Lue Elizondo: UFO Files Contradict NASA’s Longstanding Claims

  Lauren Conlin

Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light

Credit: Department of War

The White House’s UFO file release officially kicked off May 8; however, “believers” and lawmakers say the biggest bombshells are still hidden behind closed doors.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration launched a new federal portal dedicated to declassified UFO and UAP material, releasing more than 150 documents, military encounter reports, cockpit videos and intelligence files tied to unexplained aerial phenomena. While technically, there wasn’t any new information included, it signaled a step in the right direction in terms of transparency. 

One prominent voice in the UFO transparency movement, Lue Elizondo, said the recent disclosure effort may not have delivered the “explosive revelations” many expected, but argued the release still marked a major turning point; particularly regarding NASA’s long-denied possession of historical UAP material connected to the Apollo missions. He pointed specifically to newly released lunar photographs and audio recordings, saying they appear to contradict decades of public statements from NASA claiming it held no significant UAP-related evidence in its archives.

Credit: war.gov/UFO

NASA’s own UAP FAQ page and its 2023 UAP report rollout, read, “NASA does not actively search for UAP.” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also stated in 2023, “The NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin…but we don’t know what these UAP are” while acknowledging the “global fascination.” The UFO files did, in fact, include UAP evidence in the NASA-labeled filings. Again, from audio recordings to testimony regarding UAP sightings from pilots and scientists in a UFO and Defense Report.

Elizondo, Former Director of AATIP, Disclosure and Transparency Advocate and author, told Los Angeles, “I was happy to see the Administration take this topic seriously and begin the process of increasing public transparency. Although some of the information may seem less than what was expected, of particular significance were the lunar photos taken by NASA during the Apollo missions. For decades NASA has said it had nothing related to UAP in its holdings and we now know that was not accurate. Between photographs and audio recordings, it’s apparent that NASA does have some historical information regarding UAP.”

The White House has called the rollout an “unprecedented step toward transparency.” But online speculation has now exploded over whether a much larger “Phase 2” disclosure is coming next.

“There’s definitely more coming,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna previously indicated while pushing for the release of dozens of classified military UAP videos requested earlier this year by Congress. Those 46 videos, believed to include military encounters and infrared footage, were notably absent from the first batch of records released to the public. Luna had requested these videos from the Department of War’s Pete Hegseth in March, with an April 14 deadline. The deadline was missed due to an “administrative error,” and there has been no indication of when the videos will surface.

The initial disclosure dump included pilot sightings, Apollo-era transcripts, military reports describing strange “orb” activity, FBI memoranda and previously unseen footage involving unidentified objects near Japan and over the Pacific.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration wants Americans to have “unprecedented transparency” into decades of government-held UAP material, while White House officials insisted the public can now “make up their own minds.”

Still, UFO researchers and online sleuths quickly noticed many of the released documents had already circulated in fragments for years within the UFO community, claiming that the first rollout was more symbolic than revelatory.

The White House has not officially confirmed a “Phase 2” timeline, but lawmakers involved in the disclosure effort have suggested additional releases could occur within weeks. But does the President have the ability to release the classified information that could change the world? Elizondo isn’t so sure.

One of the few photographs of Neil Armstrong on the moon shows him working on his space craft on the lunar surface.

Credit: Photo by NASA/Newsmakers

He suggested that any resistance to larger UAP disclosure efforts may be happening behind the scenes within the intelligence community; internal opposition could be slowing or obstructing the administration’s push for transparency despite public promises from the White House.

“As for the greater effort to release information, it appears elements within our intelligence community are very much resisting the President’s order and undermining the DNI.  I remain hopeful; however, that the President’s will can overcome these roadblocks,” said Elizondo.

For now, the mystery appears far from over.

{ https://lamag.com/ }

Dean Fassnidge, State Director, MUFON Oregon

The McMinnville, Oregon UFO Festival began in 2000 to commemorate an important event in local UFO history, the Trent farm photos. It is celebrated each year around the date of the sighting with parades, social events, and scientific presentations.

Speakers this year included Dr. Matthew Szydagis, Dr. Rebecca Charbonneau (SETI), Kelly

Chase, Jason Martell (Ancient Aliens), George Knapp, and Jeremy Corbell.

• Each year, the Oregon MUFON chapter also has prominent exposure in the main lecture hall to answer public questions and promote our organization. At the same time, we make some great connections with others in our field. This event is truly exceptional and should be a “must” for any enthusiast.

A little background history. It can be argued that the first documented UFO case in Oregon history is known as the Trent Sighting, occurring on May 11, 1950, above the Trent family farm located between McMinnville and Sheridan, Oregon.

Evelyn Trent observed a disc-shaped object maneuvering in the sky above their farm.

She alerted her husband, Paul, and they saw an object and estimated it to be about 20 to 30 feet in diameter. Paul went back into the house, grabbed his Kodak camera, and took two photographs before the object flew off to the west. Immediately, they alerted their in-laws, who lived next to the property, and their father-in-law observed the object as well.

Paul Trent initially thought it was a secret military aircraft and kept the sighting to himself. He finished his roll of film, containing previously taken pictures around the farm, including pictures of his family’s Mother’s Day picnic celebration.

This action in itself indirectly bolsters the legitimacy of the event, and that there was no intent to fabricate the images – they were in the middle of the film roll.

A month later, while talking with his banker, Frank Wortman, and encouraged by his brother Ralph, he mentioned the sighting and his photographs. Mr. Wortman was excited and displayed the photos in his bank’s window in McMinnville.

Shortly thereafter, local reporter Bill Powell convinced Trent to loan him the negatives and ran an article in the McMinnville Telephone-Register newspaper.

On June 9 and 10, 1950, The Oregonian published the photographs. On June 12, the story aired on national news broadcasts, followed by reprints of the photographs in the June 26 issue of Life magazine. The Trents were even flown to New York to appear on the television show, We The People.

Following this national exposure, an investigator from Project Blue Book came to the farm to interview the Trents, in addition to investigators from the FBI.

In 1969, as we know, the Air Force’s Condon Commission published a report, claiming an exhaustive UFO study, and easily dismissing many accounts. However, it was stated that the Trent photographs were “difficult to explain conventionally” and concluded that the photographs were genuine. Following the conclusion of the Condon report, the negatives were returned to UPI, and in 1970, they were sent back to the

News-Register (formerly the Telephone Register) in McMinnville. When they arrived back at the paper, 20 years later, the negatives had been tampered with considerably.

