THE UFO CHRONICLES

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The Pentagon UFO Videos Brouhaha Explained?

After the gunsmoke clears

Coming-of-age tales cross so many familiar thresholds and genres, it’s hard to imagine one of those storylines breaking new ground. Yet, that’s sort of what happened last month, with the release of John Greenewald’s Inside the Black Vault: The Government’s UFO Secrets Revealed. It’s not written as a memoir – in fact, it has nothing to do with the bittersweet fuzzies of growing up – but it most

By Billy Cox
De Void
5-16-19

definitely is about coming to terms with one of adulthood’s peculiar institutional mysteries. In this case, of course, that would be the enduring embargo of the greatest secret of our age.

If you’re reading De Void, then you’re already familiar with Greenewald’s story, about how he started bugging “the government” to declassify documents when he was a teenager more than 20 years ago, and how he turned his Black Vault website into one of the biggest repositories of federal paper in cyberspace. His first-person accounting compresses that that journey into 169 pages. Hopefully, for a new generation of readers, it’ll do for them what Clear Intent, by Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood, did for me 30 years ago. Which is to say, dispelling any doubt about the serious nature of The Great Taboo by relying exclusively on FOIA-obtained records to build the case. I remember what that awakening was like so long ago; sometimes, I wonder if I’d been better off if I’d stayed asleep.

Few researchers know as much about the FOIA process as Greenewald, and as a consequence, his expertise has been recruited by the likes of the National Geographic Channel, History, and Discovery. So when the 38-year-old Californian weighs in on new releases of federal records, it’s usually a good idea to pay attention. And a lot of people were doing just that a couple of weeks ago, after investigative reporter George Knapp of KLAS-TV in Las Vegas produced the long-awaited smoking gun. It was the Defense Department’s official imprimatur on the F-18 UFO videos that triggered this remarkable national conversation we’ve been having for the past 17 months.

When on 12/16/17 the NY Times broke the news about the Pentagon’s secret UFO study, one of the missing components was formal proof positive establishing the provenance of those gun-cam vids. Credible witnesses went on record, including pilots, the intelligence official who ran the program, even the former Senate Majority Leader who commissioned the initiative. But although the Times reporters vouched for its authenticity, there is no substitute for documentation.

On April 29, Knapp got his hands on the elusive DD Form 1910, channeled through the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review. It was marked “Cleared For Open Publication,” with attached mpg files of the three UFO sequences – captured by Navy fighter pilots, and nicknamed “GoFast,” “Gimble,” and “FLIR” – that got such massive media play last year. Almost everyone paying attention applauded the breakthrough. But The Black Vault detective was more subdued.

Greenewald had been going after that same DD-1910 through FOIA for more than a year, without any success. Still empty-handed and understandably miffed when Knapp showcased the trophy, Greenewald gave it the white-glove treatment, spotted some red flags – which were not insignificant – and aired out his reservations in a series of posts at his website.

The ensuing dustup provoked a pointed rebuke from 12/16/17 co-author Leslie Kean, who called it “an unnecessary controversy,” and added, “If we at the Times did not have this document from a reliable source, we would not have stated that the videos were from the DOD.” Open Minds editor Alejandro Rojas put together a useful podcast overview — most definitely worth a listen — of the loosely sketched events leading up to Knapp’s acquisition of the DD-1910. After all, the rollout of these unprecedented revelations, initiated by the To The Stars Academy in October 2017, has been been flawed, erratic, and exasperating for the drive-thru point-and-click chip-or-swipe instant-gratification masses, which includes yours truly.

Greenewald would concede that the DD-1910 was “genuine,” but his skepticism was reserved for way it cleared the censors. Although the name of the official who prepared the document’s release on 8/24/17 was redacted, suspicion swung to the study’s former project manager Luis Elizondo. Greenewald floated the idea that Elizondo might have employed “false pretenses” to sneak the paper into the public domain. Why, he wondered, did the form’s subject-area entry only mention “UAV, Balloons, and other UAS”? In official Pentagon parlance, UAV means Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, and UAS means Unmanned Aerial System. Nothing concerning “unidentified” is in either of those U-prefixed acronyms.

