AAWSAP/AATIP; MRI brain scans and Skinwalker Ranch

Chris J. Marx

In July and August 2019, three episodes of the U.S. Internet radio show "UFO Classified" hosted by Utah researcher Erica Lukes, featured an individual named  Chris J. Marx. Marx related details about his employment with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) and his time at Robert T. Bigelow's North Eastern Utah (Skinwalker) ranch between 2010 and 2016.

During the interviews, Marx mentioned that he had the usual recruitment medical tests for employment with BAASS. He also related that there was a time he went to Reno, Nevada for certain other testing. In addition, in the 5 July 2019 episode, Marx spoke about his recruitment interview with BAASS, and stated that about halfway through that interview, the interviewer:

 "...asked me if I had ever experienced anything that was unexplainable, or that was paranormal or something that was, didn't make sense? And, I told him, yeh, I actually have..."

Chris Bartel

On 20 September 2019, Erica Lukes interviewed both Marx and another individual named Chris Bartel. Bartel spoke of his recruitment by, and his employment with, BAASS, from September 2010, and in addition mentioned about going to Reno, Nevada for magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) scans, for which he never received the results. Like Marx, Bartel had gone to work at Robert T Bigelow's North Eastern Utah ranch. At one point in the episode, Lukes mentioned that Marx had been asked by his BAASS interviewer, if he had any paranormal experiences; and then asked Bartel if his BAASS interviewer had asked him a similar question? Bartel responded:

"Colm Kelleher, I'd interviewed him, and he asked me about if I had experiences and ironically enough I did..."

I spent some time communicating with Chris Bartel, and the following is a summary of what he told me about the MRI testing in Reno, Nevada.

A senior BAASS employee named Loran Huffman was the person who actually came to Bartel with the official request that he go for an MRI test. The request was verbally made by Huffman, although Bartel understands the original request came from BAASS Deputy Administrator Colm Kelleher. A check of Huffman's public LinkedIn profile found that he was Director of Investigations and Security (FSO) for Bigelow Aerospace between January 2009 and May 2012. Bartel states:

"I remember asking Lauren Hoffman (sic) why we were having MRIs done and he said 'It's to see if there was something in our brain which allowed us to have an experience.'"

No other medical related exams were undertaken while they were in Reno, just the MRI. Bartel recalls that an individual picked both he and Marx up at the Reno airport, drove them to the Reno Diagnostic Center, conducted the MRI brain scans and then drove them back to the airport. Bartel says, he is fairly certain he knows who this individual was, although he is not 100% certain.

In October 2019, when Bartel heard about the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) he reached out to the Reno Center and obtained a  copy of his records.

Details of the MRI brain scans

Chris Bartel has shared the results of his MRI brain scans with me. Two aspects are puzzling. Firstly, under the heading "Clinical indication" i.e. the reason for the MRI examination, is the single word "preemployment" despite the fact that the scan was  conducted, on 5 August 2011, almost a year into their employment. Secondly, the referring physician was shown as a Ronald Smith MD of Reno. However, Bartel informed me that he did not recall ever meeting a Dr. Smith. One would expect that a patient would first meet an MD and then be referred to a specialist for an MRI.

Marx

I have also spent some time communicating with Chris J. Marx. Like Bartel, Marx has also acquired a copy of his own MRI brain scan results, taken 5 August 2011 at the Reno Diagnostic Center. Copies of images are now available via the UFO Classified website. In an episode of that show, dated 16 January 2020, Marx revealed that, like Bartel, a copy of his results were sent to the same Dr. Smith. However, Marx had no recollection of meeting a Dr. Smith.

The reason for Marx's MRI brain scans, is shown as "preemployment," again despite the fact that Marx had been a BAASS employee for almost a year by the date of the scan. In addition, page 2 of Marx's MRI results  states: "Read and electronically signed by Eric J Kraemer MD" and  "Reviewed by Eric J Kraemer MD."

The website of the Reno Diagnostic Centre shows that a Dr. Kraemer, obtained his BSc at Cornell; obtained his MD at the University of Iowa School of Medicine; completed an MRI fellowship at Northwestern University; before joining Reno Diagnostic Center in July 2006. Thus it would appear to confirm Dr. Kraemer was indeed employed there in 2011. It would be reasonable to assume he was the individual at the Center, who analyzed the results of the MRI brain scans.

Marx states that he is now aware of at least four former BAASS employees who underwent similar MRI brain scans. Himself, Bartel; an individual nicknamed "Chip" (whose real identity I deduced from public records) and a fourth individual who wishes to remain anonymous.

I asked Marx if he knew the identity of the individual he met in Reno? He replied, that he believed he did, but was not 100% certain.

"Chip"

On the 2 September 2012 episode of the Internet Paracast radio show, an individual identified only as "Chip," who stated that he had worked as a guard at Skinwalker Ranch, mentioned that he was aware that a number of individuals from the ranch had been sent to Reno for MRI brain scans.

Dr. Smith

Who then, was the Dr. Smith whose name, address and telephone number are on Bartel's and Marx's MRI test results as receiving a copy of the results? An Internet search located a Ronald L Smith MD who still practices at that same address, has the same telephone number, and practices internal medicine.

Further research located a 2008 report titled "Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies" published by the National Research Council in 2008, Washington DC.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207943/

In that report, a Dr. Ronald L Smith was a member of  a committee named "Committee on Military and Intelligence Methodology for Emergent Neurophysiological and Cognitive/Neural Science Research in the Next Two Decades." Dr. Smith's biography is provided at the end of that report, which states:

" Ronald L Smith is in private practice of internal medicine and is an associate clinical professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He was a neurologist at the NASA Ames Research Center and a post-doctoral fellow at the UCLA Brain Research Institute. He currently serves on the Joint Independent Science panel on Chemical and Biological Defense and has reviewed policies, procedures and training in troop protection from chemical, biological and nuclear threat for the Joint Military Services. He served on the NRC's Committee on Network Science for Future Army applications. Dr. Smith received a PhD in anatomy (neuroscience) from the University of California in San Francisco and an MD from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico."

The chair of that particular committee (Military and Intelligence etc) was Dr. Christopher C Green.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207936/

Christopher (Kit) Green

Both Bartel and Marx separately advised me, that they are fairly certain that the individual they met at the airport in Reno, and who conducted their MRI brain scans, as a guest of the Center, was Dr Christopher C Green. Although it must again be stated, that they are not 100% certain. Are there any facts to support this identification? I turned to the UFO literature in search of clues.

Annie Jacobsen

Image courtesy of Amazon Books

In her 2018 book "Phenomena" (Back Bay Books, New York) journalist Annie Jacobsen gives details of an interview she conducted with Dr. Christopher C Green. In part, she quotes Green as saying that:

"I'm interested in the notion of people injured physically by anomalous events. 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...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 burns, skin lesions, cancer, diseases - and who also had face to face encounters with UAPs..." (page 396.)

As to who were his patients, Green said:

"...they are all high functioning individuals, many prodigious savants, most of whom carry a high security clearance...They are members of Special Forces, members of the intelligence community, employees of aerospace companies, officers in the military, guards of military bases, policemen..."

M. J. Banias

Another author, M J Banias in his 2019 book "The UFO People:A Curious Culture" (August Night Books, USA) states that he interviewed Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green in 2018. In part he writes about Green:

"...Green consults with nearly sixty other medical doctors who share similar interests...Starting in 2003 Green began to work with individuals who suffered injuries from unknown aerial  objects.  In 2007, offering treatment at no cost, Green has treated about 180 of these individuals...Green's selection criteria for his patients are not based upon simple anecdote. Each of his patients must undergo a rigorous screening process. Green explains that each patient must witness and be physically affected by the anomaly within 50 meters...The second criteria stipulates that all patients suffering from these injuries must have a second eyewitness who was present at the event. Third, all injuries suffered must be physical in nature...Fourth, his patients must allow him to speak to their previous doctors and grant him access to their entire medical history. Fifth, they must undergo a battery of tests including DNA testing,endocrine and specialized blood tests and brain scans..."

As to who Green's selected patients are, Banias writes:

"...special forces, intelligence officers, private government contractors, high level aerospace company employees and military officers..."

Interestingly, from the perspective of this article, on page 86 Banias cites Green:

" He disclosed that about a dozen of his patients were injured on or near the infamous ranch in Utah, nicknamed Skinwalker Ranch."

 AAWSAP

The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program  (AAWSAP) was a contract given to BAASS in September 2008 by the US Government's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to undertake certain work. In part, specifically to "...understand the physics and engineering...as they apply to the foreign threat out to the far term..." Technical studies were undertaken in 12 specified areas of interest including "10. Human effects."

An FOIA request by Dr Steven Aftergood had the DIA provide a list of the titles and authors of 38 such technical studies. On that list was a paper by Dr. Green titled " Field Effects on Biological Tissues." This paper is still not publicly available.

Luis Elizondo

During a 15 July 2018 Coast to Coast radio interview between journalist George Knapp; and Luis Elizondo, former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)  (which took over from AAWSAP) Knapp mentions BAASS, then asks Elizondo:

"Did you coordinate with them? Did you have access to what they did and vice versa?" Elizondo replied "Yes." Kanpp then asked "Would you have seen Skinwalker Ranch material for example?" Elizondo said "Yes."

BAASS

On 4 May 2018 as part of a Las Vegas KLAS-TV news report, the online version had a hyperlink titled "Statement from a Senior Manager of BAASS." In full, it read:

"Statement from a Senior Manager of BAASS
By Caroline Bleakley
Updated May 04, 2018 05:28PM PDT

LAS VEGAS - BAASS breaks new ground in professionalism by hiring, training and deploying 50 full-time staff comprising retired military intelligence and law enforcement officers, PhD level scientists, engineers, technicians, analysts, translators and project managers to create the largest multi-disciplinary full-time team in history to investigate the UFO topic.

The investigation by BAASS provided new lines of evidence showing that the UFO phenomenon was a lot more than nuts and bolts machines that interacted with military aircraft. The phenomenon also involved a whole panoply of diverse activity that included bizarre creatures, poltergeist activity, invisible entities, orbs of light, animal and human injuries and more. The exclusive focus on nuts and bolts machine could be considered myopic and unproductive in solving the larger mystery of UFOs.

One of the major successes of BAASS was in adopting the novel approach of utilizing the human body as a readout system for dissecting interactions with the UFO phenomenon. This novel approach aimed to circumvent the increasing evidence of deception and subterfuge by the UFO phenomenon in that multiple witnesses co-located in the same vicinity frequently reported seeing widely different events. The evidence was multiplying that the UFO phenomenon was capable of manipulating and distorting human perception and therefore witness testimony of UFO activity was becoming increasingly untrustworthy.

The BAASS approach was to view the human body as a readout system for UFO effects by utilizing forensic technology, the tools of immunology, cell biology, genomics, and neuroanatomy for an in depth study of the effects of UFOs on humans. This approach marked a dramatic shift away from the traditional norms of relying on eyewitness testimony as the central evidentary arm in UFO investigations. The approach aimed to bypass UFO deception and manipulation of human perception by utilizing molecular forensics to decipher the biological consequences of the phenomenon.

The result of applying this new approach was a revolution in delineating the threat level of UFOs."

What can we conclude from the above?

Based on the testimony of Bartel, Marx and "Chip," someone at BAASS was interested in having certain staff, undergo MRI brain scans. The statement by a senior manager of BAASS adds to the view, that there was an expectation that by studying any effects on the human body, information could be gleaned about the phenomenon. 

This was also the focus of Dr. Green's work. As to whether or not the individual whom Bartel and Marx interacted with in Reno in 2011 was in fact Dr. Green, I reasoned why not ask him?

I therefore reached out by email, to Dr. Green; briefly described some of the above information, and asked him if he was in Reno, Nevada on 5 August 2011, and involved in MRI brain scans on these two, then BAASS employees? I further asked that if he was, was he able to say whether this was in connection with his own private studies, or as part of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program contract with BAASS?

Dr. Green responded that "I have never been to that Center, ever. I have never taken any person there."

I have also reached out to other former BAASS employees, advising them of my work to date, and inviting them to contact me if they so desire.