Steven M. Greer

Steven Macon Greer (June 28, 1955) is an American ufologist and retired physician who founded the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and the Disclosure Project, which seeks the disclosure of alleged classified UFO information. Greer was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1955. He claims he saw an unidentified flying object at close range when he was eight years old. He claims he saw another UFO when he was 18. Greer was trained as a Transcendental Meditation teacher and served as director of a meditation organization. He received a B.S. degree in biology from Appalachian State University in 1982 and an M.D. degree from the James H. Quillen College of Medicine of East Tennessee State University in 1987. He received his Virginia medical license in 1989, worked as an emergency room physician, and in 1998 retired as a physician in favor of his ufology activities. Greer founded the Center for the Study of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) in 1990 to create a diplomatic and research-based initiative to contact extraterrestrial civilizations. The group defined CE-5 or 'close encounters of the fifth kind' as human initiated contact and communication with extraterrestrial life. CSETI claims to have over 3,000 confirmed reports of UFO sightings by pilots and over 4,000 of what they describe as landing traces. The organisation utilizes 'Rapid Mobilisation Investigative Teams' with the aim of arriving at landing sites as quickly as possible. CSETI has defined a protocol for human initiated contact to UFOs using consciousness. In 1993, Greer founded the Disclosure Project, the goal of which is to publicly disclose the government's alleged knowledge of UFOs, extraterrestrial intelligence, and advanced energy and propulsion systems. Greer describes the Disclosure Project as an effort to grant amnesty to government whistleblowers willing to violate their security oaths by sharing classified information about UFOs. Greer claims to have briefed CIA director James Woolsey at a dinner party, although Woolsey disputes the accuracy of Greer's claim.