Marco Rubio on UAPs - From Senate Inquiry to 'It’s Classified'

In a brand-new episode of The Katie Miller Podcast, Marco Rubio discussed UAPs/UFOs, offering an interesting glimpse into how his public tone has evolved since his years in the Senate. Rubio made clear that he does not claim to know what these

By André Skondras The UFO Chronicles © All Rights Reserved 8-21-2026

objects are. However, he continues to maintain that unidentified objects have been observed over U.S. military installations, that they are not known to be American, and that the subject deserves serious investigation.

Here is Rubio's response, lightly edited for readability while preserving his meaning:©The UFO Chronicles. All rights reserved.

Officer Who Filmed UFO Downing Missile Sets the Record Straight

A DETAILED TRUTH

The venerable Wall Street Journal recently published an article telling readers that the entirety of the UFO/UAP issue in America from 1945 through today is nothing more than an official DoD program of utter disinformation perpetrated to deflect the public from what is really going on behind closed doors, SCIF sessions, trillions of dollars being spent on God knows what and the ruse has been perpetrated by a mysterious Air Force colonel passing out photos and films of non-existent unknown flying objects. Supposedly initiated to dispel the mystique of Area 51 and Groom

By Bob Jacobs The UFO Chronicles 6-20-2025

Lake, Nevada the program now casts doubt on all UFO, alien abductions by these craft on the people, all of the people, who have reported sightings in the air, land and sea.

I am one of those people.

Many podcasters and one brilliant researcher wrote about their and our collective outrage at this disgraceful reportage. I needed to personalize it. Six million Jews murderd by Hitler is a terrible writ. One Jewish girl named Ann Frank personalizes it.

Here is a first-hand report of what I experienced. And also the result of my having reported it to Sean Kirkpatrick, then head of AARO- the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office in DC:

In 1964 I was an Air Force officer in charge of the Photo-optical Instrumentation section of the 1369th Photographic Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base. (now Vandenberg Space Force Base).

I was OIC of this 135-man unit charged with providing both normal and high- speed motion picture coverage of every launch from the base down the Western Test Range. We had cameras on the launch pad getting detailed information from engine ignition through liftoff. There were 20 to 30 cameras at a time. I was involved personally in hundreds of such events.

In addition to on the pad coverage we also provided tracking from three opposed sites triangulating each missile with 6 to 8 cameras using long focal length lenses to follow the missile up and away on its flight heading for targets at either Kwajalein Island or Eniwetok Lagoon in the deep south Pacific.

I received outstanding OERs (Officer Efficiency Reports) all during my three and one-half years at VAFB as well as commendations from my squadron and group HQ, from contractors like Boeing, as well as the Air Force Guided Missile Badge for “making a significant contribution to America’s Missile and Space Program.” In short, I knew what the Hell I was doing.

One day in the Fall of 1964 I was called into the office of Major Florenze J. Mansmann in the Chief Scientists section of the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division HQ. He and I had worked together before determining ways to improve coverage. He asked me if I knew anything about the coastal area north of the base known as Big Sur. I told him that I did, having driven my MG-TD up Highway 1 in my college days to listen to Beat Poets like Alan Ginsberg and Henry Miller at a resort called Nepenthe.

The Major then asked me to take a film camera and a radio unit up there, staying out of uniform and make contact with a Forest Service Ranger who would escort me up to a spot close to Anderson Peak. There I was to wait for a call telling me that a launch was in progress to see if I could see the missile through all three stages of powered flight from the side. Since we were not in uniform I took my Dad up with me. We had a camera and the radio and within a couple of hours on site I got the call. An Atlas missile was about to launch. I sighted it, rolled my Bell and Howell and got the bird seen from the side.

Engineers hoped to tell more about a flight if they could get a side view rather than as seen from the base, a shot up the tailpipe. They could and my tracking site at Big Sur was established.

A few weeks after this successful experiment and fun with Dad, I had to get serious. In caravan I escorted one our M-45 tracking mounts fully equipped up Highway 1 and then up the winding Forest Service road to a large flat cutout area on the edge of a steep declining mountain side with a sweeping, unimpeded view to the Southeast looking back from Big Sur located miles northwest of the base. The map of California indicates how Point Arguello, where VAFB lay, is several miles farther east. Hence our side view. Well-established after three days on site we were notified of an upcoming launch. With our 180 -inch telephoto lenses on our tracker we provided previously unavailable reactions from contractor engineers. They were thrilled.

The stage was set for a totally unexpected, unprepared for event that would change my understanding of reality and make my life in many respects a continuing morass of danger and calamity and a fractured dream.

Next time I met with major Mansmann he had a surprise. At Cape Canaveral they had employed an experimental large astronomical telescope run by Dr. Walter Manning at Boston University. This device employed a folded Gregorian scope that, the signal from which, fed directly into a large scale Image Orthicon tube. The face of that tube was filmed by a 35mm Mitchell motion picture camera. The combining of these instruments allowed for maximum manipulation of the image for definition and focus. It was a very large device that had to be hauled around by a big rig truck. And it was arriving in two days to be transported up the Forest Service road to my tracking site. I departed for the site that day with a crew of one NCO and two airmen.

We camped in the pickup truck with a camper and an Army tent. In the morning the crew and I awoke, had lots of coffee and Cheerios for breakfast and waited. By noon, an entourage of Brass from VAFB arrived lead b Major Mansmann, a Mister Poulson from the Cape and Walter Manning. Behind them came the BU telescope and excitement as we placed it in the best spot to view down the coast.

L to R - CWO Guy Spooner, Lt Bob Jacobs Mr. Paulson Major Mansmann

That afternoon the VAFB visitors went back home, Mr. Paulson and his crew operating the BU telescope retired downhill to rooms at the Nepenthe, Staff Sergeant Dodd, Airman First class Williams and I worked on our gear to be ready for the promised launch tomorrow morning. And with all assembled back on site by 0600 hours we, with our M-45, the crew from the Cape and high hopes were set to make history.

