by Charles Lear
Many countries around the world have active, state funded, long-term UFO studies. If the United States Congress follows up on the recommendation in the recently released Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force report that “additional funding for research and development could further the future study of the topics laid out in this report,” the U.S. may soon have one as well. The U.S. has had two acknowledged, publicly funded UFO investigations in the past. One was run by the Air Force under the name of “Project Blue Book” for most of its existence from 1948 until 1969, and the other by the Pentagon from 2007 until 2012 as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. While the 21-year run for the Air Force investigation may seem substantial, the investigation funded by the French government has lasted more than twice as long.
The group studying UFOs in France is now operating as Groupe d’Etude et Information des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés or GEIPAN. The group was first called Groupe d’Etude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés, or GEPAN, when it was started in 1977, and then Service d’Expertise des Phénomènes de Rentrée Atmérique, or SEPRA from 1988 to 2004. GEIPAN operates as part of the French Space Agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales, or CNES. Read more