Someone had cropped the negatives, trimming down the edges and reducing their overall size so that parts of the original image were missing. Despite ongoing attempts by Philip Klass and others to debunk the photos, in 1975, Dr. Bruce Maccabee of MUFON, a renowned optical-photo analyst, made an intensive study of the negatives and concluded that they were not the result of some kind of trickery.

Interesting Side Note:

In 1999, a longtime resident of McMinnville saw the pictures and articles commemorating the Trent UFO sighting at the newly opened Hotel Oregon. Wishing to remain anonymous, she validated the sighting by telling her story. On May 11, 1950, she and a group of her fellow Linfield College students heard stories of a recent UFO encounter nearby. They went to the area of the present site of the McMinnville airport and saw dozens of cars pulled off the road, presently on Three Mile Lane. Following the direction people were looking, they too observed a “steel gray, metal saucer” floating just above tree level.

Their encounter went unreported.

{ https://mufon.com/ }

Declassified UFO files: Video of Lake Huron encounter with F-16 near UP released by Pentagon

The Brief

• The second set of newly declassified UFO files includes an incident of an F-16c encounter over Lake Huron from 2023.
• On video a military jet shoots down what appeared to be a weather balloon object on camera before a white circular object appears.
• The object floats around the crosshairs of the gun camera before eventually disappearing.

FOX 2 - The Pentagon's newest release on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Friday includes a mysterious incident over Lake Huron near Michigan's Upper Peninsula after a shoot-down a few years ago.

Timeline:

The revelation comes from a Feb. 12, 2023 incident which was part of a second set of declassified files. 

A newly declassified video shown in infrared, depicts an object appearing to be a weather balloon shot down – moments before a bright white object appears to the right of the crosshairs.

The bright white object appears to float around the crosshairs on video before eventually disappearing.

In the declassified release, a 46-second video with redactions shows the encounter, labeled "USAF ANG F-16C [CALLSIGN] Shoots Down UAP over Lake Huron with [Weapon System], 12 Feb 2023," from an infrared sensor "aboard a U.S. military platform operating within the United States Northern Command area of responsibility in 2023." 

"At the 11-second mark, the sensor focuses on an area of contrast in the center of its field-of-view," the video description says. "At the 20-second mark, the footage appears to depict a kinetic interaction between two distinct areas of contrast, with the initial subject of the footage fragmenting in a radial displacement pattern that suggests a high-energy event."

The file release does not speculate on the origin of the object, saying it was for informational purposes only.

Two screenshots of what appeared to be a balloon shot down in the moments before the bright object appeared:

Before and after pictures captured from DOD released video.

"Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance," the statement said.

More than 60 new files ranging from government documents, military surveillance videos and audio transcriptions of people reporting unexplained orbs, disc and fireballs.  The review and declassification is being handled by the Department of Defense, with support from the Director of National Intelligence. 

Most of the documents, videos and files are from unresolved cases, some previously released, with no definitive determination on the nature of what was observed. 

Dig deeper:

The Feb. 12 incident happened amid a flap of weather balloon sightings, including one which was labeled a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.

The head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command declined to give any details about what it was, but in retrospect was likely commenting on the balloon, and not the balloon-like object.

Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of the United States Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, did not categorize those objects as balloons publicly at the time.

"I haven’t ruled out anything," VanHerck said at the time when asked if the objects could be aliens or something else extraterrestrial. 

Related: Mysteries swirl around object shot down over Lake Huron

According to the general, an object was spotted on a radar in Canada the day before. That object then crossed into the U.S. and was spotted over Montana. However, the track was lost. An object spotted in Wisconsin was "likely" the same one as the one seen in Montana.

Featured

article

Unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron -- Everything we know about it

An unidentified object was shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday. It's the fourth object to be shot down by U.S. fighter jets in eight days.

VanHerck said the military prepared to engage the object and watched it pass over Lake Michigan before shooting it down over Lake Huron.

Ominously, in retrospect, when asked at the time if there are potentially more objects flying, VanHerck said "it’s certainly possible," but he could not confirm that.

For more information, click here for the latest batch of files: war.gov/UFO/

Picture captured from DOD released video with red circle added.

The Source: Information for this story is from newly released Pentagon files as well as prior reporting about the Feb. 12, 2023 suspected military weather balloon encounter over Lake Huron.

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DOW-UAP-PR071 | USAF ANG F-16C Shoots Down UAP over Lake Huron | 12 Feb 2023 - DOD 111720731

'UFO SHOT DOWN': US Military F-16 Hits Mystery Object with Missile Over Lake Huron, Iran UAPs

{ https://www.fox2detroit.com/ }

UFO files could ‘backfire’ on Trump, disclosure advocate says

This unsealed Apollo 17 photo is the 'most significant' new UAP release, says Age of Disclosure director

"We are not aware of any human technology that should have been hovering over the moon watching the astronauts in 1972," Dan Farah tells EW.

By Mike Miller

"For decades, UFO disclosure has been a distant object — unidentified and unexplained," senate minority leader Chuck Schumer tweeted. "That’s starting to change. I’ll keep pushing until we land on the truth." 

Dan Farah, who coincidentally produced Spielberg’s Ready Player One years before directing last year’s UAP exposé, The Age of Disclosure, says this is just the beginning. 

Now Prime Video’s most-watched documentary, Age of Disclosure "opened a lot of eyes, not only in the public but inside government," Farah tells Entertainment Weekly.

The Age Of Disclosure/youtube

Exposing what he describes as an "80-year cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life," as well as "a high-stakes secret Cold War race" between the U.S. and "adversary nations to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin," the film featured interviews with 34 senior members of the U.S. legislative, military, and intelligence communities, including then-U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.

"Within three months," Farah says, the film’s release “straight up led to President Trump taking a legitimate historic, unprecedented action to declassify evidence that the U.S. government has of UAP and non-human intelligent life."

Below, Farah gives his reaction to the May 8 releases, including what he finds most compelling, what his sources in the government are telling him behind the scenes, and when we can expect more evidence to be brought forward. 

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: As you predicted in your film and in our previous interviews, the government has begun to release previously classified information on UAPs. Now that you’ve had a chance to go through everything, what's your reaction to what’s been unsealed?

