High StrangenessS


Clipboard

The Congressional UFO language debate and Washington's web of conflicts and interests

white house
© Jonathan Ardila on Unsplash
Complexity, conflicts and grave national security concerns.

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) language, which could be included within the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), has created alleged divisions among executive branch colleagues in Washington, D.C.

But may some of these apparent divisions stem from conflicts of interest?

Firstly, let's look at Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense.

As reported by journalists Michael Shellenberger, Andrew Mohar, and Phoebe Smith within the publication known as Public, sources have alleged that Austin is attempting to undermine a UAP amendment included in draft NDAA legislation.

Sources have confirmed to Liberation Times that these aforementioned allegations are indeed correct.

Austin is a former board member of the defense contractor Raytheon Technologies, which may have at least partially influenced his need to express concerns about the Schumer amendment.

Cassiopaea

Aliens, demons or PSYOPS? Catholics study, debate UFO allegations

hubble stars
© CNS photo/Roger Cohen, NASA/ESA/HubbleA photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a cluster of stars in the Milky Way galaxy in this photo released Sept. 7, 2023. Some Catholics argue that the size of the universe and the vast number of stars suggest the likelihood of there being other intelligent life in the universe.
When former intelligence official David Grusch testified before Congress in July that the U.S. government had retrieved crashed UFOs and covertly attempted to reverse engineer their alien technology, some Catholics already were primed to debate the compatibility of extraterrestrial intelligence and church doctrine.

That is because debate about non-human intelligence is as old as Christianity, according to the director of the Vatican's space observatory.

Whether it is "angels in the Bible or these crazy creatures in Greek mythology," Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno told Catholic News Service in June, there's "nothing new about that."

But claims about UFOs (now often referred to as UAPs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and their mysterious pilots are more specific than speculation about life, microbial or otherwise, in some distant galaxy, and it is only natural that revelations like those asserted by Grusch are felt in a "religious register," said Brenda Denzler.

Author of "The Lure of the Edge," which explored the possible impact of UFOs on religious belief, Denzler said that confirmed extraterrestrial life would necessitate "a change, a shift, in some Christian theologies, a widening of perspective."

Comment: This one is relevant here:


Top Secret

Government weaponization, accountability, and the UAP question

mike turner
© AP Photo/Alex BrandonRep. Turner
Congress held a landmark hearing on the Unidentified Ariel Phenomena (UAP) matter at the end of last July. So what's new? What progress has been made? Reasonable questions that should concern any citizen who's been outraged by recent examples of federal government weaponization, politicization, and a pervasive, perennial lack of transparency.

Other than the hours of posturing, asking not very informed questions, and creating a vaudevillian tableau of quizzical intensity, alternating with unctuous concern worthy of a Palme d'Or at next year's Cannes Film Festival...not much aside from the usual bureaucratic stalling, smears, and back room attempts at derailing further inquiry.

Sadly, Americans witness this brand of malfeasance in office routinely. Their government pursues its provincial interests while the vast expanse of the body politic is fobbed off. Our representatives demonstrate their contempt by their polite smiles and pedantic sermonizing about what they think is important.

The most prominent voice of opposition to clarity and accountability on the UAP subject is Representative Mike Turner (R-OH). Turner represents Ohio's 10th district, which encompasses Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Not coincidentally, Wright Patterson was the headquarters for Project Blue Book, which became the government's disinformation program designed to delegitimize UAP/UFO inquiry and research. It's also the location of the infamous Hangar 18 where, it was alleged, the Roswell materials were stored.

Representative Turner is the Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). As such, he's in a controlling position to influence the construction and/or defeat of two critical pieces of legislation, the Intelligence Authorization Act and the National Defense Authorization Act.

Black Magic

Bible-reading Pentagon commanders halted UFO research 'over fears aliens were demons'

Ron James
© Youtube/Julian DoreyRon James says Pentagon commanders blocked UFO research because ‘they thought aliens were demons’
Pentagon commanders have clamped down on research into extraterrestrials because of their religious beliefs, it's claimed.

Leading UFO researcher Ron James says senior figures in the US government fear aliens are in fact demons. Ron, who is Director of Media Relations for UFO research group MUFON, claims there is "a very large contingent of people" within the Pentagon who opposed the work of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program [AATIP] because they think the UAPs regularly reported by US military sources are piloted by creatures from Hell.

He says he was told by Luis Elizondo, who has gone on record as being the boss of AATIP, it "was not just a little voice in The Pentagon...but a huge group of people thought the phenomenon that was being witnessed was demons".

This fundamentalist Christian lobby within the US defence establishment "actually affected Elizondo's ability to get funding," Ron says. Belief in both UFOs and the literal truth of the Bible is not entirely incompatible, he adds.

For example, Ron spoke to staunchly Christian US congressman Tim Burchett. "I sat down and interviewed him. His feeling was that if you look in the Bible and you look at Ezekiel building the wheel there's a lot of people that think that that was a spaceship". He adds that His Holiness the Pope has officially acknowledged that there is life on other planets.

But the strong arm of religious fundamentalism within US political circles has actively hindered research into UFOs - and science generally, Ron says.

Comment: This group is the so-called Collins Elite, covered by Nick Redfern in his book Final Events. Prior to that, two government insiders had told similar things to researchers Ray Boeche and Linda Moulton Howe. Howe and Boeche's summary of those events, and the things the insiders told them, is worth reading. You can find it on Boeche's Academia page here.


Top Secret

UAP Caucus denied Select Committee; Disclosure Act being debated in House

uap caucus
© Win McNamee/Getty Images
In the run-up to the blockbuster Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) hearing on July 26 during which former intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower David Grusch made extraordinary allegations of black-budget crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs, UFO Twitter was buzzing about how the hearing could impact the public debate.

In the immediate aftermath of the hearing, a handful of representatives from both sides of the aisle promised the American people a concerted push for transparency. This group (later designated the UAP Caucus), as well as their allies in Congress, have pursued further access.

On July 27, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) — alongside Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) — co-signed a letter to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) asking for a Select Committee "outside the jurisdiction of any standing committee" and "with subpoena authority."

Speaking with The Daily Wire on Tuesday, Burchett said that the request for a Select Committee had been denied, adding that the move would "limit us."

Question

The baffling disappearance of Aidan Roche near the Eiger in the Swiss Alps

Aidan Roche
© Roche Family / SWNS)Aidan Roche, 29, went missing on a hiking trip in Switzerland’s Grindelwald area on June 22
29-year-old, Aidan Roche, an offshore chemical engineer from Middlesbrough in the U.K., sent his last messages to family and friends on June 22, 2023, from the Eiger trail, near the Eiger in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. After this, nothing further has been heard from him. He was on the twelfth day of a two-week trip. His campervan that he was using to travel across Europe in was found nearby, and unusually unlocked, with no trace of Aidan. He had vanished and several months later, nothing has turned up.

The Eiger trail he was hiking is considered to be "a moderately challenging route". According to AllTrails, " This is a very popular area for hiking, so you'll likely encounter other people while exploring. The best times to visit this trail are June through September." Not a trail known for missing persons despite its popularity.

Comment: After many months, Aiden Roches's body was finally found close to the trail he was on:


It's a bizarre and tragic story which has similarities to other Missing 411 cases such as; Aiden's van being left unlocked but no possessions stolen, the emergency services and family scouring the area thoroughly and the discovery of his body close to the trail, a location they presumably searched. He was also a young, fit and experienced hiker.

Hopefully, more details will follow.

See also:





UFO

Dozens of government UFO whistleblowers have given testimony to Congress, Pentagon, and Inspectors General, say sources

Thomas A. Monheim
© Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThomas A. Monheim, nominee for Inspector General of the Intelligence Community speaks at a hearing with the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill on July 20, 2021, in Washington, DC.
In August, shortly after U.S. government UFO whistleblower David Grusch gave testimony to Congress about crashed spacecraft and alien "biologics," many observers wondered how much credence to put in his testimony. After all, Grusch is just a single individual. The other two individuals who testified before Congress were former Navy pilots who said they had no evidence of a government program to retrieve and reverse-engineer spacecraft of exotic and apparently nonhuman origin.

But at least 30 other whistleblowers working for the federal government or government contractors have given testimony, or a "protected disclosure," to the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG), the Defense Department Inspector General (DOD IG), or to Congress over the last several months, according to multiple sources interviewed by Public.

When told that whistleblowers had come forward to share information similar to that shared by Grusch with Congress, Mick West, a prominent skeptic of UFOs, said, "It'd be very interesting. You know, more people saying the same thing independently makes it more likely to be true."

And yet the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Thomas A. Monheim, on September 15 appeared to deny, in a letter to Congress, that his office was investigating these claims. Monheim said that his office "has not conducted any audit, inspection, evaluation, or review of alleged UAP programs within responsibility authority of the DNI that would enable ... a fulsome response."

But the way Monheim worded his response suggests he gave himself some wiggle room. Matthew Pines, a civilian intelligence analyst, noted last week that "the official taxonomy for IC IG activities includes: 'audits, investigations, inspections, and reviews.' Is it curious that an 'investigation' is not denied?... The Investigations Division is structurally separate from the Audit and Inspections & Evaluation Divisions."

Comment: In the paid-only portion, Shellenberger et al. focus on three individuals actively trying to block these developments: SecDef Lloyd Austin, Rep. Mike Turner, and Sen. Mark Warner.


All three have close ties to the aerospace industry:


More from the paid-only portion:
Several of these whistleblowers spoke to Public on the condition of remaining anonymous. All expressed fear of retaliation for sharing the information but said they felt compelled to do so because of the unethical and illegal behaviors they had witnessed. "People are scared to death," said one source. "You could be court-martialed or, worse, dropped in the desert and left six feet under.

New legal protections for government whistleblowers have resulted in a historically unprecedented number of individuals coming forward to report unethical or illegal activities relating to the U.S. government's engagement with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), previously referred to as UFOs.

Stephanie O'Sullivan, a former associate deputy director of the CIA and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is aware of a UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program, people close to the issue say, but denied its existence to Senator Rubio in a private meeting recently.

As for the ICIG Monheim letter to Burchett and Luna, Pines said that it seemed "to be an attempt to get members of Congress — who are not on the intelligence committees the IC IG is legally responsible to — off their back."

"I could see them punting everything to this review board to navigate the 2024 elections and deliberately release information drip like the JFK commission, at least until national leadership is prepared to have a difficult conversation with the American and global public. As the Schumer bill says, it's a 'controlled disclosure campaign.' And so that would explain why you'd not want ICIG to openly validate too much of the stuff being deposed to them, behind the scenes, until they get the institutional mechanisms and political frameworks in place." - Matthew Pines (civilian intelligence analyst)

"But, as you know," said Pines, it just takes a few more Gruschs to throw a monkey wrench in that plan."




UFO

Las Vegas becoming UFO hotspot with 'cloaked craft' repeatedly seen near military bases

vegas ufos
One of the videos Steve took, showing half a dozen orbs seemingly interacting with each other.
EXCLUSIVE: Texas was previously thought to be one of the UFO hotspots of the US, but Las Vegas is emerging as one of the "prime locations" with a specific "craft" constantly being seen.

Las Vegas is becoming the UFO hotspot of the US with mysterious 'cloaked' craft repeatedly being caught on camera.

That's the view of leading investigator and US Army veteran Steve Barone. He has filmed hundreds of UFOs hovering over the iconic Sin City landscape on his YouTube channel Anomalous Vegas.

And he even believes they have become interested in nearby military bases. One clip, seen above, shows half a dozen bright white luminous objects appearing to move in formation in the night sky.


Comment: See original article for video.


Comment: See also:


UFO 2

U.S. Air Force reports mysterious Gulf of Mexico incident to Pentagon's UFO office

raptor
© Samuel King Jr./U.S. Air ForceAn F-22 Raptor landing at Eglin AFB.
The Department of Defense (DoD) has officially confirmed to Liberation Times that the United States Air Force (USAF) has submitted a report about an incident involving an unknown object that occurred earlier this year to its Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) office, known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

The incident centred around a USAF pilot stationed at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base, whose sensor systems suddenly malfunctioned as his aircraft approached a UAP over the Gulf of Mexico, sparked concern.

Florida representative Matt Gaetz, who had been alerted and briefed on the incident, addressed it during the Congressional UAP Hearing in July 2023:
"One of the pilots goes to check out that diamond formation [viewed on radar] and sees a large floating, what I can only describe as an orb, again, like I said, not have any human capability that I'm aware of."
Representative Gaetz added:
"And when he approached, he said that his radar went down. He said that his FLIR (infrared camera) system malfunctioned and that he had to manually take this image from one of the lenses."
Commenting to Liberation Times, DoD spokesperson, Susan Gough confirmed that Gaetz had been briefed and that the AARO had received a report from Eglin Air Force Base.

Comment: The only reason this case is getting any attention is because Gaetz, Burchett and Luna publicized the hell out of their attempts to get answers. This level of pressure is the only way people will get anything out of the DOD, and they will only give the absolute minimum necessary.


UFO

Why 'UFOs' should be tracked in the water as well as the skies

tic tac soucoupe volante
A much anticipated NASA report on UFOs calls for better tracking and scientific understanding of unexplained phenomena that captivate the public and have raised concerns about military security.

The panel of scientists and government officials convened by NASA kept most of the focus on ways to understand what individuals, including military pilots, say they are observing in the skies.

But UFO reports also are rife with accounts of mysterious objects submerging themselves in the sea, as seen in a video acquired by CNN and other news stations in 2021.

It's no wonder, says Brian Helmuth, Northeastern professor of marine and environmental science.

He says that while UFOs are "way out of my area of expertise," the vast mysteriousness of the oceans make them sort of a last planetary frontier — and an excellent vantage point from which to observe goings on on Earth.

"If I were investigating an alien planet like Earth, the ocean would definitely be the place to start. Not only does it comprise the vast majority of living space and living organisms on Earth, but it also is comparatively unpopulated by the one species, humans, that seems intent on destroying the planet," Helmuth says.

"It would be a great place from which to observe."

Comment: Interestingly, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol just released a batch of 10 UAP videos, including one showing transmedium capabilities, i.e. it operates in air and water. The video itself is not new, it was leaked some time ago, but it has now been officially released, albeit without any context or analysis.


NBC did a report on the release, which includes an interview with Chris Mellon: