A '...closed congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. on UFOs'?

United States Senate Armed Services Committee

The Armed Services Committee is a committee of the United States Senate, empowered with legislative oversight of the United States military.

It has seven subcommittees:

* Airland
* Cybersecurity
* Personnel
* Readiness and Management Support
* Seapower
* Strategic Forces
* Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

For a number of reasons, I have come to believe that if any subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee is interested in the formerly secret, Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP)/Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program (AATIP), then it is the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee.

The Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee

Responsibilities for this subcommittee include 'Policies and programs relating to science and technology...' The subcommittee oversights numerous areas of the US Department of Defense.including the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence) under which the AAWSA/AATIP is believed to have been placed; plus the Defense Intelligence Agency, which in 2008 issued a solicitation for work on the AAWSA/AATIP.

The subcommittee's current members are:

Senators Joni Ernst; Roger Wicker;Deb Fischer; David Perdue; Ted Cruz; Tim Scott; Martin Heinrich; Bill Nelson; Jeanne Shaheen; Gary Peters.

I ran the names of these senators and various keywords through a search engine looking for any mention of an interest by them, in UFOs or related topics.

I found something on Senators Peters and Shaheen.

Senator Peters

On 1 August 2018, the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, held a hearing titled 'The Search for Life: Utilizing Science to Explore our Solar System and Make New Discoveries,' leading up to a NASA authorization bill. A number of NASA personnel and other experts were present to provide answers to the Senators' questions.

Senator Gary Peters asked whether there might be advanced civilizations we aren't able to find? Ellen Stofan, Director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said that NASA is pursuing the correct way of looking for life...This knowledge could provide a basis for finding complex life elsewhere in the galaxy.

Senator Shaheen

Source: https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/local/shaheen-unconcerned-by-ufos/article_2ce58abe-32f1-11e8-aead-8fdc3c9d8184.html

On 4 April 2018, there was an article in 'The Conway Daily Sun' by Daymond Steer. On 28 March 2018 Senator Shaheen, was a participant in a discussion on net neutrality at the Tech Village in Conway:

'...The Sun asked her about her stance on recent media reports of UFOs buzzing around the US. It turns out she's more concerned about foes on Earth than from outer space...After the meeting the Sun asked Shaheen for her thoughts on a spate of news stories about recent military and civilian encounters with unidentified flying objects that supposedly have capabilities well beyond advanced fighter planes.

"You know, we have not had anything around UFOs that I have seen in either the Armed Services Committee or any other committee that I'm on," replied Shaheen.

The Senator confirmed that she has seen some  TV news stories about UFOs and acknowledged that New Hampshire's is home to one of the most famous UFO cases of all time (The alleged Betty and Barney Hill abduction in 1961 on Route 3 near Lincoln.)

The Sun asked Shaheen if she would look into UFO cases since there were implications for national security. "I have to say, I'm a little more worried about Russian than I am UFOs these days," she said adding China.'

My thoughts

I wondered if there was a particular reason that the media had chosen to ask that question of Senator Shaheen? Therefore, I searched further on the Internet.

I found an 18 January 2009 newspaper article by Dean Merchant on the Seacoastonline.com website titled 'Call for Obama to open UFO files.'

'Last November, Paradigm Research group of Bethesda, MD, launched 'The Million Fax on Washington' campaign ' ...president-elect Barack Obama to end the Truth Embargo regarding extraterrestrial/UFO presence...

Dr Ted Loder, University of New Hampshire, professor emeritus, became interest in extraterrestrials in 1997 when then governor Jeanne Shaheen sent him at his own request, to a closed congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. On UFOs.

As then Gov Shaheen's representative, Dr Loder listened to top-secret military witnesses as they described their observations and sightings to members of Congress and the U.S. Senate. Based on what he heard, Loder came to believe in the alleged government cover ups of extraterrestrial technologies, technologies he feels the world desperately needs for safe, inexpensive and sustainable energy to solve global poverty. Loder is associated with the Disclosure project...'

My thoughts

What 1997 'closed congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. on UFOs?'

A bit of research found that this statement actually referred to a 9 April 1997 briefing  where 'Nearly 30 congressional offices were represented at the briefing which was held at the Georgetown Westin Hotel in Washington, DC.'

This briefing was organized by CSETI Steven Greer's group. It certainly wasn't an official 'hearing" of a Senate or other Congressional committee.

I couldn't find links to an interest in UFOs by any of the other members of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee. Can any blog readers assist?

'Patient died 2 weeks later' - EarthTech and Kit Green's work

Jay 09784691

On 8 August 2018, Twitter user @Jay09784691 tweeted 'Would be interesting to see more of this Project.' The project referred to was from @haroldputhoffcompany; EarthTech International Inc.

Jay's tweet has an associated image, which appeared to be a scan of a cross section of a brain. The image had text which read: 'Patient 1 month following near-field exposure to unidentified aerial craft at 500 meters. Patient died 2 weeks later.'

I accessed the EarthTech website on 9 August 2018 and confirmed that the same image and same associated text were in fact present on the Life Sciences section of the website.

Within a couple of days, this image and its associated text were no longer present. However, the larger volume of text was still intact. I will details what this says, later in this post.

Communication with Twitter user @Jay09784691

I posed a number of questions to Jay, who kindly consented for their responses to be included below.

Q1 'How did you come to be browsing the EarthTech website at that time?'

A1 'I've been following the activity of people involved with TTSA, so the obvious links to Hal Puthoff led me to his company's website. I tend to use a combination of logic and instinct to find the material that I'm posting to Twitter. After the significance of the find from Mellon's website, I thought I'd next dig into Puthoff's. I suspect there's a lot more out there, only I figure anyone involved may have been asked to check their relating websites and remove any significant postings anyway, as some people may be digging around.

I fully support TTSA and think they're doing a wonderful job. I suspect they have a list and calendar for items they're disclosing in a slow and steady manner as a way of acclimatising people to the subject. It's possible that people digging about may be accelerating their  schedules more than they'd like. So I'm worried about frustrating them, obviously, but find it all too fascinating! I wouldn't disclose anything said to me privately if said with some level of trust.'

