IS THE TRUTH OUT THERE?
Grand Narratives, Truth, and UFOs
PART 0: THE NARRATIVE
I’m a big fan of The X-Files..
For those not in the know, it’s a 90’s sci-fi drama that tasks FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) with investigating X-files, or FBI files that deal with anomalous or paranormal phenomena.
Mulder is an ardent supernaturalist - he believes in ghosts, aliens, psionoc abilites, all that jazz. He’s also an extremely talented criminal profiler. Scully, on the other hand, is a highly-credentialed medical doctor, with a more “rational” and skeptical mind - she was also raised Roman Catholic.
They make a great team.
Mulder is assigned to the X-files initially due to his over-arching interest in such anomalous phenomena (as well as a deliberate move by his superiors to keep his unorthodox interests away from “traditional” cases). He believes his sister, Samantha, was abducted by aliens when they were both children. Scully is assigned to the X-files later on (in season 1, episode 1), to debunk his theories and provide rational, scientific explanations.
In Mulder’s office, deep within the confines of the FBI headquarters, away from the prying eyes of more refined investigators, there is a singular, iconic poster tacked above his desk:
As the show progress (SPOILERS) the agents uncover a vast conspiracy: the US government knows all about aliens and UFOs. Aliens are on Earth and there is a vast conspiracy regarding the plans members of the Syndicate (the show’s version of the Illuminati) have for Earth - and most of them do not include universal medical care or free college. Mulder and Scully gradually realize the extent of this vast conspiracy as they deal with their day-to-day investigations into the unknown.
Mulder and Scully are consistently outwitted and outplayed in these over-arching escapades - they narrowly avoid death, close friends and informants are killed, and extremely important evidence is constantly out of reach, lost, or destroyed by their opposition.
In many situations, Scully witnesses incredible things - but still remains committed to science and rational thinking in her search for truth, even if the truly insane occurs before her very eyes. Sometimes, seeing is not believing - science and a steadfast commitment to physicalist rationale guide her through paranormal encounters. Truth, for her, is defined and reinforced through objective analysis. As the show goes on, she learns to balance science and reason with an openness to the “more” - she rediscovers her personal faith and tackles failing health, has a miraculous encounter with otherwordly beings, and as she accepts the possibility of “more,” she still remains committed to objectivity through science. Meaning is built and demonstrable.
She learns balance. Balance between faith (or belief), science, reason, and the truly remarkable - a perfect balance of reason and mystique.
Mulder has a more esoteric conflict within himself. It’s not all to dissimilar to Scully’s - he is searching for truth, after all. He always hangs on to the what he thinks is the truth - no matter how difficult it may be, in whatever situation he may find himself in. He knows what he’s seen - he knows what he’s experienced. But, while Mulder knows, he also wants to believe - he is searching not only for truth, but for belief itself - because, as the show goes on, his faith and belief is challenged against overwhelming odds - sometimes through scientific proof, sometimes through systemic failure, sometimes through outright murder. As he works his way through a vast governmental conspiracy he is forced to reckon with insurmountable odds that seek to keep him away from “the truth.”
But these challenges drive him. He always comes back to what he intrinsically knows - that the truth is out there. His continuous search for truth is also his inner search for meaning.
For if there is meaning, then there is belief; and if there is belief, then there is truth.
The show is about many things, but most importantly, it is about truth. What truth is, what it means, and how to discern what it really is. It’s deliberately uncertain and presents impossible verification - objective knowledge and understanding is always just a little bit out of reach. Shadowy narratives and unconventional genre elements keep things contradictory - you’re always second-guessing some character or plot device, or piece of evidence. It’s a certified barn-burner of post-modern television.
Each episode’s title credits ends with a splash screen with five words emblazoned in the sky above a shadowy mountainside:
But is the truth out there?
Many of us believe in an over-arching, “grand narrative” or, episteme, (just like Scully) that drives history and culture. For example, the Enlightenment took the Western world out of the Dark Ages, which led societies and cultures away from the “primitive” and “unrefined” periods of religious fiefdoms and hegemonies to the “rational” and “scientific” world of colonial empire, driven by a philosphy of science in an ever-expanding search based on scientific objectivity. The societies that emerged from this grand narrative grew and evolved to eventually reach our current telos - free-market democracies that (ideally) promote ideas such as individual liberty and responsibility. Many things like reason, logic and criticial thinking, the scientific method (physical materialism) and universalism make up this telos. We have, historically, been presented with a (seemingly) concrete struture of truth that guides this narrative forward in time.
But the truth is becoming increasingly more difficult to discern.
Our concepts of “truth” are being called into question almost everyday.
A straightforward example is AI-generated content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. A similar but slightly-more detached example is reality televison shows - we know in our minds that the program isn’t reflecting reality, but it doesn’t matter - it’s only entertainment after all. The detachment comes from your simple desire to “break free” from your own subjective reality.
But, I digress - these specific examples are more indicitave of the expansion of technology and mass media, which has become incredibly important in creating, spreading, and altering information.
The increased access to information is creating a world where there is more and more information and less and less meaning.
We can go further than the prior examples and question things like the policies of politicians (representation) or the movements of economic vehicles like stocks (hyperstition) or your own external, social appearances (spectacle). We question the “realness” of people like Donald Trump, someone whose very political strength lies in his continuous altering of reality through speech (or text). What our leaders purport to do and to whom they answer to is up for debate. We can question the “realness” of the free market - the bank bailous that occured in the wake of the ‘08 financial crisis reinforced the “realness” of the capitalist system - albeit in a more… unfortunate way. You can also question your own social legitimacy - what color are your text message bubbles?
Again, I digress.
On perhaps the most important level is the questioning of the grand narrative itself. More and more people are calling established institutions or concepts into question - many people are beginning to question reality. What is real? How do we know what is real? I think and experience XYZ, but the government says ABC. I understand LMNOP, but these guys on Facebook say QRSTUV. The news says 123, the government says 8910.
Our Western/Enlightenement-borne ideas about science, reason, and truth are being re-examined and questioned in this new information age.
And the manner in which information is conveyed and delivered is being questioned, too.
We are finding ourselves having to hunker down and defend things more and more, as more and more contradictory information and evidence is presented or manufactured. For every ideology, dogma, or philosophy, there is an informational assault on it at all times - an informational assault on your ideas about truth and what truth is. For everything you believe, a carefully curated stream of information can be fed to you - just as it can be used against you.
Truth is losing its trait as a broad concept of universal objectivity - at least it is in reference to the traditions of the Western world. Truth is becoming increasingly subjective to manufactured cultural and social narratives rather than an over-arching idea such as science or wide-spread, culturally-derived faith (or belief).
Truth can be manifested. It can be built, bought, and sold. Technology is the biggest facilitator of this. Many things we held faith (belief) in can no longer be trusted implicitly. Maybe we have to re-examine it for signs of tampering. Or, we retreat completely into the denial of reality in the face of an overwhelming ideological challenge. Truth gets muddier and muddier. Maybe reality has been entirely fabricated. Maybe it’s all a hoax. What does anything mean? How can I know?
Truth is losing its grip on consensus reality - what does that mean for us?
Was it all an illusion?
Were our ideas about truth “real” to begin with?
What is truth, even? Does it exist?
What would happen if something so insane, so life-altering, so unbelievable were to happen that called every notion of truth or belief into question?
Can we move forward?
With these ideas and questions in your mind, let’s talk about UFOs.
Part 1: The New Jersey Drones
“...there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are."
- Barack Obama
Remember when all of those drones were witnessed flying over New Jersey?
What ever happened with all that?
It’s an interesting event. Thousands of people, from civilians to law enforcement to members of the armed forces and local government, all reported seeing “drones” of various sizes and shapes flying over the east coast of New Jersey. Explanations were running amok. The mayor of Belleview, New Jersey claimed that the drones were searching for nuclear material, supposedly from a missing medical device… Although rumors quickly spread online the drones were equipped with radiation sensors to sniff for nuclear weapons and smuggled dirty bombs. New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew even went so far as to say that the drones were launched from an Iranian “mothership” somewhere off the coast of New Jersey (although the Pentagon refutes this). The guy that blew up the cybertruck in Las Vegas included a theory in his suicide note: that the drones were actually controlled by China and that they were using “advanced gravitic propulsion systems” to spy on the us - make of that (and him, and the events that surround him) what you will.
