"Life, but not as we know it."

Hi readers

One of the burning issues of debate about entities described in UFO encounters is why they look the way they do?

Some people believe that most of the entities look like us, i.e. basic humanoid, because that's the way all extraterrestrial life would look. Other people argue that ETs would be so unlike us that we may not even recognise them as life forms.

A short item in the latest "Discovery Channel Magazine" (February 2010, Vol 3, page 18) notes the formation of a new research group at the University of Vienna in Austria. Astrobiologist Johannes Leitner is quoted as saying "It cannot be ruled out that life forms have evolved somewhere that neither rely on water nor on a carbon-and-oxygen based metabolism." The research group is looking at investigating life based on other elements.

"Reading the Enemy's Mind" 3

Continuing a look at Paul H Smith's book.

June 1988. David Morehouse (click here for more) was an Army Captain who joined the program. p 375. Later he wrote a book called "Psychic warrior."

December 1988. Ed Dames transferred out of Sun Streak and left for even more secretive work then retired, in October 1991.

In 1989 for 10 months the program's operational control was transferred from the DIA to the Army. The Army wished to gather data about the value of the program and chose a task of counter narcotics to test it out. p401.

On page 418 a UFO story from Saudi Arabia is described. "Captain Kent Johnson an Air Force liaison officer with my brigade, saw the shadow of a UFO. A couple of weeks prior to the ground invasion of Iraq, Kent was flying as an Air Force observer in an OH-58 scout helicopter with an Army pilot. They were flying at 500 feet in support of an exercise in an area with no other aircraft. As Kent described it, the two pilots simultaneously noticed a shadow moving in a straight line across the desert floor at more than 1,000 miles per hour, as they estimated."The shadow was more than 200 yards across. Oval sharp, well defined edges-rapidly approaching. Traveling SE to NW. No object seen just shadow. Shadow disappeared into heat waves.
10 minutes later they again saw the shadow on an exact reverse course. "As our tracks started to close...the shadow instantly stopped dead, with no apparent deceleration...as they neared it, it abruptly returned to high speed...one moment it was standing still, and the next it was moving at 800-1,000 knots...disappeared to the southeast." (Source: Kent D Johnson email 27/5/98.)

In late 1989 Ed Dames formed a commercial remote viewing company -PSI Tech. John Alexander (click here for more on Alexander) and Bert Stubblebine (click here for more) joined the corporate board.

In 1991 the project's name was changed from Sun Streak to Star Gate. p421.

"Reading the Enemy's Mind" 2

US Army Lt Fred Holmes Atwater was sent to Fort Meade in the Systems Exploitation Detachment - and in a desk drawer he found three secret documents on remote viewing. Fred became lead man on "Project Gondala Wish" in 1977. pp107-108. From this came the suggestion that "INSCOM should train its own set of military remote viewers..." (Click here for more on Atwater.)

"Fred told me to look for a guy by the name of Ed Dames...he worked at the Systems Exploitation Detachment ...as an analyst specializing in biological and chemical threats." pp45/46. "Most of the four hour trip Ed spent talking about space aliens and UFOs..." "But I remained agnostic on the subject of UFOs...There was a core group of eyewitness accounts that seemed compelling." (Click here and click here and here for more on Ed Dames.)

"Ed was very persuasive, He exuded confidence, seemed knowledgeable and hinted at insider access to some of the details..." p146.

p213. "One evening toward the end of May 1984...Ed went on at length in the most convincing tone about UFOs and what they portended for the pending End of the World, which he was sure was imminent...Ed implied without ever really saying that he had inside knowledge of just what the Government wasn't divulging about UFOs and extraterrestrials."

In 1984 the Army decided to close Center Lane, the Army remote viewing group. There were, however a number of agencies who wished to take on the project. "The CIA had expressed an interest in taking the project...NSA wanted us, as did the Army Medical Research and Development Command. ..." p 226. Later, only two viable options emerged, to the DIA or the Medical Research and Development Command. p227.

Comment: It is very interesting that three other agencies were looking to take on this remote viewing program; seemingly an indication that they believed there was some value in the results being obtained.

In late 1984, the Center Lane program looked to be transferred from the Army to DIA at Bolling AFB in Washington DC. p236. A problem in transfer occurred and "In effect, DIA would give us our marching orders, but INSCOM would still "own us."" p245. On 31 Jan 1986 the program became DIA's Sun Streak, p269.

Dale Graff. "Dale was kept busy...not only as Jack Vorona's acting officer for the ongoing remote viewing research that DIA funded, but also as the agency's monitor of developments in Parapsychology behind the Iron Curtain." p270. (Click here for more on Dale Graff, and here for more on Vorona.))

