The Center for UFO Research held the 2013 Symposium on Official and Scientific Investigation of UAP (UFOs) this weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina. Open Minds was there to cover the event and got exclusive interviews with the scientists and government officials who were there to discuss their research and investigations.
The event was financed and organized by Kent Senter, who has researched the UFO phenomena for over 25 years. He was one of the founding members of the North Carolina chapter of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Senter is battling an incurable cancer, and wanted to put together a credible conference as part of his “bucket list.” Early on his cancer was misdiagnosed, and with some of the money he was awarded in a settlement, he was able to bring in the best people from all over the world to accomplish his goal of elevating the credibility of UFO research.
From left: Leslie Kean, Kent Senter and his wife Patty. (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)
In order to help him gather the most credible international group, he enlisted the help of Leslie Kean. Her book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, was a New York Times best-seller, and has garnered positive attention from mainstream media and scientists.
Included among the international speakers were two representatives from official government UFO research organizations. One of those is Xavier Passot, the head of GEIPAN, a UFO investigative group that is part of France’s CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), which is the equivalent to NASA here in the US. The other official was Jose Lay, the international affairs director of Chile’s Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA). This organization is a branch of the General Administration of Civil Aeronautics, which is similar to our FAA.
Xavier Passot of GEIPAN (left) and Jose Lay of CEFAA. (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)
Other international speakers included retired Major General Wilfried De Brouwer of the Belgium Air Force. He presided over the official investigation of 2000 reports of triangular shaped UFOs over Belgium from 1989 to 1991. He says the witnesses included highly credible individuals including pilots and police officials.
An incredible case involving the Unites States military was presented by retired Colonel Charles Halt, who in 1980 was the deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters in England when he and other Air Force personnel witnessed UFO activity over the period of a few nights. Bentwaters was being leased by the US from the UK government, and the files on this case were included in the UK government’s recent release of UFO files.
Representatives from academia also spoke, such as Alexander Wendt, professor of International Security, who spoke on the UFO taboo. Similarly, emeritus professor of sociology, Ron Westrum spoke on how society deals with controversial discoveries. Astronomer and author, Jeffrey Bennett, presented on the scientific search for extraterrestrial life, and Dr. Richard Haines presented UFO investigations of reports from pilots.
Major General Wilfried De Brouwer (Credit: Alejandro Rojas)
Finally, Nancy Talbott spoke on the science of crop circles, and Timothy Good, UK author and researcher, spoke on the history of UFO research.
The gathering was a once in a lifetime chance to visit with officials, military personnel, professors, and other credible researchers from around the world. We got a lot of great interviews and besides this video, will be posting several others focused on the work of some of these incredible people.
