Rockefeller Initiative

Between April 1993 and 1997 Laurance Rockefeller, assisted by his Washington attorney Henry L. Diamond and by C. B. Scott Jones, president of the Human Potential Foundation, corresponded and met with John Gibbons, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, about the release of government information on unidentified flying objects. The surviving record is the roughly 991 pages of OSTP correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act in January 2001 to Grant Cameron, which Paradigm Research Group has posted as scanned images, together with files processed by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.¹

Approach to the Science Adviser

A memorandum of March 29, 1993 from Diamond (on the stationery of the law firm Beveridge and Diamond) to Gibbons asked for a meeting of 45 minutes to an hour, stated that Rockefeller and "other leading citizens" planned an approach to President Bill Clinton on the availability of government information about unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life, and named Jones and Diamond as Rockefeller's companions; the OSTP control sheet lists the requested dates as April 12 and 13.² Grant Cameron places the meeting at 7:30 a.m. on April 14, 1993, with Gibbons and his aide Skip Johns, and states that Richard Farley had written a briefing paper titled "The Matrix of UFO Beliefs" for it.¹ Rockefeller's letter of April 21, 1993 records that Gibbons had told him that in his first three months as science adviser he had not learned that the government held a body of knowledge on UFOs or extraterrestrial intelligence that was being withheld, and that the most fruitful avenue would be the Department of Defense; Rockefeller added that he would report to Melvin Laird and hoped to follow up with Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, and that Jones would send an annotated bibliography.³ Rockefeller wrote on May 7, 1993 to Billy Graham about a co-signed letter to President Bill Clinton; Graham declined on May 20.⁴ Jones sent Gibbons books from the Foundation's library, and Gibbons thanked him on May 26, 1993.⁵ Rockefeller's letter of August 4, 1993 invited Gibbons or a representative to a roundtable at the JY Ranch near Jackson, Wyoming, from September 13 to 15, 1993. Six presenters were named (Steven Greer, Linda Moulton Howe, Bruce Maccabee, R. Leo Sprinkle, Jill Tarter and Keith Thompson), with John E. Mack and Peter Sturrock among the others invited (the London Times reported in May 1995 that Mack's Center for Psychology and Social Change "is supported by an annual grant of $250,000 from Laurance S. Rockefeller," and the Valley News of May 20, 1995 that Rockefeller "reportedly donates a quarter million dollars a year" to it, a Rockefeller spokesman declining comment on Mack's projects)⁶⁷; the stated purpose included developing "productive ways to encourage the Administration" to include UFO and extraterrestrial intelligence information in its review of previously classified information.⁸ A photograph published by Paradigm Research Group is captioned with the names Diamond, Greer, Maccabee, George Lamb, Robert Bigelow, Howe, Sprinkle, Thompson, Mack, Rockefeller, Jones, Johnie Jones and Robert G. Teets, with Marie Galbraith and Farley behind the camera.⁹

Roswell as the Test Case, 1994

After a meeting on February 4, 1994 Rockefeller wrote to Gibbons on February 14 that Gibbons's approach of starting with a specific incident was reasonable, that the July 1947 Roswell Incident would be "a logical and challenging place to start," and that the group would defer writing to the President; he offered the services of Jones and his associates, including a chronology of the incident already used as a congressional briefing paper and a video of witness interviews, and suggested individual amnesty for persons with knowledge of the incident.¹⁰ The same day he wrote to Anne Bartley of Washington that Gibbons's suggestion to make the 1947 event a test case of the government's willingness to review classification procedures under the President's recent Executive Order "was a very good one," and thanked her for arranging a meeting with a Ms. Williams.^8a Jones's letter of February 17, 1994 enclosed a Roswell chronology prepared for the Fund for UFO Research, press clippings on Steven Schiff's request for a General Accounting Office inquiry, and a reference to Edward J. Reese of the Modern Military Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration; it also told Gibbons that "My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate."^8b The scans filed under March 29, 1994 show Gibbons forwarding the Jones letter and both Rockefeller letters to Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall.^8c On April 26, 1994 Rockefeller wrote, following a meeting of February 5, to ask about progress on the suggestion that Gibbons seek information from federal agencies about Roswell as a pilot project, noting that Representative Steven Schiff had requested a General Accounting Office inquiry, that the publication of Mack's book had renewed attention to abductions, and that earlier that month the group had gone to Cornell University to meet Carl Sagan, who "expressed considerable skepticism" about extraterrestrial life but, in Rockefeller's words, strongly supported release of government information.¹¹ Melvin Laird wrote to Rockefeller on May 9, 1994 that he thought Rockefeller was "proceeding properly by going through the President's Science Advisor," and Rockefeller forwarded the letter to Gibbons on June 1, 1994, adding that Laird had suggested Gibbons as the point of contact and that preliminary talks had been held about a United Nations conference on extraterrestrial intelligence.^10a Widnall sent Gibbons an interim status report on the Air Force search on May 24, 1994, writing that "we are declassifying everything even remotely related."^10b On May 26, 1994 Jones wrote to Gibbons that Farley, a former staff member of the Foundation, had made an independent approach to a White House official described as an Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff, sending three packets describing the Foundation's activities "in support of Mr. Rockefeller and his interest in declassification"; Jones wrote that the Foundation was "circumspect about linking separate efforts" and enclosed correspondence between Schiff and the psychologist Richard J. Boylan.¹² Jones's letter dated June 10, 1994 (logged by OSTP on June 13) enclosed the Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey, "The Impact of UFOs and Their Occupants on Religion," conducted by Victoria Alexander for the Bigelow Foundation of Las Vegas, and said that it "would be a serious political mistake and egregious system error" for the government to try to dominate the process.¹³

