If you have a sustained interest in the subject of UFOs and their investigation, you’ve heard of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network). This at-one-time important grass roots network has been steadily sliding toward irrelevance (see here and here for past issues). Events of more recent days have all but sealed the organization’s fate as something to not be taken seriously.

This isn’t cause for rejoicing. In the early days, MUFON did some valuable research and investigation. It lost its way on the trail of sensationalism (and what others call “retail ufology”), but the current status is a living caricature. I know from my recent trip to Roswell that serious people within the organization have lamented the situation for some time.

Here’s a summary by Robert Sheaffer of recent events that have put MUFON on life support.

One note … Part of Sheaffer’s critique is MUFON’s support of a secret space program. I’ve said in the past that I suspect NASA is (pardon the pun) moonlighting out of the public eye. But I don’t mean what MUFON means by that.