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<title>Section 7</title>
<link rel="start" href="." title="Alternative 3">
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<h2>Section 7a</h2>
<p>Cette interview, qui fut filmée, eu lieu le 4 Mars 1977, et constitua un élément important du programme diffusé le 20
  Juin. Voici comment Simon Butler, dans un commentaire audio, l'introduisit aux téléspectateurs :</p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>Les théories de Gerstein, lorsqu'il les mis en avant il y a plus 20 ans, furent pratiquement universellement
    démontées. Il fut qualifié d'alarmiste et de pessimiste. Les événements lui prouvèrent, au contraire, qu'il était
    plutôt optimiste.</q></p>
  <p><q>A la fin des années 1960s la terre était déjà tellement emprisonnée dans l'enveloppe de sa propre pollution que
    la chaleur avait une difficulté croissante à s'évacuer.</q></p>
  <p><q>10 ans avant la prédiction de Gerstein, "l'effet de serre" bien connu - due to the eight-fold increase in the
    carbon dioxide levels last summer - était devenu une réality, menaçant de double la température moyenne globale.</q>
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gerstein's chest was still not clear at the time of that interview. He was still wheezing. And he was still smoking
  his pipe. "This mysterious Harry of yours..." dit-il. "I don't think I can place him."</p>
<p>"he was very specific about you," dit Butler. <q>Il nous a dit de vous interroger sur quelque chose nommé Alternative
  3.</q></p>
<p>Gerstein stared down at his desk, pulled thoughtfully on his pipe. "Did he now..." dit-il lentement. "That was a
  rather curious thing for him to do."</p>
<p><q>Cette Alternative 3 - vous savez ce que ça veut dire ?</q></p>
<p><q>Laissez-moi vous montrer quelque chose</q>, dit Gerstein. He rummaged through the bottom drawer of the desk,
  pulled out a buff folder, turned over une demi-douzaines de pages dactylographiées. <q>Les américains, lorsqu'il
    s'agit de déclarations publiques, ont un talent remarquable pour soft-pedaling la vérité,</q> dit-il. <q>Lisez ça...
    c'est un rapport de la CIA.</q></p>
<p>Butler pris le dossier, lut le passage qui avait été entouré en rouge :</p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>Dans les régions pauvres et dôtées de peu d'énergie, la population would have to drop to levels that could be
    supported. Food subsidies and external aid, however generous the donors might be, would be inadequate. Unless or
    until the climate improved and agricultural techniques changed sufficiently, population levels now projected for the
    Less Developed Countries could not be reached. The population "problem" would have solved itself in the most
    unpleasant fashion.</q></p>
</blockquote>
<p><q>Qu'est-ce que cela signifie ?</q> demanda Butler. <q>A moins ou jusqu'à ce que le climat s'améliore...</q></p>
<p><q>C'est ça !</q> dit Gerstein. <q>C'est la phrase-clé ! Et ce rapport, laissez-moi vous dire, a près de 4 ans. What
  it means is that at that time the Americans were prepared to reveal just a smidgeon of the truth. Pas toute la vérité,
  bien sûr, car elle serait trop effrayante. But you can take it from me that they knew the whole truth. Je leur ai dit.
  C'était en 1957 - à la conférence de Huntsville, Alabama - Je leur ai tout expliqué. C'est la raison pour laquelle ils
  ont commencé à gibing serious thought aux 3 alternatives.</q></p>
<p><q>Et que leur avez-vous dit exactement ?</q> demanda Butler.</p>
<p><q>Je leur ai dit qu'ils tuaient cette planète.</q> Gerstein fut interrompu par un quinte de toux qui secoua tout son
  corps, faisant pleurer ses yeux. Il s'excusa. <q>Through all the centuries man thought of the atmosphere surrounding
    us as being so vast that it could never possibly be damaged,</q> dit-il. <q>So we've gone on abusing it and
    polluting it... et aujourd'hui il est trop tard.</q></p>
<p>He shook his head sadly. "We've created a greenhouse around this world of ours...a greenhouse made of carbon dioxide.
  Short-wave radiation from the sun passes straight through it, just as in any garden greenhouse, but it absorbs and
  holds the heat emitted from the surface of the earth.</p>
<p>"You know how much carbon dioxide we've thrown up there in the last hundred years? More than 360 billion tons! And
  once it's up there it stays there - and it's being added to every year.</p>
<p>"Human lemmings! That's what we are! Do you realize that we're even helping to destroy our world by trying to smell
  nice? No...I assure you...I'm perfectly serious. Those aerosol sprays that people use - they alone are still squirting
  nearly half a million metric tons of fluorocarbons into the atmosphere every year."</p>
<p>He delved in the desk again, produced another folder. "A British Royal Commission on environmental pollution was
  shocked by the sheer volume of this filth. Listen to what they said in their report." He opened the folder, thumbed
  over a few pages and began reading:</p>
<p>"If the worst fears about the extent of damage by fluorocarbons to the ozone layer were realized, and if no means of
  combating this threat could be devised, the consequences to mankind and, indeed, to most of life on Earth could be
  calamitous."</p>
<p>He snapped the folder shut, dropped it contemptuously on the desk. "There!" he said. "That's their word -calamitous!
