POPE ALIEN NEWS MOD
The MoD has never operated anything described as ''the UFO Project". It is most likely that Mr Baker has asked this Question, having seen recent press articles in the Daily Mail, the Metro and on various internet websites in which Mr Nick Pope, a serving Civil Servant, has been widely quoted on the topic of the MoD's "UFO Project". He has not written to the MOD about Unidentified Flying Objects before. Norman Baker MP is the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes Constituency, East Sussex and is the Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary. I would like to find that Background Note, but on a quick search it eluded me. There is an apparently genuine 'Background Note' to Ministers on a PQ (Parliamentary Question), where he is described as having written several books 'some purportedly non-fictional'. It is also clear that he was regarded by senior staff as a pain in the proverbial, especially after he started 'going public' with his views on UFOs. However, he was evidently diligent and competent at what he did. And Pope, as an EO, would have had no-one working for him other than a share of the clerical support staff. There was no such 'project', at least before the commissioning of the 'Condign Report' in 1997. Pope's frequent description of himself as 'head of the UK Government's UFO Project' does 'overstate his role and importance'. Nick Pope was part of a 'Secretariat' unit covering a wide range of topics, and Pope himself is said to have spent less than half his time on UFOs. From David Clarke's book on 'The UFO Files' it seems clear that any in-depth investigation would be carried out elsewhere, by Defence Intelligence or scientific specialists. Preparing advice and replies would have involved researching previous papers and sometimes consulting other parts of MoD or the military. An EO, however reliable, would seldom provide advice directly to Ministers. The head of the section would probably ask someone in his/her team for background information and a draft reply, which would then go back up the chain. Civil Servants distrust the media.) For example, if an MP writes to a Minister about a case, the Minister's Office would refer it down to the relevant Branch of the Department, and the head of the Branch would then allocate it to a 'section' or 'desk'. (Though direct contact with the media would usually be through the Press Office. (But not necessarily inaccurate.)Īs to Nick Pope's actual responsibilities on UFO matters, they seem to have mainly involved answering enquiries from the public or the media about UFO reports, and briefing senior officers on the same. Anyone who described a particular EO as a 'glorified clerical officer who filed things' would be being deliberately insulting. There are (or were at that time) Clerical grades (Clerical Assistant and Clerical Officer) below the Executive grade.
Entry to the EO grade was traditionally direct from high school, with GCE A-level qualifications, but with the expansion of university-level education in the UK by 1985 (when Wiki says he joined the MoD) there would also have been a lot of university graduates in the grade.ĮO and HEO jobs are supposed to require more than routine clerical work. Both grades would usually be considered responsible 'middle management' in level. He was later promoted to Higher Executive Officer (HEO). It is stated in apparently genuine MoD papers that while he was working on UFO matters Nick Pope was an Executive Officer (EO).
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