An investigation by Marc Cecotti and Keith Basterfield
In our previous articles we reported that investigators and translators from
Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) visited Fortaleza and Sobral
in the State of Ceará, Brazil, at least on one occasion in May 2009. Thanks to
additional witnesses and documents, we have learned that the history of UFO
events in Brazil was deemed important enough to send BAASS upper management to
Saõ Paulo to meet with several UFO researchers. The purpose of those meetings
was to gain more information about the UFO phenomenon in Brazil, to create
possible cooperation with research organization, but also, according to those
witnesses, to try and discover any technology associated with UFOs for possible
spin-offs to Bigelow Aerospace projects.
BAASS managers in Saõ Paulo
Marc Cecotti reached out to Brazilian UFO researcher Edison Boaventura
Jr. from Guarujá Ufological Group (GUG). He confirmed that he met two BAASS
employees for a few hours in Sao Paulo in May 2009. “I talked to them in a
hotel here in the state of São Paulo...” Boaventura recalled. The hotel was
later identified as The Holiday Inn Express, located Rua Doutor Homem de Melo,
1206 in Saõ Paulo. When he was asked who he met, Edison Boaventura Jr. could
easily remember the names “They were two representatives of Bigelow Aerospace.
Douglas Kurth and James A. Johnson.”
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| Holiday Inn Express where the meeting with BAASS took place |
Douglas Kurth is a retired US Marine Corps F-18 pilot and Squadron Commander, who was a witness to part of the Tic Tac UFO event in November 2004. He was one of the first individuals to join BAASS in December 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. His position is described as "Program manager." Note that BAASS was registered as a Limited Liability Company in January 2008, and was awarded the contract for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) - sponsored Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) in September 2008.
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| Source: Kurth's LinkedIn profile |
Little is known about James A Johnson, but we had already come across this name. Thanks to Blue Blurry Lines February 2020 article, "The Pentagons UFO Program's Secret Partner" by Curt Collins and Roger Glassel, about the MUFON/BAASS contract, we knew that James Johnson was in a managerial position at BAASS. "A formal slide presentation to the MUFON Board explained the relationships and responsibilitie and named both organizations management teams as of April 2009. For MUFON they were Richard Lang, James Carrion, Jan Harzan and Chuck Modlin. For BAASS they were Colm Kelleher, Douglas Kurth and James Johnson."
Boaventura met Kurth and Johnson at the Holiday Inn Express hotel on May
29th, 2009 along with UFO researcher Josef Prado, who translated the
discussions. Two other researchers, Milton Dino Frank Jr. and Mário César
Mancinelli, also met both Americans on the same evening. This was on the exact
same day that the BAASS four-people team led by Loran Huffman was attending
the CSPU monthly meeting more than 3000 kilometers away in Sobral, State of Ceará,
as we reported in our previous article. The purpose of the meeting in Saõ Paulo
was then described by Boaventura “They were interested in UFO cases, metamaterials
and wanted me to supply them. I later learned they also went in the northeast
of Brazil doing research with people who saw UFOs and were also attacked. They
went for example in the state of Ceará.”
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| BAASS program manager Douglas Kurth, Josef Prado, Edison Boaventura Jr. and BAASS manager James A Johnson. Credit Edison Boaventura |
Regarding the physical evidence BAASS was trying to obtain, Boaventura
said : “[They were interested in] the fragments of any UFO... We had several
cases of crashes with fragments... For example, the case of the UFO explosion
in Ubatuba, state of Saõ Paulo in 1957, among other cases.” Edison Boaventura
had those alleged UFO crash fragments tested in 2017. (http://www.portalburn.com.br/explosao-de-ovni-em-ubatuba-1957-analise-qualitativa-dos-fragmentos/). Most of the discussions regarding metamaterial
happened during subsequent phone calls, which we’ll expose later in the article.
Boaventura did not know about the US government-sponsored operation.
“They didn't tell [they were working on a government contract]... Just said
they were BAASS employees.” The other Brazilian ufologist concurred; none were
aware of the BAASS ties with the US government.
Regarding any another contact with BAASS, Boaventura said “I never saw
them again... They only called me from the United States a couple of times and
then never contacted me again.”
Josef Prado, who attended the meeting along Edison Boaventura, gave a
similar statement “Basically they were interested in photographic evidence or
footage that could give clues about the UFO propulsion system. According to
them, BAASS was developing space propulsion technologies and were trying to
understand what kind of technology UFOs used to exploit it.”
According to Prado, they explained how they could use pictures to gain
information. “Example: if in the photo or footage they could observe halos of
a specific color, they could then speculate on the possibility of ionized
fields, electromagnetism, etc… But we can sum up the conversation like this:
to try and find information about the propulsion systems. How to do reverse
engineering without having the technology in hand, but exploring the evidence.
But I remember well that they were very interested in the photos where it was
possible to see the halos around the UFOs.”
Both Kurth and Johnson didn’t share much information, and they didn’t
give any much indication about their next destination. “The meeting was in a
simple, discreet hotel, and they booked a meeting room to welcome us. They were
very objective and didn't stay in conversation beyond what they were looking
for. They gave us a card and said that if we had more information or evidence,
we could contact them.”
Asked about the overall impression Kurth and Johnson left on him, and if
both men had any knowledge about ufology in general, Prado said “Honestly,
with all those questions about the propulsion systems, it looked to me that
they were just representing Bigelow’s interest. But it seemed to me that they
were a little afraid to tie Bigelow to this visit with ufologists in Brazil.
You know how that can turn out to be easy sensationalism.”
It is noteworthy that Jãnder Torres already mentioned BAASS' great
interest in propulsion system when he met the 4-people team in Sobral on the
same day, as we reported in our last article. “The only thing they really
wanted to know was about the propulsion systems” Jãnder Tôrres recalled.
Marc Cecotti was able to have an online conversation with the other
ufologist who also attended the meeting, Milton Dino Frank Jr. He confirmed
meeting Kurth and Johnson at the Holiday Inn Express in Saõ Paulo, on May 29th
2009. He explained “I talked to them for an hour and thirty minutes and that
was it. At the time I had a big ufology website. They reached out to me through
the site. I didn't pay much attention to them. And I don't have any contact
with them either. I never talked to them again, much less followed what they
did here.”
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| BAASS program manager James A Johnson, Milton Dino Frank, Mario Cesar Mancinelli, and BAASS program manager Douglas Kurth. Credit Edison Boaventura |
Then, he explained how the meeting went “They asked me about the
Varginha UFO case, Operation Prato, Official UFO night and other cases that I
can't remember. Edison Boaventura was with me at the hotel the same day. […]
After I talked to them about these cases, I took a plane and went to my home in
Rio de Janeiro. It was no big deal. I explained what I had read about these
cases since I had not personally researched any of them. Edison Boaventura also
gave his opinion about these cases. So it was just an informal conversation,
where nothing was recorded and much less documented. It was a bar
conversation.”
Mário César Mancinelli, of the Centro de Ufologia Brasileiro(CUB)
came at the meeting with Milton Frank. Here are his recollections “There was
me, Milton, two guys from another organization [Boaventura and Prado] and the
guys from Bigelow. And we were talking about Brazilian UFO cases. Then, when
the guys from the other organization left, I asked them what exactly they were
looking for. What they wanted with us. And the answer was Extreme technology.
I said we don't have it. If we had, we would have called the press and proved
once and for all that ETs visit us, since a scientific proof of that doesn't
exist yet. Then I told them what I used to say to the craziest people in the
old CUB group, that to do that, they'd have to take one down !”
Marc Cecotti then asked Boaventura how they reached out him for the
meeting in Saõ Paulo “[They reached out to me] by telephone and email” Boaventura
said and he added “I still have their business cards, some pictures and email
correspondence.” Thanks to this we were able to have more insight into BAASS
operations in Brazil. And what was written in those emails brought additional
evidence regarding BAASS intentions.
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| BAASS business cards for Douglas Kurth and James A. Johnson. Credit Edison Boaventura Jr. |
The emails
Edison Boaventura retrieved email conversations he had with BAASS
managers before and after their meeting in Saõ Paulo on May 29th, 2009.
The first email written by Douglas Kurth reads: "Sr. Edison Boaventura Juniuor, BAASS would like to come to Brazil and meet face-to-face with you to discuss information about this very important topic of Ufology. We are arranging this trip to meet with yourself and a few other prominent Ufologists in Brazil. We would like to inform you of the missions and goals of BAASS. And we would like to learn about your organization - whatever you are comfortable discussing. The intent is for a very informal meeting and informal discussion. We would like you to get to know us and set the foundation for information flow between our organizations, where necessary in the future [...] BAASS is planning to bring three people:
Douglas Kurth - Program manager
Jim Johnson - Chief Investigator
Luke Gornichec - Portuguese-English translator.
Travel and meeting arrangements are discussed, including a delay due to visa considerations. "We have had to delay our trip because of Brazilian visa considerations. We will now be in Sao Paulo and available to meet from May 26th through May 30th.
Boaventura agrees to meet with BAASS officials and offers to show BAASS some interesting files. "If you are interested, we intend to send and show you some original Brazilian Air Force Documents, related to the UFO research they made in our country in the past among other materials." Kurth replies that "We are confirmed at the Holiday Inn Express [...] We will have two people from BAASS, myself and Mr Jim Johnson, Chief Investigator. I believe Mr. Milton Dino Frank Jr will also meet with us that evening. It should be a great opportunity to get to know each other."
The two-man team, Kurth and Johnson, is consistent with the evidence we gathered. Gornichec who was initially supposed to be in Sao Paulo, was instead attending the CSPU meeting in Sobral, 3000 km away with the other BAASS team on the same day.
Following up
After this informal meeting in Sao Paulo in May 2009, Douglas Kurth sent a follow-up email to Edison Boaventura on August 14th, 2009. Of the four people who met the BAASS represntatives at the Holiday Inn, only he was contacted again.
The email, written by Douglas Kurth on August 12th 2009, reads "Edison, when we had our face-to-face meeting in Sao Paulo, you stated that you had several pieces of physical evidence associated with UFO cases that you have investigated. In fact, you showed us some pictures of various pieces of evidence. We at BAASS are very interestd in cases that involve physical evidence. If you are available, we would like to call you this Friday, August 14 to listen to the stories of your physical evidence cases."
Edison Boaventura remembered this phone call. "Yes, we talked twice over the phone and talked about cases of metamaterials, 3 fragments of UFOs, such as the Ubatuba UFO explosion, the case at Campinas, among other cases involving physical materials. They were interested in scientific reports on these materials and fragments of UFOs."
Then he added “I did not give any material that I had, because they did
not want to pay any amount for them... I told them to help our research with
financial sponsorship, but they did not accept the proposal... I knew that they
already helped MUFON in the United States with a value in cash and monthly.
They were looking for UFO materials in Brazil to use in experiments at Bigelow
Aerospace. They said they would study these materials for use in space travel
and in the future construction of hotels on the Moon to make space tourism ...
They were interested to use the UFO materials on their Bigelow Aerospace
spaceship.”
But Boaventura explained that those few phone calls in 2009 were the
last time he heard of BAASS, and he never provided them with metamaterials or
UFO-related documents. All the other people from South America we interviewed
during this investigation stopped receiving emails from BAASS in the Fall of 2009.
Conclusion
All those testimonies and available evidence show a consistency of BAASS
objectives, to create some kind of cooperation with research organizations; to acquire as much information as possible about UFO cases; to obtain physical
evidence (metamaterial or implants are mentioned in correspondence), but
discover possible UFO-related technology. This last point sounds somewhat
naïve, and we asked ourselves in the course of this investigation if this
wasn’t just a way to justify Bigelow Aerospace involvement in UFO investigation
and to better conceal the US government-sponsored program.
Either Robert Bigelow was using BAASS to do his own private study of the
UFO phenomenon, and the AAWSAP contract only funded the 38 DIRDs, or the secret
purpose of this contract was to investigate UFO on behalf of the Federal
Government, on US soil and overseas. If the latter hypothesis is true, and this
is what Senator Harry Reid affirmed on several occasions, the correspondence
and testimonies we and other researchers were able to obtain make it hard to
deny that this whole US government-sponsored program was nothing but a
large-scale UFO research and evidence collection program, despite repeated official
statements of Pentagon spokespeople. In any case, Bigelow Aerospace Advanced
Space Studies, with 50 employees and a 22-million dollar budget over a 3-year
period, must have produced large amounts of records. We know only about the 38
DIRDs and the famous, but undisclosed 494-page “10-month report,” that means a
lot remain to be discovered.