There was a vast coastal fog bank hugging the coastline as far as we could see. It was early morning light. Over our radio we heard the countdown and trained eyes and instruments at the coordinates we knew would be Vandenberg. And the countdown reached 30 seconds and 20 seconds and the 10, 9,8, 7, I shouted out “Roll Cameras” and they rolled to 6, 5, 4,3,2,1 and we heard “engines start” and “liftoff”.

And after 3 seconds the big Atlas popped out of the white coated seacoast and up and away on AZ and on Elevation to targets, one hoped. As our M-45 cameras ran out we lost sight of the bird to distance. The BU Telescope unit however kept rolling, finally shutting down. Mr. Paulson gave a thumbs up and we all cheered the fact that we had given the Convair/General Dynamics engineers and all other stake holders in our missile and space program the cherished side view all the way. We had no idea the quality of the BU footage because the screen is not visible during the operation as it must be covered by a dark hood to prevent light hitting the Image Orthicon tube. With hearty handshakes all around I collected all of the film from both units and drove back to base to have it processed. Mission accomplished I supposed.

The second day I received a call from Major Mansmann asking me to come to his office right away. I thought it might have to with the success at Big Sur. I rapped on his office door and was invited in. There in the middle of the room was a 16mm film projector on a table. Next to it was a chair. Against the far wall was a Da-Lite projection screen. In one corner two men in business suits stared at me. Major Mansmann without introducing us asked me to sit down. He dimmed the lights. I hoped that this would be the BU film. I was not wrong.

“Lieutenant Jacobs watch the screen,” he said. Then he flicked on the projector. There was the image of the bottom of the Atlas missile seen from 130 miles away, filling the screen. My heart soared, this was, indeed the view as seen by the Folded Gregorian telescope lifting skyward. Major Mansmann said, “Watch closely to the end.”

As the bird continued on, it rose rapidly looking spectacular against the sky made black by contrast on the IO. The Atas D was a stage and a half weapon. It had a main pressurized body for fuel and liquid oxygen, when it burned out and fell away, three smaller engines propelled the nose cone holding the warhead downrange. I watched Stage One burnout and drop off, the final stage ignition puff. By this time with our eyes from Big Sur we were losing the object. But here on the screen the nose cone was a quite small white object. It opened and a small batch of aluminum foil splayed out in a fan to deflect the enemy radar tracking. The dummy nuclear warhead, in every dimension, weight and appearance identical to the real thing deployed into a slightly higher trajectory in front of the chaff. I smiled at Major Mansmann. He said, “Watch carefully.” So I did.

On that movie screen I watched another object slide into the frame. It approached the warhead from the same direction; in short it chased and caught up. The entire image on screen was moving away down range at several thousand miles an hour. The object, a larger spot on film than the warhead, moved closer and shot a beam of light striking the device. The object rotated above the package and shot another beam of light down, hitting it again. The object than dropped down in the path and struck it in the front with a third beam, rotated beneath it and fired a fourth beam then zipped out of the frame at a fantastic rate of speed back the same way it had come in. The dummy warhead than slowed and malfunctioned. It appeared to me to be falling out of the frame when the film ended.

The object as made out in fine detail later as Major Mansmann studied it frame by frame with a jewelers loupe, was a classic Flying Saucer, two dinner plates turned convex side out and stuck together with a round dome on top. The illustration is an enlarged artist’s conception.

The two CIA agents glared at me as the lights came back on. Major Mansmann stood up between them and me. He said, “Lieutenant were you guys screwing around up there?” (Meaning at Big Sur.)

“No sir,” I replied.

He said. Pointing at the screen, “Then what was that?”

Wanting badly to talk about it I said confidently, “It looks like we got a UFO!”

The agents stepped around so I could see them.

Major Mansman said very firmly, “You are never to say that again.”

I was startled.

“As far as you’re concerned, this never happened. Do you understand.”

I couldn’t reply. I did not understand.

“You can go now. Not a word to anyone.” And he escorted me to and out of the door to his office. It would be twenty years before I ever spoke with him again.

I did not talk about the revelation I had just witnessed–not to anyone.

Never a ‘believer” in flying saucers before this moment, my whole intellectual being was shaken by the fact of all facts, we are NOT ALONE in the vast universe.

One night ten years later I was hosting a late night radio talk show in Eureka, California. Topics among lost, late night souls reaching out in the dark for something, anything to soothe anxiety and god-awful loneliness, turn to ghosts and goblins and Jewish banking conspiracies and yeah, UFOs. About two a.m. a guy named Rick Van Pelt phoned in with a story that happened to him as an Air Force security force sergeant.

He and a partner were summoned to Thule AFB, Greenland to guard a flight of B-52 nuclear bombers on a frosty snowy night. While at a remote end of the base he and his partner spotted an apparent native Greenlander appearing over a snow bank a few feet away. Rick sent his partner to check the guy out. When his partner got near, it turned out that the “guy” was a couple of feet taller than the airman. He wore a skin tight iridescent ski suit and had long blonde hair. They spoke for a bit, then the partner started back to join Rick, dragging his rifle on the ground. He stared blankly. Rick stopped him. “Hey, what did he say?”

“He said we were supposed to stop using nukes.”

Just then Rick looked over to see a brilliant, glowing “flying saucer” lift up and shoot silently away.

Without even thinking about it, I went ahead and told mine. The same one you just read about.

Nothing happened. No bolts of lightning. No armed guards at the station door. My car didn’t blow up when I started it. The curse was lifted.

I thought.

