Although little media attention has been paid to the subject of UFOs in recent years, the controversy still rages and excites nearly as much emotional response now as it. did in 1947. After 21 years of investigating UFOs, the Air Force concluded that whatever was being seen was not hostile, nor a threat to the national security, and therefore needed no further inquiry. The population accepted this view for some time, although questions are now arising once again with more UFO reports occurring, such as during the 1973 flap. But media coverage is still rare in anything but the tabloids and publications of UFO organizations. Books are still being published at an impressive rate, and some of the past cases are still hotly debated.
What then is the future for UFOs? It seems most plausible that the situation will continue on as it has been. Methods have been proposed by different specialists to increase available "hard" data. These suggestions include use of a satellite surveillance system for noting any strange objects in the sky at the time of a "good" UFO report (Eugene Epstein, The Aerospace Corporation); increased study of physical trace evidence, especially soil sample analysis such as that used in the Delphos, Kansas case (Ted Phillips, Center for UFO Studies); and correlating similarities in UFO cases from many countries over an extended period of time by use of a computer (Jacques Vallée, Institute for the Future). If any of these techniques can produce the data needed to prove, or disprove, the extraterrestrial hypothesis, then headway can certainly be made, however, past experience demonstrates that whatever one camp states is almost immediately challenged if not refuted by the other.