems instead to be using his past employment as a gimick to help sell his books, relying on it to give his books a sheen of authority.
Since he's presumably still covered by the Official Secrets Act, it will be interesting to see how that might work.
 
It would work perfectly well if he was talking absolute b*ll*cks, as this is not generally not covered by the OSA
 
Back
Top