Gibbons received the Air Force's Roswell report in August 1994. A handwritten note to Rockefeller, dated 8/19/94 on the scan and indexed under August 17, says that "yesterday I received the material," that the report "appears to be a thorough study" that would also serve as input to the GAO analysis, and adds: "Incidentally, I told C. Pell about this situation yesterday."¹⁴ The Air Force announced completion of its research on September 8, 1994.^11a A second handwritten note, to "Clay" (Claiborne Pell), indexed under September 19, 1994 and bearing what reads as 8/19/94, thanks him for lunch and encloses "the summary text of the Air Force report on the 'Roswell Incident'" and a lecture of Gibbons's.¹⁵

On December 2, 1994 Jones sent Gibbons a critique of the Air Force report, a paper by Karl T. Pflock, a collection of seven writers on government policy, a book by Robert G. Teets, editor of the Human Potential Foundation Press, and an analysis by Stanton T. Friedman. He wrote that the Air Force "tried to put the best face they could on their admission that the weather balloon explanation of the debris field was a 47 year old lie," that after the November 1994 elections "several efforts will be made by some researchers and research groups to get the new congressional majority to hang this issue on the president," and that Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were being invited to the Foundation's conference in May 1995.¹⁶ On February 9, 1995 he wrote that Rockefeller "can afford a rather aggressive and expensive effort," such as full-page newspaper advertisements, and invited Gibbons to be a principal speaker at the conference.^13a On December 13, 1994, copying Rockefeller, Jones sent Gibbons the manuscript of Whitley Strieber's book then titled Breakthrough, writing that "Consciousness is the core issue."¹⁷ The White House answered the conference invitations on December 15, 1994 (Patti Solis, scheduling director for the First Lady, declining for Mrs. Clinton) and December 21, 1994 (William M. Webster IV, director of scheduling and advance, for the President).¹⁸

The Conference and the Congressional Mailing, 1995

The Foundation held "When Cosmic Cultures Meet" at the Sheraton Washington Hotel from May 27 to 29, 1995; of 175 registered attendees, 102 returned the questionnaire in the registration packet.^19a On March 31, 1995 Jones sent Gibbons promotional material and hoped someone from his office would attend.¹⁹ The Clinton Library's collection 2008-1575-F holds invitations and brochures sent to the President and First Lady for the event; none of it has been scanned.²⁰ On May 16, 1995 Jones wrote to members of the House that Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole had a voice in the conference questionnaire and that there was "some suggestion that the current administration is in the process of reassessing the policy of secrecy and silence."²¹

On August 17, 1995 the Foundation mailed every member of Congress a packet. Letters to House leaders (Gingrich, Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Richard Gephardt, David Bonior and Schiff) and, according to Jones's handwritten annotation, to Senate leaders (Dole, Trent Lott, Tom Daschle and Wendell Ford) stated that "the Human Potential Foundation has been supported by Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller and others" and invited Congress to "play your normal, responsible, constitutional role as a check on the executive branch."²² Jones's cover letter to Gibbons of August 23, 1995 described the mailing, enclosed a draft full-page newspaper advertisement, and stated that Rockefeller "was a guest at the President's birthday party a few days ago in Jackson Hole" and might have had a chance to speak to the President.²³ Gibbons's memorandum to the President of August 4, 1995 had anticipated a meeting in the Tetons, and the Clinton Library holds photographs of the Clintons at the JY Ranch on August 21, 1995.²⁴

The Briefing Document, 1995 to 1997

Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, by Don Berliner with Marie Galbraith and Antonio Huneeus, is dated December 1995 and presented by the Center for UFO Studies, the Fund for UFO Research and the Mutual UFO Network, with copyright held by the UFO Research Coalition. Its acknowledgments thank "Laurance S. Rockefeller, for his vision and support, financial and otherwise," and George Lamb "for serving so effectively as liaison for Mr. Rockefeller," and thank Sandra Wright for making her BSW Foundation "available as the umbrella under which all the work could be done." The endorsement letter is dated December 15, 1995 and signed by Mark Rodeghier, Richard H. Hall and Walter H. Andrus.²⁵ Rockefeller sent the document to Gibbons on February 29, 1996, writing that "I sponsored this report because it seemed useful to bring together the most credible evidence about UFO sightings," that "I do not necessarily agree with every finding and conclusion," that the evidence indicated that the subject "merits serious scientific study," and that he hoped Gibbons could follow up "on the pilot amnesty project you suggested"; a new draft letter to the President was enclosed.²⁶ Widnall sent Gibbons the full Roswell report on February 27, 1996 "to pass on to Lawrence Rockefeller," and the second volume, The Roswell Report: Case Closed, with a videotape, on June 20, 1997.^23a In a letter of August 8, 1996 to Julia Marton-Lefevre of the International Council of Scientific Unions, written at the suggestion of Maurice Strong, Rockefeller proposed a small group of international scientists to consider a conference on extraterrestrial intelligence and UFOs; he sent it to Gibbons on October 17, 1996.^23b

On October 17, 1996 Rockefeller wrote to Sagan, who replied on November 6, 1996 that "no amount of anecdotal evidence, unsubstantiated by physical evidence, is worth a single substantive bit of physical evidence"; Sagan died on December 20, 1996.²⁷ The Society for Scientific Exploration, responding to an inquiry from Rockefeller as chairman of the LSR Fund, held a workshop at the Pocantico Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York, from September 29 to October 4, 1997, directed by Peter Sturrock; Diamond provided administrative advice and support, and Harold Puthoff and David Pritchard moderated the scientific sessions.²⁸ A panel funded by the LSR Fund published its report in June 1998.^25a