Skinwalker Ranch - a second BAASS employee speaks out

Christopher Bartel

A while ago, I compiled a list of individuals whom I believed, based on their own profiles on the LinkedIn website, worked for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS,) the firm which was the successful bidder for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) contract. One of these individuals was named Christopher Bartel.

Bartel's LinkedIn profile includes the following details:

"Security Officer
Bigelow Aerospace
Sep 2010 - Present - 9years 2mos.
1899 West Brooks Ave, Las Vegas NV
Security Officer/Investigator. Responsible for protecting multi-million dollar equipment and assets
Expert in investigative writing and detailed reports.
Holds a Department of Defense active T/S clearance.
Small arms expert and secondary defense tactics.
Security professional with over 14 years experience.
Effectively operate all CCTV equipment.
Provide a safe work environment for all Aerospace employees."

"Nevada Test Site
WSI
June 2006 -Nov 2009 - 3yrs 6mos
Security Police Officer -Level II.
Physical security specialist certified for duties in sensitive areas....

United States Air Force
May 1998- June 2006 8 yrs 4mos
Nellis AFB Las Vegas NV."

Chris J Marx

In a recent blog post, I discussed the account of a former BAASS employee, Chris J Marx, who worked at the Utah ranch between 2010 and 2016.  Chris Marx was employed by BAASS as a security guard for Robert Bigelow's Utah ranch, commonly known as the Skinwalker Ranch. In that prior post, I provided details of Marx's experiences at that ranch, as relayed to Erica Lukes, a Utah researcher, who hosts an Internet radio show named "UFO Classified."

New show

On 20 September 2019, Erica Lukes, as host of "UFO Classified" interviewed both Chris J Marx and Christopher Bartel. Below I give details from this interview. My thanks go to Erica, Chris Marx and Christopher Bartel for being willing to discuss this matter.

Bartel had heard Chris Marx on a previous edition of "UFO Classified" and got in touch with him. Bartel said he was a former USAF security officer for ten years, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, and living in Las Vegas. After he left the USAF he took a job at the Nevada Test site and worked there for a couple of years, during which he obtained a Q clearance.  His wife was also a USAF security guard, but later left the USAF.

In 2009, Bartel got a message from a friend whom he had known from the USAF. That individual was working for BAASS and asked Bartel if he was interested in a job with BAASS? Bartel said yes, and in due course was interviewed by Colm Kelleher of BAASS. During that interview, Kelleher asked Bartel if he (Bartel) had had any unusual experiences? Bartel responded that he had. Before the USAF, in around 1996/1997 he had been in Kansas, and explored a house which had paranormal experiences occurring there. In 2008, he conducted investigations into a Nevada hotel where odd things happened. Bartel was then offered a job with BAASS, and he accepted.

Briefing

Erica Lukes asked Bartel about his induction to the ranch, specifically how much information he was given by BAASS about the ranch? Bartel responded that he was told very, very little about it. He bought a book about the ranch but decided not to look at it until he had been at the ranch for a couple of months.

During his first week of his initial two week rotation/tour, nothing unusual happened. In the second week at the ranch he was joined there by Chris Marx. They formed a team which lasted between 2010 and 2016, when the ranch was sold by Bigelow.

Equipment

Lukes asked Bartel what equipment had BAASS provided to them for use at the ranch? Bartel replied that it was night vision equipment; thermal imaging gear; EMF detectors, and cameras. However, that the cameras were in such poor condition, especially dusty, that when photographs were taken with a flash, dust particles would show up in the pictures, as "orbs." They bought their own high definition cameras to use.

Bartel also mentioned that a couple of the ranch surveillance cameras were just fake ones. At one time, when there was a fear of outsiders talking about shooting "hybrids" at the ranch, they bought additional surveillance cameras out of their own money.

Training

On the associated question of how much training did BAASS provide to them, Bartel said he didn't recall any. It was more like a "shoot from the hip" style introduction to the job.

Atmosphere

Lukes asked Bartel if at any time he felt threatened while at the ranch? He responded that there were times when he had felt scared, as you were putting yourself into the unknown. The ranch was isolated and there was no cell phone service. However, he never felt threatened, although he did elaborate that there were some ranch locations, e.g. the west side of the property, where he felt uneasy.

Paranormal episodes

Over the six years at the ranch, between 2010 and 2016, there were the following occurrences:

1. He often felt a sense that he was "being watched."

2. In October one year, Marx had found some wolf prints during the day when he was out for a run. He and Marx went out that night, during a full Moon, "to capture the wolf." They found a set of huge prints. They walked around for hours, then decided to backtrack their own prints to the trailer. They found wolf prints by their original outgoing tracks, as if the wolf had been following them. About 1/4 mile from the trailer, with flashlights in use, Marx heard a noise. Bartel turned around and out of a ditch came a deep growl. Then he suddenly saw a wolf appear, "the size of a donkey." It headed westwards. They and their dogs went after the animal. Bartel then said, he blinked his eyes and the wolf disappeared in front of him, and that the wolf's tracks simply stopped.

3. He experienced disembodied footsteps near the trailer.

4. Unusual sounds, e.g. close by, drum-like sounds for 6-7 seconds duration, heard on the east side of the property.

5. Something followed him home once. After about 3-4 rotations at the ranch he was at home. He was in his living room, and beside him, his 1-2 month old baby son was sound asleep. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a billowing, black smoke, in the form of a small ball. He looked directly at it, and it shot across the room. In the hallway, he saw what appeared to be the shadow figure of a man sitting there. His son suddenly woke up with a scream of terror. Bartel felt scared but not threatened, and told the thing to go back to the ranch, as it didn't belong in the house. His wife had separately seen something standing in the hallway.

6. Asked by Lukes if he'd ever seen any UFOs at the ranch, Bartel said no classic UFO sightings. Once, at 3am, at the east gate he had seen a glittering gold coloured light above the trailer. He turned the car around, but by then there was nothing to see. He recorded it in a report. Another time there was another low key sighting.