Q2. What did you think was the significance of the image of a brain scan that you found there?

A2.'I guess the obvious answer is the reference to "unidentified aerial craft." Then the significance of the brain scan which looks like its had some serious damage to the same part that Nolan/Green are also investigating, but I may be drawing parallels where there aren't any. Also Annie's book was suggesting that both are looking into people with some exposure to these things, so again I'm drawing parallels.'

Q3. 'At that point were you aware of the work in this area undertaken by Dr Christopher (Kit) Green?'

A3. 'Reading through books and postings to scientific journals mostly. I think the guy is very rare in that he has both a logical and creative brain. Check out some of his paintings on his personal website. He clearly has talents in both areas and is perhaps the most important person to follow. Although highlighting this may make him regress a bit from the spotlight (which I really hope  doesn't happen.) It seems like some of his more significant work tends to go largely unnoticed due to the scientific nature and wording. Luckily for me I read this kind of literature as part of my day job and have to make distinctions and try to interpret these texts.'

Q4. 'When did you become aware that EarthTech had removed the brain scan image?'

A4. 'Upon reading this email from you...'

EarthTech Life Sciences webpage

Besides the image with its text, the Life Sciences page had its own text, which read (and still reads):

'An important direction of IASA for the past decade has been the Emergent Life Sciences. Specifically, our network of forensic physicians and clinical specialists in Genomics, Immunology, Neurology, and Neuroimaging have served clinical translational medicine research sponsors.

Our Goal: The forensic diagnosis of enigmatic illness, treatment, protection and improved patient well-being using the latest Neurosciences and Genomics.

Institute medical scientists have mapped emergent evidence of correlations between energy science and the life sciences in discovery of new injury diagnostics, after patients have been exposed to unusual near-field anomalous effects believed related to advanced or experimental propulsion, or unknown devices under test and evaluation.

Current client interests include:

* Human Effects from Mixed Beam RF mm-wave, Tetrahertz and Gamma radiation

* Interaction of novel energy and propulsion systems causing both Epigenetic injury and Central Nervous System pathology

* Studies of brain biomarkers and related heritable DNA relating to high performance cognition, learning and intuition when under stress.'

Annie Jacobsen

When I read the above text on the EarthTech website, it first took me back to a blog post dated 7 April 2018, written by my co-blogger Pauline Wilson, about the work of Dr Christopher (Kit) Green as outlined in Annie Jacobsen's 2017 book 'Phenomena.'

Image courtesy of Amazon Books

Jacobsen interviewed Green about his work. The following are extracts from this interview:

'"I'm interested in the notion of people injured physically by anomalous events" said Green. "Often these events are perceived as [involving] unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, drones, high energy radio frequencies that confront people face-to-face and cannot be explained."' (P.396.)

'In 2005, he began working on a research project to address this enigma. He began creating "a structured database of individuals that were suffering enigmatic injuries, burns, skin lesions, cancers, diseases - and who had also had face-to-face encounters with UAPs," says Green.' (p.396.)

'...in 2007, Green took this research project from academic to operational, "I began performing much pro bono work ...forensic investigation and diagnosis of patients injured by multiply witnessed physical anomalous events with UAPs drones and other visible physical devices." ' (p.397.)

'Green accepted his patients carefully. "They are all high-functioning individuals, many prodigious savants, most of whom carry a high security clearance," he says. "They are members of Special Forces, members of the intelligence community, employees of aerospace companies, officers in the military, guards of military bases, policemen...Common injuries are from something that is airborne. [Something] that emits some kind of a light or a beam. Some orbs..." At present he has more than one hundred patients.' (pp397/8.)

''"Twenty-five percent of my patients die within five to seven years of my diagnosis, and I have no idea how any programs I knew about years ago can do these things," Green says.' (p.398.)

'To advance his hypothesis, based on the demography and high-functioning of his patients, Dr Green teamed up with the Nolan laboratory at Stanford University, run by Garry Nolan.' (p.398.)

'"I have met and worked with many of Kit's patients," Nolan confirms,...These people were injured...he agrees with Kit Green  that in many cases it looks as if it is an electromagnetic field  of some sort.' (p.398.)

My comments

1. You can see that the wording on the EarthTech website, it is discussing the same work as that described by Kit Green.

2. When Green refers to "Often these events are perceived as [involving] unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, drones, high energy radio frequencies that confront people face-to-face and cannot be explained," it is interesting to note that he separates UAPs from drones from high energy radio frequencies. Is he suggesting that the effects he is seeing are being generated by both UAPs and drones? 

3. Who refers his clients to him? They are said to be "...members of Special Forces, members of the intelligence community, employees of aerospace companies, officers in the military, guards of military bases, policemen..." This is a wide range of professions. How do these individuals find their way to Green?

4. A search of the scientific literature fails to find peer reviewed Journal articles on this work of Green's. 

Other references

1. The 18 August 2008, Defense Intelligence Agency, solicitation number HHM402-08-R-0211 for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program, in part read:

'The contractor shall complete advanced aerospace weapon system studies in the following areas...10. human effects...'

What human effects?'

2. At the June 2018 Las Vegas, SSE/IRVA conference, Hal Puthoff gave a presentation titled 'The Dod's UAP Program: The Back Story, The Forward Story.'  At one point during the presentation he spoke about the 1977/78 Brazilian's government's 'Project Prato,' which documented a large number of observations, and apparent human effects.

He stated '...looked at some cases...Brazil. In 1977/78...a lot of medical injuries. This is a list of the different kind of medical injuries that occurred when people encounter these craft at close range, and it has  some overlap with cases that were investigated during the program, of injuries occurring.'

Have any blog readers come across any recent additional information about either Kit Green's work, or that of EarthTech, in this area?

The To the Stars Academy, and 'Ed's' metal sample

Background

On the 26 July 2018, the website of the To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) announced the commencement of their A.D.A.M. Project. This project was stated to be '...an Academic Research Program Focused on Exotic Materials for Technology Innovation.'

TTSA also announced that it had '...established a contract with EarthTech International Inc....to evaluate the properties of the available materials.'

