Georgina Bruni (Author of "You Can't Tell the People") adds her comments to  former Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Hill-Norton's Questions in the House of Lords:

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23 Jan 2001 : Column WA7

Blundeston Prison and Hollesley Bay YCC (now YOI - Young Offenders Institution):

Possible Evacuation Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether staff at Blundeston Prison or Hollesley Bay Youth Correction Centre received any instructions to prepare for a possible evacuation at some time between 25 and 30 December 1980; and if so, why these instructions were issued.[HL319]

23 Jan 2001 : Column WA8

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton): We can find no record of any such instructions.

G.Bruni Comments: Lord Hill -Norton asked a similar Question a few years ago concerning Highpoint prison. The Answer was that the warden's log for that period was no longer available. The reason for these Questions was because a prison officer had claimed that Highpoint had been on alert for evacuation on 27 December 1980. Since then (see my book) I have learnt of two more local prisons that were said to be on alert (as above). I am not satisfied with the Answer and hope that Lord Hill-Norton will ask it again in more detail. We need to know why they can find no records. Have these logs gone missing too and, if so, why?

25 Jan 2001 : Columns WA21/22 Rendlesham Forest Incident

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any involvement by Special Branch personnel in the investigation of the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident.[HL303]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: Special Branch officers may have been aware of the incident but would not have shown an interest unless there was evidence of a potential threat to national security. No such interest appears to have been shown.

G.Bruni Comments: According to the Deputy Base Commander of AFOSI RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge (at time of incident) Special Branch would have been alerted. My argument is that the incident was a threat to national security because these objects were intruding on British territory and could have been anything from Soviet craft to terrorists, therefore SB should have at least checked out the incident before passing it over to another agency. The commander actually offered the names of the SB officers that would have had this information. I did not publish their names for obvious reasons. If no interest was shown then we must question our security agencies.

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether personnel from Porton Down visited Rendlesham Forest or the area surrounding RAF Walton in December 1980 or January 1981; and whether they are aware of any tests carried out in either of those two areas aimed at assessing any nuclear, biological or chemical hazard.[HL301]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The staff at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) Chemical and Biological Defence (CBD) laboratories at Porton Down have made a thorough search of their archives and have found no record of any such visits.

G.Brini Comments: That should have been RAF "Watton" not Walton. According to my witness from RAF Watton, some agency, presumably from Porton Down, did visit Watton and investigate the area on the perimeter of the base. Then the question is, if they were not from Porton Down, which is the place one would expect it to be, where was the unit from? I expect like the first Answer, any reference to this event has been carefully logged elsewhere.

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any uncorrelated targets tracked on radar in November or December 1980; and whether they will give details of any such incidents.[HL302]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: Records dating from 1980 no longer exist. Paper records are retained for a period of three years before being destroyed. Recordings of radar data are retained for a period of thirty days prior to re-use of the recording medium.

G.Bruni Comments: It is a fact that radar tracking tapes are re-used but there should be paper records. If this is the case then why was researcher Nick Redfern able to get verbatim data (from the logs) in 1987.

Unidentified Flying Objects

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the highest classification that has been applied to any Ministry of Defence document concerning Unidentified Flying Objects.[HL304]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: A limited search through available files has identified a number of documents graded Secret. The overall classification of the documents was not dictated by details of specific sightings of "UFOs".

G.Bruni Comments: I think that is very interesting and if the Rendlesham files are secret as I would expect them to be, we may never see them.

30 Jan 2001 : Column WA49

Rendlesham Forest/RAF Bentwaters Incident

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will detail the underground facilities at the former RAF Bentwaters installation; and what is the purpose of these facilities.[HL320]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean):

There are no underground facilities at the former RAF Bentwaters.

G.Bruni Comments: Actually, there are underground facilities at Bentwaters but they are sealed. The security chief at the installation who gave me a guard and permission to investigate the buildings, told me the underground facilities were sealed when the MOD put the base up for sale. He had written several times to the MOD requesting details of these but although they promised to look into the matter, he received nothing. I also discovered a door in the main command post that was clearly an entrance to an underground facility because it could not lead to anywhere above ground. The guard had no keys for this very important door that was covered in warning signs. According to the chief of security there are still several parts of the installation that are sealed. So, the Answer is in essence is crafty because as the facilities are now sealed, one could surmise that there are none.

