The U.S. Intelligence Community Monitors UFO Researchers’ Activities: (Redux)

Implemented by the CIA in 1953, the Practice Continues Today

"By the early-1980s, the involvement of the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA in the collection of UFO-related data had been firmly established."

(Originally published on Wednesday, July 31, 2013)

In 1973, when I began interviewing former/retired U.S. military personnel regarding their UFO experiences at nuclear weapons facilities, I didn’t give much thought to the possibility that the intelligence community would take an interest in my activities [ad]. At that point, the CIA’s “Robertson Panel” Report—which recommended surveillance of American UFO-research advocacy groups—was still classified. Indeed, as far as the public knew, the only component of the U.S. government responsible for UFO-related matters was the Air Force.

By Robert Hastings The UFO Chronicles 3-30-25

However, that myth slowly faded away as classified documents began to be pried loose for public inspection via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). By the early-1980s, the involvement of the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA in the collection of UFO-related data had been firmly established.

My own naiveté regarding what I considered to be the remote possibility of covert surveillance of my own activities was shattered in early 1982, shortly after I first went out on the American college lecture circuit to report my findings. Those public programs resulted in media coverage by numerous newspapers, including the New York Times, as well as the Associated Press and United Press International.

Apparently, FBI also took notice.

In 2012, veteran UFO researcher and Freedom of Information requestor Larry W. Bryant sent me a letter he had received from the FBI—in response to an FOIA request on my behalf—in which the bureau acknowledged that their records indicated the existence of files on my UFO-related activities. However, according the letter, a search for those files was unsuccessful because they were supposedly “missing”. Neither Bryant nor I believe that to be the case.

The first indication I had that someone was monitoring my research activities came within months of my first national publicity. It was/is my practice to tape record my interviews with the military veterans—who have described observing UFOs maneuvering near or hovering over ICBM sites, nuclear weapons storage areas, or similar locations. Beginning in February 1982, after each and every telephone conversation with one of those individuals, recorded with their permission, it became clear that someone was tapping my phone.

After each interview, only moments after hanging-up, I received a mysterious call from someone who said nothing, even though I could hear background noises, who then hung-up after 30 seconds or so. I stress that this odd pattern only occurred after I had spoken with this or that veteran, who was divulging dramatic information about one nukes-related UFO incident or another. It never happened after one of my calls to my family or friends, or at any other time. The pattern continued for several months.

Obviously, someone was attempting to intimidate me or, at the very least, was just letting me know that they were aware of who I was talking to. As I have repeatedly said over the years, I guess I was too stupid to be scared because I continued with my efforts to learn what the U.S. government was hiding from the public, relating to UFO activity at nuclear weapons sites.

I now have more than 140 U.S. military veterans on-the-record—I just spoke with a new source earlier today, a former Minuteman missile Electro-Mechanical Technician who sighted a UFO at Minot AFB in 1968—and I am happy to report that the FBI has never contacted any of those guys. In other words, regardless of who was tapping my phone, there were no repercussions for the persons who had agreed to speak with me. And, to date, no one has ever shown up at my door either.

That said, in one recent case, someone did learn about my telephone and email communications with a retired Air Force missile targeting technician who had made a few inquiries on my behalf, relating to a widely-publicized missile communications-disruption incident at F.E. Warren AFB, in Wyoming, on October 23, 2010.

That individual was in touch with a few of the active duty missile maintenance personnel who had responded to the problem, during which 50 ICBMs became temporarily unavailable because the base could not communicate with the launch officers who controlled them. Officially, the disruption had lasted 59 minutes and was caused by an improperly-replaced computer card in a weapons-control processor.

However, what my retired Air Force contact learned about the incident, from the missile maintenance techs who had responded to it, was much different: The event involved an intermittent communications disruption that actually lasted more than a day, not a mere 59 minutes, as the Air Force claims.

More importantly, several independent maintenance teams returned to the base reporting their sighting of a huge, cigar-shaped object in the sky above the missile field. My contact was told that the entire missile maintenance squadron had been unexpectedly assembled and admonished by its commander not to speak about “the things they may or may not have seen” in the sky. Clearly, the aerial object was not a blimp.

Unfortunately, I was later informed by my contact that two of those missile technicians, upon retiring in June 2011, were informed by their superiors that a “flag” had been placed in their Air Force service records, relating to their unauthorized disclosures about the incident. Obviously, someone had been monitoring their emailed conversations with my go-between, who later forwarded their comments to me. This development meant that the two men would have difficulty finding work in the aerospace field after leaving the service.

I of course felt very badly about this development, even though my contact has said that the two individuals had been fully informed that he was passing information on to me about an apparent UFO maneuvering above F.E. Warren’s nuclear missiles during the communications-disruption incident.

In this type of situation—where active duty Air Force personnel leak information about UFOs near nuclear weapons sites to outsiders—the Pentagon becomes trapped by its own deceptive policy of claiming that UFOs pose no threat to U.S. national security. (It was this official stance—UFOs, even if they exist, are not a threat—that was used to justify the closure of the Air Force’s UFO study, Project Blue Book, in 1969.)

The two individuals who reported multiple sightings of the huge cigar-shaped craft by missile maintenance teams at F.E. Warren AFB in October 2010—at a time when 50 ICBMs were effectively offline—cannot be prosecuted for divulging classified information because, among other repercussions, the Air Force higher-ups would have to openly admit that they took the UFO reports seriously and went so far as to admonish an entire missile squadron not to talk about the incident.

In short, any open prosecution of the two men would risk turning a media spotlight on the whole affair, thereby raising public awareness about the true nature of the event—something the Pentagon definitely does not want to happen.

And so the game goes on. The Air Force continues to claim that UFOs pose no risk to U.S. national security. Meanwhile, veterans slowly but surely come forward to report UFOs at various nuclear missile bases—as far back as 1962 and as recently as 2010—which often appeared just as some of America’s nuclear missiles mysteriously malfunctioned. Maybe, someday, the public will be let in on the truth.

Last week, Larry Bryant sent me a letter he had composed on my behalf, directed to the National Security Agency (NSA), asking that any and all NSA files containing information regarding my UFO-related activities to be released to me, pursuant to requirements stipulated in the federal law known as the Privacy Act. That missive has been inserted below.

-click on image to enlarge-

I suspect that, after a lengthy runaround, I will be told by NSA that no such files exist. Or, perhaps, those files will be discovered to be “missing” just like the FBI files on my research activities. Regardless, the agency certainly will not be candid with me, no matter what the facts are.

VISIT ROBERT'S SITE ►

See Also:

	US Navy Caught Monitoring UFO Web-Sites
	The NSA's UFO Investigations Unearthed (Redux)
	CIA Has Conducted Multiple UFO Crash Retrieval Missions, Whistleblowers Reveal

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

UFO Research Integrity

Logic suggests explanations requiring the least number of hypothetical scenarios are often most feasible. Smart money goes with the most likely, least complex models when ranking possibilities. In UFO circles we frequently lose sight of most likely explanations. Part of the reason may be because so much time is devoted to imagining the extraordinary. We tend to gravitate towards believing what we hear the most, no matter how often it may be properly framed as supposition. It's difficult to keep things in perspective when a 15-second disclaimer is followed

By Jack Brewer The UFO Trail 6-15-20

by an hour of podcast speculation. Squeaky wheels get oil, even when delivered through sources such as fictional movies and television shows.

We often suspect the existence of hidden agendas - conspiracies, if you will - within the UFO genre because it can be so difficult to accept select researchers and organizations are as incompetent and credulous as they appear. Did the Roswell Slides promoters truly think that mummified Native American was a crash-landed visitor from the stars? Did Dr. Steven Greer really think that Atacama skeleton was an alien and did he and Dr. Garry Nolan honestly not understand the ethical concerns that would arise over their handling of it? Did Robert Bigelow and a team of consultants think there was scientific merit in hiring "security guards" to reportedly play with alleged voice phenomena and conduct similar occult practices? (That last scenario was apparently funded by your tax dollars.)

Could they have all sincerely had such poor judgement? Such reasonable questions abound.

The infamous Roswell Slides telltale placard

We might consider that, from a perspective of assessing research integrity, answers to the above questions don't really make that much difference. The integrity of research is weakened when investigators fail to respect and adhere to universally recognized protocols and codes of ethics. No matter what their agendas, their research is not reliable if they must incorporate numerous hypothetical scenarios into forming their arguments. We really don't need to know what personally motivated David Jacobs and if he is as obliviously incompetent as he seems in order to accurately identify his ethics failings and resulting poor quality of research. This means we don't learn anything of value, at least not about alleged paranormal experiences, from such material, and we are at high risk of absorbing and exposing others to incorrect information. Meanwhile, people are harmed and justifiably offended in the process of such examples as named thus far.

Paul Carr is a spacecraft systems engineer who facilitates several science-friendly podcasts. In response to request for comment on research integrity, Carr replied that he considers virtues of UFO research to include patience, humility, integrity and skepticism. Carr directs Aerial Phenomena Investigations (API), a UFO research group with a track record of commitments to evidence-based investigation and ethical treatment of UFO witnesses. He says the two go hand in hand.

"UFO research primarily deals with human memories," Carr stated, "and it has become clear to us at API that while the ethical treatment of witnesses and an open, honest, and careful approach to collecting and analyzing data are not the same thing, they are both members of a healthy body of research practice. Whatever threatens to corrupt one also threatens the other. Willful abuse of facts and fallacious reasoning readily metastasizes into abuses of innocent persons. This isn't something that just happens to organizations. It is a choice they make.

"It's not that we won't make mistakes - we will. It's what you do and how you change after a mistake is made that is the best marker of integrity."

Perhaps Robert Bigelow and his various teams assembled over the years have been unjustly saddled with conspiracy theories. It is possible they are simply as credulous as they seem to want us to believe.

Substantial resources were poured into a Utah ranch. Claims of extraordinary creatures, portals to other dimensions, and various sensational happenings, the vast majority of which purportedly defied any kind of significant documentation, became the stuff of legends. Maybe the involved credentialed researchers sincerely do not understand the inherent problems in expecting others to embrace their unverified claims. Maybe they are truly that blinded by belief.

The Typhoid Mary-like innocence of claimed ignorance meets large problems when issues of fully informed consent arise. This was not only the case at the Skinwalker Ranch, as former security guards expressed concerns over their apparent unwitting involvement in state-funded research, but was a key component of the infamous Carpenter Affair as well.

Maybe John Carpenter, Robert Bigelow, John Alexander, John Schuessler and others were truly oblivious to the ethical minefield of covertly supplying Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) with information discussed between therapist and clients. Data and recordings of hypnosis sessions from some 140 case files were obtained for about 100 bucks apiece. Maybe some of the people involved in facilitating and concealing the transaction just didn't see publicly addressing the circumstances and voicing objections as feasible options. Obviously not, given their stances of mostly silence and aversion to questions.

Perhaps some of them honestly believed the potential research gains outweighed the liabilities and betrayals. Maybe they honestly misunderstood and vastly overestimated the minimal scientific value of a collection of hypnosis-induced accounts of alien abduction. Such missteps are magnified when the parties claim to be conducting scientific study, as was the case.

Such scenarios, regardless of motive and intent, border dangerously on mad scientist territory. Codes of ethics are designed, in part, to deter researchers afflicted with delusions of self-importance from sacrificing human welfare during an incorrectly perceived pursuit of historic breakthroughs. This widely eludes much of the UFO genre and particularly its pro-hypnosis segment. Virtually anything appears deemed worth the cost of chasing an alien abduction carrot which has consistently remained out of reach.

"The importance of ethics in research integrity is that it creates the ground level from which all of your work is built," explained Dr. Christopher Cogswell, who holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and co-hosts a popular podcast which explores fringe topics from reasoned perspectives. "If the ground isn't stable, then everything else you generate or say becomes built on a shaky foundation, which can easily be toppled by the first critical look at your methods and history. It is OK to be wrong or make a mistake, we are all human. But to continue despite evidence of mismanagement, error, or unethical practice makes your entire body of work suspect and tinged with that lens."

We could carry our line of considerations to its chronological next steps, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and the resulting To The Stars Academy (TTSA). Maybe intelligence professionals such as Luis Elizondo and Christopher Mellon are simply overly enthusiastic about the UFO topic and don't understand the problematic nature of trying to turn film clips into proof of the extraordinary. Perhaps Elizondo was simply too inexperienced at UFO investigation to adequately assess an extremely questionable case he and the seemingly ultra credulous Tom DeLonge highlighted on cable television. Maybe there's just an overwhelming amount of UFO history for Elizondo to learn, and maybe it simply never occurred to him to secure receipts that could answer questions about his background before he went to TTSA and started making claims he was apparently unprepared to adequately address if questioned.

Maybe shelling out 35 grand for Art's Parts will prove brilliant. Perhaps the group's collection of alleged metal alloys, UAP fragments, or whatever the current going designation is will lead to paradigm-shifting discoveries. And, if not, maybe it all happened for no other reasons than none of the TTSA personnel knew any better.

An obvious problem with AATIP is it consisted of Robert Bigelow and some of his perpetual cast members. This is not necessarily a negative thing in itself, but from a perspective of integrity of research, it is only prudent to question the effectiveness of the work of investigators who spent decades apparently more dedicated to belief than time-tested protocols. That's the case, anyway, if we are to believe their past indiscretions, as already described, resulted entirely from simple error. Again, it doesn't matter from an integrity of research standpoint whether they are incompetent or have ulterior motives when the outcome chronically produces nothing of significant scientific value.

As may have been the case with issues surrounding the security personnel at Skinwalker and the exploited hypnosis subjects of John Carpenter, perhaps it was poor understandings and lack of foresight that contributed to the Bigelow-facilitated covert funneling of DIA funds into MUFON. Maybe Bigelow, Schuessler, and none of the involved parties realized the problematic nature of an intelligence agency funding a 501(c)(3) UFO organization while concealing the fact from the rest of its governing board members and the public at large.

Some of the boys in the Remote Viewing band. And NIDS.
And Skinwalker. And BAASS. And AATIP. And TTSA.

This isn't about people who may possibly be influenced by false memories or misidentify an exotic aircraft. We're not discussing individuals who experience some kind of event(s) they don't understand and go in search of answers. We're talking about credentialed scientists and professional intelligence personnel who in some cases subscribe to irresponsibly unsupported beliefs and flawed research methodologies, sometimes while under the commission of United States government grant funds.

It seems more than clear to this writer that, if we give all these people the benefit of the doubt and take them at their implied word, we should fully expect to scrutinize their opinions at length and have their research claims painstakingly verified before fully accepting them. Such investigators apparently, at best, suffer from recurring episodes of rather astoundingly poor judgement.

The good news is we don't have to rely on personalities and popularity as tools for assessing research. Its merit or lack thereof should be self-evident.

The fact will always remain that should some yet to be proven assertions turn out to be correct, they're indeed not established yet. Just because the future may show something to be accurate, that does not in any way mean you should currently exempt it from reasonable fact-checking. That's how we find out if it's true.

It is important we know the difference between facts and claims asserted by investigators, hold them accountable, and commit ourselves to respecting ethical standards and best practices as recognized by the professional research community. Integrity of UFO research, and ultimately what people believe is flying around up there, depend on it.

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

The UFO Reporters

The Pentagon UFO Program Saga: Lack of Professional Research Protocols and Standards of Evidence

Former Skinwalker Personnel Suspect They Were Unwitting Research Subjects

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

“… Some UFO/UAPs Encountered By Our Military Are Probes Launched By Distant Civilizations”

A Threat Unmet

On Dec. 16, 2017, The New York Times ran a front-page story revealing the existence of a congressionally mandated program to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The article was accompanied by two recently declassified DoD videos obtained by F-18 fighter pilots. On both occasions, the UFOs were seen

By Chris Mellon The American Legion 2-18-20

in broad daylight by numerous Navy personnel, the reports were independently corroborated by sophisticated military sensor systems, and the unidentified aircraft demonstrated revolutionary aeronautical capabilities. For example, some of the craft were observed descending from altitudes above 80,000 feet, then hovering as low as 50 feet above the ocean before accelerating to hypersonic speeds from a dead stop.

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

Current USS Nimitz Captain Says Navy Pilots Do Watch for UFOs

Ripping Open the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program

U.S. Navy Denies Request To Release UFO Documents

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

“… Navy Already Knows What These So-Called UAP's [UFOs] Are”

Data's King

All kidding aside, we have spy satellites that can see a pimple developing on my forehead. I'm kinda guessing the Navy already knows what these so-called UAP's are.

- Keith Kloor, Twitter

The admirable and persistent work of John Greenewald recently added a couple more shades of intrigue to the TTSA kaleidoscope. The U.S. Navy denied the three videos touted by TTSA were cleared for public release, backing up the previous statements from the Pentagon, while labeling the objects depicted in the film clips as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP. Greenewald reported Joseph Gradisher, official spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, explained, "The 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena'

By Jack Brewer The UFO Trail 9-11-19

terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges."

A lot seems to have been read into that statement, much of which, in my opinion, is based on what the reader chooses to see. Interpretations such as "they're admitting they're not ours" and "they finally acknowledged they're UAP" are making the social media rounds.

I understand why UFO enthusiasts are excited. The DoD and the Navy are talking about UFOs - a lot - but the concepts being wishfully attributed to the Navy spokesperson are not what he said, not exactly. In this post let's consider a few things about this never ending story.

After all, if you can't trust the Information Warfare Center to catapult us into UFO Disclosure, who can ya trust?

HISTORY

A lot of spooks emerged out of the IC and waded into the UFO pond over the years. Some particular notables include Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, who directed the CIA prior to serving on the Board of Governors for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena from 1957 to 1962. A fellow NICAP board member was Col. Joseph Bryan III, who, interestingly, was "later discovered to be a former naval officer and CIA employee, psychological warfare specialist," according to researcher Richard Hall.

DCI Hillenkoetter led to what would be a long line of current and former intelligence professionals moonlighting in ufology. The list includes Gen. Bert Stubblebine, credited with redesigning the intelligence structure of the entire U.S. Army, Col. John "Mr. Non-Lethal" Alexander, Comdr. C.B. "Scott" Jones, who claimed he believed his friend was targeted with a mind control weapon by the FBI, the enigmatic and UFO forum-present Ron Pandolfi, infamous Richard Doty, and many more, including, of course, Luis Elizondo and a number of intriguingly successful members of the IC prior to boarding the TTSA train.

Long before current Information Warfare spokespeople indirectly implied reasons the Navy revised its UFO reporting procedures - somewhat contradicting a DoD explanation the AATIP was axed due to higher priorities more deserving of funds, no less - intel analysts sometimes used the levels of concern of their commanding officers as indicators of how much attention they should give potential threats. That included matters of what, today, we might call UFOs or UAP.

James Carrion documented per declassified memos and reports how the 1946-47 Ghost Rocket flap involved professional analysis in which it was suspected senior officers were, in reasonable likelihood, well aware of the origins of the reported rockets. Numerous reasons were given to that effect by intelligence analysts, as well as an FBI Special Agent in Charge, which included a lack of concern for the rocket reports from the brass. Also observed was a lack of calling personnel back from leave during intense portions of the supposed threat. This curiously happened while the press was simultaneously offered official statements of concern and provided stories pertaining to the rocket sightings.

We might consider the circumstances somewhat comparable to a so-called Pentagon UFO program which was reportedly discontinued, yet select personnel persist in publicly warning us - and an accommodating media - of airspace incursions. At the least, I'd argue it should be taken into consideration.

DATA TALKS

Most importantly, there is no substitute for verifiable data. Evidence available for public review: that's the name of the game. Unfortunately, those claiming to be leading Disclosure are much more often than not obstructing the purported evidence. They are long on claims and short on data.

There have been vague and anonymous news reports about taxpayer-funded examinations of UFO witnesses, modified buildings for storage of UFO debris, reports of UFO research projects existing both before and after the AAWSAP and AATIP, and too many more fantastic claims to list, little to none of which has been substantiated. There are discrepancies about who ran the projects, what the projects were empowered to do, if anything of value was learned, if the research was properly approved and overseen by official boards, and it's not clear how much, if any of it, is even classified or not. Several FOIA requests are pending.

Maybe Disclosure of extraordinary things are on the horizon. I guess ya never know for sure. If not, hey, there's always that statement about UAP from the Naval Operations for Information Warfare.

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

'Compelling Evidence, We Not Be Alone' Claims Intelligence Official | VIDEO

The Navy Responds in Detail Re The UFO Videos, AATIP, Unknown Technology and More ...

The Navy Says Those UFO Videos Are Real

U.S. Navy Confirms Videos Depict ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’; Not Cleared For Public Release

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Did Luis Elizondo Really Run The Pentagon UFO Program? Conflicting Information Arises

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USS Nimitz, USS Roosevelt "... Video Footage of UFOs Acquired Through New State-Of-The-Art Detection Technology"

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A Description of a Government UFO Info Operation – Tom DeLonge’s Origin Story For To The Stars Academy

If UFO Disclosure Is Coming, Is the World Prepared?

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Did Luis Elizondo Really Run The Pentagon UFO Program? Conflicting Information Arises

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Evidence Supporting Official Pentagon Release of UFO Videos is Disputed

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UFO Info Wars

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Dr. Eric W. Davis, of NASA's Breakthrough Physics Propulsion Project, Discussed UFOs During Lecture | VIDEO

UFO Research By NASA Affiliated Physicist Dr. Eric W. Davis is Confirmed By Colleague

Dr Eric Davis, Physicist, Explains Why Scientists Won't Discuss Their UFO Interests

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'Getting the Mainstream Media to Approach the UFO Puzzle as Legitimate News

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Third Government UFO Video Released | VIDEO

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Secret UFO Pentagon Program Explained By Leslie Kean | INTERVIEW – VIDEO

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

UFOs as Espionage Tools

The Boyd Bushman case offers examples of how intelligence agencies might investigate people involved in wild stories of alleged aliens and UFO technology. These stories may become tools used in intelligence and counterintelligence operations to gain the trust of people issued security clearances. Beliefs in an extraterrestrial presence may then be cultivated and exploited in an effort to obtain classified information. It's not hard to envision such scenarios might substantially disrupt the research process in ufology as well as the resulting beliefs in the public at large, even when that's not an objective of the operation. Writer and researcher Nick Redfern recently gave his take on the Bushman case.

By Jack Brewer The UFO Trail 4-16-19

The late Boyd Bushman was issued a Top Secret security clearance in his role as a Senior Specialist at Lockheed Martin, a major American aerospace and defense company. He publicly discussed extreme ET-related beliefs, including describing networking with allegedly like-minded global associates. They supposedly shared his concerns that the U.S. government possessed smoking gun alien tech that should be open to the masses.

His employer, LM, apparently thought otherwise, and informed the FBI in the 1990's it was concerned Bushman was the subject of "an ongoing attempt to elicit LM proprietary or USG classified information." FBI records on Bushman, available at The Black Vault, indicate at least one of his associates was found to have "a history of allegations of misconduct, violations of security and classified information handling procedures, and suspicious contacts with foreign nationals." All of this involved a person "suspected of inappropriately releasing information."

[...]

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

UFOs, Alien Accounts Manipulated By Intelligence Agencies?

Former Lockheed Engineer Reveals Alien Photographs | VIDEO

Alleged Alien-Human Hybrid, Intelligence Agencies, The FBI and a FOIA Appeal

Secret US Intelligence Agency Holds UFO Answers

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Intelligence Community Influence Is a Ufology Staple

Historian Aaron J. Gulyas is doing a podcast, The Saucer Life, and I recommend checking it out. Gulyas is a longtime researcher, writer, and presenter in the UFO community. He does good work and his podcast is entertaining, as well as full of intriguing, well sourced tidbits. The Nov. 26 episode, Encounter 206: And then the feds showed up..., addressed the type of circumstances often explored here at The UFO Trail. The show focused on a chain of events involving the 1954 Detroit Flying Saucer Club. Gulyas cited declassified FBI documents he located at The Black Vault which indicate members of the Saucer Club became

By Jack Brewer The UFO Trail 12-5-17

concerned about the potentially anti-American and subversive activities of other attendees. A concerned citizen contacted the FBI, touching off an investigation, a series of covert interactions surrounding FBI agents and club members, and, as Gulyas put it, an example of why government interest in flying saucers was really never about the saucers in some cases.

Points I find interesting about the saga include similarities between mid 20th century fear of communist aggression and current day Islamophobia. For instance, activities at least one Detroit Flying Saucer Club member felt warranted reporting to the FBI included the expression of anti-nuclear war sentiments and the promotion of peace. Not exactly treason, but apparently disturbing enough for a self-described patriotic American to call the feds.

Also of interest was a central figure, Laura Mundo, who conducted a campaign to promote the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. We might reasonably assume her support of predominant themes in the movie - namely, aliens, universal peace and disarmament - primarily fueled her interest in the film, pending substantial reasons to suspect otherwise.

It's an intriguing side plot that the CIA in all likelihood substantially influenced the production of The Day the Earth Stood Still. As writer/researcher Robbie Graham pointed out, verified propaganda specialists were employed on the set as a production chief and a script writer, among other significant circumstances (see Graham's book Silver Screen Saucers and paper The CIA, the Movie Mogul, and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still').

This presents any number of interesting scenarios, including Mundo becoming indirectly influenced by intelligence agencies conducting projects using the UFO topic as a tool. She was neither the first nor the last to be ensnared in the cloak and dagger activities of such agencies, seemingly at least sometimes unaware of the actions and objectives of one another. The Saucer Life might lead us to revisit some related circumstances.

Intelligence and UFO Communities

As we have previously explored, investigation of espionage has been much more relevant to the UFO community than its disproportionately low amount of attention suggests. Espionage and counterespionage operations have significantly shaped UFO-related beliefs, inadvertently or otherwise, of any number of community members, some of them more directly and noticeably than others. This is often without so much as a smattering of discussion. What's more, the involvement of intelligence personnel in ufology is not only nothing new, but a staple. If we were to make a Venn diagram of the intelligence and UFO communities - particularly ufology's high profile members - the much larger circle of the former would significantly overlap the latter.

Richard Doty is getting calls for interviews, Ron Pandolfi's posts are being analyzed by "disclosure activists," & John Alexander has a new pro-paranormal book out. WTF is this, the 1980's? I guess next Bill Moore will be a keynote speaker.

— Jack Brewer (@TheUFOTrail) December 3, 2017

The birth of the modern era of UFOs was fathered by the intelligence community. The ghost rockets, Kenneth Arnold story, Roswell saga and more are saturated with IC involvement and verifiable instances of under the table activities.

The contactee movement, which, as Gulyas reports, included Laura Mundo's support of George Adamski, was itself saturated with intel implications as well. To omit the involvement of the IC in an exploration of the contactee era would render an incomplete assessment. As a matter of fact, many ufology circumstances from the times involved intelligence agencies, as Gulyas is exploring at The Saucer Life. The cases are many and frequent.

The USAF Office of Special Investigations became a regular player in the UFO genre, and the FBI always was. Career CIA and NSA personnel substantially contributed to the evolving fantastic story lines and subplots, ranging from sitting on boards of directors of UFO organizations to making sensational yet unsubstantiated claims themselves. The list goes on.

The covertly CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel suggested to the Agency in 1953 that UFO "organizations should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking if widespread sightings should occur. The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind."

View the full transcript of the Jan. 30, 1954 CIA cable
via the State Department

Far from above such subversive actions itself, the CIA recommended in 1954 to operatives in Guatemala to consider fabricating a story about flying saucers. The objective was to distract public attention from Agency sponsorship of a coup in the Central American nation.

It began that way in ufology in the mid 20th century, and it really hasn't changed a whole lot since. "Disclosure activists" are indeed continuing to hang their hopes on the cryptic statements of intelligence personnel, arguably reading between the lines exactly what they desire to find. What's more, the much discussed Tom DeLonge identifies himself as willing and able to sort IC fact from fiction and inform us of what he "knows" about the alien presence. Actual substance is disappointingly - and quite noticeably - absent from his disclosures.

I can understand when UFO enthusiasts aren't interested in the intelligence community. I really can. I realize many people want to hear about unexplained phenomena. It's interesting, and very few of us ever picked up our first UFO book or attended our first conference to learn about the significance of espionage in the UFO community. There are indeed any number of intriguing UFO cases with well presented research surrounding them. It's reasonable to find them of interest.

It is nonetheless equally true that the mid 20th century to present era of UFOs includes substantial activity of the intelligence community. The reasons are many, and the objectives, whatever they all may be, are different from one situation to the next. The fallout is relevant. Whether we choose to find it more interesting to stock our bookshelves with reports of unusual phenomena, or the social circumstances surrounding them, may at times be considered comparable to viewing an optical illusion, the kind in which we see either a vase or two faces opposite one another, depending on perspective. It might sometimes be worth remembering that the entire disorienting illusion was created by an artist in the first place.

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Further Reading:

NSA Releases 1978 Memo on MUFON Conference

Paper UFOs

Crashed Saucer Misinformation

Boyd Bushman, the FBI and Counterespionage

See Also:

Evidence Mounts That Iconic 1951 Movie was CIA UFO Acclimation Project

CIA Memo on 'Flying Saucers'

CIA’s Top-Secret MK-Ultra Mind Control Research Program

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

NSA Declassifies Documents on MUFON Conference

The National Security Agency recently released the majority of a 1978 memo prepared by an assignee (see below) about his attendance at a UFO conference. The document was obtained following a Jan. 24, 2017, request for a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR). The five-page memo contains the subject line, "Information request solicitation," and advises the NSA on such matters as likely fraudulent CIA letters showcased at the conference, activities of some specific researchers in attendance, relationships with the researchers, and potential problems that might arise through such relationships. The NSA Sep. 12, 2017, response to the MDR request and the partially redacted document may be viewed and downloaded at the link above.

By Jack Brewer ufotrail.blogspot.com 9-22-17

The Memo

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

The NSA continues to withhold the name of the assignee who composed the memo, as well as identities of additional NSA personnel referenced, but the late writer and researcher Philip Klass confidently speculated the author to be Tom Deuley. Klass was probably correct, as we will explore later in this post.

The Aug. 29, 1978, message begins by providing its recipient with some context. The author explained how he informed proper NSA personnel of his interest in UFOs and his intention to attend the 1978 MUFON Symposium. He then described events which occurred at the conference and involved researchers Leonard Stringfield, Robert Barry and Todd Zechel.

Stringfield did a presentation, during which he introduced Barry, who shared two letters he allegedly received from the CIA (Further research revealed Stringfield's presentation was on crashed flying saucers, so we might reasonably assume Barry's letters were related to the topic). The memo author/NSA assignee indicated he suspected the letters to be fraudulent, and proceeded to interact with the researchers in order to investigate the authenticity of the docs. He went on to explain he contacted CIA personnel who verified the letters to be frauds, and that the CIA wrote Barry and informed him that was the case.

The memo author described his suspicions of the origin of the purported CIA letters, as well as his concerns about the activities of researchers involved, including Todd Zechel (who founded Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, or CAUS):

This leads us to the bulk of the body of the memo, and the purpose of its subject line, "Information request solicitation." The memo author describes a nearly hour long telephone conversation with Zechel in which the NSA man clearly developed a sense of responsibility to inform the Agency of its contents. The author explained Zechel was requesting he "watch out for UFO related information within NSA" and "that I pass on what I could." The NSA assignee added he had "to some degree" checked on Zechel's character "with some people who have worked with him more closely."

"There is some thought," he continued, "that he would be capable of being behind the CIA letter fraud and that he is apt to go to most any length to collect information or to bend facts to fit his needs."

The author further wrote, "I personally have some fear that now that he has made contact with me, he may, either privately, or worse, publicly attempt to make it look as if I am an inside NSA contact for him. Or, on the other hand, he may elude to having such a contact for years, then when he feels it appropriate or when cornered, hope to produce me as that contact."

The memo concludes with mentioning "a chance of building a productive working relationship" with Zechel, whatever that's supposed to mean, and committing, "Any further contact or requests for information will be reported.":

History

The trail of the 1978 memo can be followed back to the Yeates affidavit. The sworn statements of NSA man Eugene F. Yeates were recorded in the early 1980's when CAUS sued the NSA for its UFO files.

Yeates stated some 239 documents responsive to the FOIA request submitted by CAUS were located in NSA files. One of the docs, he noted however, should not be considered relevant to UFOs: the 1978 memo. As Yeates explained in the affidavit, "It is an account by a person assigned to NSA of his attendance at a UFO symposium and it cannot fairly be said to be a record of the kind sought by the plaintiff."

In other words, it didn't really have anything to do with UFOs. Yeates' statements further suggested the NSA was reluctant to fully release the rest of its files for similar reasons: the info therein had less to do with the plaintiff's UFO-related interests than matters of national security, particularly communications intelligence (COMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

Philip Klass explored the topic in his Jan., 1997 newsletter. Klass obtained some 156 formerly Top Secret COMINT "UFO documents" spanning the years 1958 to 1979 and previously withheld from CAUS by the NSA. While the docs were "heavily censored," Klass concurred they primarily revealed matters of national security, such as NSA eavesdropping on Russian military sites and similar circumstances.

Klass further wrote that he strongly suspected the author of the then-withheld memo by the assignee at the UFO conference (referenced in the Yeates affidavit) to be Tom Deuley, a former NSA man and longtime MUFON board member. Klass continued that Deuley explained in a 1987 paper he was assigned to the Agency in mid-1978, just prior to attending the MUFON annual conference held that year in Dayton, Ohio. Deuley reportedly also wrote, "Before making that trip I felt it was necessary to let NSA know that I had an interest in UFOs. I took the matter up with my immediate supervisor, suggesting that the fact be put on the record."

It can be reasonably surmised that Klass was likely correct about the identity of the memo author, as both the date, 1978, and location, Dayton, of the conference are corroborated in the now largely released document. The sponsor of the event, the Mutual UFO Network, is also corroborated, as is the description by the memo author that he was then-recently assigned to the NSA and desired to keep his employer properly informed of his activities.

Context

In my opinion, the declassified memo represents important yet largely under reported aspects of the UFO community: the significance of espionage and counterespionage operations, investigations (unrelated to UFOs but overlapping with the UFO community) conducted by the intelligence community, and the effects the circumstances have on the genre as a whole. This appears to have particularly been the case in the 20th century, when standard methods of operation seem to have included fabricating tales of crashed flying saucers and circulating unsubstantiated reports of aliens via fraudulent documents. The dynamics are reflected in the 1978 memo, whatever may have been the actual agendas of the parties involved.

Paul Bennewitz

The time of the memo, 1978, was just a few short years before Richard Doty gaslighted Paul Bennewitz and shared unverified extraordinary documents with Linda Moulton Howe. The Bennewitz Affair contained entirely unsubstantiated rumors that nonetheless continue to be recycled and continuously accepted throughout UFO circles.

At that same point in time, the early 1980's, a young airman stationed in Nevada and holding a Top Secret clearance was slipped none other than a likely forged smoking gun doc. She had a preexisting relationship with MUFON and interest in UFOs. As explored in my book, The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community, Simone Mendez was subjected to grueling interrogations before being cleared of potential espionage charges and any wrongdoing. It is reasonable to suspect she and others may have been provided such docs for the purpose of following their trails through the UFO community, somewhat like throwing a dye pack in a sinkhole and seeing where the dye emerges.

Barry Greenwood of CAUS would later assist Mendez in obtaining documentation of her circumstances from the FBI and USAF Office of Special Investigations via the Freedom of Information Act. He also provided me with documents and information requested for inclusion in the chapter on the Mendez case contained in my book.

Also noteworthy was the 1980's case of the late Vincente DePaula. He apparently held security clearance in his employment in the defense industry, working on satellite systems. DePaula, who had an interest in UFOs and traveled ufology social circles, was reportedly interrogated at length by the Defense Investigative Service about his ufology associates.

The activities of the intelligence community within ufology stand to substantially alter and subsequently form popularly held perspectives, and the activities often have nothing to do with unusual phenomena. The interests of intelligence agencies at least some of the time include circumstances as reported by Klass, protecting the sensitive details of such circumstances, and keeping a sharp eye on those who express unusually deep interests in them.

The UFO topic has in at least some instances been used as a vehicle to gain the trust of individuals holding security clearances in employment capacities. It is then used in attempts to extract information. It should be understood and taken into consideration that the accuracy of stories passed among such people is extremely suspect, even as they gain wider attention throughout the UFO community at large. What's more, the intent of such architects of deception, at least some of the time, is not to mislead the public, but such manipulation is simply a byproduct of other objectives. They just don't care what the public thinks about UFOs.

Bushman showing a highly questionable photo of an
alleged alien reportedly obtained from his network of contacts

As recently as 2014 a video surfaced of the late Boyd Bushman, a man claiming to have held Top Secret and Special Access clearance while employed at Lockheed Martin. He additionally expressed he was convinced of the existence of an alien presence. He also expressed his disdain for security regulations he interpreted to restrict the sharing of research. As explored in a May, 2017 blog post, Bushman indeed held such clearance - and a declassified 1999 FBI memo revealed his employer suspected shady individuals of trying to elicit classified information from him. It is reasonably clear his interest in UFOs served as an opportunity for developing such relationships, and the resulting unsubstantiated alien-related stories were repeated without question by a segment of the community.

In the end, a valid point can be made that it is not only the IC games that contribute to the deterioration of the genre and the topic, but the very presence of individuals who partake in such games. This goes much further than a simple warning of 'buyer beware'. The fact is the Mutual UFO Network has long been inundated with byproducts of the intelligence community, and many will recall it was Tom Deuley who served as front man for the ill fated Ambient Monitoring Project, an initiative which involved placing various data-gathering sensors and equipment in the homes of self-described alien abductees. The project was ultimately strongly criticized due to its lack of completion, lack of transparency, and general incompetence. Maybe the IC had nothing to do with the lack of adequate explanations for its failure, or the lack of resolution surrounding Skinwalker, or any number of similar circumstances, but if its members weren't so deeply involved in such cases while simultaneously harboring classified agendas, we wouldn't have to wonder.

Whatever the objectives may have been that were furthered by such events spanning from a 1947 press release in Roswell to the cultivation of the MJ-12 meme and all the way to the adventures of Tom Delonge - and virtually countless more cases potentially involving the IC along the way - their significance in shaping public perception should be recognized. The reasons may be as diverse as the dates and cases, but their relevance should be understood and incorporated into assessments.

Continue Reading ►

See Also:

X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed

NSA UFO Docs

Suing The NSA for Release of UFO Documents; Threats To National Security Claimed (1981)

REPORT YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE