Diana Pasulka, "American Cosmic" - on television production companies and UAP

Upsurge

Recently, there has been an upsurge of programs on US and other countries' television, featuring UAP themes. Pre-advertising tells us that there are more on the way. It seems that many television production companies are seizing the opportunity afforded by a re-newed interest in the topic amongst the general public. Even in remote and isolated Australia, today I received an email from a producer from a US "Science Channel project that involves an episode that looks at the Nimitz incident." I declined to participate.

Dr Diana Walsh Pasulka

Religious scholar, D W Pasulka, also comments along similar lines in her recent book "American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology," (Oxford University Press, New York, 2019. ISBN 9780190693497.)  On page 127 she states:

Image courtesy of Amazon Books

"UFO related programming is increasing too, especially within settings that ostensibly offer information about real events, like the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel. Increasingly, this fictionalized programming about UFOs is being interspersed with production about historical and real events. Brad Dancer, National Geographic's senior vice president for audience and business development, recently acknowledged that companies like his might play a role in bolstering UFO belief."

I saw a similar surge, about three years ago, when even I, in Australia, received an invitation from a TV production company in Canada, which entailed an all expenses trip over there, to film episodes for the show. After undertaking some preliminary work with them, I decided not to proceed further.

Why do I say no to such invitations? Well, I have already been there and done that before. In my younger days, I was involved in working with a number of local and overseas TV production companies. Inevitably, I found that the finished product was merely for entertainment, never a serious look at the phenomenon. Plus, for the production company, there was always the lure of commercial success if the pilot episodes were taken up for a second or further series. I can honestly say that they had no other motives - simply, entertainment, and commercial profit.

Pasulka has something to say about this on page 83:

"From my own research, I knew that digital media and media of all forms are manipulated to produce a specific response that is desired by the producers for purely economic reasons."

My own experiences

Speaking of my own experience with TV production companies, I soon learnt to ask them if, instead of spending time making a re-creation of how they thought the UAP incident occurred according to the producer's needs; that they would fund me to undertake a re-investigation of the event, and then use that?

Their answer was always, no. That is not the way we work. So, from that time, whenever I receive an invitation from a TV production company that promises to faithfully re-produce the details of a UAP event; I simply ask them to fund a re-investigation of the event using original source material. I have yet to have one company take me up on this offer. To me, this confirms their motivation of entertainment and profit.

I have spoken to individuals in that industry who gave me the inside story of how TV production companies work. It only reinforced my decision not to become involved with them. Pasulka, on page 6, talking about the "players" she came across when conducting her research for the book, states:

"The second category consists of those who interpret, spin, produce and market the story of UFO events to the general public...members of the second category are very vocal about information they have received second, third or even fourth-hand. Often they even make up stories or derive their information from hoaxes."

Going back to my Canadian TV production company experience, I worked for hours with a very professional, polite, researcher engaged by that company to elicit details of an Australian close encounter case which I had investigated. I forwarded a complete set of my investigation notes on the case, and spent time on the telephone speaking to her. She drafted up a "script" for the company based on the information I provided her. After a while she came back to me and told me that the producers wanted a less documentary approach and she needed to rewrite her "script" in a quasi drama format. At this point, I declined to participate further. Needless, to say I was never invited to fly to Canada.

TV production company ethics

Pasulka, page 211, relates a media experience which happened to Rey Hernandez, the co-founder of the Dr Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters, who had numerous UAP and paranormal experiences. Hernandez reported his events to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON.)

"One day Rey received an email from a friend who said that he had seen Ray's family's experience portrayed on the television program Hangar 1, produced by the History Channel. Rey was horrified to find that an entire episode was based on his family's experience, but that the events as represented on the show didn't resemble their experience. Disturbingly, the message it conveyed was the opposite of his own and his family's experience."

What were Pasulka's conclusion in this area? I found them on page 212:

"The use of a genre associated with truth, the documentary, produced by a company ostensibly related to veridical, historical accounts (in Rey's case the History Channel,) supports a central claim of this book - that what one sees on television, in the movies, and on the internet does not necessarily convey the actual stories of those who experience the events. Yet the mechanisms provide a convincing viewing framework. As viewers are entertained by the production, they are also forming opinions. biases, even memories that help them interpret and form meanings associated with UFOs."

I will close this post with a last quote from Pasulka. "The truth is potentially 'out there,' but its unlikely to be found in media productions."

The passing of Cynthia Kathleen Dickmann

Cynthia Kathleen Dickmann

Following so shortly after the passing of well known South Australian UAP researcher Ray Brooke, I am sad to advise that another South Australian colleague, Cynthia Kathleen Dickmann, has recently, and unexpectedly, passed away.

Many current Adelaide UAP researchers may not have heard of "Kathy" as she was known to her colleagues. She liked to work behind the scenes, keeping a low personal public profile. Kathy was a quiet achiever, in her life-long interest in the subject. From early childhood, her inquiring mind wanted to know all about the "big picture" of our existence. This interest continued throughout her life.

Overseas conferences

For many years, Kathy attended numerous overseas UAP conferences, particularly in the USA and the United Kingdom, and she made extensive connections with UAP researchers in these, and other countries. At one stage, her published articles in the English "Flying Saucer Review" led to her being asked if she would take on the role of FSR's Editor. She declined.

When her husband Douglas travelled to a number of countries with his work, Kathy would take the opportunity to go along with him, and make local inquiries about the UAP subject. In this way, she became known to individuals in such diverse places as Cuba and Mongolia. Once, when on a transpacific air flight, she even got invited up into the cockpit of an airliner, and asked the crew if they had ever seen anomalous phenomena. They confirmed they had. On another occasion, Kathy rolled up to the front gate of Pine Gap, and asked to hand in a video she had with her. She recognized the individual who came out to the gate to speak to her. She had previously seen him at a UFO conference in Brisbane!

Funeral

I attended Kathy's funeral in Adelaide today, along with my wife Jane; and UAP colleagues Helen Danby, Debbie Payne; Mike Howley; and Colin Paule and his wife. We had all worked at some time with Kathy. on projects of various kinds; including the five year program of researching the Australian Government's UAP files. Another colleague, Roger Koch, was unable to attend, owing to ill health.

Besides her passion for the UAP subject, Kathy read widely on astronomy and space science; enjoyed her gardening; was an excellent cook; trained in Taekwondo; loved to help others in need; and enjoyed travelling to such places as Machu Picchu; Cuba; Mongolia; the UK and USA; and South America.

