The U.S. military has for years been using mass media to inflame public interest in alleged UFOs, and it’s entirely possible it is a domestic ploy to get more Space Force funding, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
“No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public” reads a New York Times headline that is understandably attracting a great deal of attention today.
True to form, the Times had to hastily issue an embarrassing correction to the article after initially reporting that former Senate majority leader Harry Reid “believed that crashes of vehicles from other worlds had occurred and that retrieved materials had been studied secretly for decades”, when in fact Reid merely believes “crashes of objects of unknown origin may have occurred”.
If I was the New York Times quoting the former Senate majority leader on the record as confirming the government has been studying the debris of crashed UFOs for decades, I would simply confirm that he actually said that before publishing it. https://t.co/3PHy4pUY0R pic.twitter.com/WYYNTLHX3v
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) July 24, 2020
Still though, it’s understandable that this article has captured public fascination. It reports that a Pentagon unit dedicated to the study of UFOs will begin making some of its investigations public, with the most attention-grabbing quotes coming from a former Pentagon consultant (emphasis mine):
Eric W. Davis, an astrophysicist who worked as a subcontractor and then a consultant for the Pentagon U.F.O. program since 2007, said that, in some cases, examination of the materials had so far failed to determine their source and led him to conclude, “We couldn’t make it ourselves.”
The constraints on discussing classified programs — and the ambiguity of information cited in unclassified slides from the briefings — have put officials who have studied U.F.O.s in the position of stating their views without presenting any hard evidence.
Mr. Davis, who now works for Aerospace Corporation, a defense contractor, said he gave a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency as recently as March about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”
Of course, whenever you see an article reporting anything about the U.S. war machine in The New York Times, your response should always be intense skepticism.
They seem to be priming the public for something with this alien and UFO rollout. Why now?
The whole thing stinks. pic.twitter.com/Ms6oxSoyl0
— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) July 24, 2020
A potentially more revealing quote in this Times article than what was said by Mr Davis was provided by Senator Marco Rubio (again, emphasis mine):
Senator Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who is the acting chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told a CBS affiliate in Miami this month that he was primarily concerned about reports of unidentified aircraft over American military bases — and that it was in the government’s interest to find out who was responsible.
He expressed concerns that China or Russia or some other adversary had made “some technological leap” that “allows them to conduct this sort of activity.”
So the New York Times article offers us two possibilities for these UFO phenomena:
- That there are “vehicles not made on this earth” taking a keen interest in U.S. military bases for some strange reason, or
- That this is actually some secret super advanced technology possessed by the Russians or the Chinese.
Option #1 makes little sense. Why would a species so advanced that it has mastered interstellar travel have any interest in human governments and their military forces?
Option #2 reminds one of the bogus “missile gap” narrative that JFK dishonestly sold the American public about the Soviets holding military superiority over the U.S. in their nuclear arsenal. And anyway if a foreign government has this military technology, why didn’t they use it to become the top military superpower years ago?
Completely unexamined by the Times, to nobody’s surprise, is a third possibility: that the U.S. war machine is lying.
The U.S. Space Force has accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon from one of its satellites in orbit — marking the first time the military has publicly charged Moscow with carrying out a space-based weapons test.https://t.co/2boUGY2y4N
— NPR (@NPR) July 24, 2020
As the U.S.-centralized empire continues its campaign to militarize space, new conflicts are emerging with unabsorbed governments along that front, like the recent accusation against Russia by the U.S. Space Force of testing a new anti-satellite weapon in space.
“In a sign outer space could be turning into a theater of war for terrestrial adversaries, it marked the first time the U.S. military has publicly charged Moscow with carrying out a space-based weapons test,” NPR reports.
It is likely that the U.S. power alliance is preparing for such conflicts to increase in frequency and intensity in the coming years, and, as we discussed recently, winning disputes related to international law requires a robust international propaganda campaign. The U.S. military has for years been using the mass media to inflame public interest in alleged military information about UFOs, and it’s entirely possible that it has been doing that for this purpose. It could also easily be a domestic ploy to get more Space Force funding.
As the U.S. moves further and further into a steadily escalating new cold war against both Russia and China, we should remind ourselves that there was a UFO panic during the last cold war. In a 2002 article titled “Cold War hysteria sparked UFO obsession, study finds”, The Guardian reports the following:
But Clarke and Roberts, whose research is to be published this week in a book called Out of the Shadows , did uncover evidence that the American Secret Service, with the possible connivance of the British, looked at ways of using the public panic over UFOs as a psychological weapon against the Russians.