It came back in a blind fury that goes on to this very day when I am still in pain for telling the truth: I and many, many more of my brothers-in-alien land. The date was November 1, 1982. I was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. I had a small alfalfa farm in the country. My pay at UWO was only for nine months. So every summer I had to make some money. I usually did it producing TV commercials. Nothing was in the offing so I turned to freelance writing. It had been 18 years now since Big Sur so I wrote a small article about it to try out. Omni Magazine, Life Magazine, Argosy Magazine all turned it down. So I sent it to sleaze publications and The National Enquirer bought it. I paid the mortgage, kept the farm and went back to teaching film production.

Shortly after the story hit the streets, as they say, the decades long nightmare began. I started to get telephone calls that ended in a click. My address got out and letters from a large number of UFO ‘nuts’ began mounting up in my rural mailbox. Some of these things were from various people around the country claiming to have been on a space ship to Venus, to have flying saucers in their back yard or being from some planet or another. Mixed in with these came a few from apparently rational humans seeking the truth. One of these was a gifted researched named Lee M. Graham. The Air Force denied to him that there had ever been any of the following: anyone named Robert M. Jacobs in the Air Force, assigned to the Photo-Optical section of the 1359th Photographic Squadron, nor had there even been an Atlas D missile launched on that date, nor that they had any record of a BU Telescope, nor of anything at Big Sur… ever.

Lee dug into them with FOIA requests, letters and phone calls and did verify that they had lied on each and every count. I was reinstated into humanity.

Then the terror campaign began on the phone. I had an answering machine back then and it began to record dozens of threatening phone calls, each ending with the epithet that I received live in person to wit; “You talk too much. You’re going down motherfucker!” My fiancé at the time, now my wife also got these calls. And one night in 1986 we had come home from a movie. There was a call waiting on the answering machine. The same gruff voice said, “Fireworks in your mailbox at night, oh, what a beautiful sight. You’re going down motherfucker!” and my rural mailbox exploded.

I bought a gun. I learned how to shoot it. I practice and I don’t miss.

Then in September, 1986 I met Robert Hastings. We are close friends today. His counsel has meant a great deal to my ability to deal with the issue. Here’s what the issue has cost me personally after appearing on several television, motion picture, print and podcasts to keep telling my account, which has never varied an iota. I left Wisconsin under the constant threats to my life and the safety of my wife. I lost my next professorship at the University of Maine under a character assassination by Phillip J. Klass, I lost my next professorship at Cleveland State University under a mysterious character assassination accusing me with no proof of sexism and homophobia and after a relatively pleasant and productive 20 years as Full Professor at Bradley University from which I retired 2017, the final character assassination of all.

In a phone call one day, Robert said that he had been contacted at AARO, led by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, when it began its investigation into UFO- now called UAP phenomena, to see if any of his interviewees would testify. He said, with a caveat that he would. He passed this invitation on to me, to Mario Woods, and Terry Lovelace that I know of. I told him that I would be happy to do so.

A few days later I was called by a man saying he was from AARO and he would like to hear my story. I asked if he was recording me and he said that he was not. So I spoke with him for nearly an hour. Afterward I sent the following note to Robert and the others in my group:

On April 29, 2023 Sean Kirkpatrick after being praised lavishly by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, chairing the Senate Armed Services Committee testified. After extensive investigation and testimony from military and former military witnesses and ‘whistle blowers’ he reported that AARO had found “no evidence of extraterrestrial” objects, machines, space ships or little green men in the United States of America. Nothing to see here.

If you’ve hung with me to this point, I’ve tried to spell out a no doubt extraterrestrial or NHI incursion that I filmed at Big Sur. My account has been substantiated by Major Mansmann, then Dr. Mansmann who when contacted by a number of researchers and TV producers stated in writing that my account was TRUE as written. The images I captured have been seen by others in government, including by Luis Elizondo. He saw the film when he was with ATTIP in Washington, DC. He told Dave Grusch when he had left his post, exactly where to find it. When Dave got to the ATTIP office everything of Lue’s in it had been cleared out. It is certain that Sean Kirkpatrick knew all about that film if not having seen it himself. In spite of the fact that that Big Sur UFO committed an act of war, this guy is a shill for the cabal suppressing NHI presence among us; everything that every honest, American patriot has told us about since 1945.

I have been compelled for reasons I don’t fully understand to prepare this document, this testimony, this tribute to my fellow witnesses, experiencers, rational thinkers. Others of us have suffered from PTSD to depression, defamation, unmitigated anger, self-doubt, threats, loss of jobs, community standing and worse- to be sold out by shills and fakirs, like AARO and the damned Wall Street Journal. F%CK YOU!

FAREWELL THE TRANQUIL MIND.

See Also:

	Big Sur UFO Film: Government Whistleblower Reveals He Watched It Big Sur UFO Film: Government Whistleblower Reveals He Watched It - PART 2
	UFOs are Stalking and Intercepting Dummy Nuclear Warheads During Test Flights
	Mansmann Letters

Fmr Lt. Robert M. Jacobs Who Captured UFO On Film Takes AARO To Task

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

The Pascagoula Alien Abduction – Smoking Gun Puncture Wounds Document & Photos

In 2018 I published the book ‘Pascagoula-The Closest Encounter’ (ad) by Calvin Parker. The book details Calvin Parker’s alien abduction experience that took place on the Pascagoula River on October 11th, 1973. For those who are not aware of what some call the best documented case of its kind I will outline the details of what happened: PASCAGOULA, October 11th, 1973. On the evening of October 11th, 1973, 42-year-old Charles

By Philip Mantle The UFO Chronicles 9-27-23

Hickson and 19-year-old Calvin Parker — co-workers at a shipyard — were fishing off a pier on the west bank of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. They heard a whirring/whizzing sound, saw two flashing blue lights, and reported that an oval shaped "craft", some 8 feet across and 8 or more feet high, suddenly appeared near them. The ship seemed to levitate about 2 feet above the ground. A door opened on the ship, they said, and three creatures emerged and seized the men, floating or levitating them into the craft. Both men reported being paralyzed and numb. Parker claimed that he had fainted due to fright. They described the creatures as being roughly humanoid in shape and standing about five feet tall.

