Nick Pope

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Nick Pope is a ufologist who previously worked for the British Ministry of Defence as a government official since joining in 1985. He had many different postings and had undertaken a series of jobs within the Department, including work in the Joint Operations Centre during the Gulf War, where he was a briefer in the Air Force Operations Room. He was the Ministry of Defence official responsible for researching and investigating UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles, cattle mutilation and other strange phenomena. His involvement in UFO phenomena within the MOD gave him the reputation of being the "British Fox Mulder" from the hit television series, The X Files. He is also noted for being very good friends with Georgina Bruni [1]. Nick is also good friends with Nick Redfern, Andy J. Roberts, Jenny Randles and Timothy Good.^{[citation needed]} Nick also writes a column called Weird World for Georgina Bruni's Hot Gossip Magazine[2] and wrote the foreword to her book on the Rendlesham Forest Incident, You Can't Tell the People. In March 2006 he sought and obtained a commission from the Ministry of Defence's magazine Focus to write a feature on UFOs. The article ran in the March issue of Focus with only very minor editorial changes. [3].

1 Biography
2 Written works
3 Quotes
4 See also
5 Official government sources
6 External links
7 Notes

[edit] Biography

He has also been involved in work on the crises in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his time at the MOD he held the title of Senior Executive Officer, is the civilian grade equivalent to the military rank of Lieutenant Colonel.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1991 and 1994, he was posted to a division called Secretariat (Air Staff) and was given the designated post of Sec(AS)2a, the main duties of which were dealings with non-operational Royal Air Force overseas activities and red tape for diplomatic for overseas military flights^[1]. In addition to his main duties he was given the more minor task of documenting the UFO phenomenon, mirroring the work done in the US by the now defunct Project Blue Book. Although most of the cases could be explained as misidentifications of known objects and phenomena, a hard core of sightings defied any conventional explanation. Strong evidence emerged suggesting the presence of structured craft capable of speeds and manoeuvres beyond the capability of even the most advanced prototype craft operated by the Royal Air Force or the United States Air Force.

Pope's unique access to new data and old government files convinced him that the UFO phenomenon raised serious defence and national security issues. He came across numerous instances where UFOs had been tracked on radar, leading to jets being scrambled. There were also cases where there had been near-misses between UFOs and civilian aircraft. All this led him to believe that an extraterrestrial explanation for some sightings could not be ruled out.

Through his official investigations into UFOs he was drawn into other mysteries such as alien abductions, crop circles, animal mutilations and ghosts. Although no longer carrying out this sort of work for the government, he continues his research and investigation in a private capacity.

Pope has done media work, including the BBC's Newsnight and Radio 4's Today programme. He has lectured at academic conferences, museums, military bases and the Oxford Union.

In November 2006 he resigned from his post at the MoD's Directorate of Defence Security, criticizing the MoD and saying the government's "X-Files have been closed down." [4]

[edit] Written works

He has written four books; all of his own written works required clearance by the Ministry of Defence prior to publication.

Open Skies, Closed Minds (ISBN 0-440-23489-1) details his official UFO work.
The Uninvited (ISBN 0-440-23487-5) deals with alien abductions.
Operation Thunder Child (ISBN 0-684-82442-6 or ISBN 0-671-01835-3) - Nick Pope's concept behind this book
Operation Lightning Strike (ISBN 0-7432-0333-X) - Nick Pope's Interview about the book

Operation Thunder Child and Operation Lightning Strike are science fiction novels based on his government work.

You Can't Tell the People: The Cover-up of Britain's Roswell (foreword) - ISBN 0-283-06358-0
A Covert Agenda: British Government's UFO Top Secrets Exposed (Introduction) - ISBN 0-684-81937-6

Nick Pope is currently working with Brigitte Grant [5], [6] on a book - The Alien Within - about her UFO and abduction experiences. He is also working on a Gulf War techno-thriller entitled Desert Fury, which is a speculative novel where things go very differently from what actually happened. During the Gulf War, Nick worked in the Air Force Operations Room at the Joint Operations Centre, which was very helpful in the research for this book. He worked with for several years, and took to New York to work with Budd Hopkins. He gave a joint presentation with her at the September 2001 conference organised by UFO Magazine (UK) editor Graham W Birdsall.

He has devoted his spare time to investigating abductions in the UK and drawing media attention to the subject through many public appearances.

[edit] Quotes

“I believe that governments and the military, and indeed private researchers, politicians- whoever- should place everything in the public domain on this issue. Governments can't, I think, have it both ways. You cannot say on the one hand, as the party line often goes, that UFOs are of no defense significance, and then on the other keep back some of the data."

“You simply can't do that. You have to have it one way or the other. And if, as governments consistently say when the politicians probe on this issue or when the media inquire, that there's really nothing to worry about, then okay, let's see all the data.”