The NSA Cash-Landrum UFO Document

UFO documents from the U.S. government are rare for events beyond 1969. In a collection of files hosted by the Central Intelligence Agency, one was recently discovered, notes on the Cash-Landrum UFO investigation discussed by the secret psychic spy program. 

Before examining the document, let’s look at the people and agencies involved. In the foreword to the 2014 edition of The Invisible College, Jacques Vallee talked about a group formed as a byproduct of his UFO research with Dr. J. Allen Hynek in the early 1960s:

“…a small cadre of dedicated researchers... began exchanging data and analysis on a regular basis.... Dr. Hynek called this informal network “the Invisible College”… In later years the movement started by this group became integrated in a larger, multi-nation volunteer research effort joined by many individuals... the questions we had raised have remained current: What is the nature of unidentified aerial phenomena?”

 

The Intelligence Community

In September 1972, Jacques Vallee was working as a computer scientist at the Stanford Research Institute in California. His journals (Forbidden Science Vol. II) reveal how Vallee met Dr. Harold “Hal” E. Puthoff, who also worked at SRI, and “invited me to visit his lab. He told me about paranormal experiments he was starting under government sponsorship…” Puthoff was a theoretical physicist with a background including engineering work and three years active duty as a Naval Intelligence officer with NSA. He and Russell Targ were developing a project to use psychics in intelligence gathering, later designated “remote viewing.” 

The next day, “Over lunch at SRI I found out that both Ingo [Swann] and Hal were keenly interested in UFOs and the secrecy attached to the subject.” In November, Puthoff introduced Vallee to a psychic he was testing, Uri Geller. Vallee was supportive of the parapsychology research, but was not convinced when, “Uri told me he himself had no power, everything came from the saucers.” 

SRI: Puthoff and Geller appear in the first minute of this video clip.

Puthoff continued to introduce Vallee to government contacts. In October, Vallee met Howell McConnell, who shared some similar interests (psychic phenomena, mysticism, UFOs) and monitored the SRI psychic project for the National Security Agency. McConnell told Vallee about the NSA’s skeptical approach. “I work for a bunch of bureaucrats… But an Agency like ours can take no risks. So we keep an eye on things. If something does happen, they'll be able to say they were aware of the situation, that one of their analysts was informed, his documentation up to date..."

In Nov. 1973, Puthoff told Vallee that he’d found “the leader of the CIA group that monitors the UFO field.” Recently, “a biologist, was put in charge. Hal says the new man doesn't want to see me yet.” In Feb. 1974, Puthoff called to “tell me that his main Intelligence contact was at his house... that I meet him…” Thus, 

Vallee met, “Dr. Christopher Green nicknamed Kit, a dynamic bespectacled young man of medium build with alert brown eyes. … Green had counterparts in every branch of the Executive. Like Howell McConnell they mainly operated ‘out of personal interest,’ with the blessing of higher-level managers. They occasionally exchanged data, but he claimed little was done with it.” 

Green worked for the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence, and a small part of his duties involved keeping an eye on reports of paranormal claims that might be of government interest. They met again in May 1974, and frequently discussed the UFO topic, but Vallee was frustrated that Green could provide no evidence of a cover-up of alien bodies and saucers. Meanwhile, Green was quietly making connections in the field. In an April 1975 entry, Vallee wrote, “Kit is now talking to every ufologist worth his salt.” (Despite this, Kit Green managed to keep his name out of print in ufology until the early 1990s). Two of Green’s 1970s contacts were in a team based in Houston, Texas.

Kit Green established friendly sources in two ufologists, Richard Niemtzow, M.D., and John F. Schuessler, a McDonnell Douglas employee contracted by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Schuessler was a founding member and deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), but he also launched his own elite organization in 1976. Schuessler’s Project VISIT (Vehicle Internal Systems Investigative Team) consisted of “professional members, doctors, aerospace engineers and scientists” focused “on the scientific and engineering study of the internal systems of Unidentified Space Vehicles (USV) and of the physiology of the beings which occupy these vehicles." (In plain language, flying saucers and aliens.) 

VISIT was stated to be an informal private effort, not associated with Schuessler’s employer or the U.S. Government. Vallee heard something to the contrary, that Dr. Green was tasked by the CIA to check on their UFO work:

October 15, 1978: “Kit has a friend [Dr. Richard Niemtzow] in Houston… McDonnell Douglas is continuing their quiet but well-funded study with John Schuessler, also monitored by the agency. They seem to be looking for exotic alloys.”  In an early 1979 entry, Vallee said he and Green had discussed the notion of a secret U.S. UFO program. Green told him he’d recently had a “conversation with John Schuessler, who thinks the secret project isn't at CIA but at NRO…”

The CIA had told Green the government was no longer interested in UFOs, but he continued his interest in the topic. Vallee wrote in May 1978, “Kit is in close contact with most of the UFO groups, so his interest is only confidential among the uninformed.”

1980s and the Cash-Landrum UFO Investigation

In the spring of 1981, news coverage began about a major UFO case, an incident near Huffman, Texas. It took almost two months for it to surface, but two women and a boy, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and her grandson Colby, claimed to have been injured by a massive fiery object on Dec. 29, 1980. Their evening drive had been blocked by the terrifying UFO, and when it flew away it was followed by a flock of military helicopters. Cash became ill afterwards and spent much of the following weeks in the hospital. Their UFO report was not made until Feb. 2, 1981, but then the investigation was delayed until the end of the month, when John Schuessler started by interviewing the witnesses.

The C-L case received national publicity, and it was given a credibility boost due to the involvement of Schuessler, whom the witnesses and media regarded as a scientist from NASA. Since it was the most dramatic case in several years, ufologists found it fascinating. So did Dr. Kit Green, who was intrigued by the medical aspect, the reported physiological effects. There was nothing published at the time to document his interest, but Jacques Vallee’s, Forbidden Science Vol. III had an entry from 26 September 1981 that gives us an indication:

“Kit… spoke of the Cash-Landrum case in Texas that John Schuessler keeps studying: Three witnesses were exposed to radiation from a hovering object. For the first time a real medical study has been conducted. Kit is afraid two of the witnesses may die from the experience.”

1982-1983: The Army Investigation and the Lawsuit

In 1982, Department of the Army Inspector General (DAIG) ordered Lt. Col. George Sarran to determine whether Army helicopters were involved in the C-L incident, but his mission was not to investigate the UFO report. To be thorough, Sarran contacted several ufologists, John Schuessler, the primary investigator; his former VISIT colleague Capt. Richard C. Niemtzow; M.D., USAF; and Dr. Peter Rank, Radiologist. Although not named in the documentation, John B. Alexander says that both he and his friend U.S. Navy Captain Paul Tyler (medical consultant for the Remote Viewing program) were also consulted. In his report, Sarran eliminated the Army as a suspect, and he found no evidence of helicopters flying by any other U.S. government entity - or by anyone else. However, Sarran had interviewed both Mrs. Cash and Landrum, and he explicitly described them as “credible.” 

In December of 1982, the legal effort by the witnesses against the U.S. government began. They still insisted military helicopters were involved in the UFO, and felt their medical problems were the result of it. Their attorney filed a damage claim against the Air Force for a total of 20 million dollars. 

Tabloid coverage of the C-L legal effort.

1983 was a busy year for the case, with much media coverage of the incident, and of the $20,000,000 claim and potential lawsuit. Ufology was aggressively covering it as well, in newsletters and club magazines. But there was some U.S. government-related discussion of the C-L case that wasn’t revealed until about 30 years later. In 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency declassified a document about its remote viewing program. It contained handwritten notes about government-related ufologists involved in the investigation of a UFO case, and of sending a doctor associated with the program to examine the witnesses.

The “Star Gate” UFO Document

Few UFO-related documents were produced by the U.S. government in the 1980s. However, one surfaced when the CIA declassified some papers on December 1, 2011, as part of their “STARGATE” (Remote Viewing program) collection. It was an undated NSA document, 6-page long, handwritten, no author indicated, apparently notes during a conference. The topic for the first few pages was on people in the timeline of “Soviet Parapsychology Research. Halfway down page 5, the topic abruptly changed, recording the discussion of a UFO case in Texas, as if it were breaking news. The rushed notes are ungrammatical sentence fragments, and many of the words are illegible. Below is a transcription of some of the key excerpts:

Hot activity UF[O]
CE3 Texas much medical Data so good will go to Houston to see patient.
… low level radiation… 52 yr old [woman] neighbor & grandson…
Object… light… got out & 15 or 20 mins stopped…
Fleet of helicopters… Object so bright… becomes very ill burns blisters form…
talked to Vallee… GM [grandmother] retinal burn cataracts…
John Schuessler VISIT team investigating… hair on woman fell out…
Kit has permission to talk to her Dr & one of his physicians consultants.
Woman not getting better worse…
Kit is calling Dr look for blood - low level ionizing radiation.
lot of [screwy theory?] about this -
Kit offered to take [case if?] Schuessler can get $…

To view the document itself, see the PDF at the CIA FOIA Reading Room:
 Handwritten Notes on Soviet Parapsychology Research (1930s – 1970s) and on Remote Viewing Research in the U.S.

The NSA notes unquestionably refer to the Cash-Landrum UFO incident of 1980. The author of these notes has been identified as Howell McConnell of the NSA, based on comparison with his other documents in the Stargate collection. His notes were probably made during a Remote Viewing meeting where Hal Puthoff or an associate read or summarized a Cash-Landrum report to the program participants. In the discussion, Jacques Vallee was referenced, but the central figure was “Kit,” who was interested in the medical aspect and might personally investigate. That was Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green.

What prompted a discussion of the C-L case in 1983, and why was there a sense of urgency? Aside from the mainstream media, possibly the most important items were by John Schuessler, and one by Richard C. Niemtzow, M.D. in the MUFON UFO Journal, January 1983, “Radiation UFO Injuries.” There’s no indication of any government follow-up to the NSA notes. What little official documentation relating to the C-L case all pertains to the (ill-fated) legal case.

There’s no direct evidence that Dr. Kit Green became involved in investigating the case due to the discussion recorded in this NSA note. However, it documents the strong interest by Green, Puthoff, and other players in the Remote Viewing story, people who continued to discuss and examine the Cash-Landrum case from then on.

Further Studies, 1985 to Present

The connection Hal Puthoff made with Jacques Vallee back in 1972 blossomed into a permanent expansion of the Invisible College, uniting an elite set of proponents of Remote Viewing, UFO studies, and the paranormal. They regarded the Cash-Landrum incident as not only genuine, but as the premier UFO injury case, and worthy of further study.

1985-88: The Advanced Theoretical Physics Project

In 1985, John B. Alexander put together the Advanced Theoretical Physics project. Dr. Hal Puthoff was a key member of ATP, and he kept his colleague Jacques Vallee informed of the group’s activities. Vallee called ATP, "the Secret Onion," and Forbidden Science Volume III (2016), has his entry for July 24, 1985:

"There was a meeting on frontier subjects in Washington recently. When Hal [Puthoff] arrived he discovered the topic was UFOs, and the overall project was structured in multiple layers, like an onion. The meeting was classified above top secret, under a codeword. Fifteen attendees reviewed cases like Kirtland AFB, Cash-Landrum and Tehran. They included Howell McConnell and [Paul] Tyler. Kit [Green] had been invited but couldn't attend.”

The Advanced Theoretical Physics project.

Alexander wrote in UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, “We explored the Cash-Landrum case in depth because of lawsuits initiated against the U.S. Government under the assumption that the incident was caused by an experimental craft of ours that had caused the serious injuries.” 

McConnell, the author of the NSA C-L document was part of the group, and several other players had ties to the psychic spy program. Ed Dames was a relative newcomer. Alexander intended to use remote viewing in the ATP’s UFO investigations. 

While not officially related, the Star Gate files have a document dated 26 January 1988, on the remote viewing session of “GP,” Gabrielle Pettingell. The interviewer was “ED,” Ed Dames and their target was the “Cash-Landrum Object." It produced a vague drawing and description of a black glossy object in a hangar - somewhere.

Around the same time, Kit Green and John Schuessler reviewed the medical data on the witnesses in the C-L case. They co-wrote a paper, later referenced by Dr. Green as: “Green & Schuessler, unpublished findings of a pair of well-documented human cases…Cash-Landrum 1987.”

1995-2004: NIDS 

In 1995, Robert Bigelow created the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), “a privately funded science institute engaged in research of aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena.” Under chairman Dr. Kit Green, their all-star science advisory board included Colm Kelleher, Hal Puthoff, John B. Alexander, Jacques Vallee, and John Schuessler. 

1997: The Sturrock Panel

In 1997, Physicist Peter A. Sturrock of Stanford University directed an independent scientific review of UFO cases conducted by an international panel of scientists. Three of “the usual suspects” participated, Hal Puthoff, John Schuessler, and Jacques Vallee. Sturrock published a paper on it in 1998: “Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 – October 4, 1997.” The Cash-Landrum case was presented in “Physiological Effects on Witnesses,” which was later presented as chapter 15 (pp. 100-104.) of Peter Sturrock’s 1999 book on the study, The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence.

Getting back to NIDS, they undoubtedly discussed the Cash-Landrum case, as Schuessler published his book on it in 1998. Additionally, their website hosted two papers mentioning the case, and the NIDS-associated 2005 Knapp-Kelleher Hunt for the Skinwalker book included a review of the C-L story. NIDS came to an end when Robert Bigelow announced that NIDS was being deactivated in Oct. 2004. As we shall see, history suggests instead that it was closed for remodeling. 

2007-2012 BAASS - AAWSAP - AATIP

In 2007, Robert Bigelow’s NIDS was reborn as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), evidently created to secure the contract for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), known better today by the nickname AATIP. In their 2021 book, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, the authors “acknowledge the extraordinary intelligence, vision, and decades of knowledge of UAP history that Christopher Green, Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallee, Eric Davis, and John Schuessler contributed by advising both BAASS and DIA on designing the multiple projects that constituted AAWSAP.” 

Puthoff, Vallee, and Schuessler in Jan. 2009, working on AAWSAP subcontracting.

The BAASS-AAWSP contract was camouflaged as conventional aerospace research using vague language also applicable to UFO studies, including: “propulsion… power generation…human effects… armament (RF [radio frequency]) and DEW [directed energy weapons]). BAASS was contracted to produce scientific papers in 12 technical subjects for use as Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs). 

Puthoff contracted Dr. Kit Green, who delivered, “Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human Biological Tissues” in 2009. When later disclosed, the paper became infamous for being the only DIRD to specifically reference UFOs. It mentioned the Cash-Landrum encounter on 7 occasions, and was treated as a benchmark case for UFO injury studies. John Schuessler’s 1996 booklet, UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, was a key reference for Green's paper. The 2009 “BAASS Ten Month Report” for AAWSAP reportedly cited the Cash-Landrum case in its discussion of key historical cases, and their plans to create a “medical physiological UAP effects program.”

AAWSAP was terminated in 2012 after the government funding to Bigelow was not renewed. Exactly how the DIRD relating to the C-L case was used has not been disclosed.

2018-Present: UAPTF – AARO and NASA?

The current U.S. investigation of UFOs began as the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Tack Force (UAPTF) in 2018 but has evolved into the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Participants are said to include “representatives with all relevant and appropriate security clearances from" across branches and agencies, including the CIA and NSA. To date, the program has only indicated an interest solely in contemporary military cases. However, NASA is also conducting an independent study of their own, which will include significant historical cases in their review of “data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources.” Though they are not tasked to investigate, their study will surely include the Cash-Landrum UFO case. 

. . .

For additional information, see my previous Blue Blurry Lines articles on these topics: 

The US Government’s Cash-Landrum UFO Investigations (2019)

AATIP's UFO Medical Study and the Cash-Landrum Case (2020)

For further information on the players and events, see the epic examination by Isaac Koi:

Remote Viewing & UFOs: Stargate, Galactic Federation + the Aviary (2015) 

A Special Acknowledgement

Thanks to the friend who pointed the NSA document to me, then helped identify its author. Best wishes to you in your related research.

Documenting Luis Elizondo's Leadership of the Pentagon's UFO Program

When To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science burst on the scene, the feather in it's cap was the revelation that the US government had a secret UFO investigation, and that the program's former director was now a key member in their company, TTSA.

The news was really made by the article in the  New York Times from Dec. 16, 2017, by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean. Luis Elizondo was presented as the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). It was revealed that Senator Harry Reid was the architect of AATIP's creation, and it referred to a letter by him that had been presented to journalists to establish the bona fides of AATIP and Elizondo.

By 2009, Mr. Reid decided that the program had made such extraordinary discoveries that he argued for heightened security to protect it. “Much progress has been made with the identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings,” Mr. Reid said in a letter to William Lynn III, a deputy defense secretary at the time, requesting that it be designated a “restricted special access program” limited to a few listed officials.

Senator Reid's letter proposed the establishment of AATIP as a Special Access Program (SAP) with black budget funding. It was dated June 24, 2009, and addressed to "Honorable William Lynn III, Deputy Secretary of Defense." The effort was unsuccessful, and AATIP remained a small, part-time project. As Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell, a UFO and paranormal documentary film journalist, described it, “AATIP was more of an assignment than a program."

George Knapp, KLAS-TV news reporter and TTSA proponent, published a copy of the Reid letter on July 25, 2018, in the article Exclusive: I-Team obtains some key documents related to Pentagon UFO study, however, Knapp redacted some of the players' names, supposedly to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Senator Reid's June 24, 2009 letter (link to PDF)

See this article by Keth Basterfield for an examination of the Reid AATIP letter:
The 2009 Senator Reid AATIP letter revisited

Controversy arose after Keith Kloor's scathing June 1, 2019, Intercept article, "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" The DoD denied Luis Elizondo's role in AATIP. Pentagon spokesperson Christopher Sherwood stated:

 “Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI [the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence], up until the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017.”

Elizondo's supporters insisted the Pentagon statement by Sherwood was deceitful or incorrect, and cited the Dec. 16, 2017, Politico story by Bryan Bender that stated:

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White confirmed to POLITICO that the program existed and was run by Elizondo. But she could not say how long he was in charge of it and declined to answer detailed questions about the office or its work, citing concerns about the closely held nature of the program.

Bender did not provide a direct quote from White, and she's no longer in that job, therefore in no position to provide clarification. For the record, there was another attempt to verify Elizondo's AATIP role at the time. Sarah Scoles of Wired repeatedly questioned Pentagon spokesperson Audricia Harris about  AATIP matters. From her Feb. 17, 2019 article, “What Is Up With Those Pentagon UFO Videos?”

"WIRED was unable to verify that Elizondo worked on AATIP, but Harris does confirm that he worked for the Defense Department."

Before the flap raised about Elizondo by the Intercept article was started, researcher Roger Glassel was pursuing verification on something different, a sensational AATIP-related story in a tabloid. The May 22, 2019, New York Post, contained partial quotes from a Pentagon spokesperson, and on June 4, Glassel obtained the complete original Pentagon statement it was based on. What Glassel received contained an identical statement about Elizondo from the Pentagon's Christopher Sherwood, showing the NY Post author had the information about the denial of Elizondo's role in AATIP back in May, but omitted any mention of it. At that point, the Pentagon had provided the same statement to at least three journalists, and it contradicted the AATIP leadership claims made by Luis Elizondo.

In response to the controversy, George Knapp put up a photo of a less redacted version of the final page of the Senator Reid letter on Twitter June 4, 2019, stating:

"Lue Elizondo and Hal Puthoff were two recipients of June 2009 AATIP letter from Sen. Reid."

In a follow-up message, he tweeted:

"I will send out a cleaner version in a little bit. This was my own crude handiwork. Redacting the names was a condition from the source of the letter. (Some are still active in govt. Others do not want to be subjected to what Lue. E, is enduring.)"

Later the same day, Knapp tweeted a third redacted version of the list.

"Cleaner version of AATIP letter from Sen. Harry Reid :"  

George Knapp didn't explain the differences in the appearances of the three versions he's shown, but it's clear that his original copy contains more information than he chooses to share. We can see enough in it to indicate that the number of government personnel involved in the working end of AATIP was no more than a handful, eight at the most.

The particular significance of Luis Elizondo's name in the letter is that he's among the people Senator Reid refers to in this passage.:

"Due to the expertise required to carry out the objectives of this program, we will require  a small, specialized group of DoD personnel, who are dedicated to performing the SAP-related functions and executing programmatic requirements within the program. It is essential that the Government & military personnel who are already involved with this program are assigned to further support this program in a Restricted SAP capacity (See Attachment 1). These individuals all currently possess the appropriate security clearances and are already providing unique support to AATIP."

Although the Reid letter is unsourced, it has been referenced by Pentagon spokesperson, so it  appears to be genuine, and seems to indeed establish Elizondo's association with AATIP. However, there's nothing in the letter to indicate his role. The letter is dated June 24, 2009; Elizondo states he was formally named director of AATIP when his predecessor resigned in 2010.

Reporter Bryan Bender of Politico has become involved in the story, and appears in the TTSA mini-series on History, Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation. On June 7, Bender made a statement about AATIP and Elizondo on Twitter:

"This was not an office but a 'program' and then a portfolio among a series of responsibilities he and others had -- first in DIA and then in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. And I have documentation he was in charge of the portfolio."

As of June 13, 2019, no further documentation has been produced by To The Stars or any of its associated promoters to verify provide clarification as to Luis Elizondo's role in AATIP.

If AATIP was comprised only of the handful of people listed in the Reid letter, and it was indeed an assignment or study,  - a side project - rather than a genuine Pentagon program, then, AATIP may not have had a formal director. Whatever the case, despite all the press about AATIP, the journalists driving the story have yet to answer the fundamental questions about it.

. . .

Update (6/14/2019)

Former Senator Harry Reid was interviewed on June 13, 2019 on KNPR’s State of Nevada radio program. The show was titled, Harry Reid: UFOs, The Military And Impeachment.
Part of the conversation covered the UFO topic and Reid’s involvement in the AATIP story. One particular question addressed the controversy surrounding the recent Pentagon statement about Luis Elizondo’s role in AATIP. Reid’s response was only a partial answer. He vouches for Elizondo's character and confirms the previously-established fact that he worked for the Defense Department, but does not specifically mention his role in AATIP.

Here's the transcription of the question and answer:

(At 15:28)
Interviewer: In this History Channel report, the guy who is interviewing people is Luis Elizondo, he was in charge of the Pentagon’s - it was called the AATIP program, that’s an acronym for something, I’m not sure, but it’s basically the program set up with at 22 million dollars, and online now there are people saying he never actually had this Pentagon job of looking into UFO sightings. So, can you verify that he is the guy - Can - Have you met him - Can you verify that he is who he says he is?

(At 15:56)
Reid: Oh, yes - Oh, I’ve talked to Luis on many - several times, met him here in Las Vegas recently. So here’s one thing that - what we have to understand with this: First of all, I believe in science, and that’s what we should be dealing with, but there are some people who wanted for many years to have kind of um, they’re kind of conspiratorial issues, kind of weirdness, and when they are challenged with real science, they don’t like it. So, that’s the problem we have with this. And then you have people who are just coming aboard, and they want to also report, ‘I saw a flying saucer,’ and all this stuff, and some of which is true, most of it, of course, isn’t.
So, I know Elizondo is a real guy. People are out there – a few people are trying to punch holes in what he is saying and what he does, but he was part of the Defense Department, no question about it, and a man of, I think, veracity.

. . .

Update #2 (6/14/2019)

John Greenewald posted a new article at his site The Black Vault:
Pentagon Reinforces Mr. Luis Elizondo Had “No Responsibilities” on AATIP; Senator Harry Reid’s 2009 Memo Changes Nothing

Greenewald contacted Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough to ask her about Luis Elizondo's name being listed in connection with AATIP in the Harry Reid letter. Greenwald reports that Gough replied on June 23, saying:

“I can confirm that the memo you’re referring to is authentic. DOD received it and responded to Sen. Reid,” Ms. Gough said. She then explains that her office is unable to provide The Black Vault a full copy of the response, since the Public Affairs office does not release Congressional correspondence, but she adds, “It makes no change to previous statements. Mr. Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities for AATIP while he was in OUSD(I). DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency] administered AATIP, and Elizondo was never assigned to DIA. Elizondo did interact with the DIA office managing the program while the program was still ongoing, but he did not lead it.”

Greenewald also received a comment from Hal Puthoff, former AAWSAP/AATIP contractor, ow a partner in TTSA along with Elizondo, an endorsement of his leadership of the program, which we'll shorten here as:

"I have no problem asserting... Elizondo’s leadership and responsibility for maintaining continuity of the Program..." 

For the full context and other related information, be sure to read the complete article.

With this new statement from yet another Pentagon spokesperson, the denial of Elizondo's role in AATIP can no longer be regarded as merely some kind of an error by Christopher Sherwood. More information is clearly needed, and documentation to back it up.

The AATIP, Targeting Pod Videos and the DOPSR Process

This guest article is written by Roger Glassel, a researcher and writer for the Swedish quarterly magazine UFO-Aktuellt. Roger was a member of the Roswell Slides Research Group (RSRG, who exposed the claim that two Kodachrome photographs showed a space alien from the alleged Roswell crash - proven instead to be of a child's remains on exhibition at Mesa Verde Museum). He was also a member of the Puerto Rico Research Group, focused on the Aguadilla infrared video case. Roger is from Sweden and works as an IT architect specializing in system integrations and communications.

It has now been some months since The New York Times (NYT) revealed that the US Department of Defense (DOD) had run a program called the Advanced Aerospace (sometimes; Aviation) Threat Identification Program (AATIP) - reportedly studying the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, also known as the "UFO phenomenon." Roger Glassel has started looking into the matter of the release of the targeting pod videos.

By Roger Glassel

Project Blue Book, the United States Air Force's study of Unidentified Flying Objects, was closed in 1969, and that was - the public was told - the end of the government’s interest in UFOs. As Dr. Edward U. Condon concluded at the time, further study of UFOs would have no scientific interest, and the phenomenon itself was no threat to national security. So imagine everyone's surprise when the NYT revealed such a government study was being conducted once again - a study that not only included scientific interest in the matter, but held it as national security concern. For some in the UFO community - who over the years have disagreed on these two points made by Dr. Condon - this was like winning the lottery. Almost too good to be true.

Though the Pentagon has not characterized the nature of the AATIP as a UFO study, they have confirmed the existence of the program - a program they refer to as the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. The videos released - that are said to be connected with the program - also conform with the AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR targeting system used in the US military’s F/A-18 dual purpose fighter craft. So the videos do appear to be genuine. 

What is also interesting with this story is that a former DOD employee named Luis Elizondo, who resigned his position and joined the staff of Tom DeLonge's company To The Stars Academy of Art and Science (TTSA), has openly stated that he was the head for the AATIP. The program was reportedly contracted to the company Bigelow Aerospace, the Las Vegas company created by Robert Bigelow - a billionaire with a long-time interest in UFOs and the paranormal. Others, such as Dr. Eric Davis and Dr. Hal Puthoff, have also stated that they have worked for the program.

Although Mr. Elizondo is a new player in the game, both Dr. Davis and Dr. Puthoff are well known and have done theoretical studies for the US Government in the past - discussing subjects such as advanced propulsion (laser propulsion), wormholes, and teleportation. Also, the AATIP has been connected with the infamous Skinwalker Ranch (formerly owned by Bigelow) and studies of exotic materials, but these various associated curiosities are beyond the scope of this article.  The focus here is the military targeting pod videos now made public. More specifically, examining questions about the release of the videos.

The New York Times story and all the subsequent media attention for the AATIP has been driven by the videos, which so far are the only evidence provided that the program was studying UFOs. Videos from a ATFLIR system would of course have originated from the US military, but that does not equate with them being connected to a DOD program allegedly investigating the UFO phenomenon. Also, one of the targeting pod videos referred to as FLIR1, or Tic Tac, that TTSA is connecting with the AATIP, was leaked by a Navy technician and have been available on the Internet since 2007. There could be a possibility that the other videos have been available on the Internet as well (military forums, veteran groups, interest groups, promotional videos, etcetera) and that TTSA is depicting them for something they are not. Remember that TTSA is not AATIP. Therefore, as evidence, the authenticity of the videos - both the provenance and the events they depict - need to be carefully verified. Looking into how the videos were released would be a first natural step in such verification.

Conflicting claims

A while after the first NYT story came out, another article drew my attention. It was an article written on February 17, 2018 by science writer Sarah Scoles for the online magazine Wired. In that article it is stated by Major Audricia Harris, who is a spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OSD PA), that the targeting pod videos were not approved for released by the Pentagon. She stood firm that the DOD did not release those videos.

A bit after that, on February 25, 2018, Luis Elizondo himself explained in the second hour of a radio interview on Coast to Coast AM that the targeting pod videos were prepared for release by the DOD in accordance to DoDD 5230.09 and DoDI 5230.29 by sending in the videos along with DD Form 1910 to Defense Office for Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR), and that the videos were cleared for unrestricted release to the public. Mr. Elizondo also mentioned there were emails sent back and forth, so he seemed to have been involved in the process.

So now we have a firm standpoint from the Pentagon that the videos were not released by them, and detailed information from Mr. Elizondo on how the videos were released. I thought the best way to sort this out would be to contact Maj. Harris.

After reaching out by email to Maj. Harris she explained in a response to me that the DOPSR process will only render in a recommendation for releasability, and that this recommendation does not equate to approved for public release. She also told me that OSD PA is the sole release authority for DOD information, however, they have no record of a request for clearance of these videos.

Maj. Harris’ firm standpoint became even firmer. But had these videos gone through the DOPSR process as claimed? What better way to find out than to contact the Defense Office for Prepublication and Security Review - so I did.

Questions leads to a request

I directly contacted the DOPSR by the only email address I could find - their public inbox for sending in unclassified information for review. This was, as I was quickly told, not the right way to contact them. This did however take an unexpected and fortunate turn, as I was given a personal Point of Contact (POC) at the Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Staff Freedom of Information Act Office (OSD JS FOIA) by the Security and Review Specialist who answered my email. With this lead, I sent my questions on.

My POC was able to provide clarifying details and valuable advice. First, he explained to me that while Maj. Harris was correct about that the DOPSR process will only render in a recommendation for releasability, she was not correct in stating that the OSD PA is the sole release authority for DOD information. The 34 FOIA offices releases large amount of information that does not get reviewed by the PA office. 

He continued to explain that almost every information request related to Mr. Elizondo has been transferred to the DIA FOIA office for their processing and direct response to the requester. But for requests regarding the DOPSR review process, that I was asking for, he said would fall under their (OSD JS FOIA office) purview. As my letter to him was worded as questions, he asked me to resubmit it, structured as a proper request for information under the Freedom of Information Act - which I did.

Besides the background story pointing out which videos I was referring to, my request was worded as following.

"Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am seeking all documents related to DOPSR's review of these videos, to include who submitted the request and the results of such review."

Review and Release

In going through this search, I found out about the different channels that information goes through when subjected for release. As I have learned, there is a review process and a release process. 

The release process is divided between different release authorities. To find out from which authority information was released, you must file an FOIA request to every authority. In this instance, I am not actually interested in which authority that released them, or who initiated them for release, as I am just seeking verification that the videos came from DOD.

The review process, on the other hand, is handled by a single office, the DOPSR, and it is mandatory that information is reviewed and cleared by this office before going through the release process. So for me to understand if the videos came from DOD, I only had to file a single request to the FOIA office that the DOPSR falls under to find out who submitted them and what the result was. Or if they even went through this process.

After about a week I received the interim response with the name of the action officer assigned to my case and my case number: 18-F-0724. My request was registered March 26, 2018. Finally, the search for the provenance of the UFO videos was properly submitted and officially underway.

Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications

Going back a bit to March 21, 2018, I woke up and saw a message from my friend and fellow researcher Curt Collins, urging me to take a screenshot of a Twitter posting by Tom DeLonge. As Mr. DeLonge is a well known serial deleter of tweets, I took the screenshot and did not think much about it. After my request was registered, I thought I should have a look what the tweet was all about. In the tweet, DeLonge stated that TTSA was negotiating a deal with EarthTech to get the rights to Dr. Puthoff's laser beam energy propulsion (which I though was invented by Leik Myrabo in the 1980s, but never mind). DeLonge also seemed to insinuate that Puthoff's work on this matter was done as part of the AATIP. This drew my attention to the EarthTech website.

What was most interesting on the EarthTech website was not the things about Dr. Puthoff, but about Dr. Eric Davis, also connected with the AATIP. The site listed various publications written by him. Under "U.S. Government Program Contract Reports" he has listed six theoretical studies that he conducted for the Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Warning Office (DIA DWO) between the year 2010 and 2011, within the same time frame the AATIP was contracting studies.

Conducting a web search, combining "DWO" and the titles of the reports, I found that two of them - "Traversable Wormholes, Stargates and Negative Energy" and "Warp Drive, Dark Energy and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions" - were available for download on the Internet.

In these two reports it is stated that, "the report is a product of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the DIA DWO Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program (AAWSA)". The content of the two reports also correlates with the content of the study topics that Dr. Davis has openly stated he wrote for the AATIP. Basically, the same content that Dr. Davis wrote for the Air Force Research Laboratory (back in 2004) that is now available for download through the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

By searching on the AAWSA name I also found a LinkedIn profile of a person in the Nevada area that had worked for Bigelow Aerospace between 2009 and 2010. More specifically, he was employed "in a interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers studying advanced aerospace weapon system applications including lift, propulsion, control, power generation, signature reductions, materials and armament".

AAWSA, if not the same, would seem to be closely related to AATIP, so close I thought it would be worth adding it to my FOIA request about the videos. It was important to have this information added because if, and I say if, the AAWSA program turns out to be the true name of the AATIP, without it, my request might be returned with a "no records found".

I forwarded the information to my POC at the OSD JS FOIA office to be added to my request. At first, he thought I was seeking information about the DIA program itself and directed me to their FOIA office. After explaining that I only wanted to use that name as a search phrase to be added to my request, the answer from him was that the videos themselves are very specific, and the DOPSR office does not review many videos, so it will be very easy for them to identify them, with or without the added information. However, he said he would pass on the information to the action officer for her action to pass onto DOPSR.

Now starts the waiting game, and it could be a long wait. In the interim response from my action officer, it was explained that due to unusual circumstances and an extensive backlog of 2600 open cases, my request was placed in a complex processing queue. I heard that others have got the same same kind of reply when filing their requests. The majority of the other requests are however general inquiries rather than targeted inquiries, so I have some hope about this one. Realistically, I am not expecting a response any time soon. But when I receive it, I will let you all know the outcome.

Share 'em if you got 'em

It should be noted that none of the research I have done would have been necessary if both TTSA and NYT would share the release documents they say they have. 

I have reached out to Leslie Kean - who was the co-author for the original NYT article about the AATIP - asking her to make the release documents public. Her answer to me was that the NYT has the documents that say that the videos was cleared for public release, but that background documents provided to the NYT by their sources are confidential until their sources say otherwise. Of course journalists have the right to protect their sources, but I told her that I did not fully understand how documents from an official release authority or review office could be considered as a source that need to be protected. Her answer was however the same.

I have also tried to reach out to TTSA asking them for the release documents. I first contacted Mr. Elizondo directly by email using an address that he left on a discussion forum, but with no success. I then contacted Dr. Garry Nolan - who I find to be both honest and sincere. He answered the he rarely interacts with TTSA and is not a representative for the company, but simply acts as an advisor. Dr. Nolan said that he have been instructed not to give out email addresses, and to direct anyone with questions to use the contact form on the TTSA website. However, he did say that he forwarded my email to relevant persons, giving them the opportunity to contact me with their reply. I did not hear from them, so I contacted TTSA through their contact form and got the response that I must contact the New York and Beverly Hills based PR company B|W|R with my questions. I sent my questions - directed to Mr. Elizondo - to the two persons provided to me, but up to this day I have not received a response of any kind from neither them nor Mr. Elizondo. 

A short encore

To those of you who have followed the story up to this point - listening to me go on about these utterly boring bureaucratic procedures and wonder why it is important, I will say; Processes are to be followed. You can work pragmatically within a process, but you can not work outside of the process. These DOD processes are made for the protection of information. So if they did review these videos before their release, there are records of it. If there are no records, the DOD did not release them. If the videos was not released as claimed, that would raise serious questions about the story being told about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

Could Maj. Audricia Harris be right after all? Time will tell...

Link section

Warp Drive, Dark Energy and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions, Dr. Eric Davis, DIA DWO, 2010

https://spherebeingalliance.com/files/get/1601/warp-drive-dark-energy-the-manipulation-of-extra-dimensions

Traversable Wormholes, Stargates and Negative Energy, Dr. Eric Davis, DIA DWO, 2010

https://spherebeingalliance.com/files/get/1600/traversable-wormholes-stargates-negative-energy

What's up with those Pentagon UFO videos? Sarah Scoles, Wired, 2018

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-up-with-those-pentagon-ufo-videos/amp