Some people will tell you it’s totally untrue. It’s not. Others will say it’s unfounded. Dead wrong. And probably more than a few will claim it’s nothing but paranoia run rampant. Wrong again. What is it? Well, I’ll tell you: it’s the claim that Intelligence agencies not only monitor UFO activity, but carefully take note of what is being said on the subject at conferences around the world, too; even to the extent of sitting in the audiences and carefully making notes or recording every word that comes out of the mouths of the speakers. Think I’m wrong? Read on. You’ll see several examples of around no less than 30 cases that I have been able to document via the Freedom of Information Acts of several countries.

In the late 1970s, the FBI was taking a keen interest in the research of a number of investigators of the cattle mutilation mystery and even went as far as dispatching agents to attend a conference on the subject that was held on 20 April 1979 at the New Mexico-based Albuquerque Public Library. A report to FBI headquarters from Albuquerque, dated 25 April 1979, outlined the flavor of the conference, and addressed the various opinions of those in attendance:

“Gabe Valdez, New Mexico State Police, Dulce, New Mexico, reported he has investigated the death of 90 cattle during the past three years, as well as six horses. Officer Valdez said he is convinced that the mutilations of the animals have not been the work of predators because of the precise manner of the cuts. Officer Valdez said he had investigated mutilations of several animals which had occurred on the ranch of Manuel Gomez of Dulce, New Mexico.

“Manuel Gomez addressed the conference and explained he had lost six animals to unexplained deaths which were found in a mutilated condition within the last two years. Further, Gomez said that he and his family are experiencing fear and mental anguish because of the mutilations.”

The FBI document on the conference turned its attention to the various and diverse lectures given by a range of additional speakers at the conference:

“David Perkins, the Director of the Department of Research at Libre School in Farasita, Colorado, exhibited a map of the United States that contained hundreds of colored pins identifying mutilation sites. He commented that he had been making a systematic collection of data since 1975, and has never met a greater challenge. He said, ‘The only thing that makes sense about the mutilations is that they make no sense at all.’

“Tom Adams of Paris, Texas, who has been independently examining mutilations for six years, said his investigation has shown that helicopters are almost always observed in the area of the mutilations. He said that the helicopters do not have identifying markings and they fly at abnormal, unsafe, or illegal altitudes. Dr. Peter Van Arsdale, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Denver, suggested that those investigating the cattle mutilations take a systematic approach and look at all types of evidence is discounting any of the theories such as responsibility by extraterrestrial visitors or satanic cults.”

And as the FBI also noted: “Richard Sigismund, Social Scientist, Boulder, Colorado, presented an argument which advanced the theory that the cattle mutilations are possibly related to activity of UFOs. Numerous other persons made similar type presentations expounding on their theories regarding the possibility that the mutilations are the responsibility of extraterrestrial visitors, members of Satanic cults, or some unknown government agency.

“Tommy Blann, Lewisville, Texas, told the conference he has been studying UFO activities for twenty-two years and mutilations for twelve years. He explained that animal mutilations date back to the early 1800’s in England and Scotland. He also pointed out that animal mutilations are not confined to cattle, but cited incidents of mutilation of horses, dogs, sheep, and rabbits. He also said the mutilations are not only nationwide, but international in scope.

“Chief Raleigh Tafoya, Jicarilla Apache Tribe, and Walter Dasheno, Governor, Santa Clara Pueblo, each spoke briefly to the conference. Both spoke of the cattle which had been found mutilated on their respective Indian lands. Chief Tafoya said some of his people who have lost livestock have been threatened.”

Moving on from cattle mutilations, from 1992 and 1993, come other examples of official interest in monitoring conferences that had UFO themes or connections. For example, American military intelligence personnel were in attendance at the first European meeting of the Society for Scientific Exploration, which was held on August 7-8, 1992, in Munich, and that had the UFO subject on its agenda.

A three-page document pertaining to the conference, originally classified at Secret level, was made available to me under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1993. Its contents make for interesting reading:

“The expressed aim of the SSE meeting was to promote the exchange of ideas, results and goals among researchers in various fields of anomalies, and inform the public of the discussion among active scientists concerning current controversial issues. Papers and communications were in English, and German language abstracts of the various parapsychology (PS) papers presented were distributed at the beginning of the meeting.

“The conference sessions examined PSI and other extraordinary mental phenomena, crop circles (were they messages or hoaxes), geophysical variables and their influences on human behavior, astro-psychology, the Earth and unidentified flying objects (UFO), and additional highlights, to include near death experiences (NDE).”

Similarly, on 8 October 1993, following a routine FOIA request submitted to the Defense Intelligence Agency, I received a number of UFO records that had then recently been declassified by the State Department. Notably, one of those documents – dated 1992 – dealt with an official reference to a UFO conference in China that was the subject of official interest to the American Intelligence community. According to the document:

“China Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Research Organization hosts national conference in Beijing on 11 May. The organization hopes that China will be selected to host the first world UFO conference, which is scheduled for 1993. More than 200 Chinese researchers are attending the conference to study reports of flying saucers or ‘Fei Die’ in China. About 5,000 UFO sightings have been reported in China in the past 20 years.”

Copies of this document were forwarded to a number of departments within the American Government, Intelligence community and military, including the National Security Agency, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the CIA and the American Embassy in Beijing. Most notable of all, the DIA also flashed a copy of the report, via electronic signal, to the British Ministry of Defense’s Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS) in London, England. An integral part of the MoD, the DIS was created on 1 April 1964 out of the amalgamation of the pre-1964 service intelligence branches and the Joint Intelligence Bureau.

In 1989, Clive Neville of the MoD had informed me that: “…we are only interested in reported [UFO] sightings which occur in the airspace of the United Kingdom.” Therefore, this raises an important question: Why was the MoD’s Defense Intelligence Staff receiving official briefings relating to UFO conferences held on the other side of the world? Not surprisingly, the DIS refused to discuss this matter with me.

I could go on and on with numerous other examples that span 1952 to the 2000s. But, hopefully, the point has been made: sometimes, for officialdom to keep close tabs on what is going on with respect to both UFO activity and within the UFO research community itself, it’s not always necessary to scan the skies or monitor emails and phones. The old-fashioned way of simply covertly sitting in the audience at conferences works just as well…