In Brief

• The Facts:

  The presence UFOs has been acknowledged for years, and as time moves on it continues to gain more credible traction within the mainstream. There are many questions to be asked, and much to still be revealed, but is secrecy the real threat?

• Reflect On:

  What are the reasons for such secrecy? Why is the human race kept in the dark?

Ella Louise Fortune, who worked as a nurse at the Mescalero Indian Reservation near Three Rivers, New Mexico, took the picture you see above while driving along Highway 54 on October 16, 1957, near Holloman Air Force base

At this moment our media is caught up in a maelstrom of rapid fire reports concerning insider whistleblowers and looming impeachment proceedings. Just a few weeks ago the world wisely turned its attention to the rapid destruction of the Amazonian rainforest and its devastating consequences regarding life on this planet. Despite the sudden absence of coverage on this issue since, that problem has yet to be resolved. It is indicative of our nature to focus on what is new and not on what is truly important. Another astoundingly transformative topic made its way into mainstream media earlier this year but is receiving little attention now. After seven decades of relentless denial, the US military publicly acknowledged the existence of UFOs in our skies. When examined contextually, this casual admission may prove to be the biggest story in the history of humankind.

In May of this year (2019) the New York Times and CBS reported that the US Navy recently admitted that their pilots have been observing objects that defy our understanding of how things are supposed to fly. The actual incidents occurred in 2014 and 2015. Another confirmed encounter referenced in the story involved a squadron from the USS Nimitz, which occurred 10 years earlier. This is the “tic tac” sighting, where several pilots observed a small, elliptical “craft” moving in irregular paths at speeds exceeding what was thought possible. Last week, CNN again reports here that the Navy has “confirmed” that their pilots have encountered UFOs. Is that such an earth-shattering admission? They are objects. They fly. They cannot be identified. So what? The real question is, if the Navy doesn’t know what they are, then what are they? We as the public are left to speculate and fantasize as we await the next morsel of information from our trusted government and news sources.

Many people continue to regard this as a curiosity, a preliminary chapter in a story that will end with the admission of a computer glitch, faulty radar system or errant weather balloon. Those who have followed the history of UFO sightings undoubtedly will conclude that this is the first crack in a wall of military secrecy surrounding thousands of separate extraterrestrial spacecraft encounters that have occurred over more than seven decades. 

Is Proof Subjective?

The broad chasm between “believers” and “deniers” exists because the standards of proof on each side are not the same. On one extreme are those who require extraterrestrial beings to appear at town hall meetings before reconsidering their position. On the other are those who see a shaky video of amorphous lights appearing in the sky and then immediately conclude that E.T. is here. How then are we to assess the footage taken from the viewfinders of fighter pilots? If any more credence is given to this “evidence” it is only because of the credibility that we choose to bestow upon the source that has offered it. If we were to be purely objective, there isn’t anything more here beyond the stamp of validity of trusted institutions like the US Navy and mainstream media. How then are we to proceed?

In this day and age, any form of recorded visual evidence carries the possibility of misdirection. Even though billions of human beings have smart phones with sophisticated cameras at the ready, we must contend with the reality that photographs and video can easily be enhanced, modified or created from scratch to falsely “prove” that an extraterrestrial presence exists on our planet. If we cannot rely on videos and photographs, where then should we look for “proof”?

Unless one has had a first-hand personal encounter with a being from another star system, the most compelling evidence can only come from the testimony of actual eye-witnesses to UFOs. Could someone else’s personal account offer anything more than a compelling but unsubstantiated story? That is a matter of opinion. On the other hand, eye-witness testimony, though flawed at times, is often offered as the foundation of proof in our legal system today. If witnesses can condemn a suspect of a crime or provide an alibi that leads to their exoneration why wouldn’t we consider testimony with regard to the UFO phenomenon just as seriously?

The military has unofficially acknowledged UFOs for years

Dr. Steven Greer is an Emergency Room Physician who has spent over two decades tirelessly compiling and spreading evidence of extraterrestrial contact with humans and the suppression of this information by the media and governmental organizations. His two documentaries, “Unacknowledged” and “Sirius Disclosure,” have been viewed by millions of people around the world. He has briefed members of Congress and former CIA Director James Woolsley, and in 2001 he held a conference at the National Press Club flanked by 20 retired military, FAA and intelligence officers who all publicly attested to the presence of ETs on Earth.