Attitude

He noted that if an individual who had an arrogant approach, visited the ranch, then some things would happen to that person. It was better not to have an ego, and he had remained open minded. His mother had raised him as a Buddhist. He went to the ranch "showed up'" "told the truth" and saw what happened. He practiced meditation.

His approach

He saw the ranch as a "crime scene" and his job was to gather data and evidence. That was hard to do, as things happened at random, and they had to document them. They wrote reports about incidents which occurred. Sometimes they would phone in their reports. He felt he was thrown into the environment to see what happened to him. A typical military-like mission.

Medical tests

Like Marx, Bartel spoke about going to Reno to have an MRI. He said he never received any results, although he would have liked to have known them.

Miscellaneous

1. During his six years there, between 2010 and 2016, he never once saw Colm Kelleher or Robert Bigelow at the ranch. He has respect for both men. Kelleher was into gathering data.

2. Bartel said that the narrative about the ranch, from the start, had featured such things as cattle mutilations. He said this might have happened during the 1990's but during his time there, although there were some cattle on the property at times, nothing like that happened of which he was aware. In talking to the locals, the manager of another property told him that the mutilations had been conducted by locals, sourcing food.

3. Marx and himself had found evidence of native American occupancy of the property at some time in the past. He thought that the property should be treated with respect because of this.

4. Asked by Lukes about his feelings about the ranch, Bartel said that he felt he was missing part of the puzzle; and that the ranch had become a "second home" to him. He appreciated his time there; had a good relationship with the caretakers on the ranch, and had a great time while there.

My comments

1. My congratulations to Christopher Bartel for coming forward to tell his experiences.

2. Both Chris Marx and Christopher Bartel tell of being recruited to work for BAASS. Colm Kelleher was their supervisor. Both Marx and Bartel said they were unaware at the time about the USM$22.5 Defense Intelligence Agency AAWSAP contract.

3. Bartel's description of BAASS recruitment; and experiences while at the ranch, dovetail nicely with those previously described by Marx during his three interviews with Erica Lukes.

4. There seems little doubt that investigations at the ranch somehow fitted into the overall BAASS operation. We know from former Senator Harry Reid, that DIA officials visited the ranch. Whether DIA AAWSAP contract money was used for ranch research remains unclear.

5. Colm Kelleher's LinkedIn profile contains the following details:

"Deputy Administrator
BAASS
2008 - 2012 4 years
* Interviewed and hired and trained a team of 50 scientists, engineers, analysts, and created the classified infrastructure for an IC contract to study proprietary advanced aerospace technology and threat analysis
* Briefed government department undersecretary and senior United States senators on threat analysis and advanced technology programs.
* Worked closely with IC to develop and execute multiple programs involving advanced aerospace  technology including negotiating  and executing multi-disciplinary subcontracts for database creation, physics and engineering analysis and medical science studies
* Led in the creation of all scientific programs and strategic initiatives  for the company
* Interfaced with Congressional staff, political consultants, Washington DC think tanks and other organizations in the furtherance of company goals.
* COMSEC Custodian and Facility Security Officer for IC latter contract period."

Skinwalker Ranch - 2010-2016

Background 1 - AAWSAP

The 16 December 2017 edition of the New York Times featured an article written by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, which revealed the fact that the US Department of Defense had spent $M22.5 on a program titled the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. One particular paragraph of the article caught my eye. There was mention of former Senator Harry Reid, and Las Vegas businessman Robert Bigelow.

"Mr Reid said his interest in U.F.O.s came from Mr Bigelow. In 2007 Mr Reid said in the interview, Mr Bigelow told him that an official with the Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA -KB] had approached him wanting to visit Mr Bigelow's ranch in Utah, where he conducted research."

"Mr Reid said he met with agency officials shortly after his meeting with Mr Bigelow and learned that they wanted to start a research program on U.F.O.s."

This all led to the establishment of the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP.) You can read the DIA's solicitation for companies to work on the AAWSAP, here.

As far as I can determine, the main DIA official in all of this, was one James T Lacatski, who was the manger of the AAWSAP. This program ran from late 2008 to 2011.

Although not confirmed, as Lacatski has never been interviewed by any researcher on this matter, it seems reasonable to conclude that Lacatski was the DIA individual who wished to visit the Utah ranch.

Blackground 2 - Robert Bigelow

The so called "Skinwalker Ranch," in Utah, was purchased in 1996 by Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow. In the book "Forbidden Science: Volume Four" researcher Jacques Vallee writes about his knowledge of the ranch and its activities, from Vallee's perspective as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), established by Robert Bigelow, to look into both UFOs and aspects of the paranormal.

A number of  books have been written about the ranch, including one by Las Vegas journalist George Knapp, and NIDS scientist Colm Kelleher. Their book was titled "Hunt for the Skinwalker" (2005. Paraview Pocket Books.)  However, there has, until recently, been a lack of good information about the research activities at the ranch in the period of the AAWSAP contract [2008-2011] and beyond. Bigelow sold the ranch in 2016.

Chris J Marx

In July and August 2019, three episodes of the radio show "UFO Classified" hosted by Utah researcher Erica Lukes featured extensive interviews with an individual named Chris J Marx and his time at the ranch between 2010 and 2016.

Erica provided a summary of Marx's background. He was born in Germany and at 21 years of age moved to the USA to further his interest in music. He was, for 10 years, a deputy sheriff in New Mexico, then on a small protection team in Los Angeles. Then he undertook three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chris revealed that he is still in the military and holds a secret DOD clearance.

He was a member of Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a company Robert Bigelow established in January 2008, which undertook the AAWSAP contract for the DIA. Chris was a BAASS member until 2016, then further employed by the parent company Bigelow Aerospace, until he resigned in February 2019 to again pursue a career in music. He states that he worked at the Skinwalker Ranch between 2010 and 2016.

How was he recruited by BAASS? He saw an email in the Nevada National Guard where BAASS was advertising for staff. He applied for a position and was interviewed in Las Vegas and subsequently hired by BAASS. 

Is he bound by a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA)? Erica pointed out to Marx that he had signed a non disclosure agreement with BAASS. Marx stated that the ranch was sold three years ago, and that the NDA no longer applied, and therefore he could talk about the topic.