Artist impression of the encounter by Alberto Forgione

The creatures' skin was pale in colour and wrinkled, and they had no eyes that the men could discern, and slits for mouths. Their heads also appeared connected directly to their shoulders, with no discernible neck. There were three "carrot-like" growths instead - one where the nose would be on a human, the other two where ears would normally be. The beings had lobster-like claws at the ends of their arms, and they seemed to have only one leg (Hickson later described the creatures' lower bodies looking as if their legs were fused together) ending in elephant-like feet. Hickson also reported that the creatures moved in mechanical, robotic ways.

On the ship, Hickson claimed that he was somehow levitated or hovered a few feet above the floor of the craft and was examined by what looked like a large football-shaped mechanical eye, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter, that seemed to scan his body. Parker claimed that he could not recall what had happened to him inside the craft, although later, during sessions of hypnotic regression he offered some hazy details. The men were released after about 15-20 minutes and the creatures levitated them, with Hickson's feet dragging along the ground, back to their original positions on the river bank. Both men said they were terrified by what had happened. They claimed to have sat in a car for about 45 minutes, trying to calm themselves. Hickson drank a small amount of whiskey.

After some discussion, they tried to report their story to officials at Keesler Air Force Base, but personnel told them the United States Air Force had nothing to do with UFO reports and suggested the men notify police. At about 10:30 p.m., Hickson and Parker arrived at the Jackson County, Mississippi Sheriff's office. They brought the catfish they'd caught while fishing; it was the only proof they had to back up their story. Sheriff Fred Diamond thought the men seemed sincere and genuinely frightened and he thought Parker was especially disturbed. While writing his book Calvin Parker informed me that while onboard the UFO and laid out on a see-through table of some kind, his pants, shoes and socks were removed. He does not like talking about this at all I might add. Calvin informed me that something was stuck into his foot underneath and that it hurt.

THE PUNCTURE WOUNDS DOCUMENT

After the book was published and became a best-seller on Amazon.com I continued my search for any formal documentation related to the incident as any that had been in the possession of Calvin Parker had been washed away by hurricane Katrina. I contacted all of the major UFO groups one of which included the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in the USA. They were very obliging and sent me a PDF file of what they had on the case. Most of what they sent was newspaper cuttings but buried in the middle of this file was a very curious and possible ‘smoking gun’ type-written document.

Although this document, dated 13th of October 1973, just two days after the alien encounter, is unsigned and it was written by Dr. James Harder. We know it was written by Dr. Harder as he was the only person to examine the witnesses which has been confirmed by Calvin Parker. Dr. James Harder’s academic credentials are as follows: BS (Caltech), MS, Ph.D., (U.C. Berkeley). He is a Fellow, AAAS; Life Member, ASCE; and Founding Member, Society for Scientific Exploration. Professor Emeritus, U.C. Berkeley. He was also a director of the UFO research group APRO.

Dr. Harder along with Dr J. Allen Hynek were on site in Pascagoula within 36 hours of the event happening. They interviewed Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson and at a press conference confirmed that they believed what the witnesses were saying.

This ‘smoking gun’ document and photos has never been seen in public before and can only add to the authenticity of Calvin Parker & Charles Hickson’s testimony. Charles Hickson died in 2011 but Calvin Parker has this to say about this document:

“At the time of my abduction on October 11th, 1973, when the alien reached out to take me on board the ship. From the first time I saw them it was the fear I felt that is hard to describe. I just knew I would not live through this fear. As the alien made contact to my left arm I heard a whisk of what I thought was air then all at once I got became really relaxed then all the fear was gone. Later on, after being examined by Dr. James Harder I heard him telling Dr Hynek that I had a puncture marks on my arm and later at the hospital I found out that I was given not one shot but two shots the second was while I was on board the craft. This document simply confirms what I have always known and that is both Charlie and I were given injections by these creatures and we had the puncture wounds to prove it.”

The puncture wounds document in full

THE PUNCTURE WOUNDS PHOTOS

I have been involved in UFO research for decades and spent a great deal of time investigating UFO events first-hand. At no time have we ever come across any official documentation that confirms that ‘puncture wounds’ as described by the witnesses, have had their claims officially documented by a professional in such a manner. For us this is a world first. Charles Hickson’s encounter and his description of feeling a prick on his inner forearm when grabbed by the creatures now seems to have been confirmed as does Calvin Parker’s assertion that something was stuck into the underside of his foot and that it hurt him while on board the UFO. The document in question mentions that photos of these marks were taken. No photos were located in the file but that was not the end of things.

Many of our colleagues involved in UFO research know that I am constantly on the lookout for any information related to the Pascagoula case. Every now and then I will politely pester them to see if anything new has come to light.

On July 22nd, 2021, an email arrived from out of the blue from the same colleague who had originally sent us the CUFOS file on Pascagoula. This was Mark Rodeghier of CUFOS. His email read:

“Hello Philip, I was going through some boxes of varied materials yesterday and ran across a folder with the attached photos of Hickson and Parker taken at the time of the incident. Perhaps you already have good copies of these, but I thought it was worth sending scans, just in case. And in anticipation of your question, there was nothing else in the folder except these photos. Best, Mark.”

Much to our amazement, the two photos that Mark attached could well be those mentioned in the ‘puncture wounds’ document, although we cannot of course be 100% certain of this. We were astounded and grateful in equal amounts and we thanked Mark profusely for sending them to us. It only goes to prove what positive results can be achieved when colleagues in UFO research work together and share information.

Mark got back to us the very next day and explained a little more of how he came across the photos:

“Philip, I’m pleased to hear that these are something you didn’t have.”

“There are indeed handwritten notes on the back of each photo that provide the person’s name and date (that’s all). The photos were in a CUFOS file, with only the photos, buried in a box of various types of material that I was searching through for something else. Although originally, I’m sure they came to Hynek, who then placed them at some point in the regular CUFOS archival materials.”

