US: Kent Jeffrey launches Roswell Declaration
Airline pilot Kent Jeffrey circulated the Roswell Declaration in March 1994, urging an executive order to declassify UFO and extraterrestrial intelligence information after Steven Schiff faced DoD resistance on Roswell 1947. Supported by UFO groups, it garnered over 20,000 signatures.
Background
Background
In March 1994, Kent Jeffrey, an airline pilot, responded to the US defence department's stonewalling of Congressman Steven Schiff over his enquiries about the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico. Schiff had sought documents on alleged crashes and retrievals but received no information.
The Roswell Declaration
Jeffrey initiated a declaration calling for an executive order to declassify all US government material on UFOs or extraterrestrial intelligence. It also demanded that military and civilian personnel be released from secrecy obligations in UFO cases. The initiative was supported by CUFOS, MUFON, and the Fund for UFO Research.
Impact and Dissemination
The declaration was signed by more than 20,000 people seeking the truth about UFO events. It appeared in publications such as International UFO Reporter (19, no. 2, March/April 1994) and the MUFON UFO Journal (no. 318, October 1994). This marked a significant act of citizen initiative for transparency in UFO research.
The campaign underlined continuing public pressure on the government over Roswell and UFO secrecy, amid Air Force reports explaining the incident as a balloon project.