The UFO book that seems to be gathering interest and momentum at the moment is ‘UFOs TODAY – 70 Years of Lies, Misinformation and Government Cover-Up’ so I have taken this opportunity to interview the book’s author, Irena Scott PhD.  2017 will see the 70th anniversary of flying saucers and debate has raged on ever since and there seems no sign of it stopping anytime soon.

PM: Please tell us something about your background. Who is Irena Scott PhD?

I have a PhD, have had a professorship and have worked in scientific research for most of my life. My life began on an Ohio farm. We lived under quite primitive conditions, such as farming with horses. This background enables me to consider things from both a heartland farmer and a scientific viewpoint. Despite our lack of books and media, I became interested in astronomy at a very young age. I worked my way through college with an astronomy major, but found that I couldn’t be employed in that field because it was male-only in those days (which also enabled me to see scientists as less logical than normally presented). So, I went into one of the closest fields that females were allowed in, satellite photography. I worked at the Aerospace Center in St. Louis, Missouri, where they sent me to six months of cartography school, which was equal to a master’s degree. I later transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington D.C. in the field of photointerpretation and photogrammetry. Here I received some of the highest clearances in the government and learned not only about this field, but also government secrecy and cover-up, and now think the government has much more ability to cover-up than people expect.

Later I married and moved to Nevada, because my husband had a position there after a previous position that included working in Area 51. I began working for the University of Nevada, earned free tuition, and later transferred and received a PhD from the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine in physiology (a combination of chemistry and biology). After doing post-doctoral research at Cornell University, I became an Assistant Professor at St. Bonaventure University. Other positions included research and teaching at The Ohio State University, the University of Missouri, and at Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle). I have also been a volunteer astronomer at the former Ohio State University Radio Observatory, been stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), and have taken flying lessons.

I have a variety of publications including books, research published in scientific journals, and in newspapers and magazines–such as having been a correspondent for Popular Mechanics magazine with byline articles and photographs in the science and technology sections. My listings as a scientist include: Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in the Midwest, and Who’s Who in Frontier Science and Technology. One of my recent books, Uncle: My Journey with John Purdue published by the Purdue University Press, is on a historical subject.

In the 1990s, I joined several UFO groups. I served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000), was a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy and a field investigator for both MUFON and the Center for UFO Studies. I co-edited eight MUFON symposium proceedings, have been a State Section Director for Ohio MUFON, was a founding member of the Mid-Ohio Research Associates (MORA) and its journal editor, and have published UFO material in books and magazines–including scientific journals. As an investigator, I conducted many studies and in these I met numerous fascinating people with amazing accounts.

PM: How and when did you first become interested in the UFO phenomenon?

I have always slightly paid attention to the subject because of a number of events that happened in my family from an early time. For one example, an aunt in West Virginia would write letters to my mother describing UFO events. Some events happened even before we had heard of UFOs–in one case, an aunt in West Virginia talked about small glowing objects that sometimes flew through their house. However my parents were conservative, Middle–American, farmers and did not allow us to even speak about the subject, thus, any interest was repressed. This made me a little sensitive to the idea of government cover-up, also.

I was also quite fortunate in the places I lived – such as Ohio, Nevada, and Washington DC – have been heavily involved in the UFO scene. For example, in Ohio are WPAFB and Battelle where the best-known studies took place. The DIA has been important in UFO study and some think that is the agency that began to investigate UFOs after Project Blue Book was closed.

PM: Have you ever had a personal UFO sighting at all?

Several events have drawn my attention. For one, I sometimes visited people who lived in the Davis Mountains in Texas that overlooked Marfa, which is known for the Marfa Lights. One night I saw and videotaped for about half an hour a large bright light over the town of Marfa that would turn on and off. Later I called the airport and they had nothing to report, but they would have been closed that late at night.