  And that report, I should point out, was written by people who probably weren't aware of the full seriousness of the
  situation. They almost certainly still don't know of the need for one of the three alternatives.</p>
<p>"Yet people go on using these things...to clean their ovens and spray their hair...to kill flies and smells and pains
  in the back. Good God, we've even got spray-on instant snack food! We're conveniencing ourselves to death, Mr. Butler,
  that's what we're doing - and now it's all become irretrievably lethal.<br>
</p>
<p>"Some belated attempts have been made, of course, to scratch at the problem. Last year, for example, the United
  States Food and Drug Administration banned fluorocarbons from American aerosol sprays - and that, I can tell you,, was
  a devil of a jolt for an industry with a 9000 million $ turnover in America alone.</p>
<p>"But other countries, including Britain - which, by the way, is Europe's principal producer of aerosols - decided not
  to follow the American initiative. Close your eyes to the dangers and pretend they don't exist - that seems to be the
  line. You see... there are jobs at stake...about 10000 in Britain alone... and there's also big money. still, not that
  it makes any difference any longer. It's so late now that it's all become completely academic."</p>
<p>Gerstein was seized by another bout of coughing. He looked accusingly at his pipe which had gone out. And he re-edit
  it. "You hear people talking glibly about the concrete jungle, Mr. Butler. What they should be talking about is the
  concrete storage heater. That's what we're turning this world into - a gigantic storage heater. Concrete...asphalt
  roads...brick buildings...they're all retaining the heat and they're helping .o ferment the disaster.</p>
<p>"Then there's all that waste heat from industry, power stations, cars and central-heating systems. Do you realize
  that New York city generates seven amps more heat than it gets from the rays of the sun? That, Mr. Butler, is a fact.
  And you just imagine that sort of heat - from all over the world - being trapped in our great atmospheric
  greenhouse!"</p>
<p><q>Oui</q>, dit Butler. <q>Mais cette Alternative 3...</q></p>
<p>Gerstein ignored the interruption, got up from the desk, walked to the study window. He stood there, hands clasped
  behind his back, contemplating the wide expanse of neat lawn. "I'll tell you what's going to happen," he said. "This
  world's going to get no hotter and hotter until it gets like Venus. I can't tell you when this will finally
  happen...not to the nearest hundred years...but I can assure you that it will happen.</p>
<p>"When that time comes the North Pole and the South Pole will be as hot as the tropics are today. And as for the rest
  of the world...well, it won't be able to support any life apart from insects and cold-blooded creatures like
  lizards."</p>
<p>He turned to fact Butler, gestured over his shoulder. "All that out there, all that greenery and beauty, will be a
  burnt wilderness.<br>
</p>
<p>"There won't be any people at all then, not in countries like this. There'll probably still be survivors at the Poles
  but then it won't be long before they're also killed by the heat - and that will be that."</p>
<p>He sat down, looked somberly at Butler. "So, as you can see, that CIA report you're holding - with that stuff about
  the climate possibly improving - is just so much public - relations twaddle."</p>
<p>He sighed resignedly, took the file from Butler, replaced it in the drawer. "That, I suppose, is the technique. They
  make a big display of showing part of the truth - which is precisely what they did in that report - to make people
  believe they're being shown the whole truth."</p>
<p>"But you mentioned three alternatives," said Butler. "You said they considered them at the Huntsville
  conference..."</p>
<p>"That was a long time ago," said Gerstein evasively. "Twenty years ago. And it was all very theoretical..."</p>
<p>"I realize that some of the discussions at Huntsville were held in secret and so, naturally, I can understand your
  reluctance," said Butler. "But this is clearly a matter of immense public concern and, as you say, Huntsville was a
  long time ago. So wouldn't it be possible for you to say..."</p>
<p>Gerstein held up a hand to stop him. "Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 were quite crazy," he said. "They're not worth
  even talking about..."</p>
<p>"I'd still like to know about them," said Butler. "Couldn't you give me just a brief outline?"</p>
