By
Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 12:26 PM on 30th November 2008
UFO aficionados are urging
Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, spurred on by support from within his own White House team.
They have written to the president-elect, pressing him to reveal the contents of America's X Files.
In a letter, the
Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee asks Mr Obama to 'end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race'.
The Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee is calling for an end to the 'six-decade truth embargo' about alien spacecraft
They hope to have garnered 40,000 signatures in support of their campaign by the time Mr Obama is inaugurated in January.
The enthusiasts are encouraged by public statements from John Podesta, who is running the president-elect's transition team, and Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico, who is expected to land a cabinet post.
When he was the White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, Mr Podesta was in charge of a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents.
He said in a press conference: 'It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon.'
UFO enthusiasts want
Barack Obama to follow Britain's example
Gov Richardson is a fellow UFO enthusiast. He has written a forward to a book on the 'Roswell Incident' in New Mexico, where an alien spacecraft crash is said to have landed in 1947.
Campaigners believe the corpses of humanoid aliens have been locked away by the government.
Gov Richardson has urged the Pentagon to disclose what really happened, and last year insisted there had been a 'cover-up'.
The committee wants the U.S. to follow Britain's example in making public reported contact with UFOs.
Stephen Bassett,
Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'The release of documents in Britain and France has put huge pressure on the US. It makes the government here look pretty stupid.
'I think we are seeing the Democrats moving towards disclosure.'
The group wants military services and intelligence agencies to brief the incoming president about what they know.
They also urge Mr Obama to open congressional hearings 'to take testimony from scores of government witnesses who have already come forward with extraordinary evidence and are prepared to testify under oath.'
I often ask myself why the subject of UFOs is treated so shamefully in the media? Of course I know the answer to the question, but still I have to wonder when people will wake up to the facts about the subject and cease the ridicule factor.
And those back steps can be something as subtle as a remark or gesture from a prominent person.