DAN FARAH: When we made The Age of Disclosure, the hope of my interview subjects and me was that it would lead to a national conversation at an unprecedented level and cause the White House to take action. And that's exactly what happened. So I couldn't be prouder of the impact the film has had and this historic disclosure process that it's caused. It was less than a few months after the release of the movie that President Trump issued this historic presidential directive telling federal agencies to declassify evidence of non-human intelligent life and UAP, and that was followed by weeks of his senior cabinet members going to all the federal agencies and branches of the military and demanding that they turn over evidence that they have.

They got a lot of pushback from all the people who have been involved in covering this up, and they still have not gotten all the evidence they have been trying to get on behalf of the American people. But they did get some, and of that, they were able to comfortably declassify a number of UAP videos and images and files related to UAP that had been previously classified.

And you believe there’s more to come? 

When they released this on May 8th, they made it clear that this was just the first tranche of evidence, and it would be a rolling disclosure process, a rolling declassification process of this evidence. And that's because their effort to get the evidence out of all these federal agencies and branches of the military is ongoing and active. And I know a number of senior cabinet members in the current administration are actively working on this on a weekly basis, even people who haven't publicly been associated with this topic. It's a huge priority for the White House. The goal of the film was to bring about mainstream disclosure and drive action by our government, and that's exactly what's happening, so I couldn't be prouder.

Do you feel public sentiment on UAPs has shifted? 

I think the unjustified antiquated stigma that has historically surrounded this topic is dead and gone once and for all. I don't think any intelligent person is now questioning whether this is real, especially after watching The Age of Disclosure. And I think the White House's recent actions pushing disclosure forward also make it clear how real and serious this is.

Department of War

What did you find most surprising in this first tranche? 

I think, hands down, the most significant evidence released in that first tranche on May 8th is an image of what appears to be a triangle craft hovering over the moon during the 1972 Apollo mission. When I was making The Age of Disclosure, a number of high-level officials I interviewed told me they had seen that image but that it had never been released to the public, and they hoped it would eventually get out. 

So when that was included in this first tranche of evidence, I thought that was pretty significant. Certainly, we are not aware of any human technology that should have been hovering over the moon watching the astronauts in 1972, right? It's pretty extraordinary. Additionally, several of the people in my film told me they investigated that image in their official capacities, and when you apply certain filters to that image, there are actually other objects in the same frame that you can't see with the naked eye.

What else stood out to you?

There was a lot of stuff in this. There were old memos, military memos that make it clear that this has been an issue going all the way back to the ‘40s. There are some significant internal military memos that were declassified acknowledging that this isn't manmade technology. But I certainly think the Apollo mission photo is super significant.

I've also been told by senior members of Congress who I've gotten close with that they have been helping the White House identify more evidence, and they're expecting around 40 more UAP videos to be released in the next few weeks.

Department of War

In the doc and in our previous conversations, you’ve described a “tug of war” behind the scenes, where certain members of the intelligence community, government, and military are fighting to keep these documents classified. Do you have hope that the most compelling evidence will be released to the public one day?  

I know as a fact that the elements of the U.S. government that have been involved in gatekeeping this information for the past 80 years are aggressively pushing back against this presidential directive. They are actively fighting it. They do not want to turn over this evidence that they have been holding and gatekeeping. In fact, their goal is to put all this back in a box and bury it for another 80 years.

It's also notably a bipartisan effort. In Congress, it's Congresswoman [Anna Paulina] Luna, Congressman Eric Burlison, and Congressman [Tim] Burchett on the Republican side, and on the Democratic side, it's Congressman [Jared] Moskowitz and Congressman [André] Carson. In the U.S. Senate, it's Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. [Mike] Rounds, Sen. [Kristen] Gillibrand, and then you have the key members of the President's Cabinet all over this. So it's a really unique bipartisan effort at a senior level.

It's safe to say disclosure of UAP and non-human intelligent life has become a national priority.

Department of War

What would you say to skeptics who argue that some or all of the photos and videos in these files could have ordinary, terrestrial explanations? 

Well, all the stuff that they released and labeled as UAP are UAP. They're unidentified anomalous phenomena. I also want to stress that what has been released publicly in this first tranche of evidence barely scratches the surface. That's just like one to 5 percent of the evidence that just a couple of federal agencies have shared. Not every federal agency has turned over the evidence they're supposed to. Not every branch of the military has turned it over. Almost all those documents come from just a couple of federal agencies.

Looking into your crystal ball, when do you think we might get incontrovertible evidence that aliens are among us? 

I think the process has begun, and it's not reversible. I think the White House and Congress are gonna keep fighting their way to the most meaningful evidence, then declassify as much of it as they feel they can safely do without creating threats to national security. And I think we're gonna get to a point of the best evidence eventually being unveiled to the public, and I think we will also get to a point after that where we do finally see a sitting president step to the microphone and tell the world we're not alone in the universe.

Do you worry that the drip of information could turn people more skeptical?

I think we're past being concerned about people who can't accept reality, you know? That's like letting yourself worry about people who think the Earth is flat.

Anything else you want to share about these latest developments? 

I'm really excited for Spielberg's new film Disclosure Day. I certainly would never have made The Age of Disclosure if not for the impact his work had on me. Close Encounters and E.T. are two of my favorite films since I was a child, and especially Close Encounters piqued my curiosity about this topic more than anything, and made me curious about those big questions like, Are we alone in the universe? Does the U.S. government, in fact, know more about this topic than the public does? — which is the common thesis in both E.T. and Close Encounters.

{ https://ew.com/ }

This unsealed Apollo 17 photo is the 'most significant' new UAP release, says Age of Disclosure director

"We are not aware of any human technology that should have been hovering over the moon watching the astronauts in 1972," Dan Farah tells EW.

The Pentagon’s New UFO Files Include Fighter Jets, Orange Orbs, and a Lot of Grainy Footage

The Pentagon released yet another batch of UFO files on Friday. Like the previous release, there’s some weird stuff in here, but not enough to make me question my existence or fear for my life.

This latest release includes 64 files in total: 6 PDFs, 7 audio files, and 51 (!!!) videos. The files that were made public are available via the Pentagon’s UFO website. So, what’s actually in this round? And is there anything worth going out of your way to check out?

Well, it’s jam-packed with a lot of grainy military footage. We’re talking about videos of various UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) captured by military aircraft and sensors. So if you like stuff like that, or miss playing the Nintendo Virtual Boy, this batch of alien stuff is very much for you.

Perhaps the most notable video appears to show a fighter jet shooting down an unidentified object over Lake Huron. That footage, captured in 2023, was recorded during the national balloon panic that followed the Chinese spy balloon drama. Reports suggest that the object may have been a balloon from a hobbyist group, which is pretty funny to think about.

There are more videos from 2018-2023, including some footage from around the Persian Gulf. One 2022 video shows multiple spherical objects moving in and out of the water near a military submarine. Of course, you’re left to your own thoughts and imagination as to what those spherical objects really are.

The Pentagon Released More UFO Files, and the Best One Involves a Helicopter Crew Seeing Orange Orbs

The strangest thing found in this release? A first-hand account from a senior intelligence officer who is still currently serving. In the report, the officer describes being aboard a military helicopter late last year while investigating UFO sightings. According to his account, the crew experienced several close encounters over the course of an hour and even saw countless orange orbs moving around a mountain.

At one point, two large, orange, oval-shaped orbs with bright centers appeared near the helicopter, just above the rotor disk. The officer claims that he and the crew were left “virtually speechless” by the encounter.

Sadly, there is no hard evidence in this batch of files that aliens exist or are currently living among us. But if you’re looking for a dumb distraction from all of the real nonsense going on in the world, the Pentagon’s official UFO website is where the government wants you to go.

{ https://www.vice.com/en }

4 UFOs over Iran in 2022, US Gov File Release, UFO UAP Paranormal Sighting News.

Date of sighting: 8-26-2022

Location of sighting: Iran 

Source: 

• https://www.war.gov/ufo/?releaseDate=Release+02#DOW-UAP-PR050-4-UAP-Formation-Iran-26-Aug-2022-over-water-CALLSIGN

This is a video released by the US gov this week and it's just mind-blowing. The footage shows three UFOs flying side by side moving past Iranian speedboats and another single UFO flying over the boats. Why would aliens care about the military war in Iran? Back in WWI and WWII they say and recorded them too, but they called the foo fighters because they flew along side the military aircraft and ships. Here we get to see them, however the infrared video is poor and less detailed. What everyone is waiting for is...the color video footage close up of a real alien UFO. Something the public can really sink its teeth into. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

RELATED 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

The largest and most powerful rocket in history exploded in a massive fireball after its successful test flight around the Earth Friday night.

Elon Musk's SpaceX declared the launch of Starship 12 a success and noted that the space capsule's explosion in the Indian Ocean was planned as the aerospace company did not plan to reuse the experimental craft.

Starship Flight 12 took off from SpaceX's launching pad in Starbase, Texas Friday night as the company began critical trials before NASA uses this third version of Starship to take astronauts to the moon and beyond. 

While the craft successfully made it into space, the launch was not perfect, as Starship lost the use of one of its six new 'Raptor' engines. It was forced to burn its remaining five engines longer to compensate.

However, the unmanned rocket was still able to complete most of its planned mission, successfully surviving reentry and completing its landing maneuvers before splashing down in the ocean and erupting into a ball of flame.

Flight 12 tested Version 3 of Starship, the company's latest design which featured several improvements based on lessons from earlier test flights, including more efficient and powerful Raptor 3 engines, better fuel systems and more heat protection.

Musk and his team are eyeing this version of Starship as the one NASA astronauts will use as their lunar lander for the Artemis program. It will carry astronauts to the moon’s surface as soon as 2028 when Artemis IV is scheduled to take off.

SpaceX’s long-term dream for Starship V3 is to send both humans and cargo to Mars to build the first self-sustaining city on the Red Planet. Starship was designed to be refueled in orbit so it can make the long journey to Mars.

SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22

SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22

SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22

Pictured: Starship 12 splashes down in the Indian Ocean after a successful test flight on May 22

As planned, Starship 12 exploded once it touched down in the Indian Ocean 66 minutes after launching from Starbase, Texas

Friday's test flight was a suborbital mission, meaning it did not go into full orbit, and was said by SpaceX to be the first pivotal step in testing how the new Starship's hardware behaves under real flight conditions.

Starship 12 featured two key parts, the 'Super Heavy,' the bottom booster stage with 33 powerful Raptor engines, and the Starship, the upper part sitting on top of the booster that has its own engines. The spacecraft is what would carry astronauts to space.

Overall, the rocket stood as tall as a 50-story building, making it the biggest and most powerful rocket in history.

After a successful liftoff from Starbase, Texas at 6.30pm ET, the Super Heavy booster separated after a few minutes of flight, conducted a 'boostback' burn to slow itself down and then performed a landing burn to splash down gently in the Gulf of America.

Unlike previous SpaceX missions, this rocket booster did not try to land back at the launch site as the company's other reusable rockets have.

Meanwhile, the upper Starship stage continued into space, where it successfully deployed 22 dummy Starlink satellites 20 minutes into the flight.

Cameras inside the craft captured the moment as each communications panel slid out of the cargo hatch and was sent off into orbit as the SpaceX crew back on Earth cheered and chanted 'USA' from the company's control center in Texas.

SpaceX did note during the flight that a scheduled restart of one of the craft's engines while in space was cancelled due to the loss of one of Starship's six engines during launch.

Starship 12 successfully reached space despite the loss of one of its six engines on May 22

The SpaceX spacecraft successfully launched 22 fake Starlink satellites (Pictured) during its tests in space

Pictured: SpaceX tests Starship's heat shields during reentry maneuvers on May 22

SpaceX had planned for Starship 12 to be destroyed on reentry as they stressed the craft's heat shields, but the rocket survived and exploded once landing in the Indian Ocean

Flight 12 made it through Earth's atmosphere intact despite SpaceX testing its heat shields by deliberately removing one panel to see how the craft would hold up under such stress.

Despite the stress, cameras captured the moment the rocket passed through the atmosphere without burning up and then adjusted its course to reach its final landing spot in the Indian Ocean. The whole flight took just over 66 minutes.

Starship 12 was initially set to launch on Thursday, but the mission was postponed after several attempts to fix a mechanical issue just 40 seconds from takeoff.

Musk revealed after the failed attempt that a hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract from the craft.

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

Scientists have managed to hatch live chicks from a fully artificial egg – marking a de-extinction breakthrough that paves the way for resurrecting long-dead species.

Experts at Colossal Biosciences, the company planning to bring back the woolly mammoth, have created the first ever shell-less incubation system that mirrors a natural egg 'as much as possible'.

The team were able to take early bird embryos, place them into an artificial shell and incubate them for 18 days while they developed.

Once the chicks were ready, they hatched from their cosy home and are now living happy, healthy lives.

The company said the development marks a critical milestone for their plans to de-extinct the South Island giant moa – an enormous bird that stood at 11.8ft (3.6 metres) tall and weighed 507lbs (230kg).

It also provides a 'stepping stone' for the eventual development of an artificial womb.

Colossal Biosciences said: 'This device changes everything. We're showing the world that we can grow this whole bird in an incubator outside of an eggshell.

'It's a complete game-changer. Life finds a way.'

Experts have created the first ever shell-less incubation system that mirrors a natural egg 'as much as possible'

The artificial egg features a 'window' on the top, allowing for real-time visibility into every stage of embryonic development

The artificial egg device consists of a 3D-printed strong outer shell structured like a lattice to provide protection and rigidity.

Within this layer is a silicone-based membrane that allows oxygen to diffuse into the system.

Over the last 40 years there have been several attempts to create artificial eggs, but they required supplementation with large volumes of pure oxygen which caused DNA damage and impacted long-term animal health.

The permeable membrane of this new design allows oxygen to naturally transfer from the atmosphere into the egg.

This mirrors the real-life process of oxygen entering eggshells through microscopic pores.

'How do we replicate nature but also improve upon it?' Colossal said. 'This is the first time the core engineering problem of artificial eggs has been solved.'

The artificial egg also features a 'window' on the top, allowing for real-time visibility into every stage of embryonic development.

Colossal said its device is compatible with standard commercial incubators, is manufacturable at scale and is adaptable to eggs at any size.

One of the chicks emerging from its artificial egg. Colossal said it marks a de-extinction breakthrough that paves the way for resurrecting long-dead species

Once the chicks were ready, they hatched from their cosy home and are now living happy, healthy lives

The artificial egg 

• Strong outer shell provides protection and rigidity
• Inside this is a permeable membrane which allows oxygen to diffuse into the system
• 'Window' on the top allows real–time visibility into every stage of embryonic development
• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

To begin the process, experts collected real chicken eggs right after they had been laid.

An embryology team thoroughly examined each egg and selected the embryos that looked most likely to hatch.

They then cracked the egg open very gently and transferred the contents into the artificial egg, which was then placed in an incubator.

Scientists 'sprinkled' in a nutrient that helped the embryo continue to develop. Roughly 18 days later the chick started tapping against the egg to indicate it was ready to hatch.

After hatching, all chicks were put in groups and eventually moved to a 'graduation pen' outside before being relocated to a large farm.

Colossal said its design could also benefit endangered animals at a time when more than half of bird species are in decline.

'Imagine a future where we have hundreds or thousands of eggs in laboratories growing critically endangered species,' it said.

'These are the stepping stones that an artificial womb will be built on.'

The device consists of a 3D-printed strong outer shell structured like a lattice to provide protection and rigidity

Colossal said its device is compatible with standard commercial incubators, is manufacturable at scale and is adaptable to eggs at any size

How the artificial egg was used to hatch a live chick

1. Collect real chicken eggs right after they have been laid
2. Embryology team thoroughly examine each egg and select those that look most likely to hatch
3. Crack the egg open very gently and transfer the contents into the artificial egg
4. Artificial egg is placed in incubator. Scientists 'sprinkle' in a nutrient that helps the embryos continue to develop
5. 18 days later the chick starts tapping against the egg to indicate it is ready to hatch
6. Chicks put in groups and eventually move to a 'graduation pen' outside before being relocated to a large farm

The company said its plan to bring back the South Island giant moa has presented an incubation challenge unlike any other species in their portfolio.

Moa eggs are estimated to have been approximately 80 times the volume of a chicken egg and roughly eight times the volume of an emu egg, placing them entirely beyond the capacity of any available avian surrogate.

No living bird is large enough to serve as a host. A size-scaled artificial egg, therefore, is critical for the de-extinction of this species.

Colossal Biosciences will use genes extracted from moa bones to engineer modern birds until they very closely resemble the extinct species, which disappeared from New Zealand roughly 500 to 600 years ago.

This is the same technique that was used to transform grey wolves into animals closely resembling dire wolves.

The edited embryos will then be placed into an artificial egg to develop and eventually hatch.

'We've created a novel shell-less culture system that is fully scalable and biologically accurate,' said Professor Andrew Pask, chief biology officer at Colossal. 'It's a new system designed for long-term, healthy avian embryo development.

'The genome is the blueprint, but without a place to build, it's meaningless. The artificial egg gives us that platform: controlled, scalable, and completely independent of a surrogate.'

The company said the development marks a critical milestone for their plans to de-extinct New Zealand's South Island giant moa – an enormous bird that stood at 3.6 metres (11.8ft) tall and weighed 230kg (507lbs)

The moa went extinct in the 15th century due to hunting and forest clearing by the first Māori settlers. Colossal Biosciences said restoring this megafauna species will help restore New Zealand's ecosystem 

Some outside experts have cautioned that there is no published scientific paper along the announcement, which limits scientific scrutiny. However, others hailed the advance as an 'impressive act of bioengineering'.

Carles Lalueza-Fox, director of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona and a specialist in DNA recovery techniques, said: 'Colossal has succeeded in developing an artificial egg, something for which there are no comparable precedents.

'The most significant breakthrough lies in the permeability of the membrane, which allows gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) to pass through.'

Alongside the moa, he said the device could be used to de-extinct other birds such as the Carolina parakeet.

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• The ambitious plan to 'de-extinct' the bluebuck: Company attempting to bring back the woolly mammoth sets its sights on a species of antelope that died out 230 years ago

Dusko Ilic, Professor of Stem Cell Sciences at King's College London, said: 'Recreating an extinct species such as the moa would require far more than an incubation platform, including accurate genome reconstruction, appropriate development, physiology, behaviour, welfare and ecological context.

'Even then, the result would likely be an engineered proxy rather than a true restoration of the extinct species.

'The most credible translational value may therefore lie in applications such as embryo rescue, endangered bird conservation and controlled generation of genome-edited avian lines, particularly if it proves reproducible, scalable and compatible with normal long-term health, rather than in de-extinction itself.'

Inside the ambitious plan to 'de-extinct the Dodo': How scientists are using stem cell technology to bring back the extinct species 

It's one of the most famous extinct animals of all time, ruthlessly hunted to extinction by humans in just a few decades. 

Now, scientists are edging closer to bringing the famous dodo back to its original home of Mauritius, the island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. 

US startup Colossal Biosciences, based in Dallas, Texas, is using stem cell technology and genome editing to create a modern approximation of the species. 

At a cost of over $225 million (£180 million), it is 'de-extincting' the dodo more than 350 years after it was wiped out from Mauritius by European explorers. 

Scientists have already achieved the monumental feat of sequencing the full genome of the extinct species, from bone specimens and other fragments.

The next step is to gene-edit the skin cell of a close living relative, which in the dodo's case is the Nicobar pigeon, so that its genome matches that of the extinct bird.

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Pentagon releases more UFO files: "Speechless after these observations"

By  Stefan Becket

Washington — The Pentagon on Friday released a new batch of 64 files related to UFOs, or UAPs, unveiling a second tranche of records that includes a 2025 first-hand account from an intelligence officer about an experience that left him "virtually speechless."

The files, which President Trump ordered to be made public in an executive order earlier this year, can be viewed on the Pentagon's UFO website. Friday's tranche includes six PDF files, seven audio files and 51 video files. The videos show footage of UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena, from military aircraft, with each clip accompanied by a detailed description.

The release comes two weeks after the Pentagon uploaded the first group of documents, photos and videos to the new site. Those files included declassified pages from the FBI's UFO case files, reports of strange encounters by military pilots, diplomatic cables about incidents around the world and photos from NASA missions. 

What's in the new files?

The 51 videos included in the second release include the type of grainy infrared footage captured by military cameras and sensors that has become familiar over the past several years. 

In the description accompanying the videos, the Pentagon noted that the footage was requested by House lawmakers in March. The videos were found by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, the military office responsible for investigating UAP encounters. The Pentagon noted that "[m]any of these materials lack a substantiated chain-of-custody," and the descriptions note when and where they were likely taken. 

One notable video appears to show the moment a fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron in 2023, a high-profile incident that came after a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S., leading to heightened fears of UAPs. Later reports indicated that the object might have been a balloon operated by a hobbyist group.

A declassified video showing the moment a fighter jet took out a UAP over Lake Huron in 2023.Pentagon

Many of the videos capture encounters that happened in U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility between 2018 and 2023, including over the Persian Gulf. 

A video from 2022, which does not have a location listed, shows multiple spherical objects going in and out of the water near a submarine.

The documents include historical accounts of UFO sightings, a report on Soviet intelligence activities and Department of Energy files about UFO reports, including one from PANTEX, a key nuclear weapons facility. 

The most striking document is an account by a currently serving "senior intelligence officer" who detailed his experience investigating UFO sightings in late 2025 onboard a military helicopter. The officer wrote that he and the crew had "a series of close UAP encounters lasting over an hour" as they investigated previous sightings.

"In the distance, we saw countless orange orbs swarming in all directions against the backdrop of the mountain. The display lasted several minutes before fading," the officer wrote. "[T]he pilots and I (using the naked eye) observed two large orbs flare up side by side, close to the helicopter — stationary and just above the rotor disk to our right. They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow center, and emitted light in all directions."

The officer said that he and the crew "were virtually speechless after these observations."

The audio files include recordings from NASA astronauts during the Apollo and Mercury missions about observations they made while in space, including objects described as "fireflies" and "snowflakes." The Pentagon notes that NASA "later determined that the 'fireflies' are attributable to frozen condensation separating from the spacecraft body. The white, green-hued appearance of this phenomenon results from sunlight reflecting off frozen condensation."

Pentagon releases more UFO files: "Speechless after these observations". CBS News

{ https://www.cbsnews.com/ }

US government declassifies dozens of additional UFO files, including strange military videos

The Department of Defense has declassified another batch of images and recordings related to UFO/UAP sightings, bringing the total to roughly 220 newly released files.

 By Brandon Specktor

Four unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) were spotted over the water in Iran in 2022, this newly declassified military video claims.

(Image credit: Department of Defence)

• Editor's note: On Friday (May 22) the Department of Defense released a second tranche of UFO files, adding another 60 documents to its ongoing database. These include new videos from the military, and documents dating back to the 1970s. This article, originally published May 8, has been updated as Live Science reviews the files for possible items of interest.

Available to read today (May 8) on the Department of Defense website, the 162 newly declassified documents, photos, and videos cover reports of UFOs and UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena, the government's preferred name for such sightings today) dating back as far as 1947.

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The reports come from agencies across the government, including the Department of Defense (DOD), the FBI and NASA. The NASA offerings include images, audio files and transcripts of Apollo-era astronauts reporting anomalous sightings in space. However, most of these materials have been available for decades and never resulted in any compelling answers.

"The materials archived here are unresolved cases, meaning the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena," DOD representatives wrote on the agency's website. "This can occur for a variety of reasons, including a lack of sufficient data."

Are there any aliens?

Due to the poor data quality, the reports do not contain any compelling evidence of alien intelligence.

While NASA has not weighed in directly on the newly declassified files — save for a statement of support from Administrator Jared Isaacman — the space agency's official position remains that UAP are real but they have nothing to do with aliens.

"Are there any data supporting the idea that UAP are evidence of alien technologies?

"No," NASA's official UAP webpage states. "Most UAP sightings result in very limited data, making it difficult to draw scientific conclusions."

Indeed, NASA conducted its own independent investigation into UAP sightings in 2022 and 2023 and found no evidence of alien activity, again pointing to low-quality data among the alleged sightings.

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What did the NASA astronauts see?

Some of the most interesting documents, from a historical perspective, are files related to UFO sightings reported by NASA astronauts in the 1960s. They include a transcript and audio recording of two NASA astronauts reporting an unidentified object in Earth orbit during the 1965 Gemini VII mission.

Just four hours into the flight on Dec. 5, 1965, astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell reported seeing a "bogey" (military slang for an unidentified aircraft) out their spacecraft window, which Borman describes as "hundreds of little particles going by."

When NASA ground control pressed Borman on whether it could be a piece of the recently detached rocket booster, the astronauts said no, maintaining that they could see the booster in a separate part of orbit. The Gemini spacecraft soon drifted away from the object, never to see it again.

The files also include photos and transcripts from the Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 missions, in which astronauts describe seeing various unidentified "flashes" and "particles of light" on the moon. These cases, like the others, remain unresolved due to a lack of sufficient data.

The underlying files have been available in public archives for decades. However, some newly released images from the Apollo 12 mission show zoomed-in boxes to highlight anomalous phenomena on the moon.

What are UAP?

So, if they're not aliens, what are UAP? According to a 2022 DOD investigation, most UAP sightings can be explained by birds, optical illusions, poor-quality photographs and foreign surveillance technology.

Many UAP files remain classified not due to the object sightings themselves, but because of the sensitive military technology used to record them, according to NASA.

The DOD plans to release additional declassified UAP documents every few weeks for the near future.

• Editor's note: This article was updated at 12:30 p.m. ET on May 22 to link to the second tranche of declassified files.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life }

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

“We are moving beyond artificial intelligence that thinks,” Scopelliti writes. “We are entering an era of intelligence that perceives.”

Synthetic Senses

These technologies were first applied in the medical field to help people with disabilities. For example, some AI systems can convert sound into touch, light, or movement, allowing deaf people to understand audio information in new ways. Researchers are developing retinal and neural implants to help restore sight to people who are blind. Another concept known as haptic technology allows people to feel touch from afar by recreating the sensation in real time.

Researchers are developing technologies that Scopelliti calls e-noses and e-tongues to mimic the sensations of smell and taste using digital systems. These tools turn signals from smells and tastes into data that can be studied, saved, and recreated. These sensations, which have been historically difficult to replicate, are now becoming programmable.

“For the first time in history, our senses are no longer confined to biology,” Scopelliti writes. “They can be synthetic, digitized, transmitted, and re-engineered.”

Scopelliti points out that these changes demonstrate that machines are moving from simply recording data to actually sensing the world around them. These technologies are beginning to blur the boundary between biological perception and machine interpretation.

The Impending Surveillance Problem

Today’s AI can predict how someone feels by analyzing their voice, facial expressions, or body language. New wearables and surrounding systems might soon be able to sense changes in mood, focus, or intention from very subtle signals. These tools could help doctors detect mental health risks early, help teachers notice when students lose focus, and enable workplaces to adjust to reduce cognitive overload.

The book also examines the risks associated with these new technologies. Scopelliti says that companies and AI systems are increasingly tracking and recording sensory and emotional data, raising new privacy and ethical concerns. Collecting emotional data raises ethical questions about who owns the information, how people can use it, and how others might misuse or manipulate it.

“As these signals are captured and analysed, new questions emerge,” Scopelliti writes. “Who owns your emotional state? Can your reactions be predicted, and influenced, without your knowledge? What happens when environments adapt to shape your behaviour in real time?”

These concerns are more than theoretical. AI can already track small changes in a person’s voice, skin conductance, or movement and use this data to personalize content and influence their decisions. Scopelliti gives examples of systems that have evolved from simple observation to actively shape people’s choices through this type of emotional data.

Protecting Perceptual Rights

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

US government releases UFO sighting reports - 'Orbs swarming in all directions'

Rebecka Pieder

The Pentagon has released scores of UFO files, with descriptions of reported sightings of orbs, discs and fireballs spanning 80 years.

Witnesses described seeing "green orbs, discs and fireballs" dating as far back as 1948, the files show. More recently, a senior US intelligence officer said he saw "countless orange orbs swarming in all directions" last year, rendering him "speechless".

The fresh batch of materials includes a half dozen documents, a handful of audio recordings and 51 videos, including one of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) being shot to bits. The circumstances are unexplained.

The files are the second set released after an order this year from US President Donald Trump.

The Pentagon uploaded the first set of 161 files on 8 May, promising there would be more to come. The second was released on Friday.

One of the documents is a 116-page Armed Forces Special Weapons Program report from 1948-1950 that said witnesses had recounted 209 sightings of unidentified objects - orbs and other objects the US government now calls "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAP).

The report includes accounts of a series of sightings and investigations in Sandia, New Mexico, where witnesses described how UFOs manoeuvred, flew away and disappeared but then exploded.

In another document, the unnamed "senior US intelligence officer" provided his first-hand account of seeing phenomena from a military helicopter in 2025 at a location listed as the "western United States".

He described spotting mysterious "orange orbs flaring up and down" when investigating "loud thuds heard in the mountains" on a test range where others had spotted UFOs in the preceding days.

The "series of close UAP encounters" lasted for more than an hour, he said. The UAP were "super-hot", low to the ground and moving at high speed.

"They were oval-shaped, orange with a white or yellow centre, and emitted light in all directions," the officer reported. He said the swarm appeared to coalesce as they flared up and down for several minutes, "forming a distinct triangle before vanishing".

He said he did not take any photos because he was too focused on "assessing what it was and whether it posed a threat".

The files do not draw any definitive conclusions about the existence of extraterrestrial life or provide any evidence of alien technology. US officials have said that people could decide for themselves what they show.

Following the first release of files, Trump wrote that "with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?' Have Fun and Enjoy!"

US Department of Defense

A view from the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969, where unidentified phenomena are highlighted and enlarged

Most of the videos disclosed on Friday feature grainy footage captured by US military infrared cameras between 2018 and 2023.

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{ https://www.bbc.com/ }

 Inside the CIA's 'Wild West' era of mind control, bioweapons and secret human experiments

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The CIA's Wild West era of mind control, bioweapons and secret human testing is back in the spotlight as lawmakers prepare to revisit the notorious MKUltra program decades after the agency destroyed most of the files. 

AJ Gentile, host of The Why Files, who has built a massive audience dissecting UFO lore, government secrecy and hidden history, said Americans have forgotten just how disturbing the CIA's MKUltra experiments really were. 

'People versus power, that's what it is,' he told the Daily Mail. 'I don't like authority, I don't like corruption, and I don't like our rights being violated.' 

Among the programs Gentile highlighted was Operation Sea-Spray, a covert 1950 experiment in which the CIA released bacteria over San Francisco to study how vulnerable US cities would be to biological attacks.

'They sprayed… they covered San Francisco with bacteria,' Gentile said. 'They did it in New York, too.'

The conversation also turned to the death of CIA scientist Frank Olson, who plunged from a New York hotel window in 1953 after being secretly dosed with LSD by colleagues connected to MKUltra.

Olson's death has long fueled speculation that the government covered up what really happened during the agency's early mind control experiments.

'If nothing happened, why did President Ford give them money and make them sign an NDA?' Gentile said of the government's later settlement with Olson's family.

AJ Gentile, host of The Why Files, who has built a massive audience dissecting UFO lore, government secrecy and hidden history, said Americans have forgotten just how disturbing the CIA's MKUltra experiments really were

A hearing on MKUltra was previously set for May 13, but had been rescheduled days before.

However, former CIA officer James Erdman testified in front of the Senate last week, claiming US intelligence officials seized '40 boxes of JFK and MKUltra files' that were being processed for declassification.

House Oversight Committee members Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Eric Burlison of Missouri are standing by the whistleblower's claims that the CIA took secret files and marched into CIA headquarters in Virginia to demand the return of the files.

The meeting took place after lawmakers gave the agency just 24 hours to both preserve and relinquish the troves of data.

Burlinson said on X: 'We went to deliver a message, and that message is that this is a new era. This president is demanding disclosure, and we wanted assurances that they are understanding of that and on the same page.'

'That message was received, and we expect to be able to see all of the files for JFK and [MKUltra], etc, and we await these actions.'

The CIA's formative years in the 1950s through the 1970s often drew on a similar 'Wild West' ethos. 

Faced with an entirely new global frontier of espionage, operatives frequently relied on rugged individualism, covert sabotage, and swashbuckling field tactics reminiscent of Western folklore.

Pictured is Dr Frank Olson with his wife Alice and their children (L-R) Eric, Lisa and Nils

Gentile highlighted a Church Committee investigation from the 1970s, which exposed decades of intelligence abuses involving surveillance, chemical testing and covert experimentation within the CIA. 'It will make you angry,' he said of the report.

He said the hearing immediately raised red flags for him because the majority of MKUltra documents were deliberately destroyed decades ago.

'It's gone, they were destroyed,' he said. 'So that's why the hearing, to me, is… you've heard the expression, limited hangout? It sounds like a limited hangout to me.'

The term 'limited hangout' refers to the release of partial truths meant to distract from deeper secrets, a concept long associated with intelligence agencies and political scandals.

The CIA officially launched MKUltra in 1953 under director Allen Dulles, with the stated goal of developing techniques for mind control and interrogation during the Cold War.

Thousands of pages later revealed that the agency experimented with LSD, hypnosis, sensory deprivation and psychological abuse, often on unsuspecting Americans.

The program, conducted from 1953 to 1964, aimed to develop procedures and drugs for interrogations, weakening individuals and forcing confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.

Gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, a former organized crime boss, was used as a test subject in 1957 while an inmate at the Atlanta penitentiary. He explained he was one of eight convicts in a panic and paranoid state while in MKUltra

Pictured are scientists administering mind-altering drugs in the CIA experiments 

A total of 144 projects were carried out under MKUltra during that period, highlighting the vast scale of the CIA's secret experimentation program. 

Gentile said one of the most disturbing cases tied to the program remains the death of CIA scientist Frank Olson, who plunged from a New York hotel window in 1953 after being secretly dosed with LSD by colleagues connected to MKUltra.

Olson was one of at least eight men given LSD on November 19, 1953, as part of an MKUltra experiment, Paul Vidich, Olson's nephew, previously told the Daily Mail.

In statements made during a 1977 hearing about the activities of the CIA, according to Gottlieb, a 'very small dose' of LSD was added to the bottle of Cointreau, which was served after dinner.

In the days that followed, Olson became paranoid, barely ate and even threw away his wallet, identification badge and money after believing his boss, Vincent Ruwet, had instructed him to do so.

Olson was scheduled to travel to a mental health facility on November 27. At approximately 2.45am on November 28, 1953, Ruwet received a call from Dr Sidney Gottlieb reporting that Olson had died.

Olson's body was later found outside the Statler Hotel, where he had been staying on the 13th floor.

Operation Sea-Spray was a covert 1950 CIA experiment in which bacteria were released over San Francisco to study how vulnerable American cities would be to biological attacks

Pointing to the government's handling of the case after Olson's death, Gentile said: 'If nothing happened, why did President Ford give them money and make them sign an NDA?'

President Gerald Ford formally apologized to the Olson family in 1975 and invited them to the White House after revelations emerged about the CIA's role in Olson's drugging.

Gentile said the Church Committee findings became even darker when investigators uncovered evidence of continued biological warfare development despite public promises from the government that such programs had ended.

He referenced Operation Sea-Spray, a covert 1950 CIA experiment in which bacteria were released over San Francisco to study how vulnerable American cities would be to biological attacks.

For one week in September of 1950, the US Navy sprayed massive amounts of bacteria into the air two miles off the coast of San Francisco, California.

This secret biological warfare experiment aimed to learn how vulnerable large US cities like San Francisco would be to a biowarfare attack by terrorists.

The bacteria used were Serratia marcescens, which can cause respiratory issues and meningitis, and Bacillus atrophaeus, which can be lethal to immunocompromised individuals. At the time, the Navy believed these bacteria were harmless to humans.

But after inhaling thousands of bacterial spores, 11 people checked into Stanford Hospital near San Francisco with very rare, serious urinary tract infections that doctors ultimately determined were caused by the experiment. 

'They covered San Francisco with bacteria,' Gentile said. 'They did it in New York, too.'

Reports have suggested that the CIA may have been involved in 'open air' biological warfare tests in streets and tunnels in the New York City area in 1955 and 1956, according to an analysis of CIA records released in 1979 by the Church of Scientology.

Gentile also pointed to Plum Island, the controversial government research facility off the coast of New York, while discussing theories surrounding Lyme disease and Cold War bioweapons research

A four-month investigation found the CIA allegedly acquired equipment for covert experiments involving the release of unidentified substances through aerosol devices hidden inside suitcases and the exhaust system of a modified 1953 Mercury sedan, according to the Church Committee report. 

Gentile also pointed to Plum Island, the controversial government research facility off the coast of New York, while discussing theories surrounding Lyme disease and Cold War bioweapons research.

'Eric Traub was brought in to create that facility,' he said, referring to the German scientist accused of overseeing Nazi biological warfare research during World War II.

Traub later worked with the US government after the war as part of America's recruitment of former German scientists during the early Cold War.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has also suggested Lyme disease may have originated from a failed US bioweapons program in the 1970s tied to research at Plum Island.

Plum Island is an 840-acre island off the northeastern coast of Long Island, New York, and home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, a government lab used since the 1950s to study infectious animal diseases.

However, the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said Lyme disease was never studied at the facility.

Gentile said public distrust toward intelligence agencies is rooted in decades of secrecy that many Americans either never learned about or dismissed as conspiracy theories.

'Most Americans don't know what MKUltra is,' he said. 'We think everybody does, because we like this stuff. But my neighbors, if I say that to my neighbors, they won't know what that is.'

He also claimed programs tied to psychological manipulation never truly disappear once they begin.

'Once a program starts, it never really stops,' Gentile said. 'Psychic spies or MKUltra, it just never stops.'

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

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