Kathy is survived by her husband Douglas; her son Anton; her daughter Astrid; and a multitude of other family members.

Her inquiring mind will be missed.

The To The Stars Academy and "quantum communication"

Luis Elizondo

Former manager of the US Department of Defense's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), Luis Elizondo was the keynote speaker, at the recent Scientific Coalition for Ufology (SCU) conference, held in Huntsville, Alabama, in the USA.

According to one conference attendee, Theresa Tindal, who was live tweeting from the event, Elizondo made a comment:

""Beamed energy propulsion & quantum communication' - the first tech we can expect to see from these discoveries."

Does this indicate that the To The Stars Academy (TTSA) are working on projects about "beamed energy propulsion" and "quantum communication?

Securities and Exchange Commission

In a blog post dated 3 March 2019 I noted that there was a report filed by the TTSA with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the SEC website, part of the report stated that TTSA were looking at beamed energy propulsion launch systems. This is the concept of using ground based lasers to launch a small payload into orbit. No one has achieved this to date, although lots of information about the concept is to be found on the Internet, e.g.

In an earlier blog post, dated 30 September 2018, I noted that TTSA had contracted EarthTech International to define a program plan "for requirements, development, analysis, experimentation, risk reduction efforts, demonstration, operational system development,and initial fielding of a BELS cubesat launch system, development program." BELS here stood for Beamed Energy Launch System.

Other TTSA projects

The SEC website report stated that TTSA were examining other projects, namely "Space Time Metric Engineering" and "radiation shielding materials for space applications." However, nowhere is there any mention on the website of TTSA working on a project involving "quantum communication."

However, I recalled that a Twitter user "dregs" on 10 March 2019 had posted a piece about a US patent for a "communication system," filed by Dr Harold E Puthoff, co-founder of TTSA."Dregs" kindly posted a link to that patent application.

Dr H E Puthoff: source http://earthtech.org/team/

The applicant for a patent was EarthTech International, with the inventors shown as H E Puthoff and Christopher A Eusebi, and was filed on 31 August 2016. The patent number is US 201 800 627 65 A1. As at 17 March 2019 the status of the application is "pending."

The abstract for the patent application reads:

"A communication system using vector and scalar potential is disclosed. The system uses field-free potentials signaling for many applications where the absence of shielding effects in seawater, plasma or other dense media due to the fact that the absence of (E,B) fields eliminates the possibility of induced charge and current response in the media being transited."

Accompanying diagrams show images of submarines and superconductors.

TTSA projects

So, it appears that TTSA projects being evaluated in terms of which will most likely lead to commercial products includes:

* Advanced aerospace technologies

* Beamed energy propulsion launch systems

* Space time metric engineering

* Radiation shielding materials for space applications

*Quantum communication.

Has any reader come across further references to TTSA and "quantum communication"?

C Richard D'Amato and 'black" UFO programs

Introduction

In a post on punkrockandufos, dated 12 March 2019, Mike Damante posed the question "Did Jesse Marcel Jn's 2009 book disclose secret programs prior to Pentagon UFO story?" 

Damante noted, that in the 2009 book "The Roswell Legacy,"  Marcel mentions having met an unnamed government official who told him about a clandestine black government. This meeting is reported to have taken place in the 1990's.

Image courtesy of Amazon Books

Damante continues:

"The man revealed that he had been charged with investigating the operation of a government within a government ("black government"), and reported back to the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding how these funds were being spent."

Twitter

Coincidentally, on 10 March 2019 on Twitter, I had tweeted:

"Vallee's new book. 21 Jan 1990. Vallee meets Richard D'Amato the counsel for international and national security of the Senate Appropriations Committee. D'Amato read "Confrontations." D'Amato says "I intend to find out what's going on."

In a response to my tweet, journalist Giuliano Marinkovic, on 10 March 2019, wrote "Jesse Marcel also claims that he had a meeting with D'Amato in Washington." Marinkovic provided a link to a comment on a post on Kevin Randle's blog, where in a post dated 25 August 2013, Randle reported the passing of Jesse Marcel Jnr.

In the comments section of that post, David Rudiak wrote about Marcel Jnr:

"...he received an unusual invitation to go to Washington to attend a UFO conference and also speak to a government official there. Someone seemed to know his every move and he suspected he was being monitored...The government official he met in Washington (Dick D'Amato), who confirmed to him that Roswell was a real ET event still buried deep in the black budget, gave him a phone number to call if he or his family were threatened in future."

In a further comment, David Rudiak said, that after receiving the invitation to the conference:

"Soon after, at his medical practice, Marcel got an urgent phone call, from someone in Washington saying that Marcel should speak with him when he was in Washington, saying he had important information for him.

This turned out to be Dick D'Amato (though Marcel keeps him anonymous in his book). When Marcel went to Washington, he said he met with D'Amato, who took him deep in the basement of the Capitol Building to a secure room. D'Amato told him he was charged with investigating the black budget and the "black government" within the government, where funds were being spent without appropriate  oversight to maintain a false story about the Roswell incident and cover the story up. He said his job was to report to the Senate Appropriations committee, to advise them as to where these tax dollars were going.

Marcel than wrote that D'Amato wrote down contact information if Marcel or his family were ever threatened and to contact him immediately..."

Back to Vallee's new book

On page 45, in 1990, Vallee advises that he met D'Amato, and that D'Amato was "The counsel for International and National Security of the Senate Appropriations Committee."

Further, in an entry dated 12 June 1991, on page 94, Vallee wrote that he had "...four hours of intense conversation with D'Amato."

Who was D'Amato?

Source: http://www.cricharddamato.com/

On 7 December 1998, the "UFO Updates" mailing list carried a lengthy item about D'Amato. Included here was the following information:

* D'Amato was Charles Richard D'Amato

* His boss was Democratic Senator Robert C Byrd

* D'Amato visited Belgium, in 1992,  a few months after the Belgium UFO wave of 1989-1991 and met with General De Brouwer, the chief Belgium Air Force official involved; and on 9 July 1992 also met with people from the SOBEPS UFO group

* D'Amato was the minority clerk for the Military Construction Sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations

* On April 13 1995 Dr Jesse Marcel Jr made the following statement at a conference held at Helena, Montana:

"He claimed he was invited to Washington, DC by a "Dick" D'Amato who introduced himself  (showing him official accreditation) as a staff member of Senator Robert C Byrd a specialist of national Security and an "agent de liaison" at NSC. This "very private" meeting took place on a day in July 1991.

