Abstract: CSETI contact protocols facilitate human initiated close encounters with Extraterrestrial Intelligence(ETI), in the context of field investigations with multiple witnesses present. This second report for the year 1992 documents events surrounding Dr. Steven Greer’s demonstration of CSETI field work techniques on the night of Aug. 29-30. Contact protocols are described in the context of an actual CE-5 I Working Group’s initial research efforts. Sightings that occurred during that demonstration are described and analysed. Copyright 1996 Joseph Burkes, MD..

This document reflects the experiences and opinions of the author alone, it does not represent national CSETI position or policy. It may be freely reproduced on all on-line services by permission of the author.

The Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a non-profit scientific educational and research organisation dedicated to studying the phenomenon of Extraterrestrial civilisations currently visiting earth. Its main activities are embodied in two separate but related projects. The Center has coined the term Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (CE-5),to describe human initiated contact with the Extraterrestrial Intelligence responsible for the flying saucer phenomenon. Teams of trained CSETI investigators are going out to remote locations, primarily in North America, with the deliberate intention of attracting ET spacecraft to these research sites. This project is designated as the Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind Initiative, and has been going on since 1991. Limited interactions with ET spacecraft have been achieved on a number of occasions.

The second CSETI project of note has been Project Starlight. This is an attempt by CSETI leadership, primarily its international director and founder Dr. Steven Greer, to carry out high level briefings for leaders of government and industry concerning the Extraterrestrial presence on Earth. It is CSETI’s position that the current conditions of general societal denial of the reality of ET spacecraft visiting Earth, is coming to an end. It is CSETI’s hope that these Project Starlight briefings will help prepare Earth’s leadership to start considering ways that humanity might interact in a positive fashion with the ET visitors. In addition CSETI is attempting to convince prominent individuals, both military and civilian, who are witnesses to the ET presence and have hitherto held this information secret, to come forward publicly with their experiences and knowledge. If you would like to help CSETI in either of these two projects, please contact the CSETI office at PO. Box 15401, Asheville, North Carolina 28813.

Summary of Field Work August 29-30, 1992.

At five in the afternoon on August 29, 1992, with a feeling of excited anticipation the CSETI workshop participants prepared for the night’s field work. Over 40 of us, mostly from Southern California, had spent the entire day at the Warner Center Hilton, learning the contact protocols under CSETI director Dr. Steven Greer. In 1990 he had founded the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. At the time of our workshop he had already facilitated a number of Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (CE-5), This is the term he coined for human initiated contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. His extraordinary tract record as organiser of these multiply witnessed, human empowered events encouraged us greatly. We hoped to have a major sighting during that night’s demonstration of CSETI contact procedures.

During the public meeting held the night before, with almost 200 people in attendance, I had again viewed the remarkable video tapes of the March 15, 1992 CSETI Gulf Breeze encounter. Although I had seen those tapes previously, they still were impressive. They showed how on the North Florida coast, after a CSETI workshop just like the one we were attending, something quite remarkable had taken place. The video footage documented the appearance of no less than 4 typical Gulf Breeze UFOs at Dr. Greer’s research site on Navarre Beach. These home videos of this CSETI encounter dramatically portray how the craft had interacted with over 40 prospective researchers who had assembled there on the beach. These objects were definitely not candles on hot air balloons; the event had transpired while forty mile per hour winds were reportedly blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Just 4 months later in July 1992 ,while doing research in the Crop Circle region of England, Greer’s methods had met with even greater success. With three other witnesses present, he had "vectored in" a 100 foot across flying saucer. The event took place close to midnight during stormy weather. The craft while hovering just 10 feet above the ground at the end of a wheat field, had signalled at the CSETI team before moving off. This dramatic encounter, as well as the one at Gulf Breeze, were described in a Fox Network "Sightings" program. It originally aired in January of 1993 and has been re-broadcast a number of times. With this impressive tract record of recent interactions with the ETs, the workshop participants had reasons to believe that we too were going to make some kind of contact.

The research site which I had selected was in the Santa Susana Pass. This is a high desert locale linking the San Fernando Valley with the bedroom community of the Simi Valley. Large boulders and spectacular rock outcropping studded the arid hills on both sides of the pass. I explored this rugged terrain with the assistance of my medical partner Dr. Daniel...(a pseudonym). He owned a four wheel drive vehicle and was an experienced backpacker.

For an additional reason Daniel was an invaluable assistant in my search. With the approval of his department chief, he was conducting an informal survey concerning sightings of UFOs by patients and workers at our medical Center. His study indicated that about 10% of those he interviewed at our facility had sightings of what they considered to be UFOs. Half of the sightings were so close that these witnesses could describe an actual structure of the craft. By the time Daniel was chauffeuring me around in his truck, he had interviewed almost 1000 individuals as part of survey. In the process of asking about sightings, he had inadvertently developed a network of informants. They faithfully took it upon themselves to contact their respected doctor concerning ongoing encounters with UFOs in our area. Through Daniel I had tapped into a veritable gold mine of intelligence about the territory I was supposed to cover for CSETI’s CE-5 Initiative. As I bounced around in the back of his truck, Dr. Daniel enthusiastically described the various UFO sightings he was diligently documenting as part of the ongoing study. Some of the local sighting had taken place in the very same places we were exploring as possible research sites!

One deserted trail looked particularly promising to Daniel. It was located off Old Santa Susana Road near the Rocky Peak Exit from the 118 Freeway. The path initially moved down into the canyon. Not a very encouraging course as the lower parts of the ravine were loaded with rattlesnakes. They were hunting for food in preparation for the winter’s hibernation. After marching along the rocky trail for 5 minutes, the path began to climb. This was indeed looking more promising. The upper parts of the canyon were relatively snake free. As we reached the crest of the hillside my heart was pounding, not just from the climb, but also from the excitement at what we saw from the top of the ridge. Below us, spread out on a ledge 400 feet long and 200 feet across, was an enormous level area with a spectacular view of the entire south-western portion of the San Fernando Valley. We had found what we had been looking for, the perfect research site!

There was no housing in the immediate vicinity. The site’s location on a football field sized ledge provided ample room for a regiment of UFO researchers. The area was fairly level. An important consideration on the small chance that we actually might have a UFO land. In selecting real estate in Southern California a good view is essential. While doing the protocols we would be perched 300 feet above the foothill community of Chastworth. The majestic Santa Monica mountains were just ten miles to the south. They stood before us on the horizon like a wall of mighty sentries. Beyond that wall lay an endless expanse, the Pacific Ocean. At our backs over a slight rise, the hill we had just scaled provided us cover from the spying eyes of passer-by’s on the 118 freeway. Without such a shield, our contact efforts would definitely attract a lot of attention. As vehicles slowed on the 118, during the climb past Rocky Peak State Park, our team’s powerful lights, if not shielded, might appear to be part of a remake of Spielberg’s "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Some in our contact team worked for "the industry" i.e. Hollywood, and perhaps even dreamed of stardom. On the other hand I had other more important things to consider. As Working Group Co-ordinator for the CE-5 Initiative, I muttered the oath, "Show biz be damned!" I was determined to find a secure and secluded site for our research as called for by our CSETI training manual.

Daniel and I checked the location out for signs of sociopath. The few corroded beer cans that we found were obviously several years old. Pop bottle fragments gratefully had a weathered appearance to them with sharp edges smoothed out by years of rain. If this were once a local party place, it was likely to have been so during a previous era, before the locked gate had been placed at the trail head. Without a barricade, open access to a secluded glen with such a spectacular view, would have certainly brought out hordes of young people. They would have not been seeking ET contact, but rather romantic close encounters of a passionate kind.

We also carefully checked the ground for the presence of shell casings or bullet riddled targets. With a sigh of relief I found not even one, thus assuring me that the area was not popular with gun enthusiasts. This is always an important consideration in selecting a CSETI research site. Since our safety, and most importantly the invited Extraterrestrial visitors’ safety, are of paramount importance.

The stage was now set for the awaited moment, Dr. Greer’s demonstration of what he called "the contact triad", the use of sight, sound and consciousness techniques to summon the UFOs. We car pooled up from the Warner Hilton to the rocky foothills which formed the Santa Susana Pass. More than 30 of us piled out of the vehicles and started up the trail towards the site. We were eager for our first taste of CSETI research. In a month’s time half the group would drop out. Only the most dedicated investigators would be able to handle the rigorous program of field work that we were about to embark on. The prospective researchers arrived on site well before sundown as CSETI protocols dictated. We couldn’t afford to have fresh recruits tripping around in the dark during their first outing.

