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- 2026-10-03T0027 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-10-03T0026 · [[_MERGE_NEWS2]]
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- 2026-10-03T0025 · [[FOIA_TO_SEND]]
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- 2026-10-03T0024 · [[James Forrestal]]
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- 2026-10-03T0024 · [[Albert Stubblebine]]
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- 2026-10-03T0024 · [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]
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- 2026-10-03T0024 · [[Frank Carlucci]]
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- 2026-10-03T0023 · [[Area 51]]
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- 2026-10-03T0023 · [[EG&G]]
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- 2026-10-03T0022 · [[BDM Corporation]]
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- 2026-10-03T0022 · [[Paul Bennewitz]]
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- 2026-10-03T0021 · [[James E. McDonald]]
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- 2026-10-03T0021 · [[Morris K. Jessup]]
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- 2026-10-03T0020 · [[_NEWS_W2]]
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- 2026-10-03T0020 · [[Ben Rich]]
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- 2026-10-03T0020 · [[Foreign Technology Division]]
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- 2026-10-03T0019 · [[Lockheed Skunk Works]]
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- 2026-10-03T0019 · [[Battelle Memorial Institute]]
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- 2026-10-03T0019 · [[SCANATE]]
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- 2026-10-03T0019 · [[Richard Bissell]]
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- 2026-10-03T0019 · [[_MERGE_C1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Stargate Project]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Hartleigh Trent]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Jaime Shandera]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[John Kramar]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Dale Graff]]
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- 2026-10-03T0018 · [[Wilson-Davis Memo]]
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- 2026-10-03T0017 · [[Ben Rich]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[_REVIEW_C1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[UFO Cover-Up Live]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[Project Aquarius]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[Lockheed Skunk Works]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[Robert M. Collins]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[Linda Moulton Howe]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[_DELTA_Wilson-Davis Memo]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[Battelle Memorial Institute]]
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- 2026-10-03T0016 · [[William L. Moore]]
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- 2026-10-03T0015 · [[_MERGE_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0015 · [[Richard Doty]]
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- 2026-10-03T0015 · [[Foreign Technology Division]]
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- 2026-10-03T0015 · [[EG&G]]
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- 2026-10-03T0014 · [[Majestic-12]]
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- 2026-10-03T0013 · [[The Aviary]]
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- 2026-10-03T0011 · [[_REVIEW_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0010 · [[UFO Cover-Up Live]]
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- 2026-10-03T0009 · [[_DELTA_Richard Doty_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0009 · [[Project Aquarius]]
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- 2026-10-03T0009 · [[Robert M. Collins]]
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- 2026-10-03T0009 · [[Linda Moulton Howe]]
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- 2026-10-03T0008 · [[William L. Moore]]
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- 2026-10-03T0008 · [[_DELTA_Paul Bennewitz_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0008 · [[_DELTA_Majestic-12_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0008 · [[_DELTA_The Aviary_O1]]
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- 2026-10-03T0008 · [[Jaime Shandera]]
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- 2026-10-03T0000 · [[_FOIA_C1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2357 · [[Varo Manufacturing Company]]
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- 2026-10-02T2357 · [[_MERGE_D1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2357 · [[Office of Naval Research]]
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- 2026-10-02T2356 · [[Robertson Panel]]
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- 2026-10-02T2354 · [[_REVIEW_D1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[_DELTA_Robertson Panel]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[_DELTA_Office of Naval Research]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[James E. McDonald]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[James Forrestal]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[Varo Manufacturing Company]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[Morris K. Jessup]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[_NOTES_C1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2353 · [[_DELTA_Majestic-12]]
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- 2026-10-02T2346 · [[_MERGE_B1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2346 · [[_FOIA_O1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2346 · [[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group]]
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- 2026-10-02T2345 · [[_NOTES_O1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2345 · [[BDM Corporation]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_REVIEW_B1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_COORD_NOTES]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_DELTA_Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_DELTA_James A. Baker III]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_DELTA_Frank Carlucci]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_DELTA_Albert Stubblebine]]
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- 2026-10-02T2344 · [[_NOTES_P1]]
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- 2026-10-02T2340 · [[Dave Fravor]]
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- 2026-10-02T2339 · [[_LINKPASS]]
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- 2026-10-02T2339 · [[Harry Reid]]
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- 2026-10-02T2339 · [[Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Rockefeller Initiative]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Ronald Pandolfi]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[C.B. Scott Jones]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[John Gibbons]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Skinwalker Ranch]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[National Institute for Discovery Science]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Laurance Rockefeller]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Hal Puthoff]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Claiborne Pell]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Robert Bigelow]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[Kit Green]]
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- 2026-10-02T2338 · [[John B. Alexander]]
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- 2026-10-03T2013 · [[_NEWS_W3]]
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- 2026-10-03T2013 · [[Galileo Project]]
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- 2026-10-03T2013 · [[Frank Laukien]]
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- 2026-10-03T2013 · [[Ryan Graves]]
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- 2026-10-03T2013 · [[Leslie Kean]]
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- 2026-10-03T2008 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-10-03T2008 · [[Wilson-Davis Memo]]
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- 2026-10-03T2008 · [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[GoFast]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[GIMBAL]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[PROMIS]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[MKSEARCH]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Sol Foundation]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Sky Watcher]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Mellon Family]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Human Potential Foundation]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[BDM Corporation]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Office of Naval Research]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Army Chemical Corps]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Peter Skafish]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Jay Stratton]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Hal Puthoff]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Garry Reid]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Garry Nolan]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Claiborne Pell]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Andrija Puharich]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Eugene Jhong]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Christopher Mellon]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[C.B. Scott Jones]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Avi Loeb]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Tim Gallaudet]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Ralph Blumenthal]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Luis Elizondo]]
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- 2026-10-03T2007 · [[Kit Green]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[Jeffrey Epstein]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[James Fox (filmmaker)]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[James Forrestal]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[Jake Barber]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[David Grusch]]
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- 2026-10-03T2006 · [[Dave Fravor]]
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- 2026-10-03T2003 · [[_EFTA_LOEB]]
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- 2026-10-03T2000 · [[_MERGE_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1959 · [[Tom DeLonge]]
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- 2026-10-03T1959 · [[Tic Tac]]
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- 2026-10-03T1959 · [[Harry Reid]]
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- 2026-10-03T1959 · [[KEY EVENTS]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[_INDEX]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[59_NARA_Blue-Book-M1647_Lockheed-Dec-16-1953-case-file]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[57_Huntington-Library_Ben-Rich-papers]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[55_NHHC-Operational-Archives_Sherby-and-Hoover-biographies]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[56_NARA-Center-for-Legislative-Archives_McDonald-1970-DOT-hearing]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[54_NARA-Archives-II_RG298-RG38_ONR-special-projects-Jessup-Varo]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[52_ONR_McDonald-atmospheric-physics-support-1965-67]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[49_NHHC-BUMED-NARA-DHA_Forrestal-board-exhibits-1949]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[51_AFMC-NASIC-NARA-RG341_McDonald-Blue-Book-visits-1966]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[48_DOJ-JMD_Project-EAGLE-source-selection-1986]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[47_SEC_EDGAR-procurement-1988-BDM-award]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[46_Air-Force_BDM-qui-tam-and-overseas-contracts]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[28_AF-Test-Center_NTTR-Janet-air-transport-contract]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[29_ONR_Jessup-Case-for-the-UFO-Varo-Edition-1955-57]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[27_AFMC-AFHRA_Bolender-1969-attachments-and-FTD-JANAP146]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[25_AF-NASIC_Battelle-Project-Stork-White-Stork-Bear-1951-62]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[24_FBI-RIDS_LA-field-office-1988-Seligman-and-Dallas-SLC-serials]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[23_NARA_RG341_Shandera-Moore-box-189-pull-records-1985]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[08_DOE_LANL-visit-forms-BDM-McLean-1985]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[07_OSD-JS_Reid-SAP-review-2009]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[05_OSTP_Gibbons-office-files-1993-98]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[03_Clinton-Library_First-Lady-files-Rockefeller-HPF]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[04_Clinton-Library_scan-request-2008-1575-F]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[02_DIA_Bigelow-counterintelligence-notation-2008]]
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- 2026-10-03T1958 · [[01_DIA_AAWSAP-contract-file-HHM402-08-C-0072]]
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- 2026-10-03T1955 · [[Helene Cooper]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_DELTA_To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_DELTA_Luis Elizondo_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_DELTA_Harry Reid_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_DELTA_Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_DELTA_Christopher Mellon_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Eugene Jhong]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Frank Laukien]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Avi Loeb]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Galileo Project]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Mellon Family]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Helene Cooper]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Ralph Blumenthal]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[Leslie Kean]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]
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- 2026-10-03T1953 · [[_REVIEW_N1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1949 · [[_MERGE_K1S1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1948 · [[Karl Nell]]
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- 2026-10-03T1946 · [[_CHROME_W3]]
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- 2026-10-03T1945 · [[Jesse Michels]]
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- 2026-10-03T1945 · [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]]
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- 2026-10-03T1945 · [[Ross Coulthart]]
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- 2026-10-03T1943 · [[_REVIEW_S1]]
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- 2026-10-03T1943 · [[Tim Gallaudet]]
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- 2026-10-03T1943 · [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]]
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@ -7,9 +7,32 @@ alias:
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- Dave Fravor
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- David Fravor
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- Commander David Fravor
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summary: "Commander Dave Fravor is a retired U.S."
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- Commander Dave Fravor
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summary: "Retired Navy commander and commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 41 who led the November 14, 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac intercept and testified to a House Oversight subcommittee on July 26, 2023."
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relations:
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- type: director_of
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with: "[[Strike Fighter Squadron 41]]"
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role: "commanding officer, Black Aces, assigned to Carrier Air Wing 11 aboard USS Nimitz in 2004; his own testimony"
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start: 2004
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fn: 3
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[USS Nimitz]]"
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role: "Carrier Air Wing 11 squadron commander, strike group workup off Southern California, November 2004"
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start: 2004-11-14
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fn: 3
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[United States Navy]]"
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role: "enlisted Marine, Naval Academy graduate, flew 18 years, retired commander; his testimony"
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fn: 2
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]"
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role: "listed as advisor on the organization's website, October 3, 2026"
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start: 2026-10-03
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fn: 6
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updated: 2026-10-03
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created: 2026-10-03
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---
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Commander [[Dave Fravor]] is a retired U.S. Navy pilot who is best known as the lead eyewitness in the 2004 [[Tic Tac]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. His credible testimony and detailed account of the encounter have been instrumental in bringing the issue of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) to the attention of the public and the U.S. Congress.[^1]
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Commander [[Dave Fravor]] is a retired [[U.S. Navy]] pilot who is best known as the lead eyewitness in the 2004 [[Tic Tac]] involving the [[USS Nimitz]] Carrier Strike Group. His account of the encounter has been part of the public discussion of [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) in Congress.[^1]
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### Naval Career
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@ -17,15 +40,41 @@ A graduate of the prestigious Top Gun naval flight school, Commander Fravor was
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### The Tic Tac Encounter
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On November 14, 2004, while on a routine training mission off the coast of San Diego, Commander Fravor and his WSO, Commander Jim Slaight, were diverted to investigate a series of anomalous radar contacts that had been tracked by the [[USS Princeton]]. Fravor, along with a second F/A-18 piloted by Lieutenant Commander [[Alex Dietrich]], witnessed a white, oblong craft, later nicknamed the "Tic Tac," maneuvering erratically over a disturbance in the ocean.[^1]
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On November 14, 2004, while on a routine training mission off the coast of [[San Diego]], Commander Fravor and his WSO, Commander Jim Slaight, were diverted to investigate a series of anomalous radar contacts that had been tracked by the [[USS Princeton]]. Fravor, along with a second F/A-18 piloted by Lieutenant Commander [[Alex Dietrich]], witnessed a white, oblong craft, later nicknamed the "Tic Tac," maneuvering erratically over a disturbance in the ocean.[^1]
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Fravor descended to engage the object, which responded by mirroring his movements before accelerating at a speed he described as "like nothing I've ever seen." The object vanished in an instant, only to reappear on radar sixty miles away at the squadron's pre-arranged rendezvous point. Fravor's detailed and unwavering account of the incident, corroborated by the other pilots and the radar data, provided a solid foundation for the subsequent investigation by the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP).[^1]
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### Service record and the 2004 report, in his own words
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At the July 26, 2023 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], Fravor described his background to Representative [[Nick Langworthy]]: "I was an enlisted [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]], [[United States Naval Academy|Naval Academy]] graduate, [[United States Navy|Navy]], flew for 18 years. Got a Master's from [[University of Houston]] and I have worked in the private sector for the last ... 17 years. I do a lot of defense work."[^2] In his written statement he said that in 2004 "I was a commanding officer of [[Strike Fighter Squadron 41]], the world-famous Black Aces," tasked to [[Carrier Air Wing 11|Carrier Airwing 11]] aboard [[USS Nimitz]], and that the planned two-versus-two training with the cruiser [[USS Princeton]] as control "was going to be suspended and we are going to proceed with real-world tasking."[^3]
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He testified that the controller said the objects "had been observed for over 2 weeks coming down from over 80,000 feet, rapidly descending to 20,000 feet, hanging out for hours and then going straight back up"; that all four aircrew saw "whitewater" and "a white Tic Tac object with a longitudinal axis pointing north south"; that the object "suddenly shifted its longitudinal axis, aligned it with my aircraft, and began to climb"; and that after it accelerated away the controller reported it "at your CAP point roughly 60 miles away in less than a minute."[^3] Of the video he said his own crew "got the video that you see, that 90-second video," and "What you do not see is the radar tape that was never released, and we do not know where it is at, of the act of jamming that the object put on an APG-73 radar."[^3]
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On reporting after the event, he told Chairman [[Glenn Grothman]]: "None. We had a standard debrief where the backseaters went down to our carrier intel center ... No one else talked to us and I was in the top 20 in the battle group. No one came. That captain was aware. The admiral was aware. Nothing was done."[^3] His statement: "the incident was never investigated. None of my crew were ever questioned. The tapes were never taken ... It was not until 2009, until [[Jay Stratton]] had contacted me to investigate."[^3] He said [[Alex Dietrich]], "the other pilot," later contacted him; that he then spoke with [[Luis Elizondo]]; and that "a few weeks after that" Elizondo "had left the [[Pentagon]] in protest and joined forces with [[Tom DeLonge]], [[Christopher Mellon|Chris Mellon]], [[Steve Justice]] and others to form [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science|To the Stars Academy]]."[^3] He credited [[Leslie Kean]], [[Ralph Blumenthal]] and [[Helene Cooper]] with the 2017 [[The New York Times|New York Times]] articles.[^3]
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### Answers on the object and on the water
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Asked by Representative [[Tim Burchett]] about the whitewater, Fravor said: "We did not see an object. There was something there to cause the whitewater and when we turned around it was gone," and "We actually joked that the Tic Tac was communicating with something when we came back."[^3] To Representative Langworthy he agreed that he had described "a 40-foot flying Tic Tac shaped object" ("That is correct ... it is a giant flying propane tank"), said "The Princeton tracked it. The Nimitz tracked it. The E2 tracked it. We never saw it on our radars," that the other aircraft's radar was jammed "as soon as it tried to lock it," that there was "no IR plume," and that he knew of no adversary with the capability.[^3] He said "the Tic Tac object we engaged in 2004 was far superior to anything that we had on time, have today, or looking to develop in the next 10 years," and called for oversight "from those people that the citizens of this great country elected."[^3]
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### Navy statement and the three videos
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|
||||
In September 2019 Navy spokesman [[Joseph Gradisher]] told [[The Black Vault]] that "The Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those three videos as unidentified" and that the term "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" was used because it "provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges." [[Fox News]] reported that the first video was taken on November 14, 2004, "shot by the F-18's gun camera," and that the three videos ("FLIR1," "Gimbal" and "GoFast") were "originally released to the [[New York Times]] and to The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA)."[^4] The Black Vault's compiled case file on the incident states that a second sortie carried the targeting pod, that the pod video runs about one minute sixteen seconds, and that it was recorded by Lt. Cmdr. [[Chad Underwood]]; and it describes the object as about 40 to 46 feet in length, with footnoted sources of its own.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Role in Disclosure
|
||||
|
||||
In the years following the incident, Commander Fravor was hesitant to speak publicly about his experience due to the stigma surrounding the UAP topic. However, he was eventually debriefed by [[Luis Elizondo]] and [[Christopher Mellon]] and agreed to share his story. His testimony was featured in the groundbreaking 2017 New York Times article that revealed the existence of AATIP, and he has since become a key figure in the UAP disclosure movement.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
He has provided briefings to members of Congress and their staff, and he testified under oath at a historic public hearing on UAP in July 2023. His credibility as a highly trained and respected naval aviator has been a crucial factor in legitimizing the UAP issue as a serious national security concern.[^1]
|
||||
He has provided briefings to members of Congress and their staff, and he testified under oath at a historic public hearing on UAP in July 2023.
|
||||
|
||||
### Advisory role
|
||||
|
||||
The website of [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]] lists "David Fravor (retired Navy commander)" among its advisors; [[Ryan Graves]], its founder, testified at the same hearing.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: Same, questioning by Representative Langworthy.
|
||||
[^3]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency," July 26, 2023, Serial No. 118-53, statement of Commander David Fravor and questioning. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53022/html/CHRG-118hhrg53022.htm
|
||||
[^4]: "UFO videos are footage of real 'unidentified' objects, US Navy acknowledges," Fox News, September 2019, quoting Joseph Gradisher to The Black Vault. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/ufo-videos-real-navy-acknowledges.print
|
||||
[^5]: The Black Vault, "The Vault Files: The Tic Tac Incident, November 14, 2004." https://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/the-vault-files-the-tic-tac-incident-november-14-2004/ . The case-file prose is the compiler's; the FOIA documents it reproduces were not individually opened.
|
||||
[^6]: Americans for Safe Aerospace, website advisor list. https://www.safeaerospace.org
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -3,21 +3,96 @@ category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
|||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- David Grusch
|
||||
- David C. Grusch
|
||||
- David Charles Grusch
|
||||
- Dave Grusch
|
||||
summary: "In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee's National Security Subcommittee."
|
||||
born: 1987
|
||||
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
role: "GS-15 civilian, co-lead for UAP and trans-medium object analysis, 2021 to 2023; his sworn statement"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
end: 2023
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Task Force]]"
|
||||
role: "National Reconnaissance Office reservist representative, 2019 to 2021; his sworn statement"
|
||||
start: 2019
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Air Force]]"
|
||||
role: "intelligence officer, 14 years, rank of Major, active duty, Air National Guard and Reserve; his sworn statement"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Eric Burlison]]"
|
||||
role: "special advisor on the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, announced March 27, 2025"
|
||||
start: 2025-03-27
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-05
|
||||
role: "chief operating officer, per his own résumé submitted to the House Committee on Oversight; described by Garry Nolan in September 2023 as senior founding advisor and 'a founder'"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[I. Charles McCullough III]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022-05
|
||||
role: "McCullough, of the Compass Rose Legal Group, filed a disclosure of urgent concern and complaint of reprisal with the Intelligence Community Inspector General on Grusch's behalf in May 2022"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[David Grusch]] is a former intelligence officer from the [[National Reconnaissance Office]] (NRO) and the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA) who served as the NRO's representative on the [[UAP Task Force]]. He is a key whistleblower who has provided Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General with extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says have retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Whistleblower Testimony
|
||||
|
||||
In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the U.S. government is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1]
|
||||
In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the [[U.S. government]] is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Grusch's testimony was a watershed moment in the UAP disclosure movement. As a high-ranking intelligence officer with an impeccable record, his claims have been taken very seriously by Congress and have led to a new level of scrutiny on the so-called "Legacy Program." He has provided hours of classified testimony to congressional committees and the Inspector General, and his allegations have been a major driver of the recent UAP disclosure legislation.[^1]
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Grusch has provided hours of classified testimony to congressional committees and the Inspector General about the so-called "[[Legacy Program]]."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sworn statement of July 26, 2023
|
||||
|
||||
At the hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], Grusch said: "I was an intelligence officer for 14 years both in the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]], both active-duty Air National Guard and Reserve at the rank of Major and most recently from 2021 to 2025, excuse me, 2023, at the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency|National Geospatial Intelligence Agency]], NGA, at the GS-15 civilian level, which is the military equivalent of a full bird colonel." He described himself as "my agency's co-lead in unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans medium object analysis" reporting to the [[UAP Task Force]] and then to the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]]; said he "became a whistleblower through a PPD-19 urgent concern filing in May 2022 with the intelligence community inspector general"; and said that, in his [[National Reconnaissance Office]] reservist capacity, "I was a member of the UAP Task Force from 2019 to 2021," and that "in 2019, the UAP Task Force Director asked me to identify all special access programs and controlled access programs."[^2] He said: "I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access to those additional read-ons when I requested it," and "my testimony is based on information I have been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy and service to this country."[^2] He also said "I have suffered retaliation for my decision."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The record of the same hearing includes, as a document submitted by Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]], the [[NewsNation]] article "We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks," and, submitted by Representative [[Tim Burchett]], a statement for the record by [[George Knapp]] and a Defense Intelligence Reference Document titled "Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sol Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
The résumé that David Grusch filed with the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]] for its July 26, 2023 hearing lists, as its first entry under experience, "May 2023-Present, Chief Operating Officer (COO), The Sol Foundation," with the description "Managing day-to-day operations for a 501c3 federally recognized non-profit. The premier center for research in the natural and social sciences, engineering, and the humanities, but also extends activities to advisory and policy work for the U.S. government/public outreach," and lists "Non-Profit Leadership" among his key competencies. The same document lists "November 2021-April 2023, Senior GEOINT Capabilities Requirements Officer, [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA), [[Colorado Springs]], CO (GS-15, Colonel Equiv.)," and describes him as the NGA lead for unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans-medium anomaly issues who "executed new program of record responsive to direct tasking by the Congressional Intelligence Committees."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[[The Debrief]] reported that the existence of the [[Sol Foundation]] first became apparent through that résumé and related documents in early August 2023, and that the foundation was then described as "pending recognition as a 501c3 federal non-profit." [[Garry Nolan]] said in September 2023 that Grusch's title had since become "Senior Founding Advisor," that the earlier title "seemed the right thing at the time," and that Grusch "is a founder of the Sol Foundation."[^4] The foundation's [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] ruling date as a 501(c)(3) is June 2024, and its 2024 Form 990 does not list Grusch among its officers or directors; the foundation's website, read October 3, 2026, does not list him among its executive leadership or advisory board either.[^5][^6] On November 18, 2023 Grusch joined the foundation's first symposium in [[Palo Alto, California]] by video from Washington and said, "This is why we have the Sol Foundation. We need to basically create a parallel track of research and independent discovery that aren't necessarily dependent on the U.S. government to provide us all the answers."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
His attorney, [[I. Charles McCullough III]], senior partner of the [[Compass Rose Legal Group]] and the first Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, was named as the Sol Foundation's legal counsel in 2023.[^8][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congressional adviser, 2025
|
||||
|
||||
A March 27, 2025 press release from the office of Representative [[Eric Burlison]] announced Grusch as a "Special Advisor" on the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. It described his career as 14 years in the Air Force, reaching the rank of Major, with a combat tour in [[Afghanistan]] "supporting counter-illicit finance, drug, and arms-trafficking operations with [[Joint Special Operations Command]] (JSOC) and [[International Security Assistance Force|ISAF]]," later work as a senior intelligence officer at NGA and the NRO, representation of the NRO on the UAP Task Force from 2019 to 2021, and a 2022 complaint to the Intelligence Community Inspector General "found 'credible and urgent' for reporting to the Congressional intelligence committees."[^9] Grusch is quoted: "I will use all my expertise to support Rep. Burlison and help the US Congress restore full oversight while enabling the Legislative Branch's ability to investigate and hold those accountable who have broken the law and lied not only to our Congress, but also to the [[White House|Executive Office of the President]], [[Director of National Intelligence]], and [[Department of Justice]]."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### NewsNation and Skywatcher
|
||||
|
||||
[[Nexstar Media Group]]'s November 14, 2023 announcement of [[Ross Coulthart]] as a NewsNation special correspondent stated that he "will continue to provide reporting on UFO whistleblower David Grusch."[^10] NewsNation wrote in January 2025 that "In June 2023, NewsNation was the first television network to present an interview with Grusch."[^11] Grusch is listed among those interviewed or referenced in the Part I video of [[Sky Watcher]], alongside [[Alex Klokus]], [[Jake Barber]], [[Garry Nolan]], Col. [[Karl Nell]] and [[Fred Baker]].[^12] NewsNation's full special on Barber stated that Grusch and [[Luis Elizondo]] "say they've been told about it, they believe it exists, but they weren't a part of it themselves," and that Barber, "however, is different. He says he was part of that covert program."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Retaliation and Impact
|
||||
|
||||
Since coming forward, Grusch has faced a campaign of retaliation and character assassination, which he has reported to the Inspector General. Despite this, his testimony has had a profound impact on the UAP conversation, emboldening other whistleblowers to come forward and forcing the U.S. government to confront the issue of UAP secrecy in a way that it never has before.[^1]
|
||||
Since coming forward, Grusch has faced a campaign of retaliation and character assassination, which he has reported to the Inspector General.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, hearing of July 26, 2023, Serial No. 118-53, statement of David Grusch and list of submitted documents. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53022/html/CHRG-118hhrg53022.htm
|
||||
[^3]: "David C. Grusch" résumé, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing of July 26, 2023. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GruschD-20230726.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery," *The Debrief*, September 12, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-how-a-new-think-tank-of-academics-is-applying-cutting-edge-research-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, EIN 93-3649160, and IRS Form 990 for 2024, Part VII. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
[^6]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^7]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^8]: Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Non-Human Craft," *The Debrief*, June 5, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
|
||||
[^9]: Office of Representative Eric Burlison, "Rep. Burlison Welcomes Former U.S. Air Force Officer David Grusch as Special Advisor," March 27, 2025. https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-burlison-welcomes-former-us-air-force-officer-david-grusch-special-advisor
|
||||
[^10]: Nexstar Media Group, "NewsNation Signs Award-Winning Journalist Ross Coulthart as a Special Correspondent for the Network," November 14, 2023. https://www.nexstar.tv/newsnation-signs-ross-coulthart-as-special-correspondent/
|
||||
[^11]: NewsNation, "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^12]: Skywatcher, "Media," retrieved October 3, 2026. https://skywatcher.ai/media
|
||||
[^13]: Ross Coulthart, "Whistleblower reveals UAP retrieval program; object caught on video," NewsNation, updated January 27, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/hfr-uap-recovery-video-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
38
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Helene Cooper.md
Normal file
38
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Helene Cooper.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- NewYorkTimes
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Helene Cooper
|
||||
- Cooper, Helene
|
||||
summary: "Helene Cooper, a New York Times Pentagon correspondent and co-author of the paper's December 16, 2017 report on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, was assigned to work with Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[New York Times]]"
|
||||
role: "assistant editorial page editor (2004), diplomatic correspondent (2006), White House correspondent (2009), Pentagon correspondent"
|
||||
start: 2004
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]"
|
||||
role: "co-author; the Times's Pentagon correspondent assigned to Kean and Blumenthal"
|
||||
start: 2017-12-16
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Helene Cooper]] was born in [[Monrovia]], [[Liberia]], on April 22, 1966. She joined the *[[New York Times]]* in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor, became diplomatic correspondent in 2006 and [[White House]] correspondent in 2009, and later became a [[Pentagon]] correspondent. In 2015 she was part of the Times team that won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for international reporting for coverage of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, and she won the [[George Polk Award]] for health reporting and the [[Overseas Press Club]] Award that year. She wrote the memoir *[[The House at Sugar Beach]]* ([[Simon & Schuster|Simon and Schuster]], 2008) and *[[Madame President]]: The Extraordinary Story of [[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf]]* (2017).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The December 2017 report
|
||||
|
||||
[[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] wrote in *[[The New Yorker]]* that after a meeting with representatives of the Times's Washington bureau the paper agreed to the story brought by [[Leslie Kean]] and [[Ralph Blumenthal]] and "assigned a veteran Pentagon correspondent, Helene Cooper, to work with Kean and Blumenthal."[^2] Her name appears first in the byline of "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program," published December 16, 2017; the article reported that the [[Department of Defense]] "has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012."[^3] The Pentagon officials quoted in the article included spokesman [[Thomas Crosson]], who said the program ended because other priorities "merited funding."[^3] [[Keith Kloor]] of *[[The Intercept]]* wrote in 2019 that Cooper had described [[Luis Elizondo]] on the Times podcast *[[The Daily]]* as a "spooky, secretive guy."[^4] The sequence of who met whom before the Times assigned her is set out in [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]].
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Helene Cooper." Simon & Schuster author page. https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Helene-Cooper/18871279
|
||||
[^2]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^3]: Cooper, Helene, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean. "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program." *The New York Times,* December 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html (full text read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html).
|
||||
[^4]: Kloor, Keith. "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/
|
||||
70
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jake Barber.md
Normal file
70
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jake Barber.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Whistleblower
|
||||
- AirForce
|
||||
- Contractor
|
||||
- Psionics
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Jake Barber
|
||||
- Jacob Barber
|
||||
- Jacob "Jake" Barber
|
||||
- Jake Barber (whistleblower)
|
||||
summary: "Former Air Force airman and self-described contractor helicopter pilot who told NewsNation in January 2025 that he recovered non-human craft for a covert program, and who founded the Skywatcher group."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Air Force]]"
|
||||
role: "airman and aerospace mechanic in the late 1990s, per NewsNation's review of his records"
|
||||
start: 1990s
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Sky Watcher]]"
|
||||
role: "founder, per NewsNation"
|
||||
start: 2024-11
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Defense]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reported on February 24, 2025 that the department confirmed it was investigating his claims"
|
||||
start: 2025-02-24
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: briefed
|
||||
with: "[[Marco Rubio]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reported it confirmed that Barber met staffers for Senator Rubio in fall 2024"
|
||||
start: 2024-09
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jacob "Jake" Barber is a former [[United States Air Force]] airman who told [[NewsNation]] in January 2025 that he had spent about 30 years working "in both an official and unofficial capacity for the [[United States]] government and its partners in the intelligence community," that he had been contracted as a helicopter pilot on a team that retrieved crashed aircraft at "an undisclosed testing facility in the desert," and that some of what the team recovered was of non-human origin.[^1] He is the founder of [[Sky Watcher]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Service record as reported
|
||||
|
||||
NewsNation reporter [[Ross Coulthart]] stated that the network "checked Barber's records and confirmed that he was an airman in the [[U.S. Air Force]] who worked as an aerospace mechanic in the late 1990s," and wrote that he "was also recruited into [[Air Force Special Operations Command|Air Force Special Operations]], known as 'combat control.'"[^1] The report credits him with a [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] top-secret clearance from service in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] and an award for heroism, and says NewsNation "spoke with three former special operations soldiers who corroborated Barber's credentials," one of whom, Col. [[John Blitch]], NewsNation wrote, "believes Barber's claim wholeheartedly."[^1] [[Don Paul Bales]], described as a Special Forces veteran who worked on Barber's team, was also quoted.[^1] In the broadcast Barber said that after [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001]] "I left the Air Force and was sent out to [[California]] at that time to begin establishing my cover basis as an independent contractor."[^1] NewsNation reported on February 24, 2025 that Barber "went on to work in a nonofficial capacity for the [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] and the intelligence community."[^4] Barber has not named the contracting company; he said that he reached its head of security in spring 2024 and was "basically told to 'forget it,'" in NewsNation's wording.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Claims made to NewsNation, January 2025
|
||||
|
||||
Barber told Coulthart that on one night operation, flying under night vision goggles with a 150 to 200 foot line, he saw "a white egg" of "metallic, pearly white" surface "about the size of an SUV," with "no engine" and "no thermal signature," and that "ranking members of the [[UAP Task Force]]" had confirmed to him "over the last couple of years" that "what we were working with that night was, in fact, NHI (nonhuman intelligence)."[^1] He also said he "was never told the craft wasn't human," in NewsNation's paraphrase, and was certain on the basis of "the reaction of my leadership structure."[^1] He described a second object type, "a flying disc with what looked like eight delineated sections," which he called an "eightgon."[^1] He said that as he approached one site he felt "an intense hybrid of sadness and happiness and beauty and song," "a very feminine energy," and "a frequency that I was connected with."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
He said the operation had been requested by a unit he called "the Psionics," people with a "predisposition for extratemporal abilities and sensitivities," and that "in the program, there was certainly a desire to explore the idea that perhaps UAP could be summoned, could be communicated with, could be controlled and could be persuaded to land."[^1] Bales told NewsNation "I've had the pleasure of meeting multiple psionic assets."[^1] Barber said his team "transported what we called 'mystery boxes' all the time," was authorized to use "lethal force" to protect shipments, and became ill after one mission: "I lost every hair on my body," "I also lost the skin on my arms," and "I ended up developing a severe heart murmur."[^1] [[Garry Nolan]] of [[Stanford University]], whom Coulthart had introduced to Barber in 2024, reviewed "decades of Barber's medical records" and said "the acute injuries were obviously severe" and that "the first thing that came to mind was (Barber) was exposed to some kind of radiation."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Barber also described a later assignment to recover "high-value targets" that were [[Panasonic]] Toughbooks holding "sensor data, video that was illegally captured," found with the hard drives missing and then located "in a sealed steel container 25 feet underwater," followed by an operation where "it was clear that shots had been fired," after which he believed his former employer, "or someone pretending to be them," intended to kill him.[^1] He said he and his team went to [[Washington, D.C.]] in spring 2024, met the company's director of security, and later met staffers for Senator [[Marco Rubio]] in fall 2024, which NewsNation "confirmed."[^1] Barber said, "I feel I was able to fill in gaps that have been there for a long time that no other whistleblower has been able to do."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
NewsNation separately obtained and aired video it described as showing "a view from the belly of a helicopter retrieving one of those mysterious eggs"; the network wrote that it "was told that the video was sent to the organization responsible for monitoring UAPs."[^5] Defense Department spokesperson [[Sue Gough]] stated that the department "has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed."[^6] The [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) told NewsNation it was "aware of the claim."[^6] On February 24, 2025 NewsNation reported that the department confirmed it was investigating, and Coulthart said that AARO director [[Jon Kosloski]] "has indicated his office is talking with whistleblowers like Barber" while cautioning he was limited in what he could say.[^4] [[Jason Colavito]] wrote on January 19, 2025 that "many said" the video appeared to show an aerostat or balloon tethered to a helicopter, and that the [[Pentagon]] had told [[Steven Greenstreet]] of the [[New York Post]] that AARO was aware of the video and "did not assess anything non-human about it."[^3] Barber, in Colavito's account, rests his claims on the UAP Task Force that preceded AARO.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later statements
|
||||
|
||||
On January 24, 2025 Barber told Coulthart's "[[Reality Check (NewsNation)|Reality Check]]," as quoted by the writer Jimmy of [[UAP Files]], "I believe the US Government, in the next 12 months, will use me and my team as a peaceful non-judgmental path forward to disclosure."[^7] The Skywatcher team's August 2024 operation, as Barber described it to NewsNation, ended with a "psionic" saying "Get me out of here" and the overwatch, [[Fred Baker]], seeing "a classic lenticular-shape disk."[^1] Colavito's blog reported on January 19, 2025 that Greenstreet had reported that Barber "launched his own UFO organization, Skywatcher, in November."[^3] Skywatcher later released two videos and stopped posting in December 2025; Coulthart reported in 2026 that Skywatcher "appears" to have been dissolved and that its experts were working with the Defense Department at [[White Sands Missile Range]], on the basis of unnamed sources.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Ross Coulthart, "Whistleblower reveals UAP retrieval program; object caught on video" (full special article), NewsNation, updated January 27, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/hfr-uap-recovery-video-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/ . Sole source for the passages so cited, which are Barber's own statements and NewsNation's account of its verification.
|
||||
[^2]: Michael Ramsey, "Skywatcher video of 'summoned' UFOs coming soon: Ross Coulthart," NewsNation, updated April 7, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/summoned-ufos-video-ross-coulthart/
|
||||
[^3]: Jason Colavito, "In Brief: NewsNation Offers a New UFO 'Crash Retrieval' Story," January 19, 2025. https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/in-brief-newsnation-offers-a-new-ufo-crash-retrieval-story . Colavito reports Greenstreet's New York Post reporting at second hand; the Post article was not located. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^4]: Michael Ramsey, "UFO whistleblower Jake Barber's claims being investigated by Pentagon," NewsNation, updated February 24, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/pentagon-investigates-ufo-claims/
|
||||
[^5]: Ross Coulthart, "UAP recovery video shows 'egg-shaped' object: Exclusive," NewsNation, updated January 18, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-recovery-video-shows-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/
|
||||
[^6]: "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," NewsNation, January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^7]: Jimmy, "Skywatcher: The Disclosure Team That Disappeared - I Tracked Their Helicopter," UAP Files, August 12, 2026. https://uapf.substack.com/p/skywatcher-the-disclosure-team-that . Sole source for the quotation as dated.
|
||||
[^8]: Ross Coulthart, "Is the Trump administration running a covert UFO program?," NewsNation Reality Check, about August 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check/trump-administration-covert-ufo-program/amp/
|
||||
|
|
@ -49,6 +49,30 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 1949-05-22
|
||||
role: "board of investigation into his death under Rear Admiral M. D. Willcutts; proceedings approved July 13, 1949; digitized by Princeton from the Forrestal Papers (Box 94, Folder 11)"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Morton D. Willcutts]]"
|
||||
start: 1949-05-22
|
||||
end: 1949-07-13
|
||||
role: "Rear Admiral, Medical Officer in Command, National Naval Medical Center; signed the precept of May 22, 1949 convening the board and approved the proceedings in revision on July 13, 1949"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[A. A. Marsteller]]"
|
||||
start: 1949-05-23
|
||||
end: 1949-07-13
|
||||
role: "Captain Aolpfar A. Marsteller, Medical Corps (retired, on active duty), senior member of the board of investigation"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[George N. Raines]]"
|
||||
start: 1949-04-02
|
||||
end: 1949-05-18
|
||||
role: "Captain, Chief of Neuropsychiatry, Bethesda; Forrestal's attending psychiatrist from admission at about 1700 on April 2 until he left Washington on May 18; testified to the board on May 24 and again at pp. 56 to 60 of the record"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[John Nardini]]"
|
||||
start: 1949-05-18
|
||||
end: 1949-05-22
|
||||
role: "Commander, Medical Corps; took over the case from Raines on May 18 and testified at pp. 14 to 18"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -67,7 +91,7 @@ Forrestal resigned on March 28, 1949 and was succeeded by [[Louis Johnson]].[^1]
|
|||
|
||||
The two dates of death sit side by side in the sources. The Navy's board of investigation, convened by precept dated May 22, 1949, found that the body was found on a ledge outside room 384 of Building One of the National Naval Medical Center at 1:50 a.m. and pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m., "Sunday, May 22, 1949."[^2] The Mudd finding aid's biographical note states that Forrestal "committed suicide on May 23, 1949" at the National Naval Medical Center lists among its sources [[Walter H. Waggoner]]'s [[New York Times]] article of May 23, 1949; the same finding aid reproduces Truman's statement that Forrestal "was as truly a casualty of the war as if he had died on the firing line."[^1] The Eisenhower briefing document in the Majestic-12 file gives May 22, 1949.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Associated Press dispatch of May 22, 1949, printed in the [[Kennebec Journal]] of [[Augusta, Maine]] on May 23, reported that Forrestal, 57, "committed suicide today" and was found dead on a third-floor ledge, the roof of the passageway of the third floor, below the sixteenth-floor window at Bethesda. It quoted the official hospital statement that he took his life "at 2 a.m. (1 a.m. est)" by climbing out of the window adjacent to his room, and stated that a nurse on the seventh floor heard the falling body. The board of investigation gives 1:50 a.m. for the finding of the body (see above); the wire gives "2 a.m." in its own words and attributes it to the hospital statement. The same dispatch reported a bathrobe cord knotted tightly about his neck, said that he wore a dressing gown with the sash wrapped around his neck and that his wristwatch was still running, and said the AP could not tell whether he had contemplated attaching the cord to a radiator and leaping or hanging himself. It reported that a book, "An Anthology of World Poetry," lay open on his radiator to the poem "Chorus from Ajax," with the lines "When reason's day sets rayless, joyless, quenched in cold decay, better to die and sleep" (the dispatch's dashes rendered here as commas) Per Rear Admiral [[Leslie Stone]], the hospital commandant, and the official statement, as the AP reported them, Forrestal had declined his usual sedative that evening, left his room by a door onto the corridor, avoiding the second room of the suite where a doctor was on duty, crossed to the diet kitchen and knotted the cord about his throat; the windows of the room had been enclosed with heavy wire screening. The AP reported that he had entered the hospital seven weeks earlier with "nervous exhaustion resulting from overwork," had been described as greatly improved and permitted visitors and free use of the telephone, and had been visited by Truman on May 6 according to the [[White House]]; that Willcutts ordered a Navy board of inquiry; and that the board was to determine "among other things" why Forrestal was left unattended long enough to reach the window.[^5]
|
||||
[[Associated Press|The Associated Press]] dispatch of May 22, 1949, printed in the [[Kennebec Journal]] of [[Augusta, Maine]] on May 23, reported that Forrestal, 57, "committed suicide today" and was found dead on a third-floor ledge, the roof of the passageway of the third floor, below the sixteenth-floor window at Bethesda. It quoted the official hospital statement that he took his life "at 2 a.m. (1 a.m. est)" by climbing out of the window adjacent to his room, and stated that a nurse on the seventh floor heard the falling body. The board of investigation gives 1:50 a.m. for the finding of the body (see above); the wire gives "2 a.m." in its own words and attributes it to the hospital statement. The same dispatch reported a bathrobe cord knotted tightly about his neck, said that he wore a dressing gown with the sash wrapped around his neck and that his wristwatch was still running, and said the AP could not tell whether he had contemplated attaching the cord to a radiator and leaping or hanging himself. It reported that a book, "An Anthology of World Poetry," lay open on his radiator to the poem "Chorus from Ajax," with the lines "When reason's day sets rayless, joyless, quenched in cold decay, better to die and sleep" (the dispatch's dashes rendered here as commas) Per Rear Admiral [[Leslie Stone]], the hospital commandant, and the official statement, as the AP reported them, Forrestal had declined his usual sedative that evening, left his room by a door onto the corridor, avoiding the second room of the suite where a doctor was on duty, crossed to the diet kitchen and knotted the cord about his throat; the windows of the room had been enclosed with heavy wire screening. The AP reported that he had entered the hospital seven weeks earlier with "nervous exhaustion resulting from overwork," had been described as greatly improved and permitted visitors and free use of the telephone, and had been visited by Truman on May 6 according to the [[White House]]; that Willcutts ordered a Navy board of inquiry; and that the board was to determine "among other things" why Forrestal was left unattended long enough to reach the window.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The AP dispatch of October 11, 1949, printed in the Cumberland News of [[Cumberland, Maryland]] on October 12 under the headline "Navy Cleared In Forrestal Death," reported that the Navy court of inquiry found the death "was not caused in any manner by the intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency of any person or persons in the naval service or connected therewith." It stated that Forrestal was admitted on April 2 with "operational fatigue" according to Navy doctors, that the findings were released by Navy Secretary [[Francis P. Matthews]] without explanation of a delay of more than four months, and that a five-man board convened on May 23 on Willcutts's orders and concluded its hearings on May 30, after which the report was drawn.[^6] The Mudd Library scan records that the board reconvened and revised its finding on July 13, 1949 (see below); the AP report states that the hearings concluded on May 30 and does not mention the July session.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -75,11 +99,15 @@ The AP dispatch of October 11, 1949, printed in the Cumberland News of [[Cumberl
|
|||
|
||||
The Mudd Library finding aid for the Rogow Papers on Forrestal states that files on the 1949 board of investigation, "popularly called the 'Willcutts Report,'" are online on the Mudd Library website under the title "Admiral M.D. Willcutts Report on the Death of James V. Forrestal."[^7] The Forrestal Papers finding aid lists a folder, "Willcutts Report on Forrestal's Death" (Box 94, Folder 11), with a digitized scan of 65 images, which includes a [[Judge Advocate General of the Navy|Judge Advocate General's]] cover letter of April 6, 2004 to a [[David Martin (Chantilly)|David Martin]] of [[Chantilly, Virginia]], replying to a [[Freedom of Information Act]] request of March 5, 2004. The letter encloses a copy of the Board of Investigation (309 pages, of which 100 were charged free) and states that exhibit 1 (photographs of the body), exhibit 4 and exhibit 5 (photographs of injuries) were withheld under the privacy exemption of 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6).[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The precept of May 22, 1949, signed by Rear Admiral M. D. Willcutts, Medical Officer in Command of the National Naval Medical Center, named Captain [[A. A. Marsteller]], Medical Corps (retired, on active duty), as senior member, Captains [[Vincent Hernandez]] and [[Harold J. Cokely]], Commander [[William W. Ayres]] and Lieutenant Commander [[James D. Wharton]] as members and Lieutenant [[Robert F. Hooper]] as recorder. The board met on Monday, May 23 at 11:15 a.m. with closed doors, examined the body at the morgue, viewed rooms 1618 and 1620 (the room and the diet kitchen on the sixteenth floor of the tower) and the roof where the body landed, and took testimony beginning May 24.[^2] A photographer's mate testified to taking ten photographs of the body, and a hospital corpsman chief to eleven photographs of the room and building, among them one of a rug with broken glass about two feet from the end of the bed in room 1618.[^2]
|
||||
The precept of May 22, 1949, signed by Rear Admiral M. D. Willcutts, Medical Officer in Command of the National Naval Medical Center, named Captain [[A. A. Marsteller]] (typed in the precept as Aolpfar A. Marsteller), Medical Corps (retired, on active duty), as senior member, Captains [[Vincent Hernandez]] and [[Harold J. Cokely]], Commander [[William W. Ayres]] and Lieutenant Commander [[James D. Wharton]] as members and Lieutenant [[Robert F. Hooper]] as recorder. The board met on Monday, May 23 at 11:45 a.m. with closed doors, examined the body at the morgue, viewed rooms 1618 and 1620 (the room and the diet kitchen on the sixteenth floor of the tower) and the roof where the body landed, and took testimony beginning May 24.[^2] Aviation photographer's mate first class Harley F. Cope Jr. of the Naval Medical School testified to taking ten photographs of the body, exhibits 1A through 1J, between three and three-fifteen, of "somebody who had fallen from the sixteenth floor to the outside of the third deck." Hospital corpsman chief John Edward McClain, an instructor in medical photography, testified to eleven photographs of the room, the diet kitchen and the outside of the building, exhibits 2A through 2K. He described the fifth as "a rug with some broken glass on it, taken approximately two feet from the end of the bed" in room 1618, adding that the bed could not be photographed "because the glass wouldn't show"; he said that the window screen opened only to a limited distance, that one picture was taken standing on a chair in the diet kitchen with a man pushing the screen back "for finger prints," and that the body landed on a roof "like in proportion to the second floor" below a ledge of the third floor. The board's record notes that the body landed "on the roof of the second deck, on a level with the third deck, striking first a ledge of the fourth deck."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Captain Raines testified that Forrestal was admitted at about five in the afternoon on Saturday, April 2, 1949. He described a flight on March 31 with Admiral [[John Gingrich]] to [[Stuart, Florida]], a meeting at Robert Lovett's house with Lovett and [[Artemus Gates]], and the arrival of Eberstadt with [[William C. Menninger]] at Hobe Sound; Raines said that Forrestal had told Menninger he tried to hang himself with a belt, that he and Menninger doubted it, that Forrestal had named sleeping pills and hanging as the two means he would use, and that Forrestal had once sent him a concealed razor blade. Raines said Forrestal's stated means had not included a window, and referred to the bathrobe cord.[^2] The Charlotte News editor's note reproduces parts of the same colloquy.[^4]
|
||||
The record's index lists the later witnesses, with transcript pages: Captain Raines (pp. 5 to 14 and 56 to 60), Commander John Nardini (14 to 18), Commander David Hightower (18 to 23), Commander Robert Reynolds Deen (23 to 28), Captain Stephen Smith (29 to 33), hospitalman second class William Eliades (34 to 36), Lieutenant (junior grade) Willie Ray Barnett of the Medical Service Corps (36 and 37), hospitalman chief John Lawrence Mego (37 and 38), Rear Admiral Leslie Stone (38 and 39), Captain Bartholomew W. Hogan (39), Lieutenant (junior grade) Francis Whitney Westneat (40 and 41), junior hospital apprentice Robert Wayne Harrison (43 to 46) and hospital apprentice Edward William Price (47 and 48), with further nurse, apprentice and officer witnesses to p. 55. The file read ends at transcript p. 29, the first page of Smith's testimony, so the testimony of the corpsmen at pp. 34 to 48, including Harrison and Price, is not in it; the passage Hugh Turley quoted below could not be checked against the page.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The board's finding of facts states that Forrestal died "on or about May 22, 1949" of "injuries, multiple, extreme, received incident to a fall from a high point in the tower," that his behavior in the hospital "was indicative of a mental depression," that treatment and precautions accorded with accepted psychiatric practice, and that the death was not caused by "the intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency" of any person in the naval service. The Secretary of the Navy returned the record in an endorsement stating that "on or about" was ambiguous and "ill advised," since it might imply that Forrestal could have fallen before midnight without the staff knowing; the board reconvened on July 13, 1949 and changed the finding to "about 1:50 a.m. on May 22, 1949," and Willcutts approved the proceedings in revision the same day. Letters in the folder from [[Winfred Overholser]], [[John C. Whitehorn]] and [[Edward A. Strecker]] to the Judge Advocate General state their agreement with the findings.[^2]
|
||||
Commander Hightower, testified (pp. 19 to 21 of the record) that on Friday night, May 20, he checked with the corpsman at about nine o'clock and was told Forrestal was sleeping, that Forrestal slept through that night without medication, and that on Saturday morning he visited with a friend from New York, a "Mister Strieffler," whom Raines had said on Thursday night would visit.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Captain Raines testified that Forrestal was admitted at about five in the afternoon on Saturday, April 2, 1949. He described a flight on March 31 with Admiral [[John Gingrich]] to [[Stuart, Florida]], a meeting at Robert Lovett's house with Lovett and [[Artemus Gates]], and the arrival of Eberstadt with [[William C. Menninger]] at Hobe Sound; Raines said (pp. 5 to 6) that he took the call from the Surgeon General at about noon on Thursday, March 31, landed at Stuart at about eight in the evening, remained "completely out of the picture" because Forrestal had chosen Menninger as his physician, and accepted him as a patient on April 2; he also said (p. 10) that Forrestal had told Menninger he tried to hang himself with a belt, that he and Menninger doubted it, that Forrestal had named sleeping pills and hanging as the two means he would use, and that Forrestal had once sent him a concealed razor blade. Raines said Forrestal's stated means had not included a window, and referred to the bathrobe cord.[^2] The Charlotte News editor's note reproduces parts of the same colloquy.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The board's finding of facts (five numbered findings, the first placing the body "on the ledge outside of room three eighty-four of building one" at 1:50 a.m. and pronouncing death at 1:55 a.m., "Sunday, May 22, 1949") states that Forrestal died "on or about May 22, 1949" of "injuries, multiple, extreme, received incident to a fall from a high point in the tower," that his behavior in the hospital "was indicative of a mental depression," that treatment and precautions accorded with accepted psychiatric practice, and that the death was not caused by "the intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency" of any person in the naval service. The Secretary of the Navy returned the record in an endorsement stating that "on or about" was ambiguous and "ill advised," since it might imply that Forrestal could have fallen before midnight without the staff knowing; the board reconvened on July 13, 1949 and changed the finding to "about 1:50 a.m. on May 22, 1949," and Willcutts approved the proceedings in revision the same day. Letters in the folder from [[Winfred Overholser]], [[John C. Whitehorn]] and [[Edward A. Strecker]] to the Judge Advocate General state their agreement with the findings.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Hugh Turley]], writing for the [[Hyattsville Life and Times]], stated in 2009 that the [[History News Network]] announced the report's availability in 2004, and that the report offers "new evidence of a struggle in Forrestal's room" in the form of broken glass found on the bed and photographed on the floor. Turley wrote that the transcribed testimony of a corpsman, asked when he last saw Forrestal, was "one forty-five, sir," that Forrestal "was in his bed sleeping," and that the corpsman was in the room; he wrote that the report says nothing of the book of poetry, that the board "did not comment on why the sash" of Forrestal's dressing gown "was around his neck," and that the report "did not conclude Forrestal committed suicide." Turley's article reports that the historians [[Keith W. Olson]] and [[Martin J. Sherwin]] were invited to comment: Olson said "the need for such a study is obvious," and Sherwin wrote "I have always thought Forrestal committed suicide, but this is not because I investigated the manner of his death." Turley's own inference, in the article, is that the report indicates assassination.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -90,7 +118,7 @@ The Eisenhower briefing document, dated November 18, 1952, lists Secretary James
|
|||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Princeton University Library, "James V. Forrestal Papers, 1907-1958 (mostly 1940-1949)," MC051, collection creator biography, collection history, immediate source of acquisition and series 1 folder list, https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC051.xml (EAD export, opened 2026-10-03).
|
||||
[^2]: "Willcutts Report on Forrestal's Death," Forrestal Papers, Box 94, Folder 11, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, digitized at Princeton Figgy (IIIF manifest https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/97bd9b5d-cc16-4f8c-94bf-0763b7228def/manifest), finding aid entry https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC051_c04531. Page images (Judge Advocate General letter of April 6, 2004; precept of May 22, 1949; findings; endorsements of June and July 1949; testimony) read directly for the precept and findings pages and by machine OCR for the remainder; names in the testimony transcribed from OCR and not individually verified against the images.
|
||||
[^2]: "Willcutts Report on Forrestal's Death," Forrestal Papers, Box 94, Folder 11, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, digitized at Princeton Figgy (IIIF manifest https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/97bd9b5d-cc16-4f8c-94bf-0763b7228def/manifest), finding aid entry https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC051_c04531. Page images (Judge Advocate General letter of April 6, 2004; precept of May 22, 1949; findings; endorsements of June and July 1949; testimony) read directly for the precept and findings pages and by machine OCR for the remainder; the precept, first-day record, the first witnesses (Cope, McClain, Raines and Hightower, transcript pp. 2 to 21) and the index were re-read from page images on October 3, 2026 and agree with the text above except that the board met at 11:45 a.m. (an earlier version of this page said 11:15); the PDF supplied by the vault owner has 66 pages and stops at transcript p. 29.
|
||||
[^3]: FBI, "Majestic 12," file 65-81170, Part 01, pages reproducing the Eisenhower briefing document and the Truman memorandum, https://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic%2012/Majestic%2012%20Part%2001%20%28Final%29/at_download/file (Wayback copy used; page images not machine readable; wording cross-checked against the existing Majestic-12 page).
|
||||
[^4]: Site editor's note on The Charlotte News, Monday, May 23, 1949, W. J. Cash site, https://www.wjcash.org/WJCash17/Charlotte.News.Articles/5-23-49.htm (a modern summary quoting the board testimony, not the 1949 page).
|
||||
[^5]: "Forrestal Death Leap / Ex-Defense Sec'y Jumps from 16th Story Hospital Window," Associated Press, Washington, May 22 dateline, Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine), May 23, 1949, p. 1, https://www.newspapers.com/image/857767711/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
52
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Fox (filmmaker).md
Normal file
52
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Fox (filmmaker).md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Filmmaker
|
||||
- Documentary
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- James Fox
|
||||
- James Fox (filmmaker)
|
||||
- James Fox (documentary filmmaker)
|
||||
- James Fox (director)
|
||||
summary: "Documentary filmmaker who directed UFOs: 50 Years of Denial?, Out of the Blue, I Know What I Saw, The Phenomenon (2020), Moment of Contact (2022) and The Program (2024)."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[The Phenomenon (2020 film)]]"
|
||||
role: "director and producer; studio listed as CE3 LLC; released October 6, 2020"
|
||||
start: 2020
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[The Program (2024 film)]]"
|
||||
role: "director and producer with Lance Mungia; executive producers Jim Martin and Henry Marx of Lab 9 Films; sales by Verve Ventures"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James Fox is an American documentary filmmaker whose features on unidentified flying objects include "Out of the Blue," broadcast on the [[Sci-Fi Channel]], "I Know What I Saw," broadcast on the [[History (TV channel)|History channel]], and "UFOs: 50 Years of Denial?"; an October 19, 2020 item on [[Open Minds]] by [[Alejandro Rojas]] describes him as executive producer and director of those films and calls "[[The Phenomenon]]" his "fourth UFO documentary."[^4] In a 2024 statement he said "I've been making films on the topic of UFOs (now referred to as UAP) since the early 1990s."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Phenomenon, 2020
|
||||
|
||||
[[Apple TV]] lists "The Phenomenon" (2020, 1 hour 40 minutes, narrated by [[Peter Coyote]], studio "CE3 LLC") with Fox as director and producer, [[Dan Farah]], [[Marc Barasch]], [[Hanson Tse]] and [[Tony Cataldo]] as producers, and appearances by [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Kim Arnold]] and [[George Knapp]].[^1] The Open Minds item quotes [[Harry Reid]] as saying "The Phenomenon makes the incredible credible."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Moment of Contact, 2022
|
||||
|
||||
Apple TV lists "Moment of Contact" (2022, 1 hour 47 minutes), on the 1996 events at [[Varginha UFO incident|Varginha]], [[Brazil]], with Fox as director and interviews with [[Stanton Friedman]], [[Brazilian Air Force]] general José Carlos Pereira and the Brazilian researcher [[Ademar José Gevaerd]].[^5] A 2025 follow-up, "Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters," is listed in the same catalog.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Program, 2024
|
||||
|
||||
[[The Hollywood Reporter]] reported on September 25, 2024 that Fox directed "The Program," "exploring the unprecedented bipartisan congressional effort to uncover what intelligence agencies really know about UFOs, now referred to as UAP," narrated by Coyote, produced by Fox and [[Lance Mungia]], with [[Jim Martin]] and [[Henry Marx]] of [[Lab 9 Films]] as executive producers, and [[Verve Ventures]] "handling sales," with the film "set to screen for buyers."[^2] Interviewees named in that report were Christopher Mellon (described as the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence), [[Garry Nolan]] of [[Stanford University]], [[Jason Sands]] ("a master sergeant in the [[U.S. Air Force|United States Air Force]]"), [[Craig Lindsay]], [[Nick Pope]], Representatives [[Andre Carson]] and [[Tim Burchett]], Senator Harry Reid and [[Kirk McConnell]], formerly of the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]].[^2] [[The Oxford Eagle]] reported on December 10, 2024 that "The Program" would be released on December 16, 2024 on Apple TV, [[Amazon Prime Video|Amazon Prime]], [[Hulu]] and [[Vimeo]], with [[Percy Townes]], an [[University of Mississippi|Ole Miss]] alumnus, as associate producer.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In a December 18, 2024 interview Fox described attending a congressional hearing weeks earlier at which Rear Admiral [[Tim Gallaudet]] testified, said he had been "told" the plan "is to at least disclose the fact that we have definitive proof that we're not alone by 2030," and, in the interviewer's paraphrase, said his research indicated the Department of Energy oversees many unacknowledged special access programs.[^7] He also recounted a conversation with a general who said "we have overwhelming data" of "structured craft of unknown origin."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Apple TV, "The Phenomenon," credits and studio listing. https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/the-phenomenon/umc.cmc.e8djkr1rhg7vubj9zgnv7b0a
|
||||
[^2]: Mia Galuppo, "UFO Doc 'The Program' From James Fox (Exclusive)," The Hollywood Reporter, September 25, 2024. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ufo-doc-the-program-james-fox-1236011733/
|
||||
[^4]: Alejandro Rojas, "Rojas Report: Filmmaker James Fox on new documentary The Phenomenon," Open Minds, October 19, 2020. https://openminds.tv/rojas-report-filmmaker-james-fox-on-new-documentary-the-phenomenon/
|
||||
[^5]: Apple TV, "Moment of Contact." https://tv.apple.com/movie/umc.cmc.eq4hi5uneea0v3a7e1sqrq9f
|
||||
[^6]: Staff report, "Director James Fox, Ole Miss alumnus Percy Townes to release UFO documentary," The Oxford Eagle, December 10, 2024. https://oxfordeagle.com/?p=162243
|
||||
[^7]: Higgypop, "Interview: James Fox's New Documentary 'The Program' Explores The 'Unprecedented' Push For Disclosure," December 18, 2024. https://www.higgypop.com/news/james-fox-interview/
|
||||
|
|
@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Gratitude America]]"
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
role: "private charity; paid Leon Botstein 37,500 dollars a quarter in 2016"
|
||||
fn: 69
|
||||
fn: 70
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
|
||||
start: 1998
|
||||
|
|
@ -88,27 +88,27 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[World Transhumanist Association]]"
|
||||
start: 2010
|
||||
role: "20,000 dollars"
|
||||
fn: 59
|
||||
fn: 60
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
role: "50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute through the C.O.U.Q. Foundation"
|
||||
fn: 59
|
||||
fn: 60
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-08-08
|
||||
role: "co-executor under the will"
|
||||
fn: 120
|
||||
fn: 121
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-08-08
|
||||
role: "co-executor under the will"
|
||||
fn: 120
|
||||
fn: 121
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Boris Nikolic]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-08-08
|
||||
role: "backup executor under the will"
|
||||
fn: 120
|
||||
fn: 121
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
|
|
@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 2019
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
role: "United States v. Epstein, 19 Cr. 490"
|
||||
fn: 111
|
||||
fn: 112
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Jay Lefkowitz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
|
|
@ -167,25 +167,25 @@ relations:
|
|||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2011
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
fn: 85
|
||||
fn: 86
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Reid Weingarten]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2019
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
fn: 112
|
||||
fn: 113
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Fernich]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2019
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
fn: 112
|
||||
fn: 113
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Mark Epstein]]"
|
||||
role: "brother"
|
||||
fn: 89
|
||||
fn: 90
|
||||
created: 2026-06-18
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jeffrey Epstein (January 20, 1953 to August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted sex offender who, with his companion [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], ran a sex-trafficking operation that recruited and abused dozens of underage girls across his residences in [[Manhattan]], [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[New Mexico]], the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], and [[Paris]]. He built a social and financial network that encompassed technology billionaires ([[Peter Thiel]], [[Bill Gates]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Reid Hoffman]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]]), heads of state and politicians ([[Bill Clinton]], [[Ehud Barak]], [[Prince Andrew]], [[Donald Trump]]), diplomats and intelligence officials ([[William Burns]], [[Vitaly Churkin]]), financiers and executives ([[Leslie Wexner]], [[Leon Black]], [[Tom Pritzker]], [[Howard Lutnick]]), and prominent scientists ([[Martin Nowak]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[George Church]], [[Stephen Hawking]]) brokered through the literary agent [[John Brockman]]. The source of his fortune was never satisfactorily explained, his long association with [[Robert Maxwell|Robert Maxwell's]] daughter raised documented intelligence questions, and his death in federal custody in 2019 was ruled a suicide over disputes that have not been resolved.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
|
@ -290,125 +290,125 @@ From the late 1990s Epstein financed and embedded himself in elite science throu
|
|||
|
||||
Epstein cultivated scientists including Marvin Minsky of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], the geneticist George Church, the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]], and the cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. He funded Minsky's April 2002 St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium and a December 2011 conference, and in March 2006, four months before his indictment, the "Confronting Gravity" conference in St. Thomas organized by Krauss, with about twenty physicists including Stephen Hawking and three Nobel laureates, and a barbecue on Little St. James.[^18][^57][^58]
|
||||
|
||||
After President [[Drew Faust]] barred further Epstein gifts no later than November 2008, donors Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars between 2010 and 2015: 7.5 million dollars for Nowak's program (500,000 dollars from the [[Falconwood Foundation]] in 2010, and 7 million dollars from Leon Black, [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]] in 2011, 2014 and 2015) and 2 million dollars from Black for Church. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein had been a trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997 until, according to Black's representative, July 2007; Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein." Black also gave 2 million dollars to Krauss's Origins Project at [[Arizona State University]] in 2014 and 2015, where one accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|Enhanced Education]]," and, by the account of internal [[MIT Media Lab]] emails, 5.5 million dollars to the Media Lab in 2014 at Epstein's direction.[^55][^59][^60][^61]
|
||||
After President [[Drew Faust]] barred further Epstein gifts no later than November 2008, donors Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars between 2010 and 2015: 7.5 million dollars for Nowak's program (500,000 dollars from the [[Falconwood Foundation]] in 2010, and 7 million dollars from Leon Black, [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]] in 2011, 2014 and 2015) and 2 million dollars from Black for Church. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein had been a trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997 until, according to Black's representative, July 2007; Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein." On October 16, 2015, an itinerary sent to Epstein for a Cambridge visit listed a 2 p.m. meeting at Nowak's institute with the Harvard mathematician [[Shing-Tung Yau]]; on October 20, 2015, the physicist [[Andrew Strominger]] wrote to Epstein that a Black Hole Center with [[Avi Loeb]] "needs a 50 million endowment," and on February 17, 2016, Yau asked Epstein's assistant whether Epstein's friends would fund a black hole center, which "will take twenty million dollars."[^59] Black also gave 2 million dollars to Krauss's Origins Project at [[Arizona State University]] in 2014 and 2015, where one accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|Enhanced Education]]," and, by the account of internal [[MIT Media Lab]] emails, 5.5 million dollars to the Media Lab in 2014 at Epstein's direction.[^55][^60][^61][^62]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's interest in genetics and population converged with a stated ambition to spread his own DNA. The 2019 New York Times report documented that he told scientists of plans to impregnate women at Zorro Ranch to seed the human race with his genome, and that he was drawn to [[transhumanism]] and [[eugenics]]. In 2010, after his conviction, Epstein gave 20,000 dollars to the [[World Transhumanist Association]] (Humanity+), and in 2009 his C.O.U.Q. Foundation gave 50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, now the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]. In 2014 he and Church formed an investment company, Georgarage, incorporated in Delaware by Darren Indyke, after Church sent Epstein a ten-stage, 10 million dollar investment plan that included "Supercentenarianstudy.com," reversing aging and "cold-resistant elephants." Epstein discussed Georgarage stakes in the xenotransplant company eGenesis, the gene-editing company Androcyte (where, its founder said, Epstein proposed becoming board chairman), and a California sequencing firm; no investment was completed. Androcyte's assets passed in 2017 to BetterHumans, which describes itself as "the world's first specifically-transhumanist bio-medical research organization." In 2013 Epstein's cells were sampled into Church's Personal Genome Project and cell lines were created, over staff objections to an attempt to expedite his sample. After his 2019 arrest, Church apologized for continued contact.[^18][^59][^62][^63]
|
||||
Epstein's interest in genetics and population converged with a stated ambition to spread his own DNA. The 2019 New York Times report documented that he told scientists of plans to impregnate women at Zorro Ranch to seed the human race with his genome, and that he was drawn to [[transhumanism]] and [[eugenics]]. In 2010, after his conviction, Epstein gave 20,000 dollars to the [[World Transhumanist Association]] (Humanity+), and in 2009 his C.O.U.Q. Foundation gave 50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, now the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]. In 2014 he and Church formed an investment company, Georgarage, incorporated in Delaware by Darren Indyke, after Church sent Epstein a ten-stage, 10 million dollar investment plan that included "Supercentenarianstudy.com," reversing aging and "cold-resistant elephants." Epstein discussed Georgarage stakes in the xenotransplant company eGenesis, the gene-editing company Androcyte (where, its founder said, Epstein proposed becoming board chairman), and a California sequencing firm; no investment was completed. Androcyte's assets passed in 2017 to BetterHumans, which describes itself as "the world's first specifically-transhumanist bio-medical research organization." In 2013 Epstein's cells were sampled into Church's Personal Genome Project and cell lines were created, over staff objections to an attempt to expedite his sample. After his 2019 arrest, Church apologized for continued contact.[^18][^60][^63][^64]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's publicists worked to attach his name to the institutions he funded. In mid-2013 his publicist asked Nowak's program for links because "a link on Harvard's network would be very helpful," and in 2014 obtained a "Friends" page on the program's website on which Epstein was the only entry, because "it would be very helpful in terms of Google results if his name were attached to a Harvard.edu url." In a 2012 email a person whose name is redacted in the Justice Department release told Epstein that press releases about Nowak's work had been placed with major outlets, with more planned on Church and others, in an effort to push "the bad stuff" off the first page of search results; Epstein replied that "ther[e] should be an article a day or every two days." In 2015 an Epstein foundation letter falsely told the [[John Templeton Foundation]] that Enhanced Education had funded Nowak's program since 2003, securing matching conditions for a 1.5 million dollar grant; Harvard's review found that Nowak and his administrator "provided false information."[^55][^62]
|
||||
Epstein's publicists worked to attach his name to the institutions he funded. In mid-2013 his publicist asked Nowak's program for links because "a link on Harvard's network would be very helpful," and in 2014 obtained a "Friends" page on the program's website on which Epstein was the only entry, because "it would be very helpful in terms of Google results if his name were attached to a Harvard.edu url." In a 2012 email a person whose name is redacted in the Justice Department release told Epstein that press releases about Nowak's work had been placed with major outlets, with more planned on Church and others, in an effort to push "the bad stuff" off the first page of search results; Epstein replied that "ther[e] should be an article a day or every two days." In 2015 an Epstein foundation letter falsely told the [[John Templeton Foundation]] that Enhanced Education had funded Nowak's program since 2003, securing matching conditions for a 1.5 million dollar grant; Harvard's review found that Nowak and his administrator "provided false information."[^55][^63]
|
||||
|
||||
The MIT Media Lab director [[Joi Ito]] resigned on September 7, 2019 over revelations, reported by [[Ronan Farrow]], that the lab had concealed Epstein's donations. Farrow reported, citing internal documents and the former development associate [[Signe Swenson]], that Epstein was listed as "disqualified" in MIT's donor database and that the Media Lab recorded his gifts as anonymous. MIT's investigators at [[Goodwin Procter]] wrote that "neither Epstein nor his foundations was ever coded as 'disqualified,'" a code it said denotes dormant donors, while confirming that MIT's senior team (General Counsel R. Gregory Morgan, Vice President Jeffrey Newton and Treasurer Israel Ruiz) approved the anonymous-gift framework in June 2013: "We do not want his name appearing on any list of supporters or donors in any form."[^60][^64]
|
||||
The MIT Media Lab director [[Joi Ito]] resigned on September 7, 2019 over revelations, reported by [[Ronan Farrow]], that the lab had concealed Epstein's donations. Farrow reported, citing internal documents and the former development associate [[Signe Swenson]], that Epstein was listed as "disqualified" in MIT's donor database and that the Media Lab recorded his gifts as anonymous. MIT's investigators at [[Goodwin Procter]] wrote that "neither Epstein nor his foundations was ever coded as 'disqualified,'" a code it said denotes dormant donors, while confirming that MIT's senior team (General Counsel R. Gregory Morgan, Vice President Jeffrey Newton and Treasurer Israel Ruiz) approved the anonymous-gift framework in June 2013: "We do not want his name appearing on any list of supporters or donors in any form."[^61][^65]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Post-Conviction Network
|
||||
|
||||
After the 2008 plea Epstein rebuilt his social and business standing and continued to broker access among the wealthy and powerful. On December 2, 2010, seventeen months after his release, he hosted a small dinner for Prince Andrew, who was staying at the Manhattan house; the publicist [[Peggy Siegal]] organized it and listed the guests as Andrew, [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]], [[Katie Couric]] and [[George Stephanopoulos]], describing the house as "one [of] the largest single dwellings in New York."[^65]
|
||||
After the 2008 plea Epstein rebuilt his social and business standing and continued to broker access among the wealthy and powerful. On December 2, 2010, seventeen months after his release, he hosted a small dinner for Prince Andrew, who was staying at the Manhattan house; the publicist [[Peggy Siegal]] organized it and listed the guests as Andrew, [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]], [[Katie Couric]] and [[George Stephanopoulos]], describing the house as "one [of] the largest single dwellings in New York."[^66]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Wall Street Journal]] reporting on his recovered calendars documented post-conviction meetings with [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], Tom Pritzker and William Burns. Burns met Epstein three times in 2014 while serving as [[Deputy Secretary of State]]; the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] spokeswoman [[Tammy Kupperman Thorp]] said in 2023 that Burns remembered "meeting Epstein once briefly in New York." Ruemmler, the [[Barack Obama]] administration's [[White House Counsel]] from 2011 to 2014, had more than three dozen appointments with Epstein between 2014 and 2019; Epstein's staff asked him twice whether young women should be kept out of the townhouse while she was there. On January 8, 2015 she wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?" Ruemmler told the Journal: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein." Chomsky had 270,000 dollars moved through Epstein's office.[^66][^67][^68]
|
||||
The [[Wall Street Journal]] reporting on his recovered calendars documented post-conviction meetings with [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], Tom Pritzker and William Burns. Burns met Epstein three times in 2014 while serving as [[Deputy Secretary of State]]; the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] spokeswoman [[Tammy Kupperman Thorp]] said in 2023 that Burns remembered "meeting Epstein once briefly in New York." Ruemmler, the [[Barack Obama]] administration's [[White House Counsel]] from 2011 to 2014, had more than three dozen appointments with Epstein between 2014 and 2019; Epstein's staff asked him twice whether young women should be kept out of the townhouse while she was there. On January 8, 2015 she wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?" Ruemmler told the Journal: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein." Chomsky had 270,000 dollars moved through Epstein's office.[^67][^68][^69]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's charity [[Gratitude America]], whose operating account was at [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas, paid the president of [[Bard College]], [[Leon Botstein]], in quarterly checks; one dated August 1, 2016, for 37,500 dollars payable to "Leon Botstein," bears the memo "3rd Quarterly Payment of 4." Deutsche Bank later produced the check images to federal prosecutors in New York. Bard said the 150,000 dollars was compensation for a year on the foundation's board as a music expert, and Botstein said he gave it to the college as part of a one million dollar gift that year: "I didn't benefit personally at all."[^69]
|
||||
Epstein's charity [[Gratitude America]], whose operating account was at [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas, paid the president of [[Bard College]], [[Leon Botstein]], in quarterly checks; one dated August 1, 2016, for 37,500 dollars payable to "Leon Botstein," bears the memo "3rd Quarterly Payment of 4." Deutsche Bank later produced the check images to federal prosecutors in New York. Bard said the 150,000 dollars was compensation for a year on the foundation's board as a music expert, and Botstein said he gave it to the college as part of a one million dollar gift that year: "I didn't benefit personally at all."[^70]
|
||||
|
||||
In an iMessage exchange of August 23, 2018 exported from a device whose owner's name is redacted, the contact saved as "Steve Bannon" wrote, "Do u have access that's not the front door," adding that "they have 24/7 surveillance on u," and, asked who was watching, "Don't know but real folks costing lot of coin." The account holder proposed meeting at "301 East 66," adding "I don't like he regency as it is totally wired" and "There is also a rear entrance on 67"; that evening he wrote, "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," proposed "a private screening of dharma for the power players. . . . Non of my fingerprints," referring to [[Errol Morris]]'s documentary on Bannon, and later wrote: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country , and then fake the heart attack." [[Steve Bannon]] confirmed to the New York Times in 2021 that he had recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Epstein for a documentary that was never released.[^70]
|
||||
In an iMessage exchange of August 23, 2018 exported from a device whose owner's name is redacted, the contact saved as "Steve Bannon" wrote, "Do u have access that's not the front door," adding that "they have 24/7 surveillance on u," and, asked who was watching, "Don't know but real folks costing lot of coin." The account holder proposed meeting at "301 East 66," adding "I don't like he regency as it is totally wired" and "There is also a rear entrance on 67"; that evening he wrote, "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," proposed "a private screening of dharma for the power players. . . . Non of my fingerprints," referring to [[Errol Morris]]'s documentary on Bannon, and later wrote: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country , and then fake the heart attack." [[Steve Bannon]] confirmed to the New York Times in 2021 that he had recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Epstein for a documentary that was never released.[^71]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 8, 2016, in reply to Epstein's question "who attends," Pritzker sent him the membership of the [[Aspen Strategy Group]]: "Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama NSA), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers (MI6), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura." [[John Sawers]] had been chief of MI6.[^71]
|
||||
On August 8, 2016, in reply to Epstein's question "who attends," Pritzker sent him the membership of the [[Aspen Strategy Group]]: "Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama [[NSA]]), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers (MI6), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura." [[John Sawers]] had been chief of MI6.[^72]
|
||||
|
||||
Justice Department releases record a dinner on August 2, 2015 at the Baume restaurant in [[Palo Alto]], which the organizers bought out, whose confirmed attendees were [[Ed Boyden]], Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerberg, [[Priscilla Chan]], Peter Thiel, Epstein, Elon Musk and Joi Ito. On August 12, 2010 a correspondent whose name is redacted asked Epstein for "suggestions for an old guy. super smart / well connected that wants to continue legacy of 'old school' secret society?"; on February 6, 2016 Epstein wrote to another redacted correspondent that "peter thiel LOVED the secret socieity idea. . he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far," and received the reply ":-) let's do it."[^72][^73]
|
||||
Justice Department releases record a dinner on August 2, 2015 at the Baume restaurant in [[Palo Alto]], which the organizers bought out, whose confirmed attendees were [[Ed Boyden]], Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerberg, [[Priscilla Chan]], Peter Thiel, Epstein, Elon Musk and Joi Ito. On August 12, 2010 a correspondent whose name is redacted asked Epstein for "suggestions for an old guy. super smart / well connected that wants to continue legacy of 'old school' secret society?"; on February 6, 2016 Epstein wrote to another redacted correspondent that "peter thiel LOVED the secret socieity idea. . he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far," and received the reply ":-) let's do it."[^73][^74]
|
||||
|
||||
JPMorgan records produced in the Virgin Islands case show Epstein arranging introductions for [[Jes Staley]] to Ehud Barak, [[Peter Mandelson]] and Bill Gates, and referring Pritzker to the bank; in January 2008, months before Epstein's plea, Staley had his assistant arrange a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through [[Jamie Dimon]]'s office. Epstein arranged two consulting arrangements for Larry Summers from 2013, a paid advisory seat with the Mongolian president's office worth up to 100,000 dollars a year and a Kazakhstan economic-policy engagement for which Epstein proposed "3-5 million per year"; Summers formed LHSummers Economic Consulting LLC two months after Epstein raised the idea, and an Epstein foundation paid 14,000 dollars for his 2014 first-class airfare to Kazakhstan.[^12][^39][^74]
|
||||
JPMorgan records produced in the Virgin Islands case show Epstein arranging introductions for [[Jes Staley]] to Ehud Barak, [[Peter Mandelson]] and Bill Gates, and referring Pritzker to the bank; in January 2008, months before Epstein's plea, Staley had his assistant arrange a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through [[Jamie Dimon]]'s office. Epstein arranged two consulting arrangements for Larry Summers from 2013, a paid advisory seat with the Mongolian president's office worth up to 100,000 dollars a year and a Kazakhstan economic-policy engagement for which Epstein proposed "3-5 million per year"; Summers formed LHSummers Economic Consulting LLC two months after Epstein raised the idea, and an Epstein foundation paid 14,000 dollars for his 2014 first-class airfare to Kazakhstan.[^12][^39][^75]
|
||||
|
||||
Howard Lutnick, who in 1998 bought 11 East 71st Street from an entity that had bought it from Epstein in 1996, signed an investment contract in the advertising company Adfin four days after a December 24, 2012 lunch on Little St. James, with Epstein signing for [[Southern Trust Company]]. A calendar alert of December 20, 2012 asked: "can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE's island?" In October 2025 Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005. An FBI Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021 and filed under the Epstein child-sex-trafficking case number records an October 2020 call from a caller describing himself as a former Cantor Fitzgerald compliance employee, who alleged money laundering by Lutnick through [[BGC Partners|BGC Financial]] and [[Cantor Fitzgerald]], claimed to hold documents linking Lutnick to Epstein and Maxwell, and alleged that "Epstein also sold Lutnick a house for $10 dollars through a trust fund." The FBI's own database query for Lutnick returned 26 results in New York case files, including a closed money-laundering case and a RICO real-estate control file, and three suspicious activity reports; the form notes that "queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case." The caller's allegations are recorded in the form as his statements, without findings.[^75][^76]
|
||||
Howard Lutnick, who in 1998 bought 11 East 71st Street from an entity that had bought it from Epstein in 1996, signed an investment contract in the advertising company Adfin four days after a December 24, 2012 lunch on Little St. James, with Epstein signing for [[Southern Trust Company]]. A calendar alert of December 20, 2012 asked: "can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE's island?" In October 2025 Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005. An FBI Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021 and filed under the Epstein child-sex-trafficking case number records an October 2020 call from a caller describing himself as a former Cantor Fitzgerald compliance employee, who alleged money laundering by Lutnick through [[BGC Partners|BGC Financial]] and [[Cantor Fitzgerald]], claimed to hold documents linking Lutnick to Epstein and Maxwell, and alleged that "Epstein also sold Lutnick a house for $10 dollars through a trust fund." The FBI's own database query for Lutnick returned 26 results in New York case files, including a closed money-laundering case and a RICO real-estate control file, and three suspicious activity reports; the form notes that "queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case." The caller's allegations are recorded in the form as his statements, without findings.[^76][^77]
|
||||
|
||||
The political relationships were older and equally documented. Bill Clinton flew on the 727 more than two dozen times in the early 2000s, including a 2002 trip to Africa connected to the [[Clinton Foundation]], while denying any knowledge of Epstein's crimes or any visit to Little St. James. Prince Andrew, the [[Duke of York]], was photographed with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, settled her 2021 civil suit for a reported sum in 2022 without admitting liability, and was stripped of his royal and military titles between 2022 and 2025; an FBI New York email of June 8, 2020 asked about the status of the "MLAT request for Prince Andrew." Donald Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before a falling out, a relationship documented in flight logs, contemporaneous quotes, and a disputed 2003 birthday letter.[^66][^77][^78]
|
||||
The political relationships were older and equally documented. Bill Clinton flew on the 727 more than two dozen times in the early 2000s, including a 2002 trip to Africa connected to the [[Clinton Foundation]], while denying any knowledge of Epstein's crimes or any visit to Little St. James. Prince Andrew, the [[Duke of York]], was photographed with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, settled her 2021 civil suit for a reported sum in 2022 without admitting liability, and was stripped of his royal and military titles between 2022 and 2025; an FBI New York email of June 8, 2020 asked about the status of the "MLAT request for Prince Andrew." Donald Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before a falling out, a relationship documented in flight logs, contemporaneous quotes, and a disputed 2003 birthday letter.[^67][^78][^79]
|
||||
|
||||
### Carbyne and Ehud Barak
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein invested in the Israeli emergency-response company Reporty Homeland Security, renamed Carbyne in 2018 and chaired by Ehud Barak, through SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. In February 2019 SUM held warrants to buy 61,251 more preferred shares for 3.5 million dollars, raising its stake "from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis"; the exercise was funded by Southern Trust (2.4 million dollars) and [[NJF Capital]], formerly Montilla International Corporation (1.2 million dollars), and wired through [[Bank Leumi]]. When the bank's anti-money-laundering review asked for the "controlling person" of the limited partners, Indyke asked Epstein on March 14, 2019 whether he could confirm that Epstein was the controlling person of Southern Trust, and Epstein replied "Yes." Barak wrote to Epstein on March 11 that the disclosure demands reflected "the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes," adding: "According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy."[^79]
|
||||
Epstein invested in the Israeli emergency-response company Reporty Homeland Security, renamed Carbyne in 2018 and chaired by Ehud Barak, through SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. In February 2019 SUM held warrants to buy 61,251 more preferred shares for 3.5 million dollars, raising its stake "from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis"; the exercise was funded by Southern Trust (2.4 million dollars) and [[NJF Capital]], formerly Montilla International Corporation (1.2 million dollars), and wired through [[Bank Leumi]]. When the bank's anti-money-laundering review asked for the "controlling person" of the limited partners, Indyke asked Epstein on March 14, 2019 whether he could confirm that Epstein was the controlling person of Southern Trust, and Epstein replied "Yes." Barak wrote to Epstein on March 11 that the disclosure demands reflected "the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes," adding: "According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy."[^80]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 1, 2019, with Epstein copied, Barak sent [[Jabor Al Thani]] a presentation of Carbyne, "public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor," for the security of the 2022 World Cup in [[Qatar]]: "We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile." Jabor Al Thani asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies" and named the country manager of a Qatari security services company as his contact; Barak made Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], the point of contact. On May 21, 2018 Epstein had written to Peter Thiel: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co." In February 2019 [[Nicole Junkermann]], a co-investor, wrote to Epstein that "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is 3.9m your share, Ehud carry 1.5 m and my share 2m," in a message that also concerned a separate "China" matter which she asked whether Barak could help with.[^80][^81][^82]
|
||||
On January 1, 2019, with Epstein copied, Barak sent [[Jabor Al Thani]] a presentation of Carbyne, "public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor," for the security of the 2022 World Cup in [[Qatar]]: "We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile." Jabor Al Thani asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies" and named the country manager of a Qatari security services company as his contact; Barak made Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], the point of contact. On May 21, 2018 Epstein had written to Peter Thiel: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co." In February 2019 [[Nicole Junkermann]], a co-investor, wrote to Epstein that "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is 3.9m your share, Ehud carry 1.5 m and my share 2m," in a message that also concerned a separate "China" matter which she asked whether Barak could help with.[^81][^82][^83]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 8, 2017, as reporting broke on the lawyer [[David Boies]]'s use of former Israeli intelligence operatives, Epstein wrote to Barak: "boies said he got to the mossad guys through you? true?" and then, "Did Boies ask you to help Obtain former mossad agents to do dirty investigations. ? this is getting a lot of press." Barak replied the next morning: "Call me.. [redacted] in Paris." Barak said in February 2026: "I regret meeting him."[^14][^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Vitaly Churkin
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's iMessage exchanges with Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative to the [[United Nations]], run from November 2015 to January 10, 2017. Epstein wrote in December 2015 "Oil now at the 36 $ level I suggested," and in February 2016 "Good work on Syria , markets will continue bad." He offered Churkin meals with Barak and Summers, introduced "my very close friend Tom Pritzker," and mentioned that "thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me," a reference to [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], then Secretary General of the [[Council of Europe]]. He arranged work for Churkin's son: "Any maxim help is confidential," then "First job confirmed to start day after Labor Day," and later "Maxim is scoring good grades . Thought u should know." On August 29, 2016 Epstein hosted a lunch for Barak, [[Tom Barrack]] and Churkin. Their last exchange arranged a lunch on January 10, 2017. Churkin died in New York on February 20, 2017; Epstein's office scheduled calls and a meeting with his son through August 2017.[^83]
|
||||
Epstein's iMessage exchanges with Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative to the [[United Nations]], run from November 2015 to January 10, 2017. Epstein wrote in December 2015 "Oil now at the 36 $ level I suggested," and in February 2016 "Good work on Syria , markets will continue bad." He offered Churkin meals with Barak and Summers, introduced "my very close friend Tom Pritzker," and mentioned that "thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me," a reference to [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], then Secretary General of the [[Council of Europe]]. He arranged work for Churkin's son: "Any maxim help is confidential," then "First job confirmed to start day after Labor Day," and later "Maxim is scoring good grades . Thought u should know." On August 29, 2016 Epstein hosted a lunch for Barak, [[Tom Barrack]] and Churkin. Their last exchange arranged a lunch on January 10, 2017. Churkin died in New York on February 20, 2017; Epstein's office scheduled calls and a meeting with his son through August 2017.[^84]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Intelligence and Blackmail Question
|
||||
|
||||
The recurring claim that Epstein's operation served an intelligence or blackmail function rests on several documented strands and one contested central assertion. The documented strands include Ghislaine Maxwell's intelligence-linked paternity; Epstein's investment with Barak in Carbyne and his attempts to connect Barak with Peter Thiel over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]; the instrumentation of his properties with cameras; and the 2019 search of the townhouse, which recovered a safe containing compact discs, cash, diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with Epstein's photograph under another name. The contested central assertion is the claim, attributed by Vicky Ward to a former senior [[White House]] official, that Acosta had told Trump transition vetters he was given to understand Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to leave the case alone.[^50][^66]
|
||||
The recurring claim that Epstein's operation served an intelligence or blackmail function rests on several documented strands and one contested central assertion. The documented strands include Ghislaine Maxwell's intelligence-linked paternity; Epstein's investment with Barak in Carbyne and his attempts to connect Barak with Peter Thiel over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]; the instrumentation of his properties with cameras; and the 2019 search of the townhouse, which recovered a safe containing compact discs, cash, diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with Epstein's photograph under another name. The contested central assertion is the claim, attributed by Vicky Ward to a former senior [[White House]] official, that Acosta had told Trump transition vetters he was given to understand Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to leave the case alone.[^50][^67]
|
||||
|
||||
Acosta denied the account in a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on September 19, 2025, saying he had no knowledge of whether Epstein was connected to any intelligence service. The "belonged to intelligence" quote traces to a single anonymous source. William Barr, Attorney General at the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, was asked about the account in an August 18, 2025 deposition before the committee and answered that he knew of it only from "what's ever been reported in articles over the years." He said he had "no reason to believe he was working for the CIA or any intelligence agency, and I'm dubious about claims like that," answered "No" when asked whether Epstein had been an employee, asset, or informant of any foreign service, and said that "if he was an American asset, as opposed to some businessman who shares stuff with the government, I would've heard about it from the intelligence agency." No declassified document confirms that Epstein worked for any agency of any country.[^50][^84]
|
||||
Acosta denied the account in a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on September 19, 2025, saying he had no knowledge of whether Epstein was connected to any intelligence service. The "belonged to intelligence" quote traces to a single anonymous source. William Barr, Attorney General at the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, was asked about the account in an August 18, 2025 deposition before the committee and answered that he knew of it only from "what's ever been reported in articles over the years." He said he had "no reason to believe he was working for the CIA or any intelligence agency, and I'm dubious about claims like that," answered "No" when asked whether Epstein had been an employee, asset, or informant of any foreign service, and said that "if he was an American asset, as opposed to some businessman who shares stuff with the government, I would've heard about it from the intelligence agency." No declassified document confirms that Epstein worked for any agency of any country.[^50][^85]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 2011 Epstein, through his lawyer [[Martin Weinberg]], had Privacy Act requests pending with both the FBI and the CIA for whatever records the agencies held on him. Weinberg wrote to him on July 18, 2011: "we filled out fbi privacy waiver with VI address last year, we filed CIA [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] - they have it - we need a separate privacy waiver signed in 2011 for them to fully process."[^85]
|
||||
In July 2011 Epstein, through his lawyer [[Martin Weinberg]], had Privacy Act requests pending with both the FBI and the CIA for whatever records the agencies held on him. Weinberg wrote to him on July 18, 2011: "we filled out fbi privacy waiver with VI address last year, we filed CIA [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] - they have it - we need a separate privacy waiver signed in 2011 for them to fully process."[^86]
|
||||
|
||||
The earliest known report to law enforcement came on August 29, 1996, when Maria Farmer reported to the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]]'s Sixth Precinct (complaint No. 1996-0067241, recording that Epstein "did call her and stated he was going to burn victim's painting" and "has keys to victim's apartment") and then by telephone to the FBI. She alleges that she told the Bureau of the recording devices and monitoring equipment Epstein had shown her at the New York house and of a "modeling book" of apparently underage girls kept in his safe, which Maxwell said was used in connection with Victoria's Secret; that she had been assaulted at Epstein's house in [[New Albany, Ohio]], "part of or adjacent to Les Wexner's estate," and held there by "a local Sheriff and other persons connected with Wexner"; and that the FBI hung up on her mid-sentence. FBI agents interviewed her in 2006 during the Florida investigation. The Bureau's record of the 1996 report was released on December 23, 2025. In July 2023 she and Sarah Ransome filed a 600 million dollar Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the FBI, and in May 2025 she sued the United States (No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C.)). Her complaint also records that in 1992 the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] leased Epstein a New York townhouse and sued him in 1996 after he sublet it at a profit, and that he relied in his defense on communications with an official of the Office of Foreign Missions; certain documents in that case were sealed.[^86][^87][^88]
|
||||
The earliest known report to law enforcement came on August 29, 1996, when Maria Farmer reported to the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]]'s Sixth Precinct (complaint No. 1996-0067241, recording that Epstein "did call her and stated he was going to burn victim's painting" and "has keys to victim's apartment") and then by telephone to the FBI. She alleges that she told the Bureau of the recording devices and monitoring equipment Epstein had shown her at the New York house and of a "modeling book" of apparently underage girls kept in his safe, which Maxwell said was used in connection with Victoria's Secret; that she had been assaulted at Epstein's house in [[New Albany, Ohio]], "part of or adjacent to Les Wexner's estate," and held there by "a local Sheriff and other persons connected with Wexner"; and that the FBI hung up on her mid-sentence. FBI agents interviewed her in 2006 during the Florida investigation. The Bureau's record of the 1996 report was released on December 23, 2025. In July 2023 she and Sarah Ransome filed a 600 million dollar Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the FBI, and in May 2025 she sued the United States (No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C.)). Her complaint also records that in 1992 the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] leased Epstein a New York townhouse and sued him in 1996 after he sublet it at a profit, and that he relied in his defense on communications with an official of the Office of Foreign Missions; certain documents in that case were sealed.[^87][^88][^89]
|
||||
|
||||
Accounts from victims and household staff describing cameras in the properties, combined with the 2019 recovery of compact discs and the foreign passport from the townhouse safe, are the documented basis for the inference that the operation was instrumented to generate leverage. In December 2009, five months after his release, a correspondent signing "Gmax" wrote to Epstein: "If you call I'd start by saying what ever you saw was fake and part of a blackmail scheme." No recordings of guests have been produced publicly, and no service of any country has acknowledged a relationship with Epstein. What the cameras recorded, and where any recordings went, is not established in the public record.[^17][^50][^89][^90]
|
||||
Accounts from victims and household staff describing cameras in the properties, combined with the 2019 recovery of compact discs and the foreign passport from the townhouse safe, are the documented basis for the inference that the operation was instrumented to generate leverage. In December 2009, five months after his release, a correspondent signing "Gmax" wrote to Epstein: "If you call I'd start by saying what ever you saw was fake and part of a blackmail scheme." No recordings of guests have been produced publicly, and no service of any country has acknowledged a relationship with Epstein. What the cameras recorded, and where any recordings went, is not established in the public record.[^17][^50][^90][^91]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Financial Structures and the Bank Settlements
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's finances ran through entities chartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including Financial Trust Company, incorporated in St. Thomas on November 6, 1998, and Southern Trust Company, incorporated on November 18, 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc. and renamed in September 2012, with assets of about 391 million dollars in 2015. Both obtained territorial tax benefits under the [[Economic Development Commission]] program: Financial Trust from 1999 under a certificate signed by Industrial Development Commission director [[Frandelle Gerard]], amended in 2012 over the signature of EDC chairman [[Albert Bryan]], who also signed Southern Trust's January 24, 2014 certificate. At the November 15, 2012 EDC hearing the company described its business under oath as "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics"; the Virgin Islands later alleged that Southern Trust obtained the benefits for a business it never conducted and existed to fund Epstein's criminal activity and properties. His banking ran through JPMorgan Chase, which kept him as a client until 2013, then Deutsche Bank, and also through [[BNY Mellon]]; the June 15, 2007 7.4 million dollar wire to Maxwell for her Sikorsky helicopter came from his Mellon Bank account.[^11][^12][^20][^91][^92]
|
||||
Epstein's finances ran through entities chartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including Financial Trust Company, incorporated in St. Thomas on November 6, 1998, and Southern Trust Company, incorporated on November 18, 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc. and renamed in September 2012, with assets of about 391 million dollars in 2015. Both obtained territorial tax benefits under the [[Economic Development Commission]] program: Financial Trust from 1999 under a certificate signed by Industrial Development Commission director [[Frandelle Gerard]], amended in 2012 over the signature of EDC chairman [[Albert Bryan]], who also signed Southern Trust's January 24, 2014 certificate. At the November 15, 2012 EDC hearing the company described its business under oath as "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics"; the Virgin Islands later alleged that Southern Trust obtained the benefits for a business it never conducted and existed to fund Epstein's criminal activity and properties. His banking ran through JPMorgan Chase, which kept him as a client until 2013, then Deutsche Bank, and also through [[BNY Mellon]]; the June 15, 2007 7.4 million dollar wire to Maxwell for her Sikorsky helicopter came from his Mellon Bank account.[^11][^12][^20][^92][^93]
|
||||
|
||||
Southern Trust reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017 with no visible clients and one information-technology employee. The territory's 2022 complaint stated that "virtually all" of its income came "from a single source," which paid it 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017, 85 percent of its revenue. The [[Dechert]] review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that Leon Black signed a service agreement with Southern Trust Company, Inc. on February 13, 2013 and paid Epstein 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 158 million dollars, plus 30.5 million dollars in 2017 loans from BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC; Dechert found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s staff put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent. Black's wires came from [[Bank of America]] accounts; the bank filed its first suspicious activity report on them on February 7, 2020, flagging 156 million dollars as having "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose." Black's January 20, 2023 settlement with the territory recites that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands," while disclaiming any admission of liability. Financial Trust also bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program; the shares passed to [[Southern Financial LLC]] in 2013.[^11][^12][^93][^94][^95]
|
||||
Southern Trust reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017 with no visible clients and one information-technology employee. The territory's 2022 complaint stated that "virtually all" of its income came "from a single source," which paid it 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017, 85 percent of its revenue. The [[Dechert]] review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that Leon Black signed a service agreement with Southern Trust Company, Inc. on February 13, 2013 and paid Epstein 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 158 million dollars, plus 30.5 million dollars in 2017 loans from BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC; Dechert found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s staff put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent. Black's wires came from [[Bank of America]] accounts; the bank filed its first suspicious activity report on them on February 7, 2020, flagging 156 million dollars as having "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose." Black's January 20, 2023 settlement with the territory recites that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands," while disclaiming any admission of liability. Financial Trust also bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program; the shares passed to [[Southern Financial LLC]] in 2013.[^11][^12][^94][^95][^96]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein received the working papers of Black's estate planning during the years of the Southern Trust payments. A "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring" dated October 2, 2013 covered the substitution of trust assets for a promissory note, financing against Black's art collection with "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken," the decanting of family trusts, the restructuring of Black Family Partners and other family entities, and the creation of foundations for each of Black's children. On January 21, 2014 Ada Clapp of Black Family Partners, 445 Park Avenue, sent Epstein the updated version: "Attached is what I believe you are referring to by the 9 page list. I updated to show progress." On July 24, 2017 Barry J. Cohen forwarded to Epstein a privileged [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] memorandum on "Leon Black Estate Planning," addressed by the firm to Clapp, Cohen and Brad Wechsler, with the note: "Let us know what issues you have."[^96]
|
||||
Epstein received the working papers of Black's estate planning during the years of the Southern Trust payments. A "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring" dated October 2, 2013 covered the substitution of trust assets for a promissory note, financing against Black's art collection with "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken," the decanting of family trusts, the restructuring of Black Family Partners and other family entities, and the creation of foundations for each of Black's children. On January 21, 2014 Ada Clapp of Black Family Partners, 445 Park Avenue, sent Epstein the updated version: "Attached is what I believe you are referring to by the 9 page list. I updated to show progress." On July 24, 2017 Barry J. Cohen forwarded to Epstein a privileged [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] memorandum on "Leon Black Estate Planning," addressed by the firm to Clapp, Cohen and Brad Wechsler, with the note: "Let us know what issues you have."[^97]
|
||||
|
||||
A forensic accountant retained by the Virgin Islands identified 134 JPMorgan accounts owned by Epstein or related people and entities, including accounts for Maxwell, [[Richard Kahn]], Darren Indyke, [[Harry Beller]] and Nadia Marcinkova. In September 2009 his balances were 142,867,562 dollars on the bank's internal "Wall of Cash" list. He withdrew more than 7 million dollars in cash from JPMorgan accounts from 2002 to 2013. A March 18, 2004 JPMorgan memorandum to Dimon and others described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge," the hedge fund [[Highbridge Capital Management]] that JPMorgan bought into that year. On July 20, 2011 Cutler wrote to Staley and [[Mary Erdoes]] that Epstein "should not be a client." After Epstein left the bank in 2013, Erdoes approved continued dealings with him on Black's business "as long as it was through the client accounts." JPMorgan filed seven suspicious activity reports on him totaling about 4.3 million dollars between 2002 and 2016, none covering May 2003 to September 2008; after his July 2019 arrest it filed reports on August 13, 2019 (469 wires, about 201 million dollars, including payments to women in Russia, Belarus and Turkmenistan through correspondent accounts at Russian banks including [[Sberbank]] and [[Alfa-Bank]]) and September 26, 2019 (4,725 wires, 1,081,819,653 dollars). Deutsche Bank retroactively reported more than 250 million dollars in Epstein wires after his arrest.[^12][^21][^39][^92][^97]
|
||||
A forensic accountant retained by the Virgin Islands identified 134 JPMorgan accounts owned by Epstein or related people and entities, including accounts for Maxwell, [[Richard Kahn]], Darren Indyke, [[Harry Beller]] and Nadia Marcinkova. In September 2009 his balances were 142,867,562 dollars on the bank's internal "Wall of Cash" list. He withdrew more than 7 million dollars in cash from JPMorgan accounts from 2002 to 2013. A March 18, 2004 JPMorgan memorandum to Dimon and others described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge," the hedge fund [[Highbridge Capital Management]] that JPMorgan bought into that year. On July 20, 2011 Cutler wrote to Staley and [[Mary Erdoes]] that Epstein "should not be a client." After Epstein left the bank in 2013, Erdoes approved continued dealings with him on Black's business "as long as it was through the client accounts." JPMorgan filed seven suspicious activity reports on him totaling about 4.3 million dollars between 2002 and 2016, none covering May 2003 to September 2008; after his July 2019 arrest it filed reports on August 13, 2019 (469 wires, about 201 million dollars, including payments to women in Russia, Belarus and Turkmenistan through correspondent accounts at Russian banks including [[Sberbank]] and [[Alfa-Bank]]) and September 26, 2019 (4,725 wires, 1,081,819,653 dollars). Deutsche Bank retroactively reported more than 250 million dollars in Epstein wires after his arrest.[^12][^21][^39][^93][^98]
|
||||
|
||||
After a July 22, 2019 New York Times article on Epstein's ties to Wall Street figures, JPMorgan's global head of financial crimes compliance wrote to two chief compliance officers: "Top of house requested that we expand our analysis to related parties and put together slides.... There is a highbridge angle and one dating back to Bear." The work became an internal review called "Project Jeep," whose 22-page summary of Epstein, Staley and Erdoes emails, circulated internally in October 2019, stated that "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated," and that Epstein "appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew" and "Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government," and "a close relationship with [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem|Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem]]," the chairman of [[DP World]]. The Virgin Islands argued in June 2023 that it would have asked Dimon whether the "top of house" order came from him, citing another bank email in which "top of the house ok for clients who are convicted felons" ran "to Cutler to Jaime Daimnon [sic]"; JPMorgan answered that the phrase referred to Cutler. Late-produced emails showed that the former Bear Stearns chairman Alan Greenberg had gone to Cutler "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein, and JPMorgan acknowledged that legacy Bear Stearns staff including Greenberg "may have attempted to speak with" Cutler about the policy, a decision "made by Mr. Cutler." At a January 7, 2011 meeting the head of the U.S. Private Bank, Catherine Keating, said that "no one on today's call was in favor of having retained him as a client. Seems it was all due to Jes's personal relationship"; twelve days later a JPMorgan Securities employee wrote to Epstein that "Ace would love to speak to Jeffrey." Dimon testified that the bank "did not need introductions to anybody." In August 2023 Judge [[Jed S. Rakoff]] denied the territory's request to compel production of all documents concerning "Project Jeep" or other investigations after Epstein's 2019 arrest.[^98]
|
||||
After a July 22, 2019 New York Times article on Epstein's ties to Wall Street figures, JPMorgan's global head of financial crimes compliance wrote to two chief compliance officers: "Top of house requested that we expand our analysis to related parties and put together slides.... There is a highbridge angle and one dating back to Bear." The work became an internal review called "Project Jeep," whose 22-page summary of Epstein, Staley and Erdoes emails, circulated internally in October 2019, stated that "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated," and that Epstein "appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew" and "Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government," and "a close relationship with [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem|Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem]]," the chairman of [[DP World]]. The Virgin Islands argued in June 2023 that it would have asked Dimon whether the "top of house" order came from him, citing another bank email in which "top of the house ok for clients who are convicted felons" ran "to Cutler to Jaime Daimnon [sic]"; JPMorgan answered that the phrase referred to Cutler. Late-produced emails showed that the former Bear Stearns chairman Alan Greenberg had gone to Cutler "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein, and JPMorgan acknowledged that legacy Bear Stearns staff including Greenberg "may have attempted to speak with" Cutler about the policy, a decision "made by Mr. Cutler." At a January 7, 2011 meeting the head of the U.S. Private Bank, Catherine Keating, said that "no one on today's call was in favor of having retained him as a client. Seems it was all due to Jes's personal relationship"; twelve days later a JPMorgan Securities employee wrote to Epstein that "Ace would love to speak to Jeffrey." Dimon testified that the bank "did not need introductions to anybody." In August 2023 Judge [[Jed S. Rakoff]] denied the territory's request to compel production of all documents concerning "Project Jeep" or other investigations after Epstein's 2019 arrest.[^99]
|
||||
|
||||
Deutsche Bank informally designated Epstein an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, "because of his connections to prominent political figures," and a January 2015 compliance escalation cited his relationships with "a prominent former U.S. politician and a member of a European royal family," whom the New York regulator did not name. In October 2008, while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Staley sent him the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] vehicle to borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] during the financial crisis; the UK Upper Tribunal found Epstein was the only recipient not involved in the proposal. In a June 4, 2026 letter Wyden wrote that unsealed Justice Department files indicated Epstein "reached out to Russian government officials" to help Black with women with whom Black had settlements or nondisclosure agreements, and acted "as a middleman for Black to pay women"; Black's counsel called the inquiry an attempt to "unfairly harass" a private citizen.[^99][^100]
|
||||
Deutsche Bank informally designated Epstein an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, "because of his connections to prominent political figures," and a January 2015 compliance escalation cited his relationships with "a prominent former U.S. politician and a member of a European royal family," whom the New York regulator did not name. In October 2008, while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Staley sent him the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] vehicle to borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] during the financial crisis; the UK Upper Tribunal found Epstein was the only recipient not involved in the proposal. In a June 4, 2026 letter Wyden wrote that unsealed Justice Department files indicated Epstein "reached out to Russian government officials" to help Black with women with whom Black had settlements or nondisclosure agreements, and acted "as a middleman for Black to pay women"; Black's counsel called the inquiry an attempt to "unfairly harass" a private citizen.[^100][^101]
|
||||
|
||||
The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of 80,576,236 dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. Staley, who managed the Epstein banking relationship at JPMorgan before becoming chief executive of Barclays, was banned from senior UK financial roles and fined by the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] in a decision dated May 30, 2023 and published that October, which the Upper Tribunal upheld in June 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds; the ban took effect with the Authority's Final Notice of July 23, 2025. The [[Epstein Victims' Compensation Program]]'s administrator, [[Jordana Feldman]], announced in 2021 nearly 125 million dollars in payments to 150 eligible claimants; the co-executors' lawyers later put it at 121 million dollars to 136 claimants, and the estate separately settled with 58 women for about 48 million dollars.[^11][^20][^99][^101][^102][^103]
|
||||
The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of 80,576,236 dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. Staley, who managed the Epstein banking relationship at JPMorgan before becoming chief executive of Barclays, was banned from senior UK financial roles and fined by the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] in a decision dated May 30, 2023 and published that October, which the Upper Tribunal upheld in June 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds; the ban took effect with the Authority's Final Notice of July 23, 2025. The [[Epstein Victims' Compensation Program]]'s administrator, [[Jordana Feldman]], announced in 2021 nearly 125 million dollars in payments to 150 eligible claimants; the co-executors' lawyers later put it at 121 million dollars to 136 claimants, and the estate separately settled with 58 women for about 48 million dollars.[^11][^20][^100][^102][^103][^104]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Virgin Islands Government
|
||||
|
||||
According to JPMorgan's 2023 filings in the territory's suit against the bank, Epstein's local affairs were managed by [[Cecile de Jongh]], the office manager of Southern Trust and the wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]] (in office 2007 to 2015), who helped Epstein shape legislation affecting sex-offender monitoring and the Economic Development Commission benefits while Epstein-linked entities paid family expenses. On the day the commission's certificate for Southern Trust was dated, January 24, 2014, Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to match 15,000 dollars for her husband's final State of the Territory reception and asked Richard Kahn to make out a check to the "Governor's Special Events Fund." The commission's general counsel from 2007 to 2014 was [[Stacey Plaskett]], later the territory's delegate to Congress, who acknowledged receiving about 30,000 dollars in campaign contributions from Epstein and his employees. Epstein's office also handled requests from the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee (10,000 dollars from Southern Trust, December 2014), a Mapp super PAC (75,000 dollars, September 2016), and the Bryan/Roach inaugural committee (25,000 dollars requested, December 2018; payment not shown).[^11][^104][^105]
|
||||
According to JPMorgan's 2023 filings in the territory's suit against the bank, Epstein's local affairs were managed by [[Cecile de Jongh]], the office manager of Southern Trust and the wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]] (in office 2007 to 2015), who helped Epstein shape legislation affecting sex-offender monitoring and the Economic Development Commission benefits while Epstein-linked entities paid family expenses. On the day the commission's certificate for Southern Trust was dated, January 24, 2014, Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to match 15,000 dollars for her husband's final State of the Territory reception and asked Richard Kahn to make out a check to the "Governor's Special Events Fund." The commission's general counsel from 2007 to 2014 was [[Stacey Plaskett]], later the territory's delegate to Congress, who acknowledged receiving about 30,000 dollars in campaign contributions from Epstein and his employees. Epstein's office also handled requests from the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee (10,000 dollars from Southern Trust, December 2014), a Mapp super PAC (75,000 dollars, September 2016), and the Bryan/Roach inaugural committee (25,000 dollars requested, December 2018; payment not shown).[^11][^105][^106]
|
||||
|
||||
The territory's later Attorney General, [[Denise George]], filed the 2020 suit against the estate and a 2022 suit against JPMorgan, and was removed by Governor Albert Bryan days after the bank suit was filed. According to FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview released in January 2026, George said Bryan asked her in 2019 to grant Epstein a waiver of the 21-day travel-notice rule, told her after Epstein's death "He's dead go for it," later pressed her to settle with the estate for 80 million dollars with the attorney [[Henry Smock]] as mediator, and said the estate "just wanted to clear people." Smock had assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of Little St. James and was counsel to the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority|Economic Development Authority]] board; he later represented Bryan in a sealed 2023 divorce. Bryan's chief legal counsel, [[David Bornn]], a former employee of Epstein's attorney [[Erika Kellerhals]], called George to relay Kellerhals's question about what she was investigating. Bryan has said Epstein received no special privilege from his administration. The territory recovered about 180 million dollars after legal fees and, as of January 2026, had not filed the accounting of the money that a 2024 law requires.[^20][^106][^107]
|
||||
The territory's later Attorney General, [[Denise George]], filed the 2020 suit against the estate and a 2022 suit against JPMorgan, and was removed by Governor Albert Bryan days after the bank suit was filed. According to FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview released in January 2026, George said Bryan asked her in 2019 to grant Epstein a waiver of the 21-day travel-notice rule, told her after Epstein's death "He's dead go for it," later pressed her to settle with the estate for 80 million dollars with the attorney [[Henry Smock]] as mediator, and said the estate "just wanted to clear people." Smock had assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of Little St. James and was counsel to the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority|Economic Development Authority]] board; he later represented Bryan in a sealed 2023 divorce. Bryan's chief legal counsel, [[David Bornn]], a former employee of Epstein's attorney [[Erika Kellerhals]], called George to relay Kellerhals's question about what she was investigating. Bryan has said Epstein received no special privilege from his administration. The territory recovered about 180 million dollars after legal fees and, as of January 2026, had not filed the accounting of the money that a 2024 law requires.[^20][^107][^108]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2019 Federal Charges
|
||||
|
||||
In the spring of 2019, months before the arrest, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York obtained the confidential discovery from Giuffre v. Maxwell by serving a grand jury subpoena on Giuffre's law firm, [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], under an April 9, 2019 order. On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at [[Teterboro Airport]] in [[New Jersey]] as he returned from Paris, charged by the office under [[Geoffrey Berman]] with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. The case was assigned to the Public Corruption Unit, which typically handles cases involving public officials; Berman declined to explain the assignment. The prosecutors were [[Alex Rossmiller]], [[Alison Moe]], and [[Maurene Comey]].[^1][^108][^109]
|
||||
In the spring of 2019, months before the arrest, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York obtained the confidential discovery from Giuffre v. Maxwell by serving a grand jury subpoena on Giuffre's law firm, [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], under an April 9, 2019 order. On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at [[Teterboro Airport]] in [[New Jersey]] as he returned from Paris, charged by the office under [[Geoffrey Berman]] with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. The case was assigned to the Public Corruption Unit, which typically handles cases involving public officials; Berman declined to explain the assignment. The prosecutors were [[Alex Rossmiller]], [[Alison Moe]], and [[Maurene Comey]].[^1][^109][^110]
|
||||
|
||||
The safe in the townhouse held more than 70,000 dollars in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with a photograph that "appears to depict the defendant, but lists a different name," issued within three years of an expired U.S. passport in Epstein's own name. The word "Austrian" entered the docket through the defense's July 16, 2019 letter, which said the passport "expired 32 years ago." The government replied that the passport "contains numerous ingress and egress stamps, including stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the [[United Kingdom]], and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s." [[Marc Fernich]], Martin Weinberg, and [[Reid Weingarten]] answered that "Epstein was given the passport at issue by a friend," that "some Jewish-Americans were informally advised at the time to carry identification bearing a non-Jewish name when traveling internationally in case of hijacking," and that the stamps "predating his receipt of the document, do not reflect Mr. Epstein's entries or exits." Press reports described the passport as listing a residence in Saudi Arabia. The dispute was not resolved before Epstein's death.[^110][^111][^112]
|
||||
The safe in the townhouse held more than 70,000 dollars in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with a photograph that "appears to depict the defendant, but lists a different name," issued within three years of an expired U.S. passport in Epstein's own name. The word "Austrian" entered the docket through the defense's July 16, 2019 letter, which said the passport "expired 32 years ago." The government replied that the passport "contains numerous ingress and egress stamps, including stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the [[United Kingdom]], and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s." [[Marc Fernich]], Martin Weinberg, and [[Reid Weingarten]] answered that "Epstein was given the passport at issue by a friend," that "some Jewish-Americans were informally advised at the time to carry identification bearing a non-Jewish name when traveling internationally in case of hijacking," and that the stamps "predating his receipt of the document, do not reflect Mr. Epstein's entries or exits." Press reports described the passport as listing a residence in Saudi Arabia. The dispute was not resolved before Epstein's death.[^111][^112][^113]
|
||||
|
||||
The government's July 16, 2019 detention supplement disclosed that on or about November 30, 2018, two days after the Miami Herald began its series, Epstein wired 100,000 dollars from a trust account he controlled to an individual named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 agreement and featured in the series, and that on or about December 3, 2018 he wired 250,000 dollars from the same account to a second potential co-conspirator protected by the agreement, an employee identified in the indictment as having scheduled victims' encounters with him. Both names were redacted with the court's consent. On July 18, 2019 Judge [[Richard M. Berman]], no relation to the U.S. Attorney, ordered him held without bail. On July 31, 2019 a Southern District prosecutor forwarded a New York magazine article on Epstein's finances to colleagues, asking: "Is our Office looking at Epstein for fraud-related offenses?"[^89][^111][^113]
|
||||
The government's July 16, 2019 detention supplement disclosed that on or about November 30, 2018, two days after the Miami Herald began its series, Epstein wired 100,000 dollars from a trust account he controlled to an individual named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 agreement and featured in the series, and that on or about December 3, 2018 he wired 250,000 dollars from the same account to a second potential co-conspirator protected by the agreement, an employee identified in the indictment as having scheduled victims' encounters with him. Both names were redacted with the court's consent. On July 18, 2019 Judge [[Richard M. Berman]], no relation to the U.S. Attorney, ordered him held without bail. On July 31, 2019 a Southern District prosecutor forwarded a New York magazine article on Epstein's finances to colleagues, asking: "Is our Office looking at Epstein for fraud-related offenses?"[^90][^112][^114]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center
|
||||
|
||||
At the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]], Epstein's cellmate was [[Nicholas Tartaglione]], a former police officer held on capital murder charges; a later internal review stated that administrators housed them together because both had high-profile cases and Tartaglione, "a certified death penalty eligible inmate," was "less likely to assault or otherwise try to harm Mr. Epstein." At about 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019 officers found Epstein with "a piece of handmade orange cloth around his neck." When he became responsive he told a responding officer that he thought his cellmate "tried to kill him," that the cellmate had tried "to extort money from him," and that "this has been going on for a week," and that he had told only his lawyer. The psychologist who interviewed him that day recorded that he had not told her this. On July 31 he told the Special Investigative Services lieutenant that "he has never had any issues with Tartaglione," that he was "not threatened" by him and that he "feels safe"; Tartaglione told the same investigator that Epstein had once said "fourteen (14) is legal in most states and I don't understand what's the problem here." The investigation found "insufficient evidence" of an assault, an August 2 threat assessment was "inconclusive" as to whether Epstein harmed himself, fought his cellmate, or was assaulted, and the self-mutilation incident report was later expunged.[^114][^115]
|
||||
At the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]], Epstein's cellmate was [[Nicholas Tartaglione]], a former police officer held on capital murder charges; a later internal review stated that administrators housed them together because both had high-profile cases and Tartaglione, "a certified death penalty eligible inmate," was "less likely to assault or otherwise try to harm Mr. Epstein." At about 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019 officers found Epstein with "a piece of handmade orange cloth around his neck." When he became responsive he told a responding officer that he thought his cellmate "tried to kill him," that the cellmate had tried "to extort money from him," and that "this has been going on for a week," and that he had told only his lawyer. The psychologist who interviewed him that day recorded that he had not told her this. On July 31 he told the Special Investigative Services lieutenant that "he has never had any issues with Tartaglione," that he was "not threatened" by him and that he "feels safe"; Tartaglione told the same investigator that Epstein had once said "fourteen (14) is legal in most states and I don't understand what's the problem here." The investigation found "insufficient evidence" of an assault, an August 2 threat assessment was "inconclusive" as to whether Epstein harmed himself, fought his cellmate, or was assaulted, and the self-mutilation incident report was later expunged.[^115][^116]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 30 a psychologist ordered that Epstein always have a cellmate. His next cellmate, according to the internal review, was an inmate held in protective housing who "was confirmed as proffering with the U.S. Attorney's Office." On August 8 Epstein signed a new will in a meeting with his lawyers, unknown to jail officials. On August 9 about 2,000 pages of the Giuffre v. Maxwell record were unsealed, including his 2016 deposition invoking the Fifth Amendment. That day his cellmate was transferred out and not replaced, and a unit manager let him place an unrecorded call on the legal line, supposedly to his mother, who had died in 2004; the Inspector General found he spoke for about 20 minutes with a woman identified as Individual 1, who declined to be interviewed and whose lawyer said she was in Belarus. One of Epstein's attorneys had earlier asked a senior officer "how Epstein could get an unmonitored call."[^108][^114][^115][^116]
|
||||
On July 30 a psychologist ordered that Epstein always have a cellmate. His next cellmate, according to the internal review, was an inmate held in protective housing who "was confirmed as proffering with the U.S. Attorney's Office." On August 8 Epstein signed a new will in a meeting with his lawyers, unknown to jail officials. On August 9 about 2,000 pages of the Giuffre v. Maxwell record were unsealed, including his 2016 deposition invoking the Fifth Amendment. That day his cellmate was transferred out and not replaced, and a unit manager let him place an unrecorded call on the legal line, supposedly to his mother, who had died in 2004; the Inspector General found he spoke for about 20 minutes with a woman identified as Individual 1, who declined to be interviewed and whose lawyer said she was in Belarus. One of Epstein's attorneys had earlier asked a senior officer "how Epstein could get an unmonitored call."[^109][^115][^116][^117]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Death
|
||||
|
||||
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell; nursing records log CPR compressions from 6:35 a.m. Dr. Kristin Roman performed the autopsy on August 11 and first listed the manner of death as "pending"; Chief Medical Examiner [[Barbara Sampson]] changed it to suicide by hanging days later. The guards [[Tova Noel]] and [[Michael Thomas]] had failed to perform required checks and admitted to falsifying records; they were charged in November 2019, entered deferred-prosecution agreements on May 25, 2021, and the charges were dismissed on December 13, 2021, while the Southern District declined to prosecute other staff who had also falsified records. The DVR recording system serving about half the jail's cameras, including those near the cell, failed on July 29 and 30, was discovered on August 8, and was not repaired; one camera on another system recorded the common area but not the cell door. The forensic pathologist [[Michael Baden]], retained by Epstein's brother [[Mark Epstein]], said the fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than hanging, while the Medical Examiner stood by the suicide ruling. The Inspector General's June 2023 report attributed the death to the guards' negligence and the jail's failures and "did not uncover evidence contradicting the FBI's determination regarding the absence of criminality." Prison officials cited the August 9 unsealing, "combined with a lack of significant interpersonal connections," among the factors contributing to his death.[^89][^114][^115][^116]
|
||||
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell; nursing records log CPR compressions from 6:35 a.m. Dr. Kristin Roman performed the autopsy on August 11 and first listed the manner of death as "pending"; Chief Medical Examiner [[Barbara Sampson]] changed it to suicide by hanging days later. The guards [[Tova Noel]] and [[Michael Thomas]] had failed to perform required checks and admitted to falsifying records; they were charged in November 2019, entered deferred-prosecution agreements on May 25, 2021, and the charges were dismissed on December 13, 2021, while the Southern District declined to prosecute other staff who had also falsified records. The DVR recording system serving about half the jail's cameras, including those near the cell, failed on July 29 and 30, was discovered on August 8, and was not repaired; one camera on another system recorded the common area but not the cell door. The forensic pathologist [[Michael Baden]], retained by Epstein's brother [[Mark Epstein]], said the fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than hanging, while the Medical Examiner stood by the suicide ruling. The Inspector General's June 2023 report attributed the death to the guards' negligence and the jail's failures and "did not uncover evidence contradicting the FBI's determination regarding the absence of criminality." Prison officials cited the August 9 unsealing, "combined with a lack of significant interpersonal connections," among the factors contributing to his death.[^90][^115][^116][^117]
|
||||
|
||||
Documents released in 2026 showed that JPMorgan filed a suspicious activity report on November 22, 2019 on twelve cash deposits by Noel, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019; she was not asked about them in her 2021 interview. A search for "latest on epstein in jail" was run on her workstation at 5:42 and 5:52 a.m. on August 10; she said she did not recall it. On August 19, 2019, a jail employee told the FBI that an inmate said Bureau of Prisons after-action staff "were shredding boxes of paperwork"; the records do not show that the dumpster was searched. The Justice Department and FBI memorandum of July 7, 2025 reaffirmed suicide, citing "the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings" (the autopsy was on August 11) and describing Epstein as locked in "at around 10:40 pm" (the Inspector General dates lock-in to about 8 p.m.); its "full raw" video had been assembled in Adobe Premiere under a Windows account "MJCOLE~1," with close to three minutes missing. Maurene Comey was fired without stated cause on July 16, 2025, nine days after the memorandum.[^115][^116][^117][^118][^119]
|
||||
Documents released in 2026 showed that JPMorgan filed a suspicious activity report on November 22, 2019 on twelve cash deposits by Noel, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019; she was not asked about them in her 2021 interview. A search for "latest on epstein in jail" was run on her workstation at 5:42 and 5:52 a.m. on August 10; she said she did not recall it. On August 19, 2019, a jail employee told the FBI that an inmate said Bureau of Prisons after-action staff "were shredding boxes of paperwork"; the records do not show that the dumpster was searched. The Justice Department and FBI memorandum of July 7, 2025 reaffirmed suicide, citing "the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings" (the autopsy was on August 11) and describing Epstein as locked in "at around 10:40 pm" (the Inspector General dates lock-in to about 8 p.m.); its "full raw" video had been assembled in Adobe Premiere under a Windows account "MJCOLE~1," with close to three minutes missing. Maurene Comey was fired without stated cause on July 16, 2025, nine days after the memorandum.[^116][^117][^118][^119][^120]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Estate and the Executors
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, named Indyke and Kahn as executors and [[Boris Nikolic]], formerly chief science adviser to Bill Gates, as backup executor; Nikolic said he "was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever." The will left Nowak 5 million dollars, which Nowak said he has not received. The co-executors valued Epstein's Virgin Islands property at 577,672,654 dollars in the August 15, 2019 probate petition; the estate's February 2021 accounting showed about 240.8 million dollars and September 2026 filings 107.6 million dollars. The 1953 Trust, signed two days before his death, leaves 100 million dollars to [[Karyna Shuliak]], 50 million to Indyke and 25 million to Kahn, paid in that order.[^11][^74][^102][^120]
|
||||
Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, named Indyke and Kahn as executors and [[Boris Nikolic]], formerly chief science adviser to Bill Gates, as backup executor; Nikolic said he "was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever." The will left Nowak 5 million dollars, which Nowak said he has not received. The co-executors valued Epstein's Virgin Islands property at 577,672,654 dollars in the August 15, 2019 probate petition; the estate's February 2021 accounting showed about 240.8 million dollars and September 2026 filings 107.6 million dollars. The 1953 Trust, signed two days before his death, leaves 100 million dollars to [[Karyna Shuliak]], 50 million to Indyke and 25 million to Kahn, paid in that order.[^11][^75][^103][^121]
|
||||
|
||||
The territory alleged that Epstein entities paid Indyke more than 16 million dollars and Kahn more than 10 million dollars net from 2011 to 2019 through companies it called shells, and that the two held at least 140 bank accounts with Epstein. Indyke testified in March 2026 that Epstein's 40 million dollars invested in 2015 and 2016 in two funds of [[Valar Ventures]], co-founded by Peter Thiel, was worth about 172 million dollars. The estate agreed in February 2026 to pay up to 35 million dollars to settle a victims' class action against the co-executors (Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204), and in September 2026 federal prosecutors in Manhattan were reported to be investigating both men, who deny knowing of Epstein's crimes. Wyden's August 2026 report stated that federal prosecutors never questioned Indyke, Kahn or Beller, none of whom has been charged.[^11][^12][^102][^121][^122]
|
||||
The territory alleged that Epstein entities paid Indyke more than 16 million dollars and Kahn more than 10 million dollars net from 2011 to 2019 through companies it called shells, and that the two held at least 140 bank accounts with Epstein. Indyke testified in March 2026 that Epstein's 40 million dollars invested in 2015 and 2016 in two funds of [[Valar Ventures]], co-founded by Peter Thiel, was worth about 172 million dollars. The estate agreed in February 2026 to pay up to 35 million dollars to settle a victims' class action against the co-executors (Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204), and in September 2026 federal prosecutors in Manhattan were reported to be investigating both men, who deny knowing of Epstein's crimes. Wyden's August 2026 report stated that federal prosecutors never questioned Indyke, Kahn or Beller, none of whom has been charged.[^11][^12][^103][^122][^123]
|
||||
|
||||
### Maxwell and the Giuffre Litigation After 2019
|
||||
|
||||
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in [[New Hampshire]] in July 2020 and convicted in December 2021 on five federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor, and sentenced to 20 years in June 2022. The Giuffre v. Maxwell summary judgment record ordered released in Brown v. Maxwell was unsealed on August 9, 2019; Maxwell's April 2016 deposition was unsealed on July 23, 2020, and further tranches followed through January 2024. On July 23, 2025 the Second Circuit vacated Preska's December 2019 and January 2020 unsealing orders. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in Australia in April 2025; her memoir, [[Nobody's Girl]], was published posthumously in 2025. She died intestate, and in November 2025 the Supreme Court of Western Australia appointed [[Ian Torrington Blatchford]] interim administrator; his authority extends to the reopened Giuffre v. Maxwell docket, recaptioned in his name on September 3, 2026, to an arbitration involving Dershowitz, and to a defamation suit against the estate by [[Rina Oh]].[^22][^23][^108][^123][^124]
|
||||
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in [[New Hampshire]] in July 2020 and convicted in December 2021 on five federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor, and sentenced to 20 years in June 2022. The Giuffre v. Maxwell summary judgment record ordered released in Brown v. Maxwell was unsealed on August 9, 2019; Maxwell's April 2016 deposition was unsealed on July 23, 2020, and further tranches followed through January 2024. On July 23, 2025 the Second Circuit vacated Preska's December 2019 and January 2020 unsealing orders. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in Australia in April 2025; her memoir, [[Nobody's Girl]], was published posthumously in 2025. She died intestate, and in November 2025 the Supreme Court of Western Australia appointed [[Ian Torrington Blatchford]] interim administrator; his authority extends to the reopened Giuffre v. Maxwell docket, recaptioned in his name on September 3, 2026, to an arbitration involving Dershowitz, and to a defamation suit against the estate by [[Rina Oh]].[^22][^23][^109][^124][^125]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 18, 2025, Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], formerly Trump's personal criminal attorney, entered an appearance in Maxwell's closed criminal case and moved to unseal the grand jury transcripts; Judge [[Paul Engelmayer]] denied the motion on August 11, 2025. Blanche interviewed Maxwell under limited immunity on July 24 and 25, 2025; she said Trump "was always very cordial and very kind to me" and that she did not know how he and Epstein met. On August 1 she was moved to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]], and Senator [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] wrote that the transfer "raises questions about whether she has been given special treatment in exchange for political favors."[^125][^126][^127]
|
||||
On July 18, 2025, Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], formerly Trump's personal criminal attorney, entered an appearance in Maxwell's closed criminal case and moved to unseal the grand jury transcripts; Judge [[Paul Engelmayer]] denied the motion on August 11, 2025. Blanche interviewed Maxwell under limited immunity on July 24 and 25, 2025; she said Trump "was always very cordial and very kind to me" and that she did not know how he and Epstein met. On August 1 she was moved to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]], and Senator [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] wrote that the transfer "raises questions about whether she has been given special treatment in exchange for political favors."[^126][^127][^128]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Files, 2025 and 2026
|
||||
|
||||
On February 27, 2025, Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] released a "first phase" of [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] that the department itself described as "largely" previously leaked, and on July 7, 2025, the department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." Senator [[Dick Durbin]] wrote on July 18 that, according to information his office received, FBI records staff reviewing some 100,000 Epstein records in March 2025 "were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned." Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] declined Wyden's March 11, June 16 and September 2, 2025 requests for the Treasury's Epstein suspicious-activity file and on January 22, 2026 said it had given the records to the House Oversight Committee instead.[^12][^117][^128][^129]
|
||||
On February 27, 2025, Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] released a "first phase" of [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] that the department itself described as "largely" previously leaked, and on July 7, 2025, the department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." Senator [[Dick Durbin]] wrote on July 18 that, according to information his office received, FBI records staff reviewing some 100,000 Epstein records in March 2025 "were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned." Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] declined Wyden's March 11, June 16 and September 2, 2025 requests for the Treasury's Epstein suspicious-activity file and on January 22, 2026 said it had given the records to the House Oversight Committee instead.[^12][^118][^129][^130]
|
||||
|
||||
A separate strand concerned the 2003 "birthday book" assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday, which the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]] reported in July 2025 contained a bawdy letter bearing Donald Trump's signature; Trump denied authorship and sued the paper, and the House Oversight Committee released the book on September 8, 2025 under an August 25 subpoena to the estate.[^77]
|
||||
A separate strand concerned the 2003 "birthday book" assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday, which the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]] reported in July 2025 contained a bawdy letter bearing Donald Trump's signature; Trump denied authorship and sued the paper, and the House Oversight Committee released the book on September 8, 2025 under an August 25 subpoena to the estate.[^78]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 14, 2025, at Trump's request, Bondi assigned [[Jay Clayton]] to investigate Epstein's dealings with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan Chase. Five days later Trump signed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] (H.R. 4405, Pub. L. No. 119-38), which the House had passed 427 to 1 after a discharge petition by Thomas Massie and [[Ro Khanna]], and which permits withholding records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation." The department missed the December 19, 2025 deadline, disclosed on December 24 that it had found more than a million additional documents, and on January 30, 2026 published the bulk of the material, bringing the total to nearly 3.5 million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images; its letter to Congress that day stated that about 200,000 pages had been withheld or redacted under privileges the statute does not list.[^28][^130][^131][^132][^133]
|
||||
On November 14, 2025, at Trump's request, Bondi assigned [[Jay Clayton]] to investigate Epstein's dealings with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan Chase. Five days later Trump signed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] (H.R. 4405, Pub. L. No. 119-38), which the House had passed 427 to 1 after a discharge petition by Thomas Massie and [[Ro Khanna]], and which permits withholding records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation." The department missed the December 19, 2025 deadline, disclosed on December 24 that it had found more than a million additional documents, and on January 30, 2026 published the bulk of the material, bringing the total to nearly 3.5 million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images; its letter to Congress that day stated that about 200,000 pages had been withheld or redacted under privileges the statute does not list.[^28][^131][^132][^133][^134]
|
||||
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The January 2026 release stated that "notable individuals and politicians were not redacted"; four senators called that "plainly false" in asking the [[Government Accountability Office]] to review the department's redaction and release process, which the GAO agreed to do in late April 2026, days after the department's inspector general opened its own audit. In February and March 2026 NPR and CNN reported that FBI interview records of a woman who accused both Epstein and Trump were missing from the public library; the department said nothing had been deleted, later published three of the interviews as records mistakenly tagged as duplicates, and NPR counted 37 pages still missing. A White House spokeswoman said Trump "has been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein." On January 13, 2026 Massie and Khanna asked Engelmayer to appoint a special master, reporting that the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" of "more than 2 million" under review; he denied the motion on January 21, 2026 for want of jurisdiction. On August 11, 2026 Preska authorized the government to release under the Act the Boies Schiller material obtained by the 2019 subpoena, over Maxwell's opposition.[^108][^134][^135][^136][^137]
|
||||
The January 2026 release stated that "notable individuals and politicians were not redacted"; four senators called that "plainly false" in asking the [[Government Accountability Office]] to review the department's redaction and release process, which the GAO agreed to do in late April 2026, days after the department's inspector general opened its own audit. In February and March 2026 NPR and CNN reported that FBI interview records of a woman who accused both Epstein and Trump were missing from the public library; the department said nothing had been deleted, later published three of the interviews as records mistakenly tagged as duplicates, and NPR counted 37 pages still missing. A White House spokeswoman said Trump "has been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein." On January 13, 2026 Massie and Khanna asked Engelmayer to appoint a special master, reporting that the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" of "more than 2 million" under review; he denied the motion on January 21, 2026 for want of jurisdiction. On August 11, 2026 Preska authorized the government to release under the Act the Boies Schiller material obtained by the 2019 subpoena, over Maxwell's opposition.[^109][^135][^136][^137][^138]
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The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi on March 4, 2026; Trump removed her on April 2 and named Blanche acting Attorney General. On March 3, 2026 Finance Committee chairman [[Mike Crapo]] objected to Wyden's request to pass the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (S. 2746), citing the House review and the Banking Committee's jurisdiction. Wyden's August 4, 2026 report, "Looking the Other Way," stated that Blanche had intervened to block the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] from answering his request about a federal investigation in which Epstein and associates had been targets, and that a 60 Minutes interview Wyden taped on March 26, 2026 was not aired after CBS News fired correspondent [[Sharyn Alfonsi]].[^12][^138][^139][^140][^141]
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The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi on March 4, 2026; Trump removed her on April 2 and named Blanche acting Attorney General. On March 3, 2026 Finance Committee chairman [[Mike Crapo]] objected to Wyden's request to pass the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (S. 2746), citing the House review and the Banking Committee's jurisdiction. Wyden's August 4, 2026 report, "Looking the Other Way," stated that Blanche had intervened to block the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] from answering his request about a federal investigation in which Epstein and associates had been targets, and that a 60 Minutes interview Wyden taped on March 26, 2026 was not aired after CBS News fired correspondent [[Sharyn Alfonsi]].[^12][^139][^140][^141][^142]
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The 2025 and 2026 releases produced resignations and removals without prosecutions. Summers left the [[OpenAI]] board on November 19, 2025, was banned for life by the [[American Economic Association]] on December 2, 2025, and resigned from Harvard on February 25, 2026, the day after The Boston Globe sent the university its questions; Harvard placed Nowak on leave the same day. Pritzker retired as executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation|Hyatt]] on February 17, 2026, and Ruemmler resigned as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]].[^74][^142][^143][^144]
|
||||
The 2025 and 2026 releases produced resignations and removals without prosecutions. Summers left the [[OpenAI]] board on November 19, 2025, was banned for life by the [[American Economic Association]] on December 2, 2025, and resigned from Harvard on February 25, 2026, the day after The Boston Globe sent the university its questions; Harvard placed Nowak on leave the same day. Pritzker retired as executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation|Hyatt]] on February 17, 2026, and Ruemmler resigned as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]].[^75][^143][^144][^145]
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### Footnotes
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@ -470,89 +470,90 @@ The 2025 and 2026 releases produced resignations and removals without prosecutio
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[^56]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
|
||||
[^57]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
|
||||
[^58]: Minsky, Marvin L., Push Singh, and Aaron Sloman. "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence," *AI Magazine* 25, no. 2 (2004): 113. https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v25i2.1764 ; Brandom, Russell. "AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island," *The Verge,* August 9, 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed
|
||||
[^59]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
|
||||
[^60]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 5, 10, 28 n. 28. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
|
||||
[^61]: "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why," *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
|
||||
[^62]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive
|
||||
[^63]: Molteni, Megan. "Jeffrey Epstein's tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church," *STAT,* February 24, 2026. https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/epstein-cell-line-george-church-harvard-personal-genome-project/
|
||||
[^64]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^65]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Peggy Siegal and George Stephanopoulos, "Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew," November and December 2010, EFTA02411832 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02411832.pdf
|
||||
[^66]: Ponieman, Natan. *Benzinga,* May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs ; *The Daily Beast,* May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/ ; "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
|
||||
[^67]: Hamilton, Katherine. "Jeffrey Epstein Moved Money For Noam Chomsky, Paid Bard President Botstein $150,000, Report Says." *Forbes,* May 17, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/17/jeffrey-epstein-moved-money-for-noam-chomsky-paid-bard-president-botstein-150000-report-says/
|
||||
[^68]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015, EFTA02386175 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf
|
||||
[^69]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check image, Gratitude America, Ltd, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf ; EFTA01348725, DataSet 10, check image, February 3, 2016 (Bates DB-SDNY-0035646). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348725.pdf ; "Leon Botstein received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein," *Inside Higher Ed,* May 18, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/18/leon-botstein-received-150000-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^70]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log with the contact "Steve Bannon," August 23, 2018, EFTA01615267 to EFTA01615272. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf ; "'Let me see the videotapes': Mark Epstein wants Steve Bannon's 15 hours of unseen footage of his brother," *NBC News,* 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/mark-epstein-steve-bannon-15-hours-brother-jeffrey-epstein-rcna219630
|
||||
[^71]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Tom Pritzker to Jeffrey Epstein, "RE: Re:," August 8, 2016, EFTA01783338 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
|
||||
[^72]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: email to Jeffrey Epstein, sender redacted, "Any other," August 12, 2010, EFTA02407727 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02407727.pdf ; Saida Sapieva to Lesley Groff, "CONFIRMED: DINNER: Sunday, 8/2," July 31, 2015, EFTA00344556, and reply chain, EFTA00344564 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344556.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344564.pdf ; email chain, Jeffrey Epstein and a redacted correspondent, February 6, 2016, EFTA01738574 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01738574.pdf
|
||||
[^73]: "Epstein's Silicon Valley ties extended beyond just Musk and Gates." *CNBC,* February 9, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/09/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html
|
||||
[^74]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
|
||||
[^75]: Ruetenik, Daniel, and Graham Kates. "Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show." *CBS News,* February 7, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/
|
||||
[^76]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI Form FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," case 50D-NY-3027571, April 23, 2021, EFTA01249210 (DataSet 9); calendar alert, December 20, 2012, EFTA02152992 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152992.pdf
|
||||
[^77]: "Birthday letter to Epstein bore Trump's signature, drawing of naked woman, Wall Street Journal reports." *CNN,* July 17, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/politics/epstein-birthday-letter-trump ; "Trump Epstein letter and drawing from 'birthday book' released." *CNBC,* September 8, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/trump-epstein-birthday-book-oversight.html
|
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[^78]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI New York internal email on the Prince Andrew MLAT request, June 8, 2020, EFTA00149598 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00149598.pdf
|
||||
[^79]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: correspondence of Tomer Toor, Darren Indyke, Ehud Barak and Jeffrey Epstein on the exercise of Carbyne warrants, February and March 2019, EFTA02632339 and EFTA02634615 (DataSet 11); Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke on Carbyne financial statements, March 2019, EFTA01035810 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01035810.pdf
|
||||
[^80]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1, 2019, EFTA02607775, and continuing thread to February 4, 2019, EFTA02628648 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
|
||||
[^81]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018, EFTA01052344 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
|
||||
[^82]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019, EFTA02630791 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
|
||||
[^83]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: iMessage logs with the contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to January 10, 2017, EFTA01619434, EFTA01619438 and EFTA01619444 (DataSet 10); Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016, EFTA02044775 (DataSet 10); scheduling of Maxim Churkin, July and August 2017, EFTA02219806 (DataSet 11) and EFTA00676901 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619444.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02219806.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00676901.pdf
|
||||
[^84]: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, deposition of William P. Barr, August 18, 2025, transcript released September 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Barr-Transcript.pdf
|
||||
[^85]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Martin Weinberg, "Re: CIA FOIA Request," July 18, 2011, EFTA00915248; Weinberg to Epstein, same date, EFTA00687827; FBI Privacy Waiver and Certification of Identity, EFTA00624683 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00915248.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00687827.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00624683.pdf
|
||||
[^86]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), paras. 80, 85-126, 176-185, citing United States v. Epstein, 27 F. Supp. 2d 404 (S.D.N.Y. 1998). https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
|
||||
[^87]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
|
||||
[^88]: "Maria Farmer and Marsh Law Firm's Persistent Advocacy Vindicated as FBI Releases Farmer's 1996 Report on Jeffrey Epstein," *Marsh Law Firm,* December 23, 2025. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/persistent-advocacy-vindicated/
|
||||
[^89]: "NYC medical examiner rejects claim that Jeffrey Epstein's death was a homicide." *CNN,* October 30, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-fox ; "Jeffrey Epstein autopsy finds broken bones in his neck." *CNN,* August 15, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-broken-neck
|
||||
[^90]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: "Gmax" to Jeffrey Epstein, December 8, 2009, EFTA02434764 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02434764.pdf
|
||||
[^91]: Suzanne Carlson, "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020 (ECF No. 158-36 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR). http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
|
||||
[^92]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), report pp. 6, 16-17, 24, 46, 74. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
|
||||
[^93]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, January 22, 2021, Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management Form 8-K (January 25, 2021), pp. 3 to 5, 16 to 17. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
|
||||
[^94]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1
|
||||
[^95]: Settlement Agreement and Release between the Government of the United States Virgin Islands and Leon Black, executed January 20, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/usvi_black_settlement_agreement_-_executedpdf.pdf
|
||||
[^96]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01071282, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring," as of October 2, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01071282.pdf ; EFTA00982173, DataSet 9, email, Ada Clapp to Jeffrey Epstein, "6.7.13 Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring-updated 1.14.14," January 21, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00982173.pdf ; EFTA00702518, DataSet 9, email, Barry J. Cohen to Jeffrey Epstein, "S&C: Leon Black Estate Planning," July 24, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00702518.pdf
|
||||
[^97]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), transcript pp. 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
|
||||
[^98]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023 (ECF No. 191). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf ; EFTA02808625, Court Records, same case, letter of JPMorgan's counsel in opposition, June 9, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf ; EFTA02814941, Court Records, same case, Order of Judge Jed S. Rakoff, August 2023. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02814941.pdf
|
||||
[^99]: Staley v The Financial Conduct Authority [2025] UKUT 00203 (TCC), decision released June 26, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685d21fec2633bd820a92a52/Staley_v_FCA_decision_for_release.pdf
|
||||
[^100]: New York State Department of Financial Services, Consent Order in the Matter of Deutsche Bank AG et al., July 6, 2020, paras. 26, 33. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank ; Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf
|
||||
[^101]: "JPMorgan settles with Jeffrey Epstein victims for $290 million." *WHYY,* 2023. https://whyy.org/articles/jpmorgan-settlement/ ; "Ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley fined and banned by UK regulator for Epstein ties." *AP/AOL,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/finance/ex-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-142727090.html
|
||||
[^102]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis
|
||||
[^103]: Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to James Edward Staley, July 23, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/james-edward-staley-2025.pdf
|
||||
[^104]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20240721172424/https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/06/16/v-i-officials-enabled-epstein-to-act-with-impunity-jpmorgan-alleges-in-latest-salvo/
|
||||
[^105]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
|
||||
[^106]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
|
||||
[^107]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Bryan unapologetic for texts with Epstein, doubles down on denial of wrongdoing." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 3, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/bryan-unapologetic-for-texts-with-epstein-doubles-down-on-denial-of-wrongdoing/article_8bab46a1-6075-4c7c-abec-6efb19622e62.html
|
||||
[^108]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1360 with Exhibits 2-9 (Feb. 20, 2026), describing In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM) (April 9, 2019 order); Order, ECF No. 1367 (Aug. 11, 2026); Order, ECF No. 1370 (Sept. 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
|
||||
[^109]: "Jeffrey Epstein operated a vast sex-trafficking network of underage girls who recruited other victims, prosecutors say." *CNN,* July 8, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/us/jeffrey-epstein-monday-court-appearance
|
||||
[^110]: "Jeffrey Epstein used foreign passport with fake name to enter Saudi Arabia: prosecutors." *NBC News,* July 17, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-epstein-used-foreign-passport-fake-name-enter-saudi-arabia-n1031046
|
||||
[^111]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 23, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe to Judge Richard M. Berman (Supplement to Detention Memorandum), July 16, 2019, pp. 1-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649.23.0_2.pdf
|
||||
[^112]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 30, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe, July 17, 2019 (quoting ECF No. 24 at 7); ECF No. 31, Letter from Marc Fernich, Martin Weinberg, and Reid Weingarten, July 18, 2019. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/
|
||||
[^113]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: internal USANYS email, "FW: Fraud and Blackmail: Jeffrey Epstein's Finances," July 31, 2019, EFTA00086657 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00086657.pdf
|
||||
[^114]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, July 8 to August 10, 2019, including staff memoranda of July 23, 2019, SIS Inmate Investigative Report NYM-19-0061 (July 31, 2019, pp. EFTA00049239 to 43), and an institution response on cellmate assignments and documentation, EFTA00048963 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
|
||||
[^115]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. iii to iv, 1 to 6, 14 to 20, 58 to 60. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
|
||||
[^116]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died ; "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy: A closer look." *CBS News, 60 Minutes,* January 5, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-a-closer-look-60-minutes-2020-01-05/
|
||||
[^117]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
|
||||
[^118]: Eastham, Janet. "'Suspicious' payments to last guard who saw Epstein." *The Telegraph* via *Yahoo News,* March 8, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-prison-guard-made-suspicious-132416347.html ; "Hany Farid and WIRED Analyze the Department of Justice's Released Epstein Video, Find Anomalies with Metadata." *UC Berkeley School of Information,* July 2025. https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2025/hany-farid-and-wired-analyze-department-justices-released-epstein-video-find-anomalies ; "Jeffrey Epstein prison video had nearly 3 minutes cut from it: report." *LiveNOW from FOX,* July 2025. https://www.livenowfox.com/news/epstein-prison-video-edit-discrepancy
|
||||
[^119]: "Maurene Comey, prosecutor in Epstein and Combs cases and daughter of former FBI director, sues after being fired." *CNN,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/politics/maurene-comey-justice-department-lawsuit ; Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/
|
||||
[^120]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates." *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
|
||||
[^121]: Reuters, "Epstein estate agrees to $35 million settlement in victim class action," *NBC News,* February 20, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-estate-agrees-35-million-settlement-victim-class-action-rcna259863 ; Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68260876/doe-3-v-indyke/
|
||||
[^122]: Kaelan Deese, "Two Jeffrey Epstein associates under investigation by New York federal prosecutors," *Washington Examiner,* September 23, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4739210/jeffrey-epstein-associates-under-investigation-new-york-federal-prosecutors/
|
||||
[^123]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
|
||||
[^124]: "Court Rules Virginia Giuffre Died Without a Will, Appoints Administrator," *Newsweek,* November 26, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/court-rules-virginia-giuffre-died-without-will-11110482
|
||||
[^125]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 784, 785 (July 18, 2025); ECF No. 809 (Aug. 11, 2025), 794 F. Supp. 3d 215. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
|
||||
[^126]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Interview Transcript, Maxwell, 2025.07.24 (Redacted)." https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.24%20(Redacted).pdf
|
||||
[^127]: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, letter to William K. Marshall III, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, August 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-07-Letter-to-BOP-Maxwell-Transfer.pdf
|
||||
[^128]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files," Press Release No. 25-201, February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files
|
||||
[^129]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1
|
||||
[^130]: "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," *The Washington Times,* November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/
|
||||
[^131]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf ; Office of the Clerk, Roll Call 289, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289
|
||||
[^132]: U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files
|
||||
[^133]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, January 30, 2026, p. 4. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
|
||||
[^134]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844. https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
|
||||
[^135]: Senators Jeffrey A. Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Richard J. Durbin, letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, March 11, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/GAO-Epstein-Files-Redactions-Review-Letter.pdf
|
||||
[^136]: "Government watchdog to review DOJ's handling of the Epstein files," *NBC News,* April 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/government-watchdog-review-dojs-handling-epstein-files-rcna342513
|
||||
[^137]: "DOJ removed, withheld Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* February 24, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell ; "Justice Department posts more Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* March 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5737562/justice-department-missing-epstein-files-trump ; *CNN,* February 24, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/24/us/epstein-files-trump-accuser-missing-files-invs
|
||||
[^138]: Congressional Record, vol. 172, no. 40 (March 3, 2026), pp. S748 ff. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2026-03-03/html/CREC-2026-03-03-pt1-PgS748-2.htm
|
||||
[^139]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Report on Failure of Wall Street Banks to Blow the Whistle on Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking and Money Laundering Schemes," August 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-report-on-failure-of-wall-street-banks-to-blow-the-whistle-on-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-and-money-laundering-schemes
|
||||
[^140]: Dareh Gregorian et al., "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," *NBC News,* March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779
|
||||
[^141]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," *CBS News,* April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
|
||||
[^142]: "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/ ; "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via *Fortune,* December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association
|
||||
[^143]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
|
||||
[^144]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/
|
||||
[^59]: EFTA00328899, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00328899.pdf; EFTA00714297, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00714297.pdf; EFTA00337558, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337558.pdf.
