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.