Did the Clinton Administration Uncover Any UFO Mysteries?

William Jefferson Clinton had always been curious about the existence of UFOs. After taking office in January of 1993, he was suddenly in a position to gather information that most could not. The president was determined to find out if tales of flying saucers were simply hogwash, or if the government did, indeed, have many secrets hidden away somewhere in a well-secured vault. One of the UFO stories that the government covered up was the Jasper Incident of 1956, or so the legend goes in "The Top Secret UFO Project," filmmaker R. J. Thomas' parody of UFO documentaries.

"Think of it," Mr. Thomas said, "Clinton became president and the first thing he wanted to do with his power was to find answers to, along with JFK's assassination, the existence of UFOs. This was information not accessible to anyone else, whether it be the governor of Arkansas or the man in the street. Did he get any answers? Some say 'yes' and some say 'no.'"

The Clinton Administration did their best, however, to uncover the decades-old mysteries of the UFO phenomenon. The president instructed Webster Hubbell, the Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department, to investigate and report back to him on the existence of UFOs. Science Advisor Dr. John Gibbons started an investigation by the U.S.A.F. into the crash of the now-infamous, so-called flying saucer that crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. CIA Director James Woolsey launched a new CIA investigation of his own. Even Hillary was in on the act, helping billionaire philanthropist Laurence Rockefeller edit a UFO-themed letter to the president.

But no new UFO information was made public, no answers were given, and Clinton never held a press conference to announce what really happened in Roswell or anywhere else.

"Some people believe the president never found any answers, that even he was not immune to government cover-ups," Mr. Thomas said. "Others believe he did find answers, but chose to continue the tradition of keeping the public in the dark concerning the truth about UFOs."

Whatever the story may be, government cover-ups are parodied mercilessly in Mr. Thomas' biting satire.

Based on Mr. Thomas' 2004 novella of the same name, "The Top Secret UFO Project" chronicles the UFO-related events experienced by Jasper, a tiny Colorado hamlet south of Denver. According to the film, the town dealt with one unusual event after another in the summer of 1956. After a farmer spotted a spaceship flying over his house, scientists rushed into Jasper to investigate, reporters rushed in looking for stories, and government officials rushed in to keep it a secret from the world.

The farmer was told by a government-hired naturalist that the UFO he thought he saw was really a rare bird, not a flying saucer. When a gas station attendant saw a spaceship sitting in a remote canyon, the government told the press the object was just a parade float hidden in the brush by its' makers. And when a rancher found unusual debris in one of his fields, the public was told that the mysterious pieces were the remains of a toxic-chemical truck crash.

Billed as "the movie the government doesn't want you to see," "The Top Secret UFO Project," is a parody of the cheesy UFO documentaries of the 1970s like "Overlords of the UFO," and of TV programs like "In Search Of."

Mr. Thomas plays a documentary filmmaker who, in 2003, discovered (by accident) some top secret government films pertaining to the Jasper Incident of 1956. This inspired him to make a documentary about Jasper's UFO story, and to discover the truth behind what really happened that mysterious summer in Colorado.

During Clinton's presidency, Mr. Thomas sent him a copy of "Man the Guns," his 1996 documentary about Hollywood's contribution to the war effort during World War II. Mr. Thomas thought Clinton would like the video because the subject covered two of the president's most passionate interests: Hollywood and World War II. The White House responded with a generic card that included a printed Clinton signature, thanking him for the gift.

"I hope Bill Clinton sees 'The Top Secret UFO Project,'" Mr. Thomas said. "I think he would get a kick out of it. Although I'm still waiting to hear his response to 'Man the Guns!'"

"The Top Secret UFO Project" is available on DVD at
BooksAndSuchMart.com.

"The Top Secret UFO Project (DVD Promo)" is available for viewing on GoogleVideo.com.