Greenewald’s objections have been largely tossed off, but they do raise questions. Such as: Given the obfuscation, sloppiness, and downright falsehoods that often greet FOIA requests for UFO data, does it really matter if sympathetic insiders use a little subterfuge to get that stuff into public hands? Because it’s not unreasonable to wonder if the DD-1910 would’ve ever seen the light of day had UFO/UAP/AAO or some more exotic euphemism were posted in the subject field instead

Let’s just say, for the sake of future argument, that a little semantic sleight of hand is used to fool the censors — then what? How would that form of deception be significantly different from what Daniel Ellsberg did with the Pentagon Papers in 1971? Ellsberg was charged with theft, espionage and conspiracy.

If, in the past, some Deep Throat had wanted to drag classified UFO docs into the light, there was an implicit assumption of immunity because Uncle Sam’s longstanding party line was that the phenomenon was silly and frivolous. Prosecuting a leaker would’ve exposed official policy for the lie that it always was. Now that this story itself has ripened and the Navy has belatedly confirmed that UFOs do in fact embody legitimate national security issues, might this actually make it more difficult for whistleblowers to step up? There are stockpiles of related documents languishing out there somewhere. Who on the inside wants to test this radical new paradigm and see what, if anything, happens?

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Scientific Community Making Search For UFOs Mainstream

The search for extraterrestrial activity is getting some credibility.

Notable scientists are getting behind a push to make contact with whatever might be out there.

By newyork.cbslocal.com
5-17-19

[...]

... today, this search for answers has gone mainstream. Prestigious universities including Harvard and Penn State are dedicating some of their brightest minds to this as a new field of study.

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

Changing Perceptions Re UFOs Within The Scientific Community?

New, Innovative Approach to the Scientific Study of UFOs

Scientists and UFOs

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Spinning, Flashing UFO Spotted in Gaston

UFO investigator determined the lights were a UFO

It was a quiet January night in Gaston when David Stone's wife saw something she couldn't explain.

"I was in bed, my wife came home and she was putting some

By Cole Miller
KOIN 6
5-16

groceries away. She comes running in, 'come out husband, you gotta see this,'" Stone said.

There was a bright, spinning light in the dark sky.

Continue Reading ►

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REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

In Remembrance: Stanton Friedman – 1934-2019

It is with deep sadness that I post about the passing of Stan Friedman. A few people have confirmed that Stan passed away while in Toronto on May 13, 2019.

By Chris Rutkowski
Ufology Research
5-14-19

I first met Stan when he visited Winnipeg in about 1976, during the Charlie Redstar UFO furore. He gave a lecture about UFOs at the University of Manitoba and received a standing ovation. After his talk, we met and exchanged info. Ever since then, we had kept in touch and got together or at least spoke on the phone every year.

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

Pioneering UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman Dies

Stanton Friedman, Famed UFO Researcher, Dead at 84

Longtime UFO Researcher, Stanton Friedman is Retiring

The City of Fredericton is Proclaiming Today as Stanton Friedman Day

Pentagon's Secret UFO Search, Stanton Friedman Weighs In | INTERVIEW – VIDEO

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Stan Friedman has Died

Stan will be remembered for this advocacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, believing that some of the alien visitors were from the Zeta I, Zeta II Reticuli star system some 37 lights years from Earth. He had met with Betty Hill, and had partnered with Hill’s niece, Kathleen Marden in recent years. Together they wrote Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience which was an inside look the Hill abduction.

Stan started his adult life as a nuclear physicist working in the industry on various projects, including some that were

By Kevin Randle
A Different Perspective
12-15-19

classified. In 1970, he quit industry to devote full time to his UFO research. He had lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities and wrote several books about science and UFOs. He appeared on thousands of radio shows, on television and in documentaries.

While in Louisiana in 1978, a television station manager suggested that Stan might want to talk to a fellow named Jesse Marcel, a ham radio operator. Marcel was, of course, the air intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group, the military unit said to have recovered the remains of an alien spacecraft and the bodies of the occupants. That began a decades long search for documents, witnesses, and insight into what became know as the Roswell Incident.

It was during my research into the Roswell crash that I first met Stan more than 30 years ago. We did share information and resources, though we sometimes clashed over details. Stan believed that a few of the early MJ-12 documents were authentic while I believed them all to be created by UFO enthusiasts to provide documents proving that a spacecraft had been recovered. Stan was instrumental, however, in proving that dozens of the documents were faked, showing that he simply didn’t accept everything handed to him as authentic.

Stan had met Vern Maltais who claimed that his friend, Barney Barnett, had seen a crashed saucer on the Plains of San Agustin. Barnett had a niece, Alice Knight, and though both Stan and I had asked her about anything to document this, Knight said that she had nothing. She called me one night and said that she had found a diary that Ruth Barnett had kept for the year 1947. I was scheduled to meet Stan, along with Don Schmitt, in Albuquerque a few weeks later. I said I would swing by Knight’s house, which was more or less on the way. I smile every time I think about the first words Stan said to me when we met in Albuquerque. He asked, “Did you get it?”

I certainly had, but there was nothing in it to corroborate the Barnett tale. That was a great disappointment for all of us.

Stan was tenacious in his research, traveling around the country, visiting presidential libraries, meeting with families of witnesses, gathering important information, and providing encouragement to many interested in UFOs. He debated those in the scientific community and those he thought of as debunkers. He was proud of taking a thousand dollars from Philip Klass, when Klass suggested that none of the typewriters in the White House used pica type. Klass said he would pay one hundred dollars for each example, up to ten. Stan happily complied earning him the grand.

Although we had been at odds, in later years, we both seemed to mellow out. In Roswell in 2012, he mentioned that he thought I was right about Robert Willingham, a man who had claimed to have seen a crashed saucer just south of the Mexico. The evidence stacked against Willingham was overwhelming, but that didn’t dissuade Stan from his belief that the Eisenhower Briefing Document was authentic. It was just one of those things with which we had to agree to disagree.

The last time I saw Stan, I believe, was at the Citizen Hearing in Washington, D.C. in May 2013. We sat together, listening to a couple of the sessions of the hearing, and were both part of the hearing that dealt with Roswell. At one point, as we sat together, a question was directed as us, which we both answered at the same time, the same way. It dealt with a minor point about Roswell.

That was the thing. Stan said, more than once, that he and I agreed on more than we disagreed. We had one of those adversarial relations that was more cordial than many thought. In Roswell, at a big dinner in 2012, I had taken a seat at one end of the long table and Stan was about to sit at the far end. Someone mentioned that, believing, I guess, that we were mortal enemies. Before Stan sat down, I moved and took the chair opposite of him. Those around us waited for fireworks, but there were none. We had a nice chat during that dinner.

Stan could be headstrong but he was also interested in the evidence. He could defend those he thought had solid information, rarely abandoning them when the evidence went against them. He was positive that we have been visited, and debated those who thought otherwise. He was a strong advocate for his position, often complained about the entrenched attitudes of the academic world, and arguing passionately for his beliefs.

He leaves behind a wife, and three children. Stan was 84.

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

In Remembrance: Stanton Friedman – 1934-2019

Pioneering UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman Dies

Stanton Friedman, Famed UFO Researcher, Dead at 84

Longtime UFO Researcher, Stanton Friedman is Retiring

The City of Fredericton is Proclaiming Today as Stanton Friedman Day

Pentagon's Secret UFO Search, Stanton Friedman Weighs In | INTERVIEW – VIDEO

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Farewell to the ‘Grand Marshal’

Famed UFO researcher Stanton Friedman, whose persistence drew international attention to the alleged 1947 UFO crash near Roswell, died Monday. He was 84.

[...]

By Christina Stock
Roswell Daily News
5-15-19

“He was on his way home from speaking at a conference in Ohio,” she said. “All of us at the UFO Museum were deeply saddened by the news. The reason Roswell is what it is today is because of Stanton Friedman and his curiosity to know the truth. Stan will forever be a part of the International UFO Museum and Research Center. He will be greatly missed by many.”