One of the first people we showed the photos to was of course Calvin Parker. Shortly after he viewed them, we spoke with him via Skype at his home in Mississippi. Just for the record, Calvin has been suffering from a life-threatening illness throughout 2021 and has had major surgery and is on a lot of medication as well. I’ll not go into any further details, but I’m sure you can understand. Calvin, as honest as ever, could not recollect having any photos taken, but he does remember that Dr. James Harder gave him and Charles Hickson a physical examination just after the incident happened in 1973. It would have been far easier for Calvin to simply go along with the story and say he remembered having the photos taken but he didn’t. It proves once again what an honest man he is.

Below: The ‘puncture wounds photos of Charles Hickson’s arm and in close-up

Below: The puncture wounds mark on Calvin Parker’s foot and in close up.

The days after their alien encounter were of course chaotic and Calvin was suffering badly from the after-effects. It wouldn’t be long before he would be in the hospital with a breakdown and would be haunted by these events for the rest of his life. Sadly, Charles Hickson is not still around to ask him if he remembered these photos being taken and Dr. Harder is also deceased. We have to say that no matter what they are intriguing and may well support the information outlined in the puncture wounds document.

“The strange and extremely unusual encounter both Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker experienced, becomes more and more bizarre, with the announcement of puncture wounds being discovered on both victims’ bodies! This and more recently discovered facts surrounding the Pascagoula incident will be published in full in our new book ‘BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT – The Pascagoula Alien Abduction’, available here. (ad)

About the author:

Philip Mantle is a long-standing UFO researcher and author from the UK. He was formerly the Director of Investigations for the British UFO Research Association and the MUFON Representative for England. He is the founder of FLYING DISK PRESS and can be contacted on email at:

philip.mantle@gmail.com

VISIT THE FLYING DISK PRESS ►

See Also:

Gone Fishing – Calvin Parker Has Passed Away

	Pascagoula UFO Incident: Scientist Term Pas UFO Report As 'True' | UFO CHRONICLE – 1973
	Pascagoula: The Closest Encounter, My Story – A REVIEW
	The Pascagoula UFO Incident: There Were More Witnesses

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

The 2022 UAP Act – A Commentary

Introduction

On December 7, 2021, the United States House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022. This bill (S. 1605) included the provisions for the establishment of an office devoted to the study of UAP. On December 15, the US Senate approved it with no revisions, and the final version was published by the Government Printing Office on December 21. The final step has been the signature by President Joe Biden, which he did on December 27, 20211.1 As defined, the NDAA authorizes fiscal year expenditures

By V.J. Ballester-Olmos The UFO Chronicles 1-26-22

principally for the Department of Defense, for the Department of Energy national security programs, and for the Department of State, including critical authorities to support defense of the homeland.

As defined, the NDAA authorizes fiscal year expenditures principally for the Department of Defense, for the Department of Energy national security programs, and for the Department of State, including critical authorities to support defense of the homeland.

Section 1683 of the Act carries this title: “Establishment of Office, Organizational Structure, and Authorities to Address Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” and develops such provisions in fewer than six pages. This program replaces the existing DoD’s UAP Task Force.

The Act was approved with a strong amendment (SA 4281) attached on November 4, 2021, by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, New York) who requested that an “Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office” be established. Her text clearly reflected certain lobbyists’ plans that would include the creation of an advisory board where certain individuals, UFO coalitions or civilian projects close to the UFO-alien belief would be presented. The final bill is a watered down version of that amendment in a way acceptable to the DoD, which with good reason was not going to have members of the committee chasing after aliens.

Since the closure of the USAF’s Project Blue Book, announced December 17, 1969 and the publication of the Condon report², UFOs stopped being an official concern to the US Government, until the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) was set up in 2018 by the Office of Naval Intelligence, later publicly assumed by the Department of Defense in August 2020. On June 2021, the DoD provided a preliminary assessment of the UAPTF3³, placing the new US Government UFO study at the highest possible level in the chain of command. It reported that 144 UAP events had been collected between November 2004 and March 2021, reports amazingly declared “largely inconclusive.” Admittedly, the actual rate of case resolution was barely 0.7%!⁴ Finally, on November 23, 2021, the Department of Defense announced the creation of an Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG). The fundamental object of study is to be “the identification of airborne objects⁵.”

For the benefit of an audience not willing to read the full raw text of the Act, in this article I am showing—and commenting on—the highlights and key elements of the planned “UAP Office” of the US Department of Defense.

In what follows next, any quotes from the approved bill⁶ are in italics; every reference to “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” is hereafter UAP; “Secretary” refers to the Secretary of Defense, and “Director” refers to the Director of National Intelligence; my own remarks on particulars of the Act will appear in brackets.

Inception

When?

The Office will be active not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. This is, it must be in force before June 30, 2022. [No sharp urgency is observed, probably considering that a UAP Task Force has been in place in the US Navy since 2018 and that the Department of Defense announced the establishment of an Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) in November 2021.]

By Whom?

The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence.

Where?

• within a component of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or

• within a joint organization of the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

To Do What?

In addition to specifically carry[ing] out the duties of the UAPTF, this Office will have the following additional duties:

• Developing procedures to synchronize and standardize the collection, reporting, and analysis of incidents, including adverse physiological effects, regarding UAP across the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. [Here I start noticing terms borrowed from raw UFO literature and the long, dark hand of nuts-and-bolts ufologists.]

• Developing processes and procedures to ensure that such incidents … are reported and incorporated in a centralized repository.

• Establishing procedures to require the timely and consistent reporting of such incidents. [Lots of procedures and protocols mean a lot of administrative work and bureaucracy. For sure this program will involve a huge amount of paperwork.]