Among the wealth of information he has made publicly available, Dr. Greer offers over six hours of eyewitness testimony on his Disclosure website, all of which is worthy of consideration. If you have ever listened to these interviews, it is difficult to conclude them to be intentionally misleading. The witnesses are mainly ex-military, some of them having held high positions. They have very similar stories with a few key, consistent elements including a typical military deadpan delivery. Many were early in their military careers at the time of their encounter. They witnessed objects moving through the sky soundlessly at unthinkable speed, making maneuvers that would have crushed their pilots and then abruptly vanish. Often physical evidence of the encounter remained. Their stories are often corroborated by other eyewitnesses and radar technicians. They claim that they were threatened by their superiors if they spoke out, so they waited, for decades in many cases. Now that their military careers are long over, they find it meaningless to keep their vows of silence and wish to live out their remaining years with a clean conscience. There is, of course, the possibility that they are lying, but what would be their motive? They are not gaining fame or fortune for their candor. Most of them are unwilling to state that what they saw was from another planet or star system, they simply know that things just don’t move like that, at least not anything from around here anyway.

How we choose to interpret these accounts, and more recently those of the F-18 pilots in the New York Times and on CNN, depends on your perspective and how flexible you are in your belief system. Here I would like to explore the “middle” ground. If you believe they are telling the truth and you also believe that extraterrestrial craft are an absurd fantasy perpetuated by a pocket of our population that is tired of acceding to Einstein’s special theory of relativity (which dictates that “warp” speeds are a physical impossibility), it can only lead you to the following conclusion: the objects they saw are real and they are from here. In other words, secret military aircraft would explain most, if not all of the incredible stories told by people who seem utterly convinced of their experience and continue to remain undeterred in their account despite continuous attacks from “debunkers” and dismissal from every “real” media source.

In recent years the government of the United States has been spending around $700,000,000,000 per year (source). Every once in a while we all get a glimpse of what some of this money is paying for when never-before-seen, radar-invisible, futuristic looking flying machines capable of classified speeds and unconfirmed altitudes that are made from obscure materials are rolled out of hangars with a modicum of fanfare. It is not unreasonable to assume that “we” have others out there being tested and tweaked. Flight testing is a necessary part of the development cycle of new technology and could explain many UFO sightings. It would also explain why the military has been so conspicuously tight-lipped about the whole thing. Why jump to the fantasy of ancient, interstellar civilizations that have found a way to crack the cosmic speed-limit when everything could be neatly explained by super-classified military flying machines running test flights?

The secret airship theory certainly ties up many of the loose-ends while not forcing us to discredit the earnest testimony of many eye-witnesses of unexplained aerial phenomena from our brothers and sisters in uniform. It does, however, introduce a new wrinkle in our understanding of the current state. If there are secret aircraft, from whom are they being kept a secret?

A Brief history of Secrecy

We may be quick to conclude that secrecy is a necessary part of modern warfare, and that having weapons technology up our sleeve endows us with a tactical advantage over our adversaries. Upon closer consideration, this military strategy has implications that are potentially very troubling.

To better explain, let us consider the advantage of secret weapons technology historically. In the closing months of WWII it became increasingly apparent that the empire of Japan had little intention of surrendering to the Allied Forces despite their continued heavy losses of life. Emperor Hirohito and propagandists worked the Japanese public into a frenzy through synergistic narratives of nationalism, honor and fear. The introduction of Kamikaze pilots, young warriors of sound mind that were willing to fly their propeller-driven planes directly into American ships, gave the world a startling glimpse into the depth of Japan’s resolve. The United States had something up their sleeve as well.

The possibility of harnessing the power of atomic fission through a chain reaction had been stirring in the minds of theoretical physicists long before the start of the war. The idea of turning this potential force of nature into a weapon came soon afterwards. The Manhattan Project, the secret effort of the US military to build the atomic bomb, did not take place in an isolated desert location called Los Alamos alone. It was an enormous feat of science and engineering that required participation from not only theoretical physicists but engineers, mathematicians, material scientists, construction contractors and laborers. Thousands played a role and their efforts were distributed around the country, from New Mexico to Tennessee. To put it into perspective, the atomic bomb was not constructed only from stuff sitting around. The element Plutonium (used in the Nagasaki bomb) was synthesized by bombarding Uranium with neutron radiation and isolating the products. Prior to the Manhattan Project plutonium was a substance that had not existed beyond extremely trace quantities on our planet.

None of the public and very few of those involved with its production knew what the purpose of all of this activity really was about. Even the Vice President at the time, Harry Truman, was unaware that this effort was taking place. He took the oath of office on April 12, 1945 and was only then briefed about the extent and implications of the Manhattan project. If coordinated correctly, an awful lot of smart people can be kept in the dark about a lot of things, including their own role in a bigger picture.