|
||||
[^60]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
|
||||
[^61]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 5, 10, 28 n. 28. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
|
||||
[^62]: "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why," *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
|
||||
[^63]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive
|
||||
[^64]: Molteni, Megan. "Jeffrey Epstein's tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church," *STAT,* February 24, 2026. https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/epstein-cell-line-george-church-harvard-personal-genome-project/
|
||||
[^65]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^66]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Peggy Siegal and George Stephanopoulos, "Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew," November and December 2010, EFTA02411832 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02411832.pdf
|
||||
[^67]: Ponieman, Natan. *Benzinga,* May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs ; *The Daily Beast,* May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/ ; "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
|
||||
[^68]: Hamilton, Katherine. "Jeffrey Epstein Moved Money For Noam Chomsky, Paid Bard President Botstein $150,000, Report Says." *Forbes,* May 17, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/17/jeffrey-epstein-moved-money-for-noam-chomsky-paid-bard-president-botstein-150000-report-says/
|
||||
[^69]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015, EFTA02386175 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf
|
||||
[^70]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check image, Gratitude America, Ltd, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf ; EFTA01348725, DataSet 10, check image, February 3, 2016 (Bates DB-SDNY-0035646). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348725.pdf ; "Leon Botstein received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein," *Inside Higher Ed,* May 18, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/18/leon-botstein-received-150000-jeffrey-epstein
|
||||
[^71]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log with the contact "Steve Bannon," August 23, 2018, EFTA01615267 to EFTA01615272. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf ; "'Let me see the videotapes': Mark Epstein wants Steve Bannon's 15 hours of unseen footage of his brother," *NBC News,* 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/mark-epstein-steve-bannon-15-hours-brother-jeffrey-epstein-rcna219630
|
||||
[^72]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Tom Pritzker to Jeffrey Epstein, "RE: Re:," August 8, 2016, EFTA01783338 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
|
||||
[^73]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: email to Jeffrey Epstein, sender redacted, "Any other," August 12, 2010, EFTA02407727 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02407727.pdf ; Saida Sapieva to Lesley Groff, "CONFIRMED: DINNER: Sunday, 8/2," July 31, 2015, EFTA00344556, and reply chain, EFTA00344564 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344556.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344564.pdf ; email chain, Jeffrey Epstein and a redacted correspondent, February 6, 2016, EFTA01738574 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01738574.pdf
|
||||
[^74]: "Epstein's Silicon Valley ties extended beyond just Musk and Gates." *CNBC,* February 9, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/09/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html
|
||||
[^75]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
|
||||
[^76]: Ruetenik, Daniel, and Graham Kates. "Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show." *CBS News,* February 7, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/
|
||||
[^77]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI Form FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," case 50D-NY-3027571, April 23, 2021, EFTA01249210 (DataSet 9); calendar alert, December 20, 2012, EFTA02152992 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152992.pdf
|
||||
[^78]: "Birthday letter to Epstein bore Trump's signature, drawing of naked woman, Wall Street Journal reports." *CNN,* July 17, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/politics/epstein-birthday-letter-trump ; "Trump Epstein letter and drawing from 'birthday book' released." *CNBC,* September 8, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/trump-epstein-birthday-book-oversight.html
|
||||
[^79]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI New York internal email on the Prince Andrew MLAT request, June 8, 2020, EFTA00149598 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00149598.pdf
|
||||
[^80]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: correspondence of Tomer Toor, Darren Indyke, Ehud Barak and Jeffrey Epstein on the exercise of Carbyne warrants, February and March 2019, EFTA02632339 and EFTA02634615 (DataSet 11); Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke on Carbyne financial statements, March 2019, EFTA01035810 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01035810.pdf
|
||||
[^81]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1, 2019, EFTA02607775, and continuing thread to February 4, 2019, EFTA02628648 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
|
||||
[^82]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018, EFTA01052344 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
|
||||
[^83]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019, EFTA02630791 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
|
||||
[^84]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: iMessage logs with the contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to January 10, 2017, EFTA01619434, EFTA01619438 and EFTA01619444 (DataSet 10); Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016, EFTA02044775 (DataSet 10); scheduling of Maxim Churkin, July and August 2017, EFTA02219806 (DataSet 11) and EFTA00676901 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619444.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02219806.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00676901.pdf
|
||||
[^85]: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, deposition of William P. Barr, August 18, 2025, transcript released September 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Barr-Transcript.pdf
|
||||
[^86]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Martin Weinberg, "Re: CIA FOIA Request," July 18, 2011, EFTA00915248; Weinberg to Epstein, same date, EFTA00687827; FBI Privacy Waiver and Certification of Identity, EFTA00624683 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00915248.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00687827.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00624683.pdf
|
||||
[^87]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), paras. 80, 85-126, 176-185, citing United States v. Epstein, 27 F. Supp. 2d 404 (S.D.N.Y. 1998). https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
|
||||
[^88]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
|
||||
[^89]: "Maria Farmer and Marsh Law Firm's Persistent Advocacy Vindicated as FBI Releases Farmer's 1996 Report on Jeffrey Epstein," *Marsh Law Firm,* December 23, 2025. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/persistent-advocacy-vindicated/
|
||||
[^90]: "NYC medical examiner rejects claim that Jeffrey Epstein's death was a homicide." *CNN,* October 30, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-fox ; "Jeffrey Epstein autopsy finds broken bones in his neck." *CNN,* August 15, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-broken-neck
|
||||
[^91]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: "Gmax" to Jeffrey Epstein, December 8, 2009, EFTA02434764 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02434764.pdf
|
||||
[^92]: Suzanne Carlson, "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020 (ECF No. 158-36 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR). http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
|
||||
[^93]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), report pp. 6, 16-17, 24, 46, 74. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
|
||||
[^94]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, January 22, 2021, Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management Form 8-K (January 25, 2021), pp. 3 to 5, 16 to 17. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
|
||||
[^95]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1
|
||||
[^96]: Settlement Agreement and Release between the Government of the United States Virgin Islands and Leon Black, executed January 20, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/usvi_black_settlement_agreement_-_executedpdf.pdf
|
||||
[^97]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01071282, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring," as of October 2, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01071282.pdf ; EFTA00982173, DataSet 9, email, Ada Clapp to Jeffrey Epstein, "6.7.13 Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring-updated 1.14.14," January 21, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00982173.pdf ; EFTA00702518, DataSet 9, email, Barry J. Cohen to Jeffrey Epstein, "S&C: Leon Black Estate Planning," July 24, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00702518.pdf
|
||||
[^98]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), transcript pp. 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
|
||||
[^99]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023 (ECF No. 191). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf ; EFTA02808625, Court Records, same case, letter of JPMorgan's counsel in opposition, June 9, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf ; EFTA02814941, Court Records, same case, Order of Judge Jed S. Rakoff, August 2023. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02814941.pdf
|
||||
[^100]: Staley v The Financial Conduct Authority [2025] UKUT 00203 (TCC), decision released June 26, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685d21fec2633bd820a92a52/Staley_v_FCA_decision_for_release.pdf
|
||||
[^101]: New York State Department of Financial Services, Consent Order in the Matter of Deutsche Bank AG et al., July 6, 2020, paras. 26, 33. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank ; Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf
|
||||
[^102]: "JPMorgan settles with Jeffrey Epstein victims for $290 million." *WHYY,* 2023. https://whyy.org/articles/jpmorgan-settlement/ ; "Ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley fined and banned by UK regulator for Epstein ties." *AP/AOL,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/finance/ex-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-142727090.html
|
||||
[^103]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis
|
||||
[^104]: Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to James Edward Staley, July 23, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/james-edward-staley-2025.pdf
|
||||
[^105]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20240721172424/https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/06/16/v-i-officials-enabled-epstein-to-act-with-impunity-jpmorgan-alleges-in-latest-salvo/
|
||||
[^106]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
|
||||
[^107]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
|
||||
[^108]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Bryan unapologetic for texts with Epstein, doubles down on denial of wrongdoing." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 3, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/bryan-unapologetic-for-texts-with-epstein-doubles-down-on-denial-of-wrongdoing/article_8bab46a1-6075-4c7c-abec-6efb19622e62.html
|
||||
[^109]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1360 with Exhibits 2-9 (Feb. 20, 2026), describing In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM) (April 9, 2019 order); Order, ECF No. 1367 (Aug. 11, 2026); Order, ECF No. 1370 (Sept. 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
|
||||
[^110]: "Jeffrey Epstein operated a vast sex-trafficking network of underage girls who recruited other victims, prosecutors say." *CNN,* July 8, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/us/jeffrey-epstein-monday-court-appearance
|
||||
[^111]: "Jeffrey Epstein used foreign passport with fake name to enter Saudi Arabia: prosecutors." *NBC News,* July 17, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-epstein-used-foreign-passport-fake-name-enter-saudi-arabia-n1031046
|
||||
[^112]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 23, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe to Judge Richard M. Berman (Supplement to Detention Memorandum), July 16, 2019, pp. 1-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649.23.0_2.pdf
|
||||
[^113]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 30, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe, July 17, 2019 (quoting ECF No. 24 at 7); ECF No. 31, Letter from Marc Fernich, Martin Weinberg, and Reid Weingarten, July 18, 2019. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/
|
||||
[^114]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: internal USANYS email, "FW: Fraud and Blackmail: Jeffrey Epstein's Finances," July 31, 2019, EFTA00086657 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00086657.pdf
|
||||
[^115]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, July 8 to August 10, 2019, including staff memoranda of July 23, 2019, SIS Inmate Investigative Report NYM-19-0061 (July 31, 2019, pp. EFTA00049239 to 43), and an institution response on cellmate assignments and documentation, EFTA00048963 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
|
||||
[^116]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. iii to iv, 1 to 6, 14 to 20, 58 to 60. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
|
||||
[^117]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died ; "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy: A closer look." *CBS News, 60 Minutes,* January 5, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-a-closer-look-60-minutes-2020-01-05/
|
||||
[^118]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
|
||||
[^119]: Eastham, Janet. "'Suspicious' payments to last guard who saw Epstein." *The Telegraph* via *Yahoo News,* March 8, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-prison-guard-made-suspicious-132416347.html ; "Hany Farid and WIRED Analyze the Department of Justice's Released Epstein Video, Find Anomalies with Metadata." *UC Berkeley School of Information,* July 2025. https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2025/hany-farid-and-wired-analyze-department-justices-released-epstein-video-find-anomalies ; "Jeffrey Epstein prison video had nearly 3 minutes cut from it: report." *LiveNOW from FOX,* July 2025. https://www.livenowfox.com/news/epstein-prison-video-edit-discrepancy
|
||||
[^120]: "Maurene Comey, prosecutor in Epstein and Combs cases and daughter of former FBI director, sues after being fired." *CNN,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/politics/maurene-comey-justice-department-lawsuit ; Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/
|
||||
[^121]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates." *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
|
||||
[^122]: Reuters, "Epstein estate agrees to $35 million settlement in victim class action," *NBC News,* February 20, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-estate-agrees-35-million-settlement-victim-class-action-rcna259863 ; Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68260876/doe-3-v-indyke/
|
||||
[^123]: Kaelan Deese, "Two Jeffrey Epstein associates under investigation by New York federal prosecutors," *Washington Examiner,* September 23, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4739210/jeffrey-epstein-associates-under-investigation-new-york-federal-prosecutors/
|
||||
[^124]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
|
||||
[^125]: "Court Rules Virginia Giuffre Died Without a Will, Appoints Administrator," *Newsweek,* November 26, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/court-rules-virginia-giuffre-died-without-will-11110482
|
||||
[^126]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 784, 785 (July 18, 2025); ECF No. 809 (Aug. 11, 2025), 794 F. Supp. 3d 215. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
|
||||
[^127]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Interview Transcript, Maxwell, 2025.07.24 (Redacted)." https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.24%20(Redacted).pdf
|
||||
[^128]: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, letter to William K. Marshall III, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, August 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-07-Letter-to-BOP-Maxwell-Transfer.pdf
|
||||
[^129]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files," Press Release No. 25-201, February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files
|
||||
[^130]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1
|
||||
[^131]: "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," *The Washington Times,* November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/
|
||||
[^132]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf ; Office of the Clerk, Roll Call 289, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289
|
||||
[^133]: U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files
|
||||
[^134]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, January 30, 2026, p. 4. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
|
||||
[^135]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844. https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
|
||||
[^136]: Senators Jeffrey A. Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Richard J. Durbin, letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, March 11, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/GAO-Epstein-Files-Redactions-Review-Letter.pdf
|
||||
[^137]: "Government watchdog to review DOJ's handling of the Epstein files," *NBC News,* April 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/government-watchdog-review-dojs-handling-epstein-files-rcna342513
|
||||
[^138]: "DOJ removed, withheld Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* February 24, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell ; "Justice Department posts more Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* March 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5737562/justice-department-missing-epstein-files-trump ; *CNN,* February 24, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/24/us/epstein-files-trump-accuser-missing-files-invs
|
||||
[^139]: Congressional Record, vol. 172, no. 40 (March 3, 2026), pp. S748 ff. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2026-03-03/html/CREC-2026-03-03-pt1-PgS748-2.htm
|
||||
[^140]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Report on Failure of Wall Street Banks to Blow the Whistle on Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking and Money Laundering Schemes," August 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-report-on-failure-of-wall-street-banks-to-blow-the-whistle-on-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-and-money-laundering-schemes
|
||||
[^141]: Dareh Gregorian et al., "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," *NBC News,* March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779
|
||||
[^142]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," *CBS News,* April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
|
||||
[^143]: "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/ ; "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via *Fortune,* December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association
|
||||
[^144]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
|
||||
[^145]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
|
|||
- Kit Green
|
||||
- Christopher Green
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
|
|
@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ After several scientists at [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] reported
|
|||
|
||||
Following his departure from CIA, Green continued academic and research work in neurophysiology and forensic medicine. He was associated with [[Wayne State University School of Medicine]], where he worked in forensic pathology and neurological research.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Green contributed as a consultant and scientific advisor to the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP), the Pentagon's UAP research program that operated from approximately 2007 to 2012 under the direction of [[Luis D. Elizondo III|Luis Elizondo]]. His contribution included review of reported physical and physiological effects on individuals claiming proximity to anomalous aerial phenomena. He published research examining injuries reported by people claiming UAP encounters - a category he termed "exotic wounds" - applying forensic neurological analysis to the reported symptom patterns. This work represented the extension of his long-standing interest in the medical and physiological dimensions of anomalous phenomena from the SRI era into the post-AATIP period.[^3]
|
||||
Green contributed as a consultant and scientific advisor to the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP), the Pentagon's UAP research program that operated from approximately 2007 to 2012 under the direction of [[Luis Elizondo]]. His contribution included review of reported physical and physiological effects on individuals claiming proximity to anomalous aerial phenomena. He published research examining injuries reported by people claiming UAP encounters - a category he termed "exotic wounds" - applying forensic neurological analysis to the reported symptom patterns. This work represented the extension of his long-standing interest in the medical and physiological dimensions of anomalous phenomena from the SRI era into the post-AATIP period.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo's acknowledgments in 2024 thank "everyone else who worked with and supported AAWSAP/AATIP, especially Dr. Hal Puthoff, Dr. [[Eric Davis]], Dr. Christopher 'Kit' Green, [[Garry Nolan|Dr. Garry Nolan]]," Bigelow and others. The body of the book does not otherwise mention Green by name, and it does not describe his role.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Defense Electronics]] article of July 1993 in the CIA's Star Gate files, on closed briefings by the Russian scientist [[Igor Smirnov]] on "a computerized acoustic device allegedly capable of implanting thoughts in a person's mind," held from March 17 in [[Northern Virginia|northern Virginia]] and later at the [[University of Kansas Medical Center]], lists among "the non-military attendees" "Dr. [[Richard Nakamura]] of the [[National Institute of Mental Health]] and Dr. Christopher Green, director of [[General Motors]] Corp. (GM) biomedical research department in [[Detroit]]"; whether this is the Green of this page the article does not say.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -78,3 +80,4 @@ An April 15, 1993 transcript of a call between [[Ronald Pandolfi]] and [[C. B. S
|
|||
[^7]: "Telecon: Ron Pandolphy and Scott Jones," April 15, 1993, enclosure to Farley's letter of April 29, 1995, Clinton Presidential Library, Office of Science and Technology Policy FOIA 01-22, item 46, https://avalonlibrary.net/Grant_Cameron/Clinton_Presidential_Library_collection/OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022/1995%2004%2029_C.%20Richard%20Farley,%20Jr.%20to%20John%20Gibbons%20-%20OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022%20-%20item%20no%2046.pdf.
|
||||
[^8]: Farley, C. Richard, Jr., letter to John H. Gibbons, March 29, 1997, OSTP FOIA 01-22, item 75, same collection.
|
||||
[^9]: Boylan, Richard J. "UFO/ET-Disclosure Policy Splits Covert Network," *Perceptions,* http://web.archive.org/web/20130831033026/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary.htm. Sole source.
|
||||
[^10]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), Acknowledgments, p. 250 (placed by interpolation from index entries; the digital copy read carries no pagination); full-text search of the book for "Kit" and "Green" returns this passage only.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -5,12 +5,38 @@ tags:
|
|||
- UFO
|
||||
- Military
|
||||
summary: "Elizondo's upbringing was unconventional and deeply shaped by his father, Luis D."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence]]"
|
||||
start: 2008
|
||||
end: 2017-10-04
|
||||
role: "GS-15 civilian; information-sharing work with DHS and state, local and tribal law enforcement from 2008, counterintelligence and security for AAWSAP from 2009, Director of National Programs, Special Management Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense (Guantanamo portfolio); resignation effective October 4, 2017, as he wrote"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2020-12
|
||||
role: "chief of security and special programs, in his account; salary cut in half during the period; relationship ended by a call from Tom DeLonge a few days before Christmas 2020"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Garry Reid]]"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2017-10-04
|
||||
role: "top boss in the Pentagon chain of command, whom Elizondo wrote he kept out of the loop on AATIP; Elizondo wrote that Reid opened an Air Force Office of Special Investigations inquiry after the resignation"
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[NewsNation]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reported on June 30 and July 29, 2026 on disputes between Elizondo and its correspondent Ross Coulthart and the researcher UAPGerb over his role in the Legacy Program and a rumored disclosure post"
|
||||
start: 2026-06-30
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Luis Elizondo]] is a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent and former employee of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. He is a central figure in the effort to disclose information about [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP), due to his role leading the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP), a clandestine [[Pentagon]] program that studied the phenomenon.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early Life and Paternal Influence
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo's upbringing was unconventional and deeply shaped by his father, [[Luis D. Elizondo III]], a Cuban exile with a revolutionary past. His father had initially fought alongside Fidel Castro against the Batista regime, but turned against Castro after his alignment with the Soviet Union. This led to his participation in the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion and a subsequent two-year imprisonment in Cuba, an experience that left him volatile and deeply anti-authoritarian. This background led him to provide his son with an intense and unusual education in paramilitary skills from the age of seven. Elizondo was taught to assemble and disassemble firearms like the AR-15 and AK-47, build rocket launchers from PVC pipes, read topographical maps, and even how to hot-wire a car. This was all part of his father's preparation for a planned, but never realized, second invasion of Cuba under an operation known as "Alpha 66."[^1]
|
||||
Elizondo's upbringing was unconventional and deeply shaped by his father, [[Luis D. Elizondo III]], a Cuban exile with a revolutionary past. His father had initially fought alongside [[Fidel Castro]] against the Batista regime, but turned against Castro after his alignment with the [[Soviet Union]]. This led to his participation in the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion and a subsequent two-year imprisonment in Cuba, an experience that left him volatile and deeply anti-authoritarian. This background led him to provide his son with an intense and unusual education in paramilitary skills from the age of seven. Elizondo was taught to assemble and disassemble firearms like the AR-15 and AK-47, build rocket launchers from PVC pipes, read topographical maps, and even how to hot-wire a car. This was all part of his father's preparation for a planned, but never realized, second invasion of Cuba under an operation known as "Alpha 66."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Struggling with dyslexia and bullying at school, Elizondo found structure and camaraderie in his high school's Junior ROTC program, which he credits with saving him from a self-destructive path. Despite his academic challenges, he enrolled in the pre-medical program at the University of Miami, double majoring in microbiology and immunology, before enlisting in the [[U.S. Army|US Army]] in 1995.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -36,9 +62,58 @@ Elizondo's involvement with AATIP was not without personal cost. He and his fami
|
|||
|
||||
Frustrated by the bureaucratic stonewalling, the refusal of the [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]] to cooperate, and the inability to brief senior leadership like Secretary of Defense [[James Mattis]], Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon on October 4, 2017. His resignation letter to Secretary Mattis, which was later made public, explicitly stated that the Department was not taking the potential threat posed by UAP seriously.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Working with [[Christopher Mellon]] and [[Jim Semivan]], Elizondo went public. He was the primary source for a landmark New York Times article in December 2017 that disclosed the existence of AATIP and included the first official release of what would become known as the "[[Tic Tac]]," "[[GIMBAL]]," and "[[GoFast]]" UAP videos. This event ignited a global conversation and marked a pivotal moment for the disclosure movement.[^1]
|
||||
Working with [[Christopher Mellon]] and [[Jim Semivan]], Elizondo went public. He was the primary source for a landmark New York Times article in December 2017 that disclosed the existence of AATIP. The article carried the Navy videos later known as "FLIR1" (Tic Tac) and "[[GIMBAL]]" (the article carried two videos; "GOFAST" followed in March 2018). [[Politico]] reported in 2021 that the [[Washington Headquarters Services]] declassification division approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government; the Department of Defense stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, which had been circulating in the public domain after "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."[^2][^3] This event ignited a global conversation and marked a pivotal moment for the disclosure movement.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Post-resignation, Elizondo joined [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] (TTSA), founded by musician Tom DeLonge, and has worked relentlessly to advocate for UAP transparency. His efforts, in concert with Mellon and others, have been crucial in briefing members of Congress, which led directly to the creation of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) and the passage of historic UAP disclosure legislation within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).[^1]
|
||||
Post-resignation, Elizondo joined [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] (TTSA), founded by musician [[Tom DeLonge]], and has worked relentlessly to advocate for UAP transparency. His efforts, in concert with Mellon and others, have been crucial in briefing members of Congress, which led directly to the creation of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) and the passage of historic UAP disclosure legislation within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Recruitment, offices and resignation, in Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that in 2008 he returned to the Department of Defense in the [[Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence]], working on information sharing among the department, the [[Department of Homeland Security]] and state, local and tribal law enforcement, from an eleventh-floor corner office in a building in [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington]] that the Pentagon rented and that housed divisions of [[Boeing]] including Phantom Works, at the GS-15 grade, and that in early 2009 his assistant announced two visitors, Jay Stratton and a colleague he calls "Rosemary Caine," who asked for his counterintelligence and security experience for "a highly classified program led out of our office at DIA," which Stratton said he had helped create under the name AAWSAP, later AATIP, and which they said reported "directly to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and to Congress." After two more meetings he was taken to a tenth-floor office in a Virginia building where he met James Lacatski, who asked "What do you think about UFOs?"; at a second meeting Lacatski told him the program had the support of the DIA director, Lieutenant General [[Michael D. Maples]], and had been funded by Harry Reid, Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye. Elizondo wrote that an Army friend he calls "John Robert," who served with him in Korea in the 1990s and acted as liaison between another intelligence agency and AAWSAP, had referred him.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
He wrote that after the program lost support at DIA, in 2010, he moved its remnants into his own portfolio as Director of National Programs, Special Management Staff, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which managed national-level special access programs for the National Security Council and the White House and, in his case, Guantanamo Bay; that his base was office 3C503A in the Pentagon; that he "dual-used" existing funds so that a video sent for analysis could be tested both as a possible Russian MiG-25 and as a UAP; and that the only contractors who remained with Stratton and himself were Puthoff, a physician he calls Will Livingston and [[Eric Davis]]. He named as his superiors in this period [[Neill Tipton]], whom he described as running the Intelligence Sharing and Foreign Intelligence Relationship Office, and Tipton's boss John Pede.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that in 2016 the Joint Staff declined to give Stratton's OPLAN Interloper an Alternative Compensatory Control Measures designation, that in 2017 he sought a briefing of Secretary of Defense James Mattis through a SECDEF liaison, a White House advisor named Brad Byers and a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] liaison officer he calls "Shari Smith," that Tipton agreed to take over AATIP and accepted a draft memo but delayed signing it; and that he resigned in a letter to Mattis "effective 4 October 2017," after more than twenty-two years of service, with a second, shorter letter to his chain of command.[^6] He wrote that his immediate supervisor on the Guantanamo portfolio, John Garrity, telephoned that day to say that Garry Reid, whom he described as controlling security, law enforcement and security clearances for the department, wanted to see him; that Reid said he would have to tell people Elizondo was "acting crazy"; and that Reid seized his computers and files, questioned his staff and began an inquiry through the Air Force [[Office of Special Investigations]] which, he wrote, "found no impropriety in my actions."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
After the [[New York Times]] story of December 16, 2017, Elizondo wrote, the Pentagon spokesperson Dana White confirmed his role in AATIP to Politico, but in 2019 the spokesperson [[Christopher Sherwood]] told reporters that "Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program," which Elizondo wrote Sherwood privately acknowledged was untrue; that a [[Freedom of Information Act]] response said his electronic files had been deleted as having "no historic value," and that an email transferring AATIP duties to Tipton in 2017 was released in May 2024 after a FOIA appeal; and that after a Defense Department inspector general review Garry Reid was reassigned to DIA as a "special advisor." Elizondo wrote that a Pentagon spokesperson later confirmed that he "provides technical advice on a variety of classified topics for the US Space Force."[^8] The Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office found in 2024 that AATIP "was never an official DoD program" (see Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program).
|
||||
|
||||
### NewsNation, 2025 and 2026
|
||||
|
||||
NewsNation's January 16, 2025 article on [[Jake Barber]] stated that "other whistleblowers, including Lue Elizondo and [[David Grusch]], have alleged a secret government UFO program exists but Barber says he knows it's true because he's part of it," and the full-special article of the same month stated that Grusch and Elizondo "say they've been told about it, they believe it exists, but they weren't a part of it themselves."[^9][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 30, 2026 NewsNation reported that its special correspondent [[Ross Coulthart]] had said on his "[[Reality Check (NewsNation)|Reality Check]]" podcast that "There are people who bitterly resent and don't think it's a good idea that Lue be appointed to a position of power in UAP transparency, because they think that he was part of a previous agenda that was essentially to try to control the narrative, to restrict what the public is entitled to know about the UAP disclosure," and "I've spoken to people in the [[Legacy Program]] who knew Lue." Elizondo told NewsNation's [[Chris Cuomo]] that "I've committed myself to transparency to the degree that I could," that "I didn't say I worked for the Legacy Program," that "we cannot confirm or deny" statements are not "some sort of implicit 'yes,'" and that "I think Ross is an excellent investigative journalist." The article gives Elizondo's account that he directed the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and "resigned in 2017 in protest."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 29, 2026 NewsNation reported that the anonymous researcher known online as [[UAPGerb]] (named Sam in the article), speaking to Coulthart, said Elizondo was part of a "controlled narrative" and noted speculation that he was "being positioned for a role with the National Security Council or as an adviser to the White House"; the article states "Elizondo has not confirmed the rumors." In a [[YouTube]] video Elizondo called the claims false, confirmed he was moving to [[Washington, D.C.]] because "fighting for UAP disclosure is a full-time job," and told Coulthart "please, for the love of God, be more careful with who you decide to have on your program." The article states that Elizondo said one narrative, which he claims the researcher made up, was that he and [[James Clapper]], the former [[Director of National Intelligence]], "had colluded to create a network" for "soft disclosure," and quotes Elizondo: "That is 1,000% not accurate. In fact, we never had such a conversation, and Jim Clapper and I never met to have that conversation."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Resignation and the December 2017 placement
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo's resignation took effect October 4, 2017, according to the Pentagon; a Pentagon official told Politico that Mattis's receipt of the letter could not be confirmed. His letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis cited "bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets" and the "overwhelming evidence" at "both the classified and unclassified levels," and, [[Keith Kloor]] wrote in *[[The Intercept]]*, "does not mention AATIP or Elizondo's role as its director."[^13][^14] [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] wrote that the previous day had been his last day of work, and that on October 4, 2017 [[Leslie Kean]] met him, Hal Puthoff and Jim Semivan in a hotel bar near the Pentagon at the request of Christopher Mellon; Kean told Lewis-Kraus that Elizondo "had incredible gravitas."[^15] Elizondo spoke onstage at the To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science launch later in October 2017.[^15] In an August 2017 email reviewed by Politico he proposed an unclassified "community of interest" database; "Washington Headquarters Services" approved three [[United States Navy|Navy]] videos "for unlimited distribution" within government, and Elizondo, Mellon and others concluded that more was needed. Politico reported in 2021 that the Pentagon "officially acknowledged the existence of the AATIP program and Elizondo's role in it."[^2] In December 2017 Politico quoted Elizondo: "We tried to work within the system. We were trying to take the voodoo out of voodoo science," and he described sightings "often reported in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, either ships at sea or power plants"; the Times quoted his resignation letter's phrase "unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and displaying beyond-next-generation capabilities."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pentagon statements beside his account
|
||||
|
||||
December 2017: Politico's [[Bryan Bender]] wrote that Pentagon spokeswoman [[Dana White]] "confirmed to Politico that the program existed and was run by Elizondo." June 1, 2019: spokesperson Christopher Sherwood told *The Intercept* that AATIP "did pursue research and investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena" but that "Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI," that he "cannot confirm" White's statement, and that Elizondo "worked for other organizations in DoD." June 13, 2019: [[Susan Gough]] told [[The Black Vault]] that Reid's July 24, 2009 memorandum was authentic and "makes no change to previous statements," and that "Elizondo did interact with the DIA office managing the program while the program was still ongoing, but he did not lead it." Bender wrote on June 2, 2019 that he expected "a much more definitive statement from the Pentagon" and that The Intercept's "assertions and innuendo" were wrong. Elizondo, in the Intercept article, did not respond to requests for comment; he told Kloor earlier in 2019 that he was a government contractor "but it's not what you think it is."[^14][^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Galileo Project
|
||||
|
||||
On October 30, 2021 Elizondo and Mellon became research affiliates of [[Harvard University|Harvard]]'s [[Galileo Project]]; Elizondo was quoted: "Deliberate and methodical research, along with strict rigor will help ensure the tenets of the scientific method are followed."[^18] The October 2021 announcement credits both with "two years of patient public and private lobbying" behind the June 2021 ODNI report.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: Bender, Bryan. *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/).
|
||||
[^4]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 3 to 14 (Caine indexed at p. 5; Reid, Bigelow and Maples at pp. 13 to 14). Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^5]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 82 to 93 (Higgins, Tipton and Pede at pp. 87 to 89; Will at p. 90; office 3C503A at p. 93).
|
||||
[^6]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 147 to 202 (Interloper at pp. 147 and 186; Byers at pp. 189 and 217; Tipton at p. 192; resignation letter at p. 202).
|
||||
[^7]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 202 to 203 and 211.
|
||||
[^8]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 209 to 217 and 238 (Dana White at p. 210; Sherwood at p. 217; deletion at p. 212; Space Force statement at p. 238); photograph captions on the email released in May 2024.
|
||||
[^9]: NewsNation, "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^10]: NewsNation, "Whistleblower reveals UAP retrieval program; object caught on video," January 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/hfr-uap-recovery-video-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/
|
||||
[^11]: Alicia Sitz, "UAP whistleblower Luis Elizondo neither confirms nor denies he was part of government secrecy efforts," NewsNation, updated June 30, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/luis-elizondo-denies-uap-secrecy-efforts/
|
||||
[^12]: Steph Whiteside and Alicia Sitz, "Elizondo responds to researcher's 'controlled narrative' role rumors," NewsNation, updated July 29, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/elizondo-uap-role-controlled-narrative/
|
||||
[^13]: Kloor, Keith. "UFOs Won't Go Away." *Issues in Science and Technology,* March 1, 2019. https://issues.org/ufos-wont-go-away/
|
||||
[^14]: Kloor, Keith. *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/
|
||||
[^15]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^16]: Bender, Bryan. "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* December 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111 ; Cooper, Helene, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean. *The New York Times,* December 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html
|
||||
[^17]: Greenewald, John, Jr. The Black Vault, June 14, 2019. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/pentagon-reinforces-mr-luis-elizondo-had-no-responsibilities-on-aatip-senator-harry-reids-2009-memo-changes-nothing
|
||||
[^18]: The Galileo Project, October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^19]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 202 to 217 (resignation at p. 202; Garry Reid indexed at pp. 143 to 144, 202 to 203, 209, 212, 215 to 217, 238 to 239) and pp. 205 to 207, 218 and 219 (offer from Tom DeLonge, salary cut and end of the arrangement).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
48
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ralph Blumenthal.md
Normal file
48
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ralph Blumenthal.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- NewYorkTimes
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ralph Blumenthal
|
||||
- Blumenthal, Ralph
|
||||
summary: "Ralph Blumenthal, a New York Times reporter from 1964 to 2009 and later a Baruch College lecturer, co-wrote the December 2017 AATIP report and wrote The Believer, a 2021 biography of John Mack."
|
||||
location: "New York City"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[New York Times]]"
|
||||
role: "news clerk and reporter, foreign correspondent, investigative reporter, culture reporter, Texas correspondent; contributor after 2009"
|
||||
start: 1964-06
|
||||
end: 2009
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]"
|
||||
role: "co-author; pitched the story to executive editor Dean Baquet"
|
||||
start: 2017-12-16
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Baruch College]]"
|
||||
role: "Distinguished Lecturer"
|
||||
start: 2010
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Ralph Blumenthal]] joined the *[[New York Times]]* as a news clerk in June 1964 after editing the [[City College of New York]] newspaper *[[The Campus]]* and attending the [[Columbia University]] Graduate School of Journalism. He served as metro and [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester]] correspondent (1964 to 1968), foreign correspondent in [[West Germany]], [[South Vietnam]] and [[Cambodia]] (1968 to 1971), investigative and crime reporter (1971 to 1994), arts and culture reporter (1994 to 2003) and Texas correspondent and Southwest bureau chief (2003 to 2008), returning to the metro staff in 2008. He retired as a staffer in 2009 and continued as a contributor.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His stated credits include leading the Times metro team that won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for breaking news coverage of the 1993 [[World Trade Center]] truck bombing, the 1987 team coverage of the [[Tawana Brawley]] case, reporting on [[Geraldine Ferraro]] and her husband [[John Zaccaro]] in 1984, and the first of his seven books, *[[Last Days of the Sicilians]]* (1988), on the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Pizza Connection|Pizza Connection case]]. He received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] in 2001, held a Distinguished Lecturer appointment at [[Baruch College]] from 2010 and taught summers at [[Phillips Exeter Academy]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### UFO reporting
|
||||
|
||||
Blumenthal's website states that "as a Times contributor after retiring as a staffer in 2009, I reported on the secret [[Pentagon]] unit investigating UFOs." His seventh book, *The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of [[John Mack]]*, was published by [[High Road Books]] of the [[University of New Mexico Press]] on March 15, 2021; in 2023 he and his wife [[Deborah]] published *UFOHS!: Mysteries in the Sky*, a children's picture book.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] wrote that when [[Leslie Kean]], whom he described as an "old friend," called him in October 2017 he was "at work on a biography of the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] psychiatrist and alien-abduction researcher [[John E. Mack|John Mack]]." Blumenthal e-mailed executive editor [[Dean Baquet]] to say they wanted to pitch "a sensational and highly confidential time-sensitive story" about a "senior U.S. intelligence official who abruptly quit last month" who had decided to expose "a deeply secret program, long mythologized but now confirmed." After a meeting with the Times's Washington bureau the paper agreed and assigned [[Helene Cooper]].[^2] Blumenthal and Kean later shared bylines on a July 2020 Times article that was corrected the next day on the question of [[Harry Reid]]'s belief about retrieved materials, and on the 2023 reporting on [[David Grusch]].[^2][^3] See [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]].
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Blumenthal, Ralph. "Bio." https://ralphblumenthal.com/?p=9 (author's website, first-person biography; credits are his own statements).
|
||||
[^2]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^3]: Baker, Nicholson. "How We Lost Our Minds About UFOs." *New York Magazine,* January 31, 2024. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/leslie-kean-ufo-sightings-aliens.html
|
||||
74
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ross Coulthart.md
Normal file
74
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ross Coulthart.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- NewsNation
|
||||
- Australia
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ross Coulthart
|
||||
- Coulthart
|
||||
summary: "Australian investigative journalist and author of In Plain Sight (2021) who joined NewsNation as special correspondent on November 14, 2023 and reported on David Grusch, Jake Barber and Skywatcher."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[NewsNation]]"
|
||||
role: "special correspondent and investigative journalist, effective November 14, 2023"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-14
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Nine Network]]"
|
||||
role: "reporter for 60 Minutes, per NewsNation's announcement"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Seven Network]]"
|
||||
role: "investigative reporter for Spotlight, most recent post before NewsNation, per NewsNation's announcement"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[David Grusch]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reporting on Grusch from June 2023; the November 14, 2023 announcement says Coulthart will continue it"
|
||||
start: 2023-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Sky Watcher]]"
|
||||
role: "reported on its operations and disappearance, April 2025 to August 2026"
|
||||
start: 2025-04
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ross Coulthart is an [[Australia|Australian]] journalist, documentary producer and author whom [[NewsNation]], a cable network owned by [[Nexstar Media Group]], signed as a special correspondent and investigative journalist on November 14, 2023.[^1] The announcement stated that he would "continue to provide reporting on UFO whistleblower [[David Grusch]], along with the larger investigation into an alleged secret U.S. military operation that is believed to have been retrieving non-human intelligence spacecraft for years."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career before NewsNation
|
||||
|
||||
The Nexstar announcement lists, over "three decades in journalism," work at [[The Sydney Morning Herald]], at [[Four Corners]] on the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], at [[60 Minutes (Australian TV program)|60 Minutes]] on the [[Nine Network]], most recently as investigative reporter for [[Spotlight (Australian TV program)|Spotlight]] on the [[Seven Network]] and before that as chief investigative reporter for the news program [[Sunday Night (Australian TV program)|Sunday Night]]. It states that he received five [[Walkley Awards]] including the Gold Walkley and a [[Logie Awards|Logie]], that he co-authored six books including The Lost Diggers, Dead Man Running and Above the Law, that his biography of [[Charles Bean]] won the 2015 [[Prime Minister's Literary Awards|Prime Minister's Literary Award]] for Australian History, and that he holds a law degree from [[Victoria University of Wellington]] and lives in [[Sydney]].[^1] His book [[In Plain Sight (Coulthart book)|In Plain Sight]]: An Investigation Into UFOs and Impossible Science is listed as his "latest book," and in 2022 he "began hosting the podcast Need to Know with fellow author, producer, and journalist [[Bryce Zabel]]."[^1] The announcement quoted NewsNation president of news [[Michael Corn]]: "We look forward to offering our viewers more of Ross' outstanding journalism."[^1] His first NewsNation project was "Unsolved: The JFK Assassination," a special timed to the 60th anniversary of the assassination of [[John F. Kennedy]], scheduled for November 19, 2023.[^1] NewsNation was announced in May 2020 as the primetime national newscast of the cable channel [[WGN America]] with a September 1, 2020 target date; Nexstar chairman and chief executive [[Perry Sook]] said it would be "100 percent absent of bias."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Grusch and the July 2023 hearing
|
||||
|
||||
NewsNation's article "We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks" was entered into the record of the July 26, 2023 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] by Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]].[^5] NewsNation wrote in January 2025 that "In June 2023, NewsNation was the first television network to present an interview with Grusch," and that the account "has led to multiple Congressional hearings."[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Barber and Skywatcher
|
||||
|
||||
Coulthart conducted the January 2025 interviews with [[Jake Barber]] and introduced Barber to [[Garry Nolan]] in 2024, according to NewsNation's account of its own reporting.[^7] On Sunday, April 6, 2025 he told "[[NewsNation Prime]]," as reported on April 7, that [[Sky Watcher]] used an "electro-mechanical dog whistle," that "every time they use their dog whistle, it's worked 100% of the time in summoning the phenomenon," and that a video of nine shapes, including a "jellyfish-shaped" object, would follow "within a day."[^3] Appearing on "NewsNation Prime" on Sunday, February 23, 2025, as reported on February 24, he called the [[Department of Defense]] investigation of Barber "an incremental step forward" and said, "So far, I'm a little bit skeptical, but we'll wait and see."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
In an August 2026 column he wrote that "it appears Skywatcher has indeed been dissolved," that "multiple insiders told NewsNation" its team had been "working with and reporting to a number of government agencies, including [[NASA]], the Department of Defense and several intelligence agencies, including the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]," and that "[[White House]] sources" told him [[Donald Trump]] "has personally authorized" a government program using Skywatcher's methods; he attributed each statement to unnamed sources.[^9] The column also states, again on the authority of unnamed sources, that Secretary of War [[Pete Hegseth]] "has been tasked with identifying these objects and capturing them for the president" and that the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] is "also said to be involved."[^9] NewsNation published a related question-and-answer episode on August 7, 2026.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Dispute with Luis Elizondo, 2026
|
||||
|
||||
On an episode of "[[Reality Check (NewsNation)|Reality Check]]" reported by NewsNation on June 30, 2026, Coulthart said "There are people who bitterly resent and don't think it's a good idea that Lue be appointed to a position of power in UAP transparency," and "I've spoken to people in the [[Legacy Program]] who knew Lue."[^11] [[Luis Elizondo]] told NewsNation's [[Chris Cuomo]] that he "didn't say I worked for the Legacy Program," that "I think Ross is an excellent investigative journalist," and that he did not know "where Ross is getting his information; I suspect he has sources."[^11] On July 29, 2026 NewsNation reported that an anonymous researcher known online as [[UAPGerb]] (named Sam in the article), speaking to Coulthart, had said Elizondo and others were part of a "controlled narrative," and that Elizondo, in a [[YouTube]] video, called the claims false and told Coulthart "for the love of God, be more careful with who you decide to have on your program."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Nexstar Media Group, "NewsNation Signs Award-Winning Journalist Ross Coulthart as a Special Correspondent for the Network," press release, November 14, 2023. https://www.nexstar.tv/newsnation-signs-ross-coulthart-as-special-correspondent/
|
||||
[^2]: NewsNation, "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^3]: Michael Ramsey, "Skywatcher video of 'summoned' UFOs coming soon: Ross Coulthart," NewsNation, updated April 7, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/summoned-ufos-video-ross-coulthart/
|
||||
[^4]: Robert Feder, "WGN America planning to launch 'News Nation' Sept. 1," Daily Herald, May 7, 2020. https://robertfeder.dailyherald.com/2020/05/07/robservations-wgn-america-planning-launch-news-nation-sept-1/.
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, hearing "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency," July 26, 2023, Serial No. 118-53, list of submitted documents. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53022/html/CHRG-118hhrg53022.htm
|
||||
[^6]: NewsNation, "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/ ; Ross Coulthart, "UAP recovery video shows 'egg-shaped' object: Exclusive," NewsNation, updated January 18, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-recovery-video-shows-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/
|
||||
[^7]: NewsNation, "Whistleblower reveals UAP retrieval program; object caught on video," January 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/hfr-uap-recovery-video-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/
|
||||
[^8]: Michael Ramsey, "UFO whistleblower Jake Barber's claims being investigated by Pentagon," NewsNation, updated February 24, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/pentagon-investigates-ufo-claims/
|
||||
[^9]: Ross Coulthart, "Is the Trump administration running a covert UFO program?," NewsNation Reality Check, about August 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check/trump-administration-covert-ufo-program/amp/
|
||||
[^10]: Ross Coulthart and Meagan Medick, "Ross Coulthart Q&A: Skywatcher didn't disappear, it went government," NewsNation, updated August 7, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/ross-coulthart-qa-skywatcher-didnt-disappear-it-went-government/
|
||||
[^11]: Alicia Sitz, "UAP whistleblower Luis Elizondo neither confirms nor denies he was part of government secrecy efforts," NewsNation, updated June 30, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/luis-elizondo-denies-uap-secrecy-efforts/
|
||||
[^12]: Steph Whiteside and Alicia Sitz, "Elizondo responds to researcher's 'controlled narrative' role rumors," NewsNation, updated July 29, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/elizondo-uap-role-controlled-narrative/
|
||||
64
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ryan Graves.md
Normal file
64
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ryan Graves.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Navy
|
||||
- Pilot
|
||||
- Nonprofit
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ryan Graves
|
||||
- Ryan "FOBS" Graves
|
||||
- Lt. Ryan Graves
|
||||
summary: "Former Navy F/A-18F pilot of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace and testified before a House Oversight subcommittee on July 26, 2023."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and executive director; District of Columbia filing of March 16, 2023"
|
||||
start: 2023-03-16
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
|
||||
role: "F/A-18F pilot, Strike Fighter Squadron 11, for a decade"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[BAE Systems]]"
|
||||
role: "worked on advanced military autonomy applications at FAST Labs, per his congressional biography"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]]"
|
||||
role: "first chair of its Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Integration & Outreach Committee, per his congressional biography"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ryan Graves is a former [[United States Navy]] lieutenant and F/A-18F pilot who, in the words of his biography submitted to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], "served for a decade, including two deployments in [[Operation Enduring Freedom]] and [[Operation Inherent Resolve]]" and "was the first active duty pilot to come forward publicly about regular sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP)."[^1] The same biography states that he "previously worked on advanced military autonomy applications at [[BAE Systems]] FAST Labs," is founder and executive director of [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]], and is the first chair of the [[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]] [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] Integration & Outreach Committee.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### 2014 Virginia Beach encounters
|
||||
|
||||
In his sworn statement of July 26, 2023 Graves said that "In 2014, I was an F-18 Foxtrot pilot in the Navy Fighter Attack Squadron 11, the [[Strike Fighter Squadron 11|Red Rippers]], and I was stationed at [[Naval Air Station Oceana|NAS Oceana]] in [[Virginia Beach]]," that after radar upgrades "we began detecting unknown objects operating in our airspace," and that in Warning Area W-72, ten miles off the coast, "two F-18 Super Hornets were split by a UAP," described as "a dark gray or a black cube inside of a clear sphere" that "came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft."[^2] He said the squadron filed a safety report and "there was no official acknowledgement of the incident and no further mechanism to report the sightings," and "Recognizing the need for action and answers, I founded Americans for Safe Aerospace."[^2] He told the subcommittee that "more than thirty witnesses have come forward and almost 5,000 Americans have joined us."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### 2019 press accounts
|
||||
|
||||
In May 2019 Graves and Lieutenant [[Danny Accoin]], both F/A-18 Super Hornet pilots of the VFA-11 Red Rippers at [[Naval Air Station Oceana]], told the *[[New York Times]]* of unidentified objects they could not explain, flying up to 30,000 feet, appearing almost daily and showing no exhaust or engine plumes. Graves said: "These things would be out there all day. Keeping an aircraft in the air requires a significant amount of energy. With the speeds we observed, 12 hours in the air is 11 hours longer than we'd expect." He dated the start of his experiences to summer 2014, when the squadron was training off the [[USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)|USS Theodore Roosevelt]]. The two pilots appeared in the six-part [[History (TV channel)|History Channel]] series "[[Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation]]," which premiered on Friday, May 31, 2019. The *Virginian-Pilot* reported that Navy representatives did not respond to its questions, and that a month earlier the Navy had told [[Politico]] it had drafted new rules for reporting "unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Questions at the hearing
|
||||
|
||||
Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]] asked him to describe an event at [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]]; he answered that "in the 2003 timeframe, a large group of [[Boeing]] contractors were operating near one of the launch facilities" and observed "a very large 100-yard sighted red square approach the base from the ocean," information "received through one of the witnesses that have approached me at Americans for Safe Aerospace," who he said held "official documentation and records."[^2] He told Chairman [[Glenn Grothman]] that the commercial aviation sector "has not adapted to the lessons that military has implemented," and, asked what steps should be taken, said "There needs to be a location where this information is centralized for processing and there needs to be a two-way communication loop."[^2] [[David Fravor]] and [[David Grusch]] testified at the same hearing.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Americans for Safe Aerospace filings
|
||||
|
||||
OpenCorporates lists Americans for Safe Aerospace as a District of Columbia domestic nonprofit corporation, number N00007627058, with filings dated March 16, 2023 ("Initial"), June 9, 2023 ("Amendment"), March 28, 2024 (biennial report), July 2, 2025 (good standing) and March 19, 2026 (biennial report), registered agent Corporation Service Company, and ten officers on record (names behind a login); a [[North Carolina]] foreign-nonprofit certificate of authority, number 3088984, was filed on July 16, 2025, with four officers.[^4] The [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling date is January 2024 and the employer identification number is 92-2948733, with 2025 revenue reported at 77,745 dollars in the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer data.[^5] The organization's Forms 990-EZ and Schedule A figures are recorded on its own page. Graves's July 2023 count of almost 5,000 members precedes the 990-EZ statements of "over 8000 members" for 2024 and "over 30,000" for 2025.[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Senate lobbying records name no client or registrant called Americans for Safe Aerospace.[^7] The [[Federal Election Commission]] database holds 392 itemized contributions under the name "Graves, Ryan" (reviewed in full on October 3, 2026); the listed employers and occupations include a physician at Banner Health, a Southwest Airlines pilot, an Arcadis engineer and unemployed contributors in [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[California]], and none lists the Navy, BAE Systems or Americans for Safe Aerospace, so no contribution was attributed to the founder.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Ryan Graves, witness biography, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing of July 26, 2023. https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116282/witnesses/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GravesR-20230726.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency," July 26, 2023, Serial No. 118-53. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53022/html/CHRG-118hhrg53022.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Hafner, Katherine. "...Claim UFO sightings: Unidentified objects seen flying up to 30,000 feet." *Daily Press* (Newport News), May 30, 2019, p. A1, via newspapers.com image 593332765 (a *Virginian-Pilot* staff story; the first words of the headline and the page 5 jump were not read).
|
||||
[^4]: OpenCorporates, Americans for Safe Aerospace, District of Columbia N00007627058 and North Carolina 3088984, retrieved October 3, 2026. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/N00007627058 ; https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_nc/3088984 . The incorporation date is hidden behind a login; the earliest dated filing shown is March 16, 2023.
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Americans For Safe Aerospace, EIN 922948733. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/922948733.json
|
||||
[^6]: Internal Revenue Service, Form 990-EZ, Americans for Safe Aerospace, tax periods ended December 31, 2024 and 2025 (object IDs 202502389349200045 and 202611399349200506), as recorded on the vault page for the organization.
|
||||
[^7]: Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database, client name "Americans for Safe Aerospace," October 3, 2026 (no results); OpenFEC schedule A, contributor name "Graves, Ryan," reviewed October 3, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
85
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Tim Gallaudet.md
Normal file
85
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Tim Gallaudet.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- USNavy
|
||||
- NOAA
|
||||
- Oceanography
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Disclosure
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Tim Gallaudet
|
||||
- Timothy Gallaudet
|
||||
- Timothy C. Gallaudet
|
||||
- Timothy Cole Gallaudet
|
||||
- RDML Tim Gallaudet
|
||||
- Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet
|
||||
- Gallaudet
|
||||
summary: "Retired Navy rear admiral and oceanographer who served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and acting NOAA head, testified to the House Oversight Committee on UAP on November 13, 2024 and advises several UAP groups."
|
||||
location: "United States"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Navy]]"
|
||||
role: "oceanographer; Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command; Oceanographer of the Navy; Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory (per his House biography); rear admiral, retired"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]"
|
||||
start: 2017-10-05
|
||||
role: "Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and deputy administrator; acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (acting administrator)"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-17
|
||||
role: "speaker at the 2023 and 2024 symposia; author of Sol paper Vol. 1 No. 1 (March 2024); 'advisory board member' per his November 2024 House biography; 'senior strategic advisor' in his testimony of November 13, 2024; 'Senior Advisor' on the foundation's website (October 3, 2026)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]"
|
||||
role: "advisory board member per his November 2024 biography"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Disclosure Fund]]"
|
||||
role: "advisory board member per his November 2024 biography"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Galileo Project]]"
|
||||
role: "research affiliate per his November 2024 biography"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Science Advisory Council]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06
|
||||
role: "oceanography, on the list Avi Loeb supplied to DefenseScoop"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Timothy Gallaudet holds a bachelor's degree from the [[United States Naval Academy]] and master's and doctoral degrees from the [[Scripps Institution of Oceanography]]. His biography submitted to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]] for its November 13, 2024 hearing describes a career as an oceanographer and technology consultant and lists service as acting Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Commerce, acting and deputy administrator of the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]], and [[Oceanographer of the Navy]]. It adds that "his experience as the Superintendent of the [[U.S. Naval Observatory]] gave him a greater appreciation for [UAP's] scientific validity," that he serves as "strategic advisor and board member for several startups, nonprofits, and research institutions in the ocean, weather, environment, and space sectors," and that he is a member of the [[Ocean Studies Board]] of the [[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] and the [[White House Ocean Research Advisory Panel]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Navy and NOAA
|
||||
|
||||
[[DefenseScoop]] described him in June 2026 as a retired admiral who had served as commander of the [[Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command]] and as assistant secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.[^2] The Senate record shows his nomination as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (PN897, 115th Congress, vice [[Mark E. Schaefer]]) received on September 5, 2017, a hearing before the [[Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee]] on September 27, 2017 (S. Hrg. 115-642), a favorable report on October 4, 2017 and confirmation by voice vote on October 5, 2017.[^3] On July 24, 2018 he testified before a Senate Commerce subcommittee on NOAA's "[[Blue Economy Initiative]]" under the title "Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere."[^4] The biography footer of his House submission gives the address of his consulting firm as oceanSTL.com.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### UAP positions
|
||||
|
||||
His House biography lists UAP writings in a Sol Foundation paper ("Beneath the Surface: We May Learn More about UAP by Looking in the Ocean," which the foundation's website numbers Volume 1, No. 1, March 2024), in [[The Hill]] and in [[Real Clear Science]], and an appearance on [[The Shawn Ryan Show]], and describes him as "seeking to elevate the scientific study of undersea and transmedium UAP to a national research priority." It names him a research affiliate of the [[Galileo Project]] at [[Harvard University]] and an advisory board member of [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]], the [[UAP Disclosure Fund]] and the [[Sol Foundation]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
He spoke at the first Sol symposium on November 17 to 18, 2023 in [[Palo Alto, California]] and at the second on November 22 to 23, 2024 in [[San Francisco]].[^5][^6] On November 12, 2024 he transmitted to the committee a letter, signed by [[Garry Nolan]], [[Peter Skafish]], [[Avi Loeb]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]], [[John B. Alexander]], [[Michio Kaku]] and others, urging enactment of the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]]; the signers included [[Yuan Fung]] as executive director of the UAP Disclosure Fund.[^7] He appeared as a witness at the committee's November 13, 2024 hearing, "[[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]]: Exposing the Truth." Asked by Representative [[Robert Garcia]] about the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act, he said it "will allow for greater transparency and open research" and that "that is why I am also a member of the UAP Discloser Fund as an advisor and the Sol Foundation as a senior strategic advisor, which is advocating the same" (the transcript prints "Discloser").[^8] The foundation's website lists him as "Senior Advisor" among its executive leadership.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
A March 9, 2025 question-and-answer session after the [[South by Southwest]] premiere of "The Age of Disclosure" is catalogued with Gallaudet, Nolan, [[Karl Nell]], [[Hal Puthoff]], [[Jim Semivan]] and the producer [[Dan Farah]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
In June 2026 Loeb gave DefenseScoop a roster of twelve members of a UAP Science Advisory Council that includes Gallaudet (oceanography), Nolan, Skafish, [[Michael Shermer]] and [[Ben Lamm]]. Gallaudet told DefenseScoop that he hoped to apply his ocean-science and government-leadership experience "to help the council most effectively accomplish its mission and support the new UAP Governance Board."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "The Honorable Tim Gallaudet, PhD, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret)," biography submitted to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Bio-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: "New science advisory council forms to help US government 'resolve the UAP mystery,'" *DefenseScoop*, June 17, 2026. https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/17/new-science-advisory-council-forms-to-help-us-government-resolve-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^3]: PN897, Nomination of Timothy Gallaudet for Department of Commerce, 115th Congress, action history read October 3, 2026. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/897
|
||||
[^4]: Written statement of RDML Timothy Gallaudet, Ph.D., USN Ret., Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, July 24, 2018. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/doc/7.24.18_Gallaudet_Testimony.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^6]: Chrissy Newton, *The Debrief*, December 20, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/academics-investors-and-uap-seekers-unite-at-the-2024-sol-foundation-symposium/
|
||||
[^7]: Statement of Tim Gallaudet with signatory letter dated November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, joint hearing, November 13, 2024. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm
|
||||
[^9]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^10]: Anomaly Archives, "Nell, Karl E.," appearances list. https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/nell-karl/
|
||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ location: "Poway, California"
|
|||
|
||||
DeLonge has had a lifelong interest in UAP and has used his celebrity to bring attention to the issue. In 2017, he founded [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] with the goal of creating a platform for serious scientific research into UAP and educating the public about the phenomenon. He assembled a team of former high-ranking government officials and scientists, including [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Jim Semivan]], and [[Hal Puthoff]], to lead the organization.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
TTSA was instrumental in the public release of the three declassified UAP videos - "FLIR" (Tic Tac), "GIMBAL," and "GoFast" - and produced the television show "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation" on the History Channel. While the organization was not a long-term financial success, it played a crucial role in raising the public profile of the UAP issue and helping to break the long-standing stigma surrounding the topic.[^1]
|
||||
TTSA published three unclassified Navy videos, "FLIR" ([[Tic Tac]]), "[[GIMBAL]]," and "[[GoFast]]," which the [[Department of Defense]] stated on April 27, 2020 it had authorized for release after "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017,"[^2] and produced the television show "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation" on the History Channel. While the organization was not a long-term financial success, it played a crucial role in raising the public profile of the UAP issue and helping to break the long-standing stigma surrounding the topic.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
76
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Avi Loeb.md
Normal file
76
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Avi Loeb.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Astronomer
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Abraham Loeb
|
||||
- Abraham "Avi" Loeb
|
||||
- Loeb, Avi
|
||||
summary: "Avi Loeb is Harvard's Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science and head of the Galileo Project, co-founded with Frank Laukien in 2021, and led the 2023 IM1 expedition funded by Charles Hoskinson."
|
||||
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
|
||||
role: "Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, Department of Astronomy; director of the Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; founding director of the Black Hole Initiative"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Galileo Project]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder with Frank Laukien and head of the project"
|
||||
start: 2021-07-26
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Science Advisory Council]]"
|
||||
role: "formed the council in June 2026; routes communication with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence"
|
||||
start: 2026-06
|
||||
fn: 16
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Avi Loeb]] is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Astronomy at [[Harvard University]], director of the [[Institute for Theory and Computation]] at the [[Harvard-Smithsonian]] [[Center for Astrophysics]], and founding director of Harvard's [[Black Hole Initiative]].[^1] He wrote *Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth* ([[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]], 2021), which argued that [[ʻOumuamua]], the first interstellar object observed in the Solar System (discovered October 19, 2017), could be an artificial object resembling a thin light sail or communications dish.[^2] *[[Inverse]]*, citing *[[Science (journal)|Science]]*, reported that wealthy donors contacted him after the book appeared and four of them gave about 1.75 million dollars to start the [[Galileo Project]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
On October 14, 2015, [[Lesley Groff]], assistant to [[Jeffrey Epstein]], wrote to the Harvard mathematician [[Shing-Tung Yau]] that Epstein was coming to Harvard on October 16 and asked whether anyone else should be introduced to him. Yau answered that he would come at 2 p.m. with [[Conan Leung]] and would try to arrange other faculty at 3 p.m.[^4] At 9:15 a.m. on October 16 Yau wrote: "I shall also bring prof Avi Loeb who is chairman of astronomy in harvard at three pm." An itinerary sent to Epstein that day under the subject "Yau to bring Avi Loeb" listed, at [[Martin Nowak]]'s institute in Cambridge, a 2 p.m. meeting with Yau and Leung, at 3 p.m. "Andy Strominger to join the Yau and Conan meeting," and at 3 p.m. "Avi Loeb to join the Yau, Conan and Andy meeting."[^5] At 11:27 a.m. Yau wrote to Groff: "It turns out that Loeb cannot come." He added that [[Andrew Strominger]] would be there at 3 p.m.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 17, 2015, Loeb sent Yau a message titled "Exciting projects" with three attached project descriptions. The second, by his account, was "the establishment of the first research center for black holes (Black Hole Center)," and he wrote that "we currently have the technology to obtain an image of black holes within the next five years, with suitable funding." It closed: "Feel free to forward this message to Jeffrey Epstein." The message was forwarded to Epstein on October 24, 2015, with Groff copied.[^7] On October 20, Strominger wrote to Epstein that he was involved, "still in the planning stage," in "an interdisciplinary Black Hole Center with Avi Loeb, [[Peter Galison]], [[Ramesh Narayan]] and the head of the [[Event Horizon Telescope]] [[Shep Doeleman]]," which "needs a 50 million endowment," and that [[Larry Summers]] had raised 7 million dollars for his black hole information paradox group about twelve years earlier, a sum that would be spent down by January 1.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 16, 2016, Loeb wrote to "BHC colleagues" after meeting [[Harvard University]]'s Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [[Mike Smith]] and Dean of Science [[Jeremy Bloxham]]. He reported that Smith said Harvard rules do not allow the word "Center" unless it is endowed, so for the time being the group should use the name "Black Hole Initiative"; that Smith objected to a 100,000 dollar rent payment to Yau in the proposal because "this will not withstand an audit"; that Smith asked him to compile a list of potential donors for Harvard's development office, to which Loeb would add "some people I know (like [[Yuri Milner]])"; and that "the minimum endowment goal should be $20M, since it will provide us with an operating budget of $1M per year." The email also refers to a proposal to "JTF" and to a visit by [[Stephen Hawking]] on April 18 and 19.[^9] On February 17, Yau wrote to Groff: "Can you ask Jeffrey whether any of his friends have interest to fund a center on black hole ?it will take twenty million dollars," and on February 19 added that a center for computational biology in which Nowak "may play a key role" "may be much more expensive." Groff replied that she would forward the request to Epstein.[^9] None of the eleven documents in which Loeb is named records a reply from Epstein or a payment from Epstein or his entities to Harvard, the Black Hole Initiative, Loeb or Yau.
