See something? Too bad!

LONDON — “Seen a UFO? Don’t bother calling the Brits, they’ve stopped listening,” reports Gregory Katz for the Canadian Press. ”The British military has quietly shut down its UFO hotline as a cost-cutting measure after more than 50 years in operation. No longer will Britons who think they’ve seen Martian craft in the sky be able to enlist the services of Her Majesty’s armed forces by reporting suspicious aerial activity to a toll-free phone number and an email address,” reports Katz.

According to Katz, “The Ministry of Defence said the elimination of the UFO office would save about $73,000 US a year that would be better spent helping the troops in Afghanistan, where Britain has about 9,500 soldiers - The quiet closure of the phone hotline and deactivation of the email account earlier this week has angered the many Britons who believe UFO research is vital.”

“I think it’s a stupid thing to do because this could create a threat to national security,” said Roy Lake, founder of the London UFO Studies group. “We take this quite seriously. We know that sometimes things can be explained as natural phenomena but there could be that one thing that’s not. I think the government knows damn well what’s going on up there and they’re covering it up.”

British Military officials say the UFO office has outlived its usefulness - ”None of the thousands of UFO sightings reported over the years have ever provided substantiated proof of the existence of extraterrestrials,” a Defence Ministry spokesman said. “There is no defence value in investigating UFO reports.”

“The spokesman said closing down the UFO inquiry unit would not add to the security threats Britain faces. Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy, he said no one has lost their job because of the closure of the UFO portfolio, which over the years had detailed more than 12,000 sightings, including many with fanciful illustrations about purported encounters with aliens,” reports Katz.

“The military is taking no position on the existence or nonexistence of UFOs but has concluded that in 50 years none of the many reported UFO sightings turned out to be a national security threat - Some view the decision as a sacrifice of mystery and romance in the name of cold financial logic,” reports Katz.

Nick Pope, who helped the British military with its UFO investigations for many years, said, ”It’s a great shame,” he said. “This is the end of over 50 years of research and investigation into one of the biggest mysteries of our time.”

Read the full report here