Why is he speaking out now? Chris had recently seen a documentary on the topic of the Skinwalker Ranch and became dissatisfied with it for commercializing the ranch. He stated that this was the reason for getting in touch with Erica Lukes as he wished to "put the record straight."

One of the items mentioned in the interview with Chris was that he retains copies of some of the reports he prepared about his stay at the ranch, and a variety of unusual events which occurred while he was there. He said that one copy of the reports went to Bigelow and one copy to the Pentagon. He mentioned that the chief of security for Bigelow at the time was someone named Bob King. Another statement by Chris was that BAASS monitored the website of enthusiasts interested in the ranch.

Late, in the interviews he also mentioned the fact that when he was recruited for Bigelow he had the usual job related medical testing before being accepted for employment. However, he also periodically underwent more comprehensive medical tests in Reno, for which he was never given the results. These tests included urine, blood, ECG and EKG. These tests were conducted at random intervals, on him and others who served at the ranch.

Asked by Erica if he had ever experienced any negative medical conditions while at the ranch, his response was no. However, he went on to say, that in fact, he had experienced several medical episodes where he recovered more quickly than you would expect. In addition he didn't get the flu, headaches or other medical conditions.

His documentation

Marx wrote a number of reports while at the ranch, some as frequently as every day. There were also reports about specific incidences which occurred on the ranch. He said that when the government was sponsoring research, one copy of each report went to the sponsor out in the Pentagon, and one copy to Bigelow. Marx carbon copied some of the reports to himself. He still has these copies, which he has shown to Erica Lukes, who confirms their existence. He also retains hundreds of photographs which he took while at the ranch.

One of Chris' reports

Paranormal episodes while at the ranch

What kinds of unusual experiences did he report while at the ranch? 

1. On his first night at the ranch he placed his gear on a bunk bed in one of the bedrooms, then was taken for a tour of the ranch. After being shown around the ranch he returned to his bedroom to find that his gear had been tossed all over the place, yet there could not have been anyone who could have done that.

2. Electrical malfunctions - e.g. at Homestead two with a nuclear physicist present, they had eight laptops connected together and all their batteries drained in seconds.

3. Apparitions - e.g. they had game cameras on the property. One captured images of transparent type things, including images of a human shape in 1860's garb.

4. Unusual sensations - e.g. At 10 o'clock one night he was standing at a gate when his three dogs ran off. He then saw eyes in nearby trees which turned out to be squirrels. He noted that there was an unusual lack of sound. All natural noise was muted. He felt sick and left the area.

5. Unusual odors - e.g. often there was the smell of tobacco as if from a pipe or a cigarette, but there had been no one present smoking. At other times, there was smell of sulphur. In the early, BAASS days, he had a BAASS checklist for unusual experiences. One of the check boxes concerned the observation of a sulphur smell. Marx once spoke to Dr Eric Davis who had an experience of an unusual odor in the bedroom which Marx had occupied.

6. Unusual lights - e.g. Marx and a partner were at the east gate. It was snowing, and they saw a bright light in the canal area near homestead one. They ran there to investigate but found nothing to account for the light. At other times a super bright light would light up his bedroom. However, nothing was ever found to account for its origin.

7. Photographic images - e.g. At one stage he set up a camera and took maybe 1000 images over five days in black and white. In some photographs there were light spots which weren't caused by dust particles. In some images there was a transparent human like silhouette.

8. Ouija board experiment - e.g. Seven individuals sat around a ouija board. It was a BAASS approved experiment and was videoed and sound recorded. Before anyone touched the planchette, it lifted up and flew across and hit Chris int he chest. He changed chairs but the same thing happened again.

9. Unusual animals - e.g. during a jog, Chris and another individual named John, were opening irrigation canals whey they saw a very different type of frog which had the snout of a cayman.

10. The skinwalker? Once, when patrolling the west gate with his dogs, late one afternoon, and walking past homestead two, he had a strong sense of being watched. Up on the mesa he saw a person. It was just after sunset. The person was looking in Chris' direction, facing southwards. 

Chris thought it was a trespasser, and called out to the man, but the man did not respond. Chris could see that person's head, legs and arms, but not the face. The mesa runs east/west, and the person then turned eastwards, and started bending at the waist with arms straight out, and fell forward. As he touched the ground he turned into a wolf. This animal then walked behind a rock formation and was lost to view.

Due to an approaching electrical storm Marx returned to the ranch caretakers and reported the incident up the chain of command. He wrote it all up in detail, and still has a copy of that documentation.

Footprints left by the "man on the ridge"

Next day, he went up to the mesa and there in the mud, found human tracks then canine tracks that walked away. He took photographs, measured the tracks, took DNA scrapings off the tracks and collected soil samples in case there were hairs present. All these went off for analysis. Two vets responded that the tracks were most likely those of a wolf. Chris never do hear the results of any of the other tests.

Footprints left by the "man on the ridge"

Closing comments 

Firstly, I wish to thank both Erica Lukes and Chris J Marx for sharing his story, and for sharing three images from his collection from his time at the Skinwalker ranch between 2010-2016.

Secondly, as I mentioned in a recent interview on "UFO Classified" I think that the UFO phenomenon and what is termed "the paranormal" are intimately intertwined. My investigatory research over the years has found that many individuals who report experiencing a close encounter with the UFO phenomenon, also self report personal paranormal experiences at a higher rate than the general population.

I look forward to seeing many more of Chris' Skinwalker Ranch documentation, the first available for the period 2010-2016, when he is ready to do so.

I also look forward to the day when James T Lacatski is ready to tell us what he knows of both the Skinwalker ranch and the AAWSAP/AATIP.

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.

AAWSAP and Skinwalker ranch - Kit Green makes a statement

Introduction

In a previous post, I brought together a number of pieces of information concerning AAWSAP/AATIP; BAASS requested MRI brain scans; work by Dr. Kit Green; and former Skinwalker ranch BAASS employees.

In this post, I wish to go into more detail about what former BAASS employees, Chris J Marx, and Chris Bartel hypothesize may have occurred at the ranch. I do this in order to promote further discussion and debate on this topic, based on statements which have been publicly made by Marx and Bartel, and not second or third hand hearsay.

New York Times (NYT)

Ever since the NYT broke the story in December 2017, of a $22M "secret" US Department of Defense study named Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP,) there have been claims that some of the money was spent in studying Skinwalker ranch.

For example, documentary film maker Jeremy Corbell, who produced a recent documentary on the ranch, appeared on the Internet radio show "Phenomenon Radio" hosted by Linda Moulton Howe and John Burroughs. In the episode aired 27 September 2018, in part, Corbell stated:

"The New York Times absolutely got in wrong with their announcement in December of 2017. It may be not their fault, but I want to clarify that, the primary reason for the $22M allocated to what we have been told was to AATIP, which is not correct...The $22M was allocated because of, and primarily for, the study of Skinwalker ranch by the Defense Intelligence Agency under the Defense Warning Office in the name of AAWSAP."

How do we know that the DIA was even interested in Skinwalker ranch?

Image courtesy of Chris Bartel

1. The NYT article of 16 December 2017, in part, read:

"In 2007, Mr Reid said in the interview, Mr Bigelow told him that an official with the Defense Intelligence Agency had approached him wanting to visit Mr Bigelow's ranch in Utah, where he conducted research."

2. The New York Magazine, on 19 March 2018, cited Senator Harry Reid as being approached by Robert Bigelow, saying that he had received a letter from a federal national security agency employee who wanted to visit Bigelow's Utah ranch."

3. Chris J Marx, in an interview (Episode 46) on the Black Vault Internet radio show, stated that while at the ranch, he was aware that the studies there were sponsored by the US government, and that one copy of the daily ranch report went to the Pentagon. It was only in late 2019 that Marx became aware of the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP,) and that therefore the ranch sponsor was the DIA.

4. During a late 2019 conversation with another former BAASS employee - a physicist- Marx states that the physicist was aware that a senior DIA employee, one Jame Lacatski "...was observed to be actually on the ranch." This was believed to be sometime in 2007/2008.

5. The 2008 DIA AAWSAP solicitation paperwork, located by this author on the Internet, shows that the DIA AAWSAP manager was one James T Lacatski.

In short, it can be demonstrated that at least one senior individual in the DIA was interested in the ranch.

Did BAASS study paranormal phenomena at the ranch?

According to Marx, the answer is both "yes" and "no." Yes, one of the stated intentions of BAASS employees working at the ranch was to study and document unusual experiences. However, the equipment supplied by BAASS to security guards at the ranch was sparse, not sophisticated.

If extensive money was being spent from the $22M budget at the ranch, to study the phenomenon, one might expect it to show up in one way, as the use of high-technology equipment.

Source: Erica Lukes Facebook page, 19 January 2020

Both Marx and Bartel say that the opposite was true, at least during the period 2010-2012, which is part of the time they were at the ranch. The AAWSAP contract ran from 2008-2012. Their investigatory equipment consisted of basic thermal imagery equipment, standard night-vision equipment; and cheap still cameras. In addition, Marx states that there were no working surveillance cameras on the property during the period 2010-2012.

In short, BAASS certainly did investigate paranormal phenomenon at the ranch to a degree; but not to the extent you would expect if large amounts of money were available.

What were the stated duties of the guards at the ranch?

The job description given by BAASS, according to both Marx and Bartel, was that they were hired to keep trespassers off the property; and research and document the phenomenon which occurred there. Some of the scientists employed by BAASS gave them tasks from time to time, which related to paranormal investigations.

What do Marx and Bartel hypothesize was actually going on at the ranch?

Based on the lack of sophisticated technology to conduct paranormal studies of the phenomenon; the lack of BAASS scientists visiting and staying at the ranch; the reason given by BAASS for their 2011 MRI brain scans, namely "It's to see if there was something in our brain which allowed us to have an experience ." (Bartel); the two former BAASS employees wonder if there was another purpose for their presence on the ranch?

To quote Marx; "I wondered if we were the hamsters, or the guys in the white coats." Later, in the same interview he said "We want to know if we were medically impacted by this..." and "I would like to know if I am coming down with MS or cancer five years from now."

Marx, has expressed a view that, perhaps part of the AAWSAP contract, included a study of any effects that might have happened, to security guards, such as himself? A kind of non-lethal weapons testing?

Both Marx and Bartel spoke publicly of the frequent experience of "the sense of being watched" when there was no-one else around; by someone or something. Bartel mentioned of hearing footsteps from some disembodied source. Both men related experiences involving seeing things that seemed to vanish in front of them. Of extremely bright lights, where you could see your bones of the hands, even through closed eyes. These lights went off leaving no clues as to their origin. Marx says experiences such as these led him to consider "cloaking" and "camouflage" experiments might have been conducted by someone or something.

Dr.  Kit Green and his study

While the following is not directly attributed to the study of security guards at Skinwalker ranch, it does appear relevant to this article to me.

In interviews with authors Annie Jacobsen (2018) and M. J. Banias (2019), Dr Christopher (Kit) Green has outlined some details of his studies of the medical effects on humans due to a close encounter with the phenomenon. Of interest here is a quote form page 398 of Jacobsen's book:

His original hypothesis was that a majority of his patients had "been exposed to technology from black programs,' he says, that is, advanced state-of-the-art, high-energy technologies developed in Special Access Programs. "Nonlethal weapons program. Holograms. Cloaking devices. Drones.Twenty-five percent of my patients die within five to seven years of my diagnosis and I have no idea of how any programs I knew about years ago can do these things," Green says.

I posed a number of questions, by email, to Dr. Green, who was kind enough to respond. He has given his permission for me to quote his responses in this article. My questions were:

Q1 Given the information contained in this article, have you any comment on the Marx/Bartel hypothesis that the underlying reason for the BAASS studies at the ranch, included a study of medical effects on security guards by the phenomenon? If so, what is your comment?

Q2 Have you any comment on the Marx/Bartel hypothesis that they were perhaps exposed to some kind of non-lethal weapons testing? If so, what is your comment?

Q3 Have you any comment on anything else contained in the article?

Q4 Noting your 2018 interview comment re your original hypothesis for the cause of the injuries to your own patients, what is your current working hypothesis about the cause of injuries to your patients?

Dr. Green responded:

"Your article and comments by Mr. Marx and Mr Bartel are really a very nice summary. I have no additional comments because I have no important disagreements with what you and they had said.

The reference to the fatality rate does not include any persons from the Ranch...but is a different and primarily military population. That earlier group has been discussed somewhat in books as you mentioned, and I have no further insight.

I am attempting to write a clinical case study of several of the more interesting cases, that touch on the issues of "non-lethal" weapons. I am baffled. I am certain that no injuries I have encountered in referred cases...or others for that matter, require paranormal or "off world" technologies to have caused harm.

This conclusion I have reached slowly, over the past 10 years, but it is data driven. Many of my colleagues I respect disagree. No physicians disagree. That is sadly a defeat for me. A forensic physician must seek to discern 'perpetrators' and criminal motive as well as unknown morbidity and mortality and etiology of illness and injury. I have no clue as to perpetrators and motives. But I don't require magic and aliens to characterize the injuries and pathologies."

Skinwalker Ranch - Summary available of interesting events there between 2007 - 2012

Security personnel

Back in 2019 and 2020, in a series  of blog posts, I detailed some of the incidents reported by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) security personnel Christopher Bartel and Chris Marx, which occurred at the Robert Bigelow owned "Skinwalker Ranch" in Utah, USA. These posts were:

1. 25 September 2019 - "Skinwalker Ranch 2010-2016."

2. 6 October 2019 - "Skinwalker Ranch - a second BAASS employee speaks out."

3. 21 January 2020 - "AAWSAP/AATIP: MRI brain scans and Skinwalker Ranch."

It was therefore, with great interest to me that one of the documents available on the new Phenomainon.com website, found under the "files" tab; "Incident database Summaries" folder is a PDF titled "Skinwalker Ranch Summaries." The actual document is titled "Utah Ranch Events: September 2007 to Present." It is shown as version 6 - dated April 6, 2012. It is 26 pages in length.

First section

The initial section of the document, records events dated between 1 September 2007 and 3 August 2009. Bear in mind, that according to the 2021 book "Skinwalkers at the Pentagon," Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) scientist James T. Lacatski visited the Ranch on 26 July 2007, and that the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) contract, undertaken by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) commenced in September 2008.

Each event summarised, has the date of the occurrence listed, followed by a paragraph describing what happened. The names of the BAASS security personnel, which is what the document is about, have not been redacted from this document.

In summary, the paper states that the events described can be categorised as:

"* Sense or perceived presence

* perceptions of being watched

* observations of paranormal events

* perception of emotional distress

* observations of unidentified flying objects."

Second section

The second portion of the paper, is a record of events between 3 August 2009 to 6 April 2012. This August date is the time from which BAASS security personnel commenced security duties for the Ranch. I do not attend to reproduce the 26 page list of events, but will instead leave the reader to go to the Phenomainon. Com website for themselves and read the entire document. I will however, pull out some part of events which were of note to me.

"August 4, 2009

Between 1.15 am and 1.30am, Eickenhorst and a government representative observed a white light moving with a five to ten feet area of a tree located 300 to 500 yards from the trailer of Homestead 1. The light went out one minute after first observation."

Comment: What "...government representative.."?

"October 9, 2009

At 10.00pm just east of Homestead 1, Slanoc and Knapp noticed a significant temperature drop...Knapp observed an orb fly in between Slanoc and himself..."

Comment: While there are several entries mentioning an individual named "Knapp," one should not, as some researchers have done, automatically assume that this "Knapp" is Las Vegas journalist George Knapp. I reached out to one of the BAASS security personnel mentioned in the report, and asked them if "Knapp" was George Knapp? Their reply was "Definitely not George Knapp." 

Update: 27 January 2023. One of the SWR security guards advised me that this particular Knapp was one Cody Knapp who worked only a short time at the ranch. 

"April 29, 2011

During late afternoon Mr Bigelow, Dr Kelleher and Eickenhorst scouted the mesa/valley area..."

Comment: Mr Biglow would be Robert Bigelow, and Dr Kelleher, Colm Kelleher; the administrator and deputy administrator of BAASS respectively.

"December 15, 2011

At 6.30pm while observing from the back deck of the Homestead 1 trailer, Huffman observed several (estimated 8-10) small, white light sources..."

Comment: This may well be Loran Huffman, who was BAASS Director of Investigations and Security.

Names

The document provides a wealth of names of individuals who worked for BAASS, and who visited/worked at the Ranch. I counted four different individual security personnel from the Bigelow Aerospace era, and 14 different security personnel from the BAASS era. Chris Marx and Christopher Bartel are referenced multiple times in the document. 

During earlier research into BAASS, I had compiled a spreadsheet of known 36 BAASS personnel, in both security and other roles; which included the names of 10 BAASS security personnel; 6 of whom were mentioned in the report.

Lacatski

Appendix 1 to the 2021 book "Skinwalkers at the Pentagon" by James Lacatski et al, listed 107 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs); monthly reports; project management plan addendum reports etc. One of these non-DIRD reports was titled "Utah Ranch Events: 1 September 2007 - 2 April 2012," and was listed as 26 pages in length.

This is most likely the 26 page document mentioned above and found on the Phenomainon.com website. If so, this website document would be the first of the non-DIRD BAASS, AAWSAP DIA documents to be made available for study. The DIA who contracted BAASS to undertake the AAWSAP contract, has never publicly released any of these Lacatski listed non-DIRD items; nor has BAASS ever released any of them. BAASS reportedly finished the project in December 2010; but is rumoured to have continued it on a self-financed basis for another year. However, a check with the business entity area of the Nevada State Secretary's website, reveals that BAASS is still listed as "active" even if in name only.

Question

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschurman

One question which arises, is how the CAPELLA database material, and the 74 BAASS files (which are locked off even from subscribers) plus the "Utah Ranch Events" PDF, have been made available to Joe Schurman's team? Schurman being the main driver behind the new Phenomainon.com website.

Wherever the trail leads, it looks like we are finally closer to all being able to see some, if not all, of the documents resulting from the DIA AAWSAP BAASS project.

More things I learned from Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science 6."

 Introduction

In my last blog article, I compiled pieces of information, new to me, after reading Jacques Vallee's latest book "Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles." Since then, I have been slowly re-reading the volume and have found further interesting pieces of data. Here, then are some additional items, plus my commentary.

MRIs at Skinwalker Ranch

In a diary entry dated 5 February 211 (page 67) Valle writes about Skinwalker Ranch and the fact that a number of ranch security guards had asked to be reassigned due to their concerns about events at the ranch. 

"Bob suggested it would be a good idea to do MRIs, and several guards who hadn't reported any phenomena were later added in double-blind fashion. Results were considered consistent with a new syndrome. At the moment there are sixteen cases. As a precaution, three Senators, including Reid, who'd asked to visit the Ranch were turned down because their safety couldn't be guaranteed."

Comment: Bob is Robert Bigelow. This information re MRIs being organized for BAASS Ranch security staff fits in with previous information which I discussed in a 21 January 2021 blog article. On 20 September 2019, US researcher Erica Lukes had interviewed two BAASS Skinwalker Ranch security guards, namely Chris Bartel and Chris Marx. Both had undergone brain MRI scans at a clinic in Reno, Nevada, at the request of BAASS. Bartel stated:

"I remember asking Lauren Hoffman why we were having MRIs done and he said to see if there were something in our brains which allowed us to have an experience."

BAASS orb video

At some point in the last few years, a video circulated purporting to show an "orb" inside a room at Bigelow Aerospace. The video surfaced without any context. Interestingly, therefore, in a diary entry dated 17 March 2012 (pages 121-122) when Vallee was in Las Vegas for a meeting of the LoneStars:

"We began with an infra-red video of an orb floating in a locked room dedicated to radiation studies. There was a cobalt source on the table. One could see the light source circling above, as if inspecting the room."

LoneStars

Between 8 November 2011 and 7 May 2018, there were a total of eleven meetings of a core group of individuals who had been associated with the BAASS AAWSAP, at locations as diverse as Toronto, Canada, Austin, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada and Vienna, Austria. The core group started off with such individuals as Jacques Vallee, Hal Puthoff, Eric Davis, George Hathaway, Bob Bigelow, Kit Green, and later expanded to include Garry Nolan and others. One unnamed person, only referred to as the European sponsor, attended meetings in Vienna. 

As related by Vallee, topics discussed at these meetings ranged from abductions, the SERPO hoax, various US and European cases; blue orbs, implantation of sounds and thoughts from a distance, skin markings, the Collins elite; crash retrievals and reverse engineering.

The European sponsor

In an entry on page 241 dated 15 July 2017, after a meeting of the LoneStars held in Vienna, Austria, 

"As we assembled our suitcases for the return trip on Friday, we learned that our sponsor had decided his funding would come to an end in one year, as his age made it necessary to change his role."

Later, on page 409, 14 July 2017: "George Hathaway, the advisor to our sponsor."

Then on page 447, 7 May 2018 at a Toronto meeting of the LoneStars, we read:

"As for Earthtech, it has been funded since 1989 but the support may terminate as their European supporter retires."

Comment: There has always been a question as to the identity of this European sponsor. In blog articles dated 24 July 2017 and 16 July 2023, I deduced that the sponsor was in fact Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein. The entries in "Forbidden Science 6" only go to support this deduction. 

New York Times article

In an entry dated 17 December 2017 about the famous New York Times UAP article by Leslie Kean et al, Vallee notes the revelations of a USM$22 Defense Intelligence Agency UAP study which Vallee participated in. Curiously there is a paragraph in the book:

"Associated projects were Project Abel Gray, Project Sierra Doors-KIM, Project Orion and Project Flight Mock. It's all public now, I'm told."

Comment: Four AAWSAP associated projects? I don't recall ever hearing of this before.

Department of Defense UAP videos

Page 415 dated 10 September 2017. 

"Chris Mellon has called me on the web. He's obtained three official videos from friends in the DOD, showing UFOs, including recordings from the Nimitz encounter."

Page 434 dated 30 January 2018:

"Chris Mellon has wisely sequestered the tapes from AATIP. Only three of them will be broadcast; the Nimitz tape and two others."

Comment: The 2018 Vallee note, suggests that as early as January 2018 Mellon had secured more than three DOD UAP videos. As we are all aware three, and only three videos, acknowledged by the DOD to be genuine DOD material were released. 

Understanding the phenomena

During the decade 2010-2019 what was Vallee's assessment of the nature of the phenomena? This is revealed in a diary entry dated 13 May 2015 page 301:

"I now think it represents a global conscious system outside humanity, sharing the planet. It needs us for its function and works by imitating or anticipating us."

Back from a "fishing trip" - research foci

The "fishing" was great!

Well, after several weeks on a break from UAP research, I can report that there is indeed life outside spending time researching the phenomenon. During my "mental health" absence of not daily browsing numerous Facebook pages; Twitter, email's and other incoming sources of information, I found that my mainstream Australian media, reported almost nothing on the topic. I found myself in a "non phenomenon" environment.

During my absence, I avoided hours of fruitless discussions and debates between a variety of individuals on Twitter and Face Book; didn't have to spend time fact checking what I already knew to be false information; and instead went back to my roots in such interests as astronomy and satellite observing. That's not to say that UAP research didn't occupy my subconscious thinking from time to time.

So, it is time to re submerge myself in the topic, once again. However, I have decided that, initially, I will focus my research time, and reporting via this blog, in several specific areas of interest to me.

1. The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS)

I have not seen a comprehensive look at the material available on the former website of the now defunct NIDS. So, I will be presenting a series of blog posts about what was on that site. I know NIDS looked into UAP. animal "mutilations;" "Day After" scenarios; occasionally chased bigfoot, and conducted research into the subject of consciousness. NIDS, of course, was a forerunner to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). So, a look at the methodology of, and reports by, NIDS, can tell us a lot about how BAASS operated.

2. Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS)

Although I have written extensively on this blog about BAASS, the recent emergence of two former BAASS employees, Chris Marx and Chris Bartel; together with their contacts with other former BAASS employees, promises to provide further details on how BAASS operated. I hope to add to this knowledge base.

3. The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP)

The recent Pentagon statements that the big "secret" UAP program was titled the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and that AAWSAP was simply the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) contract component on AATIP; opens up several avenues of inquiry.

Some time ago, when the AAWSAP was revealed; I submitted an application under the US FOIA (27 March 2018) asking for copies of "Mission statements; aims and objectives; and annual reports of AAWSAP." Like many others, I sent this off to the DIA (no response yet.) Unlike others I also submitted the same request to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) thinking along the lines that they might have been part of the program. It took until 25 October 2019 to received a response from the CIA. It simnply said "We did not locate any records responsive to your request."

I hope to dig a little deeper into both the AATIP and AAWSAP.

4. To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA)

Like many others, I intend to continue following, and commenting on the work of TTSA. Information from them is accessible, both via their own website and also their periodical submissions to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

So, that's a brief overview of what will be occupying my time in coming weeks.

Yes, indeed, BAASS' AAWSAP contract did, in part, investigate UAP

Background

In a blog post dated 12 December 2019, I presented a transcript of an interview dated 28 September 2008, between Las Vegas journalist George Knapp, and Las Vegas businessman Robert T Bigelow. During that interview, Bigelow announced the launch of Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) and outlined the mission for BAASS.

Who did BAASS employ?

The purpose of this current blog is to take a look at who BAASS employed; what were their duties, and then try and answer the question, did the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) investigate UAP?

Although there have been statements made in individual LinkedIn profiles by former senior BAASS employees, that 40-50 people were employed by BAASS, I have only been able to document about 20 from individual LinkedIn pages. Thus the following may only be a representative sample of those who were employed at BAASS.

Job adverts

Source:https://web.archive.org/web/20081002024904/http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/careers/ 

Via the Wayback Machine, I located the relevant Bigelow Aerospace website (BAASS itself did not have their own website) where BAASS advertised vacant positions, back in September 2008. BAASS commenced the Defense Intelligence Agency's  (DIA) Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) contract on 29 September 2008.

The advertisement was headed:

"You are the intelligent life we are seeking" and read:

"BAASS Career Opportunities.

Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a sister company to Bigelow Aerospace, is a newly formed research organization that focuses on the identification, evaluation and acquisition  of novel and emerging future technology worldwide as they specifically relate to spacecraft. BAASS is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. We are seeking experienced scientists to join our research teams. If you are an inquisitive outside of the circle thinker, who is detail oriented and who is looking for a challenge, this is a unique and exciting opportunity to advance your career, and to be a part of cutting edge research.

Numerous positions available in various fields.

Impressive candidates will need to have 10 or more years of research and hands on experience in the disciplines relating to aerospace science, specifically including:

* Astrophysics

* Biochemistry

* Microbiology

* Nanotechnologies

* Physics

* Propulsion

* Stealth technologies

* The Engineering disciplines.

Several positions are also available for research scientists in the disciplines of:

* Biological Cognitive Information

* Electromagnetic fields

* Forensic Pathology

* Psychology

* Social Psychology

* Sociology

A Masters or PhD in a relevant field is a plus. Candidates must qualify for secret or top secret clearances and must be willing to submit to a thorough background check.

For all positions, some travel - both nationally and internationally - may be required."

What were their duties?

I will present the information from the profiles of various individuals on their LinkedIn pages, and decided to produce this in chronological order, so that one may view the progression of those employed. Apart from those already publicly identified; I will not be using the names of other individuals.

December 2007

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-kurth-25195b145/

A former Marine Corps Senior Officer, Douglas Kurth, joined BAASS before BAASS was even registered with the State of Nevada in January 2008; and nine months before the DIA AASWAP contract was awarded to BAASS. Kurth was a witness to the 2004 Tic Tac event. On LinkedIn, Kurth wrote:

" Program Manager

* Program Lead - novel and emerging space technologies targeting operational deployment in 2040

* Directed and managed a team of 40 scientists, engineers, analysts, and researchers

* Business Development - initiated, developed and directed critical collaborative contract

* Tasked with international marketing of Bigelow Aerospace Private Space Station

* Technical expert on advanced aerospace concepts and aerodynamics."

2008

The "Deputy Administrator" for BAASS was Colm Kelleher, who had worked with Robert Bigelow at the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS). Kelleher stated his BAASS roles as:

" * Interviewed, hired and trained a team of 50 scientists, engineers, analysts, and created the classified security infrastructure for an IC contract to study proprietary advanced aerospace technology and threat analysis

* Briefed government department undersecretary and senior United States Senators on threat analysis and advanced technology programs

* Worked closely with IC to develop and execute multiple programs involving advanced aerospace technology including, negotiating and executing multi-disciplinary subcontracts for database creation, physics and engineering analysis and medical science studies

* Lead in the creation of all scientific programs and strategic indicators for the company

* Interfaced with Congressional staff, political consultants, Washington DC think tank and other organizations in the furtherance of company goals

* COMSEC Custodian and Facility Security Officer for IC latter contract period."

September 2008

An individual on LinkedIn shows "BAASS Facility Protection - SCIF/DoD contractor" but no further details of his role.

My comment:

According to paragraph 5.1 of the DIA AASWAP Solicitation, "Contractor shall provide a work facility (including unclassified information systems) with a Top Secret Facility clearance granted by the Defense Security Service."

November 2008

A male individual was hired as an "Investigator/Security Officer." The role is shown as "Investigated paranormal activity, performed physical and information security function."

My comment:

This is the only time I found the words "Investigated paranormal activity" on any BAASS related LinkedIn profile.

January 2009 

a. A female individual was employed as an "Office Manager, EA to Administrator." 

My comment:

We know that Colm Kelleher was the BAASS Deputy Administrator. Who was the BAASS Administrator?

b. A role described as "Provide direction and supervision to a squad of cleared professional investigators tasked with conducting investigations into threats against national security," was titled "Senior Investigator, Team Leader" and filled by a male individual.

c. "Classified investigations" was the role description given by a male individual employed for "Field investigations."

d. "Senior scientist Microbiology" was the title of a role whose duties were described as:

"Lead biological senior scientist for BAASS. The primary duties involve responsibility for the development of laboratory capabilities for the evaluation of novel aerospace technologies including novel materials and propulsion systems for possible detrimental effects on humans and the environment. Additional duties involve the development of research protocols and techniques in support of ongoing research projects and oversight of daily science operations which includes supervision of BAASS technicians. The project required employees to obtain government security clearances which preclude precise discussion of objectives."

My comment:

The March-May 2010 issue of the Newsletter of the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas,  carried a short piece as follows:

"The Nuclear Materials Group (lead: Dr Thomas Hartmann) has established a formal collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). The collaboration provides analytical assistance to BAASS for characterizing solid phases and precipitates."

e. Another individual's job title was "Research Analyst - French translator," and who listed his duties as:

"Started the translation department to develop accurate procedure to analyze and process data translation from French to English. Worked directly with BAASS investigators, program manager and sponsors to develop translator specifications for special data. Received security clearance from DoD."

My comment:

I can understand the need for translators for other than English language material, but why specifically French? Perhaps preparing an English language version of French Government databases?

March 2009

A female "Senior Data Analyst" listed her role as "Database developer, tableau evaluation & reports."

April 2009

a. A male "Research Analyst" was hired, but did not provide details of his role.

b. A "Senior Engineer/Physicist" was engaged, but no role details are given.

May 2009

Another male field investigator was employed who stated:

"Working through Department of Defense contractor, facilitated/directed security/field operations at Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) under Top Secret SSBI security clearance. Managed contract associated with other government or associated  (classified) agencies.

Managed a team of Investigators, Mechanical, Electrical and Nuclear Engineers who were responsible for the design, development and maintenance of specialized equipment of a classified and clandestine nature."

June 2009

a. Yet another male, "Investigator" was hired and gave their role as "Conducted classified investigations."

b. A female "Research scientist/Engineer" was employed.  No role details given.

July 2009

"Classified research" was her role, as described by a female "Research scientist."

August 2009

a. Yet another male "Investigator" was employed.

b. The role of the next male individual was:

"* Worked in a interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers studying advanced aerospace weapon system applications including lift, propulsion, control, power generation, signature reduction, materials and armament. Further tasks included:

* Develop company research topics requiring ANSYS FEA collection and carry out research within the fields of aerodynamics, heat transfer, stress analysis and chemical reaction

* Perform field measurement collecting data regarding ionizing radiation as well as performing chemical/metal/soil and spectrum analysis across the United States in accordance with the code of federal regulations, ANSI, IEEE and ASTM standards in EPA, USGS, DoE and DoD procedures

* Responsible for training engineers/scientists teams on proper use of equipment safety procedure guidelines

* Responsible for compiling, formatting and ensuring technical accuracy of completed scientific analysis reports."

March 2010

BAASS engaged a male "Equipment Manager/Lead Investigator," who advised that they:

"* Managed investigative and scientific efforts involved in the highest profile case in the company. Managed contract associated with other government or associated (classified) agencies.

* Managed a team of Mechanical, Electrical and Nuclear Engineers who were responsible for the design, development and maintenance of specialized equipment of a classified nature

* Completed technical reports and proposals and created quality assurance procedures for field work, operations and troubleshooting of equipment

* Managed the procurement of a wide range of electrical, materials, thermal night vision equipment and detectors for the purpose of completing interdisciplinary experiments and/or gathering of necessary quality guidelines affecting scientific data."

September 2010

Two males, Chris Bartel and Chris Marx, were employed as security officers based at Bigelow's NE Utah ranch. [Source: Interview with both men on "UFO Classified" hosted by Erika Lukes, Late 2019.]

When did these contracts cease?

By my count, 14 positions ended in the months between May and August 2010.

In summary

The details of around 20 of the 40-50 BAASS personnel (as found on the LinkedIn website) have been provided. Where know, the duties of these individuals has been described.

It is clear that many of the BAASS personnel describe work, that is consistent with the DIA AAWSAP contract which went to BAASS.

Did BAASS work on UAP as well?

1. During the period April 2009 to January 2010 we know that MUFON via its STAR group were indeed sending UAP reports to BAASS.

2. The open literature, reports that BAASS employee Gary Hernandez was investigating UAP reports.

3. The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) were referring UAP reports to BASS during the period 2009 to 2012. 

4. A BAASS Investigator/Security Officer wrote that he "Investigated paranormal activity." Plus two security officers employed by BAASS in September 2010, did tours of duty at Robert Bigelow's NE Utah range, where a range of paranormal activity was described by these two employees. 

5. One August 2009 employee in his list of duties, speaks of "Perform field measurements collecting data regarding ionizing radiation as well as performing chemical/metal/soil and spectrum analysis across the United States..."

This work could be argued to be that of researching physical trace evidence associated with UAP.

6. Lastly, but most importantly, former Senator Harry Reid, who instigated the AATIP/AAWSAP says that AATIP studied UFOs. In a tweet dated 8 December 2019, Las Vegas journalist George Knapp cited former Senator Harry Reid as recently stating:

"AATIP was my program. One can say whatever, but the truth is it was for only one purpose - to study UFOs."

7. Based on the above, I can see two possibilities. Either BAASS was simultaneously running with the AAWSAP contract, and also conducting its own UAP investigations; or the AAWSAP work did indeed involve researching UAP. On the basis of what I have learned, I suggest that the latter is true, which is contrary to recent statements from Pentagon spokesperson Susan L Gough.