A video shows what’s said to be an encounter between a Navy F/A-18 Super
Hornet and an unknown object. (Department of Defense via New York Times)
The
U.S. Department of Defense funded a program to investigate unidentified
flying objects until 2012, and the program may well be continuing with
alternate funding, The New York Times reported today.
The
Times says its report is based on a range of interviews with people
familiar with the program — including the military intelligence official
who ran it until a couple of months ago, Luis Elizondo; and the
now-retired U.S. senator who helped get $22 million in funding for the
program, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid.
“This was so-called ‘black money,'” Reid told the Times.
A
share of the federal funding reportedly went to a company headed by
Robert Bigelow, the Nevada billionaire who has long held that aliens
were visiting Earth in UFOs. Bigelow’s company, Bigelow Aerospace, is currently involved in a NASA-backed program to develop expandable space modules, and one of its modules is being tested on the International Space Station.
“I’m
not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going,” the Times
quoted Reid as saying. “I think it’s one of the good things I did in my
congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”
The Times published a video clip that was recorded by a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet and retained by the Pentagon’s UFO program.
The
black-and-white video clip, which dates back to 2004, appears to show
an object moving against a cloudy background and zooming away at high
speed, off California’s coast near San Diego. In an accompanying story, the Times provides retired Navy pilot David Fravor’s account of the encounter with what he said was a whitish oval object.
Defense
Department officials are quoted as saying that the program was funded
until 2012, and Elizondo told the Times that he continued to work with
the Navy and the CIA after that time.
Elizondo left his Pentagon post in October and is now director of global security and special programs for a company called To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science.
In a news release issued today, Elizondo said he was “honored to serve
at the DOD and took my mission of exploring unexplained aerial phenomena
quite seriously.”
“In
the end, however, I couldn’t carry out that mission, because the
department — which was understandably overstretched — couldn’t give it
the resources that the mounting evidence deserved,” he said.
Elizondo
said he left the Pentagon “under very good terms” to join To The Stars,
where the investigation would be “priority number one.” Toward that
end, To The Stars has set up a “Community of Interest” website to serve as a central database and online hub for information related to unidentified aerial phenomena.
The Times quoted Elizondo as saying that his successor at the Pentagon was continuing with investigative efforts.
One
of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s most
provocative — and most derided — campaign pledges was her vow to “get to the bottom” of the UFO controversy. That pledge reportedly came at the urging of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, a longtime advocate for UFO disclosure.
At the time, the UFO comments were lost in the press of other campaign issues, including Wikileaks’ release of purloined emails from Podesta’s personal Gmail account.
The
Trump administration hasn’t said much about UFO investigations, but
current Pentagon officials acknowledged that the Advanced Aerospace
Threat Identification Program was in existence between 2007 and 2012.
“It
was determined that there were other, higher priority issues that
merited funding and it was in the best interest of the DoD to make a
change,” the Times quoted Pentagon spokesman Thomas Crosson as saying in
an email. Politico published an identical comment attributed to
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White.
Some aspects of the program remain classified, the Times said.
Today’s
articles are likely to return the decades-old debate to the spotlight.
However, the fact that the federal government continues to investigate
anomalous aerial encounters doesn’t prove that extraterrestrial forces
are at work.
An
unnamed former congressional staffer told Politico the UFOs may have
been experimental aircraft incorporating technologies that could
threaten the United States. “Was this China or Russia trying to do
something or has some propulsion system we are not familiar with?” the
staffer said.
“There
are plenty of prosaic events and human perceptual traits that can
account for these stories,” Oberg told the Times. “Lots of people are
active in the air and don’t want others to know about it. They are happy
to lurk unrecognized in the noise, or even to stir it up as
camouflage.
Pentagon Searched For Aliens and UFOs at Harry Reid’s Request: Report
The
Pentagon has audio and video of two very confused pilots staring down
an unidentified flying object that rotated and maintained a “glowing
aura,” as part of a secret program that investigated the existence of
UFOs and aliens for five years at the behest of a former major
Democratic leader.
Between
2007 and 2012, the Defense Department ran the Advanced Aerospace Threat
Identification Program at the cost of about $22 million with the
backing of former U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The
since-retired Reid stated he was proud of the program, despite the fact
many around the world view the search for aliens and UFOs to be the
product of overly stimulated imaginations and conspiracy theorists.
“I’m
not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going,” Reid told
The Times. “I think it’s one of the good things I did in my
congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”
The
Defense Department claimed the program ended five years ago and so did
its funding. However, it still exists and probes “episodes” reported by
current service members, according to The Times. Parts of the program
also remain classified.
The
funding mostly went to Bigelow Aerospace, a Las Vegas-based company run
by billionaire Robert Bigelow, a long-time friend of Reid’s.
Then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks with reporters
regarding a stop-gap funding bill to avoid a federal government shutdown
later this week on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 27,
2016. Reuters
Among
the program’s reported discoveries and investigations of “encounters”
was a 2004 incident off the coast of San Diego. Two Navy F/A-18F fighter
jets chasing down a “whitish oval object” the size of a commercial
airplane.
Another
incident involved a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet following some kind of
aircraft that emitted a “glowing aura traveling at high speed and
rotating as it moves.” In audio and video of the incident, the pilots
said, “There’s a whole fleet of them.”
Though, the date and location of the incident remains unknown.
Bigelow
believes the U.S., unlike rivals like China and Russia, are missing out
on opportunities due to potential “stigma” involved with funding alien
and UFO research.
“Internationally,
we are the most backward country in the world on this issue,” Bigelow
told The Times. “Our scientists are scared of being ostracized, and our
media is scared of the stigma. China and Russia are much more open and
work on this with huge organizations within their countries. Smaller
countries like Belgium, France, England and South American countries
like Chile are more open, too. They are proactive and willing to discuss
this topic, rather than being held back by a juvenile taboo.”
Just when we thought we had reached the peak of his X-Files
adventures, however, he seems to have outdone himself. Over the past
weekend, former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo and a number of others
confirmed the existence of a UFO-related investigative program in
conversation with The New York Times and Politico.
Elizondo no longer works in the Pentagon, but he did recently start
working with a UFO research company called To The Stars Academy of Arts
& Science, a company Tom DeLonge himself found.
Speaking with The New York Times and Politico,
Elizondo said the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program
started in 2007, before it was shut down by the Defense Department in
2012. Of course, it continued to operate unofficially.
DeLonge's company, To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, has now
come out with some scoops of their own.
Taking
to YouTube, the company posted formerly classified footage of what
appears to a UFO. Yes, Tom DeLonge has obtained footage filmed in 2004
from a Navy Super Hornet, ostensibly providing proof of the government's
research into what may or may not be extraterrestrial life. One of the
pilots mentions they think it's nothing more than a drone, but then
things get a little weird.
At first we all thought Tom DeLonge's research into the unknown was just weird, but now we're 100% onboard. Speaking with The New York Daily News when
all the news dropped this weekend, DeLonge said, "All the things
(people have) heard about and seen ar the first step of 20. There's a
lot more shit coming." To The Stars also promise to improve national
security, combat climate change, and harness telepathy among other
goals. We wish Tom DeLonge all the best in his new endeavors.
Two Navy Fleet Air
Reconnaissance Squadrons currently operate the E-6: VQ-3 “Ironmen” and
VQ-4 “Shadows,” both under the Navy Strategic Communications Wing 1.
These have their home at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, but also
routinely forward deploy out of Travis AFB in California and Patuxent
River Naval Air Station in Maryland. At least one E-6 is kept airborne
at all times. E-6s on the submarine-communication mission often fly in
circles over the ocean at the lowest possible speed—for as long as ten
hours at a time. Those performing the nuclear command post mission
typically remain on alert near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. The
E-6’s nuclear mission has also made its operations occasional fodder for
conspiracy theorists and foreign propaganda outlets.
In a military that operates Raptor stealth fighters, A-10 tank
busters, B-52 bombers and Harrier jump jets, the U.S. Navy’s
placid-looking E-6 Mercury, based on the 707 airliner, seems
particularly inoffensive. But don’t be deceived by appearances. Though
the Mercury doesn’t carry any weapons of its own, it may be in a sense
the deadliest aircraft operated by the Pentagon, as its job is to
command the launch of land-based and sea-based nuclear ballistic
missiles. Recommended: This Video Shows What Happens if Washington, D.C. Is Attacked with Nuclear Weapons Recommended: 8 Million People Could Die in a War with North Korea Recommended: Why North Korea Is Destined to Test More ICBMs and Nuclear Weapons
Of course, the U.S. military has a ground-based strategic Global
Operations Center in Nebraska, and land-based transmitters for
communicating with the nuclear triad. However, the E-6’s sinister
purpose is to maintain the communication link between the national
command authority (starting with the president and secretary of defense)
and U.S. nuclear forces, even if ground-based command centers are
destroyed by an enemy first strike. In other words, you can chop off the
head of the U.S. nuclear forces, but the body will keep on coming at
you, thanks to these doomsday planes.
The E-6’s basic mission is known as Take Charge and Move Out
(TACAMO). Prior to the development of the E-6, the TACAMO mission was
undertaken by land-based transmitter and later EC-130G and Q Hercules
aircraft, which had Very Low Frequency radios for communication with
navy submarines. Interestingly, France also operated its
own TACAMO aircraft until 2001, four modified Transall C-160H Astarté transports, which maintained VLF communications with French ballistic-missile submarines.
The first of sixteen E-6s entered service between 1989 and 1992. These were the last built in a very long line of military variants of the venerable Boeing 707 airliner, in particular the 707-320B Advanced, also used in the E-3 Sentry.
Bristling with thirty-one communication antennas, the E-6As were
originally tasked solely with communicating with submerged Navy
submarines. Retrofitted with more fuel-efficient CFM-56 turbojets and
benefiting from expanded fuel tanks, the E-6A could remain in the air up
to fifteen hours, or seventy-two with inflight refueling.
To use its Very Low Frequency radios, an E-6 has to fly in a
continuous orbit at a high altitude, with its fuselage- and tail-mounted
VLF radios trailing one- and five-mile-long wire antennas at a
near-vertical attitude! The VLF signals can be received by Ohio-class nuclear ballistic-missile submarines hiding
deep underwater, thousands of miles away. However, the VLF
transmitters’ limited bandwidth means they can only send raw data at
around thirty-five alphanumeric characters per second—making them a lot slower
than even the old 14k internet modems of the 1990s. Still, it’s enough
to transmit Emergency Action Messages, instructing the ballistic-missile
subs to execute one of a diverse menu of preplanned nuclear attacks,
ranging from limited to full-scale nuclear strikes. The E-6’s systems
are also hardened to survive the electromagnetic pulse from nuclear
weapons detonating below.
Between 1997 and 2006, the Pentagon upgraded the entire E-6A fleet to
the dual-role E-6B, which expanded the Mercury’s capabilities by
allowing it to serve as an Airborne Nuclear Command Post with its own
battle staff area for the job. In this role it serves as a backup for
four huge E-4 command post aircraft based on the 747 Jumbo jet. The E-6B
has ultra-high-frequency radios in its Airborne Launch Control system
that enable it to remotely launch land-based ballistic missiles from
their underground silos, a task formerly assigned to U.S. Air Force
EC-135 Looking Glass aircraft—yet another 707 variant. The E-6’s crew
was expanded from fourteen to twenty-two for the command post mission,
usually including an onboard admiral or general. Additional UHF radios
give the E-6B access to the survivable MILSTAR satellite communications
network, while the cockpit is upgraded up with new avionics and
instruments from the 737NG airliner. The E-6B can be distinguished in
photos by its additional wing-mounted pods.
The Mercury’s abundant communications gear allows it to perform
nonnuclear Command, Control and Communications (C3) operations as well.
For this reason, E-6s have at times been deployed to Europe and the
Middle East to serve as flying C3 hubs. For example, VQ-4 was deployed
in Qatar for three years from 2006 to 2009, where it relayed information
such as IED blast reports and medical evacuation requests from U.S.
troops in Iraq who were out of contact with their headquarters.
Two Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons currently operate the
E-6: VQ-3 “Ironmen” and VQ-4 “Shadows,” both under the Navy Strategic
Communications Wing 1. These have their home at Tinker Air Force Base in
Oklahoma, but also routinely forward deploy out of Travis AFB in
California and Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. At least
one E-6 is kept airborne at all times. E-6s on the
submarine-communication mission often fly in circles over the ocean at
the lowest possible speed—for as long as ten hours at a time. Those
performing the nuclear command post mission typically remain on alert
near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. The E-6’s nuclear mission has
also made its operations occasional fodder for conspiracy theorists and
foreign propaganda outlets.
The E-6 platform should remain in service until 2040 thanks to a
service-life extension program and continual tweaks to its systems and
radios. While the Mercury has demonstrated its usefulness as an airborne
communication hub for supporting troops in the field, the airborne
command post will be considered a success if it never has to execute its
primary mission. The heart of nuclear deterrence, after all, is
convincing potential adversaries that no first strike will be adequate
to prevent a devastating riposte. The E-6s are vital component in making
that threat a credible one. Sébastien Roblin holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution
from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the
Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing and
refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently
writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.
FAA names seven nuclear research labs as no-drone zones
The
FAA has granted DOE's request to make seven of its facilities no-drone
zones -- and they're all nuclear research laboratories.
The FAA has granted
DOE's request to make seven of its facilities no-drone zones -- and
they're all nuclear research laboratories. Starting on December 29th,
you can no longer fly your UAVs within 400 feet of Hanford Site in
Franklin County Washington, Pantex Site in Panhandle Texas, Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico, Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah
River National Laboratory in Aiken South Carolina, Y-12 National
Security Site in Oak Ridge Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Some of them are no longer operational -- the Hanford site where
plutonium was produced for the nuclear bomb detonated over Nagasaki, for
instance, is now mostly decommissioned -- but some are still active.
The
agency didn't reveal DOE's explanation for the request, but it
clarified that there are (a few) exceptions wherein drones will be
permitted to fly near the facilities. Most likely, the FAA will approve
requests to fly UAVs over the labs for inspection and the like -- those
who get caught flying over the sites without permission are subject to
civil penalties and criminal charges.
Over the past few years, the FAA has prohibited drones from flying near numerous other locations, including military bases, Washington DC and 10 famous US landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty.
If you're keeping an eye on where you can fly your machine, take note
that the list will just likely keep on growing: According to the FAA's
announcement, it's currently considering more "no-drone zone" requests
from federal security agencies.