Harry Reid’s UFO Hobby – You Paid For It

A secret government UFO program run out of the Pentagon?!

This is the kind of news that gets us X-files fans salivating that the truth isn’t quite so far out there but right here. And I couldn’t have timed the release of my latest novel, CHASING DISCLOSURE any better. What marketing! A Pentagon UFO research program is the kind of news that is usually relegated to the tabloid section of supermarket checkout lines. And yet here it is, on the December 16, 2017 front page of The New York Times. As Ralph Blumenthal noted in a follow up article, “So how does a story on U.F.O.s get into The New York Times? Not easily, and only after a great deal of vetting, I assure you.”

Now if you were like me, you sat in front of your computer months before and were made aware of this program. On October 11, 2017, Tom Delonge held a press briefing about the launch of his part scientific, part entertainment company, To The Stars Inc where Luis Elizondo announced he was part of this UFO program. Only back then, the mainstream media ignored it. But now, thanks to Leslie Kean and others, they got it into The New York Times and now it’s everywhere.

The gist of the story is that Senator Harry Reid had a personal interest in the subject matter. And after working with Senators Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens (both now deceased) he was able to secure twenty-two-million dollars of taxpayer money to funnel to the Pentagon to research UFOs. Inside the Pentagon sat Luis Elizondo who ran the program. But the Pentagon mostly off-handed that money to Senator Reid’s buddy, Robert Bigelow who runs his own aerospace research company. And it wasn’t even highly classified. It just wasn’t made public until Leslie Kean was told about it, resulting in The New York Times story.

The last time the US government officially investigated UFOs was from 1947 up until 1969 with first Project Sign, then Project Grudge and finally Project Blue Book. That project closed after a large study out of the University of Colorado concluded the continued study was pointless, that UFOs could be lots of things but not alien aircraft or threats to national security and did not represent any technology beyond what was already known scientifically. End of story. But with the latest news of a secret Pentagon UFO program, it looks like the official story isn’t true and government investigation has continued. But has it and how serious is it?

Consider first the amount of money reported. Twenty-two-million dollars. For a program officially titled, “Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program”, you’d think more money would go into it. But instead, it got relatively pennies, mere bits of nothing for a Pentagon program. How serious do you think the Pentagon is regarding this subject matter? Look at public records of Pentagon programming to see the billions of dollars going into it and you’ll conclude this UFO Program was more of a Pentagon hobby.

From The New York Times piece, “Under Mr. Bigelow’s direction, the company modified buildings in Las Vegas for the storage of metal alloys and other materials that Mr. Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena. Researchers also studied people who said they had experienced physical effects from encounters with the objects and examined them for any physiological changes. In addition, researchers spoke to military service members who had reported sightings of strange aircraft.” (Emphasis added)

By the sound of it, there’s a storage unit in Las Vegas with metal alloys and other materials from recovered UFOs! Where’s the follow up questions like, where is it? What’s in it? What’s it made of? Where did it come from? etc, etc.

The Pentagon UFO program started in 2007. And as The NYT article says, “By 2009, Mr. Reid decided that the program had made such extraordinary discoveries that he argued for heightened security to protect it. ‘Much progress has been made with the identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings,’ Mr. Reid said in a letter to William Lynn III, a deputy defense secretary at the time, requesting that it be designated a ‘restricted special access program’ limited to a few listed officials.” (Emphasis added)

Again, where’s the follow up questions like who? What? Where are these extraordinary discoveries?

The NYT story continues, “A 2009 Pentagon briefing summary of the program prepared by its director at the time asserted that ‘what was considered science fiction is now science fact,’ and that the United States was incapable of defending itself against some of the technologies discovered. Mr. Reid’s request for the special designation was denied.” (Emphasis added)

This is extraordinary. So the director of said program eight years ago reported some UFOs are something the United States can’t defend itself should said UFOs decide to go Independence Day on us! Can I see this report? Like, right now? Can we present this evidence to the United Nations and get something in place like, right now?

This is all pretty incredible until you consider that officially, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program was shut down. So ask yourself, what evidence was offered to justify the claims made above? What was shown and to who to try to increase funding and security? Did Bigelow, Reid and Elizondo just ask the people responsible for making these decisions to take their word for it? Whatever they offered or withheld or whatever, the program is said to be over as of 2012, with former members still reviewing cases in their spare time but nothing official. So apparently the evidence wasn’t enough to warrant increased funding or security. As The NYT piece reports, “’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,’ a Pentagon spokesman, Thomas Crosson, said in an email, referring to the Department of Defense.”

It’s hard to believe if Reid et al presented these metal alloys, “other materials” and evidence for something from the skies the United States couldn’t defend itself against the Pentagon would determine, “… there were other, higher priority issues that merited funding…”

Consider other Department of Defense / Pentagon program costs. According to the 2017 Congressional Pig Book, one-hundred-fifty-million dollars was budgeted for two ear marks for the National Guard Counter-Drug Program. What we’re talking about is Congress felt the drug war was one-hundred-twenty-eight million more important than an aerial threat we couldn’t defend against. Does this seem likely if Reid et al have what they claim to have?

I’m afraid at this juncture we have to assume whatever proofs those who wanted to keep it going weren’t enough and we should act accordingly as well. In other words, after twenty-two-million dollars and five more years of government time, there’s nothing to see here folks, move along.

Now remember, above I noted the US government officially investigated UFOs from 1947 to 1969. I suck at math but I’m pretty sure that works out to twenty-two-years. Consider that in those twenty-two-years, the final conclusion was the continued study was pointless and UFOs could be lots of things but not alien aircraft or threats to national security and did not represent any technology beyond what was already known scientifically. What could have possibly happed between 2007 and 2012 that made Harry Reid say things like, “Much progress has been made with the identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings.” And the Director of the program to report, “the United States was incapable of defending itself against some of the technologies discovered.”?

I can’t find any figures for what it cost the American taxpayer to fund Project Sign, Grudge and Blue Book from 1947 to 1969 so I can’t compare that to the twenty-two-million for the five years of the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. But it’s reasonable to assume twenty-two-years costs more than five years. And what did we get for it? Unless those making the extraordinary claim put up, we got nothing.

The other possibility is the public is being lied to, Harry Reid is being lied to, Robert Bigelow is being lied to and Luis Elizondo is being lied to and said program was moved to a more restricted, secure location without their knowledge and taken away from them. And all the billions of dollars going to it are black budget, thus not in the Pig Book or accountable to Congress. But there is simply no evidence for this.

According to the Washington Post, there is a four-hundred-ninety page report from this five year program. There’s video and probably photographs. And remember, this was all American taxpayer money. We should be able to see all this. Who were the subcontractors? I want some names and positions. Certainly FOIA requests are being made. John Greenewald of theblackvault.com tells me he’s already got one going.

But keep this in mind: We have nothing more now than we did in the 1940s. We have no hard evidence that some UFOs are advanced tech or warped physics from somewhere unidentifiable. Should the American taxpayer continue to fund the chasing of space ghosts? I don’t think so. * Until players in the Pentagon UFO program show proper scientific evidence of their extraordinary claims, I’m afraid the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program was just another pet project in a long list of pet projects of a sitting senator and his friends at the expense of the American taxpayer. Robert Sheaffer noted that Robert Bigelow was a campaign contributor to Harry Reid, how convenient. (Although in this interview, Reid tries to squash a conclusion of passing government money to friends when he advises the contract was made available for months before Bigelow placed the winning bid).

I say, let UFO research continue by private individuals. ** We already have Tom Delonge and his To The Stars Academy working on it and offering every finding up for transparency (so they claim. Incidentally Luis Elizondo now works for them since retiring from US government work). There are numerous UFO groups and online communities sharing information. And we have UFO fans like myself who don’t mind buying the books or documentaries or attending conferences with our own money because who knows, maybe something fantastic is out there. Those two videos released deserve an explanation: Here and here. They’re amazing at first sight but may turn out to be jets in the distance.

So since all the data collected to date shows that UFOs don’t possess a threat to national security, the United States Government should not be involved. Taxpayers should not be involved. And I recommend looking through the entire Congressional Pig Book. It’s amazing all the government garbage programs American taxpayer money goes to. If you thought UFOs were out of this world, spend an afternoon with the Pig Book. Libertarians like me review it every year and it just keeps getting bigger. And every year, us Libertarians still hope for less pork in government spending. I want to believe.

* Of course the United States Military and Department of Defense need to monitor the skies for threats from above, whether they be a foreign country or terrorist hijacking or what not. But this falls into normal spending and programming day to day activities of said agencies already so I don’t see a need for yet another program.

** A complaint about privatizing UFO research is that findings become proprietary instead of public. But ask yourself, is the government data any more accessible? Government programs don’t automatically make better programs. All advances in science and tech come from self-interested people, mingling with others of like mind and driving the passion home. Compare Elon Musk’s Space X to NASA. Look how far he’s come compared to NASA’s years of service. Also, the government doesn’t dominate airspace. Private pilots have told of their encounters for years and are more numerous on a day to day bases, combing the earth’s skies. They’ll have more evidence than the government anyhow.