Nick Pope

Nick Pope is a media commentator and former civil servant. Whilst an employee at the British Government's Ministry of Defence (MoD), Pope was responsible, among other duties, for investigating UFO phenomena to determine if they had any defence significance. He moved to the United States in January 2012. Ministry of Defence Pope worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence from 1985 to 2006. From 1991 to 1994, he worked in Secretariat (Air Staff) Sec (AS) 2a more commonly known as the "UFO desk", where his duties included investigating reports of UFO sightings, to see if they had any defence significance. At the time, while the Ministry of Defence stated that it "remains totally open-minded about the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms", it also stated that there was no evidence to suggest that any UFO sightings posed any threat to the UK or that they were extraterrestrial in origin. It is clear from material that Pope wrote whilst still at the MoD that he did not share the MoD's view that conventional explanations could be found for all UFO sightings. Pope's final posting in the MoD was to the Directorate of Defence Security. In 2009, MoD announced that UFO sightings would no longer be investigated. He moved to the United States in 2012 in order to pursue a relationship with anthropologist Elizabeth Weiss.