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any involvement in the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident by either Ministry of Defence Policy or personnel from the Suffolk Constabulary.[HL321)

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean:

The Minister of Defence is not aware of any involvement by the Ministry of Defence Police in the alleged incident. The Ministry of Defence's knowledge of involvement by the Suffolk Police is limited to a letter dated 28 July 1999 from the Suffolk Constabulary to Georgina Bruni that is contained in the recent book.

G.Bruni Comments: According to the Deputy Base Commander of AFOSI RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge (at time of incident), a member of the ARRS and two other commanders, the MOD police would have been informed immediately. If the MOD have to resort to my book for information then we must question why this is so. Where are these records?

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any investigation of the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident carried out by the United States Air force, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations or any other United States agency.[HL322]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean:

The Ministry of Defence's knowledge of an investigation by the US authorities into the alleged incident in Rendlesham Forest in 1980 is limited to the information contained in the memorandum sent by Lt Col Halt USAF, Deputy Base Commander at RAF Woodbridge, to the RAF Liaison Officer at RAF Bentwaters on 13 January 1981.

G.Bruni Comments: Notice there is no mention of the covering note from Squadron Leader Donald Moreland which is titled "Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)" Also no mention of the telephone calls he made concerning the incident, which really should have been logged considering they were from the British Liaison Officer. What has happened with this case is that the MOD have not left a paper trail.

30 Jan 2001 : Column WA50

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in the light of the new information contained in Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell the People, they will now launch an investigation into the Rendlesham Forest incident and the response to this incident by the United States Air Force and the Ministry of Defence.[HL352]#

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean:

No additional information has come to light over the last 20 years to call into question the original judgment by the Ministry of Defence that nothing of defence significance occurred in the location of Rendlesham Forest in 1980. Accordingly there is no reason to hold an investigation now.

G.Bruni Comments: This is the Answer that really annoys me (it's the standard line) because I am aware (from a memo that had my name on it) and has since been stamped "restricted" that certain high officials have read my book. Therefore the MOD must have all the new information. If the officials in office at this time are not aware of anything else due to the cover-up, then the information in my book alone should be enough to open an investigation.

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have made any approach to, or received any approach from, any United States government or military agency concerning Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell the People; and, if so, whether they will give details of any such approach. [HL353]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean:

As a matter of courtesy, the Ministry of Defence informed Headquarters 3rd Air Force at RAF Mildenhall about the book. The US authorities have not subsequently approached the Ministry of Defence on the issue.

G.Bruni Comments: If there is no additional information then why would it be necessary to alert RAF Mildenhall about my book. After all, it's just a UFO story and according to the MOD it is of no defence interest....

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they now agree with the analysis of the basic facts of the Rendlesham Forest/RAF Bentwaters incident in the fourth paragraph of Lord Hill-Norton's letter to Lord Gilbert of 22 October 1997, reported on page 429 of Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell the People; or, if not, in what respect they disagree. [HL354]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean:

The Ministry of Defence's position regarding this alleged sighting remains as it did at the time of Lord Gilbert's reply to the noble Lord's letter of 22nd October 1997. From surviving departmental records, we remain satisfied that nothing of defence significance occurred on the nights in question.

G.Bruni Comments: That's a very interesting reply considering Lord Gilbert's reply suggested that they did not routinely contact witnesses who submit reports of UFOs. In this instance the witness was Lt Colonel Charles I Halt, Deputy Base Commander of a NATO installation in Britain that deployed nuclear weapons.
Does this mean that anybody can hover over and land a craft on the perimeter of a British military base and scare the hell out of numerous military personnel and get away with it?
If that is the case then it's amazing that Britain has not been invaded years ago.

Lord Hill-Norton has had a passionate interest in this case for many years and has done a good job in trying to get answers and, I know he is as annoyed as others that the MOD keep avoiding the issues.

I stand by my case; this incident has to be of extreme defence significance. The problem is (and I quote our former Prime Minister who was in office at the time of the incident, Margaret Thatcher) "You can't tell the people".

Georgina Bruni