Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program (vice.com) 48
Newly leaked documents show that the Department of Defense funded a study concerning UFOs, contradicting recent statements by the Pentagon. From a report: In 2017, The New York Times revealed the existence of $22 million dollar UFO investigation program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP. A twist came two months ago, however, when Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough told John Greenewald -- curator of the Black Vault, the largest civilian archive of declassified government documents -- that AATIP had nothing to do with UFOs. Greenewald also wrote that the Pentagon told him that another program, the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program or AAWSAP, was the name of the contract that the government gave out to produce reports under AATIP. In a new Popular Mechanics article, journalist Tim McMillan acquired documents from Bigelow Aerospace's exotic science division, Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, or BAASS, indicating that the organization did explore strange phenomena under the auspices of the AATIP program.
One BAASS report, leaked to McMillan by an unnamed source, previously appeared on a list of products produced under the AATIP contract "for DIA to publish" that was obtained via FOIA laws. The report was cited incorrectly on that list, but Popular Mechanics tracked down its author, who confirmed its authenticity. The report investigated "exotic" propulsion via injuries sustained by people who experienced "exposure to anomalous vehicles." The text mentions UFOs several times. "What can not be overly emphasized, is that when one looks at the literature of anomalous cases, including UFO claims from the most reliable sources, the extent and degree of acute high but not necessarily chronic low-level injuries are consistent across patients who are injured, compared to witnesses in the far-field, who are not," the report states. Notably, the report's author -- Christopher "Kit" Green -- told Popular Mechanics that he was not contracted by BAASS except to produce this report and that it provides zero evidence for extraterrestrial or non-human technologies. Further reading: Navy Confirms It Has a Secret Classified Video of an Infamous UFO Incident, Says Releasing It Would Threaten National Security.
One BAASS report, leaked to McMillan by an unnamed source, previously appeared on a list of products produced under the AATIP contract "for DIA to publish" that was obtained via FOIA laws. The report was cited incorrectly on that list, but Popular Mechanics tracked down its author, who confirmed its authenticity. The report investigated "exotic" propulsion via injuries sustained by people who experienced "exposure to anomalous vehicles." The text mentions UFOs several times. "What can not be overly emphasized, is that when one looks at the literature of anomalous cases, including UFO claims from the most reliable sources, the extent and degree of acute high but not necessarily chronic low-level injuries are consistent across patients who are injured, compared to witnesses in the far-field, who are not," the report states. Notably, the report's author -- Christopher "Kit" Green -- told Popular Mechanics that he was not contracted by BAASS except to produce this report and that it provides zero evidence for extraterrestrial or non-human technologies. Further reading: Navy Confirms It Has a Secret Classified Video of an Infamous UFO Incident, Says Releasing It Would Threaten National Security.
TMA;DR (Score:2, Offtopic)
Too many acronyms, didn't read.
Re:TMA;DR (Score:5, Informative)
That should have been Bigelow Aerospace Defense Advanced Space Studies, or BADASS.
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Let me summarize the summary for you: It's more about government agencies *NOT* telling the truth than it is about aliens or Flying Saucers.
Yep. Quick summary of the article: yes, the Department of Defense indeed did have a program to look into UFOs; they paid a contractor for several years to look into UFOs and the implications if any of the technology; they wrote a bunch of papers, but if they came to any conclusions, it was not in the documentation given, and no unidentified objects were identified.
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It's more about how more primitive technologies have little on no capability of tracking much more advanced technologies, to the point you only see what they let you see, sort of working up exposure levels without disrupting development, ending the uniqueness of each developing society. In a string of advanced societies, each society would have gone through the same process, from primitive, to transitional, to modern (modern in terms of more than one world).
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Don't forget corruption to funnel public funds into friend's of politicians hands.
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Let me summarize this for you: UFOs are things you saw flying through the air, often of military origin, there is no reason to talk about aliens or flying "saucers." That is not even what a saucer looks like.
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What a killjoy. Young impressionable boys across America are dreaming of hot green alien chicks. There are even porn site where they display their "wares".
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You don't need to be a True Believer for that, just open a private browsing window, visit whatever site you visit for that stuff, and search for "green alien."
That was true even when all that existed was that Star Trek rerun you spent 2 years watching every week to finally record.
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People will believe whatever they want (Score:1)
Re: People will believe whatever they want (Score:1)
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I totally expect the military to record and look into UFO sightings. Some of them are our own aircraft and others could be enemy craft, both sightings are important to monitor.
Crafts (Score:5, Interesting)
When the SR-71 was retired, they did a de-classified run across the USA and broke several air speed records.
Ever been up close to an SR-71? They have one at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, along with the engine. The interior is all analog. The engine is controlled with mechanical valves and push-rods. This thing was designed and built in the 60's. It was engineered using graphing paper and slide rules.
On paper, it's still one of the fastest planes ever built. By today's standards, the technology used is *ancient*
Now, imagine the classified stuff the Air Force has after 50 years of technological advancement.
Re:Crafts (Score:5, Insightful)
OK.... I'm imagining a system that costs much, much more. It promises things far beyond the dreams of the SR-71 designers, but has problems meeting some of its basic functional requirements. Nonetheless, the contractor building it keeps raising the price while still receiving all the performance bonuses possible under the contract.
Oh, yes, and it critically depends on some highly dubious software.
Re:Crafts (Score:5, Funny)
Hey! That's not imagination, that's just reading the news!
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Maybe the F-35 project is a ruse. All the money they're allegedly wasting is actually being funneled to a classified project that uses a cloaking device and antigravity engines powered by an overunity potato battery!
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"Now, imagine the classified stuff the Air Force has after 50 years of technological advancement." Errrmmm...pink saddles for unicorns? I knew they were holding out on us.
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Now, imagine the classified stuff the Air Force has after 50 years of technological advancement.
Here's what I imagine... https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org] ...which would be under the command of the USSF now I would guess.
Not that this is easy to do... https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org] ...I imagine just the cost of the toilet would use up a $22 million UFO budget.
Re:People will believe whatever they want (Score:5, Informative)
These is plenty of evidence for UFOs. Just no evidence they are extra terrestrial. My favorite thing about UFO sightings is when they say, "It was really huge and moved too fast for something that big." Maybe it was a lot closer to you than you realized?
The biggest successful government coverup (that we later learned about) is all about UFOs (there may be bigger secrets successfully covered up, but by definition we don't know about them yet). Have you ever head of Project Blue Book?
During the height of the cold war, when reliable witnesses, like airline or military pilots, would talk about seeing a craft that was flying higher and faster than any plane possibly could, the government would interview them, explain how it wasn't a UFO, and how they weren't allowed to talk about the secret government UFO study that didn't exist. Sure enough, leaks abounded about secret government UFO coverups. So even when actual good photography started accompanying these eyewitness reports, the intelligence agencies in the USSR just dismissed it all as UFO nonsense.
No connection was made in Russia between the "A-12 Oxcart", clearly some lumbering fighter-bomber, and these photos and reports of a craft flying higher and faster than any plane possibly could. The CIA operated not just undetected, but unsuspected, for a couple of years. It was only when they allowed the Air Force to start flying a two-seater version, the SR-71 Blackbird, that Russia caught on.
It was about 50 years later when all of this came to light. Everyone heard about Project Blue Book, there was even a TV show in 78-79 (and again last year?), which made it the perfect cover-up. No one suspected what it was actually covering up until long after it stopped mattering.
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People forget that for many years, decades even, the primary UFO type rreported around the "Area 51" and "Roswell' type areas was big black flying boomerangs.
TUrns out the hillbillys where not crazy after all. They where watching experimental stealth planes, what later went on to be revealed as the B2-Spirit stealth bomber. That thing looked wild, its no surprise civilians thought they where looking at UFOs. Hell, there where probably men in black suits visiting them asking they keep quiet about it too. Don
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At some point we're going to be talking about *real* vehicles built by Earthmen, vehicles whose abilities seem to rival the myths of strange little men in flying saucers. If we're not there already.
In the very near future we'll be dealing with overflights by things like hypersonic vehicles and extreme endurance stealth drones. Again, if we're not there already.
Surprised? (Score:4, Insightful)
No, I'm not surprised at all that the Five-Sided-Puzzle-Palace might not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but about a Secret program.
Only thing that surprises me is that anyone is surprised that the military doesn't talk about secret programs...and if they must talk about them, is quite willing to lie....
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General: Hi ya to all you reporters. We've decided that this guy on Slashdot, CrimsonAvenger, has shown us the way to Truth. Under your seat you will find a thick notebook with information on all of our secret programs. Could you please see that the Russkies and the Chinese get copies, we doubt they are getting our classified memos. It is important to us to drop our pants for the potential adversaries out there so we have no means to defend ourselves. CrimsonAvenger counsels us that this is the wise and cor
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Is true, Tovarish, that is what Amerikan president Reagan did with Star Wars initiative. Amerikans show peace-loving Soviets copies of classified plans. In end Tovarish Gorbachev give up race, because Amerikan teknolgie too good for us to win.
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Since they're quite willing to lie without any discernible reason at all I am always amazed by what garbage the press corpse will swallow without question.
From the linked /. thread (Score:5, Informative)
https://news.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org]
I'm sure sanity will prevail. (Score:5, Insightful)
by RightSaidFred99 ( 874576 ) Alter Relationship on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @10:31PM (#59624226)
I predict everyone will come to the rational conclusion that the "UFO" was a man-made object of some provenance that the US wants to keep classified (drone research, something else) and _totally not_ that there are fucking aliens flying around.
Sounds like something a secret alien-lizzard government/organisation in Earth would hope that you'd think and say.
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Just look at the evidence! (Just about all?) life on planet earth need liquid water to survive. CO2 feed plants and helps keep the temperature above freezing point as far as we know.
And they want it gone! DUNDUDUN! Why?! There's no other explaination than aliens!
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"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So
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I don't know, see if you can goad that orange-skinned lizard to tweet about it and lets find out.
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This lizzard empire, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] @1:24
What... (Score:2)
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There is weird crap happening consistently. Aliens have been blamed. Secret experiments have been blamed. But in truth we don't know what's happening. Most people who have experienced and reported it have been marginalized as sensationalists or insane. But there is a pattern, paper trails, and metric tons of evidence. We just don't understand what it all means. Probably it's something mundane and misunderstood, but that we haven't yet been able to comprehend. Either way, it's high time we stop ignoring it a
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I'd like to see the Pentagon have a briefing that starts with, "Hello Gentlemen and Ladies, we're here to have a open and frank discussion on UFOs. Our position is that we don't know what the hell they are, why they are doing unspeakable things in the air, and whether they'll sell any of their gizmos to us.
Now we open the floor to the press. Go to it press, tell what you think!!"
Press: Uh...we were sort of hoping you would tell us about them.
General: We don't know squat, we just told you that. I'm going to
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Been there, done that. Project Blue Book :)
BAASS? C'mon guys. (Score:4, Funny)
Just add "Defense" in there for the "D": Bigelow Aerospace Defense Advanced Space Studies. You know you want to.
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Just add "Defense" in there for the "D": Bigelow Aerospace Defense Advanced Space Studies. You know you want to.
I would have. I'm sure the engineers did. But someone in a suit said "no".
OTOH if you're trying to fly something "under the radar", so to speak, maybe you don't want to attract unnecessary scrutiny.
Warp Drive Injuries (Score:1)
Those things leave a nasty burn if they're not tuned just right.
Plus, that time travel problem...
Bigelow is a believer (Score:2)
Not surprising that Bigelow Airspace would be doing, um, "research" of this sort. Robert Bigelow, owner of Budget Suites of America, is a hard-core UFO believer. He's also serious about putting hotels in space. But besides being rather nuts, he does have a team with the technical competence to get Pentagon contracts. (Take that how you will.)
There might be folks in the Pentagon sympathetic with Bigelow's views, but I doubt he did this at their direction. This is the kind of work he would be pursuing in
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Wasting money (Score:2, Funny)
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Wasting so much money just identifying flying objects. Just make them get Real-ID like the rest of us.
Wrong facility. We'll just slap an FAA Small UAS Rule (Part 107) on them.
Sadly, no *extraterrestrial* UFOs. (Score:2)
But keep using that term to improve your clickbaiting.
Yeah, we know that's why you used it. Motherfucker.
So (Score:2)
Further reading: Navy Confirms It Has a Secret Classified Video of an Infamous UFO Incident, Says Releasing It Would Threaten National Security.
USS Nimitz! That's the aircraft carrier that went back in time 30 years ago. They really get around in the world of apocrypha!
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Well, parts of that/those videos are on youtube. The Nimitz incident, not the time travel movie (well, that is there too).
Bob Lazar (Score:1)
After watching the Bob Lazar interview, I believe he was telling the truth, hes a regular guy talking about his job, its what he did for a job thats the interesting bit, he was employed by the Navy, so targeting the navy to declassify information relating to research programs may yield the best results.
If you think things through logically and pragmatically, then if a UFO for any reason was downed in our air space, then what would happen to it? you can be sure that it would quietly end up in a military rese