Official role
Hastings has dedicated much of his life to formulating counterarguments to official dismissals of all things UFO-related, digging through once-classified documents, filing Freedom of Information Act requests, and interviewing people with firsthand knowledge of UFO sightings and the government's efforts to ignore them.
He's delivered his findings in lectures at more than 500 colleges and universities. Most of his study involves the preponderance of UFO activity near America's nuclear weapons, and he has studied intently cases in Wyoming, New Mexico and Montana.
"There are FBI, CIA and Air Force documents going back to as early as December 1948 confirming that what the documents themselves refer to as 'flying discs' or 'flying saucers' have demonstrated an ongoing interest in our nuclear weapons sites," Hastings said, noting that since 2001, the release of sensitive, UFO-related documents by the government has slowed to a trickle. Much of his lecture Wednesday, "UFOs: The Hidden History," will involve the history and potential risks of alien life forms' interest in U.S. nuclear weapons.
Stephen Nielson, the 23-year-old speakers board chairman for the Associated Students of the University of Utah, booked Hastings' lecture at the U. Nielson said he believes in extraterrestrial life, but "I don't necessarily know if they've been to Earth."
"UFOs, everybody has some fascination with them," Nielson said.
"'The X-Files' made them extremely popular during the '90s, so the generation that's now in college kind of has that mentality."
For more on UFOs in Utah
To view video of the Tremonton tapes, visit http://galactic2.net/video/ufo9.avi, and for photographs, visit http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/utahcondon.htm.
For more information on UFO activity in Utah, visit the Web site of the Utah UFO Hunters at http://www.aliendave.com.
source: Salt Lake Tribune