Yes Nick Pope is one of those who rose without trace and now makes a successful career out of not a lot because folk want to believe,

In my work, I used to have access to the MOD Directory and although there was a section to which he could have been attached, it was one of those places where they sent details of anything which they felt was outside their remit and there were a lot of these 'pigeon holes' to be dealt with in addition to just UFO Reports which were right at the bottom of the list I saw.
Pope would have been able to see some documents but only in as much as he would have forwarded them to others in MOD who were trained experts in their field. The way he reads is that he was in sole charge of any investigations whereas nothing could be further from the truth.
I always assumed that he was the EO (Executive Officer) in charge of his section but from what I've read, he was much lower in the food chain.
I once had occasion to speak to a young lady at MOD when I was able to explain away a UFO sighting which had been sent to me in my capacity as an Air Traffic Controller at RAE Farnborough (as it was then); she phoned me to thank me for my input as it helped clear at least one case from their files which she would otherwise have been obliged to forward to other MOD experts. This would have been after Nick Pope ceased his connection with the secretariat as she said she was the one in charge; I believe they move civil servants round in MOD every few years.

I believe they move civil servants round in MOD every few years.[/QUOTE]

Tiny digression on MoD civil service mobility back in the day.

Indeed so. I ran a sort of refresher course at the Met Office College for three years late 1970s. About 5 courses of 12 or so bodies on each, total sample about 180, 90% men.

I gathered stats of their careers to date ........ aged mid 30s to early 40s, borderline HSO to SSO material [SSO being charged S/Ldr Mess rates].

Average period on one station or civil airfield before next "permanent" posting 3 years, average detachments during each posting about 4. Thus most of them had moved house [or undertaken long commutes] a goodly number of times. In those days many wives did not do full time work. The big shift to working wives was when mortgages could be based on joint salary income [my opinion].

No complaints, it was a mobile contract and we had a degree of say over most moves, or at least the timings. The one kiss of death was to a day job at Bracknell. [Me? One Bracknell stint of 19 weeks, and later-on another of 12 weeks. More than enough].

Back in the day (early 1980s) the Orderly Officer's pile of useful bumf included a pad of UFO forms in case a member of the public phoned in. They must have disappeared soon afterwards as I don't recall seeing them on anything other than my first tour.

It was an odd collection of stuff in the briefcase and the safe, everything from gloves and the key to rescue the Royal Standard in the event of a fire and sealed envelopes containing instructions in case a royal shuffled of their mortal coil, right through to the UFO forms. Most of it, other than the pad of signal forms, was pretty much useless in dealing with most crises that arose during your shift. I always wondered how the porn stash was maintained though, as it was never the same and sometimes never there.

One knew that one had been accepted in the team when the location of the porn was revealed.
This was always significantly later than subscribibg to the coffee swindle.

That photo looks to me like an island reflected in calm water with the reflection of an aircraft nearer the camera.