In CIA memos marked ‘secret’ and seen by The Observer, top officials consider exploiting the UFO craze. ‘I suggest that we discuss the possible offensive or defensive utilisation of these phenomena for psychological warfare purposes,’ wrote CIA director Walter Smith in 1952.
‘Shortly after that meeting the CIA sent a delegation to Britain to discuss UFOs. It is hard to imagine that they did not discuss the psychological warfare aspects of it with their British counterparts,’ Clarke said.
So just from the few glimpses we’ve been granted about this thing from behind the veil of government secrecy, we know for a fact that U.S. government agencies are all too happy to use public fixation on UFOs for the purposes of psychological warfare.
Why The US Empire Works So Hard To Control The International Narrative About Russia
International law only exists to the extent that the international community is willing to enforce it. International narrative manipulation manufactures this willingness.https://t.co/X4KGtQH4ap
— Caitlin Johnstone ? (@caitoz) July 1, 2020
It’s probably also worth noting that the U.S. military was researching the use of “flying saucers” in the 1950s. In an article titled “U.S. military’s plans for flying saucers explained in declassified documents”, The Guardian‘s Adam Gabbatt reported the following in 2012:
The U.S. air force contracted the work to a now-defunct Canadian company, Avro. In one document, Avro envisaged a “top speed potential between Mach 3 and Mach 4, a ceiling of over 100,000ft and a maximum range with allowances of about 1,000 nautical miles”. That would have sent the flying saucer spinning into the Earth’s stratosphere.
Language in a report labelled “final development summary” was optimistic: “It is concluded that the stabilization and control of the aircraft in the manner proposed – the propulsive jets are used to control the aircraft – is feasible and the aircraft can be designed to have satisfactory handling through the whole flight range from ground cushion take-off to supersonic flight at very high altitude.”
We are told that “the project was cancelled and the craft were never built”, but again, this is the U.S. military we are talking about. It’s entirely possible that if the technology we’re being told to worry about does indeed exist, it is not just terrestrial in origin, but American.
It is very telling that despite the new prevalence of video recording equipment in the pockets of the rank-and-file public around the world, we have not been experiencing a huge increase in footage of UFOs and close encounters of the third kind, yet reports in the mass media of UFO involvement with military personnel have only been increasing. This fact by itself should give you very strong doubts about visitations from ET.
I don’t know about you, but I find it a lot more likely that the U.S. war machine is lying to us once again to advance yet another pre-planned military agenda than that an extremely advanced species flew across the galaxy to stare at a bunch of terrestrial military bases.
Anyway that’s all I’ve got for now. The more the U.S. war machine and its media stenographers tell us we should pay attention to this UFO thing, the more skeptical we should become. Eyes wide, earthlings.
Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Her work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following her on Steemit, throwing some money into her tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of her sweet merchandise, buying her books “Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone” and “Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.”
This article was re-published with permission.
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While I’m sure I agree for the most part extent with her points, I think she failedto point out the money Reid’s friend and “UFO truth-er” Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies is making a lot of money off government contracts to study UFO events ect. Also, I believe Harry Reid has claimed to have seen UFOs himself. Not sure where I personally stand on UFOs, but someone (I forget who) has noted that to become technologically advanced enough for interstellar space travel, would produce a level of pollution that would likely kill off the population of any planet that engaged in developing such technology
I have no doubt whatsoever that the MIC are exploiting the UFO byline to get yet another increase in the defence (a laughable term that, IMHO) budget. No doubt. None whatsoever. The Space Force is going to need an enemy after all, right?
However, to think that we are the only intelligent species (also a laughable term, again IMHO) in the universe is the height of arrogance. American Exceptionalism writ large, if you will. I do not know whether we are alone in the universe or not. Primarily because I simply cannot believe government narratives.
Imagine, however, a scenario where we are not alone. Assume for a moment that a visitor, or visitors ‘from afar’ do, in fact take an interest in this inhabited rock drifting in the expanse of space. What would they see? A species that seemingly is bent on self-destruction, both of the inhabitants themselves, and the natural system that provides them life. They would see that we are slowing expanding our presence into the great black void. With weapons; systems that advance our self-destruction – i.e. America’s Space Force.
Perhaps by virtue of our self-destructive nature, they become concerned that perhaps, just maybe, we will eventually become a threat to them. Which in that case, would be more than believable that they would take an active interest in our growing capability in space. In this scenario, the US would be the natural target for extra-terrestrial intelligence gathering.
As I stated, I do know not if were are alone or not. It is a closed mind however, that precludes that we indeed are.
“There are two possibilities. Either we are alone, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” (Paraphrased)
– Carl Sagen.
I wouldn’t care about people in the intelligence community running around chasing UFOs if they weren’t getting paid for it. Average joe does this and gets a trip to a psych ward along with a hefty bill for his imprisonment, humiliation, and partial mental euthanasia. Nothing says “castes are alive and well” like this does.
Home of the free though, right?
Dr. Carol Rosin years ago reported Werner von Braun’s words to her.
“Q: THAT IS WHY HE GAVE YOU AN ENEMY’S LIST THAT WOULD BE PERPETUATED?
That’s right. He repeated this continuously. He would say that starting where I entered the industry with the supposed Russian threat, but never actually existed the Russians were made to be the enemy. Then there would be terrorists, Third World country threats, there would be an asteroid threat.
They might even say to us to try to influence the public into believing that there are many reasons for why we should put weapons in space. There might be a reason to protect our assets in space.
But, the real one that he was always holding off on and would say again with tears filling his eyes every time he said this to me repeatedly was that the last card they are holding is the ‘alien card,’ the extraterrestrial card and none of them are hostile.
In any way he could say those words, the intonation was always on,
‘None of them are hostile. It’s all a lie.’
So, in other words, all the enemies that have been presented to us along the way it’s a lie with always the intention of seizing the high ground to keep the truth from us.”
hXXps://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_ZCb.htm
hXXps://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_ZCab.htm#testimony
“Option #1 makes little sense. Why would a species so advanced that it has mastered interstellar travel have any interest in human governments and their military forces?”
Maybe that is not “it”. Maybe they came all this way to drink cow blood and appear to undereducated people.
My navel still hurts from when they abducted and examined me.
*IF* space aliens are visiting us, it’s probably like whalers visiting Tahiti or Rarotonga 200 years ago. From us, they want food, supplies, sex. Their ultimate purposes are beyond our experience.
When I was fourteen or fifteen and camping with some friends I saw a half dozen lights flying in and out of formation. A couple of years ago I found a UFO site that listed all reported UFO sightings, and there was one reported over where I lived at the same time.
I mention this only because if one looks at the history of UFOs millions of people have seen UFOs since their advent after WWII, so whatever they are, they do exist.
Because of the laws of physics, it is impossible for life on another planet to travel fast enough to get here, and, quite frankly, after an examination or two of us they wouldn’t come back.
The stronger evidence is that flying saucers are more developed “foo fighters”, unusual unwinged flying machines that Germans threw up against allied bombers in the last stages of WWII. We know that we imported German rocket scientists as well as scientists knowledgeable in chemical and biological warfare.
It’s hard to believe that the government could keep something like this a secret for seventy-five years, but it would be harder for anyone anywhere traveling at the speed of light for years just to take a look at humans. Perhaps this will be a surprise weapon in our next war against Russia.
I suggest a trip out to Nevada’s Area 51 and Utah’s Area 52 for a possible second installment of this story.
At the risk of being seen as naive or loney, I would point you to one person to gain a better perspective on this subject. Richard Dolan. He is a historian and easy to find. Of course the corporate media is shaping the narrative about UFOs. Why would that be any different than other subject they get fed copy on? And, of course high government sources facilitate that propaganda narrative. That does not mean there is no truth to it. As is said often, follow the money. Finally, there is a wealth of solid data regarding a coverup should one choose to look with an open mind and leave the encouraged humerous and silly comments about this subject at the door.
It’s behind a paywall now but there is a fascinating article on Lobster from a few years back that traces the whole X-Files narrative (they’ve been here for years, we have their technology etc) back to a US Army disinformation programme. From memory, the first iteration of this seems to have been in response to a journalist investigating possible electro-magnetic weapons…if anybody has this linked or saved I’d love to read it again
Those who don’t learn from history will always repeat their mistakes. The super powers are doing great jobs at building up their militaries and spying on each other, but who wants mutually assured destruction? Who will be the the first one to do this?
What will it take to have everyone change for the better? A pandemic, a destroyed planet, a dying Sun, an advanced alien invasion?
What is the price for humans to change their ways for the benefit of humanity?
As for UFOs, I can care less. I’m sure some of them are good or bad just like we are. They are so advanced in technology and science, so what about it? If they really want to invade us, there is nothing we can do about this.
This reminds me of the 2008 movie remake of “The day the earth stood still.”
Instead of writing an article on UFOs, can you write one on information warfare, which every super power is pretty good at?
Look what they did to people like Gary Webb, Julian Assange, Bill Binney, and others.
I know a few people excited about the announcement but apolitical. Given the wording involved we asked the same questions Ms. Johnstone addresses.
Where’s the profit? Always an important question when the gov’t Ferrengy [sic] are involved.
Thanks as always Caitlin.
Of course they are lying, but about what?
I love Caitlin, but option #1 makes sense to me. There are many reasons the military mind would be interested. Lets leave that be though for now.
Lets say there are aliens. Why should they help us? All we ever do is fight with each other. Would they really want us to bring that doggy-bark-bite-kill mentality into space? Not.
My next fiction book features Maria Orsitz, who spearheaded the Thule anti-gravity program in Germany beginning in 1921. I’ve already written some pages, but there is no way it can be marketed as historical fiction—most of the historical info about Maria has been scrubbed, possibly 3 times: once in about 1930 by the Germans, again after WWII by the allies, and maybe again later.
Why?
Once again…we are being lied to, but about what? {plural}
Thanks Caitlin for writing this article. I’ve admired your views on the deep suspicions we should have on the intentions of our institutions. I also agree with you on some points of this article. But after reading through this a few times you might not be capturing the wider significance of what is happening and what has been happening in this field for many, many years.
I see your suspicions stated as either the military is taking advantage of this phenomenon for military and psychological purposes or the military has created this phenomenon for military and psychological purposes. Since I have been following the UFO community for years, this argument is nothing new. If you wanted to go into a deep dive on this, there are many authors and researchers that have studied this subject for years. Jacque Vallee, John Mack, and Richard Dolan, just to name a few, and countless others throughout the years all searching for the illusive truth to this phenomenon and all its subcategories. When alluding to the N.Y. Times as the news outlet to push the military you state, “Of course, whenever you see an article reporting anything about the U.S. war machine in The New York Times, your response should always be intense skepticism.”, and though I agree with this, the two authors of this piece, Ralph Blumenthal & Leslie Kean, might not be part of this.
As far as the convenience of this happening around military bases, some speculate and trace it to nuclear sites as the cause. There is much documented on this including declassified material.
Your statement “Option #2 reminds one of the bogus “missile gap” narrative that JFK dishonestly sold the American public about the Soviets holding military superiority over the U.S. in their nuclear arsenal.” is somewhat inaccurate. If you believe this, you should contact someone like author and researcher James DiEugenio.
So in the end, yes there has to be a huge concern for this Space Force (it was inevitable) and the sucking sound of billions in dollars, but bigger concerns have haunted the UFO people for years. There are not two questions to this but at least three:
1. Has the U.S.(and most likely other governments) been keenly aware of this phenomenon for many years and still have no idea what to make of it?
2. Has the U.S. been studying this for decades and has some technology that can now mimic these things in the sky or falsely promote this phenomenon for psychological and/or military purposes?
3. Has the U.S. military secretly cracked the physics of anti-gravity, propulsion and energy distribution since just after WW II?
Any of these are disturbing, but the last one has to be considered the most profound cover-up and injustice in the history of mankind.
I’m immediately skeptical when I see the words Florida, Republican, and Intelligence all in the same sentence.
Ufologists are quite aware of these possibilities.
The danger to military is a way to publicize/ get funding by believers .Ufologists and military don’t think the Phenomenon, as it is known in the trade, is malevolent. Read the Robert Hastings material re UFO and Nukes. Very intriguing.
There is no doubt this is true, but why after a century of denials does the US government now acknowledges the presence of extraterrestrials and releases evidence in the form of UFO videos. The great Dr. Steven Greer posted a short video where an expert speculates that it’s a funding strategy. They want to spend a trillion dollars on space weaponry and need a threat.
Occam’s razor
Just another military diversion to keep the already paranoid American public from focusing on reality…
I DO NOT trust the U.S. government to be honest about ANYTHING. The same goes for their quasi-public mouth piece called National Public Radio.
We (the American public) do not know what the U.S. armed forces discovered in Germany at the end of World War II. We do not know what the Nazis had been developing and what became of their discoveries and work.
Likewise, the American people do not know what became of the papers and materials that the U.S. government confiscated from Nikola Tesla’s laboratory and residence after his death.
We DO NOT have the truth or the “complete story” behind Roswell, R.A.F. Bentwaters or the missile silos that
were apparently disabled (according to U.S. armed forces witnesses).
As a comparison of probabilities, what’s more likely? That most of the shiney thingys in the night sky are suns (like ours) which birth planets which birth life forms, or that our government is telling us the truth about it?
“Option #1 makes little sense. Why would a species so advanced that it has mastered interstellar travel have any interest in human governments and their military forces?”
The answer is “Why does parents have a interest in their kids?” If the kids have dangerous tools you have to watch over them.
That doesn’t mean that you are wrong. :-/
Exploding nuclear bombs above ground has caused and increase UFO activity on military bases, especially, the US and Russia, but also allies like Britain. There has been sworn testimony by military witnesses in the US, Britain, and Russia as too the UFO activity around military bases. More detailed testimony in the US revealed that a series of nuclear missiles were taken off line, while others were activated by these crafts then taken off line.
Perhaps we are watched as we grow more dangerous and a threat to all here and near… maybe this experiment has gone bad…we are becoming a poor neighbor..and those of interest are, and have been, watching?
Perhaps.. using the Roswell remains and others, we have engineered our own, which the C.I.A. deep rogues hold as the ultimate card to frighten all, they attack in black ops style to unite all against this enemy. This theory has been espoused by past agents as a future control means.
Ta Caitlin. Just what we need, another US war machine-propaganda spewing more hypocritical, Cold War Russo-Sino phobic, imperialist cover up stuff. And NPR (now led by John Lansing ex fuhrer of VOA) is – because trusted by so many so-called progressives/Blue face voters/bourgeois folks – the propaganda propagator par excellence. I trust nothing they say (nor the BBC World Service equally propagandistic) about Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela – any country in our crosshairs. The “we’re so vulnerable to Russian, Chinese “dis” info, theft of “our” tech” and so on and so on is beyond belief.
Orwell would be astounded, frankly, and that would take some doing. So I guess such as NPR and the Beeb should be proud of their ability to persuade those who think they are intelligent, well-educated and not being disinformed into believing lies, lies and more lies.
Kennedy did not “dishonestly” sell the missile gap to the American public. The missile gap was heavily promoted by the Air Force for the purpose of egging on Congress to support a massive buildup of ICBMs. Other Democratic politicians, notably Stuart Symington, also widely spoke of the gap. Of course, the Air Force, the IC and the Eisenhower administration were hoodwinking everyone because they knew there was no gap and that the US held a wide advantage. However, they kept quiet about what they knew because they didn’t want to reveal how they knew what they knew, the new, top-secret spy satellites that were providing the most detailed evidence (or lack of same) of Soviet ICBM deployments. Kennedy found out the truth about the “missile gap” after he took office and admitted that he had been had by the military and IC, one of the many things that led him to develop a deep distrust of both.
A very interesting somewhat offbeat article.
The quote in the Times is simply unbelievable.
So is the astrophysicist’s statement about unearthly material. Bizarre like words from a far-out Internet site.
Confirming Ms. Johnstone’s thesis, there is a story this morning in Al Jazeera, “UK to boost ability to handle space threat from Russia, China”
The UK is doing a review of its capabilities. Note the word “threat” used when no one has made any threats of any description.
The Russians have tested a satellite mechanism that may be an anti-satellite weapon. So what?
The US has been working on such stuff for years.
The American Air Force has a unmanned small space-shuttle vehicle called the X-37B that no one no anything about. It goes into orbit for a year or more at a time and the Pentagon will not discuss its capabilities or purpose.
The Air Force also has a top-secret project called the TR-3 Black Manta. Again no one knows much about it, but it has been photographed a few times in the distance of a night sky. It is a dark triangular vehicle with three large lights of some kind on its underside.
Our world just gets stranger every day now. As if we are not already loaded down with troubles – disease, economic catastrophe, wars and deliberately-generated diplomatic strife – the Pentagon has to look for more.
And I do think, sincerely, that the United States has lost its collective mind, making it a very dangerous player in the world.
“Probably” is a huge understatement!
Great article Caitlin.
I wonder if they will ever start talking about “respirator gap” or “ventilator gap”.
Drazen P:
Exactly. Spending on those gaps would do nothing except save lives. Where’s the profit?
You’ve probably heard this joke. What borders on insanity? Canada and Mexico.
Well, I sure wouldn’t count on the Space Brothers saving us from global warming or anything else.