The FAA, FBI, and Pentagon sent out a rash of explanations. Most are commercial and civilian drones. Many are misidentified commercial and civilian aircraft. Military aircraft were operating in the area as well. People confuse stars, planets, and other stellar bodies all the time. When weird stuff starts happening in the sky, more people look up, so more and more things are being seen.
It makes perfect sense.
Confusion. Misidentification. Collective psychosis.
Slowly, the drone sightings went away. The FAA closed airspace, and the sightings would trickle down in number. They effectively went away. No explanation was needed.
The drones dissapeared before an overarching, coherent story could be presented.
But why is this important?
It effectively called several things into question.
No cohesive, solid explanation was given. And in many circumstances, you don’t need one big, universal explanation for such a peculiar event.
But, in the post-9/11 world, you can’t have unknown aircraft flying over the US. You just can’t. Okay, so it’s military aircraft training. But, it’s also commercial aircraft. Also, it’s private drones. It’s all of these things but also none of these things because there is nothing to be worried about. Also we won’t tell you what some of them are - by the way, we know what they are. They aren’t a threat. But they’re drones. But we also don’t know what they are. All reports from different entities and agencies - and all we “know” is they’re drones.
So, it’s a quagmire of obfuscation and confusion across multiple agencies seeking a broad, publically-appealing explanation… when no one really had one.
But the grand narrative said drones.
Maaaybe it’s just coincidence, but even before this big flap up in Jersey started, drones and unknown aircraft have apparently been making strange and unauthorized incursions all over the place for quite awhile now.
(Langely video from user Organic_Wrangler_890 on Reddit)
In December 2023 and March 2024, small groups of drones would appear over Langley Air Force base just after sunset.
Just to hang out!
One was described moving at over 100 kilometers per hour. Their size and configuration varied. And the US Air Force said they have no idea what they are. Maybe they’re Russian? Chinese? American security assets? Extraterrestrial? Intradimensional? Who knows. All we know is that they are allowed to fly over highly secure military installations unimpeded. Apparently this is nothing to be concerned about, even though the incursion caused Langley to shift their squadrons of F-22 fighters - some of the Air Force’s most advanced fighter aircraft - to different bases as a response.
It should also be noted that F-22 jets were used to shoot down those Chinese spy balloons.
Yeah, remember that? Weird right?
Weird how after the initial, highly-publicised shootdown and recovery, three more objects were detected? The US and Canada shot those down, too. But apparently, they only recovered one of the latter three. The Beaufort object (unrecovered) purportedly had no visible means of propulsion or crew. The Yukon object (unrecovered) was a “metallic balloon” with a “tethered payload” and was shot down in the far northwest of Canada, over the Yukon. The search was abandoned. The third object, shot down over Lake Huron, was purportedly recovered. White House spokesman John Kirby stated [the White House] "will not dismiss as a possibility that these could be balloons that were simply tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign. That very well could be, or could emerge, as a leading explanation here."
Probably nothing! The narrative is murky, at best.
Drones also penetrated airspace over California’s infamous Plant 42 - one of the most important military aircraft development centers in the US. Experimental aircraft and highly secretive weapons and equipment are developed there. A half-a-dozen aerospace and military contractors have development labs there. Some of our most advanced aircraft were designed and tested there, like the X-47B and B-2 Spirit. It also acts as an aircraft hub, ferrying workers and personnel to other clandestine military facilities, most notably Groom Lake - Area 51.
Spooky!
Drones are also seemingly allowed to penetrate airspace over nuclear weapons testing sites in Nevada.
They’re also allowed to fly over our joint bases in the UK, one of which was poised to receive a shipment of nuclear weapons - and also over joint air bases in Germany.
And we seemingly just let them.
And that makes the drone sightings over New Jersey all the more interesting. Because it brought forth a collective search for meaning and explanation from people that the government could not adequately provide - a grand narrative about the US government and military was being questioned. If these drones aren’t ours, then whose are they? Why are they allowed to fly wherever they want?
Are they from… out there?
As with all things, the spectacle eventually faded - the drones quit appearing. Or maybe people stopped misidentifying airplanes or stars. Or maybe the FAA flight restrictions worked, and suddenly drone pilots were following the law. Maybe it shows that it was all a collective bout of psychosis… which is nothing new.
But it did prove that the US government is starting to lose control over the narrative regarding UFOs, which I will henceforth refer to as UAPs, or, unidentified aerial phenomena - a newer, more scientifically appropriate term.
The sightings were drones. They were also planes. They were also penetrating sensitives sites - but they weren’t threats. So, we just let them. For some reason.
Maybe they are our own experimental aircraft, which makes sense, but is the public reaction to the unknown safety threat worth it? Maybe? If the spectacle fades, then I suppose so. I guess? I don’t know.
People are looking and asking questions and seeing and reporting things in greater numbers, with greater clarity, and greater collective analysis. Forums and feeds and Facebook pages were buzzing with reports and sightings and collective investigation. A search for shared truth.
People are asking “What is in the sky above us?”
And the US government doesn’t really have anything solid to tell them… even though a few years earlier, some very credible witnesses saw some very, very strange things in the sky…
The narrative is contradictory, at best.
Part 2: The Navy Videos
In 2020, the Department of Defense released three black and white videos.
The first video (FLIR1) was taken off the coast of southern California from a US Navy F-18 in 2004. It was leaked and posted online in 2007. It was recorded by a FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera mounted on a two-seater F-18 Navy fighter jet. But the most interesting aspect isn’t the video itself - rather, it's what another pilot reported seeing before the video was taken.
FLIR1 video, US Navy (2004)
The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group had been operating off the coast of California, performing training exercises. During the training period, the cruiser USS Princeton would intermittently track “unusual aircraft” signatures on radar. The radar signatures would operate erratically, in some cases, accelerating from 80,000 feet to 20,000 feet - where it would then hover. Their signatures often appeared in groups, and naval radar was unable to identify points-of-origin.
This lasted around two weeks.
Commander David Fravor, in an F-18 fighter jet, was dispatched to investigate radar signatures during a training exercise.
As he approached the radar vector point, he noticed a “disturbance” in the water, like a ship or submarine sinking.
He then noticed an aircraft of some kind - whitish, cylindrical, and rotund - moving and jumping around erratically just above the disturbed waves.
Fravor began a spiraling descent to get a closer look at the object. As he did, it began to spiral up in tandem, seemingly to meet him.
Eventually, Fravor decided to advance directly toward the object.
As he did this, it accelerated away.
He returned to the ship.
The video was captured by a different flight of F-18s who were investigating radar signatures after Fravor returned to the ship. Weapons system officer Lieutenant Commander Chad Underwood took the video.
He coined the term “tic-tac” which has come to describe the objects in the videos.
No investigation was conducted.
The other two videos (GIMBAL and GOFAST) were taken in 2015 from F-18s operating off the east coast of the United States. Pilots from the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group were responsible for those videos. According to Lieutenant Ryan Graves, a pilot who personally witnessed the objects, they would stay in the air for up to twelve hours, travel hypersonically, and make incredible, impossible elevation changes - starting and stopping in ways that would kill human pilots. Their aircraft would track them and even acquire missile locks. But they only picked the objects up after a substantial, fleet-wide radar upgrade was made.
The videos were captured by F-18s during routine carrier operations.
The videos also capture pilot communications.
Listen carefully to the audio of the pilots in the below (GIMBAL) video.
GIMBAL video, US Navy (2015)
“…a whole fleet of them, going against the wind…”
In late 2014, during the same training deployment, a near-miss event with an unknown object occured. The object appeared to be a “cube encased in a sphere” and narrowly missed two F-18 fighter jets flying in tandem - the unidentified aircraft shot between them. The pilots were thoroughly frightened, and a safety briefing was called in the wake of the encounter.
GOFAST video, US Navy (2015)
The mounting number of object sightings apparently spooked the Navy enough that they updated and sent out a classified guide on reporting unidentified objects.
The reports were then sent to a government program that was in charge of investigating UAPs - and had been doing so clandestinely for years...
The narrative is fracturing.
Part Three: The Program
The AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) was founded in 2007 by former Nevada Senator Harry Reid.
It was created to study “foreign advanced aerospace weapon threats”. He was encouraged to do this at the behest of longtime friend Robert Bigelow - a businessman (who founded Budget Suites of America) with his own aerospace company, Bigelow Aerospace (or BAASS, for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies). Bigelow had been interested in aerospace, UAPs, and the paranormal (notably Skinwalker Ranch) for a long time - Reid had also been long interested in space phenomena.
AATIP was ordered to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena, and secured funding of about 22 million dollars.
AATIP negotiated a contract with Bigelow Aerospace under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Applications Program, or AAWSAP. They were to study UAP reports under the pretense of national security. Bigelow Aerospace spent a year working and presented a nearly 500 page long analysis of hundreds of UAP reports and anomalous phenomena, dubbed the Ten Month Report. It was expansive - it contained research goals, interviews with witnesses, potential detection methodology, credentialed staff directories, photos and official governmental reports all about UAPs. Some of the more interesting things discussed in the report include reports of UAPs entering bases containing nuclear weapons, foreign governmental UAP reports and photos, development of advanced aircraft, warp drives, field response teams, and biological effects of UAPs on humans and anomalous encounters (particularly those at Skinwalker Ranch - but that's another story altogether).
Needless to say, it's an interesting program!
But the results of the 500 page report were never disclosed officially - only fragments are available (although supposed full leaks are starting to show up online). Everything known about the BAASS Ten Month Report came from people who worked on it - and because it belongs to those working at BAASS, the US Government, at this stage, never officially investigated UAPs - they had a federal contractor do it. Black projects and clandestine shell programs are deep inside multiple layers and departments that aren’t “officially” tied to the Defense Intelligence Agency (in this case) or any other agency. Reports from BAASS are sent to government departments as technical reports and project updates - updates on their research into potentially “game-changing” materials and advanced technology and anomalous phenomena - but BAASS maintains official ownership of the reports/research.
Dark money programs are complicated like that!
AATIP was supposedly led by a man named Luis Elizondo, a former Department of Defense employee and senior Pentagon intelligence officer who served in the War on Terror. His job was to run the program and investigate its potential relations to national security. The Popular Mechanics article on the story reports that the main reason Elizondo was brought on was to act as counter-intelligence - they were dealing with highly-secretive technology that could be ripe for industrial and military espionage, so it makes sense to bring someone in who can handle intel and run the program smoothly
AATIP filed for SAP (Special Access Program) status in 2009, but was denied. AATIP was never “classified” but it certainly wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
Elizondo ran the program and brought in specific contractors. He kept the program small and tight - they were looking at government data and government reports - not many outsiders knew what they were researching. This was the most clandestine the program could be without being a Special Access Program.
“The stuff we were seeing was truly unidentified. It wasn’t related to anything we were doing.”
- Luis Elizondo (from Popular Mechanics)
Eventually the DIA suspended funding for AATIP. It effectively dried up around 2012, according to most.
Some of Elizondo’s credentials, however, are disputed and murky - some argue he’s a pawn for the DoD and a counter-intelligence asset tasked with muddying the waters regarding UAP research and popular opinion. Some claim he never ran the program at all. Others claim AATIP and AAWSAP didn’t investigate UAP’s at all.
Or did they?
It’s a certified psychological cluster of truths and half-truths. The narrative is devolving. Welcome to the post-truth world. Psychological warfare. More and more information and less and less meaning.
Deny. Inveigle. Obfuscate.
The story goes that Elizondo was asked to continue the program - to create a legacy program and to continue operations - until he left in 2017. He then gave reporters copies of the Navy UAP videos. He had gone public - the US government has clandestine programs that investigate UAPs.
Not only were UAP’s “real” but the government had a vested interest in them. We had long known about old-school projects like GRUDGE, SIGN, and BLUE BOOK that were shut down, but this was different - it showed us that the US government had real time and real resources and real allies interested in this phenomenon. UAPs aren’t a culural relic - they’re still flying around and the government wants to know what they’re up to.
The program continued after Elizondo’s departure, now referred to as the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or, UAPTF. Its mission was to track and investigate UAP reports and determine if they were threats to national security - again.
This time, it was public… mostly.
The UAPTF confirmed the authenticity of new photos and videos from Navy personnel. One video purports to show a UAP “orb” flying over the water before stopping and descending beneath the waves . Another shows a pyramidal UAP buzzing a Navy ship (above photo and below video, although I personally think this is an unusual camera effect known as bokeh.)
Many other videos and photos exist, but are classified.
UAPs recorded by US Navy ship - possibly bokeh effect (Jeremy Corbell, US Navy 2021)
In 2021, the UAPTF published a report - the Pentagon UAP Report - which detailed its findings.
It analyzed 144 reports.