|
||||
|
||||
On October 5, 2018, [[Robert Lawrence Kuhn]] sent Epstein the October 2018 newsletter of [[Closer To Truth]], which described filming at a fine-tuning conference in Crete with "old friends such as Avi Loeb, [[Bernard Carr]], [[Fred Adams]] and [[David Albert]]."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Galileo Project
|
||||
|
||||
Loeb heads the Galileo Project, announced July 26, 2021 and co-founded with [[Frank Laukien]], chief executive of [[Bruker Corporation]]. Its funding sources, advisory boards and fellowships are set out on the project page; the gift route is a Harvard alumni giving form for a "Research Fund u/d Professor Avi Loeb," and the project's posted statement is that it receives no governmental or military funding.[^2][^11] On October 30, 2021 he named [[Christopher Mellon]] and [[Luis Elizondo]] research affiliates. On April 26, 2024 he was quoted in the announcement of a 575,000 dollar grant from the [[Richard King Mellon Foundation]]: "This significant investment will enable the Galileo Project to expand our capacity to observe unexplained aerial phenomena in our own skies."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### IM1 and the 2023 Interstellar Expedition
|
||||
|
||||
The [[EYOS Expeditions]] release credits a 2019 paper by Loeb and the Harvard undergraduate [[Amir Siraj]] with identifying the meteor of January 8, 2014 (CNEOS 2014-01-08, "IM1") as interstellar, and says the identification was confirmed three years later by the [[United States]] [[United States Space Command|Space Command]] to [[NASA]]. Loeb was chief scientist of the Interstellar Expedition of June 2023, which recovered 50 metallic spherules from about 2 kilometers depth near [[Manus Island]], [[Papua New Guinea]]. The release states the expedition "was funded privately by American entrepreneur [[Charles Hoskinson]]"; Loeb wrote in his diary in [[The Debrief]]: "In the case of IM1, the Interstellar Expedition received funding at 1.5 million dollars and delivered the evidence we were seeking," set against the [[Large Hadron Collider]] "funded at ten billion dollars."[^13][^14] Loeb said on the expedition that the question was "whether the meteor was natural or technological in origin."[^13] *[[New York Magazine]]* reported in 2024 that Loeb "strongly disputes the coal-ash explanation" offered by critics of the spherules' provenance, that he says the composition shows a "pattern of elements from outside the solar system," and that he told the writer that some critics "behave like terrorists."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government and advisory roles
|
||||
|
||||
Loeb told *[[The Harvard Crimson]]* in July 2026 that he had previously served on the [[President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology]] under [[Donald Trump]], that the director of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] visited his home after taking office, and that government officials had approached him several times over the previous five years. He announced the [[UAP Science Advisory Council]] in mid-June 2026 after a representative of the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] visited him at home; he told the Crimson the [[White House]] gave him a "free hand" in choosing members, that the council has no budget, and that he did not inform Harvard's president [[Alan Garber]] before agreeing to serve. He was also quoted: "I'm supporting the prosperity of the United States and the science I'm pursuing, and I'm not doing it on behalf of a political agenda."[^16] [[Charles Alcock]], director of the Center for Astrophysics, was listed on the Galileo Project's Scientific Advisory Board.[^17] A draft paper dated March 7, 2023, "Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," listed [[Sean Kirkpatrick]] as director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office and Loeb as head of the Galileo Project.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Research Team." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of December 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/people
|
||||
[^2]: The Galileo Project. "Press Release and Press Conference Announcement," July 26, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/galileo_project-announcement_pr-7.26.21.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^3]: Inverse, "Galileo Project: A new hunt for alien objects in the universe," July 2021. https://www.inverse.com/science/new-project-to-hunt-for-alien-objects-in-the-universe
|
||||
[^4]: EFTA00337551, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337551.pdf; EFTA02070510, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 10, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02070510.pdf (Lesley Groff and Yau, email chain of October 14 to 16, 2015).
|
||||
[^5]: EFTA00337558, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337558.pdf (itinerary sent to Epstein, October 16, 2015); EFTA00285143, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00285143.pdf (calendar entry for the same day).
|
||||
[^6]: EFTA02069885, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 10, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02069885.pdf; EFTA00337208, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337208.pdf (Yau to Groff, October 16, 2015, 11:27 a.m., and Groff's reply at 3:38 p.m.).
|
||||
[^7]: EFTA02671731, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 11, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02671731.pdf (Loeb to Yau, October 17, 2015, forwarded to Epstein with Groff copied on October 24, 2015; the forwarder's name is redacted).
|
||||
[^8]: EFTA00714297, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00714297.pdf; EFTA00337280, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00337280.pdf (Strominger to Epstein, October 20, 2015).
|
||||
[^9]: EFTA00328899, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00328899.pdf (Loeb to "BHC colleagues," February 16, 2016, forwarded in Yau's emails to Groff of February 17 and 19, 2016).
|
||||
[^10]: EFTA02620767, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 11, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02620767.pdf (Robert Kuhn to Epstein, October 5, 2018, with the Closer To Truth newsletter of October 2018).
|
||||
[^11]: "Support Us." The Galileo Project website, 2021 to 2024 snapshots. https://web.archive.org/web/2021/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/fund-us
|
||||
[^12]: "Richard King Mellon Foundation awards $575,000 to Galileo Project," April 26, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/news/richard-king-mellon-foundation-awards-575000-galileo-project
|
||||
[^13]: EYOS Expeditions. "Extraterrestrial Evidence Found: Spheres From Outside Our Solar System Identified by the Interstellar Expedition." https://www.eyos-expeditions.com/?p=2240
|
||||
[^14]: Loeb, Avi. "Diary of an Interstellar Voyage, Parts 28-30." *The Debrief,* June 2023. https://thedebrief.org/diary-of-an-interstellar-voyage-parts-28-30-june-25-26-2023/
|
||||
[^15]: Baker, Nicholson. "How We Lost Our Minds About UFOs." *New York Magazine,* January 31, 2024. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/leslie-kean-ufo-sightings-aliens.html
|
||||
[^16]: Shah, Neil H., Theresa F. Bartelme and Risha Sinha. "Inside Avi Loeb's New UAP Council, Built From His Harvard Orbit." *The Harvard Crimson,* July 11, 2026. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/7/11/avi-loeb-uap-council/. The PCAST service is as stated by the Crimson, not checked against White House records.
|
||||
[^17]: "Advisory Boards." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of December 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/organization/advisory-boards
|
||||
[^18]: Loeb, Abraham, and Sean M. Kirkpatrick. "Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," draft of March 7, 2023, as cited on the vault page for Sean Kirkpatrick; https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/LK1.pdf (draft read; its title block gives Loeb as "Head of the Galileo Project, Astronomy Department, Harvard University" and Kirkpatrick as "Director of All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office").
|
||||
|
|
@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 1998
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Cecil B. "Scott" Jones (February 19, 1928, at [[Emporia, Kansas]], to January 16, 2023) was a Navy fighter pilot and intelligence officer who worked from 1985 to 1991 on the staff of Senator [[Claiborne Pell]] of [[Rhode Island]], then as president of the [[Human Potential Foundation]].[^1] His birth year is also recorded as 1924, in the register of his papers at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]].[^2]
|
||||
|
|
@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ Jones left Pell's staff in March 1991 and ran the Foundation until its dissoluti
|
|||
|
||||
Jones presented a talk on exopolitics in [[Hawaii]] in June 2006.[^14] He founded the [[Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth]] in 1998, which received its [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling in October 1998.[^2][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Series 4 and 6 container titles
|
||||
|
||||
The finding aid lists Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation, with subseries for Pell, the Foundation Board, Grants and Funding, Projects and Events) and Series 6 ("Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell," with Legislation, Symposium on Consciousness and Survival 1985, Soviet-American Relations, Paranormal Aide, Reports and organizations, Unidentified Flying Objects, Speeches and Subject Files subseries). Among the titles are "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "National Science Foundation: [[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones; the full title lists are on the pages for [[Human Potential Foundation]] and [[Claiborne Pell]].[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Archives for the Unexplained, "Jones, C. B. Scott" (reproducing the obituary in the *Kerrville Daily Times*: born February 19, 1928, Emporia, Kansas, to Cecil Beam Jones Sr.; died January 16, 2023), https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/jones-c-b-scott/.
|
||||
|
|
@ -109,3 +113,4 @@ Jones presented a talk on exopolitics in [[Hawaii]] in June 2006.[^14] He founde
|
|||
[^13]: Jones to Gibbons, August 11, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-11-94.htm. The speaker of the "super safe black program" sentence is not named on the surviving scan; the context (the letter's next sentence begins "Apparently Woolsey believes") indicates Woolsey as the person quoted by Jones.
|
||||
[^14]: Archives for the Unexplained, "Jones, C. B. Scott," as in note 1 (list of further resources, including a Hawaii presentation of June 2006).
|
||||
[^15]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth (EIN 74-2888837), https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/742888837.json.
|
||||
[^16]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 4 and Series 6, fetched October 3, 2026 from the vault owner's browser (titles only; no dates or box numbers in the saved tree).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -7,26 +7,110 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Christopher Mellon served for nearly two decades in the federal government, holding high-level positions in both the executive and legislative branches."
|
||||
born: 1957-10-02
|
||||
location: "Topeka, Kansas"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Office of the Secretary of Defense]]"
|
||||
role: "Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and a principal on William Cohen's staff when Cohen was Secretary of Defense, as Elizondo wrote"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
|
||||
role: "intelligence staff work for Senator William Cohen; minority staff director from February 2003 under vice chairman Jay Rockefeller; deputy staff director in Elizondo's account"
|
||||
start: 2003-02
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2020-11
|
||||
role: "paid adviser and National Security Affairs Advisor; with Puthoff and Semivan, aligned with the organization of Tom DeLonge and Jim Semivan after Elizondo's resignation; left with Puthoff and Steve Justice"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-17
|
||||
role: "presenter at the first Sol symposium, Palo Alto, November 17 to 18, 2023"
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Christopher Mellon]] is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and a key strategist in the modern [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) disclosure movement. Coming from a prominent American family (Mellon banking and industrial dynasty), he has leveraged his extensive experience in intelligence and national security to bring the UAP issue to the forefront of the U.S. Congress and the public.[^1]
|
||||
[[Christopher Mellon]] is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and a key strategist in the modern [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) disclosure movement. Coming from a prominent American family (great-grandson of the [[Gulf Oil]] founder and a descendant of Judge [[Thomas Mellon]]; see [[Mellon Family]]),[^1] he has leveraged his extensive experience in intelligence and national security to bring the UAP issue to the forefront of the U.S. Congress and the public.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government Career
|
||||
|
||||
Christopher Mellon served for nearly two decades in the federal government, holding high-level positions in both the executive and legislative branches. He was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence during the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[George W. Bush]] administrations, a role that gave him oversight of the entire Department of Defense intelligence apparatus and its most sensitive [[Special Access Programs]] (SAPs). Prior to this, he served for over a decade on the staff of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Senate Intelligence Committee]], eventually becoming the Minority Staff Director for Senator [[William S. Cohen]]. His deep understanding of the inner workings of the intelligence community and the legislative process would later prove invaluable to the UAP disclosure effort.[^1]
|
||||
Christopher Mellon served for nearly two decades in the federal government, holding high-level positions in both the executive and legislative branches. He was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence during the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] and [[George W. Bush]] administrations, a role that gave him oversight of the entire Department of Defense intelligence apparatus and its most sensitive [[Special Access Programs]] (SAPs). Prior to this, he spent a decade on intelligence staff work for Senator [[William S. Cohen]], whom he followed to the [[Pentagon]] when Cohen became Secretary of Defense, serving later under Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]], and from February 2003 he was minority staff director of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Senate Intelligence Committee]] under vice chairman [[Jay Rockefeller]].[^1] [[Politico]] described him in December 2017 as "a former Democratic staff director for the [[United States Senate|Senate]] Intelligence Committee," and the September 29, 2017 offering circular of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] describes him as a "private equity investor, political commentator and the Chair of the Science Committee at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History," with 20 years in federal government including service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and as "Minority Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence," who as an aide to Cohen "drafted the legislation that established the US Special Operations Command," with a B.A. in economics from [[Colby College]] and an M.A. in international affairs from [[Yale University]].[^1][^3] His deep understanding of the inner workings of the intelligence community and the legislative process would later prove invaluable to the UAP disclosure effort.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Involvement with AATIP and Luis Elizondo
|
||||
|
||||
In early 2017, while serving as an unpaid consultant for the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]], Mellon was introduced to [[Luis Elizondo]] by a mutual friend from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[Jim Semivan]]. Elizondo, who was then secretly running the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP), provided Mellon with a comprehensive briefing on the UAP issue. Mellon was shown incontrovertible evidence, including radar data and pilot testimony from the 2004 [[Tic Tac|Tic Tac Incident]], that demonstrated advanced, unidentified aircraft were routinely violating sensitive U.S. military airspace with impunity.[^1]
|
||||
In early 2017, while serving as an unpaid consultant for the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]], Mellon was introduced to [[Luis Elizondo]] by a mutual friend from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[Jim Semivan]]. Elizondo, who was then secretly running the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP), provided Mellon with a comprehensive briefing on the UAP issue. Mellon was shown incontrovertible evidence, including radar data and pilot testimony from the 2004 [[Tic Tac|Tic Tac Incident]], that demonstrated advanced, unidentified aircraft were routinely violating sensitive U.S. military airspace with impunity.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Mellon was profoundly disturbed by these revelations, viewing the government's failure to address the issue as a catastrophic intelligence failure reminiscent of the lead-up to [[Pearl Harbor]] or 9/11. He was outraged that information of such magnitude was not reaching senior policymakers. He and Elizondo attempted to work through the chain of command to brief Secretary of Defense [[James Mattis]], but their efforts were stonewalled by the Pentagon bureaucracy. This failure was a critical factor in Elizondo's decision to resign in protest.[^1]
|
||||
Mellon was profoundly disturbed by these revelations, viewing the government's failure to address the issue as a catastrophic intelligence failure reminiscent of the lead-up to [[Pearl Harbor]] or 9/11. He was outraged that information of such magnitude was not reaching senior policymakers. He and Elizondo attempted to work through the chain of command to brief Secretary of Defense [[James Mattis]], but their efforts were stonewalled by the Pentagon bureaucracy. This failure was a critical factor in Elizondo's decision to resign in protest.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Legislative Strategy for Disclosure
|
||||
|
||||
Following Elizondo's resignation, Mellon became the primary architect of a multi-pronged strategy to force the UAP issue into the open. Recognizing that direct confrontation with the Pentagon was futile, he devised a plan to leverage Congress and the media. He personally facilitated the transfer of three declassified UAP videos - later known as "FLIR" (Tic Tac), "[[GIMBAL]]," and "[[GoFast]]" - to the New York Times, which resulted in a landmark front-page story in December 2017 that officially broke the news of AATIP's existence.[^1]
|
||||
Following Elizondo's resignation, Mellon became the primary architect of a multi-pronged strategy to force the UAP issue into the open. Recognizing that direct confrontation with the Pentagon was futile, he devised a plan to leverage Congress and the media. He facilitated the transfer of Navy videos later known as "FLIR" (Tic Tac), "[[GIMBAL]]," and "[[GoFast]]" to journalists. The landmark front-page [[New York Times]] story of December 2017, which broke the news of AATIP's existence, carried two of them (FLIR1 and GIMBAL); GOFAST followed in March 2018.[^2][^4] Politico reported in 2021 that the [[Washington Headquarters Services]] declassification division approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government.[^5] The [[Department of Defense]] stated on April 27, 2020 that it had authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, which had been circulating in the public domain after "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."[^6] Mellon's own account, in the 2020 film *[[The Phenomenon (2020 film)|The Phenomenon]]*, is that he received the videos "in the Pentagon parking lot from a Defense Department official" and "still [has] the packaging."[^7] See [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]].
|
||||
|
||||
Mellon then focused on a legislative approach, using his deep knowledge of Capitol Hill to engage with key staffers on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees. He and Elizondo worked to educate lawmakers and arrange for them to be briefed directly by credible military eyewitnesses like Commander [[Dave Fravor]] and Lieutenant [[Alex Dietrich]]. Mellon's key strategic insight was to draft specific legislative language that would compel the [[Director of National Intelligence]] to produce an unclassified report on UAP. This language, which he championed through op-eds and private meetings, was eventually included in the committee report accompanying the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, signed into law in December 2020. This led to the landmark June 2021 "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena."[^1]
|
||||
Mellon then focused on a legislative approach, using his deep knowledge of Capitol Hill to engage with key staffers on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees. He and Elizondo worked to educate lawmakers and arrange for them to be briefed directly by credible military eyewitnesses like Commander [[Dave Fravor]] and Lieutenant [[Alex Dietrich]]. Mellon's key strategic insight was to draft specific legislative language that would compel the [[Director of National Intelligence]] to produce an unclassified report on UAP. This language, which he championed through op-eds and private meetings, was eventually included in the committee report accompanying the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, signed into law in December 2020. This led to the landmark June 2021 "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
His legislative efforts continued, culminating in the passage of even more robust UAP provisions in subsequent National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs). This included the creation of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) and, most significantly, the establishment of a secure whistleblower process, allowing individuals with knowledge of secret UAP programs to testify to Congress without fear of reprisal. This legislative work has been the single most effective driver of the modern disclosure movement.[^1]
|
||||
His legislative efforts continued, culminating in the passage of even more robust UAP provisions in subsequent National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs). This included the creation of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) and, most significantly, the establishment of a secure whistleblower process, allowing individuals with knowledge of secret UAP programs to testify to Congress without fear of reprisal. This legislative work has been the single most effective driver of the modern disclosure movement.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mellon in Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
Mellon's foreword, dated May 16, 2024, states that he first met Elizondo "at a closed-door Pentagon meeting early in 2017" while he was "an unpaid consultant for the Office of Naval Intelligence," that the mutual friend was Jim Semivan of the CIA, and that the meeting took place in Elizondo's Pentagon office, where Elizondo presented evidence of unidentified aircraft violating military airspace and a report on the 2004 Nimitz encounter; he wrote that he later took part in debriefings with Commander Dave Fravor and Lieutenant Alex Dietrich.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that a member of his staff announced "a former very senior-level DoD official" who "had the Office of Naval Intelligence clearances he needed," that Mellon introduced himself as a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, one step from the Secretary of Defense, and that Senator [[William Cohen]]'s closest advisor on Capitol Hill had been Mellon, whom Cohen brought to his staff when he became Secretary of Defense. He wrote that Mellon "even knew we were called AATIP"; that Semivan later told him he had told Mellon of AATIP and where to find it, and added that Mellon was an heir of the Mellon family; that Elizondo listed a series of clearances Mellon would need before a briefing and Mellon returned a week later with all of them; and that after a three-hour briefing on "legacy efforts" Mellon "admitted to us that he had zero visibility into the UAP topic" despite years of oversight of Defense Department special access programs.[^9] In a later passage Elizondo described Mellon as a former "deputy staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee" and as a founding author of the bill that created the [[United States Special Operations Command]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
He wrote that Mellon gave his name to senior officials who might reach Mattis; that after the Joint Staff declined an access designation for OPLAN Interloper and Mellon, Stratton and he concluded that Congress and the press were the only route, Mellon handed "a padded envelope filled with CDs" containing the three unclassified videos to a journalist in a parking lot inside the Beltway, having used his Pentagon contacts to obtain copies; that Mellon, Puthoff and Semivan met [[Leslie Kean]] with Elizondo for four hours after the resignation; that Mellon was "the brainchild" of a Politico story by [[Bryan Bender]]; and that Mellon, Puthoff and Semivan urged him to join To The Stars Academy.[^11] He wrote that Mellon, Stratton and he set a multiyear plan, the "Five Pillars of Engagement," that Mellon proposed having an oversight committee request an unclassified report from the Director of National Intelligence and drafted language posted online, and that "much of the wording" in Senate Report 116-233, which Senator [[Marco Rubio]] sponsored, "came directly from Chris Mellon's pen"; he gave the language as 422 words, signed with the Covid relief bill in late December 2020.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### To The Stars advisory board and Sol
|
||||
|
||||
The Regulation A offering circular of To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on August 15, 2017 names as its Advisory Board "Chris Mellon, Dr. [[Adele Gilpin]], Dr. [[Norman Kahn]], Dr. [[Colm Kelleher]], Dr. Garry Nolan, and Dr. [[Paul Rapp]]." Its biography of Mellon calls him "a private equity investor, political commentator and the Chair of the Science Committee at the [[Carnegie Museum of Natural History]]," and lists service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Clinton and Bush administrations and as minority staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Mellon was among the speakers at the first [[Sol Foundation]] symposium, November 17 to 18, 2023 in [[Palo Alto, California]], listed in [[The Debrief]]'s account as "former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon," beside [[Avi Loeb]], [[Jacques Vallee]], [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]], [[Tim Gallaudet]] and [[Karl Nell]].[^14] He signed the November 12, 2024 letter to Congress urging enactment of the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]] as "Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; Former Staff Director, Department of Defense; Senate Select Committee on Intelligence," the signers including [[Garry Nolan]], [[Peter Skafish]] and Luis Elizondo; the letter states that signers joined as individuals and not for their organizations.[^15] The Sol Foundation's website, read October 3, 2026, does not list Mellon among its executive leadership or advisory board, and neither does its 2024 Form 990.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family
|
||||
|
||||
*Roll Call* described him in 2003 as "yes, of that Mellon family," 45 years old, "whose great-grandfather started the Gulf Oil Co.," and noted that Rockefeller was "the great-grandson of the man who founded [[Standard Oil]]," under the line "[[Rockefeller family|the Rockefellers]] and Mellons are taking over the Senate Select Intelligence Committee." Bryan Bender of Politico wrote in 2021 that he is "a scion of the [[Pennsylvania]] oil and banking family." Other bearers of the surname include Paul Mellon, a major in the [[Office of Strategic Services]] in Europe, his sister [[Ailsa Mellon Bruce]] and her husband the diplomat [[David K. E. Bruce]], and the publisher and donor Richard Mellon Scaife, who funded the [[Arkansas Project]] against Bill Clinton and sat on the [[Heritage Foundation]] board. No source opened states how these persons are related to Christopher Mellon or that he had dealings with them.[^1][^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### The placement of the December 2017 article
|
||||
|
||||
Per Bender (2021): in 2016 [[Tom DeLonge]] "called me up out of the blue," Mellon said, "and then through him I met Jim and Hal"; Mellon, who kept his clearance, then met Luis Elizondo at a Pentagon briefing; by fall 2017 Mellon "was also a paid adviser to DeLonge's TTSA" and acted as Elizondo's "unofficial public relations manager," who "started dangling the story to the New York Times, POLITICO and several other mainstream outlets." According to Leslie Kean's account to [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]], on October 4, 2017 Mellon had her called to a hotel bar near the Pentagon where [[Hal Puthoff]], Jim Semivan and Elizondo briefed her; the Times placement followed. Details and denials are on December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report.[^5][^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Money and affiliations as recorded
|
||||
|
||||
TTSA: paid adviser (Bender); listed as "National Security Affairs Advisor" ([[Keith Kloor|Kloor]], 2019); the company's annual report for 2020 states he resigned from the advisory board in November 2020 (vault page for To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science).[^5][^19] The offering circular dated September 29, 2017 lists "Chris Mellon" first among six Advisory Board members and states that in June 2017 the company granted "employees and advisors" 9,000,000 options and 2,500,000 restricted shares under its stock incentive plan; the text read does not itemize grants by person. No source opened shows a payment from Mellon to TTSA, or the amount he was paid as an adviser.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Galileo Project]]: research affiliate from October 30, 2021, with Elizondo ([[Harvard University|Harvard]] release). On April 26, 2024 the Galileo Project announced a 575,000 dollar grant from the [[Richard King Mellon Foundation]] for a third observatory station in [[Allegheny County, Pennsylvania|Allegheny]] or [[Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Westmoreland County]], Pennsylvania, stating that Mellon "was instrumental in stewarding this grant."[^20][^21]
|
||||
|
||||
Lobbying and legislation: Lewis-Kraus wrote that the text Marco Rubio added in June 2020 to the 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, requesting a UAP report from the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense, "drew heavily from proposals by Mellon"; Bender wrote that Mellon, "from his perch on the advisory board of DeLonge's company, ... effectively drafted the legislation later adopted by the Senate requesting the UAP report." Mellon's March 9, 2018 *[[Washington Post]]* op-ed was "The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn't the Pentagon care?"[^5][^18][^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements beside denials
|
||||
|
||||
Kloor (2019) quoted Mellon on *[[Fox & Friends]]* on [[Fox News]]: "We know that UFOs exist," and wrote that Mellon did not respond to a request for comment on whether he and Elizondo do contract work for a U.S. agency; Elizondo told Kloor he was a government contractor "but it's not what you think it is." Mellon told Kloor by email in late 2018: "I did not claim the objects were alien... Merely real, intelligently controlled and not ours."[^19][^22]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Election Commission records
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission|FEC]] itemized receipts list a "Mellon, Christopher" of [[Laughlintown]], Pennsylvania (employer "[[Mellon Consulting]]" from 2008 to 2009, "[[A&E Networks]]" in 2020) with contributions of 1,000 to 2,000 dollars to [[John Murtha|Murtha for Congress]] (five entries, March 2008 to September 2009), 5,000 dollars to the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]] (June 23, 2008) and 2,400 dollars to [[Chuck Schumer|Friends of Schumer]] (July 16, 2010), and, on August 25 and 27, 2020, 2,800 dollars to [[Joe Biden|Biden for President]], 35,000 dollars to the [[Biden Victory Fund]] and 32,200 dollars to the [[Democratic National Committee]]. Other "Mellon, Christopher" donors in [[Greenfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Greenfield Township]], Pennsylvania and [[Conklin, New York|Conklin]], New York list [[Maines Paper & Food Service]] as employer. No record read states which of these entries belong to the former Pentagon official.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Unholy Alliance?" *Roll Call,* February 12, 2003. https://rollcall.com/2003/02/12/unholy-alliance/
|
||||
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^3]: To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc. Offering Circular dated September 29, 2017 (Form 253G2, file no. 024-10728). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417050693/v476177_253g2.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^5]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/).
|
||||
[^7]: Banias, MJ. "Ex Intel Official Says He Was the Source of the Pentagon's UFO Videos." *Vice,* October 20, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-guy-says-he-was-the-source-of-the-pentagons-ufo-videos/ (sole source for the statement, made on camera to James Fox; Vice could not verify).
|
||||
[^8]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), Foreword by Christopher Mellon, dated May 16, 2024, pp. xiii to xxii. Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^9]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 180 to 185 (Semivan at pp. 180 to 182 and 184 to 185; Mellon's visit at pp. 183 to 185).
|
||||
[^10]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 222 to 224 (deputy staff director at p. 222; the special operations command bill at p. 224).
|
||||
[^11]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 199 to 209 (CDs at p. 199; Kean at pp. 203 to 204; TTSA at pp. 204 to 205; Bender at p. 209; Mellon leaving TTSA at p. 220).
|
||||
[^12]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 222 to 230 (Five Pillars at p. 222; report proposal at p. 225; Senate Report 116-233 at p. 229; 422 words at p. 230).
|
||||
[^13]: To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science Inc., Form 1-A, offering circular Part II and III, accession 0001144204-17-043466 (filed August 15, 2017), "Advisory Board." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417043466/v473169_partiiandiii.htm
|
||||
[^14]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation, Academia's New UAP Think Tank, Releases Videos of Lectures from Its Inaugural Symposium," *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^15]: Statement of Tim Gallaudet with signatory letter dated November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing of November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026; IRS Form 990 for 2024, EIN 93-3649160, Part VII, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
[^17]: Review of Lankford, *The Last American Aristocrat. Kirkus Reviews,* 1996; National Gallery of Art, 1999 Paul Mellon press release; *Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 5, 2014 (Scaife obituary). See the footnotes of [[Mellon Family]].
|
||||
[^18]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^19]: Kloor, Keith. "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/
|
||||
[^20]: "The Galileo Project Welcomes Christopher Mellon and Luis Elizondo as Research Affiliates," October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^21]: "Richard King Mellon Foundation awards $575,000 to Galileo Project," April 26, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/news/richard-king-mellon-foundation-awards-575000-galileo-project
|
||||
[^22]: Kloor, Keith. "UFOs Won't Go Away." *Issues in Science and Technology,* March 1, 2019. https://issues.org/ufos-wont-go-away/
|
||||
[^23]: Federal Election Commission, schedule A receipts, contributor name "MELLON, CHRISTOPHER" (OpenFEC API query run October 3, 2026). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=MELLON%2C%20CHRISTOPHER
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
48
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Eugene Jhong.md
Normal file
48
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Eugene Jhong.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Investor
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
- Cryptocurrency
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Eugene Y. Jhong
|
||||
- Jhong, Eugene
|
||||
summary: "Eugene Jhong holds Harvard A.B. and J.D. degrees and a Stanford master's in computer science, and is listed on the Galileo Project's Philanthropic Advisory Board."
|
||||
location: "Los Altos, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Galileo Project]]"
|
||||
role: "Philanthropic Advisory Board"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
|
||||
role: "5,800 dollars on December 27, 2021 (two 2,900 dollar entries earmarked through WinRed) to Blake Masters for Senate, per FEC records under the name \"Jhong, Eugene\" of Los Altos"
|
||||
start: 2021-12-27
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Brian Forde]]"
|
||||
role: "2,700 dollars on May 10, 2018, with the memo \"0.59101569 bitcoins received, not liquidated,\" to Brian Forde for Congress, per FEC records under the name \"Jhong, Eugene\" of Los Altos"
|
||||
start: 2018-05-10
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Eugene Jhong]] is listed first among the members of the Philanthropic Advisory Board of Harvard's [[Galileo Project]], with the credentials "Undergraduate (AB) and law degree (JD) from [[Harvard University]]" and "MS in Computer Science, [[Stanford University]]."[^1] The advisory board is described as providing "philanthropic advice to The Galileo Project." Its other listed entries are Vinny Jain, Teddy Jones, the [[Laukien Science Foundation]], Joerg Laukien, [[William A. Linton]] of [[Promega Corporation]] and the [[Usona Institute]], and Adnan Sen. The project's July 26, 2021 release states that it has "initial funding from generous donations and pledges by individuals and foundations listed on the Galileo Project website."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Patent
|
||||
|
||||
The [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] granted U.S. Patent 6,259,458 B1, "Method of generating and navigating a 3-D representation of a hierarchical data structure," on July 10, 2001 to an inventor named Eugene Jhong (with co-inventor Karen E. Theisen), assignee Elastic Technology, Inc.; the application was filed January 29, 1999 and claims priority to August 6, 1997. The patent record does not tie the inventor to the Galileo Project or to [[Google]], and no source read for this page states that Jhong worked at Google.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Election Commission records
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Federal Election Commission|FEC]]'s itemized receipts list contributions under the name "Jhong, Eugene" of Los Altos, California; no record read states that this donor is the Galileo adviser, though the Galileo biography (Stanford master's in computer science) and the occupation fields (engineer in 2012, retired or investor later) are consistent with it. The entries: 201.20 dollars to the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign (January 14, 2012; occupation engineer, employer self); 2,700 dollars to Brian Forde for Congress on May 10, 2018 with the memo "0.59101569 bitcoins received, not liquidated" (the itemization also carries offsetting negative entries of the same amount, which appear to be amendment reporting), and on July 14, 2018 a 2,700 dollar entry and its reversal marked "redesignation of general 2018 contribution"; 8,302.24 dollars on May 22, 2018 to the 314 Action Fund, itemized as a "non-contribution account" of 1.00 bitcoin, not liquidated; 500 dollars on March 5, 2019, 2,000 dollars on October 28, 2019 and 250 dollars on December 31, 2019 to Friends of Andrew Yang; 5,800 dollars on December 27, 2021 to Blake Masters for Senate (two 2,900 dollar entries earmarked through WinRed, with a matching 5,800 dollar WinRed conduit entry); 2,900 dollars on April 25, 2022 to Bruce Fenton for Liberty (occupation investor, employer self); and 2,900 dollars on November 3, 2022 to Gillibrand for Senate.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Advisory Boards." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of December 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/organization/advisory-boards
|
||||
[^2]: The Galileo Project. "Press Release and Press Conference Announcement," July 26, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/galileo_project-announcement_pr-7.26.21.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Election Commission, schedule A receipts, contributor name "JHONG, EUGENE" (OpenFEC API query run October 3, 2026). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=JHONG%2C%20EUGENE
|
||||
[^4]: Jhong, Eugene, and Karen E. Theisen. U.S. Patent 6,259,458 B1, granted July 10, 2001. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6259458B1/en (patent record; the Google Patents site is used only to display the USPTO document).
|
||||
67
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Frank Laukien.md
Normal file
67
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Frank Laukien.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Business
|
||||
- Science
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Frank H. Laukien
|
||||
- Frank Laukien, Ph.D.
|
||||
- Frank Hartmut Laukien
|
||||
- Laukien, Frank
|
||||
summary: "Frank Laukien has been chairman, president and chief executive of Bruker Corporation since February 1991 and is its largest stockholder; he co-founded the Galileo Project with Avi Loeb in 2021."
|
||||
location: "Billerica, Massachusetts"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Bruker Corporation]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman, president and chief executive officer; largest stockholder (27.1 percent as of April 7, 2022)"
|
||||
start: 1991-02
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Galileo Project]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder with Avi Loeb, named in Bruker's 2022 proxy statement"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Independents Moving the Needle]]"
|
||||
role: "1,190,000 dollars in three itemized contributions, December 5, 2023 to January 18, 2024 (FEC)"
|
||||
start: 2023-12-05
|
||||
end: 2024-01-18
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Frank Laukien]] has been chairman, president and chief executive officer of [[Bruker Corporation]] since February 1991, according to the company's 2022 proxy statement, which also calls him "our largest stockholder." He holds a B.S. in physics from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from [[Harvard University]]; served on the Dean's Advisory Committee of the [[MIT School of Science]] until 2014 and on the Visiting Committee of the MIT Department of Chemistry; was elected a senator of [[acatech]], the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, in May 2017; co-chairs a working group of the [[American Association for Cancer Research]] on cancer evolution; and is a visiting scholar in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard. The proxy lists him as "co-founder of two start-up venture companies in therapeutics and space exploration, respectively, as well as of the non-profit [[Galileo Project]] at Harvard University."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bruker holdings and pay
|
||||
|
||||
Bruker's proxy statement filed April 22, 2022 reports that Laukien beneficially owned 40,448,233 shares, 27.1 percent of the class, as of April 7, 2022. The total includes 1,046,499 shares owned by [[Robyn Laukien]] and 492 shares owned by [[Ruta Laukien]], both described as former spouses, over which he has sole voting power; 336,607 shares held by his adult daughter and 337,087 by his adult son; and 273,430 shares held as custodian for minor children. It states that 5,000,000 shares "have been pledged by Dr. Laukien to secure a personal loan," and the related-party section describes a grandfathered pledge of 5,000,000 shares to secure a personal line of credit of up to 10 million dollars. His 2021 total compensation in the summary table was 5,594,539 dollars, including a salary of 811,581 dollars and a cash incentive of 1,615,669 dollars.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family transactions with Bruker
|
||||
|
||||
The same proxy reports that [[Dirk Laukien]] (half-brother), [[Joerg Laukien]] (brother) and Ms. Laukien-Kleiner (stepmother) co-own [[ZeroC Project GmbH]], which rents two properties in [[Faellanden]], [[Switzerland]] to [[Bruker BioSpin AG]]; Bruker paid 242,923 dollars in rent to ZeroC in 2021 for one of them. [[Isolde Laukien]] and Dirk Laukien co-own another Faellanden property rented to Bruker BioSpin AG, for which it paid 242,822 dollars in 2021 before the lease ended June 30, 2021. Dirk Laukien owns QA Group, LLC doing business as [[Quantum Analytics]], which bought 311,912 dollars of equipment from Bruker in 2021 for leasing to third parties. The proxy states that the payments equaled estimated fair market rent and that sales were in the ordinary course.[^1] Joerg Laukien and a "[[Laukien Science Foundation]]" appear on the Galileo Project's Philanthropic Advisory Board.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Board and political contributions
|
||||
|
||||
The same proxy lists [[William A. Linton]], chairman, president and chief executive of [[Promega Corporation]] and founder and executive director of the [[Usona Institute]], as a Bruker director since 2000 and member of its Nominating & Governance Committee; Linton and the Laukien Science Foundation appear together on the Galileo Project's Philanthropic Advisory Board.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] itemized receipts list a Frank Laukien of [[North Hampton, New Hampshire|North Hampton]], New Hampshire, with employer Bruker Corporation, as donor of 500,000 dollars (December 5, 2023), 490,000 dollars (January 8, 2024) and 200,000 dollars (January 18, 2024) to [[Independents Moving the Needle]] (committee C00858381, an independent-expenditure-only committee registered November 29, 2023 with [[Jonathan Bush]] as treasurer), plus in-kind canvassing and meal expenses of 3,940 dollars and 2,186.40 dollars; 4,000 dollars to [[Nikki Haley|Nikki Haley for President]] (November 6, 2023); and, on April 3, 2024, 10,000 dollars to the [[Forward Party]]. Earlier receipts under "Laukien, Frank H." of Boston list 5,000 dollars to the [[Scott Brown|Scott Brown for U.S. Senate]] committee on July 18, 2012, 5,000 dollars each to the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] and Scott [[Scott Brown Victory Committee|Brown Victory Committee]] on September 20 and 28, 2012, and 5,200 dollars to the Brown Victory Committee on September 26, 2014.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In January 2024 Laukien and [[Jonathan Bush]], described as a technology entrepreneur who has worked in health care and a cousin of [[George W. Bush]], were reported as co-founders of the "[[Independents Moving the Needle]]" super PAC, which was not affiliated with the Haley campaign and was targeting roughly 200,000 independent voters in [[New Hampshire]] whom it thought could be swayed to support Haley; Laukien was described as a billionaire businessman and scientist. Laukien said of Haley: "It was very, very impressive in how issue after issue, she really had a clear understanding, a rational approach to it and an attitude of wanting to solve the many issues that we do have as a country," and that "we actually think that she could be the not only next generation leader, but perhaps a transformational leader who could work across the aisle." He also said, "I'm not a big fan of identity politics." The group hoped to deny [[Donald Trump]] a win in the New Hampshire primary of January 23, 2024.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Galileo Project and the Laukien fellowship
|
||||
|
||||
The July 26, 2021 Galileo Project release states that the project "has been co-founded by [[Avi Loeb]] and Frank Laukien." The project later named its first postdoctoral appointee the "Laukien-Oumuamua fellow," [[Richard Cloete]], in May 2022.[^5][^6] *Inverse* wrote in July 2021 that the project "appears to be connected to the Laukien Science Foundation, spearheaded by billionaire Frank Laukien and William A. Linton"; the Galileo Project's own listing gives the foundation and Linton as board entries without stating who runs the foundation.[^2][^7] A [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer search for "Laukien Science Foundation" returned no organization.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Bruker Corporation. Schedule 14A definitive proxy statement, filed April 22, 2022 (accession 0001193125-22-115070). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1109354/000119312522115070/d256158ddef14a.htm
|
||||
[^2]: "Advisory Boards." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of December 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/organization/advisory-boards
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Election Commission, schedule A receipts, contributor name "LAUKIEN, FRANK" (OpenFEC API queries run October 3, 2026). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=LAUKIEN%2C%20FRANK
|
||||
[^4]: "Analysis: Haley has a story to tell New Hampshire voters." *Concord Monitor,* January 20, 2024, p. A3 (continued from A1), via newspapers.com image 1032479659.
|
||||
[^5]: The Galileo Project. "Press Release and Press Conference Announcement," July 26, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/galileo_project-announcement_pr-7.26.21.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^6]: "Laura Domine from Stanford University receives Keto-Galileo Postdoctoral Fellowship," May 12, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/news/laura-domine-stanford-university-receives-keto-galileo%C2%A0postdoctoral-fellowship
|
||||
[^7]: Inverse, "Galileo Project: A new hunt for alien objects in the universe," July 2021. https://www.inverse.com/science/new-project-to-hunt-for-alien-objects-in-the-universe
|
||||
[^8]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search, "Laukien Science Foundation," run October 3, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/search.json?q=Laukien+Science+Foundation
|
||||
52
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jesse Michels.md
Normal file
52
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jesse Michels.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- ThielNetwork
|
||||
- Podcaster
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Jesse Michels
|
||||
- Jesse Michels (American Alchemy)
|
||||
summary: "Investor listed as employed by Thiel Capital on a March 30, 2022 federal campaign contribution and creator of the American Alchemy YouTube channel."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Thiel Capital]]"
|
||||
role: "investor, as stated by the contributor on FEC filings of 2022 and in a February 2023 podcast biography"
|
||||
start: 2022-03-30
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Blake Masters]]"
|
||||
role: "one contribution of 2,900 dollars earmarked through WinRed for Blake Masters for Senate, March 30, 2022"
|
||||
start: 2022-03-30
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[American Alchemy]]"
|
||||
role: "creator and host"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jesse Michels is the creator and host of American Alchemy, a long-form interview channel on [[YouTube]] and a podcast. A February 2, 2023 episode listing of the podcast [[Infinite Loops]], produced by [[O'Shaughnessy Ventures]], describes him as "an investor at [[Thiel Capital]] and the creator and host of 'American Alchemy', a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Thiel Capital
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] (FEC) records list one contribution of 2,900 dollars dated March 30, 2022 from a Jesse Michels of [[Los Angeles]] ZIP code 90046 ([[California]]), giving his employer as "Thiel Capital" and his occupation as "Investor." The contribution appears twice in the federal database because it was routed through the conduit [[WinRed]] (committee C00694323): the candidate committee, [[Blake Masters]] for Senate (C00784165), reported it as "earmarked (non-directed) through WinRed" (receipt image 202204159496855525), and WinRed's own report lists it as "earmarked for Blake Masters for Senate" (image 202212159563803397).[^1] Masters, the candidate, served as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of the [[Thiel Foundation]] and was co-author with [[Peter Thiel]] of Zero to One; Thiel funded a super PAC supporting his 2022 Arizona Senate campaign.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The same name appears on four smaller contributions to [[ActBlue]] (5 dollars on September 19, 2020 and September 27, 2020, both from [[Brooklyn]], 10 dollars on October 31, 2020 from [[New York City|New York]], and 10 dollars on July 22, 2024 from New York, employer "Alpha FMC," occupation "recruiter"), with employers or statuses other than Thiel Capital; no source ties these to the American Alchemy host.[^1] No FEC contribution under the name was found listing Thiel Capital other than the March 30, 2022 entry.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### American Alchemy
|
||||
|
||||
The Infinite Loops listing for the February 2023 episode lists topics including "the transmission theory of consciousness," "Are mushrooms aliens?" and "Nixon, psychedelics & brainwashing," and a reading list including books by [[Robert Anton Wilson]], [[Tom O'Neill]] and [[David McGowan]].[^2] The [[Sky Watcher|Skywatcher]] project's Part I video lists interviews with [[David Grusch]] and Col. [[Karl Nell]], among others.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
No channel sponsor list, production company, Form D, 501(c) return or lobbying filing was located for American Alchemy; a search of EDGAR full-text for "Jesse Michels" and "American Alchemy" returned no Form D, and the Senate lobbying database holds no client of that name.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC schedule A, contributor "Michels, Jesse," sub_id 4042520221472578192 (Blake Masters for Senate, Form 3, receipt type 15E) and 4011120231685948941 (WinRed, Form 3X, receipt type 24T), both March 30, 2022; ActBlue records 4010420212002882486, 4012120212128555907, 4012120212112481546 and 4020620251156252171. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=MICHELS%2C%20JESSE ; images https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202204159496855525 and https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202212159563803397 (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^2]: Infinite Loops podcast, "Jesse Michels, American Alchemy (EP.145)," February 2, 2023. https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/jesse-michels-american-alchemy-ep145/
|
||||
[^3]: Vault pages [[Blake Masters]] and [[Peter Thiel]] (positions and Thiel funding of the 2022 Arizona race, each citing its own sources).
|
||||
[^4]: Skywatcher, "Media." https://skywatcher.ai/media (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^5]: SEC EDGAR full-text search "Jesse Michels," "American Alchemy," forms D, October 3, 2026; Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database client search, October 3, 2026.
|
||||
47
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Leslie Kean.md
Normal file
47
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Leslie Kean.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Leslie Kean
|
||||
- Kean, Leslie
|
||||
summary: "Leslie Kean is an independent investigative journalist and author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010), and a co-author of the New York Times AATIP report of December 16, 2017."
|
||||
location: "New York City"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]"
|
||||
role: "co-author with Helene Cooper and Ralph Blumenthal"
|
||||
start: 2017-12-16
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Leslie Kean]] grew up in [[New York City]], attended the [[Spence School]] and [[Bard College]], helped found a Zen center in upstate New York, and worked as a photographer at the [[Cornell Lab of Ornithology]], before a 1990s trip to [[Myanmar|Burma]] to interview political prisoners led to investigative journalism, according to *[[The New Yorker]]*. She worked as a producer and host of "[[Flashpoints]]" at the [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] radio station [[KPFA]]. Her grandfather [[Robert Winthrop Kean]] served ten terms in [[United States Congress|Congress]] and her uncle [[Thomas Kean]] was governor of [[New Jersey]] and chaired the [[9/11 Commission]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early UFO work
|
||||
|
||||
In 1999 a journalist friend in Paris sent Kean the report of the French group [[COMETA]], "Les OVNI et la Défense," and in 2000 she wrote a summary for the *[[Boston Globe]]* Focus section, published May 21, 2000.[^1] *The New Yorker* described her as "an independent investigative journalist and a novice U.F.O. researcher who had worked with Greer" ([[Steven Greer]]) when she watched his May 9, 2001 [[Disclosure Project]] event at the [[National Press Club]], where she "knew then that I had to walk away" because of speakers' "outrageous, grandiose claims."[^1] In 2002 [[Larry Landsman]], director of projects for the [[Syfy|Sci Fi Channel]] (now Syfy), invited her to lead a public effort to obtain government records on the [[Kecksburg incident|Kecksburg]], [[Pennsylvania]] incident of December 9, 1965. Sci Fi hired lawyers, researchers and the Washington firm [[PodestaMattoon]]; its [[Edwin S. Rothschild]] introduced her to [[John Podesta]], who agreed to support publicly her lawsuit against [[NASA]]. The case ran four years and ended in a settlement; Kean received "hundreds of largely irrelevant documents."[^1][^2] By March 2003 the effort included an online petition at signpetition.com asking [[United States Congress|Congress]] to direct the [[Government Accountability Office|General Accounting Office]] to examine Kecksburg and a plan to sue, through a law firm doing freedom-of-information work, wherever agencies short-changed requests for declassified files. Kean said of the case, "This case is so incredibly fascinating. Even now, the trail is not cold." [[Stan Gordon]] of Greensburg, then 53, was also part of the records effort, and Landsman said, "We're committed to solving this." The drive was "bankrolled by" the Sci Fi Channel, and Kean was described as a San Francisco-area freelance journalist whose writing had appeared on the opinion pages of the *[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]* and the news pages of the *Boston Globe*.[^3] Podesta wrote the foreword to her 2010 book *UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record* ([[Random House]] imprint), and in June 2011 invited her to make a confidential presentation at the [[Center for American Progress]], which he had founded. In August 2014 she met Podesta, then an adviser to [[Barack Obama]], in the West Wing and proposed that one person in the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] be assigned to the subject; the proposal went nowhere.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Her later [[Huffington Post]] work drew on material from the [[Chilean government]]'s [[Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos]] (CEFAA). Her January 6, 2017 piece "Groundbreaking UFO Video Just Released by Chilean [[United States Navy|Navy]]" was analyzed on the forum [[Metabunk]] by [[Mick West]] and others, who concluded by January 11 that the object was [[Iberia]] flight IB6830 from [[Santiago]] to [[Madrid]]; Kean said of West that "if Mick were really interested in this stuff, he wouldn't debunk every single video."[^1] *[[New York Magazine]]* describes her late partner as [[Budd Hopkins]], the abduction researcher, in connection with her book *[[Surviving Death]]*.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The December 2017 placement
|
||||
|
||||
Kean told [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] that on October 4, 2017, at the behest of [[Christopher Mellon]], she was called to a confidential meeting in the bar of a hotel near the [[Pentagon]], where [[Hal Puthoff]] and [[Jim Semivan]] introduced her to [[Luis Elizondo]], who had left the Pentagon the previous day. She was shown documents for three hours and told she could have the videos, with chain-of-custody documentation, "if she could place a story in the Times." She telephoned [[Ralph Blumenthal]], who wrote to executive editor [[Dean Baquet]]; the *[[New York Times]]* assigned [[Helene Cooper]], and the three published "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program" on December 16, 2017. Kean told Lewis-Kraus: "I never would have ever imagined I could have ended up writing for the Times," and gave "all the credit to Elizondo and Mellon for coming forward." She also said she developed doubts about [[Tom DeLonge]] after his appearance on [[Joe Rogan]]'s podcast, while having "full confidence" in Elizondo.[^1] See [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]].
|
||||
|
||||
[[Keith Kloor]] reported in *[[The Intercept]]* in 2019 that Kean "wrote in 2016 that she was 'privileged to welcome' Chris Mellon into the UFO organization to which she belonged."[^5] The Pentagon's 2019 statements that Elizondo had "no responsibilities" for [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program|AATIP]] while in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and the dispute with [[Bryan Bender]]'s December 2017 reporting, are set out on the event page.
|
||||
|
||||
### After 2017
|
||||
|
||||
Kean has since covered the subject for the Times, sharing bylines with Blumenthal. A July 2020 article by the two referred to unclassified slides shown at congressional briefings that mentioned "off-world" vehicles and "crash retrievals" and said [[Harry Reid]] "believed that crashes of vehicles from other worlds had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied secretly for decades, often by aerospace companies under government contracts." The Times corrected the sentence the next day. Reid told Lewis-Kraus he had never seen proof of remnants and that he had "been told for decades that [[Lockheed Martin|Lockheed]] had some of these retrieved materials." A former Pentagon official told Lewis-Kraus that terms in Kean's slides were ones "we would never say." Kean told Lewis-Kraus she had come to believe that fragments had been "hoarded somewhere" and cited [[Jacques Vallee]], who is working with [[Stanford University|Stanford]] immunologist [[Garry Nolan]] on purported crash material.[^1] In June 2023 she and Blumenthal published the first account of the claims of [[David Grusch]] on [[The Debrief]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously. The date of the Reid correction and the July 2020 article are inferred from the text ("published last July") of a May 2021 piece.
|
||||
[^2]: Same, on the 2002 PodestaMattoon engagement, Rothschild's introduction and Podesta's support of the lawsuit.
|
||||
[^3]: Gibb, Tom. "Reality 'X-file': People in Kecksburg want to resolve what fell from the sky in 1965." *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,* March 9, 2003, p. 21, via newspapers.com image 90896474. Quotations as printed; the jump on page B-2 was not read.
|
||||
[^4]: Baker, Nicholson. "How We Lost Our Minds About UFOs." *New York Magazine,* January 31, 2024. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/leslie-kean-ufo-sightings-aliens.html
|
||||
[^5]: Kloor, Keith. "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/. Kloor does not name the organization or the venue of Kean's 2016 statement; his article is the only source read for it.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
title: Andrija Puharich
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Andrija Puharich
|
||||
|
|
@ -66,9 +66,14 @@ A questionnaire submitted in 1952 by the Select Committee of the [[United States
|
|||
|
||||
The [[Portland Press Herald]] (Sunday Telegram section) of January 9, 1949 carried a staff-written story by [[Jim Moore]], datelined [[Camden, Maine|Camden]], headed "Secrets Of Life." It reported that Dr. Henry K. Puharich, a Chicago physician then about thirty, with his wife Virginia (born Jackson) and their daughter Svetlana, aged eighteen months, had settled at Camden, near Zlatko Balokovic and his wife, and had set up the "Round Table Foundation Laboratory of experimental electrobiology" in a converted barn on the [[Bald Mountain]] retreat. The story gave his schooling as a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a medical degree from Northwestern University, followed by a rotating internship at [[Permanente Hospital]] in [[Oakland, California]], and described Mrs. Puharich as a former [[Office of War Information]] editor and Northwestern laboratory assistant. It stated his theory, which it said he had presented in 1946 to a zoology seminar at the [[University of California]] and to the [[Society of Junior Fellows]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], that nerve units radiate and receive energy waves, with the "plasma membrane" acting as a piezo-electric crystal that behaves as a radio receiver and transmitter. The story added that the theory might explain the microphonics of the ear and might account for mental telepathy by electronic equipment "which may not yet be developed," and that his crystal work was done with Dr. [[Raymond C. Tibbetts]] of Camden.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reference in the Scott Jones papers
|
||||
|
||||
The finding aid of the C. B. "Scott" Jones papers at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]] lists, in Series 6 ("Special Assistant to [[Claiborne Pell|Senator Claiborne Pell]]"), under Reports and organizations, a file titled "National Science Foundation: Andrija Puharich reports and correspondence." The saved container tree gives the title only, without dates or box number.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
[^2]: Kress, Kenneth A. "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions," *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 21, no. 4, winter 1977, declassified. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Research and Development, memorandum ORD-413-73, "Briefing by Stanford Research Institute," January 24, 1973, CIA-RDP96-00787R000400070029-2. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection.
|
||||
[^3]: "Questionnaire submitted by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, created by House Resolution 561, Eighty-second Congress, Second Session, to investigate tax-exempt foundations and comparable organizations," CIA-RDP91-00682R000300080029-3, CIA Reading Room, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp91-00682r000300080029-3. The document page carries OCR text only; the PDF has no text layer, and the foundation name is read from that OCR.
|
||||
[^4]: Jim Moore, "Secrets Of Life," *Portland Press Herald* (Portland, Me.), January 9, 1949, p. 61, https://www.newspapers.com/image/848421406/.
|
||||
[^5]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 6, fetched October 3, 2026 from the vault owner's browser.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman as of July 1988 per UPI; term dates not verified"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Claiborne Pell (1918-2009) was a powerful [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] Senator from [[Rhode Island]] and a ranking member of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]. A former [[Foreign Service]] officer who had worked behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied [[Hungary]], Pell was a firm supporter and proponent of [[Extrasensory Perception|extrasensory perception]] and the [[Remote Viewing]] program[^1].
|
||||
|
|
@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ The chief of staff who asked Buzby for the status report on November 30, 1983, w
|
|||
|
||||
### Scott Jones and the Human Potential Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
From January 1985 to March 1991 Pell employed [[C. B. Scott Jones]], a retired [[United States Navy|Navy]] intelligence officer, as special assistant, "with the purpose of investigating consciousness research being conducted in other countries, primarily the USSR," according to the finding aid to Jones's papers.[^5] The [[Washington Times]] reported in 1989 that Pell, "perhaps Capitol Hill's most unabashed believer, has urged the [[National Science Foundation]], the [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] and other government agencies to increase psychic research funding" and had a full-time staff member whose exclusive job was monitoring reports of psychic activities.[^6] [[United Press International]], summarizing the [[Providence Journal|Providence Sunday Journal]] of July 17, 1988, reported that Pell attended a national symposium on abduction in 1987, that Jones kept a top secret clearance and earned nearly 50,000 dollars a year, that Pell sat on the advisory board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] and had helped organize a Washington symposium on near-death experiences two years earlier, and that the psychologist [[Ray Hyman]] of the [[University of Oregon]], who had evaluated military applications of psychic research for the Army, said Pell had "been arguing very forcefully" for a "Manhattan Project-style effort" to catch up with the Russians, which Pell called "vastly exaggerated," saying he favored "a modest increase in financial support" for "intelligent, skeptical" research; the report adds that in 1987 Pell invited Geller to Washington for a demonstration before about 30 congressional and [[Pentagon]] aides.[^7] The version of Emery's Providence Journal story printed in *The [[San Francisco Examiner]]* of August 13, 1988 called Pell "Capitol Hill's best-known student of psychic phenomena, near-death experiences and other areas on the fringes of science," stated that he had had a full-time assistant for three years who promotes "developing human potential," and gave Jones's pay as $48,853 a year with a top-secret clearance (the UPI summary above says "nearly 50,000 dollars" and "top secret"). In that article Pell is reported to have invited Geller in April 1987 with at least one other member of Congress in the audience, and Pell described Hyman's account as "correct but vastly exaggerated."[^8] The *[[Winston-Salem Journal]]* of July 18, 1988, summarizing the same story, reported that Pell, then 69, told the Providence Journal he would "probably spend more time with this" if he were not in the Senate.[^9] The Pell papers at the [[University of Rhode Island]] list three files, "Human Potential Foundation: Scott Jones File" (1987; 1987 to 1994; 1988 to 1991), in the subject file series, box 42, folders 464 to 466.[^10]
|
||||
From January 1985 to March 1991 Pell employed [[C. B. Scott Jones]], a retired [[United States Navy|Navy]] intelligence officer, as special assistant, "with the purpose of investigating consciousness research being conducted in other countries, primarily the USSR," according to the finding aid to Jones's papers.[^5] The [[Washington Times]] reported in 1989 that Pell, "perhaps Capitol Hill's most unabashed believer, has urged the [[National Science Foundation]], the [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]] and other government agencies to increase psychic research funding" and had a full-time staff member whose exclusive job was monitoring reports of psychic activities.[^6] [[United Press International]], summarizing the [[Providence Journal|Providence Sunday Journal]] of July 17, 1988, reported that Pell attended a national symposium on abduction in 1987, that Jones kept a top secret clearance and earned nearly 50,000 dollars a year, that Pell sat on the advisory board of the [[International Association for Near-Death Studies]] and had helped organize a Washington symposium on near-death experiences two years earlier, and that the psychologist [[Ray Hyman]] of the [[University of Oregon]], who had evaluated military applications of psychic research for the Army, said Pell had "been arguing very forcefully" for a "Manhattan Project-style effort" to catch up with the Russians, which Pell called "vastly exaggerated," saying he favored "a modest increase in financial support" for "intelligent, skeptical" research; the report adds that in 1987 Pell invited Geller to Washington for a demonstration before about 30 congressional and [[Pentagon]] aides.[^7] The version of Emery's Providence Journal story printed in *The [[San Francisco Examiner]]* of August 13, 1988 called Pell "Capitol Hill's best-known student of psychic phenomena, near-death experiences and other areas on the fringes of science," stated that he had had a full-time assistant for three years who promotes "developing human potential," and gave Jones's pay as $48,853 a year with a top-secret clearance (the UPI summary above says "nearly 50,000 dollars" and "top secret"). In that article Pell is reported to have invited Geller in April 1987 with at least one other member of Congress in the audience, and Pell described Hyman's account as "correct but vastly exaggerated."[^8] The *[[Winston-Salem Journal]]* of July 18, 1988, summarizing the same story, reported that Pell, then 69, told the Providence Journal he would "probably spend more time with this" if he were not in the Senate.[^9] The Pell papers at the [[University of Rhode Island]] list three files, "Human Potential Foundation: [[C.B. Scott Jones|Scott Jones]] File" (1987; 1987 to 1994; 1988 to 1991), in the subject file series, box 42, folders 464 to 466.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Pell created the [[Human Potential Foundation]] in 1989, according to the Jones papers finding aid, and a white paper of February 20, 1992 by [[Robert J. Durant]] states that Pell and the lawyer [[Mark Sandground]] sat on its board and that it was "reportedly funded by [[Laurance Rockefeller]]."[^5][^11] The same paper states that Pell's office was visited by Major General [[Michael Kerby]] of the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] legislative liaison office, who told Jones of a 1987 visit to [[Lee Graham]]; Jones is quoted as saying "Kerby knew of my interest in these matters."[^11] (Sole source for the passages so cited; the paper is hostile to Jones.)
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ Pell created the [[Human Potential Foundation]] in 1989, according to the Jones
|
|||
|
||||
Rockefeller's letter of May 7, 1993 to [[Billy Graham]] listed [[Maurice Strong]], possibly [[Javier Perez de Cuellar]], former President [[Jimmy Carter]] and several senators, among them Pell and [[Ted Stevens]], as possible co-signers of a letter to President [[Bill Clinton]] on UFO information; Graham declined on May 20, 1993.[^12] Jones's letter to [[John Gibbons|John H. Gibbons]] of August 11, 1994 notes that Pell sat on the board of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]], whose founder [[Edgar Mitchell]] would meet Gibbons.[^13] Gibbons wrote in a handwritten note to Rockefeller in August 1994, "Incidentally, I told C. Pell about this situation yesterday," referring to the Air Force Roswell report; a second note, to "Clay," indexed September 19, 1994 and dated 8/19/94, thanks him for lunch and encloses the report's summary text and Gibbons's Zuckerman lecture.[^14] In the memorandum for the President of August 4, 1995 Gibbons wrote that Rockefeller's interests "are related to those of Senator Pell" and that "Senator Pell and others have supported the funding of research in social science to focus more on these phenomena."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Series 6 container titles in the Scott Jones papers
|
||||
|
||||
Series 6 of the [[C. B. Scott Jones]] papers at the University of Colorado Boulder is titled "Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell." Its Legislation subseries lists drafts and correspondence for Senate Joint Resolutions 135 and 368 and House Joint Resolution 646, a Fetzer Foundation conference of June 23 to 25, 1988, International Forgiveness Day, Peace Contingency Planning, the Sadat Peace Foundation, "National Applications Office drafts" and a "Commission or Task Force on Maximizing Individual Potential draft." The Symposium on Consciousness and Survival of October 26 and 27, 1985 has files for the proceedings edited by John Shelby Spong, invitations, fundraising and event planning. The Soviet-American Relations subseries has files titled "[[Esalen Institute]]," "Russia Trip 1990," "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "Intelligence," "Pell Trip to Soviet Union 1985" and "Russia Trip 1989."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The Paranormal Aide subseries lists "Reverse Speech Scandal" files, "Challenger Incident," "Vorona Project," four "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Uri Geller Associates" and "1990 [[United States]] Senate Election in Rhode Island." The Reports and organizations subseries has files on the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], the National Research Council report (five files), the Office of Technology Assessment (including "Workshop on Experimental Parapsychology" and "Maintaining the Defense Technology Base"), National Institute of Mental Health workshops at Airlie in 1987 and 1988, and the National Science Foundation, including "[[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence." The Unidentified Flying Objects subseries lists files on the Fund for UFO Research, Richard F. Haines, Ed Komarek Jr., "Air Force Document of Mid-Air Collision 1953," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and Donald R. Todd, and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones. The Speeches subseries includes an *OMNI* "First Word" column by Pell of February 1988 and speeches drafted by Jones and Pell. The tree gives titles only, without dates or box numbers.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
@ -74,3 +80,4 @@ Rockefeller's letter of May 7, 1993 to [[Billy Graham]] listed [[Maurice Strong]
|
|||
[^13]: C. B. Scott Jones to John H. Gibbons, August 11, 1994, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-11-94.htm.
|
||||
[^14]: Gibbons, handwritten notes, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-17-94.htm and RID-9-19-94.htm.
|
||||
[^15]: Gibbons, memorandum for the President, August 4, 1995, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-4-95.htm.
|
||||
[^16]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 6, fetched October 3, 2026 from the vault owner's browser (titles only; no dates or box numbers in the saved tree).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
53
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Diana Walsh Pasulka.md
Normal file
53
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Diana Walsh Pasulka.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- ReligiousStudies
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Author
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Diana Walsh Pasulka
|
||||
- D. W. Pasulka
|
||||
- DW Pasulka
|
||||
- Diana W. Pasulka
|
||||
- Pasulka
|
||||
summary: "Professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, author of American Cosmic (2019) and Encounters (2023), who said on September 11, 2023 that she was joining the Sol Foundation board."
|
||||
location: "Wilmington, North Carolina"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[University of North Carolina Wilmington]]"
|
||||
role: "professor of religious studies"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-09-11
|
||||
role: "announced on September 11, 2023 that she was joining the board; listed on the foundation's website under its Social Sciences Advisory Board in October 2026"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Diana Walsh Pasulka is a professor of religious studies at the [[University of North Carolina Wilmington]].[^1] Her books include "[[Heaven Can Wait]]" ([[Oxford University Press]]), "[[American Cosmic]]: UFOs, Religion, Technology" (Oxford University Press, 2019) and "[[Encounters]]: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences" ([[St. Martin's Press]], 2023).[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Tyler D. and James Master
|
||||
|
||||
American Cosmic is dedicated to "[[Tyler D.]]," a pseudonymous figure whom Pasulka describes as one of the "most intelligent and successful people" she had met, a former aeronautical engineer who "worked on almost every space shuttle that was ever launched" and later a wealthy entrepreneur. As [[Nathaniel Rich]] summarizes Pasulka's account, after selling a biomedical device Tyler was stopped at an airport by federal agents who asked whether he wanted to return to the space program in a "very special" office, which Rich writes was "presumably located within" the [[White Sands Test Facility]] in [[New Mexico]], where he was assigned a desk beside a square room wrapped in concrete and metal. Tyler took Pasulka to a purported crash site in the New Mexico desert in the company of a second figure she called "James Master," who had analyzed an alleged artifact for a documentary and said two men in suits afterward asked him what he had really found.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In Encounters, Pasulka identifies "James Master" as the Stanford immunologist [[Garry Nolan]].[^3] The identity of Tyler D. has not been given in the sources opened. Encounters also introduces "[[Gray Man]]," described as the head of a laboratory for a major research agency.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sol Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
Pasulka posted on September 11, 2023 that she was joining the board of the [[Sol Foundation]], a statement reproduced in coverage of its launch.[^4] She spoke at the foundation's first symposium on November 17 to 18, 2023 in [[Palo Alto, California]].[^5] She was a signatory, with [[Peter Skafish]], Nolan, [[Avi Loeb]], [[Christopher Mellon]] and [[Tim Gallaudet]], of the November 12, 2024 letter to Congress urging enactment of the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]].[^6] The foundation's website, read on October 3, 2026, lists "Diana Pasulka" under its Social Sciences Advisory Board, with [[Eric Davis]] and [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]].[^7] The Sol Foundation's 2024 Form 990 lists no director or officer named Pasulka.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Signatory entry, "Diana Walsh Pasulka, Ph.D., Professor," in the letter of November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Open Library author search for "Pasulka," records for *American Cosmic* (Oxford University Press, 2019), *Encounters* (St. Martin's Press, 2023), and *Heaven Can Wait* (Oxford University Press). https://openlibrary.org/search.json?author=Pasulka
|
||||
[^3]: Nathaniel Rich, "Ufologists, Unite!," *The New York Review of Books*, April 18, 2024, reviewing *American Cosmic* and *Encounters*. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/04/18/ufologists-unite-american-cosmic-d-w-pasulka/ (the review's account is the sole source for the passages so cited; the books themselves were not opened).
|
||||
[^4]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery," *The Debrief*, September 12, 2023 (embedding her post of September 11, 2023). https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-how-a-new-think-tank-of-academics-is-applying-cutting-edge-research-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^5]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^6]: Signatory letter of November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability (the statement of Tim Gallaudet), https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section (Advisory Board), https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^8]: IRS Form 990 for 2024, EIN 93-3649160, Part VII. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
|
|
@ -5,7 +5,62 @@ category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
|||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- Stanford
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Akoya
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Garry Nolan
|
||||
- Garry P. Nolan
|
||||
- Garry Nolan, Ph.D.
|
||||
- Dr. Garry Nolan
|
||||
summary: "Garry Nolan is a leading research scientist at Stanford University, specializing in genetics, immunology, and bioinformatics."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford University]]"
|
||||
role: "Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nodality]]"
|
||||
start: 2009-10-19
|
||||
role: "executive officer and director on the Form D signed October 26, 2009 (offering $10,000,000, $3,499,999 sold) and director on the Form D signed January 12, 2010 (offering $13,500,000, $9,999,997 sold)"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[DVS Sciences]]"
|
||||
start: 2010-12-20
|
||||
role: "director on Form D filed February 16, 2011 (offering $14,797,741; $4,131,828 sold, six investors)"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[BINA Technologies]]"
|
||||
start: 2011-04-08
|
||||
role: "director on Forms D filed April 21, 2011 ($1,500,000 offered, $1,100,000 sold, nine investors) and March 28, 2012 ($2,000,000 offered, $1,204,545 sold, twelve investors)"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[PrognosDx Health]]"
|
||||
start: 2011-02-28
|
||||
role: "director on Forms D filed March 15, May 17 and June 28, 2011"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Akoya Biosciences]]"
|
||||
role: "co-founder and director (director on Forms D of July 2017 and October 2018; Form 3 filed April 20, 2021 as director holding 680,084 common shares); company acquired by Quanterix in 2025"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]"
|
||||
start: 2017-08-15
|
||||
role: "named to the advisory board in the Regulation A offering circular of August 15, 2017, with Christopher Mellon, Adele Gilpin, Norman Kahn, Colm Kelleher and Paul Rapp"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-08-15
|
||||
role: "co-founder; director (0 hours, no compensation) on the 2024 Form 990"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Science Advisory Council]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06
|
||||
role: "materials science and molecular biology, on the list Avi Loeb supplied to DefenseScoop"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
Garry Nolan is a leading research scientist at [[Stanford University]], specializing in genetics, immunology, and bioinformatics. He trained under Nobel Prize-winning biologist [[David Baltimore]] and has published over 200 research papers and holds twenty biotechnology patents[^1].