Later on, Jesse Marcel told Michael Lindemann...that D'Amato asked him to describe the objects, scraps and remains taken at Roswell by his father, exactly fifty years ago. He also wanted to know what did this event change in his life.

Dr Jesse Marcel also stated that, at one time during the meeting D'Amato moved towards a table and took a book laying there.It was "Majestic" by Whitley Strieber, showing him this book , he said "This is not an invention."...And yet, it was supposed to be fiction.

Dr Marcel then asked a question to D'Amato, inquiring where were the remains of the machine recovered in 1947. D'Amato answered: "We at the NSC, don't have a clue to answer this question..."

* Stanton Friedman stated to UK researcher Graham Birdsall that he (Friedman) was also present at the meeting between D'Amato and Marcel, plus one other unnamed individual

* Timothy Good had also met with D'Amato introduced to him by Whitley Strieber.

C Richard D'Amato

There is also additional information about D'Amato in a post on "UFO Chronicles" dated 22 June 2010, citing a blog by Anthony Bragali dated 20 June 2010.  In part, it reads:

"After attending Cornell and Fletcher School of Diplomacy, D'Amato earned his JD from Georgetown. He was a professor at the US Naval Academy. Entering the world of politics, he rose quickly through various appointments. he served on many high-level US Congressional advisory bodies (including on Defense Appropriations, national security and on international relations matters) and attained Top Secret clearances. He was named the Chief counsel and investigator by the US Senate Appropriations Committee. he later became National Security Specialist for Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd and a liaison member of the National Security Council. Today, a private consultant, D'Amato remains active in politics in Maryland."

Back to Vallee's book

On page 122 in an entry dated 22 May 1992, Vallee writes:

"Today my main meeting was with Richard D'Amato. he appeared on time, ebullient and dapper. He commented gleefully on the media circus. "This city thrives on chaos," he added. "The abduction miniseries on TV has put people to sleep but Senator Pell remains fascinated by UFOs. "There's a group within the American Federation of Scientists that investigates "mystery planes" of the Belgium type.

Dick is convinced those are human and the project that makes them, illegal. "No money was ever appropriated for it. Intelligence groups like AFOSI continue to cover, distort, destroy data and generally make it impossible for the Congress to find out what's going on." I told him I could understand that a rogue group could keep the lid on data in the US, but what about other nations?"

Fact checking

Dick D'Amato runs his own website. His resume confirms that between 1975-1998 he was senior staff counsel  US Senate. Counsel to Senate Appropriations Committee under Senator Robert C Boyd, lead staff on foreign policy, National Defense Intelligence and trade. During the years 1968-1998 he served in the US Navy retiring with the rank of Captain, with 5 years active service and 25 in the reserve. His educational details match those provided above.

Timothy Good

In regards to English author and researcher Timothy Good, I found the following in note 27 to chapter 18, of Good, T. 2014. "Earth: An Alien Enterprise" Thistle Publishing, London. 

"And many years ago I also assisted Senator Robert C Boyd (D-WV), via a counsel to the Senate Appropriations Committee, with an official investigation into the subject."

Note 27 referred to page 400, where Good was talking about congressman Steven Schiff. 

On page 534 of Good, T. 1996. "Beyond Top Secret" Sidgwick and Jackson, London, I found that after describing Marcel's meeting with a Senate staffer, Good wrote"

"I had meetings with the same official in the early 1990's, one in London and several in Washington, DC, thanks to an introduction from Whitley Strieber (who describes his own meetings in his book Breakthrough (25). 

Though the official did not identify himself as being a representative of or associated with the National Security Council,  his work in the US Senate does involve international and national security policy and the appropriation thereof, and he possesses all the requisite security clearances and budget authority over the entire range of national intelligence and special access programs in the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense and other relevant Executive branch agencies. I put him in contact with various individuals whom I hoped would be able to assist his work in official enquiries."

Note 25 refers to Strieber, W, 1995. "Breakthrough" Harper Collins, New York, pp249-250.


Good, T. "Need to Know," Pan, London, page 311, contains the following:

" 'I have recently become troubled and interested in the mounting series of reports and indications of unreported a or unidentified airborne vehicles,' began a letter written in 1992 by a friend of mine, then Counsel to the Senate Appropriations Committee for National Security matters.

I would be interested in discussing these matters with individuals who you believe may shed light on the nature and/or origin of such technologies and the history and nature of any relationships what have been developed between entities of the United States government or other organizations with such phenomena. I am prepared to engage in such discussions under whatever ground rules might be necessary and can ensure that the identity of the sources of such information will be completely protected...

The letter had been sent to the late Karl T Pflock, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and CIA intelligence officer, who later wrote two books on the Roswell incident. he did not respond.At the time I was assisting the Senate writer by recommending certain people I knew who had either had experience of, or inside knowledge about the subject matter, to contact him.

In time, and with the assistance from others, he amassed a great deal of hearsay evidence, but was never able to gain access to the most sensitive information being withheld in the military and intelligence communities."

Defense Intelligence Agency remote viewing program

There is also an additional reason why I am interested in C Richard D'Amato, and this reason is to be found in a 1 December 1995 issue of "TheTech" online MIT newspaper, with a dateline of R Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post.

"A secret Defense Intelligence Agency program that posed tough military questions to a handful of full-time salaried psychics was kept alive at the insistence of a few Senators and Congressional staff aides...One staff member in particular - C Richard D'Amato an intelligence specialist on the Senate Appropriations Sub-committee in Defense was credited by four sources with almost singlehandedly ensuring the defeat of repeated efforts by DIA leadership to kill the psychic program..."I wanted this to continue because I was responding to the desire of members (of the Senate) who came to me."

The "Washington Post" article includes the fact that:

"Subcommittee chairman Ted Stevens...and senior minority member Daniel K Inouye were both briefed annually on all intelligence programs including the psychic research program."

Stevens and Inouye were, of course, two supporters of the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program; the story of which broke in December 2017.

Other information

In a June 2018 blog post titled "Senators and Cogressman in UFO Disclosure,"  Grant Cameron  writes:

"At Byrd's request D'Amato investigated the UFO cover up and concluded "UFO information should be released, but that an incredibly powerful black arm of the government has been keeping it secret, and spending enormous sums of money illegally in this operation." He was unable to flush them out even though he had a Top Secret clearance and subpoena power."

