The concluding installment of our special BoA:Audio "miniseries" with esteemed Ufologist Ann Druffel, wrapping up our in-depth discussion on Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight for UFO Science. In this week's episode, we'll be covering James McDonald's goals for a national UFO monitoring system, the unspoken pressure on McDonald to provide a UFO "breakthrough," the Condon Report, in-depth, including the "Low memo" and how McDonald was responsible for that document getting widely released, the reaction of Ufology to the Condon Report and if Ann thinks the UFO field was permanently damaged by the series of events that befell it in the late '60s / early '70's.

We'll also examine the folding of NICAP, and the events that led up to McDonald's death, beginning with his clandestine meeting with "top government officials," the SST Congressional hearings which saw McDonald publicly ridiculed by a Congressman, family issues that plagued McDonald towards the end of his life, and his subsequent suicide and Ann's thoughts on what may have been behind it and the result of McDonald's mysterious death on other scientists who may have been interested in UFOs. Plus, much more in this comprehensive interview.

Full Preview: We begin by discussing one of McDonald's goals during his tenure studying UFOs: development of a national UFO monitoring system. We speculate on why such a system has yet to be put into place by the UFO research community. We also talk about whether or not McDonald ever expressed frustration or pressure over being perceived as a leader in Ufology and the unspoken hope of many in the field that he would provide some sort of UFO breakthrough. Following that, we find out about J. Allen Hynek's reaction, in his later years, to revelations about Project Blue Book and how other government agencies had also been investigating UFOs at the time.

Covering another huge event in UFO history, we look the Condon Report from a number of angles, starting with Ann giving us some perspective on what the mood was like in Ufology as the Report was looming on the horizon. She gives some amazingly detailed background into the infamous "Low memo" which tipped Ufology off to the fact that the Condon Report would be largely negative. She also points out the huge contribution of Jim McDonald in getting the Low memo out to the public and making people aware of what was really going on within the Condon Committee. We also find out what the reaction was like, from those within Ufology, when the Condon Report was finally issued.

Ann gives us her first hand perspective of the effect of the Condon Report on UFO studies at the time. We use that discussion to segue into talking about how Ufology has changed since the difficult stretch of years that saw the Condon Report, the closure of Blue Book, NICAP folding, and McDonald's death and discuss if the field was irreperably damaged by those events. This leads to some talk of the "abduction boom" which began in 1973 and changed the course of UFO studies heading into the future. Ann makes a startling contention about what the abduction phenomenon did to the world of UFO studies and speculates on whether or not McDonald would have gotten into abduction research, had he lived to see the "swarm" of abduction reports that began shortly after he died.

We then look at yet another key event in Ufological history: the folding of NICAP. We first find out from Ann what the on-the-ground reaction was to the unseating of Keyhoe as head of NICAP. Ann relates how extensive the discussion was regarding government infiltration of NICAP at the time, recounts McDonald's reaction to the NICAP shake-up and speculates on his feelings about the turmoil in the organization.

Looking at the series of events that preceded McDonald's death, we start with his clandestine meeting with "top government officials," and Ann recounts this mysterious event and speculates about what it had been about. We then talk about the Congressional Hearings on supersonic jets that McDonald was a part of, where he was viciously attacked by a Congressman for his UFO research. Ann also reflects of the grief and sadness that befell Ufology following McDonald's death.

Wrapping up our discussion on Jim McDonald's life, we talk about his suicide in 1971 and Ann relates some of the factors that converged and left him in a state of deep depression. She also speculates on whether or not there were any nefarious factors at work with McDonald's depression. We discuss if there was any lingering fear after McDonald's death, either in Ufology or in mainstream science circles that might have had interest in UFOs.

Looking at a few big picture themes from the book, we cover McDonald's internal debate re: UFOs and the government, in that he wondered if it was a "foul up" or a "cover-up" on the part of the government. We also get Ann's take on the idea that perhaps the government actually knows very little about UFOs but is projecting greater knowledge.

We then get Ann's opinion on the evolution of Ufology in the nearly four decades since McDonald's death. She provides some amazing perspective on the "abduction boom" of the 1970's and offers her opinion on why that was, in the long run, bad for Ufology. We find out where Ann thinks the field needs to go from here. We discuss Ufology's public relations problem and also find out if Ann ever gets frustrated or worried because she's been in the field for over 50 years, seen many colleagues pass on, and yet still there have been no tangible answers to the UFO enigma.

Closing out this landmark BoA:Audio interview, we find out what Ann's working on now and what we can expect from her in the future.