1987. "Ed was my monitor for several training sessions. Most of his choices of targets in those training sessions had to do with "anomaly" targets-UFOs, extraterrestrials, modern mysteries, or ancient artifacts, such as the Ark of the Covenant." p283.

p308. Ed on a remote viewing monitoring Paul. "The "most important thing" he was looking for was tied into his fantasies about a "Supreme Galactic Council" of aliens. Despite his previous denials, he really had expected me to gather intelligence on UFOs or extraterrestrials"

1988 "From the beginning Ed was absorbed in elaborate speculations on UFOs and extraterrestrials." p342.

"Reading the enemy's mind" 1

Hi readers

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was taking volume 2 of Vallee's diaries with me to Perth. I managed to completely re-read it while I was away from Adelaide.

The very last reference on page 517 is to a book titled "Reading the Enemy's Mind" by Paul H Smith. I tracked down a copy of the book to see why Vallee rated it as excellent. My version was published in 2005 by Tom Doherty Associates of New York. ISBN 0-312-87515-0.

The story for Smith started when he joined the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM for short) in about 1983. An element of INSCOM" were looking into hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, sleep disciplines, biofeedback, Silva Mind control, and other methods-conventional and unconventional-for boosting organisational efficiency and promoting individual growth." p30. It became INSCOM's Beyond Excellence Program. A staff agency called "The Advanced Human Technology Office" was created with John Alexander as chief. p 32.

Smith joined a project called "Center Lane" p41 which was about remote viewing. Remote viewing was a term coined by Ingo Swann in 1971 in experiments conducted by the American Society for Psychical Research in New York. Remote viewing seemed to be the ability to project something of one's self to a distant location and describe what was there.

The CIA became interested in Swann's work with Dr Hal Puthoff of Standford Research Institute, in 1972. "on June 27, 1972 Puthoff wrote concerning the magnetometer experiment to CIA scientist Kit Green, who occupied the Life Science desk in the agency's Office of Strategic Intelligence (OSI) starting a long term relationship with one of the more important figures in the CIA to support the SRI remote viewing program." p64.

Comment:

This is the same Dr Christopher (Kit) Green whom Vallee reports on in Volume 2 of his diaries, as being the CIA person who monitored UFO research. The reference in the back of the diaries is "Ken Kress, "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A personal review and conclusions.: Studies in Intelligence, Washington DC: Central Intelligence Agency, Winter 1977. Republished in Journal of Scientific Exploration Vol 13 No 1 Spring 1999, 69-85.

Vallee's name crops up on p72. "In a meeting with Puthoff, and Targ, during a visit to SRI, scientist Jacques Vallee, the legendary UFO researcher, made an interesting suggestion. "All you really need is an address," Vallee observed after some discussion."

After three years, CIA funding ceased. The SRI project continued with funding from the USAF Foreign Technology Division, the Army, Navy and private enterprise. p85.

Jack Vorona, scientist at the DIA, oversaw the technical intelligence division of DIA. "He was also interested in parapsychology..." p 102. DIA financed the SRI research-Project Grill Flame." "Another official at DIA who became involved was Jim Salyer." p102.

Wine and UFOs

Hi readers

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been away at two conferences in Perth, Western Australia.

I found Perth to be a wonderfully vibrant place, and attending conferences freshens up one's professional life. However, the highlight of my trip was an opportunity to spend time with a close friend and colleague, who knows and shares my UFO interests. Like me, they have never belonged to a UFO group, doing their own research at their own pace.

It was nice to be able to lower my guard in her presence. As you might guess, we spent hours over a glass or two of fine Margaret River wine "chewing the fat." We reflected on a number of things.

1. How difficult it is to find up to date articles on UFOs published in a recognised, peer reviewed science journal. This led us to recognise how difficult it is for UFO researchers to get published in such journals. In reference to Australian researchers we could only think of one such article, by Robert Bartholomew, Keith Basterfield and George Howard back in the early 1990's (for details click here.)

2. That it is hard to locate detailed technical documents on individual Australian UFO cases. There are cases on various websites belonging to Australian UFO groups, but not detailed enough for our liking. UFO groups cannot expect scientists to look at the topic without providing good documentation. I'd recommend UFO groups in Australia publish such material.

3. Judging by much of the material available on the internet today, it is no wonder scientists steer clear of the UFO phenomenon.

4. How individuals such as ourselves, professional career women, have to tread very carefully with our UFO interests. Dear reader, you have probably worked out by now that "Pauline Wilson" is a pseudonym and "medical researcher" is a very generic description of my actual profession. I offer no apologies for these mild deceptions, as the internet is full of such ways of protecting one's privacy.

Rachael, my friend in Perth, asked me why I had chosen to blog anonymously? I told her that it was one way I could contribute to the debate on UFOs. A fresh look at what is available is always useful. From the feedback I have received, it appears that my observations have made some points.

A couple of readers have asked if they could meet me, but I have declined. I feel that my anonymity in no way decreases the validity or value of my contribution,.

As we drained another glass of excellent Western Australian wine, we wondered if anything will change; and if and when science will embrace the UFO phenomenon?

Cheers for now!