<p>Gerstein was silent, thinking, for a while. Eventually he shrugged. "Well...they were abandoned so I suppose it can
  do no harm," he said. "The basic idea of Alternative 1 was rather like throwing a few stones at a conventional
  greenhouse - making holes in the glass to let the heat escape. The suggestion was that a series of strategically -
  positioned nuclear devices should be detonated high in the atmosphere - to punch holes in that envelope of carbon
  dioxide. Then we'd have chimneys in the sky, if you like. That would have eased the immediate problem and then, as a
  follow-up program, there would have had to be a dramatic reappraisal of the way life is lived on this earth.</p>
<p>"Men would have had to start living more primitively to prevent another build-up. For example, there's have had to be
  international agreements, stringently enforced, to make all motor vehicles illegal - except for the most essential
  purposed.<br> "You could almost draw up your own list of things which would have to be sacrificed to stop carbon
  dioxide being pumped into the air in such quantities.</p>
<p>"Then there would have to be a great co-ordinated effort to give the world back its lungs - by getting rid of every
  unnecessary bit of concrete and by seeding vast tracts with plants and trees which could absorb the gas.</p>
<p>"That, in essence, was Alternative 1..."</p>
<p>"Well, I can see it would be an incredibly complex project..."said Butler. "But it would seem to make sense...if the
  situation is as desperate as you say..."</p>
<h2>Section 7b</h2>
<p>"It was crazy," said Gerstein curtly. "Knocking holes in a garden greenhouse is one thing. Doing the same with
  Earth's atmosphere is a very different proposition. Oh, they could do it all right...they've got the technology to do
  it, all right...they've got the technology to do it, but what they haven't got is the technology to patch up the holes
  after they've made them..."</p>
<p><q>Désolé... je ne suis pas bien...</q></p>
<p><q>La couche d'ozone !</q> dit Gerstein avec impatience. Vous ne voyez pas ? <q>It would mean punching great gaps in
  the ozone layer and it's that layer, as you must know, which screens us from the full effects of the ultra-violet rays
  from the sun.</q></p>
<p><q>Sans la protection de cette couche d'ozone, M. Butler, nous serions bombardés de bien plus de radiations et cela
  produirait immédiatement toutes sortes d'horreurs - telles qu'un accroissement des déclarations de cancers de la
  peau.</q></p>
<p><q>Non, il y avait trop de dangers involved. L'alternative 1 fut rightly rejetée.</q></p>
<p><q>Et l'alternative 2 ?</q></p>
<p>Gerstein was having more trouble with his pipe. Relighting it was a major job which required all his attention. It
  made him cough and splutter but, after using three matches, he won. And, once again, he was contentedly wreathed in
  smoke. "Can you imagine yourself living like a troglodyte, Mr. Butler?"</p>
<p>It was obviously a rhetorical question. Butler waited, knowing he was not expected to reply.</p>
<p>"Alternative 2, in my view, was even crazier than Alternative 1," continued Gerstein. "I recognize, of course, that
  there is enough atmosphere locked in the soil to support life but...no, this was the most unrealistic of all the
  alternatives."<br> "Troglodyte," prompted Butler. "Why troglodyte?"</p>
<p>"There is good reason to believe that this world was once more civilized and far more scientifically advanced than it
  is today," said Gerstein. "Our really distant ancestors, living millennia before what we call Pre-historic Man, had
  progressed far beyond our present stage of knowledge. "Then, it is argued, there was some cataclysmic disaster - maybe
  one comparable with that facing us now - and these highly-sophisticated people built completely new civilizations deep
  beneath the surface of the earth..."</p>
<p>"But," said Butler, "I don't see how..."</p>
<p>"Please!" Gerstein was in no mood to be interrupted."There is evidence, quite considerable evidence, to suggest that
  there were once whole cities - linked by an elaborate complex of tunnels - far below the surface. Remains of them have
  been found under many parts of the world. Under South America...China...Russia...oh, all over the place. And in this
  subterranean world, so it is said, there is a green luminescence which replaces the sun as a source of energy -<br>
  and which makes it possible for crops to be grown.</p>
<p>"So they evacuated down there and very likely thrived for some time..."</p>
<p>"Then what?" asked Butler.</p>
<p>Gerstein shrugged. "After all this time...who can tell? Maybe there's historical truth in the Biblical story of the
  great Flood. Maybe the disaster which drove them there in the first place was followed by the Flood - and they were
  all trapped and drowned down there. Maybe that's how their civilization ended..."</p>
<p>He paused, sucked reflectively on his pipe. "And it could follow that the people we think of as Prehistoric Men were
  merely the descendants of a handful of survivors - the real children of Noah, if you accept the Bible version - who
  had to start from scratch in a world which had been utterly devastated. Is that why they took so naturally -
  instinctively, if you like - to living in caves? Then the agonizingly slow process of rebuilding the world started all
  over again until now we find ourselves in a similar position..."</p>
<p>"So Alternative 2, then, would involve transporting everybody down into the bowels of the earth?"</p>
<p>"Not everybody," said Gerstein. "That would be hopelessly impracticable. There's be selected people, people chosen
  for their special skills or talents, people who'd be regarded as vital to the future of the human race.</p>
<p>"There were, I have to tell you, many people at Huntsville in favor of Alternative 2. They pointed out that there
  would never be another flood, not with the entire planer drying up, so it would not all end as it apparently did once
  before."</p>
<p>He took the pipe from his mouth and pointed its stem at Butler. "You know...there was one very prominent man - died a
  couple of years ago now - who even put forward a plan for using ordinary people...superfluous people, he called
  them...as slave labor.</p>
<p>"It was quite startling, the way he had it all worked out. These gangs of slaves, who'd do all the heavy work down
  there, would be treated - either surgically or chemically - so that they would just complacently accept their new
  roles. They'd be rounded up, as he put it, in Batch Consignments. Yes, that was the expression he used - Batch
  Consignments..."</p>
<p>Butler shook his head in disbelief . "But that's unthinkable...quite inhuman. And, anyway, as operation on what
  scale...it could be mounted only with the closest co-operation between the super-powers. America and Russia would have
  to pool their resources and scientific know-how and that in itself, surely, would be out of the question..."</p>
<p>"Allies are united by the need to fight a common enemy or to combat a universal danger," said Gerstein. "Think of the
  Second World War. Britain, America, Russia - they were all partners in the mutual struggle for survival. It didn't
  seem so strange then, did it, that they should co-operate. And this present threat, Mr. Butler, is far greater than
  the world was facing then..."</p>
<p>"Is the technology available to do all this?" asked Butler.</p>
<p>"Technology, yes. Cash would obviously be the problem. Countless billions of pounds would be needed but, in
  extremity, it could be raised."</p>
<p>"In that case, why did you consider Alternative 2 to be the most unrealistic of them all?"</p>
<p>"Because, at best, it would be no more than a stop-gap solution. As I told you...the carbon dioxide, once it's up
  there, stays there. We're trapped inside the great greenhouse and it will be only a matter of time before the effects
  permeate down into the earth. Things down there, really deep down, will eventually wither and start to smoulder."</p>
<p>He paused, gave a brief humorless laugh. "Maybe our legends and superstitions about Hades - with the demonic stoker
  down there in the bowels of blackness - are merely unconscious visions of the future. How about that for a
  thought?"</p>
<p>He stared hard at Butler and, getting no reply, he continued: "The situation, you see, isn't just irretrievable - it
  has now reached the stage where it can do nothing but deteriorate. That was why Alternative 2, in my opinion, was
  ridiculous."</p>
<p>Outside the study window there were the bird noises of early Spring. Butler looked over Gerstein's shoulder and saw
  an old woman sedately walking her dog around the perimeter of the lawn.</p>
<p>Out there it was so peaceful, so normal. And that made their conversation all the more bizarre. Here, in this book-
  lined and sunlit room, they were talking about Armageddon.</p>
<p>They were talking about it in measured and cultivated tones as if it were no more than a matter of academic interest.
  It was hard, very hard, to grasp that the subject really was the approaching end of the world.</p>
<p>This was the strangest interview Butler had ever conducted. But, as a professional, he pushed ahead with his
  questions.</p>
<p>"And Alternative 3?"</p>
<p>Gerstein shook his head. "I don't know..."he said.</p>
<p>"Maybe I've been too indiscreet already. I've been out of touch with things for rather a long time now and it's
  hardly my place to talk about Alternative 3. They may have abandoned it for all I know...decided that it simply
  couldn't be done. You'd have to talk to someone connected with the Space Program because the truth is that I just
  don't know..."</p>
<p>"Well, give me a pointer..."persisted Butler.</p>
<p>"I'll give you a sherry," said Gerstein. And that was where the interview ended.</p>
<p>During the following months public fear continued to mount over the weather - and over the effect it was likely to
  have on the future of the world. On August 28, 1977, the Sunday Telegraph carried a major article headlined: WEATHER
  MEN AT A LOSS. It was written by a member of the newspaper's "Close-Up" investigative team and it said;</p>
<p>What is happening to the British weather? That seemingly innocuous question has suddenly become a major subject for
  research.</p>
<p>Even the meteorologists are cautiously echoing the man in the street's opinion that something distinctly odd has been
  affecting our climate to give us the extremes of the past two years...Many countries have experienced strange weather
  phenomena over the same period. Mr. Edwin P. Weigel of the United States Weather Bureau in Washington told me:</p>
<p>"We don't know what's hit us. California and other western states have had two years of drought which have smashed
  all-time records. Water is being rationed in some parts..."</p>
<p>There are several shades of opinion on how ominous it all is and there is only a very shaky consensus on how unusual
  such extremities really are...</p>
<h2>Section 7c</h2>
<p>The official attitude, however, was still guarded.Experts who knew the real truth were anxious not to provoke mass
  panic. Kevin Miles of the Meteorological Office's 40-strong climatic research team at Bracknell, Berkshire, was quoted
  in this Sunday Telegraph article as saying: "We must agree that what we have been experiencing is unusual. Reports
  from all over the world have confirmed our own picture of increased variability. But we have learned not to over-react
  to what might be seen as odd in several small parts of the globe."</p>
<p>Mr. Miles went on to admit that he and his team would dearly love to understand what has been going on recently.<br>
  So, on orders from the highest level, the charade was maintained - with weathermen on both sides of the Atlantic
  insisting that they still did not know the truth, that they were still investigating the disturbing mystery.</p>
<p>The Sunday Telegraph article continued:</p>
<blockquote>
  <p>The Bracknell meteorologists are enlarging their research program to investigate every hypotheses that might give a
    correlation with the fluctuating weather. Oceans, clouds, land forms and the Earth's surface are all being scanned
    with the help of one of the world's fastest computers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While such sophistication is being perfected, the American experts are flying as many scientific kites as their
  British counterparts. The Washington bureau is currently looking at possible effects of volcanic eruptions and changes
  in the movements of the sun. "Some of it comes excitingly close, some is clutching at straws," said Mr. Weigel.<br>
  Amateur weather-watchers, who blame everything from Concorde to the atom bomb for the climatic unrest, will not be
  appeased by the promise of more and better research.</p>
<p>Those "amateurs" certainly would not have been appeased if they had been told the full story. They would have been
  terrified.</p>
<p>"Talk to someone connected with the Space Program." That's what Gerstein had suggested. But it wasn't easy to follow
  his advice. Not when real information was needed.</p>
<p>Of course, there were people at NASA who were prepared to talk to Sceptre Television. But they were the public-
  relations specialists, the glib front-men, who could be charming and convincing. And who could say a great deal
  without saying anything.</p>
<p>Clements knew that he had to get more. Far more. The project, by this time, had become almost an obsession with him.
  He was determined, somehow, to find someone who really knew about this Alternative 3 - and who would be prepared to
  explain it.</p>
<p>"We'll obviously bet nothing out of anybody still with NASA." he said to Terry Dickson. "They'd be too scared of
  losing their jobs and I can't say I blame them. So see if you can track down someone who's already quit. One of the
  moon-walkers, perhaps. They may know something or they may have seen something.</p>
<p>"One or two of them, from what I gather, are rather bitter about the way they've been treated. I was reading - in the
  Daily Express, I believe it was - about Buzz Aldrin complaining that he'd been used as a traveling salesman. Try to
  get hold of him or one of the others. At the very least, they might point us in the right direction..."</p>
<p>Dickson rubbed his chin, pulled a rueful face. "And how do I start doing that?" he demanded. "I don't know where any
  of them are these days..."</p>
<p>"I don't ask you how to point the cameras, love...you're the researcher..."</p>
<p>"Yes, but..."</p>
<p>"And make it a priority job, Terry."</p>
<p>"It'll cost," persisted Dickson. "I'll have to hire someone in America and that could cost real money. Harman's not
  going to like it. Remember what he said about Australia..."</p>
<p>"Never mind about Harman." Clements was being crisply executive. "You do your job and leave Harman to me." He grinned
  suddenly and added: "Anyway, he's a busy man and I don't think we ought to trouble him with such small details." A
  freelance journalist in America was commissioned by Dickson. Three former astronauts refused to co-operate. A fourth
  said he would need time to consider his position. That fourth man was Bob Grodin.</p>
<p>The American freelance also supplied Dickson with a tape containing a conversation which had taken place between
  Grodin - during his first moon walk - and Mission Control. Here is the transcript of the relevant section:</p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>GRODIN: Hey, Houston...d'you hear; this constant bleep we have here now?<br> MISSION CONTROL: Affirmative. We
    have it.<br> GRODIN: What is it? D'you have some explanation for that?<br> MISSION CONTROL: We have none. can you
    see anything? Can you tell us what you see?<br> GRODIN: Oh boy, it's really...really something super fantastic
    here.You couldn't ever imagine this...<br> MISSION CONTROL: O.K....could you take a look out over that flat area
    there? Do you see anything beyond?<br> GRODIN: There's a kind of a ridge with a pretty spectacular...oh my God! What
    is that there? That's all I want to know! What the hell is that?<br> MISSION CONTROL: Roger. Interesting. Go
    Tango...immediately...go Tango...<br> GRODIN: There's a kind of a light now...<br> MISSION CONTROL: (hurriedly):
    Roger. We got it, we've marked it.Lose a little communication, huh? Bravo Tango...Bravo Tango...select Jezebel,
    Jezebel...</q></p>
</blockquote>
<p> No more speech could be heard. Grodin, at that point, had switched to another frequency. On the tape there was only
  static...</p>
<p>Simon Butler, you may recall, underlined that point when the television documentary was transmitted. He said: "Bravo
  Jezebel? A form of code? Almost certainly. But what did it mean? Absolutely nothing to the estimated six hundred
  million people listening in on earth..."</p>
<p>Remember the allegations, which we outlined in section one of this book, made by former NASA man Otto Binder?</p>
<p>"Certain sources with their own VHF receiving facilities that by-passed NASA broadcast outlets claim there was a
  portion of Earth-Moon dialogue that was quickly cut off by the NASA monitoring staff."</p>
<p>That censored portion, according to Binder, included these words from Apollo 11: "These babies were huge,
  sir...enormous...Oh, God you wouldn't believe it!...I'm telling you there are other space-craft out there...lined up
  on the far side of the crater edge..."</p>
<p>Could that have a direct link with the exchange heard on the Grodin tape? Had Grodin, like the men of the Apollo 11
  mission, seen something too startling to be revealed to ordinary people?</p>
<p>Or were these moon-explorers all mistaken? Was there something in outer space which induced hallucinations?<br> The
  idea of unknown and unidentified space-craft being "lined up" on the moon - to the astonishment of human astronauts -
  has surely too ridiculous. And YET...</p>
<p>Grodin agreed to be interviewed by Sceptre Television, via Satellite, from a studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The
  plan was to tape the entire interview and edit it later. In fact, as viewers will probably remember, the interview
  ended abruptly and in the oddest possible way. And it place an even bigger question mark on the whole subject of
  Alternative 3.</p>
<p>There was, right from the start, something slightly manic in Grodin's expression and he showed a tendency to laugh
  nervously for no apparent reason. But he talked fluently and he displayed no reluctance about discussing the breakdown
  he had suffered after his final return from space. Nothing remarkable happened, or seemed likely to happen, until
  Simon Butler asked a question which we present verbatim from the program which was transmitted:</p>
<p>Now it has been suggested, among others, by some very responsible people that you - that all of you on the Apollo
  program - saw far more out there than you have been allowed to admit publicly. What comment do you have to make on
  that suggestion? </p>
<p>The immediate effect on Grodin was electrifying. His face suffused with anger and he shouted: "What are you trying to
  do, man? Just tell me that! What are you trying to do."</p>
<p>Butler apologized. "I was only..."</p>
<p>"You trying to screw me? demanded Grodin. He leaned forward in his chair, glowering into the Boston camera. "That
  what you want? You want to screw me real good?"</p>
<p>"Of course not," said Butler quickly. "And I'm sorry if..."</p>
<p>"Like that dumb bastard Ballantine? Is that what you want to..."<br> He got no further. His voice was chopped in
  midsentence, his picture on the monitor screen vanished in a haze of white static.</p>
<p>"What is going on? asked Butler. "Hell's teeth...what's the matter with this..."</p>
<p>He was interrupted by Clement's voice. "We don't know where he's gone."</p>
<p>Like that dumb bastard Ballantine! That's the line which grabbed their attention. It had to fit in, somehow, with the
  mystery of the meaningless tape received by Hendry - and with the strange circumstances leading up to Ballantine's
  death. It just had to be connected with what the man Harry had said: "There was no way for that to be an accident...it
  was what they called and Expediency and I know why it happened."</p>
<p>"We've got to find him and talk to him face-to-face. Terry, love...see what your lad in America can come up with." He
  turned to Colin Benson. "I'll probably be sending you over there," he said.</p>
<p>Benson beamed. "Great!" he said. "But isn't Harman going to raise stink?"</p>
<p>"Probably," said Clements. "But leave that to me."</p>
<p>Harman did "raise stink". He raised it more vehemently than Clements anticipated. We have the memoranda which reveal
  the strength of Harman's feelings. In our view they show a strength bordering on fanaticism...</p>
<h2>Section 7d</h2>
<p>Wednesday, July 13, 1977. Another submarine meeting of Policy Committee. Chairman: A EIGHT. Transcript section
  supplied by Trojan starts:</p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>R TWO: This Princeton man... Dr. Gerard O'Neill... appears to have a disturbing lack of discretion... </q></p>
</blockquote>
<p>(Author's note: This meeting, being held a littler later in the month than was customary, was exactly two days after
  the Los Angeles Times published the controversial interview -- detailed in Section One of this book - in which Dr.
  O'Neill outlined the solution he called "Island 3". He said in that interview - "There's really no debate about the
  technology involved in doing it. That's been confirmed by NASA's top people.") The Trojan transcript continued:<q><br>
  </q></p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>A FOUR: Sure...he shouldn't have shot his mouth off in that way...but I don't see there's any real harm
    done...people will assume he's just talking theory...<br> A EIGHT: It is just theory, for Christ sakes, as far as he
    is concerned. He knows the technology but beyond that he knows nothing...<br> R FIVE: He is a respected man...a man
    whose words mold public opinion...and he should be discouraged from making such stupid statements...<br> A EIGHT:
    That's already been done...for him and for others like him...<br> R TWO: What is this you are saying? An
    unauthorized Expediency?<br> A EIGHT: Hell, no! That's not necessary. Like I said...Gerard O'Neill doesn't know
    enough, not about the politics...he doesn't even have any idea that we meet this way...<br> R SIX: Then what has
    been done?<br> A EIGHT: Let's keep this in perspective, shall we...Washington doesn't want publicly to pinpoint the
    O'Neill thing because that would make it seem too important...best to ignore it..that's the official attitude and
    I'm damned sure that attitude is right...<br> R SEVEN: But when O'Neill talked about Island 3...<br> A EIGHT: Hold
    on...let me finish. Something is being done but it's being done as a blanket operation...Right now there's a secrecy
    Bill being scrambled on to the Stature Book and I promise you that'll close every worrying mouth...</q></p>
</blockquote>
<p> Fourteen days after this meeting of the Policy Committee, as we mentioned earlier, columnist Jeremy Campbell broke
  the news of the "suppression" Bill in the London Evening Standard. Campbell is a highly experienced journalist with a
  deserved reputation for knowing the background to the published news. Here, we are confident, is one of the rare
  instances where he did not know the real background.</p>
<p>The rest of the transcript supplied by Trojan was brief:</p>
<blockquote>
  <p><q>R SEVEN: That may well be but I have to tell you that our people in Moscow are becoming increasingly worried
    about the level of security in America...there was that bad business of Carmell...<br> A EIGHT: Oh no!...not Carmell
    again! Carmell's settled...that's all over, okay?<br> R SEVEN: And Carl Gerstein? </q></p>
</blockquote>
<p>There was no reply to that question. The meeting had obviously continued but that was the end of the transcript.</p>
<p>The end of August and the beginning of September, 1977 only days before the "Suppression" Bill reached the Statute
  Book - brought more curious evidence of the treatment which had been given to Batch Consignment victims. It gave a
  deeper insight into the work which had been continuing in America and Russia. And in Britain.</p>
<p>This evidence is now public knowledge for, as library files show, it has appeared in reputable newspapers. But,
  because of its special significance, we consider it worth repeating here.</p>
<p>On August 27, William Lowther, the distinguished Washington correspondent of the Daily Mail, wrote and article which
  was headlined THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE BATHROOM.</p>
<p>It said:</p>
<p>Morgan Hall was a spy. He always kept a jug of martinis in the refrigerator. He had a two-way mirror in the
  bathroom.</p>
<p>But Morgan's life was full of woe. His masters were slow in sending money. His assignment was awful sleazy. The code
  name for his project was "Operation Midnight Climax". It was meant to be a perpetual secret And no wonder.</p>
<p>For two full years Morgan spent his working hours sitting on a portable toilet watching through his mirror drinking
  his martinis while a prostitute entertained men in the adjoining bedroom.</p>
<p>Her job was to persuade clients to drink cocktails. What they didn't know was that the drinks had been mixed by the
  mysterious Morgan. They were more chemical than alcohol.</p>
<p>Morgan had to record the results. We still don't know just what they were or how they worked. But some of the drinks
  gave instant headaches, others made you silly or drunk or forgetful or just plain frantic. The effects were only
  temporary and nobody was harmed, much.</p>
<p>Morgan was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency and it was America's top spy bosses who sent him out from
  headquarters near Washington to set up the "laboratory" in a luxury apartment overlooking San Francisco Bay.<br> Now,
  1,647 pages of financial records dealing with the operation have been made public as part of aCongressional
  investigation.</p>
<p>(Author's note: That was the Congressional investigation provoked by the information supplied to us by Trojan.)