Introduction

On 15 August 2018, the TTSA Facebook page carried a post 'Engaging the Phenomena' about unusual materials. Embedded in the post, was  a 3 minute duration video, showing TTSA members travelling to Columbus, Ohio on 13 June 2018. The members were shown collecting some material. The material was then taken to Austin, Texas where it was shown being delivered to Drs Hal Puthoff and Eric Davis. In an earlier, shorter version of this video (33 seconds duration) the individual whom they were visiting was notated on screen, as 'Ed.' The name 'Ed' did not appear in the 3 minute version.

'Ed's' material

Also on 15 August 2018, on the TTSA Facebook page, a user named John Solo Giamundo  had shared a link to the TTSA ADAM Project's 3 minute video. There was a single comment underneath from  a Kain Baker. Baker posted a link to a page from the Internet Wayback machine. This was originally on the website of the Avalon Foundation. 

The Avalon Foundation site carried a report titled 'Two cases of Unusual Sky-fall Aluminum Metal From Ohio' authored by N A Reiter and Patricia Mason, dated 24 June 2008. One of the two metal samples from Ohio had been found by an individual named "Ed.' It is reasonable to conclude that this is the same Ed that the TTSA collected their sample from in June 2018 as shown on the TTSA video.

'Ed's' story and an analysis

From this 2008 paper:

'The Tiffin, Ohio case - 2003

In March of 2003, Nick Reiter received a phone call from his father Bruce Reiter concerning an interesting bit of news from his old rural neighbourhood, north of Tiffin,Ohio. His father related to Nick that his nearest neighbour 'Ed' - had found a mysterious piece of metal in his side yard, while raking up the last fall's leaves and twigs.

The object had been obscured over the winter by two heavy snowfalls and numerous lesser ones. Ed had no explanation for the irregular metal blob, which was roughly six inches by two and a half inches, with a maximum thickness of one half inch or so. The blog had very apparently been molten at some point, and had solidified against a fairly flat or solid surface. While the piece had been found in the yard on the earth, the bottom side of the blob when found was generally smooth with some white oxides present.

By reviewing the weather over the course of the winter that year, we concluded that the metal - if it had not been placed by artifice at a later post-snow date - had apparently fallen into a hard packed ice crushed snow drift that had  remained since January of the year, up until the thaw in March. The blog may have then melted into the snow and ice aways, but then apparently was covered over by February snowfalls.

That same month, Nick interviewed Ed carefully, and borrowed his blob of mystery metal. He was granted permission to cut it open as desired. Nick ended up sawing a roughly 2 inch portion from the main blob. The interior of the metal appeared homogeneous. A small shaving was taken from both the interior and the surface and analyzed by Nick using a Jeol 840 scanning  electron microscope fitted with EDS.

Photo A shows the portion of the sawed sample retrieved by Bruce and Nick Reiter.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20111106121551/http://www.theavalonfoundation.org/images/msfm-photo-a.jpg

At that time, EDS [Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy-KB] disclosed that the metal was primarily aluminum, with traces of carbon and silicon. A crude Archimedian test of density indicated that the aluminum was within a couple percent of appropriate mass weight, thus meaning it was likely not an unusual isotope. It was not noticeably radioactive when surveyed with our Baird Atomic ratemeter (Geiger counter.)

The matter for Nick remained a mystery, and for his part in helping with the affair, Ed permitted Nick's father to keep the smaller portion of the metal blog as a souvenir.

Little more could be added to the story, as neither Ed nor anyone else could say for sure where the metal came from. It appeared to have fallen from the sky on an unknown snowy day or night in early 2003. From what height, or from what source, was inscrutable.

Shortly after the information came to Nick's attention concerning the second case of apparent sky-fall aluminum in November of 2006, he made a futile search for the EDS data, from 2003, for Ed's sample. The data had been saved on a  diskette that had been misplaced or mislabelled. We were left for the time with only memory to relate to.'

A question

A very simple question came to mind when I read this 2008 report. Given that 'Ed' found his metal blob in his back yard, and did not report seeing it fall from a UFO, why are the TTSA interested in this blob? There is no evidence given which links the blob to the UFO phenomenon.

Having said that, the 2008 report goes on to describe a second Ohio instance involving an aluminum blob. In this 1996 incident, there was a reported 'thud' nearby as a UFO flew overhead making a noise. The witness, Bernie Foggin stated that he found a blob of solidified but still hot aluminum in his drive. This material was also analysed. The entire report is well worth a read.

Additional information

For a 10 August 2008, The Paracast forum message by Nick Reiter, where he explains that the Avalon Foundation website was started by himself to present his work, click here. 

For a link to Nick Reiter's appearances on 'Coast to Coast' radio, click here. Here, it reveals that 'Nick was the behind-the-scenes formerly anonymous analyzer solicited by Linda Moulton Howe to examine the alleged Roswell UFO metal fragment.'

Reference to the Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program found in a 2018 issue of the US 'Congressional Record.'

Background

In a blog post dated 28 June 2018, titled 'New US congressional hearings on UFOs?' I brought together several pieces of information which suggested that at least one US Congressional Committee (and maybe more than one) was looking at conducting hearings on the topic of UFOs, stimulated by the news about the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program/Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program (AAWSAP/AATIP.)

In that blog post, I suggested three possibilities for which committees might be involved:

1. The House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

2. The House of Representatives Science, Space and technology Committee.

3. The Senate Armed Services Committee.

New research

Recently a group of collaborating researchers, composed of Roger Glassel from Sweden; Curt Collins from the USA; Paul Dean from Melbourne, Australia, and myself from Adelaide, South Australia, have been following up on this subject area. The group has found a very interesting item, in the US 'Congressional Record.' 

The 'Congressional Record' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office.

Volume 164, Number 56, dated Monday, April 9, 2018 of the 'Congressional Record'  page H3062 included the following text:

'4381. A letter from the Chief, Congressional Relations Division, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, transmitting a list of all products produced under the Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program contract for the Defense Intelligence Agency to publish; to the Committee on Armed Services.'