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -29,6 +84,39 @@ Further research revealed that many of the individuals in the study group had be
|
|||
|
||||
Dr. Nolan has also been involved in the analysis of alleged UAP materials. He and the French scientist [[Jacques Vallee]] collaborated on a paper analyzing a metallic slag recovered from a 1977 UAP crash in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Their analysis revealed that the material contained isotopes of magnesium and iron that were arranged in a highly structured and deliberate manner, a feat that is beyond our current technological capabilities.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Companies and investors
|
||||
|
||||
Securities filings name Nolan as a director or executive officer of a series of private life-science companies. On Form D filings with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] he appears as an executive officer and director of [[Nodality]] (first filing, signed October 26, 2009, for a $10,000,000 offering of which $3,499,999 had been sold to one investor) and as a director of the same company on the second filing (January 2010, a $13,500,000 offering of which $9,999,997 had been sold to four investors), as a director of [[DVS Sciences]] (filed February 16, 2011, $14,797,741 offered, $4,131,828 sold), as a director of [[BINA Technologies]] (filed April 21, 2011 and March 28, 2012, the second recording $1,204,545 sold to twelve investors) and as a director of [[PrognosDx Health]] (three filings between March and June 2011, for $25,000, $10,000 and $15,000, each sold to one investor).[^3][^4][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Akoya Biosciences]] filed Forms D on July 14, 2017 (nine million dollars offered and sold, six investors) and October 2, 2018 ($25,500,000 offered, $24,500,000 sold), each listing Nolan with [[Thomas Raffin]], [[Robert Shepler]] and [[Matthew Winkler]] as directors. Its 2021 prospectus calls Nolan "our co-founder and director," says he "originally developed our CODEX technology" at Stanford, which licenses the patents to the company, and says he is the first recipient of the [[Teal Innovator Award]] (2012) from the [[Department of Defense]]. Raffin is described there as a co-founder of [[Rigel Pharmaceuticals]] and of the [[San Francisco]] life-science private equity firm [[Telegraph Hill Partners]]. Nolan filed a Form 3 on April 20, 2021 as a director holding 680,084 shares of common stock and options on 42,918 more.[^7] Akoya's proxy statements for 2022, 2023 and 2024 and its 2025 merger proxy with [[Quanterix]] carry his name.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Advisory boards
|
||||
|
||||
The Regulation A offering circular of [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 15, 2017 lists an advisory board of [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Adele Gilpin]], [[Norman Kahn]], [[Colm Kelleher]], Nolan and [[Paul Rapp]], gives Nolan's chair as the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professorship in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (the November 2024 letter to Congress gives the Department of Pathology), and describes Nolan as "the founder" of "several successful biotechnology companies" who "is an outspoken proponent of translating public investment in basic research to serve the public welfare."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sol Foundation and later activity
|
||||
|
||||
Nolan co-founded the [[Sol Foundation]] with [[Peter Skafish]] and was introduced in 2023 as its "Executive Director of the Board." He said that because of his Stanford position he could not hold an officer role in an outside company and took no salary.[^9] The foundation's 2024 Form 990 lists him as a director at zero hours and zero compensation, and the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] master file gives his Redwood City address as the care-of address for the organization's records.[^9][^10] The foundation's website, read October 3, 2026, lists him as "Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Board."[^11] The November 2023 symposium was hosted by the Nolan Laboratory and the Stanford School of Medicine.[^12] He signed the November 12, 2024 letter to Congress urging passage of the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]], listing his chair as the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professorship in Pathology.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In Encounters (2023), [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]] identified the figure she had called "James Master" in American Cosmic, a "world leading scientist" who had analyzed an alleged artifact, as Nolan.[^14] In June 2026 Nolan, Skafish and [[Tim Gallaudet]] were named among twelve members of a UAP Science Advisory Council led by [[Avi Loeb]].[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Federal Election Commission]] database lists contributions from a Garry Nolan of Redwood City, California who gives Stanford as his employer: $250 to [[Hillary Clinton]]'s 2016 campaign committee on April 7, 2016, $2,900 to [[Mike Levin]]'s congressional campaign on March 22, 2021, and small amounts through [[ActBlue]] to other Democratic candidates, most recently on October 28, 2024.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
[^2]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^3]: SEC Form D, Nodality Inc, accession 0001372142-09-000007 (filed October 26, 2009; first sale October 19, 2009) and 0001372142-10-000001 (filed January 13, 2010; first sale December 30, 2009). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1372142/000137214209000007/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^4]: SEC Form D, DVS Sciences, Inc., accession 0001512982-11-000001, filed February 16, 2011. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512982/000151298211000001/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^5]: SEC Form D, BINA Technologies Inc., accessions 0001518373-11-000002 (filed April 21, 2011) and 0001518373-12-000003 (filed March 28, 2012). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1518373/000151837312000003/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^6]: SEC Form D, PrognosDx Health, Inc., accessions 0001515122-11-000002, -000003 and -000004 (filed March 15, May 17 and June 28, 2011). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1515122/000151512211000002/primary_doc.xml
|
||||
[^7]: SEC Form D, Akoya Biosciences, Inc. (CIK 1711933), accessions 0001446933-17-000008 (first sale July 12, 2017, signed July 14, 2017) and 0001446933-18-000007 (first sale September 26, 2018, signed October 2, 2018), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1711933/000144693317000008/primary_doc.xml ; Form 3, Garry Nolan, accession 0001104659-21-052709 (April 20, 2021); prospectus (424B4), accession 0001104659-21-051518 (April 19, 2021), "Management" and "Business" sections. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1711933/000110465921051518/tm212065-15_424b4.htm
|
||||
[^8]: To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science Inc., Form 1-A, offering circular Part II and III, accession 0001144204-17-043466 (filed August 15, 2017), "Advisory Board." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417043466/v473169_partiiandiii.htm
|
||||
[^9]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery," *The Debrief*, September 12, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-how-a-new-think-tank-of-academics-is-applying-cutting-edge-research-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^10]: IRS Form 990 for 2024, EIN 93-3649160; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API record for the same EIN. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160
|
||||
[^11]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^12]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^13]: Signatory entry in the letter of November 12, 2024, statement of Tim Gallaudet, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing of November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Nathaniel Rich, "Ufologists, Unite!," *The New York Review of Books*, April 18, 2024 (sole source for the passage so cited; Encounters not opened). https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/04/18/ufologists-unite-american-cosmic-d-w-pasulka/
|
||||
[^15]: "New science advisory council forms to help US government 'resolve the UAP mystery,'" *DefenseScoop*, June 17, 2026. https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/17/new-science-advisory-council-forms-to-help-us-government-resolve-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^16]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor name "NOLAN, GARRY," city Redwood City, queried October 3, 2026 (twenty-five records, 2016 to 2024; employer given as Stanford University or Stanford University School of Medicine). The identity of the donor with the Stanford professor rests on the employer field only.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ summary: "According to Elizondo, Garry Reid was part of a hostile leadership env
|
|||
|
||||
According to Elizondo, Garry Reid was part of a hostile leadership environment within the OUSD(I) that was determined to undermine and dismantle AATIP. After Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon in October 2017 and addressed his resignation letter to Secretary of Defense [[James Mattis]], Reid allegedly intercepted the letter and confronted Elizondo, threatening to damage his career and security clearance.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Following Elizondo's public disclosure of AATIP, Elizondo wrote that Reid launched a "scorched-earth" campaign against him. This included seizing his computers and files, questioning his former employees, and launching a criminal inquiry with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) into the release of the three declassified UAP videos. This investigation ultimately found no wrongdoing on Elizondo's part. Reid was also allegedly responsible for the Pentagon's public statements that falsely denied Elizondo's involvement with AATIP.[^1]
|
||||
Following Elizondo's public disclosure of AATIP, Elizondo wrote that Reid launched a "scorched-earth" campaign against him. This included seizing his computers and files, questioning his former employees, and launching a criminal inquiry with the Air Force [[Office of Special Investigations]] (AFOSI) into the release of the three UAP videos. This investigation ultimately found no wrongdoing on Elizondo's part. Reid was also allegedly responsible for the Pentagon's public statements that falsely denied Elizondo's involvement with AATIP.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Inspector General Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
title: Hal Puthoff
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Hal Puthoff
|
||||
|
|
@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Puthoff hired Targ as a research colleague, and together they developed the remo
|
|||
|
||||
### The 1996 Account
|
||||
|
||||
After the CIA declassified 270 pages of SRI reports in July 1995, Puthoff published his own account. In early 1972, doing laser research at SRI, he had written a proposal that Ingo Swann saw at [[Cleve Backster]]'s laboratory and wrote to him, and Puthoff invited him for a week in June 1972. He arranged access to "a well-shielded magnetometer used in a quark-detection experiment in the Physics Department at Stanford University," in a vault beneath the floor "shielded by mu-metal shielding, an aluminum container, copper shielding and a superconducting shield"; Swann "appeared to perturb the operation of the magnetometer" and then "went on to 'remote view' the interior of the apparatus, rendering by drawing a reasonable facsimile of its rather complex (and heretofore unpublished) construction." Within weeks "a pair of visitors showed up at SRI with the above report in hand. Their credentials showed them to be from the CIA. They knew of my previous background as a [[Office of Naval Intelligence|Naval Intelligence]] Officer and then civilian employee at the National Security Agency," and spoke of "increasing concern in the intelligence community about the level of effort in Soviet parapsychology being funded by the Soviet security services." An eight-month "Biofield Measurements Program" of 49,909 dollars followed, and Russell Targ joined; the second year, January 1974 to February 1975, was funded at 149,555 dollars. The first coordinate target, "the West Virginia Site," produced from one subject "a detailed map of the building and grounds layout" and from the other "information about the interior including codewords, data subsequently verified by sponsor sources"; Pat Price then "went on to scan the other side of the globe for a Communist Bloc equivalent and found one located in the Urals," also "verified by personnel in the sponsor organization as being substantially correct." The [[Semipalatinsk]] experiment of July 1974, "carried out in three phases," was "under direct control of the COTR," and "several details concerning the salient technology of the Semipalatinsk site appeared to dovetail with data from other sources, and a number of specific large structural elements were correctly described." The CIA "dropped out as a major player in the mid-seventies due to pressure on the Agency (unrelated to the RV Program) from the [[Church Committee|Church-Pike Congressional Committee]]," and Major General [[Edmund Thompson]], the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence from 1977 to 1981, said: "I had one or more briefings by SRI and was impressed. The decision I made was to set up a small, in-house, low-cost effort in remote viewing." One application, Puthoff noted, "yielded not only a published, statistically significant result, but also a return of $26,000 in 30 days in the silver futures market." The article does not mention [[Scientology]].[^1]
|
||||
After the CIA declassified 270 pages of SRI reports in July 1995, Puthoff published his own account. In early 1972, doing laser research at SRI, he had written a proposal that Ingo Swann saw at [[Cleve Backster]]'s laboratory and wrote to him, and Puthoff invited him for a week in June 1972. He arranged access to "a well-shielded magnetometer used in a quark-detection experiment in the Physics Department at Stanford University," in a vault beneath the floor "shielded by mu-metal shielding, an aluminum container, copper shielding and a superconducting shield"; Swann "appeared to perturb the operation of the magnetometer" and then "went on to 'remote view' the interior of the apparatus, rendering by drawing a reasonable facsimile of its rather complex (and heretofore unpublished) construction." Within weeks "a pair of visitors showed up at SRI with the above report in hand. Their credentials showed them to be from the CIA. They knew of my previous background as a [[Office of Naval Intelligence|Naval Intelligence]] Officer and then civilian employee at the [[NSA|National Security Agency]]," and spoke of "increasing concern in the intelligence community about the level of effort in Soviet parapsychology being funded by the Soviet security services." An eight-month "Biofield Measurements Program" of 49,909 dollars followed, and Russell Targ joined; the second year, January 1974 to February 1975, was funded at 149,555 dollars. The first coordinate target, "the West Virginia Site," produced from one subject "a detailed map of the building and grounds layout" and from the other "information about the interior including codewords, data subsequently verified by sponsor sources"; Pat Price then "went on to scan the other side of the globe for a Communist Bloc equivalent and found one located in the Urals," also "verified by personnel in the sponsor organization as being substantially correct." The [[Semipalatinsk]] experiment of July 1974, "carried out in three phases," was "under direct control of the COTR," and "several details concerning the salient technology of the Semipalatinsk site appeared to dovetail with data from other sources, and a number of specific large structural elements were correctly described." The CIA "dropped out as a major player in the mid-seventies due to pressure on the Agency (unrelated to the RV Program) from the [[Church Committee|Church-Pike Congressional Committee]]," and Major General [[Edmund Thompson]], the Army's assistant chief of staff for intelligence from 1977 to 1981, said: "I had one or more briefings by SRI and was impressed. The decision I made was to set up a small, in-house, low-cost effort in remote viewing." One application, Puthoff noted, "yielded not only a published, statistically significant result, but also a return of $26,000 in 30 days in the silver futures market." The article does not mention [[Scientology]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Protocol Development and Pat Price
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ After leaving SRI, Puthoff founded [[EarthTech International|EarthTech]] Interna
|
|||
|
||||
### UFO-Related Contacts, 1985 to 1996
|
||||
|
||||
A page of handwritten notes by [[Oke Shannon]] of [[Los Alamos]], headed "Attendees" and placed by the authors of the [[Loose Threads Report]] at a meeting of August 7, 1985 labeled "ATP Ten," lists "Hal Puthoff" among participants in the [[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group]] convened by [[John B. Alexander]] in the BDM facility at [[McLean, Virginia]]; those authors write that Shannon's notes of the first meeting show Puthoff giving a presentation on remote viewing.[^6] [[Jacques Vallee]] recorded a 1989 telephone conversation in which Puthoff said that Alexander had briefed "the head of [[NORAD|Norad]], the head of the [[United States Space Command|Space Command]], the top guy at [[Strategic Defense Initiative|SDI]]" and that "a lot of people had been briefed and had agreed to cooperate"; Vallee's account has Puthoff conceding that the plan "may have been killed by someone deciding that the timing was wrong, or they were the wrong people, or the approach was bad."[^7] At the 2018 conference of the [[Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies]], asked about Alexander's conclusion that no program could be found, he answered that "somebody else [was] doing it" and that "if materials are being held in [[Special Access Programs]], a casual conversation even with high-level people, who know your interest, and they're interested too, won't necessarily reveal facts."[^6]
|
||||
A page of handwritten notes by [[Oke Shannon]] of [[Los Alamos]], headed "Attendees" and placed by the authors of the [[Loose Threads Report]] at a meeting of August 7, 1985 labeled "ATP Ten," lists "Hal Puthoff" among participants in the [[Advanced Theoretical Physics Working Group]] convened by [[John B. Alexander]] in the [[BDM Corporation|BDM]] facility at [[McLean, Virginia]]; those authors write that Shannon's notes of the first meeting show Puthoff giving a presentation on remote viewing.[^6] [[Jacques Vallee]] recorded a 1989 telephone conversation in which Puthoff said that Alexander had briefed "the head of [[NORAD|Norad]], the head of the [[United States Space Command|Space Command]], the top guy at [[Strategic Defense Initiative|SDI]]" and that "a lot of people had been briefed and had agreed to cooperate"; Vallee's account has Puthoff conceding that the plan "may have been killed by someone deciding that the timing was wrong, or they were the wrong people, or the approach was bad."[^7] At the 2018 conference of the [[Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies]], asked about Alexander's conclusion that no program could be found, he answered that "somebody else [was] doing it" and that "if materials are being held in [[Special Access Programs]], a casual conversation even with high-level people, who know your interest, and they're interested too, won't necessarily reveal facts."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Mark Pilkington]] wrote in *[[Mirage Men]]* that at a Denny's restaurant "back in 1986" Kit Green, Puthoff and Vallee "distilled what they knew about the subject into what has become known as the 'core story.'"[^8] Shannon said in a 2022 interview that in 1999 Vice Admiral [[Thomas R. Wilson]] telephoned him to ask whether [[Eric Davis]] could be trusted and "may have even mentioned Hal Puthoff and one or two other people."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ On October 17, 1996 [[Laurance Rockefeller]] wrote to [[John Gibbons|John H. Gib
|
|||
|
||||
Puthoff contributed as a scientific consultant to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the Pentagon program that investigated Unidentified Aerial Phenomena from approximately 2007 to 2012 under [[Luis D. Elizondo III|Luis Elizondo]]. His contribution included commissioning and reviewing Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) - theoretical analyses of advanced aerospace concepts including warp drives, traversable wormholes, negative energy, and exotic propulsion systems. His EarthTech research in zero-point energy physics made him the natural contractor for the theoretical physics studies that formed part of AATIP's research portfolio.
|
||||
|
||||
Puthoff became a founding member and scientific advisor to To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA), the public benefit corporation established by [[Tom DeLonge]] in 2017, which published three declassified [[United States Navy|Navy]] videos of UAP encounters and became a public vehicle for intelligence community-adjacent UAP disclosure.
|
||||
Puthoff became a founding member and scientific advisor to To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA), the public benefit corporation established by [[Tom DeLonge]] in 2017, which published three unclassified [[United States Navy|Navy]] videos of UAP encounters that the [[Department of Defense]] stated on April 27, 2020 it had authorized for release after "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017,"[^11] and became a public vehicle for intelligence community-adjacent UAP disclosure.
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -113,3 +113,4 @@ Puthoff became a founding member and scientific advisor to To the Stars Academy
|
|||
[^8]: Pilkington, Mark. *Mirage Men.* 2010, chapter "The Man in the White Coat" (the Denny's statement is Pilkington's narration), https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Mark%20Pilkington%20-%20Mirage%20Men%20-%20A%20Journey%20into%20Disinformation,%20Paranoia%20and%20UFOs.pdf. Sole source for the passage.
|
||||
[^9]: Rockefeller, Laurance S., letter of October 17, 1996 with "Suggested Invitees for the Meeting of Scientists," Clinton Presidential Library, Office of Science and Technology Policy FOIA 01-22, item 72, https://avalonlibrary.net/Grant_Cameron/Clinton_Presidential_Library_collection/OSTP%20-%20FOIA%2001%2022/ (file "1996 10 17_Laurance Rockefeller to John Gibbons"). The OSTP routing slip addresses the letter to Gibbons; the invitation text and invitee list are enclosures.
|
||||
[^10]: Boylan, Richard J. "UFO/ET-Disclosure Policy Splits Covert Network," *Perceptions,* http://web.archive.org/web/20130831033026/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/aviary.htm. Sole source.
|
||||
[^11]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "Nevada constituent; Bigelow and Bigelow companies contributed 10,800 dollars to Friends for Harry Reid and 10,000 dollars to the Searchlight Leadership Fund, 1998 to 2010"
|
||||
start: 1998
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Harry Reid]] was a [[United States]] Senator from [[Nevada]] who served as the Senate Majority Leader. He was a pivotal figure in the establishment and funding of the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP) and a staunch supporter of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) disclosure movement until his death in 2021.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Senator Reid's interest in the UAP topic was sparked by his position as the sena
|
|||
|
||||
### Funding for AATIP
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that in 2007 Senator Reid, along with Senators [[Ted Stevens]] of [[Alaska]] and [[Daniel Inouye]] of [[Hawaii]], secured $22 million in funding for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AAWSAP), the precursor to AATIP. These three men controlled congressional spending for "black budget" [[Pentagon]] programs, and their bipartisan support was essential for the program's creation. Reid continued to be a champion for the program, later securing an additional $10 million in funding for AATIP, though the funds were ultimately diverted to another program.[^1]
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Senator Reid, along with Senators [[Ted Stevens]] of [[Alaska]] and [[Daniel Inouye]] of [[Hawaii]], funded the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AAWSAP), the precursor to AATIP. These three men controlled congressional spending for "black budget" [[Pentagon]] programs, and their bipartisan support was essential for the program's creation. Reid continued to be a champion for the program, later securing an additional $10 million in funding for AATIP, though the funds were ultimately diverted to another program.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Support for Disclosure
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -50,7 +50,25 @@ DIA's talking points for a Reid visit to the DIA Director (May 4, 2009) state th
|
|||
|
||||
### Contributions from Robert Bigelow and Bigelow companies
|
||||
|
||||
[[OpenFEC]] itemized receipts show contributions of 2,000 dollars (two entries of 1,000 dollars, August 7, 1998), 4,000 dollars (two entries of 2,000 dollars, June 12, 2003) and 4,800 dollars (two entries of 2,400 dollars, June 8, 2010) from Robert Bigelow of [[Las Vegas]] to [[Friends for Harry Reid]], the Senate campaign committee. The [[Searchlight Leadership Fund]], registered to Reid as sponsor, received 5,000 dollars from Bigelow on June 13, 2003 and 5,000 dollars from [[Bigelow Development Aerospace]] LLC on June 30, 2004. The [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] received 28,500 dollars from Bigelow on September 28, 2007 and 28,500 dollars on June 30, 2008.[^6]
|
||||
[[OpenFEC]] itemized receipts show contributions of 2,000 dollars (two entries of 1,000 dollars, August 7, 1998), 4,000 dollars (two entries of 2,000 dollars, June 12, 2003) and 4,800 dollars (two entries of 2,400 dollars, June 8, 2010) from Robert Bigelow of [[Las Vegas]] to [[Friends for Harry Reid]], the Senate campaign committee. The [[Searchlight Leadership Fund]], registered to Reid as sponsor, received 5,000 dollars from Bigelow on June 13, 2003 and 5,000 dollars from [[Bigelow Development Aerospace]] LLC on June 30, 2004. The [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] received 28,500 dollars from Bigelow on September 28, 2007 and 28,500 dollars on June 30, 2008.[^6] [[Politico]]'s [[Bryan Bender]] wrote in 2017 that Bigelow "was also a regular contributor to Reid's reelection campaigns, campaign finance records show, at least $10,000 from 1998 to 2008," and in 2021 called him "Reid's longtime UFO svengali (and campaign donor)"; the itemized entries above were not reconciled with that total.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reid in Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Lacatski told him in 2009 that the program was funded "through the efforts of a bipartisan group of senators," Reid, Stevens and Inouye, who "controlled congressional spending for black-budget Pentagon programs," and that Reid, "the senator of the state that housed Area 51," was regarded on Capitol Hill "as a bulldog in a pit of vipers." He wrote that Reid "counted Bob among his friends," Bigelow's BAASS being the prime contractor.[^8] The foreword by [[Christopher Mellon]], dated May 16, 2024, states that Elizondo made him aware of an investigation "using $22 million in DoD funds earmarked for UAP analysis by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2008," that the Air Force and most of the intelligence community "refused to support this congressionally funded UAP investigation," and that the Defense Department "worked to kill this short-lived program at its earliest opportunity."[^9] Elizondo's own chapters do not give the year or the amount; the 2008 date and 22 million dollar figure are Mellon's, and the Defense Intelligence Agency papers described below give a 10 million dollar earmark in the July 2008 supplemental and a 12 million dollar earmark for fiscal 2010.
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that the money "programmed for the years 2008 to 12" ran out, that Reid "thought he could come up with another fresh infusion" for 2013 and 2014, and that Stratton "ran point" and obtained 10 million dollars from Reid which "another DoD program had absconded."[^10] He wrote that in late 2017 the reporter [[Helene Cooper]] told him she had met "the now-retired senator Harry Reid, who had unabashedly corroborated his and his colleagues' involvement in funding the original program that led to AATIP and my leadership role," and that "Harry Reid had my back"; the book's photograph section reproduces what it calls an official letter from Reid "countering the later claims made by the Pentagon" that Elizondo had no part in AATIP.[^11] He wrote that Reid vouched for the group with the producers of the 60 Minutes segment of May 2021 and, in his last weeks, was kept briefed by Elizondo's group while ill with pancreatic cancer; that Reid "said he would keep fighting his cancer until Biden signed the act"; that President [[Joe Biden]] signed the second UAP bill two days after Christmas 2021; and that "a day later" Reid died, with his wife Landra and his assistant Katie present.[^12] A Defense Department official of the same surname, Garry Reid, is no relation; see [[Garry Reid]].[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### AATIP appropriation, special access request and the December 2017 reporting
|
||||
|
||||
The *New York Times* article of December 16, 2017 stated that the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program began in 2007 and was "largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time," with most of the money going to an aerospace company run by Robert Bigelow, "a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid's." Reid was quoted: "I'm not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going." The article said that contracts it obtained "show a congressional appropriation of just under $22 million beginning in late 2008 through 2011," and quoted Reid on the 2007 origin: Bigelow told him a Defense Intelligence Agency official wanted to visit his [[Utah]] ranch, Reid then met agency officials and summoned Stevens and Inouye to a secure room in the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]], and "none of the three senators wanted a public debate on the Senate floor," Reid said: "This was so-called black money. Stevens knows about it, Inouye knows about it. But that was it, and that's how we wanted it." Politico's same-day account by Bryan Bender, which said that "Reid and Bigelow did not respond to multiple requests for comment," gave the start as 2009 and said Reid "first secured the appropriation to begin the program in 2009 with the support of the late Senators Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Republican Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)."[^14][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
According to [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]], a senior Defense Intelligence Agency official wrote to Bigelow in 2007 about [[Skinwalker Ranch]], Bigelow connected him to Reid, and Reid enlisted Stevens and Inouye; "in the 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill, twenty-two million dollars of so-called black money was set aside." Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies was "the only bidder" on the public solicitation for the [[Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program]]. A former intelligence official told Lewis-Kraus that "Reid would call them out of a meeting and say, 'I want you to be doing this. This was appropriated.'" In June 2009 Reid asked that the program be given "restricted special access program" status; in November 2009 the Defense Department denied the request.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
A July 24, 2009 memorandum from Reid to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn on that request was published in a redacted form by the Las Vegas station [[KLAS-TV|KLAS]] on July 25, 2018 (reporters [[George Knapp]] and [[Matt Adams]]) and in a version restoring the names of Luis Elizondo and [[Hal Puthoff]] the following June. Pentagon spokesperson [[Susan Gough]] told [[The Black Vault]] on June 13, 2019 that the memo was "authentic," that "DOD received it and responded to Sen. Reid," and that it "makes no change to previous statements" that Elizondo had no assigned AATIP responsibilities in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements
|
||||
|
||||
Reid told Lewis-Kraus, "I was told for decades that [[Lockheed Martin|Lockheed]] had some of these retrieved materials," that he had tried to obtain a classified approval for himself to see them and "they would not approve that," and that this was why he had requested special access status for AATIP. A July 2020 *Times* article by [[Leslie Kean]] and [[Ralph Blumenthal]] said that he "believed that crashes of vehicles from other worlds had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied secretly for decades, often by aerospace companies under government contracts," the paper corrected the sentence the next day; Reid told Lewis-Kraus that he admired Kean but had never seen proof of any remnants, and that the Pentagon had not given a reason for refusing his clearance request.[^15] Lewis-Kraus also quotes a former intelligence official on the 2008 appropriation: "people worried that if this all came out, that the government was spending money on this, this will be a bad story."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -60,3 +78,13 @@ DIA's talking points for a Reid visit to the DIA Director (May 4, 2009) state th
|
|||
[^4]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Talking Paper, "Senator Reid Visit to Director, DIA," May 4, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DR_Reid_Mtg_May09.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Defense Intelligence Agency, Info Memo U-10-2552CE to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 2010. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/U-10-2552CE-IM-ATL.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, schedule A; Searchlight Leadership Fund is committee C00327395 (sponsor candidate S6NV00028, Harry Reid) and Friends for Harry Reid committee C00204370. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^7]: Bender, Bryan. "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs." *Politico,* December 16, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111 (full text read through https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111); Bender, "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs," *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^8]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 11 to 15 (Reid indexed at pp. 11 and 13 to 14; Bigelow at p. 15). Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^9]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), Foreword by Christopher Mellon, dated May 16, 2024, pp. xiii to xxii (the Reid passage near p. xv).
|
||||
[^10]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 88 to 89.
|
||||
[^11]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 209 to 210 and the photograph section (caption beginning "Official letter from former Senate Majority Leader and AATIP sponsor Harry Reid").
|
||||
[^12]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 230 and 235 to 236 (Reid indexed at pp. 235 to 236).
|
||||
[^13]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), p. 143 (Garry Reid "no relation to our congressional benefactor, Senator Harry Reid").
|
||||
[^14]: Cooper, Helene, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean. "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program." *The New York Times,* December 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html (full text read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html).
|
||||
[^15]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^16]: Greenewald, John, Jr. "Pentagon Reinforces Mr. Luis Elizondo Had 'No Responsibilities' on AATIP; Senator Harry Reid's 2009 Memo Changes Nothing." The Black Vault, June 14, 2019. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/pentagon-reinforces-mr-luis-elizondo-had-no-responsibilities-on-aatip-senator-harry-reids-2009-memo-changes-nothing
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -3,6 +3,17 @@ category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
|||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Defense Intelligence Agency]]"
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
role: "AAWSAP and AATIP investigator and recruiter of Elizondo; in Elizondo's account helped create AAWSAP, wrote the report on the 2004 Nimitz encounter and the OPLAN Interloper proposal"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Task Force]]"
|
||||
role: "first director, per Elizondo, after the Secretary of Defense announced the task force"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
summary: "In early 2009, Jay Stratton, along with a colleague, approached Luis Elizondo to recruit him for a highly classified program at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)."
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[Jay Stratton]] is a former US Navy intelligence officer who played a crucial role in the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP) and later became the first director of the [[UAP Task Force]]. He was instrumental in recruiting [[Luis Elizondo]] into the UAP investigation effort and was a key investigator and strategist throughout the process.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -19,7 +30,15 @@ When AATIP faced internal opposition and lost its funding, Stratton worked with
|
|||
|
||||
### UAP Task Force
|
||||
|
||||
After Elizondo's resignation from the Pentagon, Stratton remained in the government and was tasked by Navy intelligence leadership to build a whole-of-government interagency task force to continue the UAP investigation. This effort, which he built from the ground up, became the Pentagon's [[UAP Task Force]], and Stratton was named its first director. In this role, he continued to push the UAP issue forward within the government, briefing members of Congress and the White House National Security Council, and laying the groundwork for future legislative action.[^1]
|
||||
After Elizondo's resignation from the Pentagon, Stratton remained in the government and was tasked by Navy intelligence leadership to build a whole-of-government interagency task force to continue the UAP investigation. This effort, which he built from the ground up, became the Pentagon's [[UAP Task Force]], and Stratton was named its first director. In this role, he continued to push the UAP issue forward within the government, briefing members of Congress and the [[White House]] [[National Security Council]], and laying the groundwork for future legislative action.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Stratton in Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo described Stratton in early 2009 as "a serious male in his midthirties," who "helped create something called the AAWSAP," and who with a colleague he calls "[[Rosemary Caine]]" arrived at his Arlington office wearing blue credentials identifying them as government intelligence officials.[^2] He wrote that Stratton "investigated the incident before I joined the team" and "had written a detailed AAWSAP/AATIP report" on the Nimitz encounter of November 2004, and that pilots later told Stratton they had been debriefed by intelligence officers and saw no follow-up.[^4] He wrote that Stratton drafted the operation plan "Interloper," "a classic 'honey pot,'" with dates, call signs, ship names and radar data, which the Joint Staff declined to give a compartment designation in late 2016, and that Stratton proposed the term unidentified aerial phenomena in place of UFO.[^5] After the resignation, Elizondo wrote, Stratton fielded briefing requests from members of Congress, Navy intelligence leadership tasked him with building a whole-of-government task force with members from the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], [[NASA]] and the Federal Aviation Administration, the Secretary of Defense announced the UAP Task Force "after a couple of years" and named Stratton its first director, and the [[Legacy Program]] then "started quietly pushing back on Jay."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 5 to 14. Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^3]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 211 and 223 (task force and first director at p. 223).
|
||||
[^4]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 71 to 73.
|
||||
[^5]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 143, 147 and 186 (Interloper at pp. 143 and 186; the term UAP at p. 186).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
75
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Karl Nell.md
Normal file
75
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Karl Nell.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- USArmy
|
||||
- UAPTaskForce
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Disclosure
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Karl Nell
|
||||
- Karl E. Nell
|
||||
- Col. Karl Nell
|
||||
- Colonel Karl Nell
|
||||
- Colonel Karl E. Nell
|
||||
summary: "Retired U.S. Army colonel and aerospace executive named as the Army's liaison to the UAP Task Force from 2021 to 2022, vouched for David Grusch in 2023 and spoke at both Sol Foundation symposia."
|
||||
location: "United States"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[United States Army]]"
|
||||
role: "commissioned officer through colonel (Army Reserve per his own biography); active-duty adviser to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army; retired by June 2023; last active-duty assignment as Army director supporting the UAP Task Force (own biography, 2025)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Task Force]]"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
end: 2022
|
||||
role: "Army liaison, as stated by Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal; worked with David Grusch there"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Lockheed Martin]]"
|
||||
role: "Lockheed Missiles and Space, senior systems engineer and SATCOM lead, per his own biography (dates not stated in the version opened)"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-17
|
||||
role: "keynote speaker at the 2023 symposium; speaker at the 2024 symposium; author of the Sol paper 'The UFO Enigma' (May 2025); not listed on the foundation's website roster read October 3, 2026"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[StarDustX Materials]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer, per the Sol paper's author note (May 2025)"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Karl E. Nell is a retired colonel of the [[United States Army]] and an aerospace executive. A biography published by the investor conference organizer [[SALT]] describes more than thirty years in firms including [[Bell Labs|Bell Telephone Laboratories]], [[Lockheed Martin]] Missiles and Space, [[TASC]], [[CACI]] and [[ENSCO]], service as vice president and general manager of a national-security research division, deputy chief technology officer of a "$2-billion company," and "Distinguished Fellow" of the Congressionally chartered [[IT Acquisition Advisory Council]]. It adds that he commanded "at every grade level through colonel," including activation of an expeditionary military intelligence brigade supporting the [[XVIII Airborne Corps]] and the [[Joint Special Operations Command]], and was selected by name for an active-duty assignment advising the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.[^1] The author note to his 2025 Sol Foundation paper lists him as modernization advisor to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, deputy chief of staff for [[United States Africa Command]], commander of the [[336th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade]] and technical intelligence operations officer for the [[Combined Joint Captured Materiel Exploitation Center]] in [[Iraq]], and says his last active-duty assignment was as Army director supporting the UAP Task Force and that he is chief executive officer of StarDustX Materials, Inc., "a multimillion-dollar VC-backed startup focused on metamaterial analysis and design."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
A second published biography states that he is a graduate of the [[University of Pennsylvania]], [[Boston University]], the [[Air Force Institute of Technology]] and the [[United States Army War College]], and that he was chief executive of a startup developing "iterative meta-materials generation."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### UAP Task Force
|
||||
|
||||
[[Leslie Kean]] and [[Ralph Blumenthal]] wrote on June 5, 2023 that Nell was "a recently retired Army Colonel and current aerospace executive who was the Army's liaison for the UAP Task Force from 2021 to 2022 and worked with Grusch there." Kean and Blumenthal quote him as saying that [[David Grusch]]'s "assertion concerning the existence of a terrestrial arms race occurring sub-rosa over the past eighty years focused on reverse engineering technologies of unknown origin is fundamentally correct, as is the indisputable realization that at least some of these technologies of unknown origin derive from non-human intelligence." They also quote a 2022 performance evaluation by [[Laura A. Potter]], Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Headquarters, Department of the Army, calling him "an officer with the strongest possible moral compass."[^2] The SALT biography states that his engagements with senior Defense Department leaders and with Congress "directly contributed to the creation and inclusion of UAP legislation within the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2022 and 2023."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sol Foundation and the Senate amendment
|
||||
|
||||
Nell was a keynote speaker at the first [[Sol Foundation]] symposium, held November 17 to 18, 2023 in [[Palo Alto, California]] ([[The Debrief]] called him a "top keynote speaker"), and returned in November 2024 to the [[Fort Mason Center]] in [[San Francisco]], where he and [[Garry Nolan]] held a fireside conversation on what they called the "UAP/NHI Hilbert Problems."[^4][^5] A catalogue of his appearances lists a Sol Foundation video titled "Karl Nell on The Schumer Amendment & Controlled Disclosure," a reference to the Senate amendment on UAP records sponsored by [[Chuck Schumer]] and Senator [[Mike Rounds]] in July 2023.[^3] A 2023 post on [[Der Standard]]'s UFO blog, "Out there," titled "Ufo-Bombe mit kurzer Lunte: Die Sol Foundation," is reported by a search-engine summary to say that Nell presented himself as a principal author of that amendment; the post sits behind the site's consent wall, was not read, and the claim is not made on this page.[^6] The text of the amendment to S. 2226 as posted by the [[Senate Democrats]] names Schumer, Rounds, [[Marco Rubio]] and [[Kirsten Gillibrand]] as its proponents; its header carries the [[Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel]] file code "BAG23A78 JDP S.L.C." and names no other drafter.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements and later appearances
|
||||
|
||||
At a May 21, 2024 SALT iConnections session in [[New York]], Nell and [[Alex Klokus]] appeared under the title "'Zero Doubt' Non-Human Intelligence on Earth."[^3] The same catalogue lists a March 9, 2025 question-and-answer session after the [[South by Southwest]] premiere of the film "The Age of Disclosure," with the producer [[Dan Farah]], [[Jim Semivan]], [[Tim Gallaudet]], [[Hal Puthoff]] and Nolan, and a 2025 appearance at the [[Archives of the Impossible]] conference.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Nell does not appear among the signatories of the November 12, 2024 letter urging the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]].[^8] His Sol paper of May 2025 argues for enactment of the Act's review-board and eminent-domain provisions "or by executive order."[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Karl Nell," SALT speaker biography. https://www.salt.org/speakers/karl-nell
|
||||
[^2]: Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Non-Human Craft," *The Debrief*, June 5, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
|
||||
[^3]: Anomaly Archives, "Nell, Karl E.," biography and list of appearances. https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/nell-karl/
|
||||
[^4]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^5]: Chrissy Newton, *The Debrief*, December 20, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/academics-investors-and-uap-seekers-unite-at-the-2024-sol-foundation-symposium/
|
||||
[^6]: "Ufo-Bombe mit kurzer Lunte: Die Sol Foundation," *Der Standard*, 2023. https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000196294/ufo-bombe-mit-kurzer-lunte-die-sol-foundation (consent wall; body not read; the claim comes from a search-engine summary only).
|
||||
[^7]: Amendment intended to be proposed to S. 2226, 118th Congress, first session, "To provide for the expeditious disclosure of unidentified anomalous phenomena records," opened October 3, 2026. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap_amendment.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: Signatory letter of November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: Karl E. Nell, "The UFO Enigma: A Call for US Government Disclosure," The Policy Papers of the Sol Foundation, Spring 2025, Executive Summary and "About the Author." https://thesolfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-UFO-Enigma_Sol-Foundation.pdf
|
||||
74
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Peter Skafish.md
Normal file
74
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Peter Skafish.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Anthropologist
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Disclosure
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Peter Skafish
|
||||
- Dr. Peter Skafish
|
||||
- Skafish
|
||||
summary: "Sociocultural anthropologist (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) who co-founded the Sol Foundation with Garry Nolan in 2023, signed its 2024 Form 990 as secretary, and joined a UAP Science Advisory Council in June 2026."
|
||||
location: "California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-08-15
|
||||
role: "co-founder with Garry Nolan; 'Director of Research' (2023), 'executive director' (2024 and on the foundation's website in October 2026); secretary and principal officer on the 2024 Form 990, reportable compensation $20,000"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Institute of Speculative and Critical Inquiry]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and director, as stated in his IKKM biography and signatory line"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Collège de France]]"
|
||||
role: "maître de conférences associé, per his IKKM biography (dates not given)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[McGill University]]"
|
||||
role: "Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in anthropology, per his IKKM biography (dates not given)"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[UAP Science Advisory Council]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06
|
||||
role: "anthropology, on the list Avi Loeb supplied to DefenseScoop"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Peter Skafish holds a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. His [[IKKM]] biography lists appointments as maître de conférences associé at the [[Collège de France]], Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the anthropology department of [[McGill University]], [[Fondation Fyssen]] postdoctoral fellow at the [[Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale]], visiting faculty at Berkeley and research fellow at the [[Internationales Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie]] of the [[Bauhaus-Universität Weimar]]. It states that he was founding and directing a research center, the [[Institute of Speculative and Critical Inquiry]].[^1] He co-founded the [[Sol Foundation]] with [[Garry Nolan]] in 2023.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Scholarship
|
||||
|
||||
The same biography credits Skafish with the introduction to the English translation of [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]]'s "De Montaigne à Montaigne" and with co-editing "Comparative Metaphysics: Ontology After Anthropology." Its list of research interests reads "anthropological ontology, cosmopolitics, religion and secularism, outsider thought, planetarity, translation." A project statement written during the fellowship describes a book manuscript, "The Interpretation of Equivocations," arguing for "beings incompossible with those of modernity" and taking the Chinese medical concepts of qi and the pulse as its first case.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His book "Rough Metaphysics" was published by the [[University of Minnesota Press]] in 2023.[^3] Its subject is the American writer [[Jane Roberts]] and the "Seth" material she produced as a trance medium; the subtitle is "The Speculative Thought and Mediumship of Jane Roberts."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sol Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
Skafish was introduced to Nolan, who said the two concluded that the field lacked "a sort of professionalization of the arena." Interviewed in September 2023 as Sol's director of research, Skafish said, "What happened in 2017 and after wasn't a big surprise to me," and, of the legislative and declassified record, that "we would probably be close to settling the question of whether these things the 'genuine' UAP are non-anthropogenic." He added that "no one should be expected to believe that UAP are non-anthropogenic vehicles."[^2] He said the foundation would produce white papers on legislative oversight and on "helping the intelligence community, but also ensuring that it stays within ethical bounds and the law," and he described one aim as to "lower the temperature" of the disclosure debate.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The foundation's website, read on October 3, 2026, lists him as "Co-Founder & Executive Director," beside Nolan as "Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Board."[^4] The 2024 Form 990 of the Sol Foundation lists Skafish as secretary at one hour a week with reportable compensation of $20,000 and other compensation of $40,000, names him as principal officer, and carries his signature dated November 16, 2025.[^5] Skafish said in a December 2024 email that the second symposium was convened because of "a divisive election season and the likely failure of the UAP Disclosure Act."[^6] The March 2024 Sol white paper "UAP in Crowded Skies" names him as executive director.[^7] He is the author of Volume 1, No. 6 of the foundation's papers (November 2024), "The Prospect of Executive Branch [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] Secrecy: The Harm to Congress and Potential Remedies," whose abstract begins that "long-standing secrecy within the executive branch may have concealed decades of UAP knowledge, research programs, and potentially retrieved technologies from Congress itself."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Letters and councils
|
||||
|
||||
Skafish signed the November 12, 2024 letter to Congress urging passage of the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]], identifying himself as "Co-Founder, Sol Foundation; Sociocultural Anthropologist; Researcher; Author." The signers included Garry Nolan, [[Avi Loeb]], [[John B. Alexander]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Tim Gallaudet]], [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]] and [[Yuan Fung]] of the [[UAP Disclosure Fund]].[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
In June 2026 Loeb gave [[DefenseScoop]] a list of twelve members of a "UAP Science Advisory Council" that included Skafish, listed under anthropology, with Nolan, Gallaudet, [[Michael Shermer]], [[Ben Lamm]] and others. An official of the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] said the council was among advisory groups to an interagency UAP Governance Board.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Peter Skafish, IKKM Weimar former-fellows page. https://www.ikkm-weimar.de/en/former-fellows/peter-skafish/
|
||||
[^2]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery," *The Debrief*, September 12, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-how-a-new-think-tank-of-academics-is-applying-cutting-edge-research-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^3]: Open Library edition record for "Rough Metaphysics: The Speculative Thought and Mediumship of Jane Roberts" (University of Minnesota Press, 2023, 384 pages, ISBN 9781517915155). https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781517915155.json
|
||||
[^4]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^5]: IRS Form 990 for 2024, EIN 93-3649160, object ID 202543269349300004. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
[^6]: Chrissy Newton, "Academics, Investors, and UAP Seekers Unite at the 2024 Sol Foundation Symposium," *The Debrief*, December 20, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/academics-investors-and-uap-seekers-unite-at-the-2024-sol-foundation-symposium/
|
||||
[^7]: "UAP in Crowded Skies," The White Papers of the Sol Foundation, vol. 1, no. 2, March 2024. https://thesolfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sol_WhitePaper_Vol1N2.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: The Sol Foundation, "All Publications," entry for Peter Skafish, Vol. 1 No. 6, November 2024, https://thesolfoundation.org/all-publications/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^9]: Signatory letter dated November 12, 2024, in the statement of Tim Gallaudet, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: "New science advisory council forms to help US government 'resolve the UAP mystery,'" *DefenseScoop*, June 17, 2026. https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/17/new-science-advisory-council-forms-to-help-us-government-resolve-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
|
|
@ -41,8 +41,14 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "CIA retention of Fort Detrick shellfish toxin"
|
||||
start: 1975
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[MKSEARCH]]"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1973
|
||||
role: "through Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories, three Army programs under the MKCHICKWIT and MKOFTEN labels, including the testing of EA 3167"
|
||||
fn: 15
|
||||
created: 2026-09-24
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-24
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Army Chemical Corps is the branch of the [[U.S. Army]] responsible for chemical, biological and radiological warfare and defense. During [[World War I]] the German use of chemical weapons led General [[John J. Pershing]] to press for a specialized gas unit for the [[American Expeditionary Forces|American Expeditionary Force]]; the War Department created a Gas Service and, according to the Corps' regimental association, renamed it the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) on June 2, 1918. The [[First Gas Regiment]] fought in the Meuse-Argonne and St. Mihiel campaigns.[^1] The [[National Defense Act of 1920]] made the CWS a permanent branch of the Army.[^1][^2] The regimental association dates its redesignation as the Chemical Corps to 1946.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -71,6 +77,10 @@ On November 25, 1969, President [[Richard Nixon]] renounced the offensive biolog
|
|||
|
||||
After the [[Vietnam War]] the Corps was partially demobilized and much of its function moved from [[Fort McClellan]], [[Alabama]], to Aberdeen. When Fort McClellan closed under base realignment, the Corps moved to [[Fort Leonard Wood]], [[Missouri]], where it forms part of the Maneuver Support Center with the Engineer and Military Police corps.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Edgewood programs in the 1977 Defense Department search
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Department of Defense]] General Counsel's memorandum of September 20, 1977 on CIA-sponsored drug experiments lists three Army programs from 1969 to 1973, all through the Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories: a drug-identification project of 1967 to 1973 (CIA payments of 12,084 dollars in 1967 and 5,000 dollars in 1969, passed to a California contractor), computer data bases on pharmacological products (about 1968 to 1971) and, from 1971 to 1973, clinical tests of a glycolate-class compound, EA 3167, which Edgewood had already tested on animals and on human volunteers at Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia and among military personnel at Edgewood. The CIA transferred 37,000 dollars to Edgewood in 1971 for further work, and two military volunteers were "apparently tested" in June 1973. The search covered the files of Edgewood, [[Dugway Proving Ground]], the Defense Investigative Service as to the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the Army Inspector General and the [[Army Intelligence Agency]]; the memorandum describes the Army and Navy programs under [[MKSEARCH]].[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Chemical Corps Regimental Association, "US Army Chemical Corps History." https://ccrassn.org/history/
|
||||
|
|
@ -87,3 +97,4 @@ After the [[Vietnam War]] the Corps was partially demobilized and much of its fu
|
|||
[^12]: *Los Angeles Times*, May 5, 1987; UPI Archives, May 5, 1987.
|
||||
[^13]: Horrock, Nicholas M. "Colby Describes C.I.A. Poison Work," *New York Times,* Sept. 17, 1975. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/colby-describes-cia-poison-work-by
|
||||
[^14]: U.S. General Accounting Office, *Human Experimentation: An Overview on Cold War Era Programs,* testimony, GAO/T-NSIAD-94-266, September 28, 1994, abstract. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-94-266/html/GAOREPORTS-T-NSIAD-94-266.htm
|
||||
[^15]: General Counsel of the Department of Defense, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, September 20, 1977, pp. 3 to 5 and Appendix A, release file 02-A-0846, as described on the MKSEARCH page.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
created: 2025-07-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
title: Office of Naval Research
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- organization
|
||||
|
|
@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 1966-05
|
||||
role: "ONR project monitor Jim Hughes said ONR would pay for McDonald's Wright-Patterson trip to read the [[Project Blue Book]] files"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[MKSEARCH]]"
|
||||
start: 1954
|
||||
end: 1972-06-23
|
||||
role: "conduit for CIA funds in Navy programs listed in the Defense Department memorandum of September 20, 1977, among them up to 117,938 dollars from February 26, 1971 to June 23, 1972, at least 282,215 dollars for the Lexington codeine project and 20,000 dollars for a blast-concussion study"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Office of Naval Research]] (ONR) is an agency within the [[U.S. Navy]] responsible for the science and technology programs of the [[U.S. Navy]] and Marine Corps. It funds basic and applied research to develop new technologies and capabilities for naval operations.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -37,6 +43,10 @@ The introduction to the Annotated Edition of [[Morris K. Jessup]]'s [[The Case f
|
|||
|
||||
[[Paul E. McCarthy]] wrote that [[James E. McDonald]]'s ONR project monitor, [[Jim Hughes (Office of Naval Research)|Jim Hughes]], told him in May 1966 that, because McDonald's work was for ONR, it would pay the trip expenses to read the Blue Book files at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]; that McDonald wrote Hughes that he wished a briefing on "the rumored Navy studies of UFOs" and asked whether ONR might fund his travel for UFO research; and that this began "a controversy within a controversy" over use of ONR atmospheric research funds for UFO research. McCarthy also wrote that in early 1968 McDonald sent Hughes copies of the [[Condon Committee]] "Low memo" and [[National Academy of Sciences]] correspondence, in light of "the day when he would apply to the ONR for funding to do UFO work."[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### CIA funds in the 1977 Defense Department memorandum
|
||||
|
||||
A [[Department of Defense]] General Counsel memorandum of September 20, 1977 states that the Navy searched archival material of the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]], the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and ONR, and that ONR acted as financial intermediary in several programs. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] transferred at least 282,215 dollars to ONR for a project on a nonaddictive substitute for codeine carried out at the [[United States Public Health Service]] hospital at [[Lexington, Kentucky]], with instructions that the CIA's interest "is classified Secret"; 20,000 dollars for a study of blast concussion by a California contractor in 1954 and 1955, which the CIA moved to [[Project MKUltra]] as subproject 54 in 1956; and up to 117,938 dollars between February 26, 1971 and June 23, 1972 for a Massachusetts contractor's work on analogs of central nervous system drugs. The CIA authorization document for the last stated: "This project is funded through the Office of Naval Research. This arrangement protects the Agency's association with this area of research and provides the contractor with credible sponsorship." The Navy list of documents has 42 items, many of them CIA memoranda to ONR dated 1954 to 1961.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
|
||||
|
|
@ -44,3 +54,4 @@ The introduction to the Annotated Edition of [[Morris K. Jessup]]'s [[The Case f
|
|||
[^3]: Naval Research Reviews, vol. 9, no. 1 (January 1956), pp. 22 to 23, https://www.onr.navy.mil/media/document/naval-research-reviews-vol-9-no-1-january-1956
|
||||
[^4]: Paul E. McCarthy, "Politicking and Paradigm Shifting," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hawaii, 1975, chapter 2, pp. 39 to 40, https://files.ncas.org/mccarthy/chap02.html
|
||||
[^5]: Paul E. McCarthy, same, chapter 3, p. 144, https://files.ncas.org/mccarthy/chap03.html
|
||||
[^6]: General Counsel of the Department of Defense, memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, September 20, 1977, pp. 6 to 11 and Appendix B, release file 02-A-0846; see the [[MKSEARCH]] page for the full description.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,46 +12,83 @@ alias:
|
|||
summary: "Washington, D.C. nonprofit founded by Ryan Graves, recognized as a 501(c)(3) in January 2024, which collects pilot and witness reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena and filed Forms 990-EZ for 2024 and 2025."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Ryan Graves]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "founder and executive director, per the organization's website and its Forms 990-EZ"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ryan Graves]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "executive director, 30 hours per week, compensation 0 dollars on the Form 990-EZ for 2024"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Christopher Mellon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed on the organization's website as an advisor, October 3, 2026"
|
||||
start: 2026-10-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Alex Dietrich]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed on the organization's website as an advisor, October 3, 2026"
|
||||
start: 2026-10-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Garry Nolan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed on the organization's website as an advisor, October 3, 2026"
|
||||
start: 2026-10-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jay Stratton]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed on the organization's website as an advisor, October 3, 2026"
|
||||
start: 2026-10-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
created: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA) is a nonprofit corporation in [[Washington, D.C.]] (employer identification number 92-2948733). The [[Internal Revenue Service]] data in the [[ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer]] database lists it as a 501(c)(3) public charity with an IRS ruling date of January 2024, at 1620 I Street NW, Suite 750; its Form 990-EZ for 2024 gives 1090 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 750, and its Form 990-EZ for 2025 and its website give 1620 I Street NW, Suite 900.[^1][^3][^4]
|
||||
Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA) is a nonprofit corporation in [[Washington, D.C.]] (employer identification number 92-2948733). The [[Internal Revenue Service]] data in the [[ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer]] database lists it as a 501(c)(3) public charity with an IRS ruling date of January 2024, at 1620 I Street NW, Suite 750; its Form 990-EZ for 2024 gives 1090 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 750, and its Form 990-EZ for 2025 and its website give 1620 I Street NW, Suite 900.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Stated purpose and leadership
|
||||
|
||||
The organization's website describes it as "a nonprofit led by military pilots" that works in "reporting, research, policy, education," runs a confidential channel through which pilots and veterans can report "unidentified anomalous phenomena" encounters, states that public reports are de-identified, and lists a podcast hosted by [[Ryan Graves]]. It names Graves as ASA's founder and records his testimony on July 26, 2023 before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]], at the hearing at which [[David Grusch]] and [[David Fravor]] also testified.[^2]
|
||||
The organization's website describes it as "a nonprofit led by military pilots" that works in "reporting, research, policy, education," runs a confidential channel through which pilots and veterans can report "unidentified anomalous phenomena" encounters, states that public reports are de-identified, and lists a podcast hosted by [[Ryan Graves]]. It names Graves as ASA's founder and records his testimony on July 26, 2023 before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]], at the hearing at which [[David Grusch]] and [[David Fravor]] also testified.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Incorporation and registrations
|
||||
|
||||
OpenCorporates, an aggregator that states its pages are not the primary source and that the company registry should be consulted, lists Americans for Safe Aerospace as a "Domestic Nonprofit Corporation," number N00007627058 (previous number EXTUID_4339256), status "Active In Good Standing," registered address 1620 I Street NW, Suite 900, [[Washington, D.C.]] 20006, registered agent Corporation Service Company at 1156 15th Street NW, Suite 605. The record's business classification text reads "Americans for Safe Aerospace is a charitable organization that is dedicated to aerospace safety and national security by providing public education on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and supporting pilots and other aerospace workers impacted by UAP." Its recent filings are dated March 16, 2023 ("Initial"), June 9, 2023 ("Amendment"), March 28, 2024 ("Biennial Report (2024)"), July 2, 2025 ("Good Standing") and March 19, 2026 ("Biennial Report (2026)"). The record shows ten officers, with names visible only to registered users. The incorporation date and the officers' names were not retrievable without a login, and the District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection's own CorpOnline entity page, which was not opened, is the primary record.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A [[North Carolina]] foreign nonprofit corporation record, number 3088984, status "Current Active," shows an "Application for Certificate of Authority" dated July 16, 2025, a registered agent at 4030 Wake Forest Road, Suite 349, Raleigh (Registered Agents Inc.), a head office at 1620 I Street NW, Suite 900, and four officers on record, names behind a login.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer]] organization record for EIN 92-2948733 gives IRS subsection 501(c)(3), National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities code Q43, ruling date January 2024, tax period December 2025, income of 77,745 dollars, revenue of 75,266 dollars and assets of 28,426 dollars, with the Internal Revenue Service address given as 1620 I Street NW, Suite 750 (the state records give Suite 900).[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Forms 990-EZ
|
||||
|
||||
ASA's Form 990-EZ for calendar year 2024 (signed August 26, 2025, by Ryan Graves) reports gross receipts of 63,084 dollars, contributions, gifts and grants of 55,773 dollars, sales of inventory of 7,311 dollars (cost of goods sold 4,363), total revenue of 58,721 dollars, total expenses of 9,446 dollars (including 747 dollars to independent contractors and no salaries), and net assets of 2,895 dollars at the start and 52,170 dollars at the end of the year. The Schedule A reports that substantial contributors gave 45,000 dollars of the year's support; the contributor schedule is restricted from public release. The return states the primary exempt purpose as "To advance aerospace safety and national security through education research and nonpartisan engagement supporting pilots and aerospace professionals in reporting and analyzing UAP, disseminating safety information and partnering with scientific and government stakeholders to close domain-awareness gaps," and reports "over 200 reports" received through "a secure program for pilots and the public to report UAP sightings," with high-priority cases referred "to government channels including Senate committees and the [[Pentagon]] directly," and a membership that grew "from zero to over 8000 members." It lists Ryan Graves as executive director (30 hours per week), [[Haley Morris]] as secretary and [[Brad Crispin]] as treasurer (10 hours per week each), none compensated. It answers no to lobbying activities and to political campaign activity.[^3]
|
||||
ASA's Form 990-EZ for calendar year 2024 (signed August 26, 2025, by Ryan Graves) reports gross receipts of 63,084 dollars, contributions, gifts and grants of 55,773 dollars, sales of inventory of 7,311 dollars (cost of goods sold 4,363), total revenue of 58,721 dollars, total expenses of 9,446 dollars (including 747 dollars to independent contractors and no salaries), and net assets of 2,895 dollars at the start and 52,170 dollars at the end of the year. The Schedule A reports that substantial contributors gave 45,000 dollars of the year's support; the contributor schedule is restricted from public release. The return states the primary exempt purpose as "To advance aerospace safety and national security through education research and nonpartisan engagement supporting pilots and aerospace professionals in reporting and analyzing UAP, disseminating safety information and partnering with scientific and government stakeholders to close domain-awareness gaps," and reports "over 200 reports" received through "a secure program for pilots and the public to report UAP sightings," with high-priority cases referred "to government channels including Senate committees and the [[Pentagon]] directly," and a membership that grew "from zero to over 8000 members." It lists Ryan Graves as executive director (30 hours per week), [[Haley Morris]] as secretary and [[Brad Crispin]] as treasurer (10 hours per week each), none compensated. It answers no to lobbying activities and to political campaign activity.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
ASA's Form 990-EZ for calendar year 2025 (return dated May 18, 2026) reports gross receipts of 77,745 dollars, contributions of 74,508 dollars, total revenue of 75,266 dollars, total expenses of 92,750 dollars (salaries and other compensation 52,736 dollars, fees to independent contractors 2,372 dollars, other expenses 37,642 dollars including 18,516 dollars for travel), and net assets of 41,468 dollars at the start and 23,984 dollars at the end of the year; the beginning figure differs from the 52,170 dollars reported for the end of 2024 and the return refers to a "filed 2024 amended" statement. Program service expenses total 72,497 dollars. The return reports "over 800 reports," membership of "over 30,000," and the same three officers with no compensation. Schedule A reports substantial contributors of 37,617 dollars of the year's support.[^4] The IRS Exempt Organizations index lists a second Form 990-EZ filing for tax period 2024 in 2026 (object ID 202621399349200202), apparently the amended return.[^5]
|
||||
ASA's Form 990-EZ for calendar year 2025 (return dated May 18, 2026) reports gross receipts of 77,745 dollars, contributions of 74,508 dollars, total revenue of 75,266 dollars, total expenses of 92,750 dollars (salaries and other compensation 52,736 dollars, fees to independent contractors 2,372 dollars, other expenses 37,642 dollars including 18,516 dollars for travel), and net assets of 41,468 dollars at the start and 23,984 dollars at the end of the year; the beginning figure differs from the 52,170 dollars reported for the end of 2024 and the return refers to a "filed 2024 amended" statement. Program service expenses total 72,497 dollars. The return reports "over 800 reports," membership of "over 30,000," and the same three officers with no compensation. Schedule A reports substantial contributors of 37,617 dollars of the year's support.[^3] The IRS Exempt Organizations index lists a second Form 990-EZ filing for tax period 2024 in 2026 (object ID 202621399349200202), apparently the amended return.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founder's 2023 testimony
|
||||
|
||||
At the July 26, 2023 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], [[Ryan Graves]] testified that "more than thirty witnesses have come forward and almost 5,000 Americans have joined us in the fight for transparency at safeaerospace.org," and that "the majority of witnesses are commercial pilots at major airlines." Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]] asked him about a 2003 sighting at [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]]; he said the information came through "one of the witnesses that have approached me at Americans for Safe Aerospace."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The July 2023 hearing witness list names Graves as "Executive Director, Americans for Safe Aerospace," and his congressional biography describes the organization as "the first military pilot led nonprofit dedicated to UAP as a matter of national security, aerospace safety, and science."[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Advisors
|
||||
|
||||
The website lists as advisors [[Alex Dietrich]] (former [[United States Navy|Navy]] fighter pilot), David Fravor (retired Navy commander), [[Michael Greene]] (former [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] F/A-18D weapons systems officer), [[Sam Fletcher]] (retired Navy commander and congressional military adviser), [[Jay Stratton]] (former director of the [[UAP Task Force]]), [[Christopher Mellon]] (former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence), [[Tim Gallaudet]] (retired Navy rear admiral and former acting [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|NOAA]] administrator), [[Kirk McConnell]] (former congressional defense and intelligence staff member), [[Susan McCue]] (former chief of staff to Senator [[Harry Reid]]), [[Bryan Bender]] (communications executive and former [[Politico]] defense editor), [[Mike Gold]] (former [[NASA]] associate administrator), [[David Radzanowski]] (former NASA chief financial officer), [[Robin Hanson]] ([[George Mason University]]), [[Avi Loeb]] ([[Harvard University]], head of the [[Galileo Project]]), [[Garry Nolan]] ([[Stanford University]]) and [[Ravi Starzl]] ([[Carnegie Mellon University]]).[^2]
|
||||
The website lists as advisors [[Alex Dietrich]] (former [[United States Navy|Navy]] fighter pilot), [[Dave Fravor|David Fravor]] (retired Navy commander), [[Michael Greene]] (former [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] F/A-18D weapons systems officer), [[Sam Fletcher]] (retired Navy commander and congressional military adviser), [[Jay Stratton]] (former director of the [[UAP Task Force]]), [[Christopher Mellon]] (former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence), [[Tim Gallaudet]] (retired Navy rear admiral and former acting [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|NOAA]] administrator), [[Kirk McConnell]] (former congressional defense and intelligence staff member), [[Susan McCue]] (former chief of staff to Senator [[Harry Reid]]), [[Bryan Bender]] (communications executive and former [[Politico]] defense editor), [[Mike Gold]] (former [[NASA]] associate administrator), [[David Radzanowski]] (former NASA chief financial officer), [[Robin Hanson]] ([[George Mason University]]), [[Avi Loeb]] ([[Harvard University]], head of the [[Galileo Project]]), [[Garry Nolan]] ([[Stanford University]]) and [[Ravi Starzl]] ([[Carnegie Mellon University]]).[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Lobbying and campaign records
|
||||
|
||||
A search of Senate [[Lobbying Disclosure Act]] records on October 2, 2026 returned no filing in which Americans for Safe Aerospace appears as registrant or client, and none of the 65 filings whose specific issues mention "UAP" names it. No [[Federal Election Commission|FEC]] committee under that name was located. FEC receipts under the name Ryan Graves belong to several unrelated individuals (Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington addresses and employers) and none is attributed to the founder.[^6]
|
||||
A search of Senate [[Lobbying Disclosure Act]] records on October 2, 2026 returned no filing in which Americans for Safe Aerospace appears as registrant or client, and none of the 65 filings whose specific issues mention "UAP" names it. No [[Federal Election Commission|FEC]] committee under that name was located. FEC receipts under the name Ryan Graves belong to several unrelated individuals (Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington addresses and employers) and none is attributed to the founder.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Americans For Safe Aerospace, EIN 922948733. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/922948733.json
|
||||
[^2]: Americans for Safe Aerospace, website, home page and policy pages, retrieved October 2, 2026. https://www.safeaerospace.org
|
||||
[^3]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-EZ, Americans for Safe Aerospace, EIN 92-2948733, tax period ended December 31, 2024, object ID 202502389349200045, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2025/2025_TEOS_XML_09A.zip
|
||||
[^4]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-EZ, Americans for Safe Aerospace, tax period ended December 31, 2025, object ID 202611399349200506, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip
|
||||
[^5]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search index for 2026. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/index_2026.csv
|
||||
[^6]: Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database search by client and registrant name and by issue text, October 2, 2026. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Americans+for+Safe+Aerospace ; Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, committee search "safe aerospace" and schedule A contributor name "Graves, Ryan," October 2, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^2]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-EZ, Americans for Safe Aerospace, EIN 92-2948733, tax period ended December 31, 2024, object ID 202502389349200045, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2025/2025_TEOS_XML_09A.zip
|
||||
[^3]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search e-file data, Form 990-EZ, Americans for Safe Aerospace, tax period ended December 31, 2025, object ID 202611399349200506, in https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/2026_TEOS_XML_05A.zip
|
||||
[^4]: Americans for Safe Aerospace, website, home page and policy pages, retrieved October 2, 2026. https://www.safeaerospace.org
|
||||
[^5]: OpenCorporates, Americans for Safe Aerospace, District of Columbia N00007627058 and North Carolina 3088984, retrieved October 3, 2026. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/N00007627058 ; https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_nc/3088984
|
||||
[^6]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, EIN 922948733, retrieved October 3, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/922948733.json
|
||||
[^7]: Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Organization Search index for 2026. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/index_2026.csv
|
||||
[^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, hearing of July 26, 2023, Serial No. 118-53, statements and questioning of Ryan Graves and David Fravor. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg53022/html/CHRG-118hhrg53022.htm
|
||||
[^9]: Ryan Graves, witness biography, July 26, 2023. https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116282/witnesses/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GravesR-20230726.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database search by client and registrant name and by issue text, October 2, 2026. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Americans+for+Safe+Aerospace ; Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, committee search "safe aerospace" and schedule A contributor name "Graves, Ryan," October 2, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ The company's reports from the late 1970s are addressed from McLean and carry [[
|
|||
|
||||
### Ford Aerospace and the Carlyle Buyout
|
||||
|
||||
The 1995 prospectus states that the predecessor company "was a public company from 1980 until 1988, when [[Ford Aerospace]], then a wholly owned subsidiary of [[Ford Motor Company]], acquired all of the outstanding stock."[^1] In October 1990, "on behalf of certain investors, Carlyle, a private merchant banking firm, formed BDM Holdings, Inc.," and a subsidiary named New BDM, Inc., which acquired substantially all of the predecessor's assets. The investor group, led by [[Carlyle Group]] and members of management, paid about 118 million dollars in cash, adjusted by arbitration in August 1991 to a final price of about 126.5 million dollars, plus about 7 million dollars in expenses. The financing consisted of 30 million dollars in stock bought by the investors, 80.5 million dollars in senior secured borrowings, 10 million dollars from Carlyle for Series A Preferred Stock, and 13 million dollars from [[Loral Aerospace Corporation]], a subsidiary of [[Loral]], in subordinated notes due October 23, 1997. Carlyle received a financial advisory fee of about 1.6 million dollars.[^7] The Los Angeles Times of September 19, 1990 reported under the headline "Loral to Sell BDM to Carlyle Group for $130 Million," by Dean Takahashi, that [[Loral|Loral Corp.]], although its purchase of Ford Aerospace was not yet complete, said on Tuesday, September 18, that it would sell BDM International Inc., "the largest subsidiary of Ford Aerospace," to the Carlyle Group of Washington for 130 million dollars. The SEC filings above give about 118 million dollars in cash at the October 1990 closing and a final price of about 126.5 million dollars after arbitration in August 1991. The Times reported that the price was under a third of the 425 million dollars Ford Motor Company paid for BDM in 1988, and that analyst Walter Peterson of [[Ferris, Baker Watts]] said consulting firms typically sell for about 30 percent of annual revenue and that Loral was "getting a premium price." It also reported that Carlyle, with partner [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation]], was one of several groups that had bid unsuccessfully for all of Ford Aerospace, and that Carlyle said it would name former Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci chairman of BDM.[^8]
|
||||
The 1995 prospectus states that the predecessor company "was a public company from 1980 until 1988, when [[Ford Aerospace]], then a wholly owned subsidiary of [[Ford Motor Company]], acquired all of the outstanding stock."[^1] In October 1990, "on behalf of certain investors, Carlyle, a private merchant banking firm, formed BDM Holdings, Inc.," and a subsidiary named New BDM, Inc., which acquired substantially all of the predecessor's assets. The investor group, led by [[Carlyle Group]] and members of management, paid about 118 million dollars in cash, adjusted by arbitration in August 1991 to a final price of about 126.5 million dollars, plus about 7 million dollars in expenses. The financing consisted of 30 million dollars in stock bought by the investors, 80.5 million dollars in senior secured borrowings, 10 million dollars from Carlyle for Series A Preferred Stock, and 13 million dollars from [[Loral Aerospace Corporation]], a subsidiary of [[Loral]], in subordinated notes due October 23, 1997. Carlyle received a financial advisory fee of about 1.6 million dollars.[^7] The [[Los Angeles Times]] of September 19, 1990 reported under the headline "Loral to Sell BDM to Carlyle Group for $130 Million," by Dean Takahashi, that [[Loral|Loral Corp.]], although its purchase of Ford Aerospace was not yet complete, said on Tuesday, September 18, that it would sell BDM International Inc., "the largest subsidiary of Ford Aerospace," to the Carlyle Group of Washington for 130 million dollars. The SEC filings above give about 118 million dollars in cash at the October 1990 closing and a final price of about 126.5 million dollars after arbitration in August 1991. The Times reported that the price was under a third of the 425 million dollars Ford Motor Company paid for BDM in 1988, and that analyst Walter Peterson of [[Ferris, Baker Watts]] said consulting firms typically sell for about 30 percent of annual revenue and that Loral was "getting a premium price." It also reported that Carlyle, with partner [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation]], was one of several groups that had bid unsuccessfully for all of Ford Aerospace, and that Carlyle said it would name former Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci chairman of BDM.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The investor group of October 23, 1990 comprised The Carlyle Partners Leveraged Capital Fund I, the [[Richard King Mellon Foundation]], and two [[Equitable Capital]] partnerships. The stockholders agreement provided for seven directors designated by Carlyle, five by management and three independent directors named jointly, with the board fixed at 13. In February 1991 the company sold 1,339,217 shares at 4 dollars to employees, directors and consultants and 1,500,000 shares to Carlyle at the same price; the board of regents of the [[University of Texas System]] and the [[Permanent University Fund]] of Texas later held shares as well. In July 1993 and March 1994 the company repurchased 100,000 shares each from the Mellon foundation at 8 and 12 dollars, and on May 27, 1994 it bought 2,250,000 common and 350,000 Class B shares from the investor group at 14 dollars.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ That report also discloses a sealed civil qui tam suit, first disclosed in the F
|
|||
|
||||
### Intelligence Community Work
|
||||
|
||||
Declassified [[Central Intelligence Agency]] records show BDM as a support contractor to several offices of the agency and its community staff. In a letter of December 2, 1983, the [[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]] of the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] thanked Earle Williams for the firm's work on an "Intelligence Community Telecommunications Issues Study" and for computer-security support to the committee's [[CIRS]] security working group.[^13] A memorandum of June 15, 1984 bound a BDM employee, [[Robert MacOnie]] (praised in the December 1983 letter for the telecommunications study), to restrictions on a draft statement of work for video-disc production, including a promise that BDM would not bid on the resulting contract.[^14] In 1985 BDM provided administrative support to a Concurrent Processing Symposium sponsored by the CIA and funded by [[DARPA]], held on July 15 to 17 at the [[West Park Hotel]], [[Tysons Corner, Virginia]], and on July 18 at CIA headquarters, with about 250 attendees from the CIA and other community agencies, the National Security Council and the Air Force; panel discussions on classified applications followed on the fourth day.[^15] On July 26, 1985 BDM's Stuart W. Bowen wrote to the CIA that BDM had presented a one-day program on how BDM operates to senior [[National Security Agency]] executives twice, most recently in June 1985, paid for by the NSA through a purchase request of about 1,000 dollars.[^16] On August 29, 1985 the CIA's Office of Training and Education replied to [[Stuart W. Bowen]] of BDM, who had proposed a one-day program for senior executives, that the agency was "not in a position to pursue that type of program," while the Office of Information Technology would review BDM briefings offered by [[Laurence Jacobs]].[^16] A February 1987 memorandum records a briefing to the CIA Comptroller on a BDM study of the Office of Communications' funding.[^17] A CIA employee was to speak on contracting at BDM in McLean on February 27, 1985 in a professional development program of the [[Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association]], on a panel with a representative of the National Security Agency.[^18]
|
||||
Declassified [[Central Intelligence Agency]] records show BDM as a support contractor to several offices of the agency and its community staff. In a letter of December 2, 1983, the [[Intelligence Information Handling Committee]] of the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] thanked Earle Williams for the firm's work on an "Intelligence Community Telecommunications Issues Study" and for computer-security support to the committee's [[CIRS]] security working group.[^13] A memorandum of June 15, 1984 bound a BDM employee, [[Robert MacOnie]] (praised in the December 1983 letter for the telecommunications study), to restrictions on a draft statement of work for video-disc production, including a promise that BDM would not bid on the resulting contract.[^14] In 1985 BDM provided administrative support to a Concurrent Processing Symposium sponsored by the CIA and funded by [[DARPA]], held on July 15 to 17 at the [[West Park Hotel]], [[Tysons Corner, Virginia]], and on July 18 at CIA headquarters, with about 250 attendees from the CIA and other community agencies, the National Security Council and the Air Force; panel discussions on classified applications followed on the fourth day.[^15] On July 26, 1985 BDM's Stuart W. Bowen wrote to the CIA that BDM had presented a one-day program on how BDM operates to senior [[National Security Agency]] executives twice, most recently in June 1985, paid for by the NSA through a purchase request of about 1,000 dollars.[^16] On August 29, 1985 the CIA's Office of Training and Education replied to [[Stuart W. Bowen]] of BDM, who had proposed a one-day program for senior executives, that the agency was "not in a position to pursue that type of program," while the Office of Information Technology would review BDM briefings offered by [[Laurence Jacobs]].[^16] A February 1987 memorandum records a briefing to the CIA Comptroller on a BDM study of the Office of Communications' funding.[^17] A CIA employee was to speak on contracting at BDM in McLean on February 27, 1985 in a professional development program of the [[Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association]], on a panel with a representative of the [[NSA|National Security Agency]].[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[State Department]] letter of June 27, 1985 to the director of the [[Intelligence Community Staff]] states that when the [[Office of Foreign Missions]] was established in early 1983 it had three State officers, two secretaries, one representative each from the CIA, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], the NSA, Army, [[United States Navy|Navy]], Air Force and [[Customs Service]], and five BDM employees; by June 1985 the "contract work force" was 35 BDM employees plus four consultants, which the letter ties to a "sophisticated data base management system accessible to the foreign affairs and national security communities." BDM staff were assigned to its programs: 11 employees in motor vehicle controls (registration, titling, plates, drivers' licenses and diplomats' traffic violations), six in the tax exemption card program, two in housing services, one in customs clearance, and three systems analysts full time on an accreditation data base. The sanitized letter is marked Secret.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -134,6 +134,12 @@ Alexander wrote that the initial meetings of his "[[Advanced Theoretical Physics
|
|||
|
||||
The 1997 solicitation statement records that in the last week of August 1997 Philip A. Odeen and other executives decided to explore a combination; that [[Wasserstein Perella and Co.]] was engaged on September 8; that [[TRW]] signed a standstill agreement on September 29; that on October 31 TRW indicated 28.00 dollars a share, which the company's adviser said the board would not pursue; and that on November 10 TRW stated that to raise the price it required an irrevocable option and agreement to tender from Carlyle, a 35 million dollar break-up fee and a no-shop provision, together with employment arrangements for senior management. On November 12 TRW indicated 29.50 dollars. TRW's chairman [[Joseph T. Gorman]] had met Odeen on November 6. [[Bear Stearns]] gave TRW a fairness opinion on November 20, and the agreement was signed that evening. Carlyle affiliates holding 7,660,000 shares, about 25.8 percent, agreed to tender and gave an option at 29.50 dollars.[^29] TRW's offer documents estimate the funds required at about 930 million dollars; the joint press release of November 21, 1997 calls the transaction "valued at nearly $1 billion."[^29] Under the merger agreement the Carlyle monitoring and advisory arrangements ended at the effective time, and Odeen and [[Roy Woodle]], president and chief executive of Vinnell, were to sign new employment agreements.[^29] TRW's subsidiary Systems Acquisition Inc. completed the tender offer on December 24, 1997 and was merged into BDM on December 29, 1997, leaving BDM a wholly owned TRW subsidiary;[^30] BDM filed a Form 15 on December 29, 1997.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reports and procurement decisions in public indexes
|
||||
|
||||
The Defense Technical Information Center catalog lists BDM Corporation of McLean, Virginia as author organization of volume 6 of "A Study of Strategic Lessons Learned in Vietnam" (ADA096430).[^32] A "Sword Paper, Strategic Country Assessment, [[El Salvador]]" (ADA196443) and an "El Salvador Psychological Operations Assessment" (ADA198959) carry text referring to Task Order 723 and Task Order 823, Low Intensity Conflict Cell Support, and to Court Prisk of BDM Management Services Corporation.[^32] BDM Federal, Inc. is named as preparer in Army Research Institute task-analysis reports including ADA314647 (January 28, 1994), ADA318677 (September 1996) and ADA328260.[^32] The DTIC directory of organizational report codes (ADA281500, July 4, 1994) lists "BDM/ABQ," BDM Corp Albuquerque, New Mexico, code 391884.[^32]
|
||||
|
||||
The General Accounting Office's online bid protest index returns decisions whose captions or snippets name BDM, among them B-177542(2) (May 23, 1973), B-195907 (February 13, 1980; a contract for operations research and systems analysis "awarded to BDM"), B-201291 (June 26, 1981), B-202707 (October 28, 1981; "THE BDM CORP"), B-211129 (August 23, 1983), B-211036.2 (April 9, 1984), B-212858 (December 23, 1983; a headnote stating that a compensation arrangement "invalidates the award to BDM"), and B-228287 (February 1, 1988; "BDM Management Services Company"). The snippets do not show the full holding of each decision.[^33]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: BDM International, Inc., Form S-1/A, filed June 26, 1995, "Corporate History," SEC accession 0000950112-95-001766, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/870763/0000950112-95-001766.txt. The 1996 Form 10-K (0000870763-97-000002) repeats the founders' names.