  Lowther's article continued:</p>
<p>It was all part of the agency's MK-ultra mind control experimental program...it was reasoned that a prostitute's
  clients wouldn't complain.</p>
<p>The financial records released yesterday show that Morgan was always writing to headquarters. Says a typical letter -
  "Money urgently needed to pay September rent."</p>
<p>His bills for the flat include Toulouse -Lautrec posters, a picture of a French can - can dancer and one marked:
  "Portable toilet for observation post."</p>
<p>Says the CIA: "Morgan Hall died two years ago. We have no idea where he is buried."</p>
<p>Here we must ignore suspicions and accept the official word of the CIA. Our own inquiries in America have yielded
  nothing further about Morgan Hall and we must state, quite categorically, that we have found no evidence to support
  any suggestion of his having been an expediency victim.</p>
<p>Lowther's story was quickly followed by two more reports which confirmed something we had already been told by Trojan
  - a series of secret experiments in behavior control had also been conducted in Russia and in Britain.</p>
<p>On September 2 The Times gave front-page prominence to a report supplied from Honolulu by Reuter and UPI. It was
  headlined "PSYCHIATRISTS CONDEMN SOVIET UNION" and it said:</p>
<p>The general assembly of the World Psychiatric Association, meeting behind closed doors, has adopted a resolution
  condemning the Soviet Union for abusing psychiatry for "political purposes" in the Soviet Union..."</p>
<p>The international code of ethics, called the"Declaration of Hawaii", adopted by the congress follows years of
  criticism against the WPA for not taking action on ethical standards.</p>
<p>Other newspapers claimed that "scores of mentally healthy Soviet citizens are forcibly interned in mental hospitals'.
  This is unquestionably true but the facts need to be seen in their proper perspective. The vast majority are detained
  because of their stand on human rights. They are sane people who are considered enemies of the State. Only a small
  percentage are there purely because they are needed as guinea-pigs. These are the ones who have been detained because
  of Alternative 3 in Britain - appeared on August 28 in the Sunday Telegraph:</p>
<p>Hospitals for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped have been instructed by the Health Department to collect
  statistics on operations being carried out to change personality.</p>
<p>For the first time, ministers have acknowledged that there is growing concern. The operations, known as
  psychosurgery, are carried out to remove or destroy portions of brain tissue to change the behavior of severely
  depressed or exceptionally aggressive patients who do not respond to drugs or electric shock treatment.</p>
<p>The Sunday Telegraph said that "the change was rreversible" and quoted a prominent consultant psychiatrist as saying:
  "My hospital is littered with the wrecks of humanity who have undergone psychosurgery.</p>
<p>However, the newspaper did not point out that these operations can also be performed to control the behavior pattern
  of men and women who are completely sane. Or that, in fact, they have been performed on such people.</p>
<p>Dr. Randolph Crepson-White spoke to us about these operations when we net him in the Somerset village to which he
  retired in 1975. He talked frankly on the strict understanding that we would not divulge his name. However, as he died
  of natural causes on October 19, 1977, we do not consider ourselves to be now bound by our undertaking.</p>
<p>Dr. Crepson-White told us: "I performed five of these operations on people - four young men and one young woman - who
  appeared to be completely sane. There were two objects. The patients had to be completely de-sexed, to have their
  natural biological urges taken away, and they also had to have their individuality removed. They would, after being
  discharged, obey any order without question. In fact, they would virtually be thinking robots.</p>
<p>"I recognized that what I was doing was most unethical, and I did protest that very strongly, but I was told that the
  operations were vital to the security of the country.</p>
<p>"Nobody actually told me that those patients had been involved in espionage but that was the impression I was given.
  I was ordered to sign the Official Secrets form and that is why you must not mention my name - apart from the fact
  that I'm frightened, there's be repercussions of a violent nature if certain people realized I'd been talking to
  you."</p>
<p>We should point out that, in order to protect Dr. Crepson-White's anonymity, we had agreed hot to be so specific
  about the number of operations he had performed. That agreement, of course, is now unnecessary.</p>
<p>He continued: "I still had distinct reservations about this aspect of my work. Soon it became apparent that I would
  be required to do more operations involving sane people...possibly many more...and that was when I decided to get
  right out."<br> "I had not intended to retire for another three years but, under the circumstances, I considered it
  impossible to go on."</p>
<p>Dr. Crepson-White, we are certain, knew nothing about people being collected into Batch Consignments. He knew nothing
  about Alternative 3. But a complete insight into the use being made of his work was eventually supplied to us by
  Trojan. It was supplied in an astounding document which we will be presenting later.</p>
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