Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Founded in 1990, the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) is an international organization devoted to studying and providing information about extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). The group’s members believe that extraterrestrial spacecraft (ETS) have been visiting Earth, that extraterrestrials have been interacting with humans for many years, that the extraterrestrials visiting Earth are from more than one alien civilization, that extraterrestrials mean humans no harm, and that the U.S. government has been concealing evidence related to the retrieval of crashed ETS and their occupants. CSETI investigates claims regarding such events and is working for full disclosure of government documents on ETI and ETS. The group also supports various projects related to ETI, most notably the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research CE-5 Initiative. CE-5 is CSETI’s term for a “close encounter of the fifth kind,” which it defines on its Web site as a “bilateral communication rather than unilateral contact . . . based on mutual respect and universal principles of exchange and contact.” The group believes that such encounters have occurred in the past, and its project is designed to encourage more contact with aliens in the future. As part of the CE-5 Initiative, CSETI studies UFO sightings with the aim of predicting where ETS might appear, hoping to enter into peaceful communications with the aliens.

SEE ALSO:

• Close Encounters

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning