McClelland NASA státusza megerősítve a CNI NEWS által

2 régi NASA-s is mesél róla a CNI NEWS interjújában amit megkeresek majd.

 http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/nasa_knows_ufos.htm
"Note - Thanks to Michael Lindemann for special permission to post this
remarkable story.

In the world of UFO research, whistle-blowers come and go. Often they appear on the scene suddenly, as if out of nowhere, spouting grand claims and grander resumes. Almost as often, such people turn out to be complete frauds and hucksters. But not always. The late Lt. Col. Philip Corso, for example, was exactly who he said he was -- a highly decorated Cold Warrior with close ties to the Eisenhower administration and a demonstrated penchant for championing unpopular positions both inside and outside the military. When Corso said he knew for certain that an alien spacecraft had crashed in New Mexico in 1947, it became necessary to examine his claims seriously -- not because he could prove them true (he could not) but because he was a credible witness.

The Corso example points up a vexing truism about whistle-blowers as well as other UFO claimants. More often than not, the value of the claim must be judged mainly by the inherent credibility of the witness, because no irrefutable evidence is offered. But witness credibility does count -- in a court of law, it can be the difference between an acquittal and a death sentence.

Now comes another whistle-blower, one Clark C. McClelland, who says that for more than three decades he worked at NASA's launch facilities at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During that time, he says, he saw plenty of evidence that NASA officials and employees were exposed to unexplainable and sometimes quite alarming UFO events. If McClelland is telling the truth, he could become one of the most significant UFO witnesses in recent memory.

The July 1 issue of CNI News carried a story told by Clark McClelland regarding a conversation he claims to have had with famed rocketeer Wernher von Braun. McClelland says that von Braun, like Corso, confirmed that a spacecraft of unknown origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. When we ran that story on July 1, we were obliged to note that "our initial efforts to confirm [McClelland's] NASA background have been inconclusive." Needless to say, if McClelland's background did not check out, his UFO claims would be worthless.

As in the case of Col. Corso, we still can't guarantee that McClelland's UFO stories are true -- that would require a talent for mind-reading that we do not possess. But CNI News can now offer assurance that McClelland's NASA background checks out. He is, in our opinion, a credible witness.

Walter Kollosch is retired now but still lives near the Cape where he worked for years as a NASA subcontractor with the Martin Company. Back in the early 1960s, Clark McClelland worked for Martin as well. Clark was a draftsman then, and he worked with Kollosch on the Gemini program. Later Clark moved to the Boeing Company, but he stayed at the Cape, Kollosch recalls.

Kollosch remembers that Clark McClelland was outgoing and well-liked. "Everybody knew him. He even got to know the Mercury astronauts when we were working on Pershing [missile program]. When he was with Boeing, ... he was in with the Apollo astronauts... I don't know of anyone who didn't like him," Kollosch told CNI News.

McClelland says that one reason he has decided to come forward with his UFO information is that he has been somehow black-balled by NASA and has been unable to get work in the aerospace industry since 1992.

"Clark has had some bad luck as far as his employment goes. Clark is very talented. For him to be out of work for so long strikes me as being very suspicious," Kollosch said. But he did not volunteer more detail on McClelland's recent work problems.

Kollosch also knew that McClelland was very serious about UFOs back in the 1960s. They talked about it from time to time, but Kollosch said he wouldn't have wanted to bring it up with others at the launch facility.

There was a lot of secrecy in the space program in those days. The manned space program was, in effect, an integral part of the Cold War. Workers knew they had to toe the line. "In the early '60s, the secrecy aspect was horrendous... Some guys lost their marriage because of it," Kollosch said.

It may have been a problem with a security clearance, in fact, that eventually caused McClelland's falling out with NASA.

By 1990, he worked directly for the space agency in the shuttle program. He was then training to become a Spacecraft Operator (ScO), meaning he would have hands-on responsibility for space shuttle maintenance and ground operations. His trainer was shuttle ScO senior specialist Dennis Bestwick.

"I'm not at liberty to say a lot" about McClelland's dismissal, Bestwick told CNI News. "His work was fine, but something in his security check didn't quite check out. Nothing illegal, but something about the dates didn't match. You need a secret clearance," he said. It could have been as simple as a clerical error in McClelland's records, Bestwick conceded. But whatever it was, McClelland lost his clearance and was subsequently dismissed from the shuttle program.

Bestwick seemed sorry to see McClelland go. "Clark was well liked. He had an outgoing personality. He's a little bit eccentric, but he's knowledgeable about a lot of things. He was willing to learn anything we threw at him," Bestwick said.

Asked if he'd heard any stories of UFO contact during his time at NASA, Bestwick said, "That has been rumored for a long time, but I can't clarify that. The astronauts don't say anything... They're very tight-lipped.

"Myself, I'm not saying I do or don't believe in it, but having some science background... there's got to be other creatures out there. And we can't be the smartest creatures in the universe," Bestwick added.

But for McClelland, there was no doubt that UFO events were occurring around the launch facility. Starting in the early 1960s, he kept records and filed reports as head of the Cape Canaveral (later Cape Kennedy) Subcommittee of NICAP, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, then the nation's best known and most influential civilian UFO research organization.

One person who was privy to McClelland's UFO reports from the Cape was Richard Hall, then acting director of NICAP. More recently, Hall was Chairman of the Fund for UFO Research and is also the author of several respected books on UFOs. Hall is known for his dim view of many self-styled UFO researchers, but he gives Clark McClelland a big thumbs-up.

"I've known this guy for a lot of years and I've dealt with him extensively," Hall told CNI News. "And I've never had the slightest clue of anything other than an honest, conscientious, forthright person. So I endorse him strongly. He should be given the fairest audience and listened to carefully. I think he's going to check out. He's not a fantasizer, not an embellisher. He's laid back and conservative and careful, and I respect that highly."

Halls says that McClelland sent a number of impressive case reports to NICAP founder Major Donald Keyhoe and himself. Some of those cases remain secret even today. "I'm still keeping secrets that will probably go to the grave with me -- things that people have told me privately -- because that's the way I feel about it, unless they give me the green light," Hall explained."