Unfortunately, Cameron does not provide a reference for his quote of what D'Amato concluded, "UFO information should be released, but that an incredibly powerful black arm of the government has been keeping it secret, and spending enormous sums of money illegally in this operation."

Update as at 19 March 2019:

Researcher Frank Stalter provided a link to further information at https://www.ufoexplorations.com/politicians-drop-hints-roswell-et

Researcher Grant Cameron posted a comment on this blog post.

Robert Bigelow's other "UFO" ranch

Introduction

Blog readers will be well aware of the fact that Las Vegas billionaire, Robert Thomas Bigelow, bought a ranch in Utah, in the USA, which became famous as the "Skinwalker" ranch. However, few will know that he also purchased another ranch, the Mount Wilson ranch, in Nevada. The story of this second ranch has just been revealed in Jacques Vallee's new book "Forbidden Science: Volume 4". In this blog post I will provide the text of what is in Vallee's book, then add some additional information about some of the individuals who were involved in the story.

Image courtesy of Amazon Books

"Las Vegas Friday 16 August 1996 

We spent the day exploring the Mount Wilson ranch (19). Dr Tim Rynne of SARA brought along a positioning device. We drove through Pioche where we met Shelley Wadsworth, a blonde grandmother who is one of Bob's local contacts, and three men from his construction company to measure and inspect the property.

We reached the place mid morning. The first thing we saw was a row of wooden western buildings that reminded me of Dodge City in the movies, with peeling paint on their tall fronts. The balusters along the porch-like sidewalks seemed to herald the arrival of tired cowboys on their tall horses.

The back porch of the bar had been brought around the horn all the way from Boston: its sculptured board was well worth the visit. There was a piano and an electric organ, and a row of fine tables where plates and glasses were set, as it awaiting the rough-and-ready miners who had given Pioche and Caliente their intriguing European names. The ghost of a tall native American is rumored to show up in one of the rooms.

On the way we learned that blue lights, and an x-shaped white glow were seen back in 1993, but I wasn't convinced by Shelley's stories of craft following cars at night, of the UFO that shot intense beams, or hovering black delta craft, and tinfoil-like squares that folded on themselves in the sky and vanished.

Jacques Vallee: source https://www.jacquesvallee.net/

All this is reported "in the neighbourhood" a Nevada term that can embrace hundreds of miles of brush and rugged stone.

A local man has sworn to Shelly that an accident happened at Area 51 about 1972 in which "Aliens who were building a craft for the U.S. were killed as well as our scientists." He claimed he had to transfer the bodies to the morgue."

While we were pondering these stories a storm came, slowly rumbling over the ridge of Mount Wilson..."

Notes in the book

Note (19) on page 501 of the book reads:

"The Mount Wilson ranch is located at 114 deg 27 min west and 38 deg 15 min north, near the William Landing Strip, in the region known as Schoolmarm Basin, Nevada."

Symbol indicates location of Pioche, Nevada. Source Google maps

In addition, there is a note (27) on page 502 which reads:

"In 14 months the Institute had spent close to $1.5 million...Also under Operations were the Mount Wilson ranch ($350, 970)..."

Further information

Who is Dr Tim Rynne?

SARA is short for Scientific Applications and Research Associates. Today their LinkedIn page says:

'SARA Inc., creates custom solutions to complex problems for the defense and homeland security industry. We specialize in directed and detected wave energy from EMP and ELF to laser light , HPM and sound. Our technologies harness electromagnetism, plasma, acoustics, electronics and processing to build practical applications for force security protection, renewable energy, UAVs, small robotics and special test challenges."

In 1991 he received an award from the US Army, and in 1992 from DARPA, where he was principal investigator on projects, while he was with SARA.

Source: https://sbirsource.com/sbir/people/20142-dr-timothy-m-rynne

In 1994, Dr Timothy M Rynne and John P Dering published a paper titled "Experimental Investigation of an Electromagnetic-Gravitational Interaction" in the Jan/Mar 1994 issue of the "Electric Spacecraft Journal."

Source: https://caylibrary.com/products/copy-of-esj-13

Who is Shelley Wadsworth?

In the 2 June 1996 issue of the Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom there appeared an article titled "A town like Rachel" by journalist Tessa Souter. Rachel, Nevada, is of course on the famous highway 375 and associated with the Area 51 lore. Included in the article was:

"I don't know if I believe in UFOs or not but I think at this point with all the things I've seen and the people I talked to, there's got to be something out there that's not us," says Shelley Wadsworth, a middle-aged Rachel wife and mother who is employed full-time by a Las Vegas businessman to investigate UFO phenomenon.

Wadsworth has seen several UFOs since the Fifties, but the most frightening incident she says, occurred in 1993...three UFOs, each about 100 foot across... Her fear rekindled the memory of another mysterious phenomenon, she says. He family used to farm a million acre ranch, 100 miles across the desert from Rachel...It was a dead bull...Its sexual organs had been removed...it was radioactive...According to Wadsworth, theirs wasn't the only mutilation in the area..."

Note the reference to being employed full time by a Las Vegas businessman. This is almost certainly a reference to Robert Bigelow. In fact, I later found confirmation of this, in Vallee's book, page 324 when, talking about the NIDS staff states "...and Shelley Wadsworth who deos field work in northern Nevada."

The Mount Wilson ranch "activities"

I found a short video on Youtube  published on 17 October 2010, where Michael Boatright of "The othersidez Inc " presents a video report on the Mount Wilson "activities," which include poltergeist "scratches", and a ghost in room 4.

George Knapp on Twitter

Following my mention of the connection between Robert Bigelow and the Mount Wilson ranch, a Twitter user referenced Las Vegas journalist George Knapp and asked about whether or not the ranch was used as a control, positive or negative. Knapp, in a responding tweet dated 11 March 2019, replied:

" It was a positive control. Mount Wilson was purchased by Bigelow because it had a long history of both poltergeist/haunting witness reports, and UFO sightings on the property and in the general area (similar to Skinwalker, though not the same range of reported phenomena.)" Later, Knapp added that he had never been to that ranch. 

Back to Vallee's book

Figure 12 in "Forbidden Science: Volume 4" is a photograph labelled "On our field survey at Bigelow's Mount Wilson ranch, Nevada with Dr Hal Puthoff and Dr Tim Rynne from SARA. August 1996."