Source: https://www.congress.gov/crec/2018/04/09/CREC-2018-04-09-pt1-PgH3062.pdf

The Team's understanding, is that this means that the reference to 'Committee on Armed Services' is to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. Does this mean that there was a presentation of some kind around April 2018? Are these 'products' back in the 2007-2012 era, or later? Was this a review brought about by the New York Times article of 2017? The finding of this item just raises further questions.

House of Representatives Armed Services Committee's subcommittees

There are seven sub-committees, which are:

* Military Personnel

* Oversight and investigation

* Readiness

* Seapower and Projection Forces

* Strategic Forces

* Tactical Air and land Forces

* Emerging Threats and Capabilities

Given that the AAWSAP/AATIP speaks to the question of 'emerging threats' and 'capabilities' it would seem reasonable to ask what the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee does?

The relevant website states that:

'The Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee is responsible for overseeing Counter Terrorism programs and initiatives and counter proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Additionally, the subcommittee overseas US Special Operations Forces, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), information technology and programs, force protection policy and oversight and related intelligence support, it makes sure that our nation is protected against terrorist attacks and unconventional threats.'

Hearings

The full House of Representatives Armed Services committee, and subcommittees hold 'hearings' to gather evidence for debate and discussion. These hearings are listed on the committee's website. Nothing immediately stands out in reference to the AAWSAP/AATIP in the period January 2018 till today. 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

Based on this new information, a request under the US Freedom of Information Act, has already been submitted to the Defense Intelligence Agency. We have asked for both a copy of the letter referred to, and also a copy of the list of all products produced by the program.

Is there another congressional committee looking at the subject matter?

It is common knowledge that a US Navy witness to the 2004 USS Nimitz 'Tic tac' case has been invited to speak before another congressional committee, other than the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. In deference to the fact that this discussion may not have yet taken place, we will not name this other committee.

However, this means that at least two US congressional committees may have already taken, or may still be taking, or will shortly be taking, evidence from a variety of individuals who have some knowledge of  the subject of UFOs in general, and more specifically work undertaken by the AAWSAP/AATIP.

'An Australian contactee - Beatriz Copello

Introduction

Recently my attention was drawn, by an overseas researcher, to a 2016 ebook titled 'A Call to the Stars' by Australian author Beatriz Copello. Up until that point, I must admit, I had not heard of the book.

The Smashwords website, carried the following synposis of the book.

'A Call to the Stars tells the fascinating experiences of Alicia (Nor her real name), a woman, who established a relationship with aliens. The experiences are told through a serious of interviews with a fictitious psychologist. Alicia studied psychology to assure herself that she was not mad, that she really had been abducted by extra-terrestrial beings who also communicated with her telepathically.

Alice (sic) after many years of studying became a psychologist and built a successful career. Having worked closely with other psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other professionals no one ever doubted her sanity.

Alicia tells us about the nature of the aliens and their concerns about the way in which we treat our planet. Our destruction will, become a reality if we do not stop our wars and the causes of climate change. This (sic) messages commenced in 1967.

Alicia underwent a series of hypnosis regressions by the well known but sadly now deceased Leslie Bullock. He said: "I will always remember the first interview I had with a very charming, well dressed, obviously very intelligent woman who came along with an amazing story of a lifetime of having been contacted by extra-terrestrial beings. She had obviously come to the wrong person. I was a complete cynic about such things and had never read a book about the subject. I had been using hypnosis for over 50 years, and had been in full time practice as a professional hypnotist for more than 30 years. During 40,00 hours spent in personal consultations with clients with a wide range of problems, I had never encountered anything like this."

Who is Beatriz Copello?

The same Smashwords website has the following:

'Dr Betariz Copello is a psychologist, a poet and a fiction writer. Copello's poetry has been published in many journals and literary magazines. Her book of lesbian poetry Women Souls and Shadows, Bemac Publishing, 1992 was highly commended in the Wild and Wooley, 1993 awards. In November 1997 she received from the Australia Council, Literature Fund, and Emerging Writers Grant for Poetry. Her book of poetry Meditations At the Edge of a Dream was published by Interactive Publications - Glasshouse books, 2001, receiving excellent reviews. In 2003 she was awarded a Doctor of Creative Arts Degree (Creative Writing) from the University of Wollongong. Under the Gums Long Shade, her third book of poetry was published in 2008. Lesbian Love Lesbian Lives is her first book of short stories.'

I found she had also published Flowery Roots in 2016; Paso Prohibidos Bajola Glicina in 2016 and Forbidden Steps Under the Wisteria in 2017.

'Call to the Stars' was published on 16 January 2016; ISBN 978131164131; length 29,130 words.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia page  has 'A Call to the Stars' (translated into Chinese), Crown Publishing Company Ltd. Taiwan, June 1999. listed under the heading of 'Fiction'

Who was Leslie Bullock?

Les Bullock, Martin St James and Gil Boyne - source http://www.ahahypnotherapy.org.au/resources/hall-of-fame/#Leslie%20Bullock

The website of the Australian Hypnotherapists Association mentions Leslie Bullock. It states that Leslie Bullock was born on 12 October 1925 and passed away on 14 May 2010. He was a pioneer in the field of Australian hypnotherapy and pioneered the process of the use of hypnosis for assisting people quit smoking.

On another website, belonging to Leslie's son John I found mention of Leslie. John is a clinical hypnotherapist, based in Sydney, Australia. John writes:

'I grew-up in a family where hypnosis was the norm. My father, Les Bullock began practicing hypnosis professionally around 45 years ago and was one of Australia's pioneers in the field. Les specialized in helping people to give up smoking and the Hypnotherapy system he developed is one of the most well known with successful quitters in Australia. Sadly, Les passed away in 2010 at the age of 84.

What were Les's UFO interests?

 I consulted my digital copies of Australian UFO periodicals. In Volume 2 Number 3, 1995, of the Newsletter of the Australian UFO Abduction Study Centre, which I ran for three years in the mid 1990's, I found the following information about the UFO Experience Support Association of Sydney's 1995 conference which ran between 17-18 March 1995. panel discussion featured Ms Beatriz Copello (psychologist) and Mr Leslie Bullock (hypnotherapist.)

'Beatriz Copello commented on the psychological aspects of abduction and touched on her own experience. Mr Leslie Bullock talked about hypnosis and his trip to Melbourne to meet with Denise for a hypnotherapy session.'

