Turns out there's a lot of drama behind the recent changing of the guard at MUFON, and many disgruntled MUFONers have not been shy about voicing their opinions online. Take "It's Amazing MUFON is Still Around," posted on a site called The UFO Chronicles. In this article we've got this killer quote from a former MUFON International Director: "It's maddening. I was so glad when I retired from that job," says former International Director John Schuessler, a MUFON founder in 1969. "You're working with volunteers with varying levels of education and sophistication, they pay the International Director a pittance, just a token salary, really, and he's expected to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with the kind of responsibilities that would be worth 150,000 a year in any other field."
Did he just take a swipe at MUFON volunteers? Yes he did. "Varying levels of education and sophistication"? "Damn.
But that's not the worst of it. Sensing that there must be more to these dissident members calling for a major leadership change, I dug further. My research indicated that sometime in 2009, MUFON management signed a contract with a "shadowy Las Vegas businessman" that would give the shadowy businessman exclusive access to any and all sensitive materials related to a close encounter that might be recovered by the MUFON STAR Team. In exchange, the shadowy businessman would pay MUFON 672,000, which is more than enough to quiet down that Schuessler guy. This is so bad movie I can hardly believe it.
As you may recall from an earlier post ("GO Team," 1/29/2012), the STAR Team is called in when an investigation of a significant UFO event overwhelms the local Field Investigators with its complexity and danger. Remember, us grunts on the front line have varying levels of education and sophistication. STAR Teamers, on the other hand, have a uniform level of education and sophistication, and can be counted on to scoop up any and all physical evidence of the UFO encounter from right under the noses of the authorities and spirit it away to Las Vegas. I'm not sure what the shadowy businessman does with this physical evidence once he gets his shadowy hands on it, but I have a feeling it doesn't exactly jibe with MUFON's motto: "The scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity."
So, why was access to the STAR Team worth 672,000 to the shadowy guy? Why does he need to be the first to lay eyes on physical evidence of a UFO encounter? How did they settle on that figure?
More than ever, I need to become a member of the STAR Team. If there's a rotten core at the heart of this organization, I aim to find it, and expose it to the cold, hard light of day. You can count on that.
