At the very end of Jim Marrs' new book, Alien Agenda, he asks an extremely provocative question:

"... would the long-suffering public continue to pay ever-increasing prices for ever-decreasing reserves of gas and oil if they knew for certain that fuel-free nonpolluting electromagnetic or antigravity technology existed?"

Is Marrs implying that the world's energy monopolies, in concert with the governments of major nations, are keeping a lid on the scientific principles underlying the UFO phenomenon? Does he believe in a sinister New World Order?

Well, yes, and that's not all.

Marrs has written the first truly comprehensive overview of the UFO phenomenon that deserves to be called a work of solid, accurately documented journalism. With no axes to grind, Marrs critically explores the question of alien contact in its full historical, metaphysical and, most importantly, geopolitical dimensions.

Just published by HarperCollins, Alien Agenda follows on the heels of Marrs' strangely canceled book, The Enigma Files. Members of The Eclectic Viewpoint community will no doubt remember Marrs from his talk in November of 1995. In an earlier period of his career, Marrs distinguished himself with the best-selling book, Crossfire, which critically questioned the official explanation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Now, a year and half after his first Eclectic Viewpoint appearance, Marrs returns in possession of a unique synthesis of information on the UFO phenomenon gleaned from both ordinary and non-ordinary sources.

"This is a book about mindsets," Marrs said in a recent interview from his home on the far outskirts of Fort Worth. "And what I've found is that the mindsets are shifting." By "mindset," Marrs refers to "what you know, and, perhaps more importantly, how you know it."

"Because I live in a semi-rural area," Marrs said, "I'm in contact with a lot of people from the city manager to the president of the local Optimist Club to farmers and ranchers and truck drivers. Far from completely ignoring UFOs, across the board I see that they're intensely interested in the subject. Most of them have come to the conclusion that something real is going on, but they don't know what it is or why."

Perhaps it is in part those very friendships in his hometown that have motivated Marrs to explore the "why" as much as the "what" of UFOs and alien encounters. Alien Agenda compares and contrasts competing scenarios of alien involvement with humanity in a remarkably straightforward, mainstream style.

"I put off investigating UFOs for a long time," Marrs said, "because I wanted to be able to know what it is and what it's about."

As events unfolded in his life, it was Marrs' work on psychic warfare and remote viewing experiments that led him to take a new look at the question of UFOs and alien beings.

"The development of remote viewing presents us with the tools to find out what is the alien agenda," he said. "Now, remote viewing is not a 100% thing, but I have done enough testing of others' results and my own to find it reliable."

One of the most unique and fascinating aspects of the research behind Alien Agenda is to be found in chapter 11, entitled "In the Mind's Eye."

"In chapter 11 are the results of a commissioned study by the American Association of Remote Viewers," Marrs said. Seven remote viewers were participants in a blind study in which they did not know the object of the search.

"What they found is that there appears to be an internal conflict in one of the species of ETs. They have divided into two factions, what you could call the hawks and doves. The hawks' position is that, since they have already been here for millennia, there is no reason to do more with us than keep us fat, dumb and happy. Their primary interests are hybridization and raw materials.

"The doves are back on the main planet, and they have kept the hawks from having complete control over the earth situation, mainly from bases on the moon. They are seen as sending the cavalry to the rescue of the earth," Marrs said.

Unfortunately, Marrs states, top people in the US have made contact with the hawks and have agreed to their agenda. In other words, Marrs sees sufficient evidence to give credence to the idea that alien technology has been obtained through allowing aliens to conduct human abductions for their own purposes.

The political implications of the aliens' agenda(s), therefore, take center stage in Marrs' book. He sees the National Security Act of 1947 which created the National Security Agency and the National Security Council as central to the problem of UFO secrecy.

No simple conspiracy theorist, Marrs nevertheless poses the ultimate question concerning the future of humanity vis-á-vis the alien presence. Join us for a thought provoking evening with questions of your own.

— Ed Conroy