In the forward to the book by Leslie Bullock, Bullock revealed that:

* After meeting the abductee he volunteered his services to a UFO organisation as a researcher/therapist

* He interviewed many,  he referred to as 'contactees.'

Who was Alicia Gonzalez?

I acquired a copy of the 2016 ebook, and searched it for clues which might reveal more of the identity of 'Alicia.' In the forward, Leslie Bullock mentions that the subject of the book:

* Studied for years at University to obtain a degree in Psychology

* Worked at one point for the Department of education in charge of a number of psychologists

* Had been acclaimed for her writings

* Got a grant from the Australian Arts Council

* Had two daughters.

He concluded his forward with the words (written before his death in 2010.)

'It is my professional opinion that the woman featured in this book has has a number of genuine experiences. I am grateful to Beatriz for giving me the opportunity to have had some part in this whole experience.'

More insights into Alicia come from 'A Call to the Stars' itself. Alicia:

* Was born in Argentina

* Mentions she has two daughters

* Alicia wrote poetry

* Alicia says she provides psychological support to a group of abductees in Sydney, The UFO Experience Support Association

* She first met Les Bullock in 1991

Beatriz:

*  Was acclaimed for her writings

* Received a grant from the Australian Arts Council at one point

* Obtained a degree in Psychology

* At the 1995 UFOESA conference in Sydney she commented on the psychological aspects of abduction and touched on her own experience

* In her 2003 thesis noted that she was/had been a public servant and was a mother

* Was born in Argentina.

It seems reasonable to conclude that the subject of the book 'Alicia' was in fact Beatriz Copello.

Acknowledgement

Thank you to a number of Australian UFO researchers who responded with information about the subject of this post. 

AATIP documents found on US website

Introduction

On the morning of 7 August 2018 my attention was drawn to the existence of a number of documents, and videos about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP.) The story broke when Twitter user @Jay09784691 posted several tweets about them, thus placing them in the public domain.

The items

Below, I present a summary of the items. I have chosen not to post any of the images in this post, as some provide personal information about certain individuals. I will however use the names of individuals who have self identified themselves as members of the To The Stars Academy. 

An image of a package

There is an image of a white padded bag with www.securityBag.com on it. It has 'To: L. Elizondo handwritten on it in blue and 'Department/Mail Station.' It is 'From: [handwritten name I choose not to type here]'in blue ink,  then 'Date/time' printed on it. Below all of this is handwritten 'Chris Mellon 1600 9/7/17.'

Comment: This is suggestive of an internal DoD security package delivering items from [Unnamed] to Luis Elizondo, which then was delivered to Chris Mellon at 1600hrs on 7 September 2017.

An image of four coloured compact discs

There is an image of four green coloured compact discs. These are labelled 'Disc 1 of 4;' "Disc 2 of 4;' 'Disc 3 of 4;' Disc 4 of 4.' All of the CDs have printed on them 'This medium is Unclassified US Government Property.' By the printed word 'Date' appears the characters 9/5 handwritten.

Comment: If 9/5 is a date, meaning 5 September (2017?) then this fits in with the white package date shown as 7 September 2017.

AATIP brief

There are seven jpeg files, each labelled as aatip-brief-pdf-orig, numbered 1-4, then 6-8. Missing is a jpeg file number page5. When opened, the files appear as a series of briefing slide, labelled 1-4, then 7-9. Slides numbered 5 and 6 are missing. The contents of the slides are as follows:

Slide 1 - 'Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program.'

Slide 2 - 'Purpose'

* Inform the Deputy Secretary of Defense of ongoing activities relating to AATIP

* Request establishment of a Restricted Special-Access-Program with a Bigoted Access list for specific portions of AATIP

* Re-assign billets, resources, and recommended personnel to a dedicated DoD AATIP support office

* Establish a DoD AATIP Reporting Chain of Command

Slide 3 - 'AATIP Mission'

* To further identify, understand, and take advantage of a generation of highly advanced technology and principles that may be currently employed by other countries, actors or entities and use this technology to the benefit of the Department and provide the US with a decisive advantage over adversaries and threats

AATIP vision

An integrated capability that provides the Department with "Beyond Next Generation"technologies and understanding, particularly in the areas of aerospace.

Slide 4 - 'AATIP Preliminary Assessments.'

* Realization that many of the findings, if used against the United States, may prove to be decisive "game changers" for our country

* Preliminary evidence indicates that the United States is incapable of defending itself towards some of these technologies

* Several unconventional findings require further investigation in order to determine the full scope of the threat and their capabilities to be either exploited or defeated

* The nature of these technologies and the fact that the United States has no countermeasures is considered Highly Sensitive

Slide 7 'Contract focus.'

AATIP technical studies in the following areas;
Lift; Materials; Propulsion; Configuration/structure; Control; Human Interface; Human Effects; Spatial/temporal translation; Armament (RF and DEW); Signature Reduction (optical, infrared, radiofrequency, acoustic); Technology Integration

* Emphasis on unconventional technology capabilities 40 years in the future and beyond (not extrapolation of current technology)

* Investigate legitimacy of currently observed phenomena

* Are they achieved by current physics and engineering?

* If not, what research is required to achieve?

Slide 8 'FY09 Technical Reports.'

This slide is a table divided into 'Title;' 'Author;' and 'Affiliation.'

Comment: It lists 26 items which are recognizable as 26 out of the 38 known Defense Intelligence Reference Documents previously discussed in this blog. The titles shown here versus the 'leaked' list from George Knapp and Matt Adams, are different in many instances.

Slide 9 'DoD Threat Scenarios.' '(AATIP sub-focus Areas.'

The scenario exists for an enemy of the United States to manipulate both physical and cognitive environments in order to penetrate US facilities, influence decision makers, and compromise national security.

- Psychotronic weapons

- Cognitive Human Interface (CHI)

- Penetration of solid surfaces

- Instantaneous sensor disassemble

- Alteration/Manipulation of biological organism

- Anomalies in the Space/Time construct

- Unique cognitive human interface experiences

Dod Advantages

- Dod has been involved in similar experiments in the past

- Dod has relationships with renowned subject matter experts

- DoD controls several facilities where activities have been detected

What are considered "phenomena" is now quantum physics.

Comments: 

1. Slide 7. Contract focus. The listed areas of interest are the same ones to be found on the August 2008 Defense Intelligence Agency's solicitation for work to be undertaken on the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program.

2. Slide 8. FY09 Technical Reports. The FY09 ended 30 September 2009. Can we say that the briefing slides were prepared and used in 2009? The wording of slide 2 'Request establishment of a Restricted Special-Access-Program with a Bigoted Access list for specific portions of AATIP' is strongly reminiscent of the similar wording expressed by Senator Reid's letter dated 24 June 2009 sent to the DoD. 

A multiple page account by a Nimitz pilot witness

There is a multiple page interview notes with one of the 2004 Nimitz incident pilots. This is an almost exact copy of a document on the TTSA website. Differences are that the US website documents are unredacted and provide personal details of individuals involved in the incident.

A copy of Elizondo's resignation letter

No one to date, has been successful in obtaining a copy of Luis Elizondo's letter of resignation, yet there was a copy on the US website.

The letter (actually a Memorandum) was on 'Office of the Undersecretary of Defense 5000 Defense Pentagon, Washington-DC 20301-5000' letterhead.

'Memorandum for: Record

Subject: Letter of resignation & Differed Retirement

Mr Secretary

It has been my sincere honour and pleasure to have served with some of America's finest men and women in both peace time and in war. For over 22 years, I have been blessed to learn from, and work with world-class leadership, you certainly among the very best.

With that in mind, bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets continue to plague the Department at all levels.This is particularly true regarding the controversial topic of anomalous aerospace threats. Despite overwhelming evidence at both the unclassified and classified levels, certain individuals in the Department remain strongly opposed to further research on what could be a tactical threat to our pilots, sailors and soldiers, and perhaps even an existential threat to our national security. In many instances, there seems to be a direct correlation the phenomena exhibits with respect to our nuclear and military capabilities. The Department must take seriously the many accounts by the Navy and other services of unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and displaying beyond next generation capabilities. Underestimating or ignoring these potential threats is not in the Department no matter the level of political contention. There remains a vital need to ascertain capability and intent of these phenomena for the benefit of the armed forces and the nation.

For this reason, effective 4 October 2017, I hereby submit my resignation in the hopes it will encourage you to ask the hard questions: 'who else knows?' 'what are their capabilites', and 'why aren't we spending more time and effort on the issue?' As I transition to a new chapter of my life, please know it has been an honor and privilege of a lifetime to serve with you. rest assure (sic) no matter where the path of life may lead me, I will always have the best interest of the Department and the American people as my guiding principle.

Luis D Elizondo

Director

National Programs Special Management Staff

OUSD(I)

Comment:

Research on the Internet lead me to deduce that the National Programs area lay in the Sensitive Activities Directorate, under the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for HUMINT, Counterintelligence and Security, Department of Defense. 

Three videos

There were three video files on the US website:

flir_981.mp4  3939kb  1min 16 secs

gimble-video..._492.mp4 7100kb  34 secs

gofast..._737.mp4  9370 kb  34 secs

There appear to be very close to the three videos, on the TTSA website.

In summary

However, the exposure of this AATIP material came about, it has provided us with further insight into the program, which should allow better targeting of future FOIA requests. 

A search for Congressional AAWSA/AATIP documents

Background

The 'New York Times' article dated 16 December 2018, which broke the story about the Pentagon's, then secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), mentions the support from three former US Senators. These were Senators Harry Reid (now retired); Ted Stevens (deceased 2010), and Daniel K Inouye (deceased 2012.)

So, one of my research projects has been following up the possibility that we may be able to obtain some AAWSA/AATIP documents, outside the FOIA.

Senator Reid's papers

I first focused on the Congressional records of former Senator Harry Reid. I found that his Congressional papers had been sent to the University of Nevada -Reno for preservation there, in the Special Collections and University Archives in the Matheson-IGT Knowledge Center. Over a period of time in July, I communicated with the Harry Reid Archivist, Ian M McGlory. McGlory was very helpful and advised me that '...the Senator's collection is very large - over 1000 boxes of material. Typically, when we receive collections of that size we often have a poor idea of its contents - which happened to be the case with the Senator's papers. While work on processing his paper has been moving forward, we currently wouldn't be able to find something as specific as what you are looking for.'

In addition, McGlory advised me that under the terms of the donation of papers, hard copy documents will not be available for 10 years after the date of the document, and that electronic communications will remain unavailable for 20 years.

So, all in all, an unsuccessful search.

Senator Inouye's papers

I found that the Congressional papers for former Senator Daniel K Inouye are now archived at the University of Hawaii.  As he unfortunately passed away in 2012, the University has had more time to process his papers than the University of Nevada has to process Senator Reid's papers. Thus my hopes were higher that I might find some AAWSA/AATIP papers at the University of Hawaii.

The University's Congressional papers archivist is Rachael Bussert. I communicated with Rachael a few days ago. As with my request re Senator Reid's papers, I described the AAWSAP/AATIP and provided her with key names and key organisations involved. Bussert was most efficient, however her final response was:

'I've completed my review of the Senator Inouye Papers in regards to your research topic. Unfortunately, I'm not coming up with anything in my search that fits your topic. I looked through the appropriation records from 2004-2012 that we have in our Staff Files series and our Defense Department records in the Subject File series (1993-2012 sub series) without any luck. My guess is that the records that you are looking for would reside in United States Senate Official committee records. It is also possible that there are records that reference the program in the Senator Harry Reid papers, but I don't think those papers are yet open to the public.'

So, again, an unsuccessful search.

Senator Ted Stevens' papers

I found that the Congressional papers for former Senator Ted Stevens are located with The Ted Stevens Foundation in Alaska. An email from their archivist, told me that the collection is currently closed, '...as we are working on the finer processing and description of the many boxes in this collection. Our intent is to eventually open the collection for research...'

So, my third unsuccessful search.

An analysis of that list of AAWSAP/AATIP Defense Intelligence Reference Documents

Some context

As part of the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, sub-contractors Dr Hal Puthoff, and Dr Eric W Davis asked a number of individuals to submit papers on projected emerging technologies. 38 such papers were commissioned. Full digital copies of three of these Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) have emerged on the Internet. Before reading further, readers may wish to refresh their memories of the story so far by reading my previous blog post about these DIRDs. 

Why bother with these DIRDs?

Why I am bothering with all this DIRD material, when the three which have emerged so far, don't even mention the term UFO or UAP? Well here is my reasoning. According to the former AATIP manager Luis Elizondo, the program came to some conclusions as to the mechanisms by which the phenomenon operates. The data that he and his team had to go on to arrive at these conclusions, were videos; visual observations; instrumented observations; and the opinions of the authors of the DIRDs. Therefore, I feel that by studying all this material, including the DIRDs, we may just get some hints as to what Elizondo can't directly tell us.

The list revealed

In a KLAS-TV news report on 25 July 2018, journalists George Knapp and Matt Adams published a copy of the list of the 38 DIRDs (37 actually, as one was redacted.) Their source of the list was not revealed. Former AATIP manager Luis Elizondo confirmed that the list was genuine.

Here is the contents of this list:

1. Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, Dr. George Miley, Univ, Of Illinois

2. Advanced Nuclear Propulsion for Manned Deep Space Missions, Dr. F. Winterberg, Univ, of Nevada -Reno

3. Pulsed High-Power Microwave Technology, Dr. James Wells, Northrop Grumman

4. Space Access, Dr. P. Czysz, HyperTech.

5. Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vaccuum (Spacetime Mertrics) Engineering,  Dr. Hal Puthoff, EarthTech International

6. Biosensors and BioMEMS, Dr. Bruce Towe, Univ of Arizona

7. Invisibility Cloaking, Dr. Ulf Leonhardt. Univ of St Andrews

8. Wormholes in SpaceTime, Dr. Eric Davis, EarthTech International

9. Gravity Wave Communication,  Dr. Robert Baker, GravWave

10. Superconductors in Gravity Research, Dr. George Hathaway, Hathaway Consulting

11. Antigravity Studies, Dr. Eric Davis, EarthTech International

12. Field effects on Biological Tissues, Dr. Kit Green, Wayne State Univ

13. Positron Aerospace Propulsion, Dr. Gerald Smith, Positronics Research

14. Vacuum Energy Applications, Dr. Eric Davis, EarthTech International

15. Improved Statistical Approach to Drake Equation, Dr. Claudio Maccone, International Academy of Astronautics

16. Maverick vs Corporate Research Cultures, Dr. George Hathaway, Hathaway Consulting

17. Biomaterials,Dr. Bruce Towe, Univ of Arizona

18. Metamaterials, Dr. G. Shvets, Univ of Texas - Austin

19. Warp Drives, Dark Energy, and Dimensions, Dr. R. Obousy, Obousy Consultants

20. Brain-Machine Interfaces, Dr. R. Genik, Wayne State Univ,

21. Material for Advanced Aerospace Platforms, Dr. J. Williams, Ohio State Univ,

22. Metallic Glasses, Dr. T. Hufnagel, John Hopkins Univ.

23. Programmable Matter, Dr. W. McCarthy, Programmable Matter Corporation

24. Metallic Spintronics, Dr. M. Tsoi, Univ of Texas - Austin

25. Laser Weapons, J. Albertine, M..S., Directed Technologies.

26. Quantum Entanglement Communication, Dr. J. Cramer, Univ of Washington

27. Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion, Dr. V. Teofilo, Lockheed Martin

28. Cockpits in the Era of Breakthrough Flight, Dr. G. Millis, Tau Zero

29. Cognitive Limits on Simultaneous Control of Multiple Unmanned Spacecraft, Dr. R. Genik, Wayne State Univ

30. Detection and High Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities, Dr. W. Culbreth, Univ of Nevada - Las Vegas

31. Aneutronic Fusion, Dr. W. Culbreth, Univ of Nevada - Las Vegas.

32. Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellites, Dr. E. Davis, EarthTech

33. MHD Air Breathing Propulsion and Power for Aerospace Applications, Dr. S. Macheret, Lockheed Martin.

34. Quantum Computing and Utilizing Organic Molecules in Automation Technology, Dr. R. Genik, Wayne State Univ

35. Quantum Tomography of Negative Energy States in the Vacuum, Dr. Eric Davis, EarthTech

36. Ultracapacitors as Energy and Power Storage Devices, Dr. J. Golightly, Lockheed Martin.

37. Negative Mass Propulsion, Dr. F. Winterberg, Univ of Nevada - Reno

38. Redacted.

Open source publication

During a 28 July 2018, interview on the 'UFO Classified' radio show, hosted by Erica Lukes Dr Eric Davis, when talking about the DIRDs said that 'We allowed open domain publishing on the topics of these reports.'

It is already known that an open source publication of Dr Puthoff's 'Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metrics) Engineering' DIRD occurred in the  March 2010 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.

Are there any other examples where DIRD authors published the contents of their DIRDs in open sources? So far, my research has located three such examples.

Example one.

DIRD. Advanced Nuclear Propulsion for Manned Deep Space Missions, Dr. F. Winterberg, Univ, of Nevada -Reno

Open source. 'Advanced Deuterium Fusion Propulsion for Manned Deep Space Missions,' Dr. F. Winterberg. Submitted 3 June 2009. Very interestingly, on page 43 of this 44 page PDF appear the words 'In writing this report I acknowledge the encouragement of the following individuals listed in alphabetical order: Robert Bigelow, Stephen Fuelling; Kelvin Long, Harold Puthoff and Harry Ruppe.'  Bigelow and Puthoff need no introduction. Kelvin Long is a physicist and aerospace engineer and is associated with studies of future interstellar flight. I understand Harry Ruppe was a German space travel expert. This all fits very well with this being an open source version of DIRD number 2 on the list. (Thank you to an anonymous comment on my blog which pointed me in this direction.)

Example two.

DIRD. 'Cockpits in the Era of Breakthrough Flight.' Dr. G. Millis, Tau Zero.

Open source. 'Cockpit considerations for Inertial-Affect and FTL Propulsion.' M G Millis. Published 2013, in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. The abstract for the paper reads:

'Breakthroughs in propulsion physics (control over gravitational or inertial forces, propellant-less space drives, and faster-than light travel) may not appear imminent, but enough progress has been made to allow thoughtful speculation about their nature and implications. The implications to cockpit design includes added degrees of motion, combination of operational regimes (near ground, orbit and beyond), greater span of speed (from zero-speed hover to beyond light speed), the need for new motion displays and navigational tracking methods, and the loss of familiar motion cues (pilot's inertia and visual clues) due to the separation of external and internal environments. The primary reference used to predict these possibilities is the 2009 book, Frontiers of Propulsion Science. These implications are detailed in terms of design requirements.'(Again, my thanks to an anonymous blog post comment which steered me to this paper.)

Example three.

DIRD. 'Gravity Wave Communication.'  Dr. Robert Baker, GravWave.

Open source. Communication between Dr Baker and myself, led to Dr Baker advising that he had published three papers in 2010 which referred to high frequency gravitational waves. He forwarded me links to all three papers. The one which most closely matches the DIRD was one titled 'Utilization of High-Frequency Gravitational Waves for Aerospace Systems and Technology.'The paper was presented at The Seventh Annual AIAA Southern California Aerospace Systems and Technology (ASAT) Conference on 1 May 2010.

The abstract reads:

'High-Frequency Gravitational Wave (HFGW) technology has been reported in well over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific journal article over the past five decades. For several years the Peoples Republic of China has funded HFGW research programs involving dozens of their scientists and well known Russian scientists have been involved with HFGW research for over four decades.  Theoretical aerospace, military and civilian applications are communications, surveillance, remote initiation of nuclear events and propulsion, including "moving" space objects and missiles in flight and frustrating anti-missile and anti-satellite systems. This paper presents the historical and theoretical background for the utilization of High-Frequency Gravitational Waves (HFGWs) as an enabling technology for aerospace systems and presents analytical techniques and theoretical quantitative results for the generation, detection and application of HFGWs.'

I am certain that a deeper study will reveal many more examples of open source publication of DIRDs and welcome information from anyone who conducts this additional research.

Additional comments

1. I found that the titles of a number of Dr Eric Davis' DIRDs as shown on the list were different from the titles that Davis himself provides on his EarthTech publications website.  For example:

DIRD 8 on the list, 'Wormholes in SpaceTime' becomes 'Traversable Wormholes, Stargate, and Negative Energy' on the EarthTech site. 2010. DIA document number DIA-08-1004-004.

DIRD 11 on the list. 'Antigravity Studies' becomes 'Antigravity for Aerospace Applications.' 2010. DIA document number DIA-08-1003-018.

DIRD14 on the list.'Vacuum Energy Applications' becomes 'Concepts for Extracting Energy from the Quantum Vaccuum.' 2010. DIA document number DIA-08-1004-007.

In addition, DIRD number 19 on the list is shown as W'arp Drives, Dark Energy, and Dimensions,' Dr. R. Obousy, Obousy Consultants, whereas the EarthTech website shows a publication 'Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions' 2010, by Obousy, R K and Davis E W. DIA number DIA-08-1004-001.

These differences between list, and final publications, led me to wonder if the list wasn't a final version, but some sort of working draft along the way. It certainly isn't a list on DIA letterhead.

An additional clue comes from my communication with Dr Robert Baker who told me that the use of the term 'Gravity Wave Communication' is incorrect. Those working in this field, he told me, refer to 'Gravitiational waves,' which leads me to again think that whoever compiled this list didn't know the correct terminology to use at that time that the list was compiled.

Furthermore, communication with another of the DIRD authors, (DIRDs 6 & 17) Dr Bruce Towe, led him to advise that the citation as to where he works, which in the DIRDs is given as 'Univ of Arizona,' is incorrect as he works at Arizona State University (Phoenix.)

I would be interested to see if anyone can tell us where the 'leaked'copy of the DIRD list, actually came from?

2.We come now, to the subject of 'classified' DIRD titles. In his 28 January 2018 'Coast to Coast' interview with George Knapp, Dr Eric Davis first mentioned that two out of the 38 DIRD's were classified. This was repeated by Davis on the 28 July 2018, Erica Lukes radio show. On this latter show, he went on to say that he couldn't talk about the titles of the two classified DIRDs. Interestingly, he went on to note that on the released list of DIRDs, only one DIRD's details is redacted, whereas the other classified DIRD's details are not. 'That was a mistake,' he said.

I note that neither the titles, nor the names of the authors on the released DIRD list, appear to be in any particular order. They are neither listed alphabetically by title, nor alphabetically by author. Details of DIRD 38 are redacted. Presumably this means that DIRD 38 has either a classified title or is totally classified in respect of all its details.

Which of the remaining 37 DIRDs is also classified, cannot of course be known for certain. If there were only 38 in total and two were classified, then the details of one of the remaining 37 should also have been redacted, and they weren't.

Who redacted the details of DIRD 38 on the list? We do not know. Presumably it has to have been someone whom knew it was classified in the first place. In that case, why didn't that individual redact the details of the second classified DIRD? We are placed in the situation that we all now know the details of the second classified DIRD (well, not really, we can all see its details but we still don't know which number DIRD it is.)

3. I note that most of the DIRD authors reside in the USA, apart from Dr Ulf Leonhardt (Scotland); George Hathaway (Canada), and Claude Maconne (Italy.)

4. The 2008 AAWSAP solicitation document at attachment one listed ten areas of interest to the program:

1. Lift.
2. Propulsion.
3. Control.
4.Power generation.
5. Spatial/temporal translation.
6. Materials.
7. Configuration, structure.
8. Signature reduction.
9. Human interface.
10. Human effects.

Looking at the list of the 37 DIRDs, one can see that Drs Puthoff and Davis, in commissioning the DIRDs were covering all of the ten areas shown above.

I welcome feedback from blog readers on the above analysis. There are probably areas of interest that I have missed. I particularly welcome details of other open source versions of the DIRDs.