UFO Debunker / Disinformant Philip J. Klass.

[karl 12]

Hendry objected strongly to Klass's modus operandi, which Hendry argued was based on suppressed and distorted evidence, unscientific reasoning, ad hominem attacks, smear campaigns, character assassination, scientific bait and switch tactics, and seemingly refusing to evaluate evidence that conflicted with his preconceptions.

Following on from this (rather good) analysis of the CIA sponsored UFO Robertson Panel, Richard Dolan released another video featuring researcher Kathleen Marden discussing the antics of debunker / pseudosceptic / disinformant Philip J. Klass.

Some interesting info in there including how Klass was under FBI investigation in his younger years and had his apartment raided - also thought it did a good job of exploring his modus operandi within UFO research and possible agendas behind his active smear campaigns, ad hominem attacks and character assassination attempts.


Disinformation Agent: The Truth About Philip Klass.

In the history of the study of UFOs, Philip J. Klass takes the title as the leading debunker of the subject. For forty years, his name was practically synonymous with the idea of UFO skepticism. He was regularly cited throughout the mainstream media as an authoritative voice on the subject, and his work helped to stifle acceptance about the reality of UFOs. But Kathleen Marden has investigated the background of Philip Klass and found it to be highly questionable. Back in the 1960s, Klass developed a close relationship with a member of the Soviet embassy in Washington, DC and was suspected by the FBI to have been a Soviet asset. What it looks like is that the intelligence community used this against Klass to enlist his services toward full-time UFO debunking efforts. Without a doubt, Klass's knowledge of the UFO subject was superficial, but his relentless smear campaigns and personal attacks against leading UFO researchers more than made up for that. To this day, Klass is lionized by the skeptical community, but in fact has left them with a shameful legacy. Kathleen's research on this subject is highlighted in her recent book, Fact, Fiction and Flying Saucers: The Truth Behind the Misinformation, Distortion, and Derision by Debunkers, Government Agencies, and Conspiracy Conmen, which she co-authored with the late Stanton T. Friedman.

Shame he''s not with us anymore but Stanton Friedman's last book 'Fact, Fiction and Flying Saucers' was co-authored with Kathleen Marden and also contains some great nuggets of info on Klass revealed from the American Philosophical Society Archives.

Here she is discussing the close (and rather curious) connections between Klass, Menzel, Low and Condon.





Own personal feelings are that Klass was the exact opposite of a genuine, open minded sceptic and the way he hounded and derided (lots of) other UFO witnesses, researchers and scientists like Dr James E. Mcdonald (who he mounted an 'extended, concerted campaign' against) was a complete disgrace.

Seems the USAF also didn't take him very seriously and even the sceptical team of plasma experts on the notoriously agenda based Condon Committee rejected his theories as 'unscientific' - perhaps that's why he eventually abandoned them and just arrogantly assumed that all UFO incidents could be explained as hoaxes or misidents.

Also seems there are quite a few avenues to explore in his connection to the CIA (just like Menzel was in the employ of the NSA).

Philip Klass, an electrical engineer who according to one well respected researcher Jerome Clark, 'was an obsessed crank who contributed little to the UFO debate except noise, strange rhetoric, pseudoscientific speculation, and character assassination'..

Anyone any thoughts on Klass?

 

[karl 12]

Professor Robert Jacobs makes some interesting comments in the video below about letters sent to him by Klass (who was citing Chief CIA disinfo leader Bobby Ray Inman as a reference) - also relevant is how Klass sent malicious letters to the University of Maine which resulted in Jacobs losing his job.


See 22:30




Also more info about Klass and the notorious UFO cynic group CSICOP (although recently they' ve changed their name).


The Debunkers vs. the UFO Menace - Part one

The Debunkers vs. the UFO Menace - Part two


And here's Phillip stating that the Cash Landrrum incident (35:35) was a hoax (41:25)




Apparently he accused UFO witness Betty Cash of inflicting burns on herself with 'some kind of template'.

All suffered from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized weakness, a burning sensation in their eyes, and feeling as though they'd suffered sunburns. Over the next few days, Cash's symptoms worsened, with many large, painful blisters forming on her skin. When taken to a hospital emergency room on January 3, 1981, Clark writes, Cash "could not walk, and had lost large patches of skin and clumps of hair.

 

[karl 12]

Some interesting content from Major Donald Keyhoe - apparently Klass became an expert on the UFO subject in 3 weeks.

KEYHOE: Well, do you know Klass?

PRATT: I’ve talked to him on the phone. I’ve never met him in person.

KEYHOE: Well, I know him and I can tell you this. When I was director of NICAP, he came up there one day and said, “Well, you can close up shop pretty soon because I’ve got all the answers.” And I said, “WHAT?” And he said, “I took three weeks off and I worked it out and I’ve got all of them.” And I thought, “This is a lunatic.” Then he came along with several statements on cases and there wasn’t a damned thing in there that would stand up. And I said, “Look, I’m busy. If you want to write this down and put it in a letter to me or the board of governors, OK, but I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.” Well, he’s a very nasty b•stard

Apparently he was also bragging about receiving unredacted government documents on the 1976 Tehran case but Donald wasn't buying it.

Incidentally Klass thought the object involved was the planet Jupiter.

DID KLASS GET SECRET HELP FROM PENTAGON?

PRATT: I don’t know except that they went to him first, you know, and figured that was the truth. I do know that he apparently is a good friend of Dave Williamson over at NASA, who had something to do with that decision over there, and on the Tehran case, what really annoys me about – do you remember the Tehran case, September 1976, the two jets over Tehran?

KEYHOE: Yeah.

PRATT: OK, a fellow over in Berlin named Charles Huffer, who’s an American teaching school over there, he went after that through the Freedom of Information Act. We had heard there was a government report on that incident. Well, he went after this from last April until August, when they finally released a two and a half page, it’s like a telegram, from Tehran describing the incident. And the Pentagon finally declassified that and released it with several deletions. And later on Klass was bragging to Stan Friedman in a letter that he had a copy of that several weeks BEFORE the thing was declassified and released but he got an UNEXPURGATED version of it. That’s a little annoying that he has access to classified documents that the rest of us don’t have.

KEYHOE: Right. I don’t know whether that’s true or not because–

PRATT: He claims this anyway.

KEYHOE: – I wouldn’t believe a damned word he says . . .

Conversations with Major Donald Keyhoe