Statement Fife Symington

In 1997 during my second term as Governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality.

I witnessed a massive delta-shaped craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking.

To my astonishment this apparition appeared, and it was a solid structure; this dramatically large, very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights was traveling through the Arizona sky.

I still don t know what it was. As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man made object I d ever seen. And it was certainly not high- altitude flares because flares don t fly in formation.

The incident was witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands of people in Arizona and my office was besieged with phone calls from very concerned Arizonians.

The growing hysteria intensified when the story broke nationally. I decided to lighten the mood of the state by calling a press conference where my chief of staff arrived in an alien costume. We managed to lessen the sense of panic but at the same time, upset many of my constituents.

I would now like to set the record straight. I never meant to ridicule anyone. My office jamake inquiries as to the origin of the craft, but to this day, they remain unanswered.

Eventually the Air National Guard Force claimed responsibility stating that their pilots were dropping flares. This is indicative of the attitude from official channels. We get explanations that fly in the face of the facts. Explanations like weather balloons, swamp gas and military flares.

I was never happy with this silly explanation. There might very well have been military flares in the sky later that evening, but what I and hundreds of others saw had nothing to do with that.

I now know that I am not alone in witnessing something extraordinary. There are many high ranking military, aviation and government officials who share my concerns; some of them have joined me here today. There is absolutely no doubt as to the veracity of what these men have told you. They have fought in wars, guarded top secret weapons arsenals and flown countless passengers thorough the world's skies.

Incidents like these are not going away. One year ago, Chicago's O'Hare airport experienced a UFO event that made national and international headlines. Pilots and many other airline employees observed a metallic disc hovering over the United Airlines terminal for several minutes. It then shot straight up and cut a hole in the clouds. The FAA did not investigate, dismissing the sighting as weather.

We want the US government to stop putting out stories that perpetuate the myth that ALL UFOs can be explained away in down- to-earth, conventional terms. Instead, our country needs to reopen its official investigation that it shut down in 1969. The US government can no longer shun an international dialogue about this, and we invite the government to work in cooperation with the countries represented at this table.

When it comes to events of this nature that are completely unsolved, we deserve more openness in government, especially our own.