GovernmentExecutive.com

This is the time of the presidential election cycle when candidates from both parties are out there letting Americans know how they would exercise the levers of power if elected. New Mexico governor and Democratic candidate Bill Richardson made one of his priorities clear last Friday: finding out what really happened in Roswell, N.M. in 1947. Of course, many UFO buffs think they know exactly what happened: an alien spacecraft landed, the U.S. military took possession of it, and has been covering up the incident ever since.

Richardson seems to share the belief that the feds aren't telling the whole truth about the matter.
"I've been in government a long time," he said at a town hall meeting. "I've been in the Cabinet, I've been in the Congress and I've always felt that the government doesn't tell the truth as much as it should on a lot of issues."

"When I was in Congress," Richardson added, "I said (to the) Department of Defense ... 'What is the data? What is the data you have?' " When he was told the details were classified, "That ticked me off," he said.

"What do you want me to do?" Richardson asked an alien enthusiast at the meeting. "You want me to open up all those files? I'll work with you on that."

By the way, this isn't the only recent alien-related federal news. Wired Science reports that NASA has agreed to search its files for documents related to a mysterious fireball that crashed near Kecksburg, Pa., on Dec. 9, 1965.

(Hat tip: Carpetbagger Report, via Danger Room.)