• Evaluating links between UAP and adversary foreign governments, other foreign governments, or nonstate actors. [In other words, air espionage from Russia or China, research balloons, or domestic drones, to name a few potential examples.]

• Evaluating the threat that such incidents present to the United States. [Come on, UAP is nothing new, it was called flying saucers since 1947 and then UFOs. After 75 years, one of the most powerful countries in the world has still not learned if these phenomena represent a true threat to the nation or not? On second thought, this is a perfect proposition, one to be posed and categorically denied in a future report.]

• Coordinating with other departments and agencies of the Federal Government…including the FAA, the NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, the NOAA, and the Department of Energy. [The inclusion of all-encompassing aviation, aeronautics, astronautics, atmospheric, marine, intelligence and advanced science know-how in the USA will finally allow the removal of this issue once and for all from the Government agenda and the satisfaction of public voracity as soon as nothing “out of this world” is found.]

• Coordinating with allies and partners of the United States … to better assess the nature and extent of UAP. [Good. Be prepared to collect repeated statements and assessments from (at least) several European countries that have realized after 50 years of handling UFO reports that neither flying saucers, UFOs or UAP pose any threat to both national security and aviation safety.]

• Preparing reports for Congress, in both classified and unclassified form. [For the series of semiannual briefings and annual reports to be submitted to Congress, see the end of this article for the chronology I have prepared.] In a further segment of the text, it notes that for each briefing period, the head of the Office established … shall … provide to the chairman and the ranking minority member or vice chairman of the congressional committees specified…an enumeration of any instances in which data relating to UAP was not provided to the Office because of the classification restrictions on that data [sic] or for any other reason.

Response to UAP and Resources

• There will be designated one or more line organizations…that possess appropriate expertise, authorities, accesses, data, systems, platforms, and capabilities to rapidly respond to, and conduct field investigations of, incidents involving UAP under the direction of the head of the Office established. [Evidently, this program dwarfs Project Blue Book in competence, resources and goals.]

• The Secretary and the Director shall ensure that each line organization…has adequate personnel with the requisite expertise, equipment, transportation, and other resources necessary to respond rapidly to incidents or patterns of observations involving UAP. [Patterns? The search for patterns and constants and laws derived from UFO data has been a primary objective of scientific UFO research from the early beginning, without finding anything lasting or substantial other than the realization that UFO and IFO data are indistinguishable.]

Analysis to Perform

The Secretary and the Director shall designate one or more line organizations that will be primarily responsible for scientific, technical, and operational analysis of data gathered by field investigations conducted and data from other sources, including with respect to the testing of materials, medical studies, and development of theoretical models, to better understand and explain UAP. [It echoes work of tycoon Robert Bigelow’s NIDS (1996-2004) and Bigelow-contractor to Pentagon’s AATIP (DIA-funded, 2008-2012; unofficial, loose group, 2012-2017). It is evident the heavy influence from theorists of an alleged reverse engineering from UFO materials, the proponents of fantastic novel propulsion models, those who believe that theoretical models are required to travel to other dimensions, and from hard-core UFO believers, be they military, intelligence people, politicians, scientists, or laypeople. They have partially won this battle because they have done an excellent lobbying job (not all their objectives have been achieved, however), but they will lose the war, because this is, like it or not, a dispute with science and rationality.]

Authority

Another section of the legal text informs that directives will be issued to ensure that each line organization designated…has authority to draw on the special expertise of persons outside the Federal Government with appropriate security clearances. [The ambiguity of the language here worries me: what experts can they import or contract for advice and analysis? I sincerely hope that the big Department of Defense of the United States does not have to resort on those well-known names who have been within and around the UFO movement for decades, generating much more speculation than results, nor that it leans on any scientifically-sounding UFO group whose true impulse is the need to prove that UFOs come from the outer space.]

Methodology

Data Collection

The Director and the Secretary will ensure that:

• each element of the intelligence community with data relating to UAP makes such data available immediately to the Office established … or to an entity designated … to receive such data. [There is no precedent to this inter-agency coordination concerning UFOs. From now on, it is compulsory that any available information on UFOs in the custody of any Government agency or center is immediately surfaced and brought to the attention of the UAP Office. The interesting consequence is that it will appease the extended rumor in the contaminated UFO atmosphere that information of extraordinary importance is hidden from the eyes of the public by certain areas of the US Government. When no information transfer finally occurs—for lack of that fantastic information—another myth will fall.]

• military and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense or an element of the intelligence community, and contractor personnel … have access to procedures by which the personnel shall report incidents or information, including adverse physiological effects, involving or associated with UAP directly to the Office or to an entity designated. [Again, the obsession with health effects is rather obvious, descending from featured UFO sightings like the Cash-Landrum incident of December 29, 1980. This is a true eccentricity, because physiological effects are but a tiny fraction of past UFO reports.]

• The head of the UAP Office shall supervise the development and execution of an intelligence collection and analysis plan to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding the technical and operational characteristics, origins and intentions of UAP, including with respect to the development, acquisition, deployment, and operation of technical collection capabilities necessary to detect, identify, and scientifically characterize UAP. [The influencers who pushed for this section of the bill believe that there is a sole origin for UFOs, the extraterrestrial, only this may explain the above sentence. In reality, there is not a single cause for UFOs/UAP but a large series of conventional (some easy, some complex) explanations, where intentionality is the less frequent property in these occurrences.]

• The head of the UAP Office shall consider and propose … the use of any resource, capability, asset, or process of the Department and the intelligence community.