Update: 17 October 2019

For some corporate information about the ranch owners, click here. 

Robert Bigelow and research into consciousness

The Bigelow Foundation

In a post dated 22 November 2018, I wrote about the Bigelow Foundation. This Foundation carried out multiple projects, including follows ups to the Bigelow funded Roper report on Unusual Personal Experience; seminars on alternative health; and collaborative research in Las Vega;, central Nevada and Alabama; research assistance to researchers such as Budd Hopkins, and a radio show Area 2000, the forerunner to Art Bell's Coast to Coast program. Area 2000 featured many reports from the fields of ufology, alternative health, alternative energy and parapsychology and ran through early 1994.

The Bigelow Foundation was established on 12 April 1992, according to Nevada state records. Now it might just be a coincidence, but Robert T Bigelow's son, Rod Lee Bigelow (born 30 July 1967,) died on 3 March 1992. Some researchers have suggested that Bigelow's interest in near-death experiences and consciousness, derived from the passing of his son. (See update below.)

In 1997, Robert Thomas Bigelow, and his wife Diane, donated money to the University Of Nevada, Las Vegas to establish a Chair of Consciousness Studies.

Robert Thomas Bigelow

Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies

A University of Nevada, Las Vegas "News Center"release dated 9 April 1997 announced:

"A $3.7 million gift from Robert T and Diane Bigelow will fund a new academic position in the College of Science at UNLV according to UNLV President Carol C Harter.

The Bigelow Chair of Consciousness will initially be filled on an annual basis by distinguished visiting science scholars. The new position was recently advertised in several national academic and scientific publications.

'The students and faculty at UNLV are extremely fortunate that concerned citizens like Robert and Diane Bigelow take an active interest in the sciences and provide funds to bring the finest quality scholars here to teach,' said UNLV Provost Douglas Ferraro."

My Comment

I note that a Douglas P Ferraro was on the Science Advisory Board for Bigelow's National Institute of Discovery Science. (NIDS.)

"This new gift is a continuation of Bigelow family gifts in support of the Sciences and Health Colleges at UNLV.

'We are very interested in seeing the disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry -empirical scientific investigations into the natural laws of the Universe - applied to the study of consciousness,' explained Robert Bigelow, President of Bigelow Holding Company. 'There is a lot of important research by clinical biochemists, neurobiologists and others who are trying to understand consciousness. Our goal is simply to help scientists unravel some of the mystery of consciousness and ultimately benefit mankind.'

According to Warren Burggen, Dean of the UNLV College of Science, (and a former member of the NIDS Science Advisory Board) a very  small percentage of colleges and universities offer similar programs. Those that do include Duke, the University of Kentucky, Northeastern, Virginia Tech, Carlton College and Seton Hall, and some very serious universities are engaged in the scientific study of consciousness, but not many. So the Bigelows have presented our students with a unique opportunity. It is definitely a prize for UNLV.

The Bigelow name is very familiar to students, faculty and staff who work and learn in the Robert L Bigelow [named after Robert T Bigelow's father - KB] Physics Building

The Robert L Bigelow Physics building

and the Robert Lee Bigelow Health Sciences Building [named after Robert T Bigelow's son. - KB]

Robert T Bigelow's deep interest in Science and investment in scientific research at UNLV resulted in his selection by the Board of Regents as a distinguished Nevadan in 1995. Thanks in part to the Bigelow's generosity, UNLV is gaining national recognition for academic excellence in the sciences, mathematics and health sciences..."

Charles T Tart

A further UNLV "News Center" release, dated 3 July 1997  advised that:

"A Professor of psychology at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, in Palo Alto, Calif, has been hired as UNLV's first Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies, President Carol C Harter announced Thursday.

Charles T Tart will assume his duties in UNLV's College of Sciences this fall.

The Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies was established and funded by a gift of $3.7 million from Robert T and Diane Bigelow of Las Vegas. The chair will initially be filled on an annual basis by distinguished visiting science scholars.

'UNLV is about to begun developing a program in the fascinating area of consciousness studies, and we are most fortunate to have a scholar of Dr Tart's considerable experience and reputation in the field to guide our efforts' Harter said.

Tart, who has been at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology since 1994, also served as visiting professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Fransisco (1994-95) and professor of psychiatry at the University of California- Davis (1966-94), where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Noetic Sciences in Sausalito, Calif, was a lecturer in psychology at Stanford University(1964-65) and an instructor in psychology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

'Dr Tart's scholarship in the area of consciousness studies is extensive' said Provost Douglas Ferraro. At UNLV he will be developing curriculum  and launching our program in consciousness studies.'

Robert Bigelow said, 'With his long and distinguished record in  consciousness studies, Dr Tart is well suited to to establishing a program at UNLV where empirical scientific investigation can be applied to research into the nature of human consciousness.'

Tart who received his PhD, MA and BA in psychology from the University of North Carolina,serves on several advisory boards for organisations concerned with psychological research and is a member  of the American Society for Psychical Research. He sits on the editorial board of eight professional journals in this field and has written a dozen books and numerous articles and published numerous audio tapes on related topics."

Raymond A Moody

A third UNLV "News Center" release dated 20 May 1998 advised that:

"The University of Nevada, Las Vegas has named Dr Raymond A Moody, a psychology professor and researcher, to fill the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies during the 1998-99 academic year, President Carol C Harter announced today.

Moody, who holds the PhD in Philosophy from the University of Virginia and the MD from the Medical College of Georgia, will begin his teaching position  in UNLV's College of Science in August.

'UNLV is fortunate to have a scholar of Dr Moody's caliber join the faculty for the coming academic year,' Harter said.

Research and writings on near-death experiences should be of considerable interest to students and to audiences of his public lectures.

The Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies was established and funded by a gift of $3.7 million from Robbert T and Diane Bigelow of Las Vegas.The chair is filled on an annual basis by distinguished visiting science scholars.

A former forensic psychiatrist at Central Georgia State Hospital, Dr Moody currently conducts research at his private institute, The Theatre of the Mind. He has held positions in philosophy at East Carolina University and West Georgia College and a visiting scholarship at the University of Virginia.

He has published several books, including 'Life After Life,' 'The Light Beyond' and "Laugh after laugh: Humor in Relation to Health and Illness." He has also published in professional journals regarding near-death experiences.

'I am thrilled to have the opportunity to teach again, and I believe that UNLV should be applauded for standards of scientific rigor regarding claims of rational evidence as proof of the continuation of consciousness upon bodily death. The extraordinary states of consciousness deemed paranormal are an enduring human concern that will not go away, and I have been hopeful that students with a serious interest in these topics would have a setting, within which they could learn about paranormal phenomena from  a non-ideological perspective.'

Moody will be teaching two classes a semester. He plans to bring UNLV internationally known researchers in the areas of past life regression, mind/body connection, facilitated apparitions and other related fields to address his classes..."

Other information

Looking through other UNLV "News Center" releases, I found the following examples of public lectures, which provide an indication of a focus around the subject of near-death experiences/life after actual death:

* "Death and dying" - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

* "Near-death experiences" - Michael Sabom

* "Past life regression and reincarnation" - Brian Weiss

* "Near-death experiences" - Bruce Greyson

* "Philosophy and the after life" - Raymondy Moody, Robert Almeder, Michael Grosso

* "Mindsight: Near-death experiences of the Blind"- Kenneth Ring

* "Possibility of consciousness surving after death" - Edgar Mitchell. (The US astronaut, who was also on the Science Advisory board for NIDS.

In fact, at this point it would be worth while providing a list of individuals who were on the NIDS Science Advisory Board, taken from the Wayback Machine's filing of the NIDS website.

John B Alexander; Warren Burggren; Douglas P Ferraro; Albert A Harrison; Edgar Mitchell; Melvin Morse; Martin Piltch; Harold E Puthoff; Theodore Rockwell; John F Scheussler; Jessica Utts; Jacques Vallee; Jim Whinnery.

Several of these names; e.g. Alexander; Mitchell; Puthoff; Scheussler;Vallee, will be familiar to UAP researchers of today.

Cessation

The Department of Consciousness Studies at UNLV lasted until 2002 "...when Bigelow decided to redirect its funding towards scholarships." I have been unable to find out any further information regarding this cessation

An aside

Between 1993 and 1998 parapsychologist Dean Radin, was Director, Consciousness Research Laboratory at UNLV.

Update 9 March 2019

On page 296 of "Forbidden Science Volume 4" (2019,) written by Jacques Vallee, there is  comment about Robert Bigelow which reads "Bob became fascinated with survival research after his 22 year son died a few years ago in the desert." Diary entry dated 3 February 1996.

Further information on the 2019 plans of the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science

Securities and Exchange Commission

As part of its 12 February 2019 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA for short) revealed details about the company's plans for 2019. Some of this information we already knew, but some seems new to me. In this post, I am going to focus on the TTSA Aerospace Division (AD) and the Science Division (SD), and not speak to the Entertainment Division. I will be adding my own comments on the material found on the SEC website, concerning TTSA. However, it should be noted that I would be making the same comments, and asking the same critical questions, of any organisation which was setting out its aims etc. In fact, in general, I think TTSA is doing a reasonable job of trying to break us out of the mode of thinking and research, that many in the UFO field seemed to be have been locked in to.

Mission

"Our mission is to be a vehicle for change by inspiring a new found appreciation of the profound, yet unresolved, mysteries of the universe that can unify people around the world. We are working to achieve our mission via an aerospace, science and  entertainment consortium that collaborates with global citizens to investigate the outer edges of science and unconventional thinking and provide access to information  through exotic engineering, entertainment media, and education that ignites the imagination."

Aerospace Division

Steve Justice - Head of the TTSA Aerospace Division

"The Aerospace Division  is dedicated to finding revolutionary breakthroughs in propulsion, energy and communication...The company is in the process of evaluating which projects will most likely lead to viable commercial products. Projects under consideration include advanced aerospace technologies, Beamed Energy Propulsion ("BEP") launch systems, Space Time Metric Engineering ("STME"), and radiation shielding materials for space applications."

My comments

1. In a blog post dated 30 September 2018, I reported on the details of a contract between TTSA and EarthTech International concerning BEP, i.e. "to define a comprehensive program plan to develop an operational BEP launch system."

2. However, there was no mention by TTSA of any contract for work on STME - although it is known that Dr Hal Puthoff has been working on STME for many years; and I have not seen any mention of a contract for work on "radiation shielding material for space applications." This latter, seems new information to me. Has any reader seen mention of this?

The filing goes on:

"Most recently the AD is directing its efforts toward BEP in order to develop known and existing methodology to launch small satellites into orbit using ground-based laser beams. Among the company's proposed project areas, BEP has the advantage of existing feasibility testing, significant technical analysis, early program planning and a promising market..."

"To stay on track with our long-term project gaols, we are also initiating development of Space Time Metric Engineering ("STME") because it is necessary technology required to achieve the AD's exotic engineering objectives ( e.g. the "Vision Vehicle".) While the basics of the physics has been established, there is foundational work - in the form of many experiments - necessary to further develop this technology."

"The company has requested proposals with the technical specialists involved in these feasibility efforts to develop a BEP launch system and proposals that perform foundational experiments in transitioning STME from theory to practice."

My comment

Again, we know of details concerning BEP, but I have seen no detailed documentation concerning any 2018/2019 work on STME. Has any reader?

"We continue to have direct meetings with industry partners, and we anticipate that our efforts to have collaborative relationships will gain significant momentum in 2019."

Science Division

"The company's Science Division is a theoretical and experimental laboratory, challenging conventional thinking by discovering a new world of physics and consciousness - related possibilities and explaining how  to use them to affect the world positively...The SD continues to evaluate the viability of pursuing brain-computer interface technology, human ultra-experience database, and telepathy, but our most significant accomplishment in advancing science and in 2017 was the launch of our initial version of TTSAA's online Community of Interest (COI.)

The company's vision of a fully functional COI is online collection, storage, and analysis point for information regarding events, witness and data reports associated  with advanced technologies and capabilities..."

My comments

1. The concept of a "human ultra-experience database" seems to parallel work along these lines conducted by Kit Green and his "high functioning individuals"

2. I note the word "telepathy" included in the SD's spectrum of pursuits. Very little has been mentioned of this area of the TTSA SD's work. Has any reader, any more information on this aspect?

3. The COI today is little more than an online collection of the three released videos, and material relating to the 2004 Nimitz encounters, and nothing has been added in 2019. If TTSA is looking to "collect, store, and analyse" then it is perusing this aim in a very slow manner. On the point about "witness and data reports" then this has been undertaken by several others before, e.g. MUFON CMS database, and the National UFO Reporting Center.  As these have been in use for many years, whatever their shortcomings, why reinvent the wheel? Why not work with MUFON etc to enhance existing databases?

"During 2018, the Science Division also refined its staffing plans and met with individuals in the USG about possible government-funded studies. Our most significant accomplishment in advancing science and education  in 2018 was the launch of the A.D.A.M. Research project in August 2018...materials samples the company acquired through reliable reports of advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin."

My comment

A number of researchers would strongly disagree about the last statement concerning samples. The links between some "artifacts" and UAP are tenuous indeed. In addition, many claimed artifacts from such reported events as a "crash at Roswell in 1947" come from the collection of material in recent years, with no definitive linkage back to 1947.

"In 2019, if the resources are available, we plan to evolve COI from a read only site to one that allows data submissions from the public, USG and foreign governments. One of our objectives in developing the COI is creating proprietary algorithms to find detailed patterns in the data submitted bu users and correlate them with other academic research. This may result in commercially valuable algorithms, and because there is no real competition in this area that we are aware of, we believe the probability of capturing such business high."

My comment

This is a laudable goal. However, as key database researchers such as Jacques Vallee have repeatably pointed out, there are pitfalls in such methodology.

Source: http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fileadmin/documents/15_VALLEE_sli.pdf

In 2014, at a meeting in Paris, France, Vallee, when speaking of his CAPELLA database stated:

"As in the case of many prior efforts, secondary level of screening and follow up were not implemented, hence signal/noise remained poor," and "Data mining on messy data is worse than doing nothing."

Project Newsprint receives a Victorian report from 1990

Project Newsprint

Quite some time ago, I undertook a project I called "Project Newsprint." I contacted dozens of newspapers in Western Australia and Victoria, and asked readers to let me know of any past or current sightings they knew of. I was pleasantly surprised at the large response I received. I wrote a number of blog posts based on the details of sightings sent in to me. For example; to read about a spectacular Western Australian case,click here; and for details of three Victorian vehicular close encounters, click here.

A recent email

Just a few days ago I received an email from an individual, about an incident near Wangaratta, Victoria, around June 1990. His account reads:

"...shifted out to Wangaratta at the start of 1990 to do a cooking course at their TAFE. Towards the end of the course (around June 1990) I got a job cooking counter meals at a pub in the Whitfield/Cheshunt area.

Image courtesy of Google maps

I was at a loose end on a Sunday night and decided to drive down there, just to check out how long it would take to drive from Wangaratta ( I did not want to be late for the first shift.)

I drove down to the pub and saw that it took around 30 minutes or so and so I headed back. When you drive from Wangaratta to Whitfield it is along a winding country road and with no lights at all. On both sides of the road you have flat fields, mostly used as cow pasture, but to your right you have the occasional hills which are heavily wooded, set far back at the end of the pasture.

As I was driving back, with the hills to my right, I noticed a cluster of lights high up on a hill in the distance. As I got closer, more details became clearer. The light seemed to be almost at the top of a hill and nestled amongst the trees. I parked parallel to it, stopped the car and got out to take a closer look at it. The actual description of it now  is a little vague, given that it was nearly thirty years ago.

Image courtesy of Google maps

It seemed to be a large white light/cluster of lights, very white and bright, with possibly a peak at the top of it, imagine something like a carousel/merry go round/circus tent top in appearance.

I honestly could not give you an accurate idea of its size, but it might have been as high as the trees in the area, maybe around 20 or so metres high.

I stood there for a few minutes, just looking at it and debating what to do. I thought of walking towards it but then some common sense kicked in. It was around midnight, in the middle of nowhere, no torch, nothing. I would have to park the car, on the side of the road, no one to watch over it, if someone passing along decided to break into it (a bit unlikely but you never know.) Also, to get to the light I would have to walk ten minutes across a large paddock, to reach the base of the hill, plus another twenty minutes to walk up the hill. Once again, with no torch and up a heavily wooded hill in the midnight dark. At that stage I decided to play it safe and move on.

Even today,when recalling it, I know I was not looking at just a cluster of lights like a farmhouse lit up or a string of decorative lights in someone's backyard, or someone going out spotlight shooting. This was something else and it unnerved me something bad. I got in the car and drove back to Wangaratta, seeing the light recede in the distance.

The next Friday I did my first shift at the pub and got on well with a couple of the ladies working in the kitchen, so I thought it safe to raise the subject with them at the end of the shift. I started off by asking them if they had seen any strange lights in the area or up in the hills around the area. They got quiet, looked at each other, smiled and asked me what I had seen. I recounted what I had experienced and they told me a couple of stories they had been told by the locals.

1. Some of the locals had been diving back to Wangaratta when a disk like pinwheel hovered over their  a while, and then vanished.

2. A couple of the local men were on the back roads late at night, doing some spotlight shooting. Their lights went dead and a large silvery disk flew over them and over the forest without making a sound. They reported to others that it scared the you-know-what out of them and the two locals were not known for lying or exaggerating.

This was all they could tell me in regards to local sightings and the like. I worked at the pub for another month and drove there and back at night for around a dozen times, but no sign of anything again, not even house lights in the hills. The last time I went back there would have been 1993 or 1994. I drove up there at night and went up and down the road but still nothing. I slept for a few hours in the car and then spent some time carefully going over the road during daylight looking into the hills for any sign of houses that might have been lit up back in 1990, but nothing. To his day, I still do not know what it was, but,to the best of my knowledge, I doubt it was houselights or something similar. The size, location, timing and the like just do not point in that direction."

Research

I looked through the 1989, 1990 and 1991 issues of the Victorian UFO Bulletin, published by the Victorian UFO Research Society, but found nothing about sightings in this area. However, it is nice to know that, several years later, Project Newprint is still bringing in anomalous sightings.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who may have any details about sightings in this general area, via keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au.

The 2015 AATIP incidents

Introduction

There has been much speculation about UAP incidents, involving US Navy assets, in the year 2015. In this blog post I take a look at a number of individuals who have made statements about such events.

9 March 2018

Source:https://dpo.tothestarsacademy.com/ 

Christopher Mellon was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, under the Clinton and Bush administrations. 

"Defense Department officials who analyze the relevant intelligence confirm more than a dozen such incidents off the East coast since 2015."

"A third classified video, released by To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science , a privately owned media and scientific research company to which I'm an adviser, reveals a previously undisclosed Navy encounter that occurred off the East coast in 2015."

[Source: Mellon, Christopher. 9 March 2018. "The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn't the Pentagon care?" The Washington Post.]

My comments:

1. If there have been "...more than a dozen such incidents off the East coast since 2015" this implies that there were some incidents in 2015, and some later than 2015.

2. "A third classified video" refers to the "Go Fast" video.

27 September 2018

Jeremy Corbell has had a lengthy interest in UAPs, and has a close working relationship with Las Vegas journalist George Knapp.

"In 2015 there were over 15 events on the East coast re Tic Tacs."

[Source: Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell. 27 September 2018. Interview on Phenomenon Radio by Linda Moulton Howe.]

January 2019

Former Navy aviator David Fravor, was one of the pilots involved with intercepting a "Tic Tac" UAP in November 2004.

David Fravor (left) with fellow pilot Jim Slaight

"One of the airplanes in the squadron almost hit one. Went 100 feet down the side. They were in section and it want down the side, and they came back and said it looks like a ball with a cube inside of it, like a square that has a circle round it..."

[Source: David Fravor referred to a 2015 event, off the East Coast of the USA, when being interviewed on the Fighter pilot podcast episode 35 - UFOs.]

31 January 2019

Former Senator Harry Reid was the lead instigator for getting funding for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program.

"Dramatic military episodes involving highly advanced but unknown intruders, such as a fleet of so called gimbal craft in 2015...more than justify an ongoing study, Reid said."

[Source: Interview between former Senator Harry Reid and George Knapp on KLAS TV 31 January 2019.]

25 February 2019

Las Vegas journalist, George Knapp, has been closely following the story.

"In 2015 the Gimbal shows up and not just once. We were told that more than fifteen times, maybe a couple of dozen times, both off the coast of Florida and subsequently off the coast of Virginia. Again involving naval craft and multiple sensors."

[Source: Coast to Coast radio interview between George Knapp and Tyler Rogoway. 25 February 2019.]

My comments:

What can we deduce from the above statements?

1. There were a number of UAP incidents off the East coast of the USA in 2015.

2. The "Go Fast" video was taken off the East Coast in 2015. 

3. The "Gimbal" video was taken in 2015. Location not stated. 

4. There was an incident in 2015, off the East coast of the USA, where a Naval aircraft almost hit a UAP.

5. Interestingly, I did not come across any statements by former AATIP manager, Luis Elizondo, about such incidents.

6. I welcome additional sources of statements about incidents in 2015, please contact keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

Update 1 March 2019

Giuliano Marinkovic advises the following additions:

1. 18 January 2018. Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell.

Corbell used the terms "Off the East coast...early 2015" when referring to the date and location of the Gimbal video.

[Source: Episode 173: Bizarre States. Section starts from 20:26 minute mark.]

2. 2 February 2018. George Knapp.

Knapp used the words "...off the coast of Florida in 2015."

 [Source: KLAS TV Las Vegas report on 2 February 2018. Section starts from 04:16 minutes mark.]

In addition, Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell commented about the Fravor account of a "cube" in a tweet dated 21 February 2019  "in a response to a 3 January 2019 blog post by Danna Silva  saying " ...there were AAV's that appeared as squares with a spherical aura surrounding them. Like scouts. More will emerge about this." 

Update 27 May 2019

In a blog piece on The War Zone thedrive.com blog it was stated that a Lt Ryan Graves an F/A-18 pilot had gone public with his knowledge of the 2014/2015 incidents, which occurred over a period of months and had involved multiple objects and numerous military observers. In addition a Lt Danny Accoin also from VFA-11 The Red Rippers had also commented publicly. They were based at the Naval Air Station Oceania near Norfolk, Virginia.

Lt Accoin stated that he had two interactions. The first, when an object was seen on radar but not visually. The second when, a few days later, his training missile on his jet locked onto an object and in addition it was picked up on FLIR, but again not visually.

Graves recounted how colleague pilots had almost hit one object. The pilot and wingman were flying only 100 feet apart, East of Virginia Beach, when something flew between them, "like a sphere encasing a cube."

Other objects appeared to be spinning in mid-air, like tops.

An official safety report was filed.

Graves also commented that when the Carrier group had arrived in the Middle East, objects were once again seen in the area.

Update 6 June 2019

"Some of the vehicles they've seen and described, in the New York Times article, are spherical. They're perhaps six to ten feet across. And they're transparent, like a soap bubble with a black cube inside. And the edges of the cube are touching the interior of the bubble..."

[Source: Chris Mellon, 5 June 2019, "The Fox News Breakdown."

Update 20 June 2019

"A source with knowledge of the events has made it clear to The War Zone that presence of the mysterious objects in the restricted training airspace off America's East Coast was so pervasive that it was largely common knowledge among local flying units."

[Source: The War Zone thedrive.com blog piece 20 June 2019.]

Update 3 December 2019

Former US Navy pilot, Ryan Graves was interviewed, at length, by Kevin Rose on the Kevin Rose show on 3 December 2019. Graves described his career with the US Navy; and his knowledge of the 2014/2015 events. Mainly, he spoke about information which is already in the public arena. However, the following points were new to me:

1. With new radar fitted to the jets he flew, the imagery he was able to look at via the system provided better information to him as a pilot. He said he could see additional data about commercial aircraft and moving ground targets. Some of the things they noted were unusual. There were physical objects out there which they couldn't identify. These objects would sometimes be stationary over the ocean; and at other times cruised eastwards(away from the coast) at speeds of 0.6-0.8 mach; 230-360knots. They were sometimes out there all day long. Sometimes at 30,000 feet, sometimes seen at sea level. If pilots tried to get closer, the objects would simply change altitude.

2. Asked by Rose if other pilots had reached out with reports of their own, Graves said, yes, a few had. One pilot was off the coast of Maryland in a test range area, when they saw an object at close range. This object was similar to a translucent sphere. A DoD official visited the pilot to debrief him.

3. Concerning the near miss with a cube within a sphere incident. Graves stated that the aircraft were flying 400 feet apart. He wondered if the jets had gone past a stationary object, or if the object had been moving and went between the jets, at their eye level?

4. Graves mentioned that he was aware of the new US Navy reporting system, but that it was classified.