|
||||
|
|
@ -167,3 +173,5 @@ The 1997 solicitation statement records that in the last week of August 1997 Phi
|
|||
[^29]: BDM International, Inc., Schedule 14D-9, filed November 26, 1997 (letter to stockholders; "Background of the Offer"; Stockholders Agreement; severance and employment arrangements; press release of November 21, 1997), accession 0000950152-97-008353, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/870763/0000950152-97-008353.txt; TRW Inc., Schedule 14D-1, same date, accession 0000950152-97-008369, Item 9 (about 930 million dollars), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/870763/0000950152-97-008369.txt.
|
||||
[^30]: TRW Inc., Form 8-K, accession 0000950152-97-008891, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/100030/0000950152-97-008891.txt.
|
||||
[^31]: BDM International, Inc., Form 15-12G, filed December 29, 1997, accession 0000950152-97-008867, EDGAR filing index https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/870763/0000950152-97-008867-index.html.
|
||||
[^32]: Defense Technical Information Center, discover.dtic.mil searches of October 3, 2026 for BDM with "nonlethal," "psychological operations," "directed energy" and "low intensity conflict" (page 1 of each), results at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA096430, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA196443.pdf, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA198959.pdf, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA314647.pdf, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA318677.pdf, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA328260.pdf and https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA281500.pdf; entries read as search snippets only, the reports themselves not opened.
|
||||
[^33]: General Accounting Office, bid protest decisions search for "BDM," gao.gov, October 3, 2026, page 1, not date-filtered; entries read as search snippets only, the decisions themselves not opened.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
99
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Galileo Project.md
Normal file
99
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Galileo Project.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Project
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- Astronomy
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
- PrivateFunding
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- The Galileo Project
|
||||
- Galileo Project at Harvard
|
||||
- Galileo Project for the Systematic Scientific Search for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts
|
||||
- Project Galileo (Harvard)
|
||||
summary: "The Galileo Project is a Harvard-hosted, privately funded research program announced July 26, 2021 by Avi Loeb and Frank Laukien to search for extraterrestrial technological artifacts and study unidentified aerial phenomena with its own instruments."
|
||||
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
|
||||
start: 2021-07-26
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Charles Hoskinson]]"
|
||||
role: "named funder of the June 2023 Interstellar Expedition to the IM1 fireball site, for which Loeb states the funding was 1.5 million dollars"
|
||||
start: 2023-06
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Richard King Mellon Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "575,000 dollars for a third observatory station in Pennsylvania"
|
||||
start: 2024-04-26
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Brinson Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "Brinson Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship, three years"
|
||||
start: 2022-08-15
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Christopher Mellon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "research affiliate"
|
||||
start: 2021-10-30
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Luis Elizondo]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "research affiliate"
|
||||
start: 2021-10-30
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
The [[Galileo Project]] was announced on July 26, 2021 at a virtual press conference hosted by [[Mike Wall]] of [[Space.com]], with [[Faye Flam]] of [[Bloomberg Opinion]] as Q&A moderator. The press release described a "multi-institutional, international" effort "in conjunction with the [[Center for Astrophysics|Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian]]" to advance "a systematic experimental search for cross-validated evidence of potential astro-archeological artifacts or active technical equipment made by putative existing or extinct extraterrestrial technological civilizations." It stated that the project "has been co-founded by [[Avi Loeb]] and [[Frank Laukien]], and it is a transparent, non-profit, multi-institutional and international project," chaired by Avi Loeb of the Harvard astronomy department, and that it "has initial funding from generous donations and pledges by individuals and foundations listed on the Galileo Project website."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Scope and stated rules
|
||||
|
||||
The release named three lines of research: high-resolution multi-detector imaging of unidentified aerial phenomena with a network of telescopes and detector arrays; a search for objects resembling [[ʻOumuamua]], including through the [[Vera C. Rubin Observatory]]'s [[Legacy Survey of Space and Time]]; and a search for small extraterrestrial satellites. Loeb cited the June 25, 2021 report of the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] on unidentified aerial phenomena as an inspiration. The release also stated that "additional philanthropic, foundation or governmental funders are encouraged to join the Galileo Project." The project's home page stated four ground rules: it does not work with classified information or unreliable past data, analyzes data using known physics, publishes data and analysis freely, and releases no results except through accepted scientific publication.[^1][^2] The project's support page states that it is "unaffiliated with any governmental or military organizations and receive[s] no funding from these sources"; donors give through a Harvard alumni giving form to a "Research Fund u/d Professor Avi Loeb," and gifts above 50,000 dollars require additional documentation from Harvard Development.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Philanthropic Advisory Board
|
||||
|
||||
The project's website lists a Philanthropic Advisory Board "to provide philanthropic advice" with these entries as of 2022: [[Eugene Jhong]] (Harvard A.B. and J.D.; M.S. in computer science, [[Stanford University]]); [[Vinny Jain]]; [[Teddy Jones]] (entrepreneur; Harvard A.B. and J.D.; MBA, [[University of Virginia]]); the [[Laukien Science Foundation]]; [[Joerg Laukien]]; [[William A. Linton]] (founder, chair and chief executive of [[Promega Corporation]]; executive director of the [[Usona Institute]]); and [[Adnan Sen]]. The Scientific Advisory Board listed [[Roberto Abraham]], [[Charles Alcock]] (director of the Center for Astrophysics), [[Sagi Ben Ami]], [[Paul Davies]], [[Ferki Ferati]] (president of the [[Jefferson Educational Society]] of [[Erie, Pennsylvania|Erie]]), [[Mercedes Lopez-Morales]], [[Seth Shostak]], [[Rizwan Virk]], [[Stephen Wolfram]] and [[Dimitar Sasselov]].[^4] The combined advisory boards page, read October 3, 2026, lists the Philanthropic Advisory Board in this order: [[Brinson Foundation]] ("*Privately funded philanthropic organization"); [[Charles Hoskinson]] ("Technology Entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of [[IOHK]]"); Eugene Jhong; Vinny Jain; Teddy Jones; [[Eric Keto]] ("*Member, Galileo Project Research Team"); the Laukien Science Foundation; Joerg Laukien; William A. Linton; and Adnan Sen, with the page's introduction reading "The Philanthropic Advisory Board provides philanthropic advice to The Galileo Project." A separate standalone page for the board lists only Jhong, Jain, Jones, the Laukien Science Foundation and Linton. The Scientific Advisory Board on the same page lists Alcock, Ben-Ami, Davies, Ferati (Ed.D., [[University of Pittsburgh]]; MPA, [[Gannon University]]), Shostak, Virk (venture capitalist; founder of Play Labs at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]), Wolfram and Sasselov.[^5] The project's organization page states that it was "founded in July 2021 by Dr. Avi Loeb, the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard's Astronomy Department and Dr. Frank Laukien, Visiting Scholar at Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology," and its FAQ ("Version 2, January 26, 2022") states that it "is not and will not be funded by any government, military organization, or related agencies such as the Department of Defense" and has "not partnered with any government or military/defense organization," while noting that "some project affiliates bring experience in the government sector, or with technology and aerospace companies that conduct business with the government of the United States."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Joerg Laukien is described in [[Bruker Corporation]]'s 2022 proxy statement as the brother of Frank Laukien; the same proxy lists William A. Linton as a Bruker director since 2000, serving on its Nominating & Governance Committee, and as founder and executive director of the Usona Institute.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
*[[Inverse]]*, citing *[[Science (journal)|Science]]*, reported that wealthy donors contacted Loeb after his 2021 book *Extraterrestrial* and that about 1.75 million dollars had been donated by four of them.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Named gifts and fellowships
|
||||
|
||||
[[Richard Cloete]] arrived at Harvard in May 2022 as the "Laukien-Oumuamua fellow" from the [[University of Cambridge]], and on May 12, 2022 the project announced that [[Laura Domine]] of Stanford had accepted the first "Keto-Galileo postdoctoral fellowship," to begin February 1, 2023.[^9] On August 15, 2022 it announced that [[Brinson Foundation]] had awarded a three-year "Brinson Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship."[^10] [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer lists the Brinson Foundation (EIN 68-0656415, Chicago, tax exemption October 2007) with end-of-year assets, as extracted from its Form 990-PF, of 108,336,300 dollars for 2021, 104,471,491 dollars for 2022 and 198,225,050 dollars for 2023.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 30, 2021 Loeb announced [[Christopher Mellon]] and [[Luis Elizondo]] as research affiliates, to assist in "the selection of sites where the UAP-Scope systems will be located" and in assessing societal implications; the announcement credited them with efforts "pivotal in bringing about the [[Pentagon]]'s release and confirmation" of the three [[United States Navy|Navy]] videos and with two years of lobbying behind the 2021 ODNI report.[^12] On April 26, 2024 the project announced 575,000 dollars from the [[Richard King Mellon Foundation]] for a third observatory station, in [[Allegheny County, Pennsylvania|Allegheny]] or [[Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Westmoreland County]], [[Pennsylvania]]; the release says Mellon "was instrumental in stewarding this grant."[^13] By August 2022 the project's first telescope system had been assembled on the roof of the [[Harvard College Observatory]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bruker and Laukien
|
||||
|
||||
Bruker's 2022 proxy statement says that Frank Laukien is "a co-founder of two start-up venture companies in therapeutics and space exploration, respectively, as well as of the non-profit Galileo Project at [[Harvard University]]," and that he is a visiting scholar in Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Interstellar Expedition, 2023
|
||||
|
||||
In June 2023 an expedition of the Galileo Project, led by Loeb as chief scientist and coordinated by [[Rob McCallum]] of [[EYOS Expeditions]], used the vessel *Silver Star* from [[Lorengau]], [[Manus Island]], [[Papua New Guinea]], to tow a sled over about 175 kilometers of seabed on June 14 to 28 along the calculated path of the January 8, 2014 fireball catalogued as CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1), and recovered 50 metallic spherules of 0.1 to 1 millimeter. The expedition press release states it "was funded privately by American entrepreneur [[Charles Hoskinson]]." Loeb wrote in his published diary that he spoke with "the expedition funder, Charles Hoskinson" on a jet to the site and later that "the Interstellar Expedition received funding at 1.5 million dollars."[^14][^15] *DL News* reported that Hoskinson had invested in [[Colossal Biosciences]], which is attempting to revive extinct animals, in its 60 million dollar Series A round.[^16] The project announced a memorandum of understanding with the Papua New Guinea [[Papua New Guinea University of Technology|University of Technology]] on August 21, 2023 and a paper on the spherules in *[[Chemical Geology]]* on September 23, 2024.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### UAP Science Advisory Council, 2026
|
||||
|
||||
*[[The Harvard Crimson]]* reported on July 11, 2026 that a week before the government's latest release of declassified files a representative of the [[Director of National Intelligence|Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] visited Loeb at his home with a request, and that Loeb then formed a UAP Science Advisory Council "in support of [[Donald Trump|President Trump]]'s directive on UAP transparency"; of its 18 publicly named members, 12 had ties to Harvard and four were Galileo Project research affiliates. Members include the [[Skeptic Society|Skeptic]] magazine founder [[Michael Shermer]], a Galileo affiliate, and the billionaire [[Ben Lamm]], whose company Colossal Biosciences "helps fund the [[Wyss Institute]] at Harvard." Loeb said the council has no budget and communicates through him and a parallel [[UAP Governing Board]] whose membership is not public, and that the council has asked the Pentagon to declassify 50 items without a response.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: The Galileo Project. "Press Release and Press Conference Announcement," July 26, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/galileo_project-announcement_pr-7.26.21.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^2]: "Home," The Galileo Project website, snapshot of 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/home
|
||||
[^3]: "Support Us." The Galileo Project website, snapshots of 2021 to 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2021/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/fund-us
|
||||
[^4]: "Advisory Boards." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of December 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/organization/advisory-boards
|
||||
[^5]: "Advisory Boards." The Galileo Project website, read October 3, 2026. https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/organization/advisory-boards ; standalone page https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/philanthropic-advisory-board . The /organization/affiliates page requires a login.
|
||||
[^6]: "FAQ," Version 2, January 26, 2022, and "Organization." The Galileo Project website, read October 3, 2026. https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/FAQ
|
||||
[^7]: Bruker Corporation, Schedule 14A definitive proxy statement filed April 22, 2022, pp. on director biography and "2021 Transactions with Related Persons." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1109354/000119312522115070/d256158ddef14a.htm
|
||||
[^8]: Inverse, "Galileo Project: A new hunt for alien objects in the universe," July 2021. https://www.inverse.com/science/new-project-to-hunt-for-alien-objects-in-the-universe. The figure originates in *Science*'s coverage as cited by Inverse; the *Science* article itself was not opened.
|
||||
[^9]: "Laura Domine from Stanford University receives Keto-Galileo Postdoctoral Fellowship," May 12, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/news/laura-domine-stanford-university-receives-keto-galileo%C2%A0postdoctoral-fellowship
|
||||
[^10]: "Brinson Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship for the Galileo Project," August 15, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221225170229/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/news/brinson-prize-postdoctoral-fellowship-galileo-project
|
||||
[^11]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization 680656415. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/680656415.json. The underlying 990-PF PDFs could not be downloaded; grants to Harvard were not checked.
|
||||
[^12]: The Galileo Project. "The Galileo Project Welcomes Christopher Mellon and Luis Elizondo as Research Affiliates," October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^13]: "Richard King Mellon Foundation awards $575,000 to Galileo Project," April 26, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/news/richard-king-mellon-foundation-awards-575000-galileo-project
|
||||
[^14]: EYOS Expeditions. "Extraterrestrial Evidence Found: Spheres From Outside Our Solar System Identified by the Interstellar Expedition." https://www.eyos-expeditions.com/?p=2240; Loeb, Avi. "Diary of an Interstellar Voyage, Part 2." *The Debrief.* https://thedebrief.org/diary-of-an-interstellar-voyage-part-2/
|
||||
[^15]: Loeb, Avi. "Diary of an Interstellar Voyage, Parts 28-30." *The Debrief,* June 2023. https://thedebrief.org/diary-of-an-interstellar-voyage-parts-28-30-june-25-26-2023/
|
||||
[^16]: "Charles Hoskinson embarks on ocean expedition to search for alien technology." *DL News.* https://dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/cardano-charles-hoskinson-expedition-search-for-alien-tech/
|
||||
[^17]: "Latest News." The Galileo Project website, snapshot of 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/news
|
||||
[^18]: Shah, Neil H., Theresa F. Bartelme and Risha Sinha. "Inside Avi Loeb's New UAP Council, Built From His Harvard Orbit." *The Harvard Crimson,* July 11, 2026. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/7/11/avi-loeb-uap-council/
|
||||
|
|
@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "director of project development, for about three years, per Grant Cameron"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
created: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Human Potential Foundation was a nonprofit corporation that [[C. B. Scott Jones]] founded with [[Claiborne Pell]] in 1989 and ran as president until its dissolution in 1998.[^1] The [[Center for Applied Anomalous Phenomena]], which Jones founded in 1985, was absorbed into it; the Foundation managed three centers (interspecies communication, intercultural medical exchange, and thanatology and survival research) and a small press for limited runs of books; the interspecies communication center organized research on psychic communication with dolphins (project [[Neptune's Helper]]) and on human interaction with potential extraterrestrials, which produced the 1995 conference.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ In August 1995 the Foundation mailed every member of Congress a packet, describe
|
|||
|
||||
The finding aid gives the dissolution as 1998; the [[Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth]], founded by Jones, received its [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling in October 1998.[^1][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Series 4 container titles in the Scott Jones papers
|
||||
|
||||
The finding aid of the [[C. B. Scott Jones]] papers at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]] lists, in Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation), subseries for [[Claiborne Pell]]; the Human Potential Foundation Board; Grants and Funding; Projects; and Events. File titles include "Articles of Exemption, Incorporation," correspondence with Mark Sandground and Richard F. Bradberry, the "Does Consciousness Survive Physical Death..." joint resolution of the 101st Congress, grant files for the John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc., "Van Dyk and Hollister - The Connemara Fund" and "When Cosmic Cultures Meet Funding," and "Grant Requests" files marked Yes, Maybe and No.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
Under Projects the container tree names the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI, four files); the Center for Interspecies Communication (CISC), with files titled "UFO and Contact Research Planning," "UFO Documents," "13th Brazilian Congress Scientific Ufology," "Jackson, Wyoming Roundtable," "The Terra Papers," and correspondence files for Jill C. Tarter, John "Jack" Gibbons (two files), Kent Jeffery "re. International Roswell Initiative," Senator [[Ted Stevens]], [[Jacques Vallee]], John E. Mack, Peter A. Sturrock, Richard "Dick" Farley, Hans-Adam Liechtenstein, Henry L. Diamond (two files) and Laurance S. Rockefeller (three files); the Center for Intercultural Medical Exchange (CICME), with Qi-Gong, Chinese and Moscow Medical Academy files and a file on the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine; the Center for Thanatology and Survival Research (CTSR); and the Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth "PEACE Room," with files for the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the Gorbachev Foundation USA and John L. Petersen of the Arlington Institute. The tree gives titles only, without dates or box numbers.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, "C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers" (COU:4004), biographical note and Series 4 scope note, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346 and https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/311786.
|
||||
|
|
@ -81,3 +87,4 @@ The finding aid gives the dissolution as 1998; the [[Peace and Emergency Action
|
|||
[^8]: William J. Clinton Presidential Library, "When Cosmic Cultures Meet - Collection Finding Aid," 2008-1575-F, https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36409.
|
||||
[^9]: Jones, questionnaire attachment to the letter of August 17, 1995 to Representative Steven Schiff, http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/RID-8-17-95.htm.
|
||||
[^10]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth (EIN 74-2888837), https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/742888837.json.
|
||||
[^11]: University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, collection COU:4004 (the C. B. 'Scott' Jones papers), ArchivesSpace resource 346, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/346, container tree for Series 4, fetched October 3, 2026 from the vault owner's browser (titles only; no dates or box numbers in the saved tree).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
67
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Mellon Family.md
Normal file
67
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Mellon Family.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Families & Dynasties"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Family
|
||||
- Banking
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- Pittsburgh
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Mellon family
|
||||
- The Mellons
|
||||
- House of Mellon
|
||||
summary: "The Mellon family of Pittsburgh includes Andrew W. Mellon, Paul Mellon, Richard Mellon Scaife and Christopher Mellon, the Senate and Pentagon intelligence staffer who later became a UAP disclosure figure."
|
||||
location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Christopher Mellon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "descendant of Judge Thomas Mellon and great-grandson of the Gulf Oil founder"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Paul Mellon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "son of Andrew W. Mellon; major in the Office of Strategic Services in Europe"
|
||||
start: 1943
|
||||
end: 1945
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Galileo Project]]"
|
||||
role: "the Richard King Mellon Foundation granted 575,000 dollars on April 26, 2024 for a third observatory station in Allegheny or Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; Christopher Mellon 'was instrumental in stewarding this grant'"
|
||||
start: 2024-04-26
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
The Mellon family of [[Pittsburgh]] includes the persons named below. A 2003 *Roll Call* "Heard on the Hill" item by [[Ed Henry]] on the hiring of [[Christopher Mellon]] by the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] described him as "of that Mellon family," a descendant of Judge Thomas Mellon whose "great-grandfather started the [[Gulf Oil]] Co."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Andrew W. Mellon and the second generation
|
||||
|
||||
[[Andrew W. Mellon]] was a Pittsburgh industrialist and financier, Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 to 1931 and Ambassador to the Court of St. James's from 1931 to 1932. He founded the [[National Gallery of Art]] in 1937 and donated his art collection to the [[United States]]. His children were [[Paul Mellon]] and [[Ailsa Mellon Bruce]]; the Gallery's East Building was financed by Paul, Ailsa and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which was created in 1969 by merging Paul Mellon's Old Dominion Foundation (1941) and Ailsa's Avalon Foundation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Paul Mellon, David K. E. Bruce and the Office of Strategic Services
|
||||
|
||||
Ailsa Mellon married [[David K. E. Bruce]]; after the marriage Bruce "became a confidant and art adviser to his father-in-law," according to a review of Nelson D. Lankford's biography *The Last American Aristocrat*. The review adds that Bruce "began a diplomatic career through his friendship with William 'Wild Bill' Donovan, the founder of the OSS (later the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]])," and served as ambassador to France and Britain and on a special mission to China.[^4] Bruce's appointments from the [[United States Department of State]]'s Office of the Historian listing were ambassador to France (1949 to 1952), under secretary of state (1952 to 1953), ambassador to Germany (1957 to 1959) and to the [[United Kingdom]] (1961 to 1969), chief of the United States Liaison Office in China (1973 to 1974) and permanent representative to [[NATO]] (1974 to 1976).[^9] Paul Mellon studied at [[Clare College, Cambridge]] (M.A. 1938), enrolled at St. John's College in Annapolis after returning to the United States in 1940, joined the [[United States Army]] six months later, received cavalry training and a commission at [[Fort Riley]], Kansas, and "subsequently served with the OSS ([[Office of Strategic Services]]) in Europe, attaining the rank of Major." In 1945 he and his wife Mary founded the [[Bollingen Foundation]], which published works including the *I Ching* and closed in 1969; the National Gallery of Art states that the Mellons' interest in the work of [[Carl Jung]] had taken them to Europe in the late 1930s.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Richard Mellon Scaife
|
||||
|
||||
[[Richard Mellon Scaife]], an heir to the Mellon banking, oil and aluminum fortunes and publisher of the *[[Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]]*, spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" of an estimated net worth of 1.4 billion dollars on conservative causes and sat on the boards of the [[Heritage Foundation]] and the [[Hoover Institution]]. He was a major underwriter of the *American Spectator* magazine's "Arkansas Project" on [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1990s. He died July 4, 2014, at 82.[^5] The Mellon heiress [[Cordelia Scaife May]] met [[John Tanton]] in 1978 and gave 50,000 dollars to start the [[Federation for American Immigration Reform]], according to [[Nicholas Kulish]] and [[Mike McIntire]] of the *[[New York Times]]*.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Christopher Mellon
|
||||
|
||||
*Roll Call* reported on February 12, 2003 that Senator [[Jay Rockefeller]] had hired Christopher Mellon as minority staff director of the Intelligence Committee, writing: "It's starting to look like [[Rockefeller family|the Rockefellers]] and Mellons are taking over the [[United States Senate|Senate]] Select Intelligence Committee." The same item said he had spent a decade on intelligence issues for Senator [[William S. Cohen]], followed Cohen to the [[Pentagon]] when Cohen became Secretary of Defense, and had until recently served under Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]].[^1] [[Politico]]'s [[Bryan Bender]] described Mellon in 2021 as "a scion of the [[Pennsylvania]] oil and banking family."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Christopher Mellon was a paid adviser to [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] from 2017, per Bender, and its annual report for 2020 states he resigned from the advisory board in November 2020 (see the page on the company). On October 30, 2021 he became a research affiliate of [[Harvard University|Harvard]]'s [[Galileo Project]]. On April 26, 2024 the Galileo Project announced a grant of 575,000 dollars from the [[Richard King Mellon Foundation]] for a third instrument station in Allegheny or [[Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Westmoreland County]], Pennsylvania, stating that Christopher Mellon "was instrumental in stewarding this grant"; the press release quotes him: "It is exciting and deeply gratifying to see the Richard King Mellon Foundation continue to support cutting edge science here in Western Pennsylvania."[^3][^7] The foundation's EIN, as listed by [[ProPublica]]'s Nonprofit Explorer, is 25-1127705.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Henry, Ed. "Unholy Alliance?" *Roll Call,* February 12, 2003. https://rollcall.com/2003/02/12/unholy-alliance/
|
||||
[^2]: "Paul Mellon: A Legacy." National Gallery of Art press release, 1999 (Internet Archive copy). https://www.nga.gov/press/archive/mellon-legacy-1999.html
|
||||
[^3]: "Richard King Mellon Foundation awards $575,000 to Galileo Project." The Galileo Project, Harvard University, April 26, 2024. https://galileo.hsites.harvard.edu/news/richard-king-mellon-foundation-awards-575000-galileo-project (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^4]: Review of Lankford, Nelson D., *The Last American Aristocrat: The Biography of David K. E. Bruce, 1898-1977.* *Kirkus Reviews,* August 19, 1996. https://kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nelson-d-lankford/the-last-american-aristocrat. The review gives the Donovan friendship and the ambassadorships; the year of the marriage and any OSS posting of Bruce are not stated in a source opened for this page.
|
||||
[^5]: "Richard Mellon Scaife, 82, billionaire publisher." *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 5, 2014. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20140705_Richard_Mellon_Scaife__82__billionaire_publisher.html
|
||||
[^6]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^7]: The Galileo Project. "The Galileo Project Welcomes Christopher Mellon and Luis Elizondo as Research Affiliates," October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^8]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search, "Richard King Mellon Foundation" (listed as "Richard King Mellon Foundation Dtd 01-01-47," Ligonier, Pennsylvania). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/search.json?q=Richard+King+Mellon+Foundation
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. "David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (1898-1977)." https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bruce-david-kirkpatrick-este
|
||||
[^10]: Kulish, Nicholas, and Mike McIntire. "Why an Heiress Spent Her Fortune Trying to Keep Immigrants Out." *The New York Times,* August 14, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/us/anti-immigration-cordelia-scaife-may.html (as read for the vault page on the Federation for American Immigration Reform).
|
||||
88
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Sky Watcher.md
Normal file
88
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Sky Watcher.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- PrivateSector
|
||||
- Psionics
|
||||
- AirDomainAwareness
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Sky Watcher
|
||||
- Skywatcher
|
||||
- SkyWatcher
|
||||
- Skywatcher.ai
|
||||
- SkywatcherHQ
|
||||
- Skywatcher Team
|
||||
- Skywatcher Technologies
|
||||
summary: "Private UAP detection group announced in January 2025 by Jake Barber, James Fowler and Alex Klokus, which reported 'dog whistle' and psionic summoning operations at Sierra Blanca, Texas, and stopped posting in December 2025."
|
||||
location: "Sierra Blanca, Texas"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[James Fowler]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "co-founder, led the technology team; left in mid-August 2025, per NewsNation"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Alex Klokus]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "co-founder and financier, per NewsNation; registered the skywatcher.ai domain in his name in December 2024, per the UAP Files writer Jimmy"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: hosted
|
||||
with: "[[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reported on April 7, 2025 that Skywatcher said it had hosted AARO representatives at its private base; no AARO statement on the visit was located"
|
||||
start: 2025-04
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[NewsNation]]"
|
||||
role: "NewsNation reporting by Ross Coulthart, January 2025 to August 2026"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Skywatcher (also written Sky Watcher) is a private group that described itself as an "independent initiative focused on aerial intelligence, advanced sensing, and unconventional aerospace research." It was announced in January 2025 in connection with the [[NewsNation]] special "[[Hunting UFOs: The Crash Retrieval Whistleblower]]," and NewsNation described it on April 7, 2025 as "a private group known as Skywatcher," "founded by UFO whistleblower [[Jake Barber]]."[^1][^2] Its website names [[Jacob Barber]], [[James Fowler]], [[Alex Klokus]], [[Dan Flechsenhaar]], [[Garry Nolan]], [[Joseph DiNoto]], [[Fred Baker]] and [[Don Paul Bales]] on its About page.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Formation and founders
|
||||
|
||||
NewsNation described Barber as the founder of Skywatcher and reported on January 16, 2025 that his "Skywatcher Team" had deployed "on behalf of the [[U.S. government]]" to investigate the [[2024 New Jersey drone sightings|2024 East Coast drone sightings]], and that in August 2024 the team had conducted "their own operation, with a psionic asset, to see if they could summon a UAP themselves."[^1] A later NewsNation column by [[Ross Coulthart|Coulthart]] gave the founders as "Jake Barber, James Fowler and financier Alex Klokus."[^4] The writer Jimmy of the [[UAP Files]] newsletter stated in August 2026 that the Skywatcher [[YouTube]] account was created on January 18, 2025, six days before Barber's January 24, 2025 appearance on Coulthart's "[[Reality Check (NewsNation)|Reality Check]]," and that Klokus "personally registered the skywatcher.ai domain in his name in December 2024."[^5] [[Jason Colavito]]'s blog wrote on January 19, 2025 that [[Steven Greenstreet]] had reported that Barber "launched his own UFO organization, Skywatcher, in November, and its website is owned by Alex Klokus, the co-founder of the [[SALT (conference)|SALT]] conference, where UFO figures frequently speak to tech and financial elites."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The website's FAQ states that Skywatcher "is funded through private partnerships and professional consulting engagements," and, in answer to the question whether it is "a direct extension, surrogate for, or acting as a public messaging conduit for the US Government or any element of the US Intelligence Community," answers "No. Skywatcher is an independent and private entity." It also states that it does not "currently claim possession" of recovered materials, although it is "actively engaged in the public recovery and analysis of exotic aerospace materials."[^7] It lists 20 or more experts and "400+ years of combined" experience, and describes its approach as bridging "Special Operations, Advanced Sensing, & Non-Traditional Air Defense Techniques."[^7] Its research page lists a "Skywatcher Discovery Framework," described as "our proposed model for responsible UAP engagement, civilian access to data, and long-term transparency."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Officers, investors and filings
|
||||
|
||||
No Form D filing by an issuer named Skywatcher was found in a full-text search of the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] EDGAR database restricted to Form D on October 3, 2026, and a search for "Jake Barber" and "Jacob Barber" in Form D filings returned none.[^9] A search of OpenCorporates for the name returned several unrelated state registrations (including Delaware entities named Skywatcher Technologies Corporation, file number 10021279, and Skywatcher Technologies Initiative LLC, file number 4376561, with registered agents and no public officer data), none of which has been tied by any source to Barber, Fowler or Klokus.[^10] Klokus appears as a named officer, director or managing member in Form D filings of other issuers. [[Futurism, LLC]] ([[Brooklyn]], [[New York City|New York]]; Form D signed December 19, 2016; first sale November 22, 2016; total offering 6,000,652 dollars, all sold, one investor) lists [[Alexander Klokus]] and [[Dan Sutera]] as executive officers and directors and [[Johnson Bryan]] and [[Michael G. Clark]] as directors. [[Theo Rewards, Inc.]] (New York; Form D filed February 3, 2020; 300,000 dollars offered and sold) lists "Alexander Lockwood Klokus" as director, co-chief executive officer and chief financial officer and [[Ankur Jain]] as director, co-chief executive officer and secretary. [[SALT Fund I, L.P.]] ([[Palm Beach Gardens]], [[Florida]]) lists Klokus and [[Alexander Scaramucci]] as managing members of the general partner; its Form D of March 16, 2021 shows a 25,000,000 dollar offering with nothing yet sold, and an amended Form D of July 6, 2021 shows a 40,000,000 dollar offering with 34,585,000 dollars sold to 91 investors, first sale March 17, 2021. [[Kyber Capital Crypto Fund I LP]] (Form D August 24, 2022; indefinite offering, none sold) lists Klokus and "Alexander Joseph Scaramucci" as managing members of the general partner and investment manager, [[SALT Fund Management, LLC]]. [[Tomorrow Farms Inc.]] (New York) lists [[Ben Berman]] as chief executive officer, Scaramucci as treasurer and Klokus as secretary in its Form D of May 24, 2022 (8,500,000 dollars offered, 8,255,000 sold to 21 investors) and, as Tomorrow Farms, PBC, in a Form D filed April 29, 2024 (11,849,995 dollars offered, 4,765,635 sold to six investors). Further filings list Klokus and a Scaramucci together as directors of [[Microcapital, Inc.]] (East Hampton; Form D November 7, 2024; 1,535,000 dollars sold) and [[Radial Health, Inc.]] (Salt Lake City; Form D April 29, 2024; 8,499,990 dollars offered, 7,797,992 sold), and as executive officers ("Alex Klokus" and "AJ Scaramucci") of [[Shuttle Labs LLC]] (New York; Form D November 28, 2022; 25,000 dollars).[^11] The name is recorded here exactly as filed ("Alexander Scaramucci," "Alexander Joseph Scaramucci," "Scaramucci Alexander," "Alexander J Scaramucci," "AJ Scaramucci"); none of the filings gives a middle or alternate name connecting the filer to any other person of the surname, and the filings do not mention Skywatcher.[^11] Separately, a Form D of [[Solari Capital]] funds beginning December 2024 (for example Solari Capital Fund III, L.P., Form D December 19, 2024) lists "Alexander Scaramucci" as managing member of the general partner.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records list two contributions of 25 dollars (September 12, 2019) and 5 dollars (June 28, 2019) by an "Alex Klokus" of Brooklyn, employer and occupation "self," to [[ActBlue]], and no other contributions under that name; a separate FEC entry of June 15, 2023 lists one contribution of 250 dollars, through ActBlue to [[Yassamin Ansari]] for Congress, by "Alexander Scaramucci" of [[San Francisco]] with employer "Solari; SALT."[^12] The [[United States Senate|Senate]] [[Lobbying Disclosure Act]] database returned no filing for a client or registrant named Skywatcher or Sky Watcher on October 3, 2026, and a [[USAspending.gov]] search of contract awards to a recipient named "SKYWATCHER LLC" returned none.[^13][^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Field operations
|
||||
|
||||
The Skywatcher media page lists two videos. "Skywatcher Part I: The Journey Begins" is described as including interviews with Klokus, Barber, Nolan, [[David Grusch]], Col. [[Karl Nell]] and Baker, followed by an attempt "to replicate the process firsthand." "Skywatcher Part II: Mapping the Unknown" is described as introducing Fowler, "who leads the technology team," a taxonomy of nine UAP classes, and field work with "Dr. Garry Nolan, Alex Klokus, [[Matt Pines]], and others," using "electromechanical signaling ('machine calling') and neuromeditative interaction ('psionic calling')."[^15] The nine classes on its research page include Tetra, [[Tic Tac]], jellyfish and manta ray; its Tic Tac class is described as seen "with the Manta Ray in proximity."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 7, 2025 NewsNation reported Coulthart's statement that Skywatcher used a "secret location known as 'The Range'" and an "electro-mechanical dog whistle," that "every time they use their dog whistle, it's worked 100% of the time in summoning the phenomenon," and that the group said it had hosted representatives of the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] "at its private base."[^2] Coulthart wrote in August 2026 that the base was at [[Sierra Blanca, Texas]], southeast of [[El Paso, Texas]], and that Skywatcher operated there "until July" 2025.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cessation and later reporting
|
||||
|
||||
Coulthart wrote that Skywatcher's last post on [[X (social network)|X]] was on December 25, 2025, that nothing had been posted on the website since Fowler left "in mid-August last year to follow what he described as a new opportunity in aerial intelligence," and that "multiple insiders" had told NewsNation that by its last field operation in July 2025 Skywatcher "was working with and reporting to a number of government agencies, including [[NASA]], the [[Department of Defense]] and several intelligence agencies, including the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]."[^4] He stated that a [[Federal Aviation Administration]] notice to airmen posted on November 8, 2025 closed airspace southeast of El Paso through November 7, 2026 as "national defense airspace," that it was canceled on November 14, 2025, and that he had "learned the TFR was initiated by the Defense Department's [[Joint Special Operations Command]] liaison to the FAA and imposed 'to shoot down drones.'"[^4] He added that "Sources in the Trump administration" told him the government was using "the same so-called dog-whistle" and "psionic summoners" in operations at [[White Sands Missile Range]], and that "[[White House]] sources" said [[Donald Trump]] had personally authorized it; these statements are Coulthart's, attributed to unnamed sources.[^4] Coulthart's column also describes a February 10, 2026 closure of airspace over El Paso by the Federal Aviation Administration, rescinded about seven hours later; he wrote that [[The New York Times]] reported the closure followed use by immigration officials of an antidrone laser shared by the [[Pentagon]] against what turned out to be a party balloon, and that the administration had first cited cartel drones; he called the cartel-drone explanation one that "made no sense."[^4] On August 7, 2026 NewsNation published a Coulthart question-and-answer segment titled "Skywatcher didn't disappear, it went government."[^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The Defense Department's response to Barber's January 2025 claims, given by spokesperson [[Sue Gough]], was that it "has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently."[^17] On February 24, 2025 NewsNation reported that the department confirmed it was investigating Barber's claims, and Coulthart said that AARO director [[Jon Kosloski]] had indicated his office was talking with whistleblowers such as Barber.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Ross Coulthart and Kellie Meyer, "Whistleblower reveals UAP retrieval program; object caught on video," NewsNation, January 2025 (full special). https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/hfr-uap-recovery-video-egg-shaped-object-exclusive/ ; see also "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^2]: Michael Ramsey, "Skywatcher video of 'summoned' UFOs coming soon: Ross Coulthart," NewsNation, updated April 7, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/summoned-ufos-video-ross-coulthart/
|
||||
[^3]: Skywatcher, "About." https://skywatcher.ai/about (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^4]: Ross Coulthart, "Is the Trump administration running a covert UFO program?," NewsNation Reality Check, published about August 2026 (retrieved October 3, 2026 showing "2 months ago"). https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check/trump-administration-covert-ufo-program/amp/
|
||||
[^5]: Jimmy, "Skywatcher: The Disclosure Team That Disappeared - I Tracked Their Helicopter," UAP Files, August 12, 2026. https://uapf.substack.com/p/skywatcher-the-disclosure-team-that . Sole source for the domain registration and YouTube creation dates cited here.
|
||||
[^6]: Jason Colavito, "In Brief: NewsNation Offers a New UFO 'Crash Retrieval' Story," January 19, 2025. https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/in-brief-newsnation-offers-a-new-ufo-crash-retrieval-story . Colavito reports Greenstreet's reporting at second hand; the original New York Post article was not located. Sole source for the passage so cited.
|
||||
[^7]: Skywatcher, home page and FAQ. https://skywatcher.ai/ (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^8]: Skywatcher, "Research." https://skywatcher.ai/research (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^9]: SEC EDGAR full-text search, phrases "Skywatcher," "Sky Watcher," "Skywatcher Technologies," "Jake Barber," forms D, October 3, 2026. https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=%22Skywatcher%22&forms=D
|
||||
[^10]: OpenCorporates, search "skywatcher," and entity pages us_de/10021279 and us_de/4376561, retrieved October 3, 2026. https://opencorporates.com/companies?q=skywatcher
|
||||
[^11]: SEC EDGAR, Form D filings (primary_doc.xml): Futurism, LLC, CIK 0001692611, accession 0001692611-16-000001; Theo Rewards, Inc., CIK 0001801852, 0001801852-20-000001; SALT Fund I, L.P., CIK 0001850930, 0001850930-21-000001 and -000002 (D/A); Kyber Capital Crypto Fund I LP, CIK 0001935894, 0001935894-22-000003; Tomorrow Farms Inc. / Tomorrow Farms, PBC, CIK 0001930812, 0001930812-22-000001 and 0000929638-24-001654; Microcapital, Inc., CIK 0002044152, 0002044152-24-000001; Radial Health, Inc., CIK 0002021359, 0002021359-24-000001; Shuttle Labs LLC, CIK 0001955431, 0001955431-22-000002; Solari Capital Fund III, L.P., CIK 0002019181, 0002019181-24-000001. Example: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1850930/000185093021000001/primary_doc.xml (all retrieved October 3, 2026). Index search: https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=%22Klokus%22&forms=D
|
||||
[^12]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC schedule A, contributor "Klokus, Alex," September 12, 2019 and June 28, 2019; contributor "Scaramucci, Alexander," June 15, 2023 (employer "Solari; SALT," San Francisco). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^13]: U.S. Senate, Lobbying Disclosure Act database, client_name searches "Skywatcher" and "Sky Watcher," October 3, 2026. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Skywatcher
|
||||
[^14]: USAspending.gov API, recipient autocomplete and spending_by_award (contract types A to D) for "SKYWATCHER LLC," October 3, 2026. https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/search/spending_by_award/
|
||||
[^15]: Skywatcher, "Media." https://skywatcher.ai/media (retrieved October 3, 2026).
|
||||
[^16]: Ross Coulthart and Meagan Medick, "Ross Coulthart Q&A: Skywatcher didn't disappear, it went government," NewsNation, updated August 7, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/ross-coulthart-qa-skywatcher-didnt-disappear-it-went-government/
|
||||
[^17]: "UAP whistleblower says UFO retrieval program exists: NewsNation exclusive," January 16, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/uap-whistleblower-ufo-retrieval-program/
|
||||
[^18]: Michael Ramsey, "UFO whistleblower Jake Barber's claims being investigated by Pentagon," NewsNation, updated February 24, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/pentagon-investigates-ufo-claims/
|
||||
136
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Sol Foundation.md
Normal file
136
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Sol Foundation.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- ThinkTank
|
||||
- Nonprofit
|
||||
- Stanford
|
||||
- SolFoundation
|
||||
- Disclosure
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Sol Foundation
|
||||
- The Sol Foundation
|
||||
- Sol Foundation for Advanced Studies
|
||||
- The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Policy Research
|
||||
- Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Policy Research
|
||||
- The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Research Policy
|
||||
- Sol Foundation Initiative for UAP Research and Policy
|
||||
summary: "California public benefit corporation launched August 15, 2023 by Garry Nolan and Peter Skafish to study unidentified anomalous phenomena, with a 2024 Form 990 showing $937,625 in revenue and one $10,000 white paper grant."
|
||||
location: "California (Redwood City, Auburn and Stanford addresses of record)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jonathan Berte]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023-07-07
|
||||
role: "listed chief financial officer in a September 2023 business-registry entry; treasurer on the 2024 Form 990"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Maura Mindrila]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
role: "Director of Strategy (symposium host, 2024); co-CEO on the 2024 Form 990"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[I. Charles McCullough III]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023-08
|
||||
role: "named as legal counsel to the foundation"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Jennifer Preston]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief operating officer, as listed on the foundation's website (viewed October 3, 2026; start date not given)"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Aneil Mallavarapu]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "'independent board member,' as listed on the foundation's website (viewed October 3, 2026; start date not given)"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Avi Loeb]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Natural Sciences Advisory Board, as listed on the foundation's website (viewed October 3, 2026)"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jacques Vallee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "emeritus advisor, as listed on the foundation's website (viewed October 3, 2026)"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Policy Research is a [[California]] nonprofit public benefit corporation that described itself on its launch date, August 15, 2023, as established "to research the philosophical, policy, and scientific implications of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena." It was led at launch by [[Garry Nolan]] of the [[Stanford University]] School of Medicine and the sociocultural anthropologist [[Peter Skafish]].[^1] Its first public sign was a set of documents that surfaced in early August 2023 under the name "Sol Foundation for Advanced Studies," among them the résumé of [[David Grusch]] filed with the [[House Committee on Oversight and Accountability]].[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Incorporation and registry entries
|
||||
|
||||
A California business-registry entry last updated September 1, 2023 lists the corporation under its present name on the basis of filings dated July 7, 2023, with three contacts: Nolan, Skafish and [[Jonathan Berte]], the last as chief financial officer.[^4] The [[California Secretary of State]] record as carried by [[OpenCorporates]] shows an entity of type "Nonprofit Corporation, CA, Public Benefit" (entity number 5810665) with an agent address of Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, and a further address of 2945 Bell Road, #316, [[Auburn]], California 95603. Four current officers and one inactive officer are recorded but are not displayed without a login, and the incorporation date is likewise withheld in the public view.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Internal Revenue Service]] Exempt Organizations Business Master File lists the organization under EIN 93-3649160 as a 501(c)(3) with a ruling date of June 2024, in care of "Attn Nolan" at 5 Hermosa Road, [[Redwood City]], California 94062.[^6] The Form 990 for 2024 gives the Auburn address, a telephone number in the 408 area code, a year of formation of 2023 and California as the state of legal domicile.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The résumé that Grusch submitted to the House Committee on Oversight for its July 26, 2023 hearing lists, under "May 2023-Present," the position "Chief Operating Officer (COO), The Sol Foundation," and describes the employer as a "501c3 federally recognized non-profit," followed by the text "The premier center for research in the natural and social sciences, engineering, and the humanities, but also extends activities to advisory and policy work for the [[U.S. government]]/public outreach."[^3] The IRS ruling date on record for EIN 93-3649160 is June 2024.[^6] Nolan said in September 2023 that Grusch's title had since changed to senior founding advisor, that the earlier title "seemed the right thing at the time," and that Grusch was "a founder of the Sol Foundation."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Officers and board
|
||||
|
||||
The Form 990 for the calendar year 2024 lists four people in Part VII: Garry Nolan, director, 0.00 hours a week, no compensation; Peter Skafish, secretary, 1.00 hour a week, reportable compensation $20,000 and other compensation $40,000; Jonathan Berte, treasurer, 0.00 hours, no compensation; and [[Maura Mindrila]], co-CEO, 0.00 hours, other compensation $40,000. Skafish signed the return as secretary on November 16, 2025 and is named as principal officer. The return reports three voting members of the governing body, all independent, no employees and an estimated 25 volunteers.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Press statements used other titles. Nolan was "Executive Director of the Board" and Skafish "Director of Research" in September 2023, and Skafish was "executive director" in December 2024.[^2][^8] Nolan said in 2023 that his Stanford appointment did not allow him to hold an officer role in an outside company and that he took no salary.[^2] [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]] posted on September 11, 2023 that she was joining the board, and the foundation named [[I. Charles McCullough III]], a former [[Inspector General of the Intelligence Community]], as its legal counsel.[^2] McCullough signed the November 12, 2024 letter to Congress on the review-board provisions of the [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act]] under the heading "Former Inspector General of the Intelligence Community," as did Nolan, Skafish, Pasulka and Gallaudet.[^9] McCullough is also counsel to Grusch, whom he represented in a May 2022 urgent-concern complaint to the Intelligence Community Inspector General.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Berte founded the machine-vision company [[Robovision]], which was reported in March 2023 to be assisting Stanford with artificial-intelligence applications for the study of complex diseases.[^2] Mindrila hosted the 2024 symposium as Director of Strategy.[^8] Part IV of the 2024 Form 990 answers yes to maintaining an office, employees or agents outside the [[United States]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Website roster
|
||||
|
||||
The foundation's website, read on October 3, 2026, lists under "Executive Leadership" Garry Nolan ("Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Board"), Peter Skafish ("Co-Founder & Executive Director"), [[Tim Gallaudet]] ("Senior Advisor"), [[Aneil Mallavarapu]] ("Independent Board Member"), [[Jennifer Preston]] ("Chief Operating Officer"), [[Matt Mason]] ("Chief Marketing Officer"), [[Lou Grossi]] ("Chief Information Officer") and [[Christian Peters]] ("Associate Director of Research"). Its "Advisory Board" lists [[Eric Davis]], [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]] and Pasulka (social sciences), Loeb and [[Beatriz Villarroel]] (natural sciences), [[Jacob Haqq-Misra]], [[Alexander Wendt]], [[Jim Semivan]], [[Kirk McConnell]] ("Senior Legislative Affairs Officer") and [[Jacques Vallee]] ("Emeritus Advisor"). The page does not list Grusch, Berte, Mindrila, McCullough or [[Karl Nell]], although Berte, Mindrila and Skafish appear on the 2024 Form 990 and Nell is the author of a Sol paper (see White papers).[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Money
|
||||
|
||||
The 2024 Form 990 (submitted November 22, 2025, prepared by [[EAJ CPA LLC]] of [[Kensington, Connecticut]]) reports total revenue of $937,625: contributions of $758,538, of which $440,776 is entered on line 1d, "related organizations," and $317,762 on line 1f, plus $179,087 of program service revenue under the heading "Symposium." Expenses were $861,680 and gross receipts are stated as $937,625. Revenue less expenses was $75,945; assets at year end were $65,945 (all cash), liabilities $170,000 (against $180,000 at the start of the year) and net assets minus $104,055 (against minus $180,000). Every prior-year column on the return is zero, which suggests that this was the first return filed.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The expense lines include $117,000 for management fees, $269,797 for conferences, conventions and meetings, $66,279 for travel, $11,618 for security and event support, $5,000 for refuse removal, and $380,591 labelled "public relations, brand development" in Schedule O, of which $14,815 is program expense and $365,776 management and general. Part IV, line 34, answers no to whether the organization was related to any tax-exempt or taxable entity, and no Schedule R is among the schedules published; the return does not say who the "related organizations" on Part VIII line 1d are. Schedule B, the schedule of contributors, contains two contributor entries, each with the name and the amount shown only as "RESTRICTED" in the public copy. The return gives the organization's name as "The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Research Policy," with "Research" and "Policy" in the reverse of the order used in the IRS master file and the California record.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Schedule I lists one grant to an individual: $10,000 as a "research grant for white paper on geopolitical implications of unidentified anomalous phenomena." Its supplemental statement says the organization grants funds to experts "in exchange for white papers," that grantees are selected by the board of directors and that the papers are published on its website. Schedule O describes the November 22 to 23, 2024 symposium at the [[Fort Mason Center]] in [[San Francisco]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[UAP Disclosure Fund]], a San Francisco 501(c)(4) in care of [[Yuan Fung]] (EIN 99-2834592, IRS ruling date July 2025), has Fung as its executive director on the November 12, 2024 scientists' letter to Congress that Nolan, Skafish, Pasulka, Gallaudet and others signed, and Gallaudet's House biography lists him as an advisory board member of both the Fund and the Sol Foundation.[^12][^9] The [[Sol Foundation Inc]] of [[Carmel, Indiana]] (EIN 99-3863647; 1051 Oswego Road, in care of [[Lawrence Baker]]; IRS ruling date August 2024; private non-operating foundation) is a separate entity. Its Form 990-PF for the period December 24 to December 31, 2024 (submitted November 14, 2025; prepared by [[L M Henderson & Company LLP]] of [[Indianapolis]]) reports $25,000,000 in contributions received, $17,976 in interest and dividends, $89,482 in expenses, $24,928,494 in assets, no grants paid, and three directors, Lawrence Baker, [[Patricia Baker]] and [[Charles Hertlein]], each at one hour a week and unpaid. It lists no website and a telephone number in the 513 area code. Nothing in that filing refers to unidentified anomalous phenomena, to the California corporation or to any of its officers, and no document opened for this entry links the two organizations.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
No filing under the client name Sol Foundation appears in the [[United States Senate]] lobbying disclosure database, and no contribution record under the names of Skafish, Berte or Mindrila appears in the [[Federal Election Commission]] database.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Symposia
|
||||
|
||||
The first symposium, the "Sol Foundation Initiative for UAP Research and Policy," was held November 17 to 18, 2023 in [[Palo Alto, California]], hosted by the [[Nolan Laboratory]] and the Stanford School of Medicine, by invitation only. Nolan opened it with the words "The objective here is to legitimize and professionalize." Speakers included [[Avi Loeb]], Jacques Vallee, Pasulka, the Canadian member of Parliament [[Larry Maguire]], Tim Gallaudet, Karl Nell and [[Christopher Mellon]]. Grusch joined on the second day by video from Washington and said, "We need to basically create a parallel track of research and independent discovery that aren't necessarily dependent on the U.S. government."[^15] Nell's talk is catalogued as "The Schumer Amendment & Controlled Disclosure," a reference to the Senate UAP amendment sponsored by [[Chuck Schumer]].[^16] Skafish said of the audience, "That audience was as important to me in organizing as the lineup of speakers was," and that the organizers were "very deliberately careful in evaluating the requests for invitations."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
The second symposium, November 22 to 23, 2024 at Fort Mason Center, was opened by Mindrila. Speakers named in coverage were Nell, Eric Davis, the religious-studies scholar [[Stephen Finley]], Gallaudet, the journalist [[Leslie Kean]] with [[Ryan Graves]] of [[Americans for Safe Aerospace]], the former Senate staff member Kirk McConnell and the venture investor [[Rizwan Virk]]. Virk presented four funding models for "frontier science" (research grants, awards-based prizes, an incubator and venture funds) and said he was writing a Sol white paper on the subject. Skafish said that year's meeting was convened in light of "a divisive election season and the likely failure of the UAP Disclosure Act."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### White papers
|
||||
|
||||
The foundation's website lists twelve papers (read October 3, 2026). Volume 1: No. 1, Gallaudet, "Beneath the Surface: We May Learn More about UAP by Looking in the Ocean" (March 2024); No. 2, "UAP in Crowded Skies: Atmospheric and Orbital Threat Reduction in an Age of Geopolitical Uncertainty," credited to "The Sol Foundation" (March 2024); No. 3, [[Helen McCaw]], "[[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]]: Policy Implications for the Government of the [[United Kingdom]]" (May 2024); No. 4, "Anomalous Health Threats: Health Security Considerations for UAP," credited to "The Sol Foundation" (July 2024); No. 5, [[Paul Thigpen]], "NHI, UAP, and the Catholic Faith: How Will the Church Respond" (July 2024); No. 6, Skafish, "The Prospect of Executive Branch Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Secrecy: The Harm to Congress and Potential Remedies" (November 2024). Volume 2: No. 1, Rizwan Virk, "Investment in UAP Technology and Ventures: Opportunities, Challenges, and a Way Forward" (March 2025); Nell, "The UFO Enigma: A Call for US Government Disclosure" (May 2025; its cover reads "The Policy Papers of the Sol Foundation, Volume 2, No. 2, Spring 2025"); and three papers by [[Marik von Rennenkampff]]: "Robust Evidence of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena in Pre-Satellite Era Night-Sky Images" (January 2026), "First Peer-Reviewed Scientific Analysis of Possible UAP Materials Employs State-of-the-Art Technologies" (April 2026) and "The Civilizational Risks of a UAP Technology Arms Race: Nonhuman Technology and Global Security" (August 2026). The site also lists, under April 2026, McConnell's "UAP Whistleblower Restitution Fund Would Incentivize Disclosures to Congress." The numbering printed on the site for the 2026 items does not run consecutively with the earlier series.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
Volume 1, No. 2 gives "Board Director: Dr. Garry Nolan" and "Executive Director: Dr. Peter Skafish" on its back page. Its executive summary says the foundation "commissioned" the report and that it does not present evidence for any theory of UAP. Its bibliography cites Senate Amendment 797 to S. 2226.[^18] Nell's paper argues for enactment of the review-board and eminent-domain provisions of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act "or by executive order," credits [[Mike Rounds]] and Chuck Schumer with the 2024 reintroduction, and describes its author as a retired Army colonel whose last active-duty assignment was as Army director supporting the [[UAP Task Force]] and who is chief executive of [[StarDustX Materials]], Inc., "a multimillion-dollar VC-backed startup."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### UAP Science Advisory Council
|
||||
|
||||
In June 2026 Loeb announced that he would lead a "UAP Science Advisory Council" and, in a list he supplied to the news outlet [[DefenseScoop]] (published June 17, 2026), named twelve other members with focus areas, among them Gallaudet (oceanography), Nolan (molecular biology and materials science) and Skafish (anthropology). An official of the [[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]] told DefenseScoop that the office, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the [[Department of Defense]] had established an interagency UAP Governance Board, that it "met for the first time yesterday" (June 16, 2026), and that the board is supported by outside advisory groups including the council. Loeb said the council would help the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] "resolve the UAP mystery."[^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery," *The Debrief*, September 12, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-how-a-new-think-tank-of-academics-is-applying-cutting-edge-research-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
[^2]: Same article, interview passages with Nolan and Skafish; Pasulka's post of September 11, 2023 is embedded in the article.
|
||||
[^3]: "David C. Grusch" résumé, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing of July 26, 2023, Experience section. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20230726/116282/HHRG-118-GO06-Bio-GruschD-20230726.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Hanks, September 12, 2023, citing a Bizapedia entry updated September 1, 2023 and filings of July 7, 2023. The Bizapedia page itself returned a bot check and was not opened.
|
||||
[^5]: OpenCorporates, "The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Policy Research," California entity 5810665, viewed October 3, 2026. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/5810665 (the California Secretary of State search returned a security block).
|
||||
[^6]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, EIN 933649160, IRS Business Master File extract dated September 16, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/933649160.json
|
||||
[^7]: IRS Form 990 for 2024, EIN 93-3649160, object ID 202543269349300004, submitted November 22, 2025, with Schedules A, B, I and O, as rendered at https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
[^8]: Chrissy Newton, "Academics, Investors, and UAP Seekers Unite at the 2024 Sol Foundation Symposium," *The Debrief*, December 20, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/academics-investors-and-uap-seekers-unite-at-the-2024-sol-foundation-symposium/
|
||||
[^9]: "Biography of the Honorable Tim Gallaudet, PhD," House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, hearing of November 13, 2024, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Bio-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113.pdf ; and the signatory letter of November 12, 2024 in his submitted statement, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf; testimony of Gallaudet to Rep. Garcia, joint hearing of November 13, 2024, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm ("the Sol Foundation as a senior strategic advisor")
|
||||
[^10]: Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, "Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Non-Human Craft," *The Debrief*, June 5, 2023. https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/
|
||||
[^11]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section (Executive Leadership and Advisory Board), https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^12]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, EIN 992834592 (UAP Disclosure Fund). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/992834592.json
|
||||
[^13]: IRS Form 990-PF for 2024, EIN 99-3863647, object ID 202533189349100938, submitted November 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/993863647
|
||||
[^14]: Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database query, client_name "Sol Foundation," October 3, 2026 (fifteen returns, none for this organization); FEC Schedule A queries for the named individuals, October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^15]: Micah Hanks, "The Sol Foundation, Academia's New UAP Think Tank, Releases Videos of Lectures from Its Inaugural Symposium," *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/
|
||||
[^16]: Anomaly Archives, "Nell, Karl," listing a Sol Foundation video titled "Karl Nell on The Schumer Amendment & Controlled Disclosure." https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/nell-karl/
|
||||
[^17]: The Sol Foundation, "All Publications," twelve papers with authors, volume and month, https://thesolfoundation.org/all-publications/ , and paper pages under https://thesolfoundation.org/publications/ , read October 3, 2026.
|
||||
[^18]: "UAP in Crowded Skies," The White Papers of the Sol Foundation, vol. 1, no. 2, March 2024. https://thesolfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sol_WhitePaper_Vol1N2.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Karl E. Nell, "The UFO Enigma: A Call for US Government Disclosure," The Policy Papers of the Sol Foundation, Spring 2025, Executive Summary and "About the Author." https://thesolfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-UFO-Enigma_Sol-Foundation.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: "New science advisory council forms to help US government 'resolve the UAP mystery,'" *DefenseScoop*, June 17, 2026. https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/17/new-science-advisory-council-forms-to-help-us-government-resolve-the-uap-mystery/
|
||||
|
|
@ -20,47 +20,33 @@ relations:
|
|||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "co-founder, President and interim Chief Executive Officer; majority shareholder through Gravity Holdings, LLC"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Hal Puthoff]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Vice President of Science and Technology and board member; resigned from the board February 2021 and moved to the science advisory board"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2021-02
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jim Semivan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "founder, Vice President Operations and director"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Luis Elizondo]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Chief of Security and Special Programs; later Director of Government Programs and Services; laid off with severance December 2020"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2020-12
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Christopher Mellon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "advisory board; resigned November 2020"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
end: 2020-11
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command]]"
|
||||
role: "Cooperative Research and Development Agreement 19-15, Novel and Emerging Technology Exploitation, with the Ground Vehicle Systems Center"
|
||||
start: 2019-10-10
|
||||
end: 2024
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Tom DeLonge]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "advances, notes, lines of credit and share conversions"
|
||||
start: 2016
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
[[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]] (TTSA) was a public benefit corporation founded by musician [[Tom DeLonge]] of the band [[Blink-182]]. The organization's goal was to investigate [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) and other fringe scientific topics, and to educate the public about these issues through a combination of scientific research, entertainment, and publishing.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -68,61 +54,90 @@ updated: 2026-10-02
|
|||
|
||||
Tom DeLonge founded TTSA in 2017 with the goal of bringing the UAP conversation out of the shadows and into the mainstream. He assembled a team of former high-ranking government officials and scientists to lead the organization, including [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Jim Semivan]], and [[Hal Puthoff]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The company was structured with three divisions: Science, Aerospace, and Entertainment. The plan was to use the entertainment division to generate revenue that would fund the scientific and aerospace research. TTSA was instrumental in the public release of the three declassified UAP videos - "FLIR" ([[Tic Tac]]), "[[GIMBAL]]," and "GoFast" - which were posted on its [[YouTube]] page in conjunction with the 2017 [[New York Times]] article that revealed the existence of [[AATIP]].[^1]
|
||||
The company was structured with three divisions: Science, Aerospace, and Entertainment. The plan was to use the entertainment division to generate revenue that would fund the scientific and aerospace research. TTSA released three Navy videos, "FLIR" ([[Tic Tac]]), "[[GIMBAL]]," and "GoFast," on its [[YouTube]] page. The 2017 [[New York Times]] article that revealed the existence of [[AATIP]] carried two of them (FLIR1 and GIMBAL), and GOFAST followed in March 2018.[^1][^2] [[The Black Vault]] describes the videos as "subsequently released by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, the source of where the New York Times originally received them." [[Pentagon]] spokesperson [[Christopher Sherwood]] told *[[The Intercept]]* in 2019 that the videos were released "for research purposes ... and not for general public release," and the [[Department of Defense]] stated on April 27, 2020 that it "authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos," which had been "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017." [[Politico]] reported in 2021 that the [[Washington Headquarters Services]] declassification division had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government before the Times placement. Mellon said in 2020 that he received the videos in the Pentagon parking lot from a Defense Department official.[^3][^4][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Role in UAP Disclosure
|
||||
|
||||
TTSA played a significant role in the early stages of the modern UAP disclosure movement. The organization provided a platform for Luis Elizondo to speak publicly about his work with AATIP after he resigned from the [[Pentagon]]. The company also produced the television show "[[Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation]]" on the [[History Channel]], which featured Elizondo and other former government officials investigating UAP cases.[^1]
|
||||
TTSA played a significant role in the early stages of the modern UAP disclosure movement. The organization provided a platform for Luis Elizondo to speak publicly about his work with [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program|AATIP]] after he resigned from the [[Pentagon]]. The company also produced the television show "[[Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation]]" on the [[History Channel]], which featured Elizondo and other former government officials investigating UAP cases.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
While the organization was ultimately not financially successful and many of its key members, including Elizondo, Mellon, and Puthoff, eventually moved on, TTSA was instrumental in raising the public profile of the UAP issue and helping to break the long-standing stigma surrounding the topic.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Registration, offerings and proceeds
|
||||
|
||||
To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc., a [[Delaware]] public benefit corporation of [[Encinitas, California]] ([[Securities and Exchange Commission|SEC]] CIK 1710274, file number 24R-00116), filed an offering statement on Form 1-A on August 15, 2017; the SEC qualified it on September 29, 2017, for the sale of Class A common stock with a minimum of 1,000,000 dollars and a maximum of 50,000,000 dollars. Its Regulation A annual reports (Form 1-K) and semiannual reports (Form 1-SA) state the following proceeds.[^2][^3]
|
||||
To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc., a [[Delaware]] public benefit corporation of [[Encinitas, California]] ([[Securities and Exchange Commission|SEC]] CIK 1710274, file number 24R-00116), filed an offering statement on Form 1-A on August 15, 2017; the SEC qualified it on September 29, 2017, for the sale of Class A common stock with a minimum of 1,000,000 dollars and a maximum of 50,000,000 dollars. Its Regulation A annual reports (Form 1-K) and semiannual reports (Form 1-SA) state the following proceeds.[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
First offering: approximately 1,370,000 dollars raised, with proceeds net of offering costs of approximately 1,172,000 dollars during 2018 (offering costs of about 244,000 dollars in 2017 and 199,000 dollars in 2018); 274,046 new Class A shares were issued to investors in 2018.[^3] Second offering (qualified July 12, 2019, up to 30,000,000 dollars): approximately 818,000 dollars raised by its expiry in July 2020 per the fiscal 2020 report (the fiscal 2021 report gives 161,762 shares sold at 5 dollars, 808,810 dollars gross), net proceeds of about 336,000 dollars in 2019 and 167,200 dollars in 2020.[^4] Third offering (qualified September 18, 2020, described as up to 6,000,000 shares in the 2020 report and up to 30,000,000 dollars in the 2021 report, with [[Digital Offering]], LLC as selling agent at a 7.0 percent fee plus warrants for 2.0 percent of gross proceeds): approximately 113,500 dollars raised before the company stopped marketing it on December 18, 2020.[^4] Fourth offering (qualified March 31, 2022): approximately 488,790 dollars raised before termination on November 3, 2022.[^5] The four stated figures sum to approximately 2,790,290 dollars gross (2,781,100 dollars using the 808,810 dollar figure for the second offering).
|
||||
First offering: approximately 1,370,000 dollars raised, with proceeds net of offering costs of approximately 1,172,000 dollars during 2018 (offering costs of about 244,000 dollars in 2017 and 199,000 dollars in 2018); 274,046 new Class A shares were issued to investors in 2018.[^6] Second offering (qualified July 12, 2019, up to 30,000,000 dollars): approximately 818,000 dollars raised by its expiry in July 2020 per the fiscal 2020 report (the fiscal 2021 report gives 161,762 shares sold at 5 dollars, 808,810 dollars gross), net proceeds of about 336,000 dollars in 2019 and 167,200 dollars in 2020.[^7] Third offering (qualified September 18, 2020, described as up to 6,000,000 shares in the 2020 report and up to 30,000,000 dollars in the 2021 report, with [[Digital Offering]], LLC as selling agent at a 7.0 percent fee plus warrants for 2.0 percent of gross proceeds): approximately 113,500 dollars raised before the company stopped marketing it on December 18, 2020.[^7] Fourth offering (qualified March 31, 2022): approximately 488,790 dollars raised before termination on November 3, 2022.[^8] The four stated figures sum to approximately 2,790,290 dollars gross (2,781,100 dollars using the 808,810 dollar figure for the second offering).
