ABOUT FRENCH SECRET SERVICE, GENDARMERIE AND UFOS,

by Jean Bastide , co- MUFON Representative and FSR consultant for France
THE BOOK
A new French book seems to shed some light about the more subtle, rather artisti
c and kind of “low noise” link between UFOs, French Secret Service and the French G
endarmerie: “Dans les archives inédites des services secrets, Un siècle d’histoire et d’es
pionnage français / The realm of unpublished secret service files, a century of
French history and spying” (1870-1989), by Bruno Fuligni: http://www.editions-ico
noclaste.fr/spip.php?article1489, and : http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense
.gouv.fr/Dans-les-archives-inedites-des.html . Particularly in the chapter deal
ing with « Unmatched technological inventions: Radio interceptions made from the E
iffel Tower ; the first aerial photographs (1914-1918) ; Enigma and Nazi’s secret
code ; the first French special services commandos ; Camera, counterfeit passpor
ts, false bottom counters, etc: a never seen before museum ; The tapped phones o
f the French embassy ; The Gendarmerie UFO files » ( Des inventions technologiques
sans égales : Les interceptions radio de la tour Eiffel ; Les premières photograph
ies aériennes (1914-1918) ; Enigma et les codes secrets des nazis ; Les premiers c
ommandos des services spéciaux français ; Appareils photos, faux passeports, talonne
ttes à double fond, etc. : un musée jamais vu ; Une ambassade de France mise sur écout
es ; Les rapports de gendarmerie sur les OVNIS ).
I can give now some precise details about the link established in this recen
t book between French Secret Service and UFOs. On November 14, 2010, Mr Yves
Sillard has sent me an important e-mail. He is the illustrious former General D
irector of CNES ( Centre National d’Etudes Spatiale / French National Space Cent
er ), past graduate of the famous French “Ecole Polytechnique” (“X”), a devoted and impa
rtial man, the designer of the “Ariane” rocket of Kourou, French Guyana, Chief Engi
neer of Weaponry, past Head of the Armaments General Delegation , DGA (Délégation Généra
le à l Armement , that is to say the military research), founder of the GEPAN wit
h Mr Claude Poher (for which I made little researches on UFO cases more than thi
rty years ago, GEPAN being now called GEIPAN ), now President of the Advisory C
ommittee (Comité de pilotage) of the GEIPAN, namely the COPEIPAN:
“The UFO reports (compte-rendus OVNI) written in France by the French “Gendarmerie” (N
ational Police Force) since tens of years (they are not written by the Secret Se
rvice ) are actually in the Record Defence Office and for the great part well-kn
own by GEIPAN. They can be found on the internet site of French GEIPAN. A Genda
rmerie Officer, having a training in history, is now doing, without being payed,
voluntarily, in relationship with the GEIPAN, an exhaustive research of these p
olicemen’s reports”
"Les CR d observations d OVNIs établis en France par la Gendarmerie depuis des décen
nies (et non par les services secrets) sont effectivement stockés aux archives du
Ministère de la Défense et pour la plupart bien connus du GEIPAN. Ils se retrouvent
donc sur le site Internet de ce dernier. Un officier de gendarmerie, ayant une f
ormation d historien, effectue par ailleurs bénévolement en liaison avec le GEIPAN u
ne étude exhaustive de ces procès-verbaux."(e-mail of Nov. 14, 2010 16:34)
Nevertheless, this gives us -according to me- some serious, precious and implie
d clue of the actual obvious involvement of French secret service in that fiel
d, fact already well-known since many years by my French research group, the GE
PA ( Groupe d’Etude des Phénomènes Aériens / Study Group of Aerial Phenomena, whose Pres
ident was the General Lionel-Max Chassin, from French Air Force, and whose name
is very near that of the first CNES study group, the GEPAN ( “N” for unknowns, “Non-id
entifiés”), presided by Mr Claude Poher ( who gives this name for paying homage to t
he courageous work of GEPA ) , so that … both were almost always mixed up nowaday
s. I said this involvement of secret service is obvious because Mr Edmond Campag
nac, past graduate of the famous French “Ecole Polytechnique” (“X”) too, past president
of GEPA too, gives us his testimony, for he has been able to consult very brief
ly - sort of “eyes-only” - these military archives in one of the site of French Re
cord Defence ( see below). I can add that Mrs Francine Fouéré, still alive, recently
 phone me she has given a copy of GEPA’s books (http://www.editions-tredaniel.com
/phenomenes-spatiaux-p-3598.html) to the military library of the French Historic
al Defence Department from Vincennes, where they can now be found (http://www
.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/Consulter-des-documents-a.html).
In the realm of French ufology, the figure of René Fouéré was very near… from the figur
e of General de Gaulle, up to a point, in certain respects, in so far as his in
tellectual stature, his quiet bravery, and his resolutely selfless, disintereste
d, impartial, totally uncommon attitude, were in fact very close. I can vouch
for this, having been in close contact with René and Francine Fouéré since 1967.
THE BROADCASTING
A WARNING FOR ALL: COLMAR, ALSACE, 1954: THE FRENCH « SECRET DEFENCE » , A SAD REAL
ITY OF “FRENCH IRON CURTAIN”, OR: WHEN FRANCE IS ACTING EXACTLY IN THE SAME WAY AS U
SA , RUSSIA OR CHINA. Plain exaggeration? Let us read carefully, however, the ut
terances of Mr Edmond Campagnac ( ex-President of GEPA and graduate of the Ecole
Polytechnique of Paris, called “X” ) during the TV program about UFOs on the cable
network “Planète Forum” in 2001:
« There is in France an information source which is sadly pertaining to the Army,
and called the “Gendarmerie”( national police force ). In the Gendarmerie, I can a
ssure you I read observations made by units, by teams of “gendarmes” (police constab
les) which were marvels of written detailed description. In 1965, when Gaston P
alewski was Minister of the Research in France, I was invited -as I was GEPA’s Pr
esident at this time- to be asked precisely by him: « but how is it that in France
, your review (“Phénomènes spatiaux”) has published reports like that (on UFOs), at the
very time when there was not a single serious book published on this subject. In
America there are plenty of books ». I answered « Yes indeed, Mister Palewski, it
must be due to the fact that in France serious investigations are generally made
by the « Gendarmerie » which is -as I said- belonging to the Army. Therefore, “ Secre
t Défense”( “state defence secret” ). Then he said me « would it be possible for you to in
vestigate a little, in order to see what is to be found on the spot? ». I answere
d yes, at the condition of obtaining a pass, a safe conduct, enabling me to mee
t and see the Colonel who was at the time keeping an eye on these documents an
d reports and who was located exactly at the “n° 21, Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg”(75
007 Paris). On the following day, I got the thingummy and I was bursting in the
room of poor Colonel who saw the thingy and who was literally to fling his arms
round my neck and kiss me . With his ‘Corsican’ stress - he was from Corsica- he t
old me : « You are the very first coming to see me, how is it ?». The first report h
e let me consult, he told me, this one, it is absolutely fantastic. I give it sh
ortly. A Sunday morning, during the year 1954, two bikers in the Colmar ( Alsac
e ) area , enjoyed driving. They reached a spot, a crossroads, and at each of th
e four branches of the crossroads, an unending line of old jalopies, and in the
very middle of it they saw a kind of thing, and then they decided to near and th
ey saw something with a saucer shape. They wished then to approach, they dismoun
ted and at this very moment -a phenomenon to be later encountered ( in Ufology)
in the world, starting at a precise point, it was as if a wall prevented them
to go and walk further. Then, thereupon, the engines were taking off. They ( the
policemen/gendarmes ) stopped all the witnesses, asked them for their identity
cards and have their identity papers checked. They took moreover all the photo
s who had been taken. After that, they had gone in all the villages and township
s in order to hear the municipal officials and town councillors to get to know a
bout the fact if these guys were truthful or not. You saw so far it had gone. Ah
a, the file was at least ONE METER HIGH. On the occasion of the TV program « Les d
ossiers de l’écran » ( « The TV screen files »), I make up my mind to tell of this obser
vation which was absolutely tremendous, incredible. A captain phoned me:« BEWARE,
MISTER, “SECRET DEFENSE”! ».
EPILOGUE
It goes without saying that this very file is totally unknown, even from CNES’s GE
IPAN of Toulouse, as it was concealed since now 55 years due to the French army’s “s
ecret defense”.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT UFOLOGISTS ARE THE GO-BETWEENS THE SECRET SERVICES- AND TH
EIR TOP SECRET FILES –AND THE JOURNALISTS, AS WE SAY IN FRENCH: WE ARE “ENTRE L’ARBRE
ET L’ECORCE” ( BETWEEN THE TREE AND ITS BARK) , ISN’T IT? AS THE ARGENTINIAN AMATEUR A
STRONOMER AND UFOLOGIST CARLOS CLUGNIAC WROTE ME MORE THAN FORTY YEARS AGO, “THER
E ARE TOO MANY RATS IN THE BAG”. SOME THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO, TOO, A MR WILLIAM MOO
RE OF USA , NOTORIOUS INVOLUNTARY AGENT OF AMPLIFYING DISINFORMATION SPREADING T
HE SO-CALLED MJ-12 SECRET DOCUMENTS, SAID HE WAS TO TAKE A LEGAL ACTION AGAINS
T ME IF I CONTINUE TO TELL HIS PHOTO OF AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL DWARF IN SHINING SIL
VER FLYING SUIT/COVERALL BETWEEN TWO TALL MEN WITH LEATHER RAINCOATS WHO
ARE HOLDING THEIR HANDS WITH DWARF’S HANDS, WAS A PURE, SHEER INVENTION AND THAT
HE WAS A LIAR. I CAN PUBLY HIS LETTER. ASK Mr ROBERT HASTINGS OF USA WHAT HE IS
THINKING ABOUT THIS, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
Note I have myself established in 1973 – 37 years ago- in a study sent on Sunday,
November 25, 1973, that was received by Mr René Fouéré –then General Secretary of the GE
PA, the correlation between nuclear atmospheric tests and the UFO phenomenon, ba
sed upon the data published in 1973 by the well-known FOA -FORSVARETS FORSKNINGS
ANSTALT / NDRI -NATIONAL DEFENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, STOCKHOLM , Sweden, and t
he statistics given by Mr. C.Poher, then privately published by the CNES/GEPAN.
( Zander, I.; Araskog, R., Nuclear Explosions 1945-1972, Basic Data, FOA 4
Report, A 4505-Al, Försvarets Forskningsanstalt , The Research Institute of the
Swedish National Defence, Stockholm, Sweden, 1973; Poher C., Etude statistique
des rapports d’observation du phénomène ovni,1971, p.51 : répartition temporelle des 825
cas mondiaux (http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/documents/stat_poher_71.pdf) ). How lon
g does it take to the scientific community to recognize the urgency of this prob
lem? Since 1947, 63 years have elapsed, and nothing has changed.
Mr Jean Bastide, France, November 17, 2010.
Note I am currently still in activity, in the French DGAC, as investigation off
icer for air traffic control in the "Bureau d Enquêtes", "Investigation Office"(
my name is not Fox Mulder, however, but... I study this subject since 1962 )
jean.bastide@aviation-civile.gouv.fr