The decision to deploy the first atomic weapon upon human beings was made behind closed doors. The successful test of an atomic weapon on July 16, 1945 (The Trinity Test) demonstrated undeniably that our species had entered a nuclear age. By most historical accounts, neither the existence of an atomic bomb nor the results of the Trinity test were ever shared with the Japanese government prior to the bombing of Hiroshima just three weeks later. Although it has been reported that a group of leading physicists involved in the development of the weapon formally requested that Truman reconsider his approach, they were not heeded. President Truman made the decision to drop the bomb with no specific warning to the Japanese about its potential for devastation. Ultimately he and his advisers believed that the impact of the bomb would be maximized if it occurred unannounced. Leaflets dropped on the people of Nagasaki several days later did reference the weapon . Because the empire of Japan refused to unconditionally surrender, that city was destroyed with another atomic bomb as well.

Secrecy is the real threat

President Truman’s reasoning has been the subject of much scrutiny and debate. Regardless of one’s critique of his rationale, it is obvious that the use of a weapon as a deterrent is only possible if the enemy is aware that it exists. One can argue that this has been proven as no nuclear weapon has ever been deployed on humans in the 74 years since the destruction of Nagasaki. Indeed, the hegemony nuclear powers exert over the rest of the world only exists because everybody knows who has them and who doesn’t. 

What then is the intent of new kinds of weapons and technology that are are hidden? Secret weapons cannot be deterrents against aggressive action. Weapons that remain hidden in secrecy are necessarily offensive. Moreover, secret weapons can serve a more diabolical purpose than the damage they inflict. If no one knows their damage signature, range or how they are deployed they can potentially be used to synthesize conflict and implicate innocent parties. How would anyone be certain of the source of the aggression? Secret weapons do not exist to prevent wars, they exist to start them.

The atomic bomb was kept a secret for three weeks. Little else has been offered to the public since. It would be naive to to assume that no newsworthy progress has been made with weapons technology beyond supersonic airplanes, miniaturized thermonuclear devices and self-guided drones in the intervening seventy years. If weapons and contrivances of unknown capability are in existence outside of the public eye we must also acknowledge that acts of terror and aggression around the world must carry with it some uncertainty about their origin and intent.

Depending on which sources we trust there have been dozens of staged events portrayed as attacks deserving of retaliation throughout our history, in the United States and around the world. The sinking of the Lusitania, the Gulf of Tonkin events, and Operation Northwoods are just a few of the many actual or planned “false flag” events that our government has admitted were covert operations designed to provoke public outrage and mobilize our war machine. The first resulted in our entry into the first World War, the second resulted in the massive remilitarization of our presence in Vietnam and the third was one of several schemes conceived by JFK’s military advisors to force a US invasion of Cuba using remotely piloted commercial aircraft flown in to American targets. It is likely that those who questioned our government’s depiction of those events at the time felt the same backlash endured by those who continue to exhort others to reexamine the events of 9/11 today.

Three weeks ago we were told by U.S. Secretary of State (and former CIA director) Mike Pompeo that the recent attacks on Saudi oil fields were yet another “act of war” committed by Iran. Tehran continues to vehemently deny his account and insist that it is the work of the Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group. Pompeo characterizes that assertion as “literally nuts” and that an appropriate response would not necessarily be limited to economic sanctions against Iran. Is it possible that neither Iran nor the Houthis were responsible for these attacks?

Whether or not you consider a discussion around UFOs and extraterrestrials to be flippant, the recent attention media has placed on this phenomenon offers an opportunity to consider the depth and implications of secrecy more soberly. Perhaps the US Navy has offered up this footage (15 years after the actual incident in the case of the “tic-tac” sighting) to be forthcoming. Regardless of their intent, it is important to put this admission into context. Have these been the only sightings since 2004? Is it reasonable to assume that this recent disclosure reflects a spirit of transparency or have there been numerous other unacknowledged encounters with UFOs as the “unofficial” testimonies indicate?

If these objects reported by the Navy are not of extraterrestrial origin we must avail ourselves to the reality that weapons and craft of spectacular capability are hidden not just from our “enemies” but from all of us. In either case, it is clear that despite the tepid public reaction to this Navy report, it has offered us a rare glimpse of the depth and breadth of secrecy that has been imposed upon us, if we are willing to pay attention. This wall of secrecy does not merely hide a few irrelevant facts. It may very well be an all-encompassing “distortion field” that has perpetuated a vastly different interpretation of global events while squelching a potential, transcendent truth about our history and our role in a greater cosmic neighborhood.