143 remain unexplained.
Middle East Object, taken from MQ-9 drone (AARO, 2021)
In 2022, another office - the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) - was established to continue the work of the UAPTF - this time, it was expanded to include underwater objects (or USOs, unidentified submerged objects) and to provide reporting guidelines for military and commercial pilots. It’s a more broad program.
AARO has collected and analyzed hundreds of UAP reports - many are unexplained and under current investigation.
“Our team of experts is leading the U.S. government’s efforts to address Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach. Since its establishment in July 2022, AARO has taken important steps to improve data collection, standardize reporting requirements, and mitigate the potential threats to safety and security posed by UAP. We look forward to using this site to regularly update the public about AARO’s work and findings, and to provide a mechanism for UAP reporting.”
- AARO website
None of the objects or reports AARO are currently investigating are believed to be alien in nature.
But before the AARO took over, as the UAPTF was investigating and detailing reports, a veteran and official of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) became an acting liaison between these respective offices and became heavily involved in the UAPTF. His name is David Grusch, and he became privy to certain information within the program.
Information that deeply troubled him.
Information that was being creatively compartmentalized between and within agencies inside special access programs.
Information that was being kept secret from Congress.
Information that had no legislative oversight - it was operating in secret and being financed in secret, without Congressional knowledge.
Information that could change the world.
Part Four: The Revelations
Grusch was interested in relaying and revealing that UAP reports and investigation programs were being hidden from Congress, including a complex cover-up. The notion of checks and balances had been absent regarding these research programs. He was also afraid of retaliation for being a whistleblower.
So he helped draft a small part in a much larger bill to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, even if their work occurred before the bill was enacted.
Grusch took the information he had gathered and gave it to the DoD Inspector General, as well as Congress. Prior to the release of the bill, he provided hours of classified briefings to Congress on the nature of the recovery program.
He then publicly went before Congress in 2023 and stated that, as a part of his duties within UAPTF and due to his background in the military and intelligence programs, he was tasked to identify all special and controlled access programs operating within the AARO. His military and civilian résumé in executive support duties gave him unprecedented access to all compartmented programs.
And, as with anything in this field, you gotta take everything with a grain of salt...
But some grains are bigger than others…
He was informed that a crash retrieval program had existed… but he was denied further access to detail this program. So, he gathered what information he could through official documents, classified photographs, and classified oral interviews with accredited program members and went public.
He claims that “legacy programs” did and still exist but are hidden between multiple agencies and defense contractors in special access programs without Congressional knowledge or oversight.
He claims crash retrieval programs have existed for decades.
He claims that intact and partially intact vehicles have been recovered.
He claims exotic and unknown technology has been recovered.
And he claims that non-human biological pilots were recovered as well...
And so there was a grand narrative within the government - that there existed programs, sure, that were classified and on a need-to-know basis. But there were also, unknown to many people within the legislative and executive branches of the government, that there were deeper programs beyond their knowledge. That dark money was being used in potentially illegal and highly clandestine operations that were, in this specific instance, tasked with recovering crashed UAPs.
And this narrative, over the past five or so years, has been slowly devolving, shifting between consensus reality and the outright denial of reality - into a deeper, more confusing referant to a hyperreal world. Not only do we know our government is involved in shady dealings and clandestine research programs, but we also don’t really care. Of course the government lies. But, when something as big as this is given to public representatives, which results in classified briefings and shaken congressmen (this specific video refers to the spy balloon incident), you have to wonder where the devolution began. Trump? 9/11? Clinton scandal? Watergate? I don’t know.
Now, UAPs aren’t the sole progenitor of this greater devolution. It’s not even the biggest, but it is the most unanticipated and outlandish because of how unanticipated and outlandish it all sounds.
The narrative is completely unraveling.
One of the most interesting UAP videos I’ve seen, taken from private plane over Columbia in 2023 /// from user Whatthedunk90210 on reddit.
Later in 2023, some of Grusch’s claims were further vindicated. There was more devolution occuring.
A whistleblower, supposedly operating inside the DoD, released a seven page report on the clandestine investigation into UAPs where certain members of the executive branch are preventing the legislative branch from exercising its legal powers regarding information on UAPs, TUO (technologies of unknown origin) and NHI (non-human intelligence) - this program was operating outside of Congressional oversight and had been hidden from Congress at least since its inception in 2017 - the widely-agreed upon end of the AATIP and its successive, secret legacy programs.