Science Plan

The head of the UAP Office shall supervise the development and execution of a science plan to develop and test, as practicable, scientific theories to (1) account for characteristics and performance of UAP that exceed the known state of the art in science or technology, including in the areas of propulsion, aerodynamic control, signatures, structures, materials, sensors, countermeasures, weapons, electronics, and power generation; and (2) provide the foundation for potential future investments to replicate any such advanced characteristics and performance. [This is one of the concepts incorporated in the legislation through the efforts of politicians heavily biased by members of the most credulous UFO community. Not bad in itself, research is always outstanding in science debates, but it has no sense in this case. As soon as investigators realize that events are solved as spontaneous, natural, biological, or artificial (earthly) motives, no structural or aerodynamical work is needed. Perhaps, however, it is sensu contrario, i.e., for the improvement of aircraft sensor equipment to better discriminate a bird or a balloon from distant airplanes, for example, in order to minimize false UAP footage. The need to devise “scientific theories” to account for sightings of flying objects defying present-day technology is a science fiction idea only in the head of UFO fanatics, who seem to act like religious fanatics. This part of the bill’s text clearly shows how the writers believe that there is an “advanced” technology behind UAP. They surely have aliens in mind, as everyone can suspect that no country would test their advanced aircraft over enemy or foreign territory.]

Priority

The Director, with the recommendation of the Secretary, shall assign an appropriate level of priority within the National Intelligence Priorities Framework to the requirement to understand, characterize, and respond to UAP. [The ideology behind the official text is blatant. What do the proponents and their writers behind have in mind when postulating that the nature of the UAP requires to be understood? Reentries of space junk, research balloons, missiles and rockets, birds, fireballs, drones, aircraft, and a myriad more of actual, historical explanations do not need to be understood, just verified.]

Reporting

Annual Report

The bill requires that not later than October 31, 2022, and annually thereafter until October 31, 2026, an annual report will be submitted to Congress. [What is the significance of this 5-year period? Is it a permanent office with reporting requirements only established for its five first years of operation? Or does Defense have a short-term program in mind to solve the UAP problem once all planned resources are in place? For the sake of clarity and our own follow-up control, I refer the reader to a tabulated chronology I have drafted at the end of this article.

This annual report will contain (1) all reported UAP-related events that occurred during the one-year period, and others not included in an earlier report,(2) an analysis of data and intelligence received through each reported UAP-related event, including data collected through (i) geospatial intelligence; (ii) signals intelligence; (iii) human intelligence; and (iv) measurement and signature intelligence, (3) the number—and analysis—of reported incidents of UAP over restricted air space of the United States during the one-year period, (4) identification of potential aerospace or other threats posed by UAP to the national security of the United States [At this point in time, are not all the threats to the United States of America already known by this country? Will flying saucers (sorry, UAP) once again matter, after 75 years of “existence”? Shame on you!] (5) an assessment of any activity regarding UAP that can be attributed to one or more adversarial foreign governments, (6) identification of any incidents or patterns regarding UAP that indicate a potential adversarial foreign government may have achieved a break-through aerospace capability [This legislation, partly influenced by UFO believers, partly by common-sense writers, leave the door open to ultra-sophisticated Chinese or Russian aircraft eavesdropping and practicing surveillance on US military exercises, just in case the recently-known US Navy pilot reports truly correspond to airborne flying platforms. But you do not need to launch aircraft to spy up-close when you can do it with high-altitude satellites], (7) an update of the coordination by the United States with allies and partners on efforts to track, understand, and address UAP, (8) an update of any efforts under way on the ability to capture or exploit discovered UAP [Again, we enter into science fiction scenarios. No verified residue of any UAP has been found, and less so in the process of being exploited. The few examples of collected materials associated with UFO sightings have been very controversial in the literature. Once again, the influence of individuals closely related to past AATIP and even previous civilian precedents is clear in this legislation], (9) an assessment of any health-related effects for individuals that have encountered UAP [The medical issue refrain unjustifiably emerges once more, reflecting incidents like Cash-Landrum, or even older, probably fraudulent, episodes like that at Falcon Lake, Canada, on May 20, 1967], (10) The number of reported incidents, and descriptions thereof, of UAP associated with military nuclear assets, including strategic nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships and submarines … (and) … facilities or assets associated with the production, transportation, or storage of nuclear weapons or components thereof … (and) … UAP or drone of unknown origin associated with nuclear power generating stations, nuclear fuel storage sites, or other sites or facilities regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission [Chinese and Russians must be having a big laugh at the expense of US gullibility. This verbiage proceeds from some ufologists’ assertion of a relationship between UFO sightings and nukes, as well as UFO visitations to ballistic missile silos, never solidly certified], and (11) the names of the line organizations that have been designated to perform the specific functions … each such line organization has been assigned primary responsibility.

The bill’s UAP text stipulates that annual reports shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may require a classified annex.

Budget

Appropriations

There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the work of the Office established … including with respect to (1) general intelligence gathering and intelligence analysis; (2) strategic defense, space defense, defense of controlled air space, defense of ground, air, or naval assets, and related purposes. [Here, someone is thinking of a kind of Star Wars. They are going to waste millions of tax-payer dollars because of the whimsical beliefs of a bunch of people who happen to be well-placed in Washington D.C. No specific budget amount is given.]

Closing

Termination of the UAPTF

Not later than the date on which the Secretary establishes the Office … the Secretary shall terminate the UAP Task Force.

On Terminology

The bill concludes by stating the definition of some terms repeated in this section of the bill’s text:

• “appropriate congressional committees” for both the House of Representatives and the Senate: (A) The Committees on Armed Services, (B) The Committee on Appropriations, (C) The Committee on Foreign Affairs, and (D) The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

• “intelligence community”: the meaning as per section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).

• “line organization”: an organization that executes programs and activities to directly advance the core functions and missions of the department or agency to which the organization is subordinate, but, with respect to the Department of Defense, does not include a component of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

• “transmedium objects or devices”: objects or devices that are observed to transition between space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water, that are not immediately identifiable. [This is a true anomaly, as this term does not appear in the text of the bill! But it is a term applied by lobby-boosted UFO believers to video images showing objects with the supposed capacity to migrate from air to water, a concept taken from misinterpretation of two Navy videos: USS Nimitz “Tic-Tac” footage taken on November 14, 2004 at ~110 NM SSW of San Diego—disclosed in 2017—and USS Omaha footage on July 15, 2019, at ~107 NM West of San Diego—disclosed in 2020. Even from the wrong analysis performed of a pair of balloons in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on April 25, 2013. This is probably a remnant of the initial draft.]

• “unidentified aerial phenomena.” In this context, the term UAP has three possible meanings: (a) airborne objects that are not immediately identifiable; (b) transmedium objects or devices; and (c) submerged objects or devices that are not immediately identifiable and that display behavior or performance characteristics that the objects or devices may be related to UAP. [The inclusion of submarine UAP is another tribute to UFO legacy with its term USOs, also a very minor issue in historical UFO reporting. Also, a nod to Navy reports. At least, however, it links both airborne and submerged objects to phenomena “not immediately identifiable” as a stated recourse assuming that these objects or devices might be finally identified…as will the case, in my view, if investigation is properly done. Surprisingly, the tagline “not immediately identifiable” is not featured to those powerfully-imaged and imaginary “transmedium objects”! Another drafting slip? A Freudian slip? Signs that the UAP Act has been dealt from different angles? Time will tell.]

Discussion

Since 1947, the whole world has been intermittently (in “waves”) aware of reports of flying saucers, UFOs or UAP. In those 74 years, no evidence whatsoever of the existence of alien visitation has been discovered; on the contrary, 98% of cases have met a plausible explanation. In spite of Governmental study groups and civilian organizations and military commissions. There remain unsolved just a few sighting observations which are apparently significant for believers and explainable for others. Above all, UFOs are nowadays part of popular culture, entertainment, literature, movies, advertisement, TV documentaries, etc.

Under the rational and reasonable premise that UFO/UAP reports does not represent any form of extraterrestrial phenomenon manifesting in our planet, this is, that there is no alien presence on Earth, I can conclude and predict that this new UAP Office will, eventually, get the program ended because they will never produce anything extraordinary except a drain of money and personnel (not to mention the expected publicity nightmare for the DoD). The weight of this statement will be appraised already by December 2026.

I am afraid the United States of America may be in the verge of being the object of tremendous ridicule at a global level if there are no UAP at all, neither its own aircraft, nor foreign ones, just multiple phenomena of an ordinary nature. Because this solution was already flagged since the findings of Professor Donald Menzel back in 1953, and after the USAF’s Project Blue Book (closed 1969) and the Condon report.

In the last few years, news about flying saucers, UFOs and UAP have skyrocketed; precisely since a December 2017 article in the New York Times⁷ re-opened the UFO Pandora’s box. This time, the focus was on UAP evidence in the hands of the US Government, a Pentagon UFO program pushed by credulous, aged politicians, financed from black budgets, handled by gullible people, and outsourced to a company headed by a gullible millionaire. Personalities with power around the Capitol—fueled by certain journalists and fuzzy video footage from the US Navy—have joined this tribe of believers to finally force the Department of Defense to concede that possibly there is something unknown violating the US airspace and jeopardizing aviation safety. Well, I see a perfect parallel with the recent case of Elizabeth Holmes (of Theranos fame) of fraud and conspiracy. For years, high-standing, influential persons from the world of politics and science, including ex-government secretaries, fell under the spell of a false concept. The same will someday happen with this UAP-Government interface craze, supported by so many important activists, be they military, executives, scientists, career officials, or journalists, all caught in a trap dominated by something so acute and deep: the blind belief that we are being visited by aliens.

Acknowledgments

To Tim Printy and Julio Plaza del Olmo, for contributions. To Richard W. Heiden, for editing.

References

(1) https://tinyurl.com/bder8684

(2) Daniel S. Gillmor (ed.), Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. in association with Colorado Associated University Press, 1969. http://www.project1947.com/shg/condon/contents.html

(3) https://tinyurl.com/33wwpnss

(4) V.J Ballester-Olmos, “The UAP Pentagon Report—Commented Abstract,” scroll down in http://fotocat.blogspot.com/2021_09_14_archive.html

(5) https://tinyurl.com/2fjrraxf

(6) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QVspt2Bae6paAzu9zJfrn-x1bQzUgGWv/view (Credit: Douglas Johnson).

(7) https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html

CHRONOLOGY OF THE UAP OFFICE PROGRAM, 2022-2026

(B= Before/Not later than)

B 31 MARCH 2022	Classified briefing by the head of the UAP Office to congressional committees (A), (B) and (D) , including UAP incidents reported to the UAPTF after 24 June 2021
B 30 JUNE 2022	Establishment of UAP Office (to be named)
B 30 JUNE 2022	UAP Task Force terminated
B 31 OCTOBER 2022	Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31 DECEMBER 2022	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 30 June 2022 and events not included in the earlier briefing
B 30 JUNE 2023	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 31 December 2022
B 31 OCTOBER 2023	Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31 DECEMBER 2023	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 30 June 2023
B 30 JUNE 2024	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 31 December 2023
B 31 OCTOBER 2024	Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31 DECEMBER 2024	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 30 June 2024
B 30 JUNE 2025	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 31 December 2024
B 31 OCTOBER 2025	Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31 DECEMBER 2025	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 30 June 2025
B 30 JUNE 2026	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 31 December 2025
B 31 OCTOBER 2026	Annual report by the Director of Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to congressional committees
B 31 DECEMBER 2026	Classified briefing to congressional committees, including UAP incidents occurred since 30 June 2026

© Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos / Published With Permission ; Originally Published at www.academia.edu

Additional Articles By Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos ►

See Also:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Submits UFO / UAP Amendment for National Defense Authorization Act

	The Pentagon UFO Report / 25 June, 2021
	The UAP Pentagon Report - Commented abstract
	BREAKING: Congressional Bill for New UFO / UAP Investigations Unit Put On Union Calendar

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