Former Head of Pentagon's Secret UFO Program Has Some (Strange) Stories to Tell

[left-of-center2012]

Last edited Fri May 31, 2019, 01:07 PM - Edit history (1)

May 30, 2019 10:51am ET

Intelligence officer Luis Elizondo served as the former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), an initiative launched in 2007 to study reports of UFO encounters. Elizondo departed the agency in 2011; in 2017, he spoke with reporters at The New York Times, confirming the existence of the shadowy agency and describing its mission.

During Elizondo's tenure at AATIP, observers reported UFOs flying at hypersonic speeds — more than five times the speed of sound. Yet there were none of the signatures that usually accompany aircraft flying at such fantastic speeds, such as sonic booms, he said. The UFOs were also unexpectedly mobile, traveling so fast that they would have experienced gravitational forces, or G-forces, that far exceed the limits of endurance for both humans and aircraft.

The human body can withstand about 9 G's "for a very short time" before a person would start to black out, Elizondo said. "These things that we were observing were pulling 400 to 500 G's," he said. "They don't have engines or even wings, and they are able to seemingly defy the natural effects of Earth's gravitational pull."

"We trust the American people to know that North Korea has nuclear warheads pointed at Los Angeles, yet we don't trust them with the knowledge that there's something in our skies and we don't know what it is? That seems counterproductive to me," Elizondo said.

https://www.livescience.com/65596-ufo-pentagon-history-channel.html

[inanna]

1. This will probably get moved to the creative speculation forum.

Just sayin'.

Are there other sources besides the link you posted?

I have an interest in this topic. Many here don't.

Thanks.

[left-of-center2012]

4. It's not "speculation"

"Intelligence officer Luis Elizondo served as the former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program"

It's comments on what they saw.

[inanna]

5. I totally get that.

And I read the article.

Still, there may be some who don't want this in GD for whatever reason.

I personally find it fascinating.

[anarch]

23. wait, find which part fascinating?

the general topic of unexplained aerial phenomena?

or the way the subject causes so many people to react so strongly--like, "don't even talk about that!!"

b/c I find that second part just about as interesting as the phenomena themselves.

[honeylady]

2. I totally believe in UFO's.

There are too many extremely credible people reporting what they've seen. Too many mass sightings around the world. I don't understand the secrecy around this. I guess Orsen Well's War of the Worlds broadcast and the public reaction set the stage for secrecy.

I think we can handle it.

[GemDigger]

3. Some of us can handle it but for the most part I think people would FREAK the

hell out and start shooting at anything and everything that moves.

[inanna]

7. Well.....

I want to believe - as I've stated elsewhere.

And I'm tired of the insults and slurs from certain people.

I will say though that some aspects of UFOlogy need to be cleaned up. Some are almost cult-like when it comes to the ET questions, and I can certainly understand why that might be a big turn off to others.

[BannonsLiver]

12. I tend to agree

For me it comes down to logic. The universe is a big place so logically speaking it’s possible, if not probable, intelligent life exists somewhere in it. Stephen Hawking believed that and he was a pretty sharp guy.
To me it’s sort of comically arrogant for humans to assume “we’re it” as the poster below this one does. But that’s sort of where it ends for me. I’m not spending my hours listening to Art Bell reruns or looking at the sky for flying saucers.

[USALiberal]

25. I agree aliens are somewhere, but no proof they have visited us. Nt

[Tech]

30. Hey now, Art Bell got me home on many a late night after working long shifts.

Of course, I probably would not listen to reruns of his show either. I no longer work, and I no longer drive. But it was only entertainment. I think.

[USALiberal]

24. Same with ghosts, esp, etc. where is real proof? Nowhere!!! Nt

[Drunken Irishman]

6. All that technology to travel 10,000+ light years but can't seem to make full human contact.

Yeah, right.

I believe all the UFOs are are man-made objects that can't be identified. The idea they're space aliens is just silly.

[Generic Brad]

10. Why would humans be worthy of contact?

I could see us being regarded on par with insects by an alien race. We’re inconsequential and not worth the effort to communicate with. We’re still primitive.

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Not worth the effort to communicate with but worth the travel?

Okay...

[912gdm]

16. we drive to zoo's to look at the animals...

we don't try to talk to em.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. We capture them and essentially jail them for observation...

[912gdm]

19. and you completely missed the point.

[Eyeball_Kid]

28. By deduction,

their (nonfictional or otherwise) mission may have nothing to do with communications with humans. Maybe they're just "not into us." That's a possibility, eh? Given what we, as a species, are doing for our chances of survival beyond the next 80-100 years, it's easy to understand why they wouldn't want to get any ideas from us. We're ecospheric wrecking balls. Give us a planet, and we'll devastate it.

[Owl]

22. +1

[Archae]

8. Two words that come readily to mind...

Cashing in.

[stopdiggin]

9. keeping a trained eye ..

I think the problem (well at least one of them) lies with the fact that so many seem determined to conflate "unidentified" with "they are out there." As long as the leading proponents of UFOology are the VonDaniken and Strieber crowd, a lot of other individuals are going to turn away. The more scientific, and rigorous, are going to insist "unidentified" means "we don't KNOW." And there's nothing wrong with we don't know .. unless you're interested in selling books and trafficking in woo-woo.

No offense to woo-woo, if that's you're thing and you're happy with it .. But the article referenced here (and others that have popped up on DU recently) advance nothing about extraterrestrials, inter-dimensional travel or effects, DNA harvests or little gray men. They simply state that we are seeing things (or in some case our machines are sensing), that we have not identified. And the same, or similar, things have been happening for a long, long time. That's it.

[left-of-center2012]

11. Yep

OP and linked article do not mention 'little green men'.

[trev]

26. Exactly.

The military continues to investigate UFOs (I was on the other thread about the Navy's latest, and there posted a link to a secret Pentagon study run 2007-2012). They wouldn't do this if they didn't think something was happening.

[struggle4progress]

13. "Scientist find new evidence Trump's ego expanding even faster than expected"

[woodsprite]

15. Maybe they'll take our "leader" away and experiment on him

You know, to see how he can exist with no brain, no heart, and no soul - yet still technically be human.

[Blue_true]

17. I'll sit this one out (really, I promise nothing more than this post). nt

[Iggo]

20. I apologize for being nitpicky.

If