The secret program was dubbed “Immaculate Constellation.”
And this is the big one.
According to the Immaculate Constellation report, Immaculate Constellation is the parent program, with other specialty programs existing below it - therefore, high compartmentalization. There is significant doubt cast onto the Department of Defense as information is being hidden and obfuscated by secret and compartmentalized programs that are operating outside the bounds of Congress. Information is very tightly controlled via compartmentalized and special access programs. There also exists many different, high-quality methods in which the government captures evidence of UAPS. FLIR, video, photography, infrared and thermal sensors are capturing evidence that is difficult or impossible to see with the naked eye. Over 400 human reports exist in secret databases (mostly from pilots).
Unidentified orb UAP passing by US Navy jet (AARO, 2021)
There are reverse engineering programs of TUO (technologies of unknown origin) and RVs (reproduction vehicles). The secret narrative engages in outright denial of information that was shared in classified security briefings to Congress - even certain people within the program are told different things. Apparently, foreign governments have their own research programs and the US has special interest in TUO that may come from foreign governments (indicating other nation’s retrieval efforts).
Spheres and orbs are the most common UAP spotted, discs are the second most common; triangles and other shapes exist but are less commonly reported. Some UAPs exhibit a “knowledge of observance.” For example, a large disc-shaped UAP displayed behavior that indicated it was aware it was being observed.
Al Taqqadum object aka “Jellyfish” taken near Al Taqqadum Air Base, Iraq (AARO, DVIDS)
Assessment is a cluster of “partially and fully inflated balloons.”
A few select UAP reports from Immaculate Constellation:
Jellyfish UAP sighting (above, full footage)
Infrared footage of a UAP hovering over a seemingly oblivious naval vessel
Near-miss instance of UAP and US interceptor aircraft
Transmedium tic-tac UAPs moving through the clouds, air, and into the ocean
Metallic spheres arranged in “cubes” would fly over the ocean, making impossible maneuvers and defying known aerospace technology
Naval ships observed UAPs at specific, known coordinates at specific times - indicating knowledge of predetermined contact points
Orbs surrounded and tailed an F-22 fighter
The document also confirms Elizondo was a part of the AATIP program.
It also verifies that there does indeed exist a history of research into “psi” and fringe science (like remote viewing, parapsychology, consciousness, quantum sciences).
Not much came from these leaks; at least, not much in the grand scheme of things.
A few news stories here and there.
A few posts here and there.
A seemingly grand revelation but nothing to report.
Could it be a psyop? Absolutely. Even if it is, does that change the greater question?
As the strange and abstract world marches on, its reality and truth unraveling, even the most astounding of revelations means nothing in the grand scheme - more and more public information with less and less meaning.
The narrative is being reconfigured.
Part 5: The Post-Truth World
UAPs are real. They exist. They’re out there and people see them. The government sees them and knows about them and studies them.
Weird!
But because of how complicated the world has become, this essentially doesn’t matter.
The existence of something other calls everything we know about or world, our culture, our race, into question. If something else exists out there, what does that say about us? What does it mean for us? We have to ask ourselves these questions, the same way the early scientists and natural philosophers did 500 years ago, at the beginning of the Enlightenment.
This isn’t a return to the Enlightenment or a defense of its ideas - it’s about the creation and discovery of something new. If truth is as subjective as we may perceive it these days, then let’s look at it. Let’s really dig in and look at why we believe what we believe.
And that’s hard to do when it seems that so many things are stacked against us.
An information war is being waged. Algorithms and reposts and tweets and articles are all weapons engaged in a collective psychic war. Cultural “discourse” is a weapon being utilized in the destruction of any collective human spirit and unification - you’re probably not too worried about automated weapon systems when you’re too busy arguing about the cover of the latest pop album. Class division is the greatest weapon and most powerful propaganda tool ever implemented. You will own nothing and be happy. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Rules for thee but not for me. The artisanal self is long gone. We live in a society...
I digress.
Our ideas of humanity and what it means to be human are presently being challenged.
Our ideas of science, reason, and faith (belief) are thrown into the spotlight for all to see and all to analyze - how could these ideas change if there was something else out there? Something so much greater… even if not greater, something so much more unifying (doesn’t have to be aliens!)
The concept of truth is so abstract, forgotten, altered and denied in our culture that even a Congressional hearing on the possible recovery of fucking aliens is just another one-hit story in this nightmare world.
What are UAPs? I don’t know.
“Real”, not “real,” it doesn’t matter.
Maybe it is all just made up.
But even if it is, then lets keep moving forward, with open eyes and minds, into the future - maybe together we can recover what we have lost - a shared truth, a shared belief in something. We must start small. We must give information meaning again.
For if there is meaning, then there is belief; and if there is belief, then there is truth.
I want to believe.
Below I’ve included a “summary” of popular points of discussion, some of which I haven’t covered at all in this brief article. I also included a glossary of my most frequently used acronyms. Alphabet soup for all!POPULAR UAP DISCOURSE SUMMARY POINTS
(SCHIZO WARNING!)
The US Government has obtained and is researching UAPs.
Defense contractors and aerospace companies lead this effort, with some government organizations taking a larger role (Department of Energy, US Navy and US Air Force)
“Off-world” tech, zero-point energy, gravitic propulsion, advanced weapons systems, advanced aircraft design
The drone incursions could be testing of this equipment
It is speculated that these defense and aersospace companies are operating outside of traditional government oversight (dark money programs, SAPs, no executive oversight)
Majestic-12 is still floating around (but may be a complete hoax)
Not only have UAPs crashed, but some have been recovered.
Pilots have been recovered
Off-world tech has been recovered
Active reverse-engineering projects
Foreign governments have their own UAP research programs, primarily Russia and China
A technological “UAP arms race” exists between these countries
A theory regarding the drone incursions over US and NATO military sights is the testing of foreign advanced tech
The need to be on top of and control this technology before any other nation to maintain leverage
UAPS and nuclear weapons
It has long been speculated UAPs are intereseted in our development of nuclear weapons
Potentially to protect us/prevent us from destroying Earth/each other
UAPs’ continued interest in nuclear weapon sites is an indicator that they are keeping up with our development of nuclear weapons
UFOs/UAPs only began “appearing” at large after the development of the nuclear bomb (1947-) [I don’t think this is the most reliable point, however]
“The Woo”
There exists a cabal/illuminati of extremely powerful individuals with substantial pull in UAP research that are acting against the greater interest of humanity with regard to potential non-human intelligence
Consciousness has a connection to UAP research (this is a whole other article)
Psychotronics/psionics (see Jake Barber interview)
Remote viewing
Psychic warfare programs
Quantum research
Psychological Operations
UAP research is simply advanced terrestrial aircraft research - propagation of terms like UFO and UAP is there to obfuscate highly sensitive and world-changing tech and diminish anyone who may leave programs/investigate UAPs/poke their nose where it doesn't belong.
AARO is a part of this; the legitimacy and true transparency of the AARO has been called into question, as it is hypothesized AARO is being used to kill mainstream discussion of UAPs
At least it’s fun to consider!
GLOSSARY of ACRONYMS
AARO - All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (operates under OSD, Office of Secretary of Defense)
AATIP - Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (operated under DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency)
AAWSAP - Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Applications Program (operated in conjunction with AATIP)
ARV/RV - Reproduction Vehicle; reverse-engineered vehicle, purportedly from UAP technology/technology of unknown origin (the “A” in “ARV” is disputed - some say it stands for “alien” and some argue it stands for “advanced” - but the Immaculate Constellation document does not specify)
BAASS - Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies
CAP - Controlled (or Compartmentalized in my usage) Access Program; program that tends to operate on a “need-to-know” basis or operates clandestinely within a “conventional” program, typically related to national security
DIA - Defense Intelligence Agency
FAA - Federal Aviation Administration
FLIR - Forward-Looking InfraRed; a type of advanced thermal imaging system, used to detect heat signatures. Very common on military aircraft - in this case, Navy F-18 fighter jets
NHI - Non-Human Intelligence
SAP - Special Access Program; program that requires additional layers of protocol and security compared to a similar program at a similar classification level
TUO - Technology of Unknown Origin
UAP - Unidentified Aerial Phenomena; a new term for UFO with more scientific credence that is more broad in its application
UAPTF - UAP Task Force
UFO - Unidentified Flying Object; the classic handle
USO - Unidentified Submerged Object