The temperature at sundown was only 70 degrees and was dropping fast. It was surprisingly cool and windy. This was something I hadn’t counted on. Fifteen to twenty per miles hour winds kept the heavens clear for our sky watch activities, but the thirty to forty mile an hour gusts blasting through the canyon quickly chilled many of us who had expected milder weather. I was learning an important lesson about field work. If you are to persevere you simply must keep warm!

Near the edge of a sharp drop off we formed a large circle. Steven Greer put us through the preliminary paces. We oriented ourselves to directions with a compass, and reviewed protocols for how best to describe both conventional and anomalous flying objects. On the small chance that an actual ET craft might land, our boarding party was selected. Documentation personnel, cameras and microphones in hand, were assigned the task of recording what we hoped would be the event of the millennium. We all knew that an actual landing and boarding was an incredible long shot. Nevertheless, after CSETI’s recent success in Southern England in July of 1992 we had reasons to be hopeful. There in the crop circle region a large saucer shaped craft hovered near Greer’s team in a wheat field. With that event in mind we prayed we would be ready for anything.

Soon after night fall at about 9 PM, a bright circular slow moving amber light appeared in the southwest just above the ridge line. It appeared truly anomalous in that it had no associated wing lights, nor a strobe. There was no rotating beacon. It moved without a sound. The yellow light was comparatively large for it to be a celestial object, several times larger than the brightest planet could be. It was approximately half the size of the distal phalanx of a finger when viewed at full arm’s length distance. Importantly, it was clearly seen to be moving sideways, something planets definitely don’t do. The entire group observed it for about 30 seconds. As soon as Dr. Greer trained his 500,000 candle power light on it, the yellow light brightly flared and then quickly faded out. Its apparent response to Greer’s light signal by fading out is not unusual. It often happens during the frequent sightings which are a regular part of CSETI field work. When dealing with true unknowns, this type of abrupt action, which also includes a light flaring up or winking out, does suggest an interactive response.

It is my assessment that this amber coloured object was not a conventional craft. Landing lights of jetliners at a great distance can sometimes have a yellow appearance when viewed through the air pollution so ubiquitous in Southern California. If you track such objects carefully however, the silhouette of a plane will eventually appear as the jet passes overhead. If such a conventional craft changes course, then landing lights should appear to fade out as the aircraft moves away from your line of sight. Conventional wing, rotating beacon, or strobe lights will then become visible. This is easily seen by using binoculars. For sky watchers in general and for CSETI investigators in particular, an additional teaching point should be made. Amber or yellow objects, particularly when they appear circular or discoid with well demarcated edges, warrant special attention. Possessing such characteristics makes a UFO more likely to be an Extraterrestrial Spacecraft. When such an object fades out in association with signalling at it, it strongly suggests that some kind of interaction has just occurred. Thus it is my judgement that we did have a UFO sighting. Many on the team, including a professional pilot with us, were impressed by the experience.

Later that night two high flying points of light were seen rapidly going overhead. The winds had died down somewhat. These two similar sightings occurred separately between 11PM and midnight. The overall conditions in sky had turned to a slight overcast and the tremendous light pollution emanating from the metropolis below us made only the brightest stars visible. There were no associated conventional aircraft lights on these high flying, rapidly moving objects. They moved without an audible sound. They were both seen moving south to the north and covered the entire horizon to horizon sky in about 1 minute. Several pilots in the group had difficulty identifying the type of craft involved because their estimated speed seemed well over a thousand miles an hour. This estimate is derived from the fact that there was no associated silhouettes,(they were apparently far too high), that they both moved silently , and they covered the entire sky very quickly. Although somewhat anomalous, these rapidly moving solitary points of light were felt to be most likely military craft. They were apparently flying in violation of FCC regulations prohibiting such high speed over flights of cities. The objects were deemed likely not to be satellites because of the late hour and the considerable amount of light pollution present that was reflecting off the smog. (To visibly track satellites, it’s best to see them within two hours after sunset or two hours before sunrise, under clear weather conditions.)

Demonstration of Field Work Concludes.