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

Stanton Friedman, Famed UFO Researcher, Dead at 84

Longtime UFO Researcher, Stanton Friedman is Retiring

The City of Fredericton is Proclaiming Today as Stanton Friedman Day

Pentagon's Secret UFO Search, Stanton Friedman Weighs In | INTERVIEW – VIDEO

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Stanton Friedman, the famed UFO researcher based in Fredericton, has died.

Friedman was returning from a speaking engagement in

By Colin McPhail
www.cbc.ca
5-14-19

Columbus, Ohio, when he died suddenly at the Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday night, according to his family.

He was 84.

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

Longtime UFO Researcher, Stanton Friedman is Retiring

The City of Fredericton is Proclaiming Today as Stanton Friedman Day

Pentagon's Secret UFO Search, Stanton Friedman Weighs In | INTERVIEW – VIDEO

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Disc-Shaped UFO Overtakes an F-84 ThunderJet | UFO CHRONICLE – 1953

Flying Saucer Reported at Close Range - The Troy Messenger Troy, Alabama 1-27-1953

The U.S. Air Force today reported a small, metallic, disc-shaped object and was observed at very close range by another pilot.

[...]

By The Troy Messenger Troy
1-27-1953

He said it caught up with an F-84 Thunderjet, hovered a few moments and then shot out of sight.

It was the second disclosure in a week by Air Force Intelligence of mysterious flying objects over northern Japan near the Russian-Siberian area.

[...]

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Former Fighter Pilot Recounts UFO Encounter | VIDEO

Harrowing Encounter Between F/A-18s and UFO; Detailed Official Report Surfaces

OREGON UFO EVENT: Air Traffic Control Audio Tapes Released via FOIA Request

-click and or right click on image(s) to enlarge-

* Special Thanks To Kay Massingill & The Magonia Exchange Project

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Pilot Reports Strange Flying Silver Sphere - The Honolulu Advertiser 12-30-1949

Former Air Force pilot, Phillip Gibbons said today a strangely-flying sphere gave him the slip when he took off in a light plane to look it over.

By The Honolulu Advertiser
12-30-1949

Gibbons said the object was pointed out to him at the airport by two men who drove out from town.

"When I first saw it, it was at an altitude of 3000 or 4000 feet and appeared to be standing perfectly still," Gibbons said. "It looked like a bright aluminum ball.

[...]

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MY UFO EXPERIENCE: Silver Orb Seen Over Uinta Mountains

Jet Had 'Near Miss' With Rugby Ball-Shaped UFO, says Pilot | VIDEO

MY UFO EXPERIENCE: Metallic Sphere Cruising 'Low 'n' Slow in Holland

-click and or right click on image(s) to enlarge-

* Special Thanks To Kay Massingill & The Magonia Exchange Project

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Will the Air Force Update UFO Reporting Guidelines?

The U.S. Navy is updating guidelines for pilots who encounter unexplained aerial phenomena or unidentified flying objects — known everywhere as “UFOs.”

Can the U.S. Air Force be far behind?

By Thomas Gnau
www.daytondailynews.com
4-25-19

[...]

Media representatives for Wright-Patterson said Thursday they would look into questions sent by the Dayton Daily News about whether the Air Force could consider making its own changes in guidelines for reporting UFOs.

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THE UFO CHRONICLES

Pages

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The Pentagon UFO Videos Brouhaha Explained?

Scientific Community Making Search For UFOs Mainstream

Spinning, Flashing UFO Spotted in Gaston | VIDEO

Friday, May 17, 2019

In Remembrance: Stanton Friedman – 1934-2019

Kevin Randle Remembers Stanton Friedman

Pioneering UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman Dies

Stanton Friedman, Famed UFO Researcher, Dead at 84

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Disc-Shaped UFO Overtakes an F-84 ThunderJet | UFO CHRONICLE – 1953

Pilot Reports Strange Flying Silver Sphere | UFO CHRONICLE –1949

Will the Air Force Update UFO Reporting Guidelines?

LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS BY MUFON