In another instance, while living in Missouri, my Mother in Ohio called to ask if I had just heard a strange sound. I thought this was quite odd and asked if my parents had just developed dementia. Later when I moved back to Ohio, I found information about this October 11, 1973 event. Not only had there been a strange noise, but a sudden wave of UFO reports happening at the same time. With the help of the State of Ohio seismologist Mike Hansen, I studied the noise. It was extremely widespread and much larger than a sonic boom or similar event. I was able to publish information about this sound in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (“Investigation of a Sound Heard over a Wide Area,” Ohio Journal Science 87(2), 1987: 11). I still don’t know what caused the sound. I also wondered why my parents had the strange mental reaction to it and wondered if others did.

PM: Has being an academic helped you in your research of the UFO phenomenon?

Yes, for example a Battelle co-worker and I were the first to show smoking gun evidence that UFO materials research may have taken place there. I also make some smoking gun discoveries while working in other places, for example at the DIA and at WPAFB. Being in the scientific field has made this possible. I worked in several of the institutions that were the most involved in UFO research, the DIA, Battelle, and WPAFB.

Being an academic has helped me in other ways. For example, I have been able to publish pieces about UFOs in scientific journals, and think this helps to establish the credibility of UFO study. I’ve spent much time interviewing not only witnesses, but people at random. In one case, after a sighting had been reported in the newspapers, I began to interview other people in that general location and published the results, “Survey of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Reports in Delaware County, Ohio.” Ohio Journal of Science 87.1 (1987): 24-26. One impressive result was that there appeared to be many more possible sightings than reports. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty of reporting these events, UFOlogy has been slow to advance and is still the subject of ridicule.

In addition, having training in statistics and experimental methods, I am able to evaluate the scientific experiments that have been done. It has helped me in interviewing witnesses, because I can ask questions that might be useful in scientific understanding. It makes me more aware of what might be called hard evidence and how to collect it, also.

PM: Could you explain how your new book UFOs TODAY first came about.

I joined several UFO groups in the 1990s and began to investigate sightings. I also became an editor of such publications as the MUFON symposium proceedings, and a local publication, the Ohio UFO Notebook. My field investigations gave me more of a perspective on UFOlogy than I would have from simply reading books. I discovered that the sightings that contained the most detail, often did not necessarily match the general idea of flying saucers as disc shaped craft. There were all kinds of unusual sightings, which along with my childhood exposure to the subject, made me think that the phenomena is much more complex than generally presented. I reported on many of these odd instances, thus, I already had them written up. Later the idea of writing a book struck me.

PM: Whilst compiling your research for your new book is there any one piece of evidence that for you really stands out?

Some of the most amazing to me have been ones that included interaction and ones such as lengthy events where authorities were notified, came, and even took part in the sightings. The authorities were often as mystified as the observers. For example, one sighting near Logan, Ohio, was of objects above a cornfield. These would blink on and off and move around. They were interactive with people. One followed a car. Authorities were notified, the event was reported on newscasts and TV, and police and other people came out to watch. Airplanes began to fly over in a grid pattern, although no one knew where they came from–the agency didn’t contact anyone. The objects remained interactive and one flew up to an airplane. A second sighting occurred the very night after another investigator and I had interviewed the witnesses.

Others have been abduction events, such as several that were linked with the October 11, 1973, sound that I investigated.

Dr. Irena Scott

(Credit: Irena Scott/Philip Mantle)

PM: What do you say to those that remain skeptical with regards to the UFO subject?

The term UFO carries considerable baggage. People generally link it with little green or gray men in space ships, or even the Loch Ness Monster. People ask each other whether they believe in it. This is because in general the idea is associated with alien visitation; people are asking whether they believe UFOs come from space. However the phenomena actually consists of many credible empirical observations such as of balls of light that can change to different forms; objects that appear and disappear, go through walls, merge and separate; and groups of lights that come together to form humanoid appearing entities. Others include objects of incredible size and speed, poltergeist-like activity, large and small UFOs, magnetic and radiation effects, abduction phenomena, thought control, and telepathy, for a few. Because of this, the phenomenon often doesn’t fit the profile of pilots and space ships, but of something vastly different from us. Such observations suggest that this data also might be investigated using different paradigms than our nuts and bolts ideas of space ships, such as by using quantum mechanical theories, or the idea that the phenomena might not be molecular as we are, or other ideas. I think new ways and different paradigms of science are needed to study it.

Another reason for the skepticism is that government has deliberately created it. Not only does it cover up, but it appears to use brainwashing techniques that produce skepticism rather than scientific examination. For example, there is some evidence that in even the very earliest reports some form of cover-up may have been active. The government has manipulated the results scientific studies, such as the one done by Battelle, to show that they found noting when in fact they did. In other cases it has set up panels that purported to scientifically examine the subject, but instead used them to debunk the phenomena, such as those of Robertson and Condon. It has actively set up debunking campaigns to plant outlandish UFO claims in the media to make UFO reports sound ridiculous. The Condon Report summary cautioned teachers to discourage any interest of pupils in UFOs, because such study would be harmful to their development. So if UFOs do not exist, how would an interest in them harm pupils and why should pupils be brainwashed? Why expend large amounts of money to lie and cover-up the phenomena, if it doesn’t exist. Such activities would certainly help the UFO phenomena by causing people to not take it seriously, thus helping it to hide its activities. In addition, UFO phenomena may be quite complex, thus one even wonders exactly what governments are covering up.

PM: In your opinion, how do we keep moving forward with UFO research?

I think numerous observations indicate this important phenomenon is much more complex that just space ships. I think it would be well to have statisticians go over the best UFO event data with the best developments in statistics to see what treads, or even significant results, can be found. I also think that as knowledge of people’s family trees and genetic studies are improving that one might search to see if there are any genetic similarities in people having sightings. Also people may not really understand what the phenomena is and that it might be much more complex that space ships from other worlds. Thus, I think that examining it for proof that we have visitors from space, or studying the propulsion systems and that sort of thing may not be as valuable as thought. For example, in both scientific experiments and in many reports there are mental aspects that are very difficult to understand. I think people need ways to study this element. I also think that people are interpreting the phenomena using Newtonian physics ideas, but need to study the possibility that the quantum theory elements may be involved in the phenomena. Other methods might be those of Dr. Harley Rutledge, who set up a study area with observing stations in an area of many sightings. His design may have resulted in the best scientific study ever done. He was even able to examine interactive behavior. Moreover, numerous reports have shown that the phenomenon is interactive, or even seems to put on a show, but witnesses in general are not directly contacted. This should also be studied.

END.

One of the most controversial aspects of this book has of course been the testimony of former US Deputy Sheriff Charles Forgus (deceased).  He claims that he was a witness to the UFO crash at Roswell in 1947. There is no way this can be verified of course and his testimony is simply being put into the public domain for further scrutiny. In my opinion the author is to be congratulated on treating such possibly controversial testimony in an open and honest way. Obviously efforts are continuing to try and obtain more information about Charles Forgus and his testimony with a variety of researchers involved and organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. It will be interesting to see what they uncover.

{ http://www.openminds.tv }

Although the space programs of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos garner much of the news regarding the privatization of space, Las Vegas real estate mogul Robert Bigelow is another important eccentric billionaire who has entered the scene. He has gotten a moderate amount of publicity throughout the years, in comparison to his colleagues, but an interesting fact about Bigelow the others do not have is that he is also a UFO enthusiast. Bigelow has never shied away of questions regarding his paranormal interests, and he was not shy about answering 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan’s questions on UFOs in an interview last Sunday.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities by the company’s President Robert Bigelow on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas.
(Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The 60 Minutes interview was focused on Bigelow’s efforts in the space industry, but UFOs came up, and Bigelow was not fazed. The short UFO segment went like this…

Logan: “Do you believe in aliens?”

Bigelow: “I’m absolutely convinced. That’s all there is to it.”

Logan: “Do you also believe that UFOs have come to Earth?”

Bigelow: “There has been and is an existing presence, an ET presence. And I spent millions and millions and millions ― I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject.”

Logan: “Is it risky for you to say in public that you believe in UFOs and aliens?”

Bigelow: “I don’t give a damn. I don’t care.”

Logan: “You don’t worry that some people will say, ‘Did you hear that guy, he sounds like he’s crazy’?”

Bigelow: “I don’t care. It’s not gonna make a difference. It’s not gonna change reality of what I know.”

Bigelow’s interests in space travel and UFOs seem to go hand in hand. This is something I can relate to, because I feel my dreams of traveling in space have spurred my interest in UFOs as well. In an interview in Bloomberg in 2013, Bigelow says it was in 1999 that he decided it was time to act on his interests in space.

“I had some money to work with, and I felt that the clock had already ticked along quite a ways, and if I were gonna do something, I’d better fish or cut bait,” Bigelow told Bloomberg.

Artist rendition of the Bigelow Aerospaces inflatable space module that is now in orbit.

(image credit: Bigelow Aerospace)

During his research for the best approach to get involved, Bigelow discovered a NASA program called TransHab that was on the verge of losing funding. TransHab was an inflatable base for Mars that would serve as a habitat for astronauts.

A NASA administrator tried to save the TransHab project by shopping it around to private corporations. Bigelow attended these meetings. “I had no employees at that time. I was just there as me,” he told Bloomberg.

None of the corporations showed interest, but Bigelow loved the concept. That is when he formed Bigelow Aerospace, bought 50 acres of land in an industrial park in Las Vegas and hired some engineers. Now, 18 years later, Bigelow Aerospace has an inflatable habitat attached to the International Space Station.

It is an exciting story, made even more exciting, at least for me, given Bigelow’s history in the study of anomalous phenomenon, including UFOs. By the time he had started Bigelow Aerospace, Bigelow had already had years of UFO and paranormal studies under his belt.

Bigelow Aerospace HQ in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

(Credit: Bigelow Aeropsace)

Bigelow says the impetus for his fascination with UFOs was a sighting his grandparents had. Bloomberg wrote…

One night in May 1947, his maternal grandparents were driving down the remote Kyle Canyon highway, returning to Las Vegas after a trip to the mountains, when they saw in the sky ahead something they thought was an airplane on fire. But as it drew closer, they realized it was a huge and unidentifiable oval object, glowing bright red; when the terrified couple pulled over to the side of the road, it bore down on them, finally filling their field of vision, before at the last second executing an abrupt 90-degree turn and disappearing. Bigelow heard about the incident years later, from his grandmother; his grandfather never liked to talk about what he’d seen. “He was still bothered by it,” he says, “because they both thought they were going to die that night.

Although Bigelow had an interest in space and the paranormal, the paranormal is where Bigelow applied his vast resources first. In 1995, he founded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS). Similar to how he started Bigelow Aerospace, Bigelow first enlisted a group of scientists, including former astronaut Edgar Mitchell, to help him take a serious look into anomalous phenomenon. His board consisted mostly of PhDs.

NIDS wrote articles and reports on more than just UFOs. Crop circles and mysterious animal mutilations were a couple of examples of other phenomenon they looked into. All of their reports were posted on their website.

One of the most famous investigations conducted by NIDS was of a mysterious ranch in Utah dubbed the “Skinwalker Ranch.” NIDS lead scientist Colm Kelleher and Las Vegas investigative reporter George Knapp wrote the book Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah covering the many extraordinary experiences residents and scientists had on the ranch.

The Bigelow Aerospace BEAM module, currently on the ISS.

(Credit: NASA)

Retired Army Intelligence Colonel and defense consultant Dr. John Alexander, a NIDS team member, can be seen in the video below discussing their findings on the ranch.

NIDS closed in 2004. However, that was not the end of Bigelow’s dabbling in UFO research. He quietly moved this work over to Bigelow Aerospace. He established Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). BAASS made connections with the FAA, who claims to not be interested in taking UFO reports, so pilots could send their reports to BAASS.

BAASS also attempted to partner with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the largest civilian UFO investigation group and other organizations. I say attempted, because the relationship was short lived.

You would think that UFO researchers would be excited for someone with Bigelow’s resources to invest in UFO research. However, UFOs can be a funny business, full of paranoia and jealousy. As much as serious researchers did appreciate his efforts, others accused Bigelow of stealing and hiding information.

Jesse Ventura’s TV show Conspiracy Theory did an episode trying to expose Bigelow’s alleged UFO cover-ups. I got a call from one of their producers who wanted me on the show. She said she wanted to talk about how Bigelow had secret satellites that were watching people and other silly stories. I told her none of it was true, but that I would be more than happy to talk about his real history in UFO research.  Needless to say, I was not included in the show.

One of the conspiracy theories with the most legs is the one about Bigelow trying to steal MUFON data. I have a unique insight into the attempted partnership between MUFON and BAASS, because I was a functional director with MUFON at the time and their official spokesperson.

Put simply, the deal was that BAASS would fund a special investigation group that could be deployed quickly and BAASS would also fund any analysis that would need to be conducted. MUFON was also tasked with supplying sighting information to BAASS. However, and this was clear between all parties, MUFON was in control of the information and investigations.

Robert Bigelow, with William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration.

(Credit: Ledyard King/GANNETT)

Although BAASS got information early, they were not given any information that was not also shared with the public. In fact, I had access to that information, and some of those cases and their results are featured on OpenMinds.tv and in Open Minds Magazine. One example is a case in New York in which a vehicle exhibited electromagnetic effects after an incident allegedly involving a UFO.

There were a few areas where things went awry. One issue, which I had expressed concern early on, was due to all of the MUFON directors needing to sign non-disclosure agreements. I advised that we make it public we were signing the disclosure before we did so, but the board did not agree. So I decided not to sign the disclosure. I did not want to be held responsible if some information leaked, and, since I was the spokesperson, I also did not want to have to walk on eggshells when speaking publicly. However, the only information I was not privy to were names.

Scientists and other professionals often do not want to use their names in relation to UFO investigations so as not to risk damaging their reputations. I have to use anonymous sources in stories on OpenMind.tv for that reason at times.

Another issue was MUFON’s slow response times. BAASS often wanted MUFON to deploy investigators more quickly. However, being volunteers, MUFON investigators had to get time off work and deal with other logistics that delayed investigations. In one case, because MUFON investigators were delayed, BAASS was given permission to send people first. This incident started rumors that, like the men in black, BAASS personnel were secretly shaking down UFO witnesses before MUFON could get there. I investigated this thoroughly, and can confidently say this was not the case.

Robert Bigelow (left) and guest with a model of a proposed Lunar base.

(Credit: Bigelow Aerospace)

These problems, along with internal disputes, tanked the project.

Either way, having been on the inside, I can say all parties involved attempted to work together in a spirit of furthering UFO research. Personally, I greatly appreciate the work Bigelow has sponsored.

I also appreciate Bigelow’s courage when addressing the UFO issue in his interviews with major media outlets. He does not do UFO interviews often. He has a great relationship with Knapp, whom occasionally hosts the late night radio program Coast to Coast AM. With Knapp as the host, Bigelow has appeared on the program to talk UFOs.

In an interview on Coast to Coast AM in 2013, Knapp asked Bigelow how he felt the topic of UFOs could be taken more seriously. Bigelow replied that he had little faith in the government being the first to speak to the topic. Instead, he identified two other areas where the phenomenon will likely be further exposed.  First, the phenomenon exposes itself, and second is that the media could cover the topic more.

“My hats off to the phenomenon for having had so much interaction with pilots and planes, but we still cannot have definability, or get this into the media as an establish fact,” Bigelow explained. “That is amazing. The phenomena itself can do this.”

Obviously, we do not have control to motivate any possible anomalous phenomenon to present itself more publicly. However, we do have access to the media. Bigelow is optimistic about media coverage of UFOs.

Bigelow told Knapp, “Ever since we announced about our craft that will be attached to the space station, every media person who has interviewed me has also asked about UFOs. They are not just trying to character assassinate me, but they are genuinely interested and want to know. That is a good thing and that is why we are seeing a change here.”

Case in point, in the 60 Minutes interview, Bigelow was not ridiculed for his beliefs. Many UFO researchers have been expressing in social media that they feel Bigelow’s comments on 60 Minutes will go a long way in helping the public take the topic seriously.

Only time will tell if his 60 Minutes appearance will make a difference, but one thing the interview does reinforce is the fact that Bigelow’s interest in UFOs has not diminished over the years.  It seems the media’s interest in Bigelow is also not going anywhere, which means we are sure to hear a lot more about Bigelow and his space and UFO research efforts.

Click here for more about Bigelow on OpenMind.tv.

{http://www.openminds.tv/ }

Hij zei niet verrast te zijn dat Donald Trump de banden met Moskou nog niet heeft hersteld, net zoals Obama er niet in slaagde om Guantanamo te sluiten.

Amerikaanse presidenten komen en gaan terwijl het politieke landschap onveranderd blijft, aldus Poetin.

Donkere pakken

De bureaucratische machine legt een Amerikaanse president strikte beperkingen op zodra hij aan de macht komt, stelde hij.

“Als een persoon wordt verkozen tot president komen de mensen met koffers langs,” zei Poetin. “Ze zijn net gekleed en dragen donkere pakken. Deze mensen vertellen wat er gaat gebeuren. Zo gaat het elke keer.”

Geen enkele regering kan hieraan ontsnappen, legde de president uit.

Denkbeeldige bedreigingen

Hij voegde toe dat oud-president Obama ook slachtoffer is geworden van dit systeem en zijn verkiezingsbelofte om de beruchte gevangenis Guantanamo Bay te sluiten, niet kon waarmaken.

Poetin zei verder dat westerse landen moeten stoppen met het verzinnen van denkbeeldige bedreigingen uit Rusland.

“Jullie jagen jezelf angst aan,” zei hij. “Jullie vertrouwen op onbetrouwbare gegevens.”

Onvermijdelijke bondgenoot

Het voornaamste probleem waarmee NAVO-landen geconfronteerd worden, is het terrorisme. De enige manier om dat te bestrijden is door samen te werken, stelde hij.

“En Rusland is daarbij een onvermijdelijke bondgenoot om de globale veiligheid te herstellen,” besloot de Russische president.

Werd John F. Kennedy vermoord vanwege zijn interesse in buitenaards leven? Een geheime memo van de Amerikaanse CIA maakt duidelijk dat de omgelegde president 10 dagen voor zijn dood om inzage vroeg in UFO-documenten.

In een brief geadresseerd aan de CIA-baas vroeg Kennedy om vertrouwelijke documenten over UFO’s en het bestaan van aliens.

De memo is één van de twee brieven aan de Amerikaanse spionagedienst waarin Kennedy om opheldering vraagt.

Bevestigd

De interesse van de president in UFO’s en aliens, zo kort voor zijn dood, strookt met complottheorieën over de moord.

Verhalen dat Kennedy omgelegd zou zijn uit angst dat hij achter de waarheid kwam over het bestaan van aliens, werden bevestigd met het uitlekken van de geheime stukken.

Schrijver William Lester kreeg de documenten voor een boek dat hij heeft geschreven over Kennedy’s interesse in UFO’s.

Duizenden stukjes

De brieven voeden de theorieën dat de CIA veel meer over het bestaan van UFO’s weet dan wat zelfs de ‘machtigste man op aarde’ over UFO’s zou mogen weten.

Kennedy had bovendien gezegd dat hij ‘de CIA in duizenden stukjes wilde versplinteren en deze door de wind laten verjagen’.

In onderstaand fragment uit de nieuwe film Unacknowledged komt de voormalige piloot van JFK aan het woord. Hij onthult wat de vermoorde president wist over UFO’s en aliens.