AATIP and that mysterious "metal" sample

Hi all,

One of the projects which I listed on my 2018 work plan, was to study the publicly available information on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP.) I am still in the early days of studying the material I have gathered, and placed in my "to do at some stage" folder.

One aspect of this material stood out, and this was reference to "metal alloys." The initial reference surfaced in the 16 December 2017 issue of the New York Times, in an article authored by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, titled "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. program."

After describing the program and its sub-contractor Bigelow Aerospace (BASS), the authors wrote:

"Under Mr Bigelow's direction, 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."

More revelations

Following the revelation concerning the existence of the program, a number of individuals who were associated with aspects of the program, started to give interviews in the mass media.

1. Journalist Giuliano Marinkovic interviewed AATIP program manager, Luis Elizondo, in January 2018. Elizondo stated that BASS was required by the contract to provide a secure storage facility to store data and any material generated by the program. "We are not talking of unknown alloys. We are talking of metamaterials which have isotopic ratios not found on this planet. They would be very expensive for us to reproduce."

Luis Elizondo

2. Dr Eric W Davis was interviewed on "Coast to Coast" radio on 28 January 2018. Davis works for the Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas. He was a sub-contractor to BASS. His role was to provide broad scientific advice and create a series of expert studies. These studies were tasked with extrapolating our current technology to the year 2050 and comparing these to UAP. Davis stated that he was not privy to AATIP data analysis. There was no mention of "metal alloys" in this interview.

3. Luis Elizondo was interviewed by George Knapp on "Coast to Coast" radio on 25 February 2018, Elizondo was a program manager for AATIP. Knapp asked Elizondo about metals with unusual properties and AATIP. Elizondo responded that they do exist. The material displays unique characteristics. He can't say what the government has in its possession, but as far as BASS goes, there were very unusual properties. found. Isotopic ratios that are very unique. Not found naturally on this planet. Have been analysed and appear to be manufactured. When stimulus used - reacts in a certain way. "I am not talking about an unknown element or a metal alloy." It is not a new element. Origin remains unknown. 

4. Physicist Hal Puthoff was on "Coast to Coast" radio being interviewed by George Knapp on 28 February 2018. Puthoff works at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas. Like Davis, he was involved as a sub-contractor for BASS obtaining expert views.

Hal Puthoff

Knapp asked Puthoff about the New York Times reference to exotic material of unknown origin. In response, Puthoff said "I had a chance to look at some material." It is complex. No new elements. Layers of various kinds of material which you wouldn't expect to be layered. It will be some time before we figure out how to make them. If some more material becomes available we will learn more.

My thoughts

1. As far as I am aware, no-one has yet obtained documents under the US FOIA which relate to the AATIP and material having unusual properties. What we do have, are individuals who were involved in the program telling us that there was/is such material. The details they describe remain extremely vague. Only Hal Puthoff admitted to having looked at some material. 

2. No articles have appeared in peer reviewed scientific journals describing such unusual material.

3. In short, we have no hard data on the properties of this material, nor indeed official confirmation of the existence of such material held by the US Department of Defence.

Earlier such stories

When I read through the above material in order to write this blog post, I smiled. Why? In a diary entry dated 24 August 1988, in Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science: Volume Three," there is a record of a relevant conversation between Vallee and one Richard Niemtzow. Niemtzow was speaking:

"In the seventies, when McDonnell-Douglas had a secret study of UFOs under way, who do you think was showing up regularly from Washington to monitor their progress? It was Kit, sent by CIA on official business. He came over whenever one of their aircraft had a sighting. John Schuessler told me that. I found that communication with him was always a one way street. Those guys are trained that way.

"Whatever happened to the McDonnell study?"

"All they got were some pieces of metal, and they couldn't learn anything from the analysis, it was futile. Of course, being an aircraft company, they thought they would quickly crack the design, the propulsion system..."

Different times, same thinking!