J. Allen Hynek -- Why?

Hynek has also stated his opinion that after Ruppelt's departure, Project Blue Book was little more than a public relations exercise, further noting that little or no research was undertaken using the scientific method.

If Hynek was the scientific advisor to Project Blue Book (and project Grudge before that), he very likely saw those things that the government did not want released and assisted in their cover up. If so, why found CUFON thereafter? What did he have left to learn?

Moreover, if Hynek was really just a mule that was hired to see only what the government wanted him to see in hopes that he would be part of the disinformation/coverup unwittingly, then what did he see that was enough for him to think that starting CUFON would help uncover the answers to the unsolved mysteries uncovered during his time as a consultant to BB and Grudge?

I know much has been written on Hynek, but I haven't found anything that resolves the inconsistency between his "insider" status as a consultant with BB and his "outsider" position when founding CUFON.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or conjecture on the subject...

(edited to fix typos)

[edit on 29-7-2005 by Centrist]

Hynek founded CUFOS after he became frustrated with the way Blue Book was handling things (at a time when blue book was ending, anyways). The truth of the matter is that many of his 'dismissals' of UFO events that the government offered up were actually taken from lists of suggestions he was making for individual cases. For instance, he's ridiculed for mentioning 'swamp gas' by the UFO community... but the truth of the matter is that this was one out of many suggestions he made in regards to a specific case (it just happened to be the one the media ran with).

Hynek was always open to the notion of 'other' explanations for UFOs. He was, however, working for the government for a long time and -- as a professor as well -- couldn't just jump on the type of book-selling, sensationalist UFO bandwagon that so often devalues UFO research.

On a personal note, having met several staff members of CUFOS, I can attest to their genuine interest in the subject.

Thanks for your thoughts. I suppose I'm intrigued by the apparent conflict between the idea that Hynek was privy to things we don't know about while working with Blue Book, but yet felt it necessary to help found CUFON after BB ended. To me, that indicates that Hynek may have only witnessed clues as to whether the UFO phenomena actually related to extra terrestrial beings and never came across hard proof. Otherwise, why would he have need to setup CUFON? If he did have knowledge of what (at least according to conspiracy theorists) would have been ultra-top secret knowledge on the existence of of extraterrestrials, would the government have allowed him to participate in an organization whose mission was to expose knowledge of ET's?