|
||||
|
||||
### Losses
|
||||
|
||||
The filings report a net loss from operations of 422,670 dollars for 2016; 30,665,436 dollars for 2017, of which stock-based compensation expense was 29,535,799 dollars (including 18,958,333 dollars recognized on the option grant to [[Kari DeLonge]]); 10,660,495 dollars for 2018 (stock-based compensation 9,165,417 dollars); 9,392,988 dollars for 2019; 4,071,560 dollars for 2020 (the fiscal 2020 statement of operations shows an operating loss of 3,935,621 dollars, the figure the fiscal 2021 report gives for 2020); 581,396 dollars for 2021; 1,339,512 dollars for 2022 (the fiscal 2022 statements show a net loss of 1,351,896 dollars, the figure the fiscal 2023 report gives for 2022); 143,387 dollars for 2023; 57,388 dollars for 2024; and 225,736 dollars for 2025. The report for the six months to June 30, 2026 states a net loss of 134,424 dollars against 315,829 dollars for the same period of 2025. The reports for fiscal 2021 through 2025 carry a going-concern paragraph.[^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
The filings report a net loss from operations of 422,670 dollars for 2016; 30,665,436 dollars for 2017, of which stock-based compensation expense was 29,535,799 dollars (including 18,958,333 dollars recognized on the option grant to [[Kari DeLonge]]); 10,660,495 dollars for 2018 (stock-based compensation 9,165,417 dollars); 9,392,988 dollars for 2019; 4,071,560 dollars for 2020 (the fiscal 2020 statement of operations shows an operating loss of 3,935,621 dollars, the figure the fiscal 2021 report gives for 2020); 581,396 dollars for 2021; 1,339,512 dollars for 2022 (the fiscal 2022 statements show a net loss of 1,351,896 dollars, the figure the fiscal 2023 report gives for 2022); 143,387 dollars for 2023; 57,388 dollars for 2024; and 225,736 dollars for 2025. The report for the six months to June 30, 2026 states a net loss of 134,424 dollars against 315,829 dollars for the same period of 2025. The reports for fiscal 2021 through 2025 carry a going-concern paragraph.[^6][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founder shares and the 2019 rescission
|
||||
|
||||
In May 2017 the corporation issued 12,500,000 shares of Class A and 5,400 shares of Class B stock to [[Gravity Holdings]], LLC (controlled through the [[DeLonge Family Trust]]), [[JimSem1]], LLC (wholly owned by Jim Semivan) and Harold Puthoff "in exchange for a nominal cash payment and past and anticipated future efforts to support the company's business and objectives"; Gravity Holdings held 60,000,000 Class A shares, 85.7 percent of the class in the first annual report, after receiving 55,000,000 shares on June 1, 2017 for contributing To The Stars, Inc. In April 2019 the company executed a Rescission and Relinquishment Agreement that cancelled 58,174,203 issued shares of Class A stock and 7,359,687 awards or options; the issuances to Gravity Holdings, JimSem1 and Puthoff were reduced to 9,428,240, 786,580 and 392,620 shares, and Kari DeLonge's option (granted June 6, 2017 for 5,000,000 shares at 0.003 dollars) was reduced to 785,240 shares.[^2][^6]
|
||||
In May 2017 the corporation issued 12,500,000 shares of Class A and 5,400 shares of Class B stock to [[Gravity Holdings]], LLC (controlled through the [[DeLonge Family Trust]]), [[JimSem1]], LLC (wholly owned by Jim Semivan) and Harold Puthoff "in exchange for a nominal cash payment and past and anticipated future efforts to support the company's business and objectives"; Gravity Holdings held 60,000,000 Class A shares, 85.7 percent of the class in the first annual report, after receiving 55,000,000 shares on June 1, 2017 for contributing To The Stars, Inc. In April 2019 the company executed a Rescission and Relinquishment Agreement that cancelled 58,174,203 issued shares of Class A stock and 7,359,687 awards or options; the issuances to Gravity Holdings, JimSem1 and Puthoff were reduced to 9,428,240, 786,580 and 392,620 shares, and Kari DeLonge's option (granted June 6, 2017 for 5,000,000 shares at 0.003 dollars) was reduced to 785,240 shares.[^5][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Officer and director compensation
|
||||
|
||||
The first annual report (fiscal 2017) lists cash compensation of 100,000 dollars to Kari DeLonge (Chief Content Officer, sister of Tom DeLonge), 67,962 dollars to [[Lisa Clifford]] (Secretary) and 31,584 dollars to the firm of [[Louis Tomassino]] (Chief Financial Officer) for accounting and tax services, and states that its subsidiary To The Stars, Inc. "did not compensate its executive officer and sole director, Tom DeLonge in cash" while Gravity Holdings, LLC received 60,000,000 Class A shares and DeLonge was owed 100,000 dollars in royalties for 2017; the three directors as a group received 67,500,000 Class A and 5,400 Class B shares. For fiscal 2018 the highest-paid officers were Kari DeLonge (100,256 dollars), Lisa Clifford (74,617 dollars) and [[Stephen Justice]], Chief Operations Officer (43,792 dollars). For fiscal 2019 the table lists [[J. Christopher Mizer]] (director since May 14, 2019, paid 30,000 dollars in cash and 300,000 restricted shares under an Independent Director Agreement at 5,000 dollars per month) alongside Kari DeLonge (100,000) and Lisa Clifford (45,871). Mizer is also co-founder of [[Vivaris Capital]], LLC, which held a consulting agreement from August 2019 at 10,000 dollars per month; on June 23, 2021 the company terminated it, agreed that 170,000 dollars was owed, and settled for 40,000 dollars in cash plus 108,333 shares at 1.20 dollars. Mizer was paid 30,000 dollars in director's fees in each of 2021 through 2025. Luis Elizondo, Hal Puthoff, Jim Semivan and Christopher Mellon do not appear in the compensation tables; the filings describe their roles but do not report their pay, except for the statements of work with EarthTech International below.[^2][^3][^4][^7]
|
||||
The first annual report (fiscal 2017) lists cash compensation of 100,000 dollars to Kari DeLonge (Chief Content Officer, sister of Tom DeLonge), 67,962 dollars to [[Lisa Clifford]] (Secretary) and 31,584 dollars to the firm of [[Louis Tomassino]] (Chief Financial Officer) for accounting and tax services, and states that its subsidiary To The Stars, Inc. "did not compensate its executive officer and sole director, Tom DeLonge in cash" while Gravity Holdings, LLC received 60,000,000 Class A shares and DeLonge was owed 100,000 dollars in royalties for 2017; the three directors as a group received 67,500,000 Class A and 5,400 Class B shares. For fiscal 2018 the highest-paid officers were Kari DeLonge (100,256 dollars), Lisa Clifford (74,617 dollars) and [[Stephen Justice]], Chief Operations Officer (43,792 dollars). For fiscal 2019 the table lists [[J. Christopher Mizer]] (director since May 14, 2019, paid 30,000 dollars in cash and 300,000 restricted shares under an Independent Director Agreement at 5,000 dollars per month) alongside Kari DeLonge (100,000) and Lisa Clifford (45,871). Mizer is also co-founder of [[Vivaris Capital]], LLC, which held a consulting agreement from August 2019 at 10,000 dollars per month; on June 23, 2021 the company terminated it, agreed that 170,000 dollars was owed, and settled for 40,000 dollars in cash plus 108,333 shares at 1.20 dollars. Mizer was paid 30,000 dollars in director's fees in each of 2021 through 2025. Luis Elizondo, Hal Puthoff, Jim Semivan and Christopher Mellon do not appear in the compensation tables; the filings describe their roles but do not report their pay, except for the statements of work with EarthTech International below.[^5][^6][^7][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Related-party financing by Tom DeLonge
|
||||
|
||||
[[Our Two Dogs]], Inc., owned by the DeLonge Family Trust (99 percent) and [[Chloe the Dog]], LP (1 percent), advanced 511,414 dollars in 2017, of which 463,414 dollars was reclassified as contributed capital; it also held a loan of 300,000 dollars (April 2016), raised to 600,000 dollars in August 2017 at 6 percent. On March 31, 2019 it forgave the 600,000 dollar principal and 88,123 dollars of interest (688,123 dollars, treated as contributed capital). A licensing agreement of April 26, 2017 with Tom DeLonge, [[Mr. Handsome]], LLC and [[Good In Bed Music]], [[ASCAP]], covering his name, likeness and [[Angels and Airwaves]] works, carries a minimum royalty of 100,000 dollars per year (0.5 to 15 percent of gross sales above that), recorded as cost of revenue and unpaid as of the end of 2017, 2018 and 2019 (accumulated 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 dollars). In 2018 DeLonge extended a 495,000 dollar revolving line of credit at 8.58 percent, secured by company intellectual property (335,000 dollars outstanding at the end of 2018 and 463,837 dollars at the end of 2019); in July 2019 the company bought a set of metamaterials from DeLonge for 35,000 dollars. Total amounts owed to DeLonge were 791,123 dollars (end of 2017), 1,288,148 dollars (2018), 963,763 dollars (2019) and 727,043 dollars (2020). In June 2021 the line of credit balance (517,435 dollars plus 52,364 dollars interest) and 372,165 dollars in personal advances (including 157,244 dollars used to pay credit card balances) were converted into 784,970 shares of Class A stock, and the fiscal 2021 report states both that 607,121 dollars of 2021 advances were converted at 1.20 dollars per share and that additional advances of 392,200 dollars through December 31, 2021 were converted to 326,834 shares. In March 2026 DeLonge, then described as chief executive, lent 42,000 dollars, repaid in April 2026, and on July 7, 2026 lent 150,000 dollars at 5 percent to be repaid from 5 percent of weekly receipts.[^2][^3][^6][^4][^8]
|
||||
[[Our Two Dogs]], Inc., owned by the DeLonge Family Trust (99 percent) and [[Chloe the Dog]], LP (1 percent), advanced 511,414 dollars in 2017, of which 463,414 dollars was reclassified as contributed capital; it also held a loan of 300,000 dollars (April 2016), raised to 600,000 dollars in August 2017 at 6 percent. On March 31, 2019 it forgave the 600,000 dollar principal and 88,123 dollars of interest (688,123 dollars, treated as contributed capital). A licensing agreement of April 26, 2017 with Tom DeLonge, [[Mr. Handsome]], LLC and [[Good In Bed Music]], [[ASCAP]], covering his name, likeness and [[Angels and Airwaves]] works, carries a minimum royalty of 100,000 dollars per year (0.5 to 15 percent of gross sales above that), recorded as cost of revenue and unpaid as of the end of 2017, 2018 and 2019 (accumulated 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 dollars). In 2018 DeLonge extended a 495,000 dollar revolving line of credit at 8.58 percent, secured by company intellectual property (335,000 dollars outstanding at the end of 2018 and 463,837 dollars at the end of 2019); in July 2019 the company bought a set of metamaterials from DeLonge for 35,000 dollars. Total amounts owed to DeLonge were 791,123 dollars (end of 2017), 1,288,148 dollars (2018), 963,763 dollars (2019) and 727,043 dollars (2020). In June 2021 the line of credit balance (517,435 dollars plus 52,364 dollars interest) and 372,165 dollars in personal advances (including 157,244 dollars used to pay credit card balances) were converted into 784,970 shares of Class A stock, and the fiscal 2021 report states both that 607,121 dollars of 2021 advances were converted at 1.20 dollars per share and that additional advances of 392,200 dollars through December 31, 2021 were converted to 326,834 shares. In March 2026 DeLonge, then described as chief executive, lent 42,000 dollars, repaid in April 2026, and on July 7, 2026 lent 150,000 dollars at 5 percent to be repaid from 5 percent of weekly receipts.[^5][^6][^9][^7][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### EarthTech International statements of work
|
||||
|
||||
In August 2018 the company entered two statements of work with [[EarthTech International]], Inc., "whose founder and president is company Director Harold E. Puthoff": one for materials analysis ("SOW-MSSA," 35,000 dollars) and one for beamed energy propulsion launch systems ("SOW-BELS," 25,000 dollars), totaling 60,000 dollars, of which 30,000 dollars was paid during 2018. The materials statement of work was described as covering "materials samples the company obtains through reliable reports of advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin."[^9]
|
||||
In August 2018 the company entered two statements of work with [[EarthTech International]], Inc., "whose founder and president is company Director Harold E. Puthoff": one for materials analysis ("SOW-MSSA," 35,000 dollars) and one for beamed energy propulsion launch systems ("SOW-BELS," 25,000 dollars), totaling 60,000 dollars, of which 30,000 dollars was paid during 2018. The materials statement of work was described as covering "materials samples the company obtains through reliable reports of advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Army Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
|
||||
|
||||
Exhibit 6.28 to the company's Form 1-A/A of August 3, 2020 is Cooperative Research and Development Agreement No. 19-15, "Novel and Emerging Technology Exploitation (NETE)," between the company and the [[U.S. Army]] [[Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center]], [[Warren, Michigan]]. It was signed on October 10, 2019 by [[Jeffrey L. Langhout]], Director of the Ground Vehicle Systems Center, and by Kari DeLonge as officer of the company. The government principal investigators are [[Ben Soave]] and Dr. [[Joseph Cannon]] (Ground Vehicle Survivability and Protection); the collaborator's principal investigator and preferred contact is Luis Elizondo, listed as "Director of Global Security and Special Programs." The term is 60 months from signature; the milestone table runs technical work from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2023.
|
||||
|
||||
The agreement's work plan states that the collaborator "has access to advanced materiel solutions" and "contacted Government about the innovations within their hold," that "Collaborator leaders are prior Government employees," and that "the [[Office of the Secretary of Defense]] (OSD) can share historical reports of findings and origin of materiel solutions in the possession of the Collaborator." The government is to test "inertial mass reduction, mechanical/structural metamaterials, electromagnetic metamaterial wave guides, quantum physics, quantum communications, and beamed energy propulsion," with the company to supply "samples of mechanical and EM sensitive metamaterial collected, obtained, or developed as part of its Field Operations," material analysis data, and beamed energy propulsion and active camouflage hardware. Article 7.2 states that the government "will not provide any federal or other funds to the Collaborator"; the payment schedule reads "None"; the government's anticipated resources are estimated at 750,000 dollars and the collaborator's at 1,000,000 dollars "determined by business needs and funding availability." The document describes the company as incorporated in [[California]]; the SEC registrant is a Delaware corporation. Article 4.8.3 provides that the work "may cover Classified national security information" and refers to a DD Form 254.[^10]
|
||||
The agreement's work plan states that the collaborator "has access to advanced materiel solutions" and "contacted Government about the innovations within their hold," that "Collaborator leaders are prior Government employees," and that "the [[Office of the Secretary of Defense]] (OSD) can share historical reports of findings and origin of materiel solutions in the possession of the Collaborator." The government is to test "inertial mass reduction, mechanical/structural metamaterials, electromagnetic metamaterial wave guides, quantum physics, quantum communications, and beamed energy propulsion," with the company to supply "samples of mechanical and EM sensitive metamaterial collected, obtained, or developed as part of its Field Operations," material analysis data, and beamed energy propulsion and active camouflage hardware. Article 7.2 states that the government "will not provide any federal or other funds to the Collaborator"; the payment schedule reads "None"; the government's anticipated resources are estimated at 750,000 dollars and the collaborator's at 1,000,000 dollars "determined by business needs and funding availability." The document describes the company as incorporated in [[California]]; the SEC registrant is a Delaware corporation. Article 4.8.3 provides that the work "may cover Classified national security information" and refers to a DD Form 254.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
Annual reports from 2021 describe the Army testing of "anomalous materials" provided by the company, slowed by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The reports for 2024 and 2025 state that, "as part of their oversight and through the CRADA," [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] was tasked with analysis of a specimen "to assess whether the specimen is of terrestrial origin and the bismuth in the specimen could act as a terahertz waveguide"; that in April 2024 ORNL "produced a summary of findings that concluded the Materials to be terrestrial in origin" and not meeting "the theoretical requirements to function as a terahertz (THz) waveguide"; that the report "did not offer a firm conclusion as to the origin and purpose of the Materials"; that Hal Puthoff and [[Eric Davis]] met the laboratory in September 2024 and published a memorandum to the company's board in February 2025 which "did not reveal any form of proof of exotic (Extraterrestrial, Ultra-terrestrial, or inter-dimensional) origin, but it did not absolutely rule it out either"; and that the CRADA ended in 2024. The reports state that the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] was "congressionally mandated" in 2022 to explore historical records of unidentified anomalous phenomena incidents.[^8]
|
||||
Annual reports from 2021 describe the Army testing of "anomalous materials" provided by the company, slowed by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The reports for 2024 and 2025 state that, "as part of their oversight and through the CRADA," [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] was tasked with analysis of a specimen "to assess whether the specimen is of terrestrial origin and the bismuth in the specimen could act as a terahertz waveguide"; that in April 2024 ORNL "produced a summary of findings that concluded the Materials to be terrestrial in origin" and not meeting "the theoretical requirements to function as a terahertz (THz) waveguide"; that the report "did not offer a firm conclusion as to the origin and purpose of the Materials"; that Hal Puthoff and [[Eric Davis]] met the laboratory in September 2024 and published a memorandum to the company's board in February 2025 which "did not reveal any form of proof of exotic (Extraterrestrial, Ultra-terrestrial, or inter-dimensional) origin, but it did not absolutely rule it out either"; and that the CRADA ended in 2024. The reports state that the [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] was "congressionally mandated" in 2022 to explore historical records of unidentified anomalous phenomena incidents.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Personnel changes reported to the SEC
|
||||
|
||||
[[Colm Kelleher]] resigned from the advisory board in October 2019. The annual report for 2020 states that Christopher Mellon resigned from the advisory board in November 2020, that Stephen Justice resigned as Chief Operations Officer in December 2020, that "Luis Elizondo, the Company's Director of Government Programs & Services, was laid off with severance" in December 2020, and that Hal Puthoff resigned from the board in February 2021 and moved to the science advisory board. The report describes these changes as part of a "pivot" to entertainment operations.[^4]
|
||||
[[Colm Kelleher]] resigned from the advisory board in October 2019. The annual report for 2020 states that Christopher Mellon resigned from the advisory board in November 2020, that Stephen Justice resigned as Chief Operations Officer in December 2020, that "Luis Elizondo, the Company's Director of Government Programs & Services, was laid off with severance" in December 2020, and that Hal Puthoff resigned from the board in February 2021 and moved to the science advisory board. The report describes these changes as part of a "pivot" to entertainment operations.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Launch and the December 2017 placement
|
||||
|
||||
At a launch event in October 2017 (reported as October 11, 2017, [[Seattle]]), Tom DeLonge invited Luis Elizondo onstage; Elizondo said the group was "planning to provide never-before-released footage from real [[U.S. government]] systems." [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] reported that on October 4, 2017, a week before, Christopher Mellon had arranged for the journalist [[Leslie Kean]] to meet Hal Puthoff, Jim Semivan and Elizondo at a hotel bar near the Pentagon, where she was told she could have the videos with chain-of-custody documentation "if she could place a story in the Times." [[Bryan Bender]] wrote in 2021 that Mellon, "by then also a paid adviser to DeLonge's TTSA," served as Elizondo's "unofficial public relations manager" and "started dangling the story to the New York Times, POLITICO and several other mainstream outlets."[^14][^4] Bender also wrote that DeLonge, in 2016, "reached out to Christopher Mellon" and that in the same year "one of DeLonge's cold calls unearthed the name" of Elizondo.[^4] The Times and Politico published on December 16, 2017; see [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]. Politico's article of that date described the company as "a for-profit company" co-founded by DeLonge, quoted DeLonge's video calling it a "public benefit corporation," reported that its website "claims 2,142 investors, who have purchased slightly more than $2 million worth of shares" with "a minimum purchase of $200 in common stock shares," and placed Mellon at "a recent press conference for To The Stars in [[Las Vegas]]" describing a Navy pilots' sighting; Elizondo was listed as "director of global security and special programs."[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
Mellon told the Politico writer: "Tom called me up out of the blue and then through him I met Jim and Hal." DeLonge told Bender: "From day one, I figured I needed knights of the round table."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Pentagon position on Elizondo and the venture
|
||||
|
||||
In 2019 Sherwood told *The Intercept* that "Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI, up until the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017." TTSA spokesperson Kari DeLonge told [[John Greenewald]] that Elizondo ran AATIP "out of the Office for the Secretary of Defense (OSD) under the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USDI)" after taking it over in 2010; Sherwood's office disputed this. [[Susan Gough]] of the Pentagon told Greenewald on June 13, 2019 that "DIA administered AATIP, and Elizondo was never assigned to DIA." Puthoff, a TTSA co-founder, told Greenewald that as contractor and senior adviser he "continued to attend meetings" under the program.[^3][^16]
|
||||
|
||||
### Filings (EDGAR)
|
||||
|
||||
SEC EDGAR lists the registrant as CIK 0001710274, incorporated in Delaware, with business address 315 S. Coast Highway 101, Suite U38, Encinitas, California, SIC 7819; first Form 1-A filed August 15, 2017, amendments September 1 and 18, 2017, further 1-A filings February 12, 2019, June 23, 2020 and March 16, 2022, and a Form 1-SA filed September 18, 2026 under file number 24R-00116. The registrant's conformed name changed to "To The Stars Inc." on September 28, 2021. The first offering statement (file 024-10728, Form 1-A of August 15, 2017, amended September 1 and 18) was qualified on September 29, 2017, and later offerings were qualified on July 12, 2019 (024-10946), September 18, 2020 (024-11243) and March 31, 2022 (024-11831); annual Forms 1-K were filed from 2018 through April 29, 2026.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
The offering circular dated September 29, 2017 describes the company as "a public benefit corporation founded in 2017 by a former senior Intelligence Officer with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], a distinguished research scientist from the Department of Defense, and an award-winning artist"; offers Class A common stock at 5.00 dollars a share (minimum 200,000 shares, maximum 10,000,000 shares, minimum investment 40 shares or 200 dollars, escrow agent [[Prime Trust|Prime Trust, LLC]]); lists as officers appointed May 25, 2017 Thomas DeLonge (president and chief executive), James Semivan (vice president, operations) and Harold Puthoff (vice president, science and technology), with Semivan and Puthoff also named as directors; and lists an Advisory Board of Chris Mellon, [[Adele Gilpin]], [[Norman Kahn]], Colm Kelleher, [[Garry Nolan]] and [[Paul Rapp]]. Elizondo is not named in the circular. It states that in May 2017 the company issued 12,500,000 shares of Class A and 5,400 shares of Class B common stock to Gravity Holdings, LLC, [[JimSemI|JimSemI, LLC]] and Harold Puthoff for nominal cash and past and anticipated efforts; that on June 1, 2017 Gravity Holdings (whose sole member, with [[Archive West Investments]], is the DeLonge Family Trust) contributed the shares of To The Stars, Inc. in exchange for 55,000,000 Class A shares; and that in June 2017 the company granted "employees and advisors" 9,000,000 options and 2,500,000 restricted shares under its 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Galileo Project
|
||||
|
||||
On October 30, 2021 [[Harvard University|Harvard]]'s [[Galileo Project]] announced Mellon and Elizondo as research affiliates, crediting them with being "pivotal in bringing about the Pentagon's release and confirmation" of the three videos.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc., Form 1-K for fiscal 2017, filed April 30, 2018 (accession 0001144204-18-023727), including Exhibits 6.7 to 6.11. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420418023727/0001144204-18-023727.txt ; offering circular, Form 1-A/A filed September 18, 2017 (accession 0001144204-17-048316). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417048316/0001144204-17-048316.txt
|
||||
[^3]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2018, filed April 30, 2019 (accession 0001144204-19-022341). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420419022341/0001144204-19-022341.txt
|
||||
[^4]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2020, filed April 30, 2021 (accession 0001493152-21-010202). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315221010202/0001493152-21-010202.txt ; Form 1-K for fiscal 2021, filed May 2, 2022 (accession 0001493152-22-011769). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315222011769/0001493152-22-011769.txt
|
||||
[^5]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023, liquidity sections; Form 1-SA for the six months ended June 30, 2026, filed September 18, 2026 (accession 0001493152-26-043283). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315226043283/0001493152-26-043283.txt
|
||||
[^6]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2019, filed June 12, 2020 (accession 0001104659-20-072815). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000110465920072815/0001104659-20-072815.txt
|
||||
[^7]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2022 (accession 0001493152-23-014729), fiscal 2023 (0001493152-24-016672), fiscal 2024 (0001641172-25-005183) and fiscal 2025 (0001493152-26-019571), compensation of directors sections. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001710274&type=1-K
|
||||
[^8]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2021, 2024 and 2025, sections headed "U.S. Army Cooperative Research and Development Agreement"; Form 1-SA for the six months ended June 30, 2026 (accession 0001493152-26-043283) for the 2026 DeLonge loans and the 1-K for fiscal 2025 for the DeLonge Promissory Note.
|
||||
[^9]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2018 Items 1 and 5 and the financial statement note on related parties; repeated in the fiscal 2019 report.
|
||||
[^10]: Exhibit 6.28, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement No. 19-15, to Form 1-A/A filed August 3, 2020 (accession 0001104659-20-089220). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000110465920089220/tm2023098d2_ex6-28.htm
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ ; Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/; Banias, MJ. *Vice,* October 20, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-guy-says-he-was-the-source-of-the-pentagons-ufo-videos/ (Mellon's on-camera statement; Vice could not verify).
|
||||
[^3]: Kloor, Keith. "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/
|
||||
[^4]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^5]: To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc., Form 1-K for fiscal 2017, filed April 30, 2018 (accession 0001144204-18-023727), including Exhibits 6.7 to 6.11. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420418023727/0001144204-18-023727.txt ; offering circular, Form 1-A/A filed September 18, 2017 (accession 0001144204-17-048316). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417048316/0001144204-17-048316.txt
|
||||
[^6]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2018, filed April 30, 2019 (accession 0001144204-19-022341). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420419022341/0001144204-19-022341.txt
|
||||
[^7]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2020, filed April 30, 2021 (accession 0001493152-21-010202). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315221010202/0001493152-21-010202.txt ; Form 1-K for fiscal 2021, filed May 2, 2022 (accession 0001493152-22-011769). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315222011769/0001493152-22-011769.txt
|
||||
[^8]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023, liquidity sections; Form 1-SA for the six months ended June 30, 2026, filed September 18, 2026 (accession 0001493152-26-043283). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000149315226043283/0001493152-26-043283.txt
|
||||
[^9]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2019, filed June 12, 2020 (accession 0001104659-20-072815). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000110465920072815/0001104659-20-072815.txt
|
||||
[^10]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2022 (accession 0001493152-23-014729), fiscal 2023 (0001493152-24-016672), fiscal 2024 (0001641172-25-005183) and fiscal 2025 (0001493152-26-019571), compensation of directors sections. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001710274&type=1-K
|
||||
[^11]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2021, 2024 and 2025, sections headed "U.S. Army Cooperative Research and Development Agreement"; Form 1-SA for the six months ended June 30, 2026 (accession 0001493152-26-043283) for the 2026 DeLonge loans and the 1-K for fiscal 2025 for the DeLonge Promissory Note.
|
||||
[^12]: Form 1-K for fiscal 2018 Items 1 and 5 and the financial statement note on related parties; repeated in the fiscal 2019 report.
|
||||
[^13]: Exhibit 6.28, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement No. 19-15, to Form 1-A/A filed August 3, 2020 (accession 0001104659-20-089220). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000110465920089220/tm2023098d2_ex6-28.htm
|
||||
[^14]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously. The October 11, 2017 date and the Seattle venue are from a secondary summary, not yet checked against TTSA's own materials. Lewis-Kraus's account of the hotel meeting derives from Kean.
|
||||
[^15]: Bender, Bryan. "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* December 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111
|
||||
[^16]: Greenewald, John, Jr. The Black Vault, June 14, 2019. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/pentagon-reinforces-mr-luis-elizondo-had-no-responsibilities-on-aatip-senator-harry-reids-2009-memo-changes-nothing
|
||||
[^17]: SEC EDGAR company page, CIK 1710274 (Atom feed and full-text search, run October 3, 2026). https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=1710274&type=1-A
|
||||
[^18]: To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science Inc. Offering Circular dated September 29, 2017, Form 253G2, file no. 024-10728. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420417050693/v476177_253g2.htm (read October 3, 2026; EDGAR submissions index https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001710274.json).
|
||||
[^19]: The Galileo Project, October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ The two accounts differ on the date. The introduction places the envelope's post
|
|||
|
||||
### Defense work
|
||||
|
||||
A trade-press item reproduced on the site of the Salisbury archive reports that Varo, Inc., Garland, Texas, developed the "Varotron," a device generating infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation by passing an electron beam over a grating, described by its inventor [[Winfield W. Salisbury]] in a report at the "recent American Optical Society meeting in [[Rochester, New York|Rochester, N. Y.]]," and covered by U.S. Patent No. 2,634,372, issued to Salisbury in 1953. The item says the device "appears to have application to communications and possibly exotic weapons, similar to optical masers (lasers)." The same archive lists Salisbury's position at Varo from 1958 to 1965 as "Research and Development in Radiation Weapons for [[U.S. Air Force]]; Chief Scientist."[^3] Later Varo night vision products included the Noctron series, for which Varo, Inc. filed trademark applications on March 5, 1973 (Noctron IV, a night vision passive viewer using a multiple stage image intensifier) and May 5, 1980 (Noctron V, a second generation viewer using microchannel plate image tube technology).[^5]
|
||||
A trade-press item reproduced on the site of the Salisbury archive reports that Varo, Inc., Garland, Texas, developed the "Varotron," a device generating infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation by passing an electron beam over a grating, described by its inventor [[Winfield W. Salisbury]] in a report at the "recent American Optical Society meeting in [[Rochester, New York|Rochester, N. Y.]]," and covered by U.S. Patent No. 2,634,372, issued to Salisbury in 1953. The item says the device "appears to have application to communications and possibly exotic weapons, similar to optical masers (lasers)." The same archive lists Salisbury's position at Varo from 1958 to 1965 as "Research and Development in Radiation Weapons for [[U.S. Air Force]]; Chief Scientist."[^3] Later Varo night vision products included the Noctron series, for which Varo, Inc. filed trademark applications on March 5, 1973 (Noctron IV, a night vision passive viewer using a multiple stage image intensifier) and May 5, 1980 (Noctron V, a second generation viewer using microchannel plate image tube technology), serial numbers 72450566 and 73260816. The full list of Varo Inc. marks also includes AMP-CHAMP (filed March 6, 1963, portable engine generators), SAR and IBR (March 17, 1964, silicon avalanche rectifiers and integrated bridge rectifiers), "V" (June 11, 1969, silicon diodes, semiconductors, integrated circuits, electric motors, power supplies and transformers), "V VARO" (March 5, 1973, research services in electricity, electronics, optics, electrooptics, electromechanics and microwave), "V VARO" and "VARO" (May 24, 1982, image converters, image intensifiers, ultraviolet detectors, reticles and electro-optical test apparatus), NITE-EYE (May 31, 1985, a passive low level light viewer and magnifier) and NIGHTHAWK (April 3, 1989, a battery-operated rifle sight system).[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Unsigned "Introduction" to the Annotated Edition, in M. K. Jessup, The Case for the UFO, Varo Edition, transcribed by the Quantum Future Group, 2003, pp. 7 to 9, https://archive.org/details/THECASEFORTHEUFOVaroEditionM.K.Jessup (djvu text, reread 2026-10-03).
|
||||
[^2]: Gray Barker, preface dated July 1973, same volume, pp. 2 to 6.
|
||||
[^3]: "Winfield W. Salisbury at Varo, Garland, Texas, 1958-1965," Salisbury archive page with reproduced trade-press item (publication and date of the item not shown on the page), https://mail.smecc.org/salisbury_at_varo.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Naval Research Reviews, vol. 9, no. 1 (January 1956), "New Chief of Naval Research," p. 22, https://www.onr.navy.mil/media/document/naval-research-reviews-vol-9-no-1-january-1956
|
||||
[^5]: Varo Inc. trademark filings, Justia Trademarks owner listing, https://trademark.justia.com/owners/varo-inc-79620 (the page returns 403 to command-line fetches; filing dates and descriptions taken from a search summary of the listing, not independently opened).
|
||||
[^5]: Varo Inc. trademark filings, Justia Trademarks owner listing, https://trademark.justia.com/owners/varo-inc-79620 (the page returns 403 to command-line fetches; the full list of eleven marks, all shown as owned by Varo Inc., was saved from the vault owner's browser on October 3, 2026 and read from that file).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,23 +8,49 @@ tags:
|
|||
- ColdWar
|
||||
summary: "The CIA behavioral control program that succeeded MKULTRA in 1964 under Richard Helms, retaining the most sensitive chemical and biological development activities until Gottlieb terminated it in June 1972."
|
||||
location: Washington, D.C.
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Office of Naval Research]]"
|
||||
start: 1971-02-26
|
||||
end: 1972-06-23
|
||||
role: "Navy conduit for up to 117,938 dollars of CIA funds to a Massachusetts contractor, in part under the OFTEN label"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Edgewood Arsenal]]"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1973
|
||||
role: "Edgewood Arsenal Research Laboratories took part in the MKCHICKWIT and MKOFTEN work, including testing of the compound EA 3167"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-06-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-06-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
MKSEARCH was the [[CIA]] program that succeeded [[MKULTRA]] in June 1964, when [[Richard Helms]] agreed to a new charter on the condition that it be almost the same as the old one. He kept the approval process within his control and made sure files would remain inside [[TSS]]. [[Sidney Gottlieb|Sid Gottlieb]] regrouped the most sensitive behavioral activities under the MKSEARCH umbrella, pruning away programs of insufficient sensitivity and turning exotic research over to the Science Directorate. He chose to continue seven projects, emphasizing chemical and biological substances valued for their ability to disorient, discredit, injure, or kill.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Seven Subprojects
|
||||
|
||||
First was the safehouse program for drug testing run by [[George White]] and others in the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Even in 1964, Gottlieb and Helms had not given up hope that unwitting experiments could be resumed, paying $30,000 that year to keep the safehouses open. The San Francisco operation stayed active until June 1965, and the New York safehouse until the following year. Second was a $150,000-a-year contract with a Baltimore biological laboratory that gave TSS "quick-delivery capability" for large-scale production of microorganisms, a private alternative to [[Fort Detrick]] that kept the Army from knowing what the CIA was producing. Third was Dr. James Hamilton, the San Francisco psychiatrist who arranged access to prisoners at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville for clinical testing of "behavioral control materials." In a six-month span in 1967 and 1968, he spent over $10,000 in CIA funds on between 400 and 1,000 inmates.[^1]
|
||||
First was the safehouse program for drug testing run by [[George White]] and others in the [[Federal Bureau of Narcotics]]. Even in 1964, Gottlieb and Helms had not given up hope that unwitting experiments could be resumed, paying $30,000 that year to keep the safehouses open. The [[San Francisco]] operation stayed active until June 1965, and the New York safehouse until the following year. Second was a $150,000-a-year contract with a Baltimore biological laboratory that gave [[Office of Technical Service|TSS]] "quick-delivery capability" for large-scale production of microorganisms, a private alternative to [[Fort Detrick]] that kept the Army from knowing what the CIA was producing. Third was Dr. James Hamilton, the San Francisco psychiatrist who arranged access to prisoners at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville for clinical testing of "behavioral control materials." In a six-month span in 1967 and 1968, he spent over $10,000 in CIA funds on between 400 and 1,000 inmates.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Fourth was a prominent industrialist who custom-manufactured rare chemicals, supplying the Agency with 3 kilos of a deadly carbamate in 1960, the same poison [[Stanley Lovell|OSS's Stanley Lovell]] had tried to use against Hitler. Fifth was Dr. [[Maitland Baldwin]], the brain surgeon who performed lobotomies on apes, put them in sensory deprivation, and beamed radio frequency energy directly at chimpanzee brains. Sixth was Dr. Charles Geschickter, who tested powerful drugs on mental defectives and terminal cancer patients at Georgetown University Hospital and whose family foundation channeled $2.1 million to other researchers. Seventh was Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, who tested drugs on inmates of the Federal penitentiary in [[Atlanta]] and the Bordentown reformatory, and sat on the FDA committee that allocated LSD for scientific research.[^1]
|
||||
Fourth was a prominent industrialist who custom-manufactured rare chemicals, supplying the Agency with 3 kilos of a deadly carbamate in 1960, the same poison [[Stanley Lovell|OSS's Stanley Lovell]] had tried to use against Hitler. Fifth was Dr. [[Maitland Baldwin]], the brain surgeon who performed lobotomies on apes, put them in sensory deprivation, and beamed radio frequency energy directly at chimpanzee brains. Sixth was Dr. Charles Geschickter, who tested powerful drugs on mental defectives and terminal cancer patients at Georgetown University Hospital and whose family foundation channeled $2.1 million to other researchers. Seventh was Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, who tested drugs on inmates of the Federal penitentiary in [[Atlanta]] and the Bordentown reformatory, and sat on the FDA committee that allocated [[LSD]] for scientific research.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Dissolution
|
||||
|
||||
MKSEARCH continued through the 1960s with a steadily decreasing budget: $250,000 in 1964, down to $110,000 and four subprojects in 1972. In June 1972, Gottlieb decided to end it, writing: "It has become very clear that these materials and techniques are too unpredictable in their effect on individual human beings, under specific circumstances, to be operationally useful. Our operations officers, particularly the emerging group of new senior operations officers, have shown a discerning and perhaps commendable distaste for utilizing these materials and techniques." He noted moral and ethical considerations and the extreme sensitivity and security constraints that effectively ruled out such operations.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Before retiring, Gottlieb and Helms mutually agreed to destroy all documentary traces of MKULTRA. Seven boxes of substantive records were incinerated, but seven more containing invoices and financial records survived due to misfiling. These surviving records eventually formed the basis for public revelations about the programs.[^1]
|
||||
Before retiring, Gottlieb and Helms mutually agreed to destroy all documentary traces of [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]]. Seven boxes of substantive records were incinerated, but seven more containing invoices and financial records survived due to misfiling. These surviving records eventually formed the basis for public revelations about the programs.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Department of Defense search, 1977
|
||||
|
||||
In a memorandum for the Secretary of Defense dated September 20, 1977, signed by the [[Department of Defense]] [[General Counsel]], [[Deanne C. Siemer]], the Office of General Counsel reported on a search of Army, Navy and Air Force records from 1950 to the present, conducted from August 15 to September 15, 1977 at the request of the Secretary after the [[Director of Central Intelligence]], [[Stansfield Turner]], testified on August 3, 1977 to a joint session of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] and the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research that documents had been found on drug experiments on human subjects. The memorandum lists the codewords as the Director described them: MKSEARCH, MKOFTEN and MKCHICKWIT as projects with Defense Department contact, and MKULTRA, MKDELTA and [[MKNAOMI]] as primarily CIA projects. It dates MKDELTA to October 1952, MKULTRA to April 1953 and the late 1960s, MKNAOMI to the 1950s through 1969 for biological projects, and MKSEARCH to 1965 through 1973, with MKCHICKWIT ("to identify new drug developments in Europe and Asia and to obtain information and samples") and MKOFTEN ("to test the behavioral and toxicological effects of certain drugs on animals and humans") described as parts of MKSEARCH. It states that the three codeword projects were "planned, directed and controlled by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The memorandum reports three Army programs from 1969 to 1973, five Navy programs from 1947 to 1973 and none in the Air Force; in four of the eight, Defense Department participation "was limited to channeling funds to outside contractors in order that the sponsorship of the Central Intelligence Agency be covered." Army and Navy investigators began searching boxes of CIA financial records marked OFTEN and CHICKWIT on August 4, 1977, and on September 7 were allowed to search additional boxes of MKULTRA records.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The Army programs, all at or through [[Edgewood Arsenal]] Research Laboratories, were the identification of new drugs with behavioral effects (1967 to 1973, carried out mainly by a contractor in California, funded jointly by the Army and the CIA, which supplied 12,084 dollars in 1967 and 5,000 dollars in 1969, with no testing on human subjects; part of MKCHICKWIT); the building of computer data bases on pharmacological products (about 1968 to 1971, with CIA transfers in 1968, 1970 and 1971; part of MKOFTEN); and the determination of clinical effects of a glycolate-class chemical (1971 to 1973, funded by the CIA; part of MKOFTEN). In the third, Edgewood had tested a compound designated EA 3167 on animals, on human volunteers at [[Holmesburg Prison]] in [[Philadelphia]] using prisoners and at Edgewood using military personnel; the CIA reviewed the work in 1971 and transferred 37,000 dollars to Edgewood for further testing, mostly on animals, including whether the compound could be applied through the skin on adhesive tape, and the documents record one human experiment in June 1973 in which two military volunteers "were apparently tested." The Army document list (Appendix A, nine items) includes a 1966 annual report to the Edgewood Medical Research Laboratory from Duhring Laboratories of the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and an August 1975 note from Colonel McClure, Director of Biomedical at Edgewood, to Ed Owens on "Agent 3167."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The five Navy programs, run through the [[Office of Naval Research]] as a funds conduit in most cases, were the synthesis of analogs of central nervous system stimulants (1971 to January 1973, a contractor in Massachusetts, with up to 117,938 dollars from the CIA between February 26, 1971 and June 23, 1972; the CIA authorization stated that funding through ONR "protects the Agency's association with this area of research and provides the contractor with credible sponsorship"); a search for a nonaddictive substitute for codeine (1954 to at least 1964, at the Addiction Research Center of the [[United States Public Health Service]] Hospital in [[Lexington, Kentucky]], with at least 282,215 dollars from the CIA and about 800 compounds tested on addicted patients); a study of the effects of blast concussion (October 1954 to December 1955, a contractor in California, 20,000 dollars from the CIA, after which the work became MKULTRA subproject 54 on the CIA's decision that "human experiments of a type not easily justifiable on medical-therapeutic grounds" were expected); the administration of LSD to human subjects (1952 to about 1956, a researcher in New York, MKULTRA subprojects 7, 27 and 40, with the Navy named as sponsor in one later CIA document that is not otherwise corroborated); and the development of speech-inducing drugs (1947 to 1953, funded by the Navy through the Naval Medical Research Institute, a New York contractor under the cover of a motion-sickness study, with the CIA records in the BLUEBIRD and [[Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke|ARTICHOKE]] files). The last item includes the memorandum's account that in August 1952 the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] told the CIA that it had drugs it was about to test on human subjects "who would be unaware," that about eight Soviet defectors received them in Europe in September 1952, and that the tests were not satisfactory because the drugs tasted too bitter to conceal. The Navy document list (Appendix B) has 42 items, among them a May 15, 1957 report of Gross Research Laboratories, Inc., "On the Impact Thresholds of Brain Concussion," and records of the [[University of Rochester]] motion-sickness studies of 1951 to 1953.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The memorandum concludes that no Defense Department component or contractor then maintained a drug-testing program on human subjects in which the CIA was involved.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, Chapter 12.
|
||||
[^2]: General Counsel of the Department of Defense (signed by Deanne C. Siemer), memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, "Experimentation Programs Conducted by the Department of Defense That Had CIA Sponsorship or Participation and That Involved the Administration to Human Subjects of Drugs Intended for Mind-control or Behavior-modification Purposes," September 20, 1977, with Appendices A and B (Army and Navy document lists) and C (CIA documents), 17 pages, release file 02-A-0846, supplied by the vault owner and read on October 3, 2026 (text layer, first and last memorandum pages by image; names in the typed text are as the scan reads, some with OCR damage).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -10,9 +10,13 @@ tags:
|
|||
category: "Intelligence Operation"
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- AATIP
|
||||
- Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program
|
||||
- AAWSAP
|
||||
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program
|
||||
- Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program
|
||||
- AAITP
|
||||
- Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program
|
||||
- HHM402-08-C-0072
|
||||
summary: "Defense Intelligence Agency program, formally AAWSAP, funded from fiscal 2008 with 22 million dollars at Harry Reid's direction and contracted to Robert Bigelow's BAASS, whose UFO and paranormal work AARO later reviewed."
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
end: 2012
|
||||
|
|
@ -40,6 +44,19 @@ relations:
|
|||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "program head, in Elizondo's account"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Luis Elizondo]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
end: 2012
|
||||
role: "counterintelligence and security officer from 2009, in his account, later taking the remnants into his portfolio in the Office of the Secretary of Defense"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Jay Stratton]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
role: "recruiter of Elizondo and author of the AAWSAP report on the 2004 Nimitz encounter, in Elizondo's account"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
|
|
@ -51,11 +68,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 2008-09-22
|
||||
end: 2010-12-21
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-02
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- AAITP
|
||||
- Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program
|
||||
- HHM402-08-C-0072
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is the name under which the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA) program formally called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program (AAWSAP) became public in December 2017. The [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] (AARO) found in 2024 that "the names AAWSAP and AATIP have been used interchangeably for the name of this program, including on official documentation," but that "unlike AAWSAP, AATIP was never an official [[Department of Defense|DoD]] program." [[Luis Elizondo]], who has described himself as the program's later head, presents AATIP as a clandestine [[Pentagon]] program that investigated [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP) from 2007 to 2012.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -63,7 +76,7 @@ The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is the name under w
|
|||
|
||||
AARO's account: "At the direction of [[United States Senate|Senate]] Majority Leader [[Harry Reid]] (D-NV), the Defense Appropriations Acts of Fiscal Years 2008 and 2010 appropriated $22 million for the DIA to assess long-term and over-the-horizon foreign advanced aerospace threats to the [[United States]]. In coordination with the [[Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence]], DIA established AAWSAP in 2009, which was also known AATIP. The contract for this DIA-managed program was awarded to a private sector organization." Its stated purpose was "to investigate potential next generation aerospace technologies in 12 specific areas," among them advanced lift, propulsion, unconventional materials and controls, and signature reduction.[^2] The solicitation and statement of work for the contract, HHM402-08-R-0211, are listed with the date August 22, 2008, and the original order with the date September 1, 2008.[^3] The order form (Standard Form 1449) gives a solicitation issue date of September 1, 2008, an offer due date of September 10, 2008 and an award date of September 22, 2008, and a DIA talking paper dates the request for proposals August 18, 2008.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that the program was established at the behest of Reid, [[Ted Stevens]] and [[Daniel Inouye]], who secured the 22 million dollars; that it was run out of DIA under [[James Lacatski]], a rocket scientist; and that its primary contractor was [[Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies]] (BAASS), owned by [[Robert Bigelow]], whose chief scientist was [[Hal Puthoff]]. He wrote that he was recruited in early 2009 to handle counterintelligence and security and later took over leadership after Lacatski was forced to step down under internal pressure.[^1] [[Steven Aftergood]] of the [[Federation of American Scientists]] wrote in 2019 that "from 2007 to 2012, the DIA spent $22 million on the activity," which "was apparently initiated at the behest of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with most of the funding directed to a [[Nevada]] constituent of his."[^6]
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that the program was established at the behest of Reid, [[Ted Stevens]] and [[Daniel Inouye]], who funded it (the 22 million dollar figure and the year 2008 appear in the foreword by [[Christopher Mellon]], not in Elizondo's own chapters); that it was run out of DIA under [[James Lacatski]], a rocket scientist; and that its primary contractor was [[Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies]] (BAASS), owned by [[Robert Bigelow]], whose chief scientist was [[Hal Puthoff]]. He wrote that he was recruited in early 2009 to handle counterintelligence and security and later took over leadership after Lacatski was forced to step down under internal pressure.[^1] [[Steven Aftergood]] of the [[Federation of American Scientists]] wrote in 2019 that "from 2007 to 2012, the DIA spent $22 million on the activity," which "was apparently initiated at the behest of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with most of the funding directed to a [[Nevada]] constituent of his."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 24, 2009, Reid wrote to Deputy Secretary of Defense [[William Lynn]] asking that AAWSAP/AATIP be made a Defense Department [[Special Access Programs|Special Access Program]]. Lynn declined on the recommendation of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, [[James Clapper|James R. Clapper, Jr.]], that such a designation was not justified.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -83,25 +96,41 @@ Elizondo gives a different account. He wrote that the program faced opposition f
|
|||
|
||||
AARO's note on program names states: "after AAWSAP was cancelled, the AATIP moniker was used by some individuals associated with an informal, unofficial UAP community of interest within DoD that researched UAP sightings from military observers as part of their ancillary job duties. This effort was not a recognized, official program, and had no dedicated personnel or budget."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Names, offices and dates in Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Stratton told him in early 2009 that he had helped create AAWSAP and that the program reported "directly to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and to Congress"; that James Lacatski handpicked "a small cadre of intelligence officers" to oversee the contractors; and that the program's backers at DIA included the director, Lieutenant General [[Michael D. Maples]], and Deputy Director [[Robert Cardillo]], whose memoranda "initially referred to the effort in positive terms," some bearing a handwritten note reading "Excited to see the results."[^7] He wrote that Hal Puthoff commissioned the thirty-eight DIRDs on subjects including invisibility cloaking, traversable wormholes and stargates, antigravity, brain/machine interfaces and warp drives, and "made sure these studies could be applied to any conceivable weapon system, not just UAP" as a layer of protection.[^7] AARO's account of the same papers is given above.
|
||||
|
||||
He wrote that the program's position at DIA changed within thirty to forty-five days after a senior official he calls "Devon Woods," formerly of the [[Director of National Intelligence|Office of the Director of National Intelligence]], became a senior director or deputy director at DIA in 2010 on the departure of James Clapper to become Director of National Intelligence, and brought colleagues from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]; that Lacatski then spent most of his time "defending his efforts"; that in the fall of 2009 Elizondo and Stratton had urged Lacatski to drop investigations "that many considered to be dealing with the paranormal," including the work at Skinwalker Ranch, in favor of UAP threats, and Lacatski declined; that in spring 2010 Lacatski told him he was being pressured to stop and was to meet Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn; and that "Woods" told him that day, "It's demonic," in a hallway in the Pentagon.[^8] He identified the Collins Elite as a circle of religious fundamentalists in the Defense Department whose existence he had at first doubted, and wrote that he later learned several members were former colleagues and "even a former supervisor of mine."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Robert Bigelow "spent much of his own money fronting some of the costs for AAWSAP," which detractors in the Defense Department counted against the program, and that AAWSAP "gained access to a database of civilian eyewitness accounts" whose names had allegedly been stripped before the records were uploaded to Defense Department databases "by someone in AAWSAP's government chain of command," which he wrote would, if true, violate Defense Department regulations and possibly Executive Order 12333; he described the resulting "oversight nightmare" as "largely manufactured by the enemies of AAWSAP at DIA."[^9] He described a physician he calls Will Livingston as a medical advisor to AAWSAP/AATIP and to Bigelow's [[National Institute for Discovery Science]].[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On the end of the contract, he wrote that the original money "was programmed for the years 2008 to 12"; that in 2010 he, Stratton and the engineer he calls John Robert decided to "move the remnants of the effort away from DIA" into his own portfolio of national programs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with Puthoff, Livingston and Eric Davis as the only contractors retained; that he asked Michael Higgins, then the DIA Director of Operations, to protect Lacatski; that Stratton drafted appropriations language, as Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance work, that obtained a further 10 million dollars from Harry Reid, which "another DoD program had absconded" because the bill language was ambiguous; and that [[Neill Tipton]]'s superior John Pede told him the money was "being used to pay for some academic studies."[^10] He wrote that he, Stratton and a few others continued to run AATIP "under the proverbial radar" from his portfolio, that in 2017 Tipton agreed to take over its duties, an arrangement Elizondo documented with emails released in May 2024 after a FOIA appeal, and that the Pentagon spokesperson [[Christopher Sherwood]] denied in 2019 that he had any AATIP responsibilities; AARO's 2024 finding that AATIP was "never an official DoD program" is stated above.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### KONA BLUE
|
||||
|
||||
After the cancellation, the program's supporters proposed to the [[Department of Homeland Security]] a new version under a Special Access Program, codenamed [[KONA BLUE]], which would restart UAP investigations and paranormal research, including "human consciousness anomalies," and reverse-engineer any recovered off-world craft. A Prospective Special Access Program was officially requested; according to AARO, the proposal package and its originator stated that Senators [[Joseph Lieberman]] and Reid had asked for it "with the promise of additional funding." DHS leadership rejected it "for lacking merit," and "no data or material was transferred to DHS." AARO wrote that more modern claims of hidden recovered spacecraft "largely stem from a consistent group of individuals who have been involved in various UAP-related endeavors since at least 2009," many of them "involved in or supportive of a cancelled DIA program" and of KONA BLUE.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Public disclosure
|
||||
|
||||
The program's existence was reported by [[Helene Cooper]], [[Ralph Blumenthal]] and [[Leslie Kean]] in "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program," published by the *[[New York Times]]* on December 16, 2017, after Elizondo's resignation; the article accompanied the release of three UAP videos.[^1][^6] AARO's Historical Record Report, Volume I, dated February 2024 and cleared for publication on March 6, 2024, dates the modern era of UAP investigation from "the standup of" AAWSAP and AATIP in 2009, after a gap of about forty years since the end of Project Blue Book in 1969.[^2]
|
||||
The program's existence was reported by [[Helene Cooper]], [[Ralph Blumenthal]] and [[Leslie Kean]] in "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program," published by the *[[New York Times]]* on December 16, 2017, after Elizondo's resignation; the article carried two Navy videos, "FLIR1" and "[[GIMBAL]]"; "GOFAST" followed in March 2018.[^1][^6][^12] The Department of Defense stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos that had been circulating in the public domain after "unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017," and Politico reported in 2021 that [[Washington Headquarters Services]] had approved them "for unlimited distribution" within the government.[^12][^13] AARO's Historical Record Report, Volume I, dated February 2024 and cleared for publication on March 6, 2024, dates the modern era of UAP investigation from "the standup of" AAWSAP and AATIP in 2009, after a gap of about forty years since the end of Project Blue Book in 1969.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Placement chain and disputed dates
|
||||
|
||||
Politico's December 2017 article names the program the "Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program"; the Times placed the program's start in 2007; Politico's same-day article dated the appropriation to 2009; [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] wrote that the 22 million dollars were set aside in the 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill, with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies the only bidder on the [[Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program]], and that Luis Elizondo took the program over from 2010. Pentagon spokesperson [[Susan Gough]] told [[The Black Vault]] in June 2019 that AATIP was administered by the Defense Intelligence Agency and that Elizondo "was never assigned to DIA"; Hal Puthoff told the same outlet he had worked under the program as contractor and senior adviser.[^14][^15][^16]
|
||||
|
||||
The article was placed after an October 4, 2017 meeting arranged by Christopher Mellon between Leslie Kean and Elizondo, Puthoff and [[Jim Semivan]], and after Mellon, a paid adviser to [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]], had shown the story to several outlets; Politico and the Times published on December 16, 2017. The Times carried two videos (FLIR1 and GIMBAL), GOFAST was published in March 2018, and the Department of Defense, in its April 27, 2020 statement, "authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos" that had been "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017"; Politico (2021) reports that Washington Headquarters Services had approved them "for unlimited distribution" within the government. See [[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]] for the sequence, the Pentagon statements of Dana White (2017), Christopher Sherwood (June 1, 2019) and Gough (June 13, 2019), and the denials beside each.[^17][^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Contract number and structure
|
||||
|
||||
DIA's own briefings identify the awarded contract as HHM402-08-C-0072; the solicitation, HHM402-08-R-0211, is the number used in the [[The Black Vault|Black Vault]]'s index and in DIA's FOIA response letter. A DIA talking paper of May 4, 2009 states that DIA published its request for proposals on August 18, 2008 and "received only one bid." The order, signed September 22, 2008, is firm fixed price with one base year and one option year and names the [[NSA]] Finance and Accounting Office as paying office; block 26 gives a total award amount of 21,948,810 dollars on the copy released in FOIA-00269-2018 and 10,000,000 dollars on the copy attached to modification P00001. DIA's talking points describe the funding as a 10 million dollar supplemental appropriation sponsored by Senators Reid and Inouye in July 2008 and a 12 million dollar add in the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act.[^4][^5] [[USASpending.gov|USAspending.gov]], which carries contract records from fiscal 2008, returns no award for this contract number or for the contractor, and the first-year payments were "equal amount monthly payments."[^7]
|
||||
DIA's own briefings identify the awarded contract as HHM402-08-C-0072; the solicitation, HHM402-08-R-0211, is the number used in the Black Vault's index and in DIA's FOIA response letter. A DIA talking paper of May 4, 2009 states that DIA published its request for proposals on August 18, 2008 and "received only one bid." The order, signed September 22, 2008, is firm fixed price with one base year and one option year and names the [[NSA]] Finance and Accounting Office as paying office; block 26 gives a total award amount of 21,948,810 dollars on the copy released in FOIA-00269-2018 and 10,000,000 dollars on the copy attached to modification P00001. DIA's talking points describe the funding as a 10 million dollar supplemental appropriation sponsored by Senators Reid and Inouye in July 2008 and a 12 million dollar add in the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act.[^4][^5] [[USASpending.gov|USAspending.gov]], which carries contract records from fiscal 2008, returns no award for this contract number or for the contractor, and the first-year payments were "equal amount monthly payments."[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Planned Special Access Program
|
||||
|
||||
Attachment 1 to Reid's June 24, 2009 letter proposed program length "FY09 to FY13 (Preliminary)," with funding "FY09 O&M, FY10-FY13 TBD." An August 24, 2009 DIA briefing slide lists as a program management issue that "program will likely become SAP by June 2010."[^8][^9]
|
||||
Attachment 1 to Reid's June 24, 2009 letter proposed program length "FY09 to FY13 (Preliminary)," with funding "FY09 O&M, FY10-FY13 TBD." An August 24, 2009 DIA briefing slide lists as a program management issue that "program will likely become SAP by June 2010."[^19][^20]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding of the option year
|
||||
|
||||
Modification P00002 (February 2, 2010), which funded option year 1, directed the contractor to identify "impacts to deliverables as a result of reduced funding for Option Year 1." The contract was extended without added funds to December 21, 2010 by modification P00005 (September 28, 2010).[^10]
|
||||
Modification P00002 (February 2, 2010), which funded option year 1, directed the contractor to identify "impacts to deliverables as a result of reduced funding for Option Year 1." The contract was extended without added funds to December 21, 2010 by modification P00005 (September 28, 2010).[^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -111,7 +140,18 @@ Modification P00002 (February 2, 2010), which funded option year 1, directed the
|
|||
[^4]: DIA Standard Form 1449, order HHM402-08-C-0072, September 22, 2008 (FOIA-00269-2018). https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00269-2018-.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: DIA Talking Paper, May 4, 2009; and OUSD(I) final packet, November 17, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DR_Reid_Mtg_May09.pdf and https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/09117-Final_Packet_Presented_to_DepSecDef.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Aftergood, Steven. "More Light on Black Program to Track UFOs," Federation of American Scientists, January 17, 2019. https://fas.org/publication/aatip-list/
|
||||
[^7]: USAspending.gov award search by award identifier, recipient name and keyword (HHM402, "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System," "Advanced Space Studies"), fiscal 2008 to 2026, no results; DIA briefing of December 16, 2008. https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/search/spending_by_award/ and https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DI_Brief_2008.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: Senator Harry Reid to William J. Lynn III, June 24, 2009, Attachment 1. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/20090624_Reid_to_DEPSECDEF_ref_AAITP_in_SAP.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: DIA briefing "Aerospace Contract Status," August 24, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_24Aug09.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Modifications in FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 5 to 14 (recruitment) and 58 to 59 (DIRDs at pp. 58 to 59; Maples and Cardillo memoranda at p. 59). Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^8]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 59 to 60, 80 to 84 (Collins Elite at pp. 80 to 81; Woods at pp. 60 and 82 to 84; Lynn meeting and "demonic" at pp. 83 to 84).
|
||||
[^9]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 84 to 86 and 90 (Bigelow at pp. 84 to 86; eyewitness database at p. 85; Will at p. 90).
|
||||
[^10]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 86 to 89 (funding programmed for 2008 to 2012 at p. 88; Higgins at p. 87; the 10 million dollars, Tipton and Pede at pp. 88 to 89).
|
||||
[^11]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 192, 202 and 217 (Tipton at p. 192; Sherwood at p. 217); photograph captions on the emails released in May 2024.
|
||||
[^12]: Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^13]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/).
|
||||
[^14]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously
|
||||
[^15]: Greenewald, John, Jr. The Black Vault, June 14, 2019. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/pentagon-reinforces-mr-luis-elizondo-had-no-responsibilities-on-aatip-senator-harry-reids-2009-memo-changes-nothing
|
||||
[^16]: Bender, Bryan. "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs." *Politico,* December 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111
|
||||
[^17]: Bender, Bryan. *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^18]: USAspending.gov award search by award identifier, recipient name and keyword (HHM402, "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System," "Advanced Space Studies"), fiscal 2008 to 2026, no results; DIA briefing of December 16, 2008. https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/search/spending_by_award/ and https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/DI_Brief_2008.pdf
|
||||
[^19]: Senator Harry Reid to William J. Lynn III, June 24, 2009, Attachment 1. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/20090624_Reid_to_DEPSECDEF_ref_AAITP_in_SAP.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: DIA briefing "Aerospace Contract Status," August 24, 2009. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/Contract_Status_24Aug09.pdf
|
||||
[^21]: Modifications in FOIA-00349-2018. https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/FOIA-00349-2018.pdf
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ aliases:
|
|||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- Prosecutor's Management Information System
|
||||
created: 2024-04-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- PROMIS
|
||||
- INSLAW
|
||||
|
|
@ -14,9 +14,15 @@ tags:
|
|||
- CIA
|
||||
- DOJ
|
||||
category: "Information System"
|
||||
summary: "PROMIS (Prosecutor's Management Information System) was a case management software developed by INSLAW beginning in 1971 that became the center of a major legal and intelligence scandal after the U.S. Justice Department allegedly stole the proprietary version and distributed it internationally with a hidden surveillance backdoor."
|
||||
summary: "Case management software developed by INSLAW from 1971 that became the center of a legal and intelligence scandal after the Justice Department allegedly took the proprietary version and distributed it abroad with a hidden backdoor."
|
||||
start: 1971-01-01
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Office of Data Processing (CIA)]]"
|
||||
start: 1981-03-30
|
||||
role: "listed as 'Promis (Online), Generalized Tracking System,' FSWEC-80/0092, in the September 1980 Federal Software Exchange Catalog subject index circulated as Attachment B to memorandum ODP-81-307"
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
---
|
||||
PROMIS (Prosecutor's Management Information System) was a pioneering case management software system developed in the 1970s and 80s by [[INSLAW|The Institute for Law and Social Research]] (INSLAW). The software was originally designed to help the [[U.S. Attorney's office]] in DC automate and streamline their case management processes. This expanded across the country and internationally. However, it later became embroiled in controversy, theft, and conspiracy theories.
|
||||
### Origins and Development
|
||||
|
|
@ -40,7 +46,7 @@ In February 1973, US Attorney for DC [[Harold H. Titus Jr]] made the decision to
|
|||
|
||||
- Enhanced version funded by LEAA to make the system transferable to other jurisdictions.
|
||||
- Still primarily batch-oriented, but added online inquiry capabilities so users could look up case status and defendant information interactively.
|
||||
- Implemented in New Orleans and Indianapolis.
|
||||
- Implemented in [[New Orleans]] and Indianapolis.
|
||||
- New Orleans ran PROMIS II on a DEC PDP-11/70 minicomputer dedicated to the prosecutor's office.
|
||||
- Indianapolis operated PROMIS II on the city's IBM mainframe in a time-sharing mode.
|
||||
### MINI-PROMIS (late 1970s)
|
||||
|
|
@ -100,7 +106,15 @@ In September 1987, Bankruptcy Judge George Francis Bason, Jr. ruled that DOJ had
|
|||
|
||||
The House Judiciary Committee launched a three-year investigation from 1989 to 1992, producing House Report 102-857 on September 10, 1992, which found "strong evidence" of DOJ theft and raised "serious concerns" about a high-level conspiracy. The report was unclassified and publicly available. Special Counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]], appointed in November 1991, issued a 267-page report in March 1993 finding no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing by any DOJ official. The Senate referred INSLAW's remaining claims to the Court of Federal Claims, which ruled in 1997-1998 that all PROMIS versions were in the public domain.
|
||||
|
||||
Bill Hamilton maintained INSLAW's claims publicly for decades after the formal proceedings concluded. The international backdoor distribution allegations - particularly those concerning Rafael Eitan, Robert Maxwell, and Degem - were never formally adjudicated. A 2001 report alleged that FBI double agent [[Robert Hanssen]] provided PROMIS-derived software to his Soviet KGB handlers.[^1][^2]
|
||||
Bill Hamilton maintained INSLAW's claims publicly for decades after the formal proceedings concluded. The international backdoor distribution allegations - particularly those concerning Rafael Eitan, Robert Maxwell, and Degem - were never formally adjudicated. A 2001 report alleged that [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] double agent [[Robert Hanssen]] provided PROMIS-derived software to his Soviet [[KGB]] handlers.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Listing in the Federal Software Exchange Catalog, 1980 and 1981
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum of March 30, 1981, numbered ODP-81-307 and headed "Federal Software Exchange Program," was written by the Chief, Management Staff, Office of Data Processing (ODP) of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (the signer's name is redacted in the release) to the Information Handling Systems Architect, all ADP control officers, the Chief of the ADP and Engineering Branch ("OL" in the address block), the Chief of the Information Systems Security Group of the [[CIA Office of Security|Office of Security]], and the ODP deputy directors for Applications and for Processing and its Chief of Special Projects Staff. It described the Federal Software Exchange Program, run by the Federal Software Exchange Center (FSEC) of the [[General Services Administration]], which collects federally owned or developed unclassified software and makes it available to agencies, directed ODP components to review the FSEC catalog before procuring or developing software, and stated that a CIA component obtaining software from FSEC would have to maintain it.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The attachments were a letter from Helen B. McEwan, Director of the Federal Software Exchange Program at the GSA Automated Data and Telecommunications Service in Falls Church, Virginia; a blank Standard Form 185 software abstract; and, as Attachment B, the subject index of the Federal Software Exchange Catalog of September 1980, "provided as a sample of the types of software available from the FSEC." In that index the entry "Promis (Online), Generalized Tracking System," catalog number FSWEC-80/0092, appears under the subject headings Criminal Justice, Information Systems and Records Management. The memorandum text does not mention INSLAW, the Justice Department or a developer, and the index does not identify the organization that submitted the entry. The document was approved for release on October 31, 2006 as CIA-RDP84-00933R000200180033-7.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Emma Best]] wrote in [[MuckRock]] on December 18, 2018 that the memo showed the Central Intelligence Agency "was offered PROMIS software as early as 1981," that details in the catalog entry identify it as the "wholly unrelated" Project Management Integrated System distributed by Strategic Software Planning Corporation and Digital Planning, Inc., which the CIA says is the only PROMIS it used, and that "by themselves, the memos do not indicate that the software was ever requested by anyone at the CIA or the National Security Agency."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -111,4 +125,6 @@ Bill Hamilton maintained INSLAW's claims publicly for decades after the formal p
|
|||
[^5]: "The Deep, Meaningless Rabbithole of the Inslaw/PROMIS Affair," *Investigative Economics,* 2024, on Michael Riconosciuto's arrest eight days after his affidavit and his methamphetamine conviction. https://www.investigativeeconomics.org/p/the-deep-meaningless-rabbithole-of
|
||||
[^6]: "Ex-Chief of Wire Service Convicted of Fraud Conspiracy," *The Washington Post,* October 1996, on Earl Brian's conviction for financial fraud involving the Financial News Network and United Press International. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/10/18/ex-chief-of-wire-service-convicted-of-fraud-conspiracy/314ff075-52fe-450b-8f47-b353898ccfe1/
|
||||
[^7]: "PRISM's Controversial Forerunner," *Consortium News,* 2013, on PROMIS as a conceptual forerunner of bulk data integration and the unproven trapdoor narrative. https://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/11/prisms-controversial-forerunner/
|
||||
[^8]: "The Mysterious Death of Danny Casolaro," *All That's Interesting,* on the August 1991 death, the missing notes, and the 2024 documentary *American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders*. https://allthatsinteresting.com/danny-casolaro
|
||||
[^8]: "The Mysterious Death of Danny Casolaro," *All That's Interesting,* on the August 1991 death, the missing notes, and the 2024 documentary *American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders*. https://allthatsinteresting.com/danny-casolaro
|
||||
[^9]: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Data Processing, Management Staff, memorandum ODP-81-307, "Federal Software Exchange Program," March 30, 1981, with Attachment A (letter of Helen B. McEwan, Director, Federal Software Exchange Program, General Services Administration), Standard Form 185 and instructions, and Attachment B, "Federal Software Exchange Catalog, September 1980, Subject Index," pp. SU-1 and SU-2, CIA-RDP84-00933R000200180033-7, approved for release October 31, 2006; 7-page PDF supplied by the vault owner and read on October 3, 2026 (memorandum text by text layer, index page SU-1 by image).
|
||||
[^10]: Emma Best, "Memo shows the CIA was offered PROMIS software in 1981," MuckRock, December 18, 2018, https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/dec/18/promis-81-memo/ (the article was read as an abridged text extract saved on October 3, 2026; quotations are from that extract; the embedded document viewer was not captured).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -101,10 +101,10 @@ Recent UAP encounters, domestic incidents, and contemporary events.
|
|||
| --- | --- |
|
||||
| [[Cybertruck Trump Hotel Bombing]] | January 1, 2025 explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas by active duty Army Special Ops soldier Matthew Livelsberger. |
|
||||
| [[FBI Seizes Largest Ever Explosive Cache]] | January 1, 2025 FBI announcement of the largest explosives cache seizure in bureau history. |
|
||||
| [[GIMBAL]] | Declassified UAP video captured by an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew showing an object rotating against the wind, released by the Pentagon in 2017. |
|
||||
| [[GoFast]] | Declassified UAP video captured by an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew showing an object moving at extreme speed low over the ocean, released by the Pentagon in 2017. |
|
||||
| [[GIMBAL]] | Unclassified Navy video of an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew's encounter with an object rotating against the wind, published in December 2017 and authorized for release by the Pentagon on April 27, 2020.[^1] |
|
||||
| [[GoFast]] | Unclassified Navy video of an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew's encounter with an object moving at extreme speed low over the ocean, first published in March 2018 and authorized for release April 27, 2020.[^1] |
|
||||
| [[New Orleans Truck Attack]] | January 1, 2025 terrorist attack in which Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck into crowds on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing multiple people. |
|
||||
| [[Tic Tac]] | UAP encountered by the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004, captured on video and designated 'Tic Tac' for its shape, released by the Pentagon in 2017. |
|
||||
| [[Tic Tac]] | UAP encountered by the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004, captured on video as 'Tic Tac'; the FLIR1 video was published in December 2017 and authorized for release April 27, 2020.[^1] |
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -120,3 +120,5 @@ Recent UAP encounters, domestic incidents, and contemporary events.
|
|||
| Diplomacy | 4 |
|
||||
| Terrorism | 4 |
|
||||
| Contra War | 3 |
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/ Politico reported in 2021 that Washington Headquarters Services approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "UFO & Anomalous Phenomena"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Event
|
||||
- UFO
|
||||
- UAP
|
||||
- AATIP
|
||||
- Journalism
|
||||
- NewYorkTimes
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- 2017 New York Times UFO Article
|
||||
- Glowing Auras and 'Black Money'
|
||||
- Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program
|
||||
- Real U.F.O.'s? Pentagon Unit Tried to Know
|
||||
- The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs
|
||||
- New York Times AATIP story
|
||||
- December 16, 2017 New York Times article
|
||||
- The Times UFO story
|
||||
summary: "On December 16, 2017 the New York Times and Politico published separate accounts of a Pentagon program funded at Harry Reid's request, the Times piece credited to Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
date: 2017-12-16
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "program disclosed by the article"
|
||||
start: 2017-12-16
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-03
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
The *[[New York Times]]* published "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The [[Pentagon]]'s Mysterious U.F.O. Program" online on December 16, 2017, under the bylines of [[Helene Cooper]], [[Ralph Blumenthal]] and [[Leslie Kean]]; its print version ran on page A1 of the New York edition under the headline "Real U.F.O.'s? Pentagon Unit Tried to Know," which [[Keith Kloor]] of *[[The Intercept]]* called a "lavish front-page Sunday spread on December 17, 2017."[^1][^2] The article stated that "the $22 million spent on the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] was almost impossible to find," that the program began in 2007 "largely funded at the request of [[Harry Reid]], the Nevada Democrat who was the [[United States Senate|Senate]] majority leader at the time," and that most of the money went to an aerospace company run by [[Robert Bigelow]], "a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid's." The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was run, the Times wrote, by the military intelligence official [[Luis Elizondo]], who had resigned that October.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Publication and the Pentagon's statements
|
||||
|
||||
[[Politico]] published its own account the same day, "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs," by defense editor [[Bryan Bender]], which stated that the program began in 2009 with an appropriation secured by Reid with the support of Senators [[Daniel Inouye]] and [[Ted Stevens]] and that the Pentagon had confirmed its existence "on Friday" (December 15), the two papers' reports being "nearly simultaneous." The Times placed the start in 2007 and described contracts showing an appropriation of "just under $22 million beginning in late 2008 through 2011." Bender wrote in December 2017 that "Pentagon spokeswoman [[Dana White]] confirmed to Politico that the program existed and was run by Elizondo," and quoted White as saying that the program "ended in the 2012 time frame"; a Pentagon official told Politico that [[James Mattis|Mattis]]'s receipt of Elizondo's resignation letter could not be confirmed.[^2][^3] The Times piece quoted Pentagon spokesman [[Thomas Crosson]] that the program ended because other priorities "merited funding"; Elizondo's account, in the same article, was that the work continued after formal funding stopped in 2012.[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The Times article reported that Bigelow Aerospace "hired subcontractors and solicited research" and that the company modified buildings in [[Las Vegas]] "for the storage of metal alloys and other materials that Mr. Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena." It quoted Reid's account that his interest in the subject "came from Mr. Bigelow," that in 2007 Bigelow told him a [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] official wished to visit his ranch in [[Utah]], and that he then summoned Stevens and Inouye to a secure room in the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]]; of the funding Reid said: "This was so-called black money." It reproduced Reid's 2009 request to [[Deputy Secretary of Defense]] [[William Lynn]] that the program become a "restricted special access program," a 2009 Pentagon briefing summary asserting that "what was considered science fiction is now science fact," and the statement that Reid's request "was denied." [[Sara Seager]] of [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] and [[James Oberg]] were quoted as skeptics. The article described Elizondo as having "now joined Mr. Puthoff and another former Defense Department official, Christopher K. Mellon, who was a deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence, in a new commercial venture called To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science," a venture that "aims to raise money for research into U.F.O.s." It also described a video "released in August" of a whitish oval object chased by two [[United States Navy|Navy]] F/A-18F aircraft off the [[USS Nimitz]] in 2004. Politico's article identified Mellon as "a former Democratic staff director for the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Senate Intelligence Committee]]," reported that the company's website claimed 2,142 investors who had bought "slightly more than $2 million worth of shares" with a minimum purchase of 200 dollars, and wrote that Bigelow was "a regular contributor to Reid's reelection campaigns, campaign finance records show, at least $10,000 from 1998 to 2008."[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 1, 2019 Pentagon spokesperson [[Christopher Sherwood]] told Keith Kloor of *The Intercept* that AATIP "did pursue research and investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena" but that "Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in [[Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence|OUSDI]], up until the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017." Sherwood also said he "cannot confirm" White's 2017 statement; White, Kloor noted, had since resigned from the Pentagon amid an internal probe. Kloor added that Bender, Politico's defense editor, "had a recurring role in the first episode of '[[Unidentified (TV series)|Unidentified]],'" the [[History Channel]] series on which Elizondo and Mellon appeared, "as a kind of authoritative character witness," and that Cooper had described Elizondo on the Times podcast *[[The Daily]]* as a "spooky, secretive guy." Elizondo told Kloor in 2019 that he was working as a government contractor "but it's not what you think it is"; Mellon did not respond to Kloor's request for comment.[^2] On June 13, 2019 Pentagon spokesperson [[Susan Gough]] told [[John Greenewald]] of [[The Black Vault]] that a 2009 Reid memorandum was authentic and "makes no change to previous statements," adding "DIA 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."[^5] [[Hal Puthoff]] told The Black Vault that as a contractor and senior adviser he "continued to attend meetings, provide briefings, gain access to videos" under the program; The Black Vault noted that the contracted work began in 2008 and Elizondo's claimed leadership in 2010.[^5] Bender wrote on June 2, 2019 that he expected "a much more definitive statement from the Pentagon" and that The Intercept's "assertions and innuendo" were wrong.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The placement, in sequence
|
||||
|
||||
In 2016 [[Tom DeLonge]] cold-called [[Christopher Mellon]], who told Bender in 2021: "Tom called me up out of the blue and then through him I met Jim and Hal," meaning [[Jim Semivan]] and Puthoff. Mellon, who had kept his security clearance, then met Elizondo at a Pentagon briefing.[^6] In an email from August 2017, reviewed by Politico, Elizondo described a plan for an unclassified "community of interest" database of unidentified aerial phenomena reports. Politico reported that the [[Washington Headquarters Services]] declassification division approved three Navy videos "for unlimited distribution" within the government, and that Mellon, Elizondo and "others now in DeLonge's orbit" concluded that this was not enough and "needed to kick up a media firestorm."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo resigned from the [[Department of Defense]] effective October 4, 2017 per the Pentagon; his resignation letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis cited "bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets" (Kloor, 2019), and *The Intercept* noted the letter does not mention AATIP or Elizondo's role as its director.[^2][^7] On October 4, 2017, at Mellon's request, Kean was called to a meeting in the bar of a hotel near the Pentagon, where Puthoff and Semivan introduced her to Elizondo, whose last day at the Pentagon had been the previous day, according to the account Kean gave [[Gideon Lewis-Kraus]] of *[[The New Yorker]]*. Over three hours she was taken through documents. Lewis-Kraus wrote that Kean "was told that she could have the videos, along with chain-of-custody documentation, if she could place a story in the Times."[^4] Kean later gave "all the credit to Elizondo and Mellon for coming forward."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
After Elizondo left the Pentagon he and the other AATIP participants named above joined [[To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science]]. At the company's launch event in October 2017 (reported as October 11) DeLonge invited Elizondo onstage and Elizondo announced that the group was "planning to provide never-before-released footage from real [[U.S. government]] systems."[^4][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Kean telephoned Blumenthal, an old friend and former Times staffer then at work on a biography of the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] psychiatrist [[John E. Mack]]. Blumenthal e-mailed executive editor [[Dean Baquet]] to say they wanted to pitch "a sensational and highly confidential time-sensitive story" in which a "senior U.S. intelligence official who abruptly quit last month" had decided to expose "a deeply secret program, long mythologized but now confirmed." After a meeting with representatives of the Times's Washington bureau, the paper agreed and assigned Cooper, its Pentagon correspondent.[^4] Bender wrote in 2021 that Mellon, "by then also a paid adviser to DeLonge's TTSA," acted as Elizondo's "unofficial public relations manager" and "started dangling the story to the New York Times, POLITICO and several other mainstream outlets," over several months; that reporters were shown the videos and unclassified documents on Bigelow's contracts; that the Times "was granted permission to broadcast the videos"; and that Politico "was shown the videos but not provided copies."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The videos
|
||||
|
||||
The Times article carried two videos, "FLIR1" and "[[GIMBAL]]," captioned "U.S. Department of Defense" and described as "released by the Defense Department's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program"; the third, "GOFAST," was published in March 2018, according to The Black Vault.[^4][^9] In a 2020 interview for the documentary *[[The Phenomenon (2020 film)|The Phenomenon]]*, Mellon said: "I received the videos, the now famous videos in the Pentagon parking lot from a Defense Department official. I still have the packaging." He added that "somebody bent the rules a little bit, and they did so for the larger good." *[[Vice]]* reported it could not independently verify the account.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Bender wrote in 2021 that reporters "were shown the declassified videos," and quoted Mellon: "A huge breakthrough occurred because the Navy was confirming the videos were authentic and declassified on the Hill."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The Navy's formal position on release changed twice. Sherwood told Kloor in 2019 that the videos were released "for research purposes ... and not for general public release."[^2] On April 27, 2020 the Department of Defense issued a "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," which read that the department "has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, one taken in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015, which have been circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017," and that the aerial phenomena "remain characterized as 'unidentified.'"[^9] A [[Galileo Project]] announcement of October 30, 2021 credited Mellon and Elizondo with being "pivotal in bringing about the Pentagon's release and confirmation" of the three videos.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later correction and follow-on reporting
|
||||
|
||||
In July 2020 Kean and Blumenthal wrote in the Times that Reid "believed that crashes of vehicles from other worlds had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied secretly for decades, often by aerospace companies under government contracts"; the Times appended a correction the next day, and Reid told Lewis-Kraus he "had never seen proof of any remnants" but "was told for decades that [[Lockheed Martin|Lockheed]] had some of these retrieved materials."[^4] In June 2023 Kean and Blumenthal published the first account of the claims of [[David Grusch]] on the website [[The Debrief]], according to *[[New York Magazine]]*.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Cooper, Helene, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean. "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program." *The New York Times,* December 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html (full text read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html). Print placement: Section A, page 1, New York edition. The Interesting People mailing list post of December 17, 2017 (https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2017/Dec/57) reproduces the opening paragraphs of both articles.
|
||||
[^2]: Kloor, Keith. "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?" *The Intercept,* June 1, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/. Quotes Sherwood, and Bender's December 2017 Politico sentence about Dana White.
|
||||
[^3]: Bender, Bryan. "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* December 16, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111 (full text read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2018id_/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111).
|
||||
[^4]: Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously." *The New Yorker,* May 10, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously. The October 4, 2017 meeting, the offer of the videos for a Times placement, the Blumenthal to Baquet e-mail and the Reid correction are as reported by Lewis-Kraus from interviews with Kean, Reid and others.
|
||||
[^5]: Greenewald, John, Jr. "Pentagon Reinforces Mr. Luis Elizondo Had 'No Responsibilities' on AATIP; Senator Harry Reid's 2009 Memo Changes Nothing." The Black Vault, June 14, 2019. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/pentagon-reinforces-mr-luis-elizondo-had-no-responsibilities-on-aatip-senator-harry-reids-2009-memo-changes-nothing
|
||||
[^6]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs" (web title "How Harry Reid, a Terrorist Interrogator and the Singer From Blink-182 Took UFOs Mainstream"). *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900 (read via Internet Archive copy). Mellon and Elizondo quotations are as given to Bender; the WHS approval is stated from "documents obtained by POLITICO" that are not reproduced.
|
||||
[^7]: Kloor, Keith. "UFOs Won't Go Away." *Issues in Science and Technology,* March 1, 2019. https://issues.org/ufos-wont-go-away/
|
||||
[^8]: The October 11, 2017 date of the Seattle launch event is from a secondary summary and the coordinator's brief; the New Yorker gives only "later that month." Original press materials not yet opened.
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/); Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^10]: Banias, MJ. "Ex Intel Official Says He Was the Source of the Pentagon's UFO Videos." *Vice,* October 20, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-guy-says-he-was-the-source-of-the-pentagons-ufo-videos/. Sole source for the passages so cited: Mellon's on-camera statement to filmmaker James Fox in *The Phenomenon* (2020).
|
||||
[^11]: The Galileo Project. "The Galileo Project Welcomes Christopher Mellon and Luis Elizondo as Research Affiliates," October 30, 2021. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf (Internet Archive copy).
|
||||
[^12]: Baker, Nicholson. "How We Lost Our Minds About UFOs." *New York Magazine,* January 31, 2024. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/leslie-kean-ufo-sightings-aliens.html
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,22 +1,25 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Modern Incident"
|
||||
summary: "Declassified UAP video captured by an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew showing an object rotating against the wind, released by the Pentagon in 2017."
|
||||
summary: "Unclassified Navy video of an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew's encounter with an object rotating against the wind, published in December 2017 and authorized for release by the Pentagon on April 27, 2020."
|
||||
date: 2015-01-21
|
||||
location: "Atlantic Ocean, off East Coast of the United States"
|
||||
---
|
||||
The [[GIMBAL]] is one of the three declassified [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] videos released by the [[Pentagon]] in 2017. The video, which was captured by the crew of an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group in 2015, shows a UAP exhibiting flight characteristics that are not possible with any known aircraft.[^1]
|
||||
The [[GIMBAL]] is one of three unclassified Navy [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] videos; the [[New York Times]] published it in December 2017 ([[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]).[^1] Politico reported in 2021 that [[Washington Headquarters Services]] had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government, and the [[Pentagon]] stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."[^1][^2] The video, which was captured by the crew of an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group in 2015, shows a UAP exhibiting flight characteristics that are not possible with any known aircraft.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Sighting
|
||||
|
||||
The GIMBAL video was recorded during a series of encounters between the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group and multiple UAP off the coast of the Southeastern United States. In the video, the pilots track a single object from a fleet of five. The object is described as a white, elongated shape, but when the camera mode is switched, it appears as a black, lenticular, or "flying saucer" shape with a bulge on its top and bottom.[^1]
|
||||
The GIMBAL video was recorded during a series of encounters between the USS Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and multiple UAP off the coast of the Southeastern [[United States]]. In the video, the pilots track a single object from a fleet of five. The object is described as a white, elongated shape, but when the camera mode is switched, it appears as a black, lenticular, or "flying saucer" shape with a bulge on its top and bottom.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The most remarkable aspect of the video is the object's ability to rotate in mid-air against a 120-knot headwind without losing altitude. The object slows, parks itself in the air, and then rotates, or "gimbals," in a way that defies the known laws of aerodynamics. The pilots can be heard expressing their astonishment and disbelief at the object's performance.[^1]
|
||||
The most remarkable aspect of the video is the object's ability to rotate in mid-air against a 120-knot headwind without losing altitude. The object slows, parks itself in the air, and then rotates, or "gimbals," in a way that defies the known laws of aerodynamics. The pilots can be heard expressing their astonishment and disbelief at the object's performance.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Analysis and Significance
|
||||
|
||||
The GIMBAL video is significant because it provides clear, high-fidelity evidence of a UAP exhibiting several of [[The Five Observables]], including low observability (no heat signature), antigravity (hovering against a strong headwind), and instantaneous acceleration. The object's ability to rotate without any apparent means of propulsion or control surfaces is a key piece of evidence that it is not a conventional aircraft.[^1]
|
||||
The GIMBAL video is significant because it provides clear, high-fidelity evidence of a UAP exhibiting several of [[The Five Observables]], including low observability (no heat signature), antigravity (hovering against a strong headwind), and instantaneous acceleration. The object's ability to rotate without any apparent means of propulsion or control surfaces is a key piece of evidence that it is not a conventional aircraft.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The release of the GIMBAL video, along with the [[Tic Tac]] and [[GoFast]] videos, was a watershed moment in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided the public and Congress with undeniable evidence that the U.S. military was encountering objects with capabilities far beyond our own, and it helped to legitimize the UAP issue as a serious national security concern.[^1]
|
||||
The release of the GIMBAL video, along with the [[Tic Tac]] and [[GoFast]] videos, was a watershed moment in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided the public and Congress with undeniable evidence that the U.S. military was encountering objects with capabilities far beyond our own, and it helped to legitimize the UAP issue as a serious national security concern.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^2]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^3]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -6,21 +6,24 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Pentagon
|
||||
- 2015
|
||||
category: "Modern Incident"
|
||||
summary: "Declassified UAP video captured by an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew showing an object moving at extreme speed low over the ocean, released by the Pentagon in 2017."
|
||||
summary: "Unclassified Navy video of an F/A-18 Super Hornet crew's encounter with an object moving at extreme speed low over the ocean, first published in March 2018 and authorized for release April 27, 2020."
|
||||
date: 2015-01-21
|
||||
location: "Atlantic Ocean, off East Coast of the United States"
|
||||
---
|
||||
The [[GoFast]] is one of the three declassified [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] videos released by the [[Pentagon]] in 2017. The video, which was captured by the crew of an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group in 2015, shows a small, fast-moving object that appears to be traveling at an incredible speed just above the surface of the water.[^1]
|
||||
The [[GoFast]] is one of three unclassified Navy [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|UAP]] videos; it appeared in March 2018, after the two videos the [[New York Times]] published in December 2017 ([[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]).[^1] Politico reported in 2021 that [[Washington Headquarters Services]] had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government, and the [[Pentagon]] stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."[^1][^2] The video, which was captured by the crew of an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the [[USS Roosevelt]] Carrier Strike Group in 2015, shows a small, fast-moving object that appears to be traveling at an incredible speed just above the surface of the water.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Sighting
|
||||
|
||||
The GoFast video was recorded during the same series of encounters as the [[GIMBAL Video]], which took place off the coast of the Southeastern United States. The video shows a small, round object that is being tracked by the aircraft's targeting pod. The pilots can be heard expressing their astonishment at the object's speed, with one exclaiming, "Whoa, got it! Whoo-hoooo! What the f--- is that thing?"[^1]
|
||||
The GoFast video was recorded during the same series of encounters as the [[GIMBAL Video]], which took place off the coast of the Southeastern [[United States]]. The video shows a small, round object that is being tracked by the aircraft's targeting pod. The pilots can be heard expressing their astonishment at the object's speed, with one exclaiming, "Whoa, got it! Whoo-hoooo! What the f--- is that thing?"[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Analysis and Significance
|
||||
|
||||
The GoFast video is significant because it appears to show a UAP exhibiting hypersonic velocity at a very low altitude, a feat that is not possible with any known conventional aircraft. While some analysts have suggested that the object's speed may be an illusion caused by a parallax effect, the pilots who witnessed the event were clearly impressed by its velocity.[^1]
|
||||
The GoFast video is significant because it appears to show a UAP exhibiting hypersonic velocity at a very low altitude, a feat that is not possible with any known conventional aircraft. While some analysts have suggested that the object's speed may be an illusion caused by a parallax effect, the pilots who witnessed the event were clearly impressed by its velocity.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The release of the GoFast video, along with the [[Tic Tac]] and [[GIMBAL Video|GIMBAL]] videos, was a crucial moment in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided another piece of credible evidence that the U.S. military was encountering objects with extraordinary capabilities, and it helped to fuel the public and congressional demand for greater transparency on the UAP issue.[^1]
|
||||
The release of the GoFast video, along with the [[Tic Tac]] and [[GIMBAL]] videos, was a crucial moment in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided another piece of credible evidence that the U.S. military was encountering objects with extraordinary capabilities, and it helped to fuel the public and congressional demand for greater transparency on the UAP issue.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^2]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
[^3]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- USSNimitz
|
||||
- 2004
|
||||
category: "Modern Incident"
|
||||
summary: "UAP encountered by the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004, captured on video and designated 'Tic Tac' for its shape, released by the Pentagon in 2017."
|
||||
summary: "UAP encountered by the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004 and captured on video as 'Tic Tac'; the FLIR1 video was published in December 2017 and authorized for release April 27, 2020."
|
||||
date: 2004-11-14
|
||||
location: "Pacific Ocean, off San Diego, California"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ Later that day, a second flight, piloted by Lieutenant Chad Underwood, was launc
|
|||
|
||||
The incident was investigated by [[Jay Stratton]] for the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] (AATIP). The analysis concluded that the Tic Tac exhibited performance characteristics well beyond any known technology, including hypersonic velocity and instantaneous acceleration, which would subject a conventional craft to thousands of G-forces. The lack of official follow-up at the time of the incident, and the subsequent dismissal by some in the chain of command, highlighted the deep-seated stigma surrounding the UAP topic within the military.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The public release of the Tic Tac video in 2017, along with the testimony of Commander Fravor and Lieutenant Dietrich, was a seminal event in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided credible, verifiable evidence that forced a public and congressional conversation about the reality of UAP and the potential national security threat they represent.[^1]
|
||||
The "FLIR1" (Tic Tac) video was one of two published by the [[New York Times]] in December 2017 ([[December 2017 New York Times AATIP Report]]).[^2] Politico reported in 2021 that [[Washington Headquarters Services]] had approved the videos "for unlimited distribution" inside the government, and the [[Pentagon]] stated on April 27, 2020 that it authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos "circulating in the public domain after unauthorized releases in 2007 and 2017."[^2][^3] The publication of the video, along with the testimony of Commander Fravor and Lieutenant Dietrich, was a seminal event in the UAP disclosure movement. It provided credible, verifiable evidence that forced a public and congressional conversation about the reality of UAP and the potential national security threat they represent.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Defense. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos," April 27, 2020. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/ (read through the Internet Archive capture, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2165713/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-the-release-of-historical-navy-videos/). Greenewald, John, Jr. "Navy Officially Releases UFO/UAP Videos, Calls Them 'Historical.'" The Black Vault, April 27, 2020 (reproduces the statement and gives the GOFAST date). https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/navy-officially-releases-ufo-uap-videos-calls-them-historical/
|
||||
[^3]: Bender, Bryan. "The Hidden History of How Washington Embraced UFOs." *Politico Magazine,* May 28, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/28/ufos-secret-history-government-washington-dc-487900
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Sean Kirkpatrick]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "AARO director whose emails and interview state that the Pentagon and AARO convinced Congress not to enact the review board"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Robert Garcia]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
|
|
@ -75,9 +75,14 @@ relations:
|
|||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2026-07-22
|
||||
role: "sponsor of the House amendment to the fiscal 2027 defense bill"
|
||||
fn: 24
|
||||
fn: 30
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Sol Foundation]]"
|
||||
start: 2024-11-12
|
||||
role: "co-signatories Garry Nolan and Peter Skafish urged enactment of the review-board provisions in the letter of November 12, 2024"
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
created: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-01
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
The Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act (UAPDA) was submitted on July 13, 2023 by Senate Majority Leader [[Chuck Schumer]] and Senators [[Mike Rounds]], [[Marco Rubio]], [[Kirsten Gillibrand]], [[Todd Young]] and [[Martin Heinrich]] as Senate Amendment 797 to the fiscal 2024 [[National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024|National Defense Authorization Act]] (S. 2226), concerning records on [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena|unidentified anomalous phenomena]] (UAP). It proposed a records collection at the [[National Archives and Records Administration]], a presidentially appointed Review Board modeled on the [[Assassination Records Review Board|board]] of the 1992 [[President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act]], and federal eminent domain over recovered technology and "biological evidence of non-human intelligence" held by private parties. The Senate passed the defense bill with the text on July 27, 2023 by 86 votes to 11. The version enacted on December 22, 2023 as Public Law 118-31 kept a National Archives collection and dropped the Review Board and the eminent domain section.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -85,47 +90,55 @@ The Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act (UAPDA) was submitted on Jul
|
|||
|
||||
As printed in the Congressional Record of July 13, 2023, the amendment added a title establishing an "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection." It required that each record be disclosed in full not later than 25 years after its creation unless the President certified grounds for postponement. The Review Board would have nine members appointed by the President with Senate consent, to serve until not later than September 30, 2030, with power to hold hearings, administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and documents, and, through the Attorney General, subpoena private persons. Nominees were barred if they had "any previous or current involvement with any legacy program or controlling authority," defined as government, commercial, academic and private sector endeavors to collect, exploit or reverse engineer technologies of unknown origin or examine biological evidence of non-human intelligence. The Board was to create a "Controlled Disclosure Campaign Plan" for material whose release was postponed and to brief the AARO. A $20,000,000 authorization for fiscal year 2024 was attached.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Board's nominations were to follow recommendations from the Senate and House leaders, the Secretary of Defense, the National Academy of Sciences, "The UAP Disclosure Foundation," and the American Historical Association. A search of the [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer database found no organization named "UAP Disclosure Foundation." It listed the UAP Disclosure Fund of [[San Francisco]] (EIN 99-2834592), a 501(c)(4) with an [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling date of July 2025, and the Sol Foundation Inc. of Carmel, [[Indiana]] (EIN 99-3863647), a 501(c)(3) with a ruling date of August 2024. The text of S. 2226 as passed by the Senate on July 27, 2023 lists in the same position "Established nonprofit research organizations relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena." At the House Oversight hearing of November 13, 2024, retired Rear Admiral [[Tim Gallaudet]] told Representative [[Robert Garcia]] that he was "a member of the UAP Discloser [sic] Fund as an advisor and the Sol Foundation as a senior strategic advisor, which is advocating the same."[^1][^2][^5][^6][^7]
|
||||
The Board's nominations were to follow recommendations from the Senate and House leaders, the Secretary of Defense, the National Academy of Sciences, "The UAP Disclosure Foundation," and the American Historical Association. A search of the [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer database found no organization named "UAP Disclosure Foundation." It listed the UAP Disclosure Fund of [[San Francisco]] (EIN 99-2834592), a 501(c)(4) with an [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling date of July 2025, and a Sol Foundation Inc. of Carmel, [[Indiana]] (EIN 99-3863647), a 501(c)(3) private foundation (IRS foundation code 04) with a ruling date of August 2024 (see below). The text of S. 2226 as passed by the Senate on July 27, 2023 lists in the same position "Established nonprofit research organizations relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena." At the House Oversight hearing of November 13, 2024, retired Rear Admiral [[Tim Gallaudet]] told Representative [[Robert Garcia]] that he was "a member of the UAP Discloser [sic] Fund as an advisor and the Sol Foundation as a senior strategic advisor, which is advocating the same."[^1][^2][^5][^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Two organizations named Sol Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
Two separate tax-exempt organizations carry the name Sol Foundation in the IRS records. The Sol Foundation for Advanced Scientific and Policy Research, a [[California]] public benefit corporation led by [[Garry Nolan]] and [[Peter Skafish]], holds EIN 93-3649160, a 501(c)(3) ruling date of June 2024, and filed a Form 990 for 2024 reporting revenue of $937,625; its address of record is care of Nolan in [[Redwood City]], California.[^8] The Sol Foundation Inc. of [[Carmel, Indiana]] (EIN 99-3863647) is a private foundation with a ruling date of August 2024 whose Form 990-PF for the period beginning December 24, 2024 reports contributions received of $25,000,000, expenses of $89,482, assets of $24,928,494, no grants paid, and directors [[Lawrence Baker]], [[Patricia Baker]] and [[Charles Hertlein]]; that filing contains no reference to unidentified anomalous phenomena.[^9] No document opened for this entry links the two organizations. The Senate Democrats' print of the amendment (header "BAG23A78 JDP S.L.C.") lists seventh among the bodies whose recommendations the President is to consider "The UAP Disclosure Foundation," a name that appears in no IRS record searched; the engrossed text of S. 2226 as passed on July 27, 2023 replaces it with "Established nonprofit research organizations relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena." Neither text names the Sol Foundation or the Sol Foundation Inc.[^10][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The scientists' letter of November 12, 2024
|
||||
|
||||
A letter dated November 12, 2024 to "Members of Congress" urged passage of the Act's review-board and public-access provisions, which it said "were deleted in conference" in 2023 and omitted from the 2025 defense bill despite "strong bipartisan support from the Senate Majority Leader." It was submitted for the record of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] hearing of November 13, 2024 in the statement of [[Tim Gallaudet]], and its signers included Nolan, Skafish, [[Avi Loeb]], [[Christopher Mellon]], [[Luis Elizondo]], [[Diana Walsh Pasulka]], [[John B. Alexander]], [[Michio Kaku]], [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]], [[Kevin Knuth]], the attorney [[Dillon Guthrie]] and [[Yuan Fung]], executive director of the [[UAP Disclosure Fund]]. The letter states that signatories joined as individuals and that their participation does not represent the organizations with which they are affiliated.[^12] The [[Sol Foundation]] white paper "UAP in Crowded Skies" (March 2024) cites Senate Amendment 797 in its bibliography.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Senate-passed text
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate-passed text, Division G of S. 2226, defines "unidentified anomalous phenomena" as any object operating or judged capable of operating in outer space, the atmosphere, ocean surfaces or undersea "lacking prosaic attribution due to performance characteristics and properties not previously known to be achievable," differentiated by observables including "instantaneous acceleration absent apparent inertia," "transmedium" travel and "multispectral signature control," and defines "technologies of unknown origin" and "non-human intelligence" ("any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform regardless of nature or ultimate origin"). The records covered include those held by the Executive Office of the President, the military departments, the Department of Energy "and its progenitors, the Manhattan Project," the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] "and its progenitor, the Office of Strategic Services," the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Agency]], [[NASA]], the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and "any private sector person or entity formerly or currently under contract or some other agreement with the Federal Government." Section 9011 allowed the Review Board to ask the Attorney General to petition courts to release information relevant to UAP held under seal or under a grand jury's injunction of secrecy. Section 9010(a) read: "The Federal Government shall exercise eminent domain over any and all recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence that may be controlled by private persons or entities in the interests of the public good."[^2]
|
||||
The Senate-passed text, Division G of S. 2226, defines "unidentified anomalous phenomena" as any object operating or judged capable of operating in outer space, the atmosphere, ocean surfaces or undersea "lacking prosaic attribution due to performance characteristics and properties not previously known to be achievable," differentiated by observables including "instantaneous acceleration absent apparent inertia," "transmedium" travel and "multispectral signature control," and defines "technologies of unknown origin" and "non-human intelligence" ("any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform regardless of nature or ultimate origin"). The records covered include those held by the Executive Office of the President, the military departments, the Department of Energy "and its progenitors, the [[Manhattan Project]]," the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] "and its progenitor, the [[Office of Strategic Services]]," the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Agency]], [[NASA]], the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and "any private sector person or entity formerly or currently under contract or some other agreement with the Federal Government." Section 9011 allowed the Review Board to ask the Attorney General to petition courts to release information relevant to UAP held under seal or under a grand jury's injunction of secrecy. Section 9010(a) read: "The Federal Government shall exercise eminent domain over any and all recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence that may be controlled by private persons or entities in the interests of the public good."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senate passage and the House
|
||||
|
||||
[[Douglas Dean Johnson]], who reported on the measure throughout 2023 and supported it, wrote that it was unveiled on July 14, 2023, and "after some modifications" was added to the defense bill as part of a list of agreed amendments "without floor debate or a separate vote." The Senate passed S. 2226 on July 27, 2023 on a roll call of 86 to 11, and then inserted the same text into H.R. 2670, the House-passed defense bill. Johnson's summary also lists a separate provision associated with Gillibrand that would bar funds in fiscal 2024 for any classified program on UAP not briefed to the appropriate committees, congressional leadership and the AARO director, and would require any person under federal contract holding material relating to UAP to make it available to the AARO director and to provide "a comprehensive list of all non-earth origin or exotic unidentified anomalous phenomena material," and an addition of 27 million dollars to the AARO budget request by the Senate Armed Services Committee. He wrote that H.R. 2670 as passed by the House contained one UAP provision, an amendment by Representative [[Tim Burchett]], and that a second amendment, by Representative [[Mike Gallagher]], was "not made in order by the House Rules Committee, apparently due to some manner of objection informally lodged by leadership of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence."[^2][^8][^9]
|
||||
[[Douglas Dean Johnson]], who reported on the measure throughout 2023 and supported it, wrote that it was unveiled on July 14, 2023, and "after some modifications" was added to the defense bill as part of a list of agreed amendments "without floor debate or a separate vote." The Senate passed S. 2226 on July 27, 2023 on a roll call of 86 to 11, and then inserted the same text into H.R. 2670, the House-passed defense bill. Johnson's summary also lists a separate provision associated with Gillibrand that would bar funds in fiscal 2024 for any classified program on UAP not briefed to the appropriate committees, congressional leadership and the AARO director, and would require any person under federal contract holding material relating to UAP to make it available to the AARO director and to provide "a comprehensive list of all non-earth origin or exotic unidentified anomalous phenomena material," and an addition of 27 million dollars to the AARO budget request by the Senate Armed Services Committee. He wrote that H.R. 2670 as passed by the House contained one UAP provision, an amendment by Representative [[Tim Burchett]], and that a second amendment, by Representative [[Mike Gallagher]], was "not made in order by the House Rules Committee, apparently due to some manner of objection informally lodged by leadership of the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]."[^2][^14][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 1, 2023 [[The Hill]] reported that members of the House UAP Caucus ([[Anna Paulina Luna]], Burchett, [[Matt Gaetz]], [[Jared Moskowitz]] and [[Eric Burlison]]) held a press conference after "it was reported top leaders in both chambers were attempting to kill legislation related to the effort," and wrote that "there were reports that House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) were looking to quash the act," who "appeared to have the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)." Schumer said on the Senate floor on December 4, 2023: "House Republicans are also attempting to kill another commonsense, bipartisan measure passed by the Senate."[^10][^11]
|
||||
On December 1, 2023 [[The Hill]] reported that members of the House UAP Caucus ([[Anna Paulina Luna]], Burchett, [[Matt Gaetz]], [[Jared Moskowitz]] and [[Eric Burlison]]) held a press conference after "it was reported top leaders in both chambers were attempting to kill legislation related to the effort," and wrote that "there were reports that House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) were looking to quash the act," who "appeared to have the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)." Schumer said on the Senate floor on December 4, 2023: "House Republicans are also attempting to kill another commonsense, bipartisan measure passed by the Senate."[^16][^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Pentagon redline and the conference
|
||||
|
||||
On July 24, 2024 Johnson published a 33-page document headed "Informal views on S. 2226 Division G: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure," marked as reviewed by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I&S)), which states: "After conferring with NARA/ISOO the Department strongly urges consideration of the following revisions identified below." Johnson wrote that file data indicated it was transmitted to negotiators in late November 2023. The text of Section 9010 in the document reads, with struck and inserted words running together in the text layer, "The It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Government shall should exercise eminent domain appropriately over any and all recovered technologies of unknown origin," adds "in the territory of the United States," and in the heading of subsection (b) substitutes the AARO for the Review Board as the recipient of such material. Under 50 U.S.C. 3373 the AARO director is appointed by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security on administrative matters, and reports to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence on operational and security matters.[^12][^13][^14]
|
||||
On July 24, 2024 Johnson published a 33-page document headed "Informal views on S. 2226 Division G: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure," marked as reviewed by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I&S)), which states: "After conferring with NARA/ISOO the Department strongly urges consideration of the following revisions identified below." Johnson wrote that file data indicated it was transmitted to negotiators in late November 2023. The text of Section 9010 in the document reads, with struck and inserted words running together in the text layer, "The It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Government shall should exercise eminent domain appropriately over any and all recovered technologies of unknown origin," adds "in the territory of the [[United States]]," and in the heading of subsection (b) substitutes the AARO for the Review Board as the recipient of such material. Under 50 U.S.C. 3373 the AARO director is appointed by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security on administrative matters, and reports to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence on operational and security matters.[^18][^19][^20]
|
||||
|
||||
Johnson wrote that [[Sean Kirkpatrick]], AARO's director until December 1, 2023, told [[Marik von Rennenkampff]] on July 17, 2024: "We convinced Congress last year not to go down that road." In the same interview, as quoted by Johnson, Kirkpatrick said AARO objected that the proposal duplicated the historical report Congress had assigned in 2022 and that "I talked to all of the commercial industry, and they're scratching their heads and they don't know what they're talking about." By email on July 23, 2024 Kirkpatrick told Johnson he could not confirm the authenticity of the OUSD(I&S) document but that it "does represent many of the objections I tried to articulate." He said that no one at the [[White House]], the [[National Security Council]] or in Congress asked him to soften his position, and that the eminent domain compromise was proposed because "the conspiracy frenzy was pushing this narrative of some prime contractor having this material" and "since we know nothing exists, we didn't feel it made our job harder."[^12]
|
||||
Johnson wrote that [[Sean Kirkpatrick]], AARO's director until December 1, 2023, told [[Marik von Rennenkampff]] on July 17, 2024: "We convinced Congress last year not to go down that road." In the same interview, as quoted by Johnson, Kirkpatrick said AARO objected that the proposal duplicated the historical report Congress had assigned in 2022 and that "I talked to all of the commercial industry, and they're scratching their heads and they don't know what they're talking about." By email on July 23, 2024 Kirkpatrick told Johnson he could not confirm the authenticity of the OUSD(I&S) document but that it "does represent many of the objections I tried to articulate." He said that no one at the [[White House]], the [[National Security Council]] or in Congress asked him to soften his position, and that the eminent domain compromise was proposed because "the conspiracy frenzy was pushing this narrative of some prime contractor having this material" and "since we know nothing exists, we didn't feel it made our job harder."[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
The conference report on H.R. 2670 passed the Senate on December 13, 2023 by 87 votes to 13. On the floor that day Schumer and Rounds held a colloquy. Schumer said: "We have also been notified by multiple credible sources that information on UAPs has also been withheld from Congress, which if true is a violation of laws requiring full notification to the legislative branch." Rounds listed as the most significant shortcomings of the conference agreement "the rejection, first of all, of a government-wide review board composed of expert citizens, presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed," and "a requirement as a transparency measure for the government to obtain any recovered UAP material or biological remains that may have been provided to private entities in the past and thereby hidden from Congress and the American people." Schumer said: "It is really an outrage the House didn't work with us on adopting our proposal for a review board," and: "Now it means that declassification of UAP records will be largely up to the same entities that have blocked and obfuscated their disclosure for decades." He acknowledged the late [[Harry Reid]] as "a mentor, who cared about this issue a great deal."[^15][^16]
|
||||
The conference report on H.R. 2670 passed the Senate on December 13, 2023 by 87 votes to 13. On the floor that day Schumer and Rounds held a colloquy. Schumer said: "We have also been notified by multiple credible sources that information on UAPs has also been withheld from Congress, which if true is a violation of laws requiring full notification to the legislative branch." Rounds listed as the most significant shortcomings of the conference agreement "the rejection, first of all, of a government-wide review board composed of expert citizens, presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed," and "a requirement as a transparency measure for the government to obtain any recovered UAP material or biological remains that may have been provided to private entities in the past and thereby hidden from Congress and the American people." Schumer said: "It is really an outrage the House didn't work with us on adopting our proposal for a review board," and: "Now it means that declassification of UAP records will be largely up to the same entities that have blocked and obfuscated their disclosure for decades." He acknowledged the late [[Harry Reid]] as "a mentor, who cared about this issue a great deal."[^21][^22]
|
||||
|
||||
### The enacted law
|
||||
|
||||
The enacted law is Public Law 118-31, signed on December 22, 2023, in Title XVIII, Subtitle C, Sections 1841 to 1843. It directs the Archivist to begin the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection" within 60 days, requires each head of a government office to review and organize records within 300 days, requires records transmitted for disclosure to be open for inspection within 30 days and online within 180 days after that, and provides that no record "created by a person or entity outside the Federal Government" may be "withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified" except for names or identities. It contains no review board and no eminent domain provision.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Section 1687 of the same law, "Limitation on Use of Funds for Certain Unreported Programs," provides that none of the funds authorized by the Act "may be obligated or expended in support of any activities involving unidentified anomalous phenomena protected under any form of special access or restricted access limitations unless the Secretary of Defense has provided the details of the activity to the appropriate congressional committees and congressional leadership, including for any activities described in a report released by the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office in fiscal year 2024." Its subsection (b) provides that, consistent with Defense Department Instruction 3204.01 on oversight of independent research and development, independent research and development funding relating to UAP "shall not be allowable as indirect expenses for purposes of contracts covered by such instruction, unless such material and information is made available the appropriate congressional committees and congressional leadership." Section 7343, in the intelligence authorization division, contains a parallel funding limitation keyed to the [[Director of National Intelligence]] and a parallel independent research and development clause, and Section 7341 amends the reporting requirement of the AARO so that its director, rather than the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense jointly, submits it.[^17]
|
||||
Section 1687 of the same law, "Limitation on Use of Funds for Certain Unreported Programs," provides that none of the funds authorized by the Act "may be obligated or expended in support of any activities involving unidentified anomalous phenomena protected under any form of special access or restricted access limitations unless the Secretary of Defense has provided the details of the activity to the appropriate congressional committees and congressional leadership, including for any activities described in a report released by the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office in fiscal year 2024." Its subsection (b) provides that, consistent with Defense Department Instruction 3204.01 on oversight of independent research and development, independent research and development funding relating to UAP "shall not be allowable as indirect expenses for purposes of contracts covered by such instruction, unless such material and information is made available the appropriate congressional committees and congressional leadership." Section 7343, in the intelligence authorization division, contains a parallel funding limitation keyed to the [[Director of National Intelligence]] and a parallel independent research and development clause, and Section 7341 amends the reporting requirement of the AARO so that its director, rather than the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense jointly, submits it.[^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### Contractors, lobbying filings and campaign receipts
|
||||
|
||||
Johnson wrote that he had "repeatedly stated that the gutting of the bill was due not to any lobbying campaign by powerful defense contractors, as some imagined, but to opposition from the Pentagon/AARO, the objections of which were largely adopted by several of the very senior Republican lawmakers who were among the small group of lawmakers who resolved the final contentious issues on NDAA."[^12] At the 2024 hearing Representative [[Nancy Mace]] asked [[Luis Elizondo]] which contractors receive material of unknown origin and what [[Lockheed Martin]]'s expertise is; he answered "Aerospace, ma'am."[^18]
|
||||
Johnson wrote that he had "repeatedly stated that the gutting of the bill was due not to any lobbying campaign by powerful defense contractors, as some imagined, but to opposition from the Pentagon/AARO, the objections of which were largely adopted by several of the very senior Republican lawmakers who were among the small group of lawmakers who resolved the final contentious issues on NDAA."[^18] At the 2024 hearing Representative [[Nancy Mace]] asked [[Luis Elizondo]] which contractors receive material of unknown origin and what [[Lockheed Martin]]'s expertise is; he answered "Aerospace, ma'am."[^24]
|
||||
|
||||
Searches of the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database on October 1 and 2, 2026 for the terms "UAP," "UFO," "unidentified aerial," "unidentified anomalous," "AARO," "anomaly resolution," "non-human," "extraterrestrial" and "disclosure act" in the specific lobbying issues text returned filings by four groups connected with the subject. [[Declassify UAP LLC]] of Baltimore, whose registration was posted by [[Nicholas Gold]] with an effective date of July 26, 2023 (the date of the House Oversight hearing at which [[David Grusch]] testified), describes its business as "Grassroots and direct lobbying for government UAP declassification," listed the House, the Senate, NASA and the White House Office as targets, reported expenses of 30,000 dollars for the third quarter of 2023, and filed reports through the first quarter of 2026. [[A10 Associates]] LLC reported 20,000 dollars per quarter from the client [[MUFON]] for "guidance and counsel on NDAA" from the first quarter of 2022, 30,000 dollars per quarter for "NDAA, UAP" from the second quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2024 (the fourth quarter of 2023 report refers to "S. 2226, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA, and UAP issues"), and 10,000 dollars for the fourth quarter of 2024; its lobbyists included [[Jessica Tocco]], who disclosed a prior position as confidential assistant to Commerce Secretary [[Carlos Gutierrez]], and Danny McNamara. [[Solve Advocacy]] LLC (lobbyist [[Kevin Wright]]) reported 10,000 dollars per quarter from [[Advena Research]], formerly the Non-Human Intelligence Research Institute, from the third quarter of 2024 through the second quarter of 2026 for a "UAP Interparliamentary Alliance" (described from the fourth quarter of 2025 as an "Emerging Technologies Interparliamentary Caucus"). A lobbying firm for [[ExoAnalytic Solutions]] mentioned "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" in its fourth quarter 2024 report. The searches returned no filing by Lockheed Martin, [[Boeing]], [[Northrop Grumman]], [[Battelle]], [[Science Applications International Corporation]], [[Leidos]] or any other defense contractor with those terms in the issue text; the issue text does not always name the subject of the lobbying.[^19]
|
||||
Searches of the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act database on October 1 and 2, 2026 for the terms "UAP," "UFO," "unidentified aerial," "unidentified anomalous," "AARO," "anomaly resolution," "non-human," "extraterrestrial" and "disclosure act" in the specific lobbying issues text returned filings by four groups connected with the subject. [[Declassify UAP LLC]] of Baltimore, whose registration was posted by [[Nicholas Gold]] with an effective date of July 26, 2023 (the date of the House Oversight hearing at which [[David Grusch]] testified), describes its business as "Grassroots and direct lobbying for government UAP declassification," listed the House, the Senate, NASA and the White House Office as targets, reported expenses of 30,000 dollars for the third quarter of 2023, and filed reports through the first quarter of 2026. [[A10 Associates]] LLC reported 20,000 dollars per quarter from the client [[MUFON]] for "guidance and counsel on NDAA" from the first quarter of 2022, 30,000 dollars per quarter for "NDAA, UAP" from the second quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2024 (the fourth quarter of 2023 report refers to "S. 2226, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA, and UAP issues"), and 10,000 dollars for the fourth quarter of 2024; its lobbyists included [[Jessica Tocco]], who disclosed a prior position as confidential assistant to Commerce Secretary [[Carlos Gutierrez]], and Danny McNamara. [[Solve Advocacy]] LLC (lobbyist [[Kevin Wright]]) reported 10,000 dollars per quarter from [[Advena Research]], formerly the Non-Human Intelligence Research Institute, from the third quarter of 2024 through the second quarter of 2026 for a "UAP Interparliamentary Alliance" (described from the fourth quarter of 2025 as an "Emerging Technologies Interparliamentary Caucus"). A lobbying firm for [[ExoAnalytic Solutions]] mentioned "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" in its fourth quarter 2024 report. The searches returned no filing by Lockheed Martin, [[Boeing]], [[Northrop Grumman]], [[Battelle]], [[Science Applications International Corporation]], [[Leidos]] or any other defense contractor with those terms in the issue text; the issue text does not always name the subject of the lobbying.[^25]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records show that in the 2024 election cycle (2023 and 2024) the campaign committee of Representative [[Mike Turner]], [[Citizens for Turner]], received 10,000 dollars from the Lockheed Martin Employees Political Action Committee, 10,000 from the Boeing PAC, 8,500 from the Northrop Grumman PAC, 10,000 from Raytheon and RTX committees combined, 10,000 from General Dynamics, 10,000 from L3Harris, 10,000 from BAE Systems, 10,000 from Leidos, 3,500 from the Science Applications International Corporation PAC and 7,000 from Huntington Ingalls, a total of 89,000 dollars. Mike Rogers for Congress, the committee of Representative [[Mike Rogers]], received 10,000 dollars each from the political action committees of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE Systems, Leidos and Huntington Ingalls, a total of 90,000 dollars. Of those receipts, entries dated between the Senate vote of July 27 and the signing of December 22, 2023 total 19,000 dollars for Turner and 9,000 dollars for Rogers; those dated December 12 to 15, 2023 are a 2,000 dollar entry from the Boeing PAC to Rogers (December 12), 1,000 dollars from the Boeing PAC to Turner (December 13) and 1,000 dollars from the BAE Systems PAC to Turner (December 15). The two committees reported receipts of the same companies' PACs in the 2020 and 2022 cycles.[^20]
|
||||
[[Federal Election Commission]] records show that in the 2024 election cycle (2023 and 2024) the campaign committee of Representative [[Mike Turner]], [[Citizens for Turner]], received 10,000 dollars from the Lockheed Martin Employees Political Action Committee, 10,000 from the Boeing PAC, 8,500 from the Northrop Grumman PAC, 10,000 from Raytheon and RTX committees combined, 10,000 from General Dynamics, 10,000 from L3Harris, 10,000 from BAE Systems, 10,000 from Leidos, 3,500 from the Science Applications International Corporation PAC and 7,000 from Huntington Ingalls, a total of 89,000 dollars. Mike Rogers for Congress, the committee of Representative [[Mike Rogers]], received 10,000 dollars each from the political action committees of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE Systems, Leidos and Huntington Ingalls, a total of 90,000 dollars. Of those receipts, entries dated between the Senate vote of July 27 and the signing of December 22, 2023 total 19,000 dollars for Turner and 9,000 dollars for Rogers; those dated December 12 to 15, 2023 are a 2,000 dollar entry from the Boeing PAC to Rogers (December 12), 1,000 dollars from the Boeing PAC to Turner (December 13) and 1,000 dollars from the BAE Systems PAC to Turner (December 15). The two committees reported receipts of the same companies' PACs in the 2020 and 2022 cycles.[^26]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reintroduction
|
||||
|
||||
On July 11, 2024 Rounds, "for himself and Mr. Schumer," submitted Senate Amendment 2610 to the fiscal 2025 defense bill (S. 4638) as Division I, the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2024." It retained the nine-member Review Board, the September 30, 2030 termination date and the eminent domain section, authorized 20,000,000 dollars for fiscal year 2025, and in Section 1115 repealed Subtitle C of Title XVIII of Public Law 118-31. Johnson reported that the House-passed defense bill (H.R. 8070) contained no UAP provisions.[^12][^21] At the 2024 hearing Garcia said that "earlier this year," as part of the House defense authorization bill, he had filed an amendment to include the UAP Disclosure Act, "which would create a UAP Records Review Board with exercise of eminent domain over UAP-related material," that "the amendment was blocked," and that the Senate had included the Rounds-Schumer amendment.[^7]
|
||||
On July 11, 2024 Rounds, "for himself and Mr. Schumer," submitted Senate Amendment 2610 to the fiscal 2025 defense bill (S. 4638) as Division I, the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2024." It retained the nine-member Review Board, the September 30, 2030 termination date and the eminent domain section, authorized 20,000,000 dollars for fiscal year 2025, and in Section 1115 repealed Subtitle C of Title XVIII of Public Law 118-31. Johnson reported that the House-passed defense bill (H.R. 8070) contained no UAP provisions.[^18][^27] At the 2024 hearing Garcia said that "earlier this year," as part of the House defense authorization bill, he had filed an amendment to include the UAP Disclosure Act, "which would create a UAP Records Review Board with exercise of eminent domain over UAP-related material," that "the amendment was blocked," and that the Senate had included the Rounds-Schumer amendment.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 29, 2025 Schumer, "for himself, Mr. Rounds, and Mrs. Gillibrand," submitted Senate Amendment 3111 to the fiscal 2026 defense bill (S. 2296) as the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2025." On October 9, 2025 the Senate adopted by voice vote a manager's package of 48 listed amendments that did not include Amendment 3111, and passed S. 2296 by 77 votes to 20.[^22][^23]
|
||||
On July 29, 2025 Schumer, "for himself, Mr. Rounds, and Mrs. Gillibrand," submitted Senate Amendment 3111 to the fiscal 2026 defense bill (S. 2296) as the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2025." On October 9, 2025 the Senate adopted by voice vote a manager's package of 48 listed amendments that did not include Amendment 3111, and passed S. 2296 by 77 votes to 20.[^28][^29]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 22, 2026 Burlison announced that the House had adopted his UAP Disclosure Act as an amendment to the fiscal 2027 defense bill. His release states that it would create a permanent records collection at the National Archives, "establish an independent UAP Records Review Board," and "extend disclosure requirements to covered government contractors," and that it "would support President Trump's Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE)."[^24]
|
||||
On July 22, 2026 Burlison announced that the House had adopted his UAP Disclosure Act as an amendment to the fiscal 2027 defense bill. His release states that it would create a permanent records collection at the National Archives, "establish an independent UAP Records Review Board," and "extend disclosure requirements to covered government contractors," and that it "would support President Trump's Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE)."[^30]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -133,23 +146,29 @@ On July 22, 2026 Burlison announced that the House had adopted his UAP Disclosur
|
|||
[^2]: S. 2226, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, as passed by the Senate (engrossed amendment), Division G, Sections 9001 to 9015 (Section 9003 definitions, 9007 Review Board, 9010 eminent domain, 9011 other materials, 9014 authorization of appropriations). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118s2226es/html/BILLS-118s2226es.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Public Law 118-31, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, December 22, 2023, Title XVIII, Subtitle C, Sections 1841 to 1843 (137 Stat. 700 to 704 and following). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ31/pdf/PLAW-118publ31.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 212, July 27, 2023, "On Passage of the Bill S. 2226," bill passed 86 to 11; roll call vote 343, December 13, 2023, "On the Conference Report H.R. 2670," agreed to 87 to 13. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00212.xml and https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00343.xml
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for EIN 992834592 (UAP Disclosure Fund) and EIN 993863647 (Sol Foundation Inc) and a search for "UAP Disclosure Foundation" returning no organization, queried October 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/992834592.json
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, organization records for EIN 992834592 (UAP Disclosure Fund) and EIN 993863647 (Sol Foundation Inc of Carmel, Indiana, not shown to be the Sol Foundation of Garry Nolan and Peter Skafish) and a search for "UAP Disclosure Foundation" returning no organization, queried October 2, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/992834592.json
|
||||
[^6]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth," joint hearing, November 13, 2024, Serial No. 118-135, transcript pp. 35 to 36 (questions of Rep. Garcia). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm
|
||||
[^7]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, joint hearing, November 13, 2024, transcript pp. 35 to 36 (statements of Rep. Garcia and Dr. Gallaudet). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm
|
||||
[^8]: Johnson, Douglas Dean. "UAP-related provisions currently under consideration in Congress," September 5, 2023 (originally posted September 3, 2023). https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/email/9680ee1e-7782-4c7b-afd4-bc1751db6b14/
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 212, July 27, 2023, bill passed 86 to 11 (https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00212.xml); Johnson, Douglas Dean, "UAP-related provisions currently under consideration in Congress," September 5, 2023 (https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/email/9680ee1e-7782-4c7b-afd4-bc1751db6b14/).
|
||||
[^10]: Mitchell, Ellen. "House lawmakers demand transparency from leaders on UAP amendment's inclusion in Defense bill," The Hill, December 1, 2023. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4337149-house-lawmakers-demand-transparency-from-leaders-on-uap-amendments-inclusion-in-defense-bill/
|
||||
[^11]: "Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Republicans Attempting To Block Bipartisan Legislation On Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," Senate Democrats, December 4, 2023. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-floor-remarks-on-republicans-attempting-to-block-bipartisan-legislation-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena
|
||||
[^12]: Johnson, Douglas Dean. "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, including Kirkpatrick's emails of July 23, 2024 and excerpts of his interview by Marik von Rennenkampff of July 17, 2024. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/
|
||||
[^13]: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, "Informal views on S. 2226 Division G: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure," 33 pp., as published by Douglas Dean Johnson (authenticity not confirmed by Kirkpatrick); text layer read for Section 9010. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/content/files/2024/07/Pentagon-Nov-2023-proposed-revisions-to-UAPDA.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: 50 U.S.C. 3373(b) (establishment, appointment and reporting lines of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), text of the Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/3373
|
||||
[^15]: "Majority Leader Schumer And Republican Senator Mike Rounds Floor Colloquy On Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Provisions In The NDAA And Future Legislation On UAPs," Senate Democrats, December 13, 2023 (transcript of the colloquy). https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-and-republican-senator-mike-rounds-floor-colloquy-on-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-provisions-in-the-ndaa-and-future-legislation-on-uaps
|
||||
[^16]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 343, December 13, 2023, conference report agreed to 87 to 13 (https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00343.xml); Johnson, Douglas Dean, "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, on House passage of the conference report on December 14, 2023 (https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/).
|
||||
[^17]: Public Law 118-31, December 22, 2023, Section 1687 (137 Stat. 621 to 622) and Sections 7341 and 7343 (137 Stat. 1063 to 1064). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ31/pdf/PLAW-118publ31.pdf
|
||||
[^18]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, joint hearing, November 13, 2024, transcript pp. 44 to 45 (questions of Rep. Mace). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Senate, Lobbying Disclosure Act database, API queries of October 1 and 2, 2026: filings of Declassify UAP LLC (registration effective July 26, 2023, posted July 27, 2023; Q3 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/5f5d6f92-35dc-4e6d-b766-e524e41a3a20/print/); A10 Associates, LLC for client MUFON (Q2 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/046a4e46-a0ba-44df-bc1e-5359eb8fe09f/print/; Q4 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/3d566ab6-738c-4c06-8679-07004d019153/print/); Solve Advocacy LLC for client Advena Research (Q4 2024 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/ccbc6184-d2ea-4545-8987-dab7658eb6b1/print/); Velos for client ExoAnalytic Solutions, Inc. (Q4 2024 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6c3a599a-2de9-4209-b452-29fb4c9d24b7/print/). Query form: https://lda.senate.gov/api/v1/filings/?filing_specific_lobbying_issues=UAP
|
||||
[^20]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, schedule A receipts (non-individual contributors) for committee C00373001 (Citizens for Turner; candidate H2OH03067) and committee C00367862 (Mike Rogers for Congress; candidate H2AL03032), two-year transaction period 2024 (re-queried October 2, 2026), and periods 2020 and 2022, contributor names containing Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, Raytheon, RTX, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE, Battelle, Leidos, Science Applications and Huntington Ingalls. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^21]: Congressional Record, Senate, July 11, 2024, pp. S4943 to S4950, SA 2610 (Mr. Rounds for himself and Mr. Schumer) to S. 4638, Division I, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2024," Sections 1114 and 1115. https://www.congress.gov/118/crec/2024/07/11/170/115/CREC-2024-07-11-pt1-PgS4943.pdf and https://www.congress.gov/118/crec/2024/07/11/170/115/CREC-2024-07-11-pt1-PgS4950.pdf
|
||||
[^22]: Congressional Record, Senate, July 29, 2025, p. S4847 and following, SA 3111 (Mr. Schumer for himself, Mr. Rounds, and Mrs. Gillibrand) to S. 2296, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2025." https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/07/29/171/130/CREC-2025-07-29-pt1-PgS4847.pdf
|
||||
[^23]: U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery, "Thursday, October 9, 2025," floor log (manager's package adopted by voice vote; S. 2296 passed 77 to 20). https://www.dailypress.senate.gov/thursday-october-9-2025/
|
||||
[^24]: Burlison, Eric. "House Adopts Burlison Amendment Establishing UAP Disclosure Framework," press release, July 22, 2026. https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-adopts-burlison-amendment-establishing-uap-disclosure-framework
|
||||
[^8]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, EIN 933649160, and IRS Form 990 for 2024, object ID 202543269349300004. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/933649160/202543269349300004/full
|
||||
[^9]: IRS Form 990-PF for 2024, EIN 99-3863647, object ID 202533189349100938, submitted November 14, 2025; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API record. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/993863647
|
||||
[^10]: Amendment intended to be proposed to S. 2226, 118th Congress, first session. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap_amendment.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: S. 2226, 118th Congress, as passed by the Senate (engrossed amendment), Division G, nominating-source list. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118s2226es/html/BILLS-118s2226es.htm
|
||||
[^12]: Statement of Tim Gallaudet with signatory letter, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: "UAP in Crowded Skies," The White Papers of the Sol Foundation, vol. 1, no. 2, March 2024, bibliography. https://thesolfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sol_WhitePaper_Vol1N2.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Johnson, Douglas Dean. "UAP-related provisions currently under consideration in Congress," September 5, 2023 (originally posted September 3, 2023). https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/email/9680ee1e-7782-4c7b-afd4-bc1751db6b14/
|
||||
[^15]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 212, July 27, 2023, bill passed 86 to 11 (https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00212.xml); Johnson, Douglas Dean, "UAP-related provisions currently under consideration in Congress," September 5, 2023 (https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/email/9680ee1e-7782-4c7b-afd4-bc1751db6b14/).
|
||||
[^16]: Mitchell, Ellen. "House lawmakers demand transparency from leaders on UAP amendment's inclusion in Defense bill," The Hill, December 1, 2023. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4337149-house-lawmakers-demand-transparency-from-leaders-on-uap-amendments-inclusion-in-defense-bill/
|
||||
[^17]: "Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Republicans Attempting To Block Bipartisan Legislation On Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," Senate Democrats, December 4, 2023. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-floor-remarks-on-republicans-attempting-to-block-bipartisan-legislation-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena
|
||||
[^18]: Johnson, Douglas Dean. "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, including Kirkpatrick's emails of July 23, 2024 and excerpts of his interview by Marik von Rennenkampff of July 17, 2024. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/
|
||||
[^19]: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, "Informal views on S. 2226 Division G: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure," 33 pp., as published by Douglas Dean Johnson (authenticity not confirmed by Kirkpatrick); text layer read for Section 9010. https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/content/files/2024/07/Pentagon-Nov-2023-proposed-revisions-to-UAPDA.pdf
|
||||
[^20]: 50 U.S.C. 3373(b) (establishment, appointment and reporting lines of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), text of the Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/3373
|
||||
[^21]: "Majority Leader Schumer And Republican Senator Mike Rounds Floor Colloquy On Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Provisions In The NDAA And Future Legislation On UAPs," Senate Democrats, December 13, 2023 (transcript of the colloquy). https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-and-republican-senator-mike-rounds-floor-colloquy-on-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-provisions-in-the-ndaa-and-future-legislation-on-uaps
|
||||
[^22]: U.S. Senate, roll call vote 343, December 13, 2023, conference report agreed to 87 to 13 (https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00343.xml); Johnson, Douglas Dean, "The UAP Disclosure Act: The proposed Pentagon/AARO re-write of November 2023," July 24, 2024, on House passage of the conference report on December 14, 2023 (https://douglasjohnson.ghost.io/uap-disclosure-act-pentagon-rewrite-nov-2023/).
|
||||
[^23]: Public Law 118-31, December 22, 2023, Section 1687 (137 Stat. 621 to 622) and Sections 7341 and 7343 (137 Stat. 1063 to 1064). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ31/pdf/PLAW-118publ31.pdf
|
||||
[^24]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, joint hearing, November 13, 2024, transcript pp. 44 to 45 (questions of Rep. Mace). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm
|
||||
[^25]: U.S. Senate, Lobbying Disclosure Act database, API queries of October 1 and 2, 2026: filings of Declassify UAP LLC (registration effective July 26, 2023, posted July 27, 2023; Q3 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/5f5d6f92-35dc-4e6d-b766-e524e41a3a20/print/); A10 Associates, LLC for client MUFON (Q2 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/046a4e46-a0ba-44df-bc1e-5359eb8fe09f/print/; Q4 2023 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/3d566ab6-738c-4c06-8679-07004d019153/print/); Solve Advocacy LLC for client Advena Research (Q4 2024 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/ccbc6184-d2ea-4545-8987-dab7658eb6b1/print/); Velos for client ExoAnalytic Solutions, Inc. (Q4 2024 report, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6c3a599a-2de9-4209-b452-29fb4c9d24b7/print/). Query form: https://lda.senate.gov/api/v1/filings/?filing_specific_lobbying_issues=UAP
|
||||
[^26]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC API, schedule A receipts (non-individual contributors) for committee C00373001 (Citizens for Turner; candidate H2OH03067) and committee C00367862 (Mike Rogers for Congress; candidate H2AL03032), two-year transaction period 2024 (re-queried October 2, 2026), and periods 2020 and 2022, contributor names containing Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, Raytheon, RTX, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE, Battelle, Leidos, Science Applications and Huntington Ingalls. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/
|
||||
[^27]: Congressional Record, Senate, July 11, 2024, pp. S4943 to S4950, SA 2610 (Mr. Rounds for himself and Mr. Schumer) to S. 4638, Division I, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2024," Sections 1114 and 1115. https://www.congress.gov/118/crec/2024/07/11/170/115/CREC-2024-07-11-pt1-PgS4943.pdf and https://www.congress.gov/118/crec/2024/07/11/170/115/CREC-2024-07-11-pt1-PgS4950.pdf
|
||||
[^28]: Congressional Record, Senate, July 29, 2025, p. S4847 and following, SA 3111 (Mr. Schumer for himself, Mr. Rounds, and Mrs. Gillibrand) to S. 2296, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2025." https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/07/29/171/130/CREC-2025-07-29-pt1-PgS4847.pdf
|
||||
[^29]: U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery, "Thursday, October 9, 2025," floor log (manager's package adopted by voice vote; S. 2296 passed 77 to 20). https://www.dailypress.senate.gov/thursday-october-9-2025/
|
||||
[^30]: Burlison, Eric. "House Adopts Burlison Amendment Establishing UAP Disclosure Framework," press release, July 22, 2026. https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-adopts-burlison-amendment-establishing-uap-disclosure-framework
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,10 +12,15 @@ relations:
|
|||
start: 2002-10-16
|
||||
role: "the notes record his account of a June 1997 attempt as Joint Staff intelligence official to enter a contractor program; Wilson told Billy Cox in 2008 'Never' and in 2020 'It's all fiction'"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
|
||||
start: 2022-05-17
|
||||
role: "a 15-page document headed EWD NOTES 10/16/02 is posted as item SD001 of the committee's hearing record on congress.gov; Elizondo wrote that Representative Mike Gallagher introduced the memo at the hearing"
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-03
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Wilson-Davis Memo]], also known as the "Wilson/Davis document," is a 13-page document that purports to be a summary of a 2002 conversation between astrophysicist [[Eric Davis]] and Vice Admiral [[Thomas R. Wilson]], who was then the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA). The memo details Admiral Wilson's alleged discovery of and subsequent denial of access to a deeply hidden U.S. government program that was reverse-engineering technology recovered from crashed [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP).[^1]
|
||||
The [[Wilson-Davis Memo]], also known as the "Wilson/Davis document," is a 13-page document that purports to be a summary of a 2002 conversation between astrophysicist [[Eric Davis]] and Vice Admiral [[Thomas R. Wilson]], who was then the Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA). The memo details Admiral Wilson's alleged discovery of and subsequent denial of access to a deeply hidden [[U.S. government]] program that was reverse-engineering technology recovered from crashed [[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena]] (UAP).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Memo's Content
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -27,7 +32,7 @@ The memo was written by Eric Davis as a summary of his conversation with Admiral
|
|||
|
||||
### Significance
|
||||
|
||||
The Wilson/Davis Memo is considered a key piece of evidence by many in the UAP disclosure movement. It provides a detailed, firsthand account of the existence of a "Legacy Program" within the military-industrial complex that controls access to recovered UAP technology. The memo highlights the extreme level of secrecy surrounding this issue and the power of private contractors to operate outside of normal government oversight. The allegations in the memo, if true, represent a profound failure of transparency and accountability within the U.S. government.[^1]
|
||||
The Wilson/Davis Memo is considered a key piece of evidence by many in the UAP disclosure movement. It provides a detailed, firsthand account of the existence of a "[[Legacy Program]]" within the military-industrial complex that controls access to recovered UAP technology. The memo highlights the extreme level of secrecy surrounding this issue and the power of private contractors to operate outside of normal government oversight. The allegations in the memo, if true, represent a profound failure of transparency and accountability within the U.S. government.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
### The notes as leaked
|
||||
|
|
@ -38,7 +43,7 @@ The first page records the arrangement: "Rich says to go to [[EG&G]] Special Pro
|
|||
|
||||
### Wilson's official record
|
||||
|
||||
The Congressional Record of August 1, 2002 carries Senator [[John Warner]]'s tribute: Wilson, born in [[Columbus, Ohio]], was a 1968 graduate of [[Ohio State University]], was commissioned an ensign in March 1969 after [[Officer Candidate School]] at [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], and would retire from active service on August 30, 2002 after thirty-three years. It lists "Vice Director for Intelligence, J2 on the [[Joint Staff]] in the [[Pentagon]]," "Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support," and "Director for Intelligence, J2 on the Joint Staff," and records that "In July 1999, Admiral Wilson moved on to his last and most challenging active duty post as the 13th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency." The tribute gives no dates for the earlier posts.[^5] The notes give Wilson's 1997 position as "Deputy Director DIA/Assistant Joint Chief of Staff J-2" under the DIA director General [[Patrick Hughes]]. A biography published by the [[National Intelligence University Foundation]] states that he served as Director, Defense Intelligence Agency from 1999 to 2002, then as a senior executive of [[Alliant Techsystems]].[^5][^6]
|
||||
The Congressional Record of August 1, 2002 carries Senator [[John Warner]]'s tribute: Wilson, born in [[Columbus, Ohio]], was a 1968 graduate of [[Ohio State University]], was commissioned an ensign in March 1969 after [[Officer Candidate School]] at [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], and would retire from active service on August 30, 2002 after thirty-three years. It lists "Vice Director for Intelligence, J2 on the [[Joint Staff]] in the [[Pentagon]]," "Associate [[Director of Central Intelligence]] for Military Support," and "Director for Intelligence, J2 on the Joint Staff," and records that "In July 1999, Admiral Wilson moved on to his last and most challenging active duty post as the 13th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency." The tribute gives no dates for the earlier posts.[^5] The notes give Wilson's 1997 position as "Deputy Director DIA/Assistant Joint Chief of Staff J-2" under the DIA director General [[Patrick Hughes]]. A biography published by the [[National Intelligence University Foundation]] states that he served as Director, Defense Intelligence Agency from 1999 to 2002, then as a senior executive of [[Alliant Techsystems]].[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The earlier versions
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -58,6 +63,18 @@ A letter of April 25, 2002 from "[[Will Miller]]" of [[Belleair Bluffs, Florida]
|
|||
|
||||
The [[Department of Defense]]'s [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] wrote in February 2024 that the executives of the companies named by interviewees "denied on the record" any recovery or reverse engineering. The text of the report does not mention Wilson, Davis or the notes.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Elizondo's account
|
||||
|
||||
[[Luis Elizondo]] wrote in 2024 that he met [[Eric Davis]], "an astrophysicist with high-level national security clearances" who "worked with Hal as a contractor for the program," "much later" than his first meetings with [[Hal Puthoff]] at the [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]], that he was told Davis "even provided the Presidential Daily Briefing," and that Davis "has become best known in UAP circles as the alleged author of the legendary Wilson/Davis memo."[^9] Elizondo's version of its origin is that "in the late 1990s" Davis "met and chatted up" Vice Admiral [[Thomas R. Wilson]], whom he describes as Director of Intelligence (J2) for the [[Joint Staff]], and wrote "a thirteen-page summary" of the talk, which he "confidentially shared" with a small group; that Puthoff and Davis gave a copy to the astronaut [[Edgar Mitchell]]; and that after Mitchell's death "his safe was opened and the memo was found and circulated publicly by his estate."[^9] A footnote in the book lists Wilson's other posts as Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support, Vice Director of Intelligence for the Joint Staff and Director of Intelligence for [[United States Atlantic Command]], and states that he later became the thirteenth Director of the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]].[^9] The leaked document is headed "EWD NOTES 10/16/02" and runs to fifteen pages (see above and below); Elizondo gives the length as thirteen pages and the period as the late 1990s.
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Wilson, "curious about certain black program line items in the budgets that crossed his desk," obtained a meeting with "representatives of a certain aerospace corporation" and "their attorney," learned that the contractor belonged to a program for "retrieving and reverse-engineering crashed advanced vehicles of unknown origin," and was told by the attorney that continued questions "could get him fired and cause him to lose his pension"; that the admiral "backed down," confided the encounter to Davis and "never spoke of it again, even after the memo leaked."[^9] He wrote that he learned the larger program "is referred to as the Legacy Program," involving "various elements of the US government and US defense contractors," and described the memo as "terrifying on many levels" because, in his words, materials held by contractors "become private property" after the officials who knew of them retire or die.[^9] Wilson's own statements to the reporter [[Billy Cox]] in 2008 ("Never") and in 2020 ("It's all fiction") are quoted above.
|
||||
|
||||
Elizondo wrote that Davis afterward briefed Department of Defense agencies and staff members of the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] and the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]], and attended "several senior-level meetings, to which I was invited, with various branches of the US military," at which Davis "detailed the Legacy Program's long-running efforts involving UAP"; he wrote that Davis told a [[New York Times]] reporter in 2020 that the government possessed "off-world vehicles not made on this earth."[^9] He wrote that the memo "would finally gain more attention from the media and the public" in the spring of 2022 when it "was submitted into the Congressional Record" during public hearings, and, in a later chapter, that at the hearing of May 2022, which he says lasted ninety minutes, "Congressman Mike Gallagher introduced the Wilson/Davis memo, mentioned earlier, into the Congressional Record on national television."[^9][^11] The book's appendix of web references lists the memo at a congress.gov file, https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/114761/documents/HHRG-117-IG05-20220517-SD001.pdf.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### The congress.gov file
|
||||
|
||||
The file named in the book's appendix opens on congress.gov as a 15-page scan whose first page is headed "EWD NOTES" and "10/16/02," followed by "Eric Davis Meeting with Adm. Wilson," and whose opening lines match the Black Vault copy described above. The URL follows the congress.gov pattern for documents in a committee hearing record (meeting 114761, hearing identifier HHRG-117-IG05, dated May 17, 2022, item SD001), and the committee notice listed in the Daily Digest for that date is the hearing "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena." The file is therefore a hearing-record exhibit, and the full-text search of the Congressional Record described above is of a different publication.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024.
|
||||
|
|
@ -68,3 +85,7 @@ The [[Department of Defense]]'s [[All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office]] wrote i
|
|||
[^6]: "Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, USN (Ret)," National Intelligence University Foundation biography, https://niuf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/WilsonBio.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Greenewald, "The 'Admiral Wilson Leak,'" sections reproducing the Greer lecture transcript of September 12, 2001, the Larry King Live broadcast of July 4, 2008, Billy Cox's reports of August 2008 and June 2020 in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and statements submitted by Wilson, Puthoff and Greer, at the URL above. The Cox articles themselves were not opened.
|
||||
[^8]: Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume I, February 2024, p. 8, https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/08/2003409233/-1/-1/0/DOPSR-CLEARED-508-COMPLIANT-HRRV1-08-MAR-2024-FINAL.PDF
|
||||
[^9]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 41 to 45 (Davis and the memo, indexed at pp. 42 to 44; the footnote on Wilson's posts is at p. 42). Page numbers throughout this page are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one.
|
||||
[^10]: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing record, May 17, 2022, item SD001, https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/114761/documents/HHRG-117-IG05-20220517-SD001.pdf (downloaded October 3, 2026; 15 pages, scanned images; page 1 read directly). The submitter of the item is not stated in the file. Cross-reference: Daily Digest, Congressional Record, May 17, 2022, p. D542, as cited in note 2.
|
||||
[^11]: Elizondo, *Imminent*, p. 236 (the May 2022 hearing and Gallagher, indexed at p. 236; the same page gives Elizondo's account of the Defense Department witnesses reporting more than 400 logged cases and of Ronald Moultrie's testimony that "Other than AATIP and Blue Book, no"; the book prints Moultrie's name as "Moultrue").
|
||||
[^12]: Elizondo, *Imminent*, appendix of web references, entry beginning "To read the Wilson/Davis memo, go to" (pages not numbered in the digital copy).
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
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Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue