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.

The Pentagon UFO Program: Documents Released

Update: The AAWSAP - AATIP documents on the DIA website under the heading "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” were temporarily removed. After two weeks the folder was (mostly) restored under the new name, "Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program."

John Greenewald shared this statement on Twitter from Pentagon Spokesperson Susan Gough:

"DIA mistakenly selected UAP as the tab label for those documents.  We’re working with them to change it to a more accurate name. As we have said before, while the AAWSAP contract allowed for research drawn from a wide variety of sources, including reports of UAP, the examination of UAP observations was not the purpose of AATIP nor the AAWSAP contract."

As a result, the links below to the DIA site for the documents no longer lead to the intended results. They will be updated once the documents are re-posted by the DIA. For now, use the link to the collection hosted by The Black Vault at the end of the main article.

Documents recently released from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) provide more insight into the inner workings of the alleged Pentagon UFO program. The DIA’s FOIA Electronic Reading Room has been updated with a section for “"Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program." About 50 documents relating to AAWSAP/AATIP recently released under the Freedom of Information Act are now hosted there.

The disclosure finally makes it clear that the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program (AAWSAP) and the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) were the same entity. AATIP was the “Unclassified Nickname” used by Senator Harry Reid when asking for Special Access Program status and funding for the project.

More than 30 of the documents are the subject studies, Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs), subcontracted contracted by Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies (BAASS) to fulfill the requirements of the primary objective of their contract with the DIA. The other documents include the contract proposal, PowerPoint presentations on AAWSAP progress reports, and correspondence requesting and rejecting SAP status for AAWSAP/AATIP. As of this writing, there is no documentation that AATIP existed beyond the termination of the contract with Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies (BAASS) in 2012.


Was AAWSAP/AATIP a U.S. government UFO Program?

The 2021 book, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon was written by two participants of AAWSAP, James T. Lacatski and Colm A. Kelleher, along with journalist George Knapp. The authors state that AAWSAP was definitely a UFO program, but it also studied associated phenomena, such as the strange paranormal events reported at Skinwalker Ranch. In an appendix at the end of the book, it lists over a hundred reports BAASS produced under the contract, all supposedly delivered to the DIA. James Lacatski’s interest in the topic caused him to contact Robert Bigelow and work with Sen. Harry Reid to develop the program with the government.

The AAWSAP contractor bid form 

The BAASS contract with the DIA contains no reference to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UFOs or any such terminology. If it was a UFO project, it was camouflaged. As a result, there has been speculation that AAWSAP was just what the language stated, a study into future developments in aerospace technology that could pose a threat to the US. It’s clear that Bigelow was conducting UFO research with funding under the contract, and that Lacatski approved it. The question is: Was the UFO research secret outside the program? Apparently, yes.

The newly released documents show that the DIA was aware of only the DIRDs and made their decisions about the program based on those studies. From the DIA visit with Senator Harry Reid, Nov. 19, 2009:

“To our knowledge, the senator did not receive copies of these draft reports [DIRDS], although he was aware of the general topic list. Thus, we can not find a direct link between the content of the reports and his letter.” [Later] “Senator Reid cites the ‘identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings' that will 'require extraordinary protection.’ Although most of the unclassified reports discuss unconventional aerospace technologies, DIA is unaware as to which ones the senator believes are sensitive.”

As a result, their conclusion was:

“Based on the content of the delivered FY09 and expect FY10 technical reports, DIA can not find sufficient grounds under DoD regulations to establish a restricted SAP.” 

They did state however, that if the project moved instead into technological “research, development and acquisition (RDA) effort that lies outside the DoD Intelligence Community's purview.”


Where Did the Money Go?

To the DIA, the DIRDs were all that AAWSAP produced, but there was something justifying further expenses for FY10 (fiscal year 2010). In the PowerPoint presentation from mid to late 2009, “Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Contract – Update,” slide 7 is “Option Year 1 (FY10) Deliverables.” At the bottom, it contains a box stating:

“FY10 $12M also covers BAASS overhead, staff, facilities, IT, security, databases, etc.”

In a previous article, The Pentagon UFO Money Trail, we tried to trace how the $22M was used by BAASS. That’ll give a more comprehensive look at what was treated as miscellaneous associated expenses.

There’s No Such thing as Bad Publicity

Media focus has centered on the 38-page DIRD authored by Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green, “Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects On Human Biological Tissues.” It’s the only of the documents that explicitly refers to UFO research. “Appendix A: Schuessler Catalog of UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects (Frequency Distribution)” relies on data from a UFO book:

“The Schuessler catalog, UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, was complied in 1996 by MUFON's past Director, John F. Schuessler. Covering the time period 1873 - 1994, the catalog comprises a summary of 356 selected cases of UFO-induced physiological effects on humans during close encounters.”

The appendix included a frequency listing of over 50 physiological effects allegedly experienced in UFO encounters and abductions, ranging from skin discomfort to electromagnetic effects on vehicles. The tabloid media focused on the sensational and quoted the passage mentioning the case of an “unaccounted-for pregnancy.” 

As Dr. Adam Kehoe noted in a series on Twitter, Schuessler’s book UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, 

“… is a catalog that is derived from reports in ‘newspapers, magazines, UFO organization journals,’ etc… The quality of sources is often poor, including publications like National Enquirer… Flying Saucer Review… The problem is structural. This is not data: it is a collection of stories.”

Kehoe concluded by discussing Green’s paper and the other DIRDs:

“Returning to the DIA paper, the use of the MUFON material is not a throwaway reference… Because these documents were produced as the result of a DIA contract, they have an aura of mystery and authority. However, chasing the references shows weak underpinnings.”

Of the 1500 or so documents released, Dr. Green’s paper represents just about 2.5% of them. Yet the sensational UFO material within has gotten all the press. John Schuessler was a key member of Robert Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), and in his leadership role in MUFON, the facilitator for their contract with BAASS to provide UFO data and investigations. It’s poetic justice that Schuessler’s work is responsible for the AATIP story getting tabloid press. It's the kind of sketchy data that Bigelow’s project was founded on, so in that sense, maybe the most accurate portrayal yet.

The documents are available for now for us to read and judge for ourselves.

You can find the AAWSAP/AATIP documents at:

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s FOIA Electronic Reading Room, section: “"Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.”

The DIA’s publication of the AAWSAP/AATIP documents is a bit jumbled. John Greenewald at The Black Vault has published a page that is more user-friendly organized f, arranging the documents in chronological order and displaying both the DIA file name and title or description. The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) Documentation.


For a deeper examination into the AAWSAP and AATIP saga, see the earlier articles at Blue Blurry Lines, many of which were co-authored by Roger Glassel:

Part one uncovered a trove of information about the origins of AATIP, about the contract between the Pentagon and Robert Bigelow (BAASS), and secret subcontracts with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to produce technical papers and furnish them with case files and access to investigation sites. Documents were reproduced from the MUFON Advanced Technology Establishment (MATE) and the contracts between the group and Bigelow.

The Pentagon UFO Program’s Secret Partner March 17, 2020

In the second part of the article, participants of the secret MUFON contracts spoke about their involvement and the fact that most of them were unaware that Bigelow’s sponsor was secretly the US government.

Breaking the Silence: AATIP's Secret Partner Speaks March 23, 2020

Continuing the examination, we probed the $22 million government funding for Robert Bigelow’s company under the AAWSAP contract. We attempted to trace where the money was spent.

The Pentagon UFO Money Trail April 23, 2020

A related article examined Dr. Kit Green's DIRD from the perspective of the Cash-Landrum UFO case. 

AATIP's UFO Medical Study and the Cash-Landrum Case February 14, 2020

Understanding the US Government's UFO Programs

 

UFOs have been in the news lately. On December 28, 2020, legislation was signed that included the requirement for US defense agencies to submit a report to “the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena." Government involvement is often what it takes for the UFO topic to be considered newsworthy. With the UAP report due in June, major media outlets have been trying to catch up on the topic and recent history. However, with the unfamiliarity with the topic, and the constraints of time and space, a lot is left out of the story.

The scientific study of UFOs is a worthwhile pursuit, but it’s unclear if that’s what the government is interested in. According to Senator Harry Reid and Luis Elizondo, AATIP began under national security concerns about unidentified aerial phenomena, but the Pentagon contract indicates it was a weapons program. Examining the work of the subcontractor suggests it was a way for Robert Bigelow to get funding to continue his research into paranormal and UFO topics. Roger Glassel has been pursuing the truth behind the news, and with his help we’ve tried to get to the bottom of things. Below is a recap with links to previous articles from Blue Blurry Lines on the Pentagon’s AAWSAP, AATIP, and the new UAP Task Force.

The Pentagon UAP Article Collection

The New York Times from Dec. 16, 2017 story and subsequent press identified the Pentagon’s UFO study as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), but documents surfaced showing the original name Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Roger Glassel asked the Pentagon’s spokesperson and was told, “Same program. Just an alternative name for AATIP.”

Pentagon Confirmation: AATIP = Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program May 3, 2018

Since there was no clear history of what AATIP did or the size of the operation, it caused much speculation and controversy, particularly after the Pentagon spokesperson issued the statement, “Mr. Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities for AATIP…”

Documenting Luis Elizondo's Leadership of the Pentagon's UFO Program 
June 13, 2019

Roger Glassel uncovered a trove of information about the origins of AATIP, about the contract between the Pentagon and Robert Bigelow (BAASS), and secret subcontracts with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to produce technical papers and furnish them with case files and access to investigation sites. Documents were reproduced from the MUFON Advanced Technology Establishment (MATE) and the contracts between the group and Bigelow.

The Pentagon UFO Program’s Secret Partner March 17, 2020

In the second part of the article, participants of the secret MUFON contracts spoke about their involvement and the fact that most of them were unaware that Bigelow’s sponsor was secretly the US government.

Breaking the Silence: AATIP's Secret Partner Speaks March 23, 2020

Continuing the examination, we probed the $22 million government funding for Robert Bigelow’s company under the AAWSAP contract. We attempted to trace where the money was spent.

The Pentagon UFO Money Trail April 23, 2020

In Roger Glassel’s correspondence with the Pentagon it was disclosed that while AATIP was defunct, there was a new UFO investigation, “an interagency team charged with gathering data and conducting investigations into range incursions… the Navy is leading much of the effort.”

Pentagon Answers on Navy UAP Investigations May 18, 2020

Further correspondence revealed the name of the interagency UFO team was the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or UAPTF.

UAP Task Force: The Pentagon Responds to Questions September 2, 2020

The Pentagon issued a long-awaited statement on AATIP, its origin, goals and function on May, 21, 2021. It consolidate previous statements into a single document and made several updates, admitting that reports of UAPs were included, "However, the examination of UAP observations was not the purpose of AATIP."

The Pentagon's Updated Statement: AATIP Studied UAPs  May 22, 2021

To understand the goals of the UAPTF, it's important to know the above history. The US government's goals may be very different from what its citizens want when it comes to UFO investigations and the sharing on information on the topic. The reporting of the story so far has not been transparent from either government officials or the media. We need more than agenda-driven press releases dressed up as news.

The Pentagon-funded Paranormal Research at Skinwalker Ranch

The UFO program by the US Defense Intelligence Agency contracted Robert Bigelow in 2008 to gather information for the stated purpose of developing advancements in aerospace and weapons technology. The name on the original documents was the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), but it later became known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). 

Due in part to the non-disclosures required of participants, few people involved have been willing to talk, especially on the record, and details and documentation about the true nature of the program have been slow to emerge. In working with Roger Glassel on the AATIP story, we reached out to former participants and heard from some of the MUFON players. This article presents the story of one Robert Bigelow’s employees, one the men hired to protect what was hidden at Skinwalker Ranch. His memories provide new details about the BAASS investigations under the AAWSAP contract, with insight into the people doing the work, and just what kind of  research was funded.

Chris J. Marx became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1992 after moving here from his birthplace of Germany. Before his military service, he worked in Law Enforcement in New Mexico from 1995 to 2004, as a Sheriff’s Sergeant and an Investigator. In 2006 he joined the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, deploying for two tours of combat in Iraq between 2007 and 2009, and in his second tour, held a top-secret clearance and worked in military intelligence. After returning to civilian life, in April 2010 Marx was selected to work for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), providing security and assisting research at Robert Bigelow’s Skinwalker Ranch property in Utah. 

In the two weeks between his hiring and first deployment, Marx was instructed to read at the library at Bigleow’s offices at 4975 Polaris Avenue, Las Vegas. There, he studied material that included Hunt for the Skinwalker by Colm Kelleher and George Knapp, and a dossier on the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. If that wasn’t strange enough, for his first task,” they handed me a stack of orders... from 1942... about a German excursion, a U-Boat excursion to find the sunken city of Agartha. I spent at least 10 days on translating that.” He’d been given the task, because, “that’s my native language.”

Bigelow HQ at Polaris Ave. in Las Vegas

He said that all guards hired had to have security clearances, and many were former Air Force, law enforcement, or other military. On his first deployment to Skinwalker Ranch, he received a tour of the property, and instructed that in addition to patrols, guards were required to routinely perform experiments “to document anomalies” as directed by BAASS scientists. There were about ten guards total, and they worked there for two weeks at a time, then relieved by the next team, typically with a partial one-day overlap. They’d return to Las Vegas for other duties, debriefings, and time off until their next rotation.

Ranch photo by Chris Marx

With all the property he owned and leased, Bigelow's ranch consisted of about 1000 acres. Marx explained that the land itself was beautiful, but the structures on the property were in poor condition, and the newest one, the double-wide trailer that served as their base was sitting on blocks and had a dilapidated deck behind it. There were three dogs there, but not trained canine guards, just pets, really. “Bio sensors,” was the BAASS designation for the dogs, the same as the cattle on the property. 

Part of the attraction of working for a technological company like Bigelow’s must be the access to cool toys, but if that was what Marx had expected, he was in for a letdown. The trailer had some equipment, but it was old and in poor working condition, and he described a collection of low-quality digital cameras, an antiquated night vision unit that was shoddy and grainy, and a thermal imaging system also in poor working condition. There was also an old laptop with Ethernet but no WiFi, a telephone and an old paper-fed FAX machine. Marx said personnel filed reports by Fax, one sent to BAASS, with a copy also sent to the “government sponsor,” but at the time, he had no idea what agency it represented.  

Undated photos of the trailer interior by Chris Marx.

As for the chain of command, Marx described the people he interacted with; Robert Eickenhorst was first-line supervisor or manager, above him, Loran Huffman and Doug Kurth as Ranch co-administrators, then Dr. Colm Kelleher, and at the head, owner Robert Bigelow. 

The guards were left on their own, and for military men, it was strange to have no SOP (standard operating procedure), with almost no guidelines provided and no oversight. They were required to make a daily report, but some guards spent most of their time watching television and wrote a token three-line report without receiving negative consequences.

Chris Marx on duty at the Bigelow ranch

With his background in investigations, Marx was compelled to do more than was asked of him. Since the tools provided were so poor, Marx asked Kelleher if he could bring his own equipment and was given permission to do so. Marx said that since he started bringing his own equipment, he had “hundreds upon hundreds” of photos, and has records of almost everything from the experiments and investigations he conducted at the Ranch, with the exception of the DNA samples he’d sent off to back to BAASS.

In September 2010,  Marx was paired with a new hire, Chris Bartel. Marx said they were instructed to report on “phenomena” at the Ranch. He had a number of unusual experiences while there, noting that several key locations each had their own particular characteristics. In particular, he cited the trailer, Homestead 2, Homestead 3, the Mesa, and the river, each seeming to produce different effects, such as emotional changes, physical sensations, and electromagnetic interference. Marx described a debriefing where he was questioned by Bigelow, who was interested in the emotional changes and asked detailed follow-up questions about specific physical effects. He noted that Bigelow and the others accepted the accounts uncritically, as if it was what they expected to hear, and he got the feeling that they were comparing it with previous similar reports. Marx said that the ten guards in rotation all had similar experiences, which they would discuss in their overlap between the shift changes. 

Marx stated the guards furnished their own weapons, “Everything that you used was supplied by you, from your weaponry to whatever else.” Some guards carried AR-15 or M4s, but Marx preferred a tactical shotgun at night, since the most likely threat was unfriendly mountain lions rather than trespassers.

In discussing the funding, he said at the BAASS headquarters in Las Vegas on Polaris, he saw 10 Canon cameras. He asked if he could use those for the ranch and was told no. there was a deck in disrepair behind the trailer and he was not allowed to repair or replace it when the ranch vehicle needed new tires they were purchased on the cheap.

In discussing the finances, he said there was no money, that it was a cheap operation and he noted that they were the facilities and equipment were in disrepair, and when he asked for permission to upgrade them it was denied. There was no indication of any money put into the ranch. When the septic system broke, it took weeks to get it fixed by the lowest bidder. The trailers were plagued by rats and mice, and standard mouse traps were used, which he noted was the cheapest solution, and the guards themselves were expected to solve the problem rather than engage a professional  exterminator.

BAASS Leadership: Douglas Kurth and Loran Huffman

Douglas S. Kurth had an interesting role in the Bigelow organization, but little is known about it . As Lt. Col. “Cheeks” Kurth, he was a key witness in the 2004 Nimitz UFO encounter, and in Dec. 2007 was the first known hire for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC, which was registered as a Nevada business the next month. At Kurth’s LinkedIn profile, he lists his role as “Program Manager”and left BAASS in June 2013. He’s documented as part of the BAASS team, along with Colm Kelleher, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. 

Clips from STAR Team Impact Project (SIP) update to the MUFON Board of Directors, 2009

When Chris Marx was asked about the roles and job titles of Douglas Kurth and Loran Huffman, he said, “I dealt with Kurth sporadically. Kurth was not really a people person kind of guy. I had brief conversations with him. I knew he was a fighter pilot at some point, I did not know he was part of that Nimitz issue, and quite frankly, I’d never heard of the Nimitz [UFO encounter] at that point, I had no idea. I mostly dealt with Loran, Kurth seemed more in the background of it all, and I never dealt with him a whole bunch, just here and there... All I knew was he was Ranch administrator along with Loran Huffman, but what his specific role was, I have no idea. And even with Loran’s specific role, he dealt with personnel, he was more like the HR kind of guy, but what his specific scope was I don't know.” 

The LinkedIn profile for Loran Huffman states the he was:

“Director of Investigations and Security (FSO) [Facility Security Officer], Bigelow Aerospace

Jan 2009 - June 2012”

(Kurth left BAASS in 2013, Huffman in 2012.)

BAASS Experiments on the Ranch during AAWSAP

Marx said that while he was there, he never saw or heard about government officials visiting the ranch, and that visits from BAASS scientists were rare. The experiments Marx described below all took place between early 2010 and 2012.

Bean sprouts - Marx mentioned this one in passing, but described it in greater detail in an interview with the Black Vault. Two female BAASS scientists “set up the bean sprout [experiment] for a couple of hours and then immediately left. They planted bean sprouts in several locations, and a control group was grown back at BAASS headquarters on Polaris for comparison. Marx thought the experiment lacked a scientific basis due to the great differences in climate, humidity, elevation etc., but later realized it must have been a test to measure radiation exposure at the Ranch.

Electromagnetic anomalies - Marx said, “The only [other] scientist that ever came up during that time was Jason Viggato, who from what I understood was a physicist. We set up a daisy chain of laptops around Homestead 2 to measure, what was explained to me, electromagnetic pulse. We hooked them up, turned them on - I was there with him, and they would flatline. There was some sort of a measuring capacity that they had, to measure the electromagnetic pulse - phenomena, I guess, so it was explained.

We did this for 4 days because they would all fire up fine and then would baseline where nothing was measured for anywhere from fifteen seconds to a minute - minute and half after they were turned on. All of a sudden there would be some sort of a spike, and all - it was the seven or eight laptops, all would shut down at this exact moment and they all batteries were completely depleted. These were freshly charged, coming off the wall chargers. We did this for about 4 days, did it in a radius of about maybe a hundred feet, 75 to 100 feet around Homestead 2 with the same results every single time. They would fire up, and it was like somebody clicked that magic switch and all of them were dead.”

Psychic contact - Another experiment Marx mentioned was not set up by scientists, but by BAASS management. Quoting from Chris Marx on Skinwalker Ranch & Human Experimentation, The Black Vault Radio. Ep-46: 

“When I talk occult, what opened the door to that was we - actually, this was an experiment that was designed by Doug and Loran, Loran Huffman, Douglas Kurth, who were overseeing the Ranch prop, well, some of the experiments, and came up with different methodologies. Loran and I walked the Ranch together, identifying what we believed to be hotspots... and we came up with 13…” Marx said they had 13 tamper-proof evidence bags each with written questions that had been prepared, the contents known only by one person controlling the experiment. “We placed those evidence bags at those locations, and... when the new guards came in, Loran and Doug were up there, and we set up video cameras and audio equipment, and all that. They had designed a Ouija board that would basically show the thirteen different bags, and then through Ouija, ask what the answer to question number one is, or number two, or number three. So we were trying to communicate with it through Ouija. ...this is not anything that was just done on the fly, this was very well thought out, that was very much designed, and there were seven of us total that were in the room in, the kitchen, in the trailer, and four of us sitting [at] the table...”

Those management-directed experiments came to an end around 2011, matching the timeframe when Bigelow lost his government funding. Several things changed around that time, and he says the Faxed reports to the government also ceased. The skeleton crew at the property was cut in half, from two men, to one per deployment to guard the billionaire's entire Skinwalker Ranch acreage.

The Bigelow Pama Lane Complex

When researching The Pentagon UFO Money Trail, we found a stray puzzle piece. Former BAASS guards working at Bigelow’s Skinwalker Ranch say that while back in Las Vegas from their two-week deployments, they were sometimes assigned to provide security for another Bigelow property, a building complex on Pama Lane. Chris Marx described it as four different buildings that included offices and laboratories, completely built and finished, but for some reason, never occupied. According to real estate listings, the facilities were built in 2007, currently offered for sale at a price of about $7.5M.

Bigelow's Pama Lane Campus in Las Vegas

The AATIP New York Times story from 2017 stated that Bigelow’s “company modified buildings in Las Vegas for the storage of metal alloys and other materials.” The timeline suggests that Bigelow intended for the Pama Lane complex to house BAASS for its work on the DIA, and one of the conditions from AAWSAP stipulates: “Contractor shall provide a work facility (including unclassified information systems) with a Top Secret Facility Clearance granted by the Defense Security Service (DSS).” Marx didn’t know if any of the Pentagon’s $22M went towards funding the project, but notes it was put up for sale after the AAWSAP funding was withdrawn and BAASS folded. 

The Puzzle: Medical Tests on Skinwalker Ranch Personnel

The dogs at Skinwalker ranch were designated “bio-sensors” by BAASS, and it may be the guards served a similar function. Marx talked about tests done on BAASS employees working the Ranch, saying, “I know there was a fridge up there that held bodily fluids, like urine and so forth, people had to pee in bottles.” When asked how the samples were collected and analyzed, he said, “They were taken back to Las Vegas at shift turnover, and I don’t know who they ended up with, but they were taken back by the guards themselves.” 

Marx said that in July 2011, BAASS ordered them to undergo medical examinations. “Bartel and I, my partner, were pulled aside by Loran [Huffman] ...and he said, you guys are scheduled to go to Reno.” They were to fly there for MRI tests, “and we asked of course, why? We were told that they wanted to check if us being in contact with these anomalies, if that somehow... changed our brain.”

BAASS MRI consent form

While at the Reno clinic, “...we both underwent the MRI... What else was tested? I don't know, I think there may have been more from evidence that has come out since then.” When they asked about the results, “we were told that we would not receive that information,” just that they would be notified if there was a “brain tumor, or a life-threatening condition.” When asked about the frequency of this testing, he said, “Chris and I only went up there once... but, I know of at least 5, possibly 6 MRIs that were conducted on Ranch personnel.” 

Marx took a leave from BAASS for a military tour of service in Afghanistan, and when he returned in 2016, he found Bigelow had sold the Ranch to a new owner. BAASS was being dissolved and he says that he and Colm Kelleher were its last two employees, both transferred to the main company, Bigelow Aerospace, and Marx stayed there until February 2019. 

After Marx left Bigelow, he found some of the news stories about AATIP, and “ began to put the pieces of the puzzle together.” He read the AAWSAP solicitation contract, and knew that the DIA was the “government sponsor” that had received the Fax reports from the Ranch. The stated purpose of the program was to develop advanced aerospace propulsion, cloaking techniques and Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons. It also called for the study of “human effects.” Marx began pursuing the possibility that he and the other Ranch guards were used as human test subjects, either from the alleged energies at the Ranch, or for weapons research and testing done there under Bigelow’s government contract. He began asking questions to see if there was a connection.

Recently, Bartel and Marx requested and received copies of their MRI tests from the Reno clinic, and the paperwork. “It was funny because a while prior to that,  Eric Davis had said - he’s been very critical of all of this... (saying, Chris and I are... just in this to make a quick buck and to sue somebody... crazies with a crazy theory…) saying it was just a pre-employment test. And so when I got this letter back, it was very peculiar for me to see that it actually said on the letter that it was pre-employment.” Marx says that’s nonsense, because he’d “already been working there for a year and a half, so it definitely wasn't a pre-employment anything.”

He went on to say, “So, long story short, it dawned on me, no this wasn’t just an MRI, because the people who were CC'd on these findings were - first of all, were not just ordinary physicians, and second of all, there’s a HIPAA issue with sharing medical information across the board. So there were a few red flags that popped up, and like I said, it became a puzzle, and the more pieces of that puzzle became available, the more it created a picture, and the more it answered the questions that I had early on, how it was such a Mickey Mouse operation up there and nobody cared what you did, all they cared about was what you experienced and the questions they were so specific [about] your own physiological changes and into your mental state,  it all of a sudden started making sense. Why would you publish a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker, and then on the other hand, try to be all hush-hush? There are so many contradictions, the bean sprout experiment is another one, I mean there are so many…”

A possible answer comes from a “Senior Manager of BAASS,” published a statement on May 4, 2018:

“The BAASS approach was to view the human body as a readout system for UFO effects by utilizing forensic technology, the tools of immunology, cell biology, genomics and neuroanatomy for in depth study of the effects of UFOs on humans.”  

Marx now believes that whatever may (or may not) be at Skinwalker Ranch, there’s been a deliberate agenda to create a myth by exploiting Native American tribal lore to blame anything strange that happens there on, “the unexplained - the anomalous.” He also has reason to suspect that the AATIP story may have been a part of it.

Afterword

Chris Marx is just one of 50 or more employees of BAASS from the AAWSAP contract era, and there were many others involved, subcontractors, from MUFON, EarthTech, and the authors of the 38 technical studies used as DIRDs. All these people hold pieces of the puzzle, and bit by bit, the truth will come out.

. . . 

For Further Information

There’s more to Chris Marx’s story, but the focus of this article was on the BAASS operations, funding, and investigations, so we’ve mostly omitted his accounts of unusual encounters while at Skinwalker Ranch, but more information can be found at the sources below.

Chris Marx interviewed on UFO Classified with Erica Lukes:

YouTube show versions and Transcripts

In Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program, Tim McMillan described reviewing a copy of the 2009 “BAASS Ten Month Report” for AAWSAP, and stated that it included a passage on Skinwalker Ranch as a “possible laboratory for studying other intelligences and possible interdimensional phenomena.” Elsewhere, he said the report discussed it as a “living laboratory of interaction with non-human intelligences,” and his impression was that BAASS interested in physiological changes resulting from that interaction.

Keith Basterfield’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - scientific research, on Chris Marx, BAASS and Skinwalker Ranch

John Greenewald interview: Chris Marx on Skinwalker Ranch & Human Experimentation, The Black Vault Radio. Ep-46