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50 The Pentagon’s UFOs

The Pentagon’s UFOs

Continued from Page 49

In the first episode, Luis Elizondo spoke
again about his “five observables”, which I
wrote about September of 2018. One of them
was “Instantaneous acceleration,” supposedly
shown by the Tic Tac UFO’s rapid
disappearance from the IR video. In a preview
segment from “Unidentified” shown on Fox
News, TTSA’s Chris Cooke attributes this
movement to the object itself. Elizondo has
made this claim in his lectures many times. In
reality, back in December, 2017 Mick West of
the excellent site Metabunk showed that the
“sudden acceleration” of the object was, in fact,
due to a change in the zoom factor of the camera
at that point. Surprisingly, Cooke’s comment
about “acceleration” was cut from the final
show; instead, Cooke is heard to say “Somebody
new radar, the operators finally figured out what objective reporter on TTSA, and Elzondo’s
changed the zoom.” But Elizondo repeated the
‘instantaneous acceleration’ claim on Tucker was happening, and no longer are troubled by supposed involvement with AATIP is supported
anomalies. only on his own word. Kloor further notes that
Carlson’s show on Fox news just a few hours
And in a last-minute bombshell, reporter Elizondo will not respond to his inquiries, but
before the series premiere. As for the other four
Keith Kloor finally did what reporters are obviously has no difficulty being interviewed by
“observables,” they are more accurately called
supposed to do, and ask tough questions about other reporters who give him softball questions.
“assumables” than “observables”.
persons in the news making claims. Writing in I have seen this behavior time and again among
One recent development that is
The Intercept on June 1, Kloor’s piece is UFOlogists who are peddling dubious claims.
significant, and is not mentioned on the program
headlined “The Media loves the UFO expert Not everyone is happy about Kloor’s
or by TTSA: According to an article in The
who says he worked for an obscure Pentagon expose. “Disclosure” advocate Stephen Basset
Drive by Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway:
program. Did he?” Kloor writes… of the Paradigm Research Group writes:
the Times’ story doesn’t mention that
there is one crucial detail missing from It is the most egregious hit piece directed
between 2014 and 2015, Graves and Accoin,
“Unidentified,” as well as from all the many at the extraterrestrial presence issue and
and all the other personnel assigned to Carrier
stories that have quoted Elizondo since he outed Disclosure I have ever read in 22 years. It
Air Wing One (CVW-1) and the Nimitz-class
himself nearly two years ago to a wide-eyed measures up to some of the worst such articles
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, as
news media: There is no discernible evidence written by Phil Klass, the most vicious debunker
well as everyone else in the associated carrier
that he ever worked for a government UFO on record. Stanton Friedman presented a cogent
strike group, or CSG, were taking part in series
program, much less led one. case that Klass was in the direct employ of the
of particularly significant exercises. The carrier
Yes, AATIP existed, and it “did pursue CIA during his disgraceful career.
had only returned to the fleet after major four-
research and investigation into unidentified Note that Basset does not point out
year-long overhaul, also known as a Refueling
aerial phenomena,” Pentagon spokesperson anything wrong in what Kloor has written, but
and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), in August
Christopher Sherwood told me. However, he he just knows it’s got to be wrong. Clearly the
2013. This process included installing various
added: “Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities piece has hit a nerve with E.T. proponents. As
upgrades, such as systems associated with the
with regard to the AATIP program while he for Phil Klass, I knew him well, and what Basset
latest operational iteration of the Navy’s
worked in OUSDI [the Office of Under says about Klass is Loony Tunes.
Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) and
Secretary of Defense for Intelligence], up until
its embedded Naval Integrated Fire Control-
the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017.”
Counter Air (NIFC-CA) architecture. This is a
That directly contradicts an email sent by a About the Author
critical detail. When the Nimitz Carrier Strike
spokesperson for To The Stars Academy of Arts Robert Sheaffer is a writer with a
Group encountered the Tic Tac in 2004, it was in
& Science, a UFO research and entertainment lifelong interest in astronomy and the question
the midst of the first ever CSG-level operations
company that Elizondo joined after he left the of life on other worlds. He is one of the leading
of the initial iteration of the CEC.
Defense Department. skeptical investigators of UFOs, and wrote the
In other words, in 2004 the Nimitz
Kloor adds that the only supposed “Psychic Vibrations” column in the Skeptical
Carrier Strike Group got its radar upgrade, and
confirmation of Elizondo’s involvement with Inquirer for almost 40 years. His book Psychic
soon was reporting “unidentified objects”,
AATIP comes from Bryan Bender of Politico: Vibrations reprints some of those columns. His
including the Tic Tac. In 2014-15, Carrier Air
“Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White most recent book is Bad UFOs (2016), which is
Wing One got its radar upgrade, and soon they,
confirmed to Politico that the program existed also the name of his Blog that casts a skeptical
too, were reporting UFOs galore. One could
and was run by Elizondo,” Bryan Bender wrote eye on claims about UFOs. He is also the author
interpret this to mean that the radars had finally
in December 2017. (Earlier this year, White, a of “UFO Sightings” (1998), and has appeared on
gotten powerful enough to detect the UFOs that
Trump administration political appointee, many radio and TV programs. His writings and
had long been knocking about. But a more
resigned amid an internal probe into charges of reviews have appeared in such diverse
prudent interpretation is that the radars had
misconduct.) But Pentagon spokesperson publications as OMNI, Scientific American,
gotten powerful enough to begin detecting birds,
Christopher Sherwood told me that he “cannot Spaceflight, Astronomy, The Humanist, Free
small balloons, insect clouds, ice crystals,
confirm” White’s statement. Inquiry, Reason, and others. He is also a
windborne debris, and various other things
As it happens, Bender, who is Politico’s founding director and past Chairman of the Bay
found in the atmosphere. Arguing in favor of the
defense editor, had a recurring role in the first Area Skeptics, a local skeptics’ group in the San
latter interpretation is that these radars are
episode of “Unidentified.” He appeared on Francisco Bay area. Mr. Sheaffer lives near San
apparently no longer detecting anomalous
camera numerous times as a kind of Diego, California. He has worked as a data
objects, which itself is extremely significant. It
authoritative character witness for Elizondo, communications engineer in the Silicon Valley,
suggests that, in all likelihood, after being
Mellon, and their UFO investigations. and sings in professional opera productions.[]
puzzled by anomalous objects appearing on the
So Bender cannot be considered an