GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS

Over 5,000 people are employed at the Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham, described as the hub of intelligence operations throughout the UK. Could some GCHQ operatives be engaged in Extra-terrestrial intelligence gathering?

Robin Cole is a full time UFO investigator and researcher and was born and raised in the shadow of GCHQ, Cheltenham.

In his capacity as head of investigations for the Gloucestershire-based UFO group Circular Forum, Robin has helped increase media and public awareness in the subject through a variety of personal appearances on radio and in the regional and national press. Having met and spoken with numerous people who have a close connection with GCHQ, Robin is perhaps better placed than most to comment on speculation that the intelligence and defense services continue to express more than a passive interest in the UFO phenomena.

In a fascinating and comprehensive report entitled GCHQ and the UFO Cover Up, Robin offers a detailed background as to the role of GCHQ, the various intelligence agencies that operate therein, and to whom they are ultimately accountable.

Robin was prompted to undertake an in-depth study of GCHQ following a chance remark made to him on 16 October 1996 by an acquaintance who he knew had a close association with the facility.

Five days beforehand and in the early hours of 5 October, a major UFO incident occurred in an area of coastline known as the Wash, bordering Lincolnshire and Norfolk. A Mr. Leyland of Skegness police reportedly told Yarmouth Coastguard: "We can see a strange red and green rotating light in the sky directly southeast from Skegness. Looks to be high in the sky over the Wash."

Over the course of the next several hours, communications traffic about the UFO involved not only the Skegness police, but Boston police, the crew of the oil tanker Conocoast, civil aircraft, RAF Neatishead, RAF Kinloss, RAF Northwood, RAF Waddington, Anglian Radar, Claxby Radar, London Northwood Radar, the Ministry of Defense at Whitehall, and GCHQ.

Under any other normal circumstance, Robin would have been happy to glean information about the incident from local groups operating in the area, but a casual remark by his acquaintance changed all of that. Robin was asked if he still retained an interest in "all that UFO stuff," to which he replied in the affirmative and asked what prompted the question. The reply came like a bolt out of the blue: "What's been going on in East Anglia then?"

Adopting a casual, almost indifferent interest, Robin was told that during the night of the incident Senior Civil Servants had been called into GCHQ.

Over the course of several further clandestine meetings, Robin learned enough to gauge that the phenomenon is treated with the utmost seriousness within the corridors of power. Robin sought and received comment about the incident from those who had a vested interest in the affair. In one of those replies, dated 15 January 1997 from Mr. D.B. Omand, Director of GCHQ, Robin was told that they (GCHQ) 'are not engaged in any way whatsoever in any monitoring for suspected UFOs, and we hold no information from our normal work which would shed any light on the debate whether UFOs have or have not ever been detected.'

Mr. Omand prefaces this by stating: 'I would not normally reply to a letter of this kind, given it is our firm policy not to comment on intelligence operations.'

Former head of Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a, the Ministry of Defense's official UFO desk, Nick Pope, wrote to Robin and said:

'As you may know, it has been the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment on the operations of the intelligence and security agencies. I intend to maintain that policy.'

Pope's successor, Miss K. Philpott wrote: 'At the time of the incident, it was determined that there was no evidence tha the integrity of the UK Air Defence Region had been compromised.'

She continued: 'Much of the press reports about the incident at the time were incorrect, ill-informed and speculative.'

The same charge could have been levelled at Miss Philpott's own speculation that the object in question was either a local landmark, known as Boston Stump, which could have given off a false radar return, or the planet Venus. Robin's reports deal with both explanations and provides a powerful argument against such a proposition.

Robin states: "I have it on extremely good authority, that on the night in question at least two Senior Civil Servants (whose names I have been passed) received a telephone call at their homes in the early hours of October 5th,a s the events were unfolding."

"They were requested to report to the (GCHQ) Oakley site. On arrival they were briefed on the situation and the incursion into UK air space."

"A number of checks were run on different sustems and a number of telephone calls made, all to no avail."

"Their conclusion was that the event involved an unidentified flying object, and it was advised that the 'usual' lines of enquiry be made, what the implications were, how best to play the incident down and what further course of action should be taken. This included how to brief the Government!"

Robin's highly recommended report was prepared at considerable personal expense as a non-profit making project.

Copies of the report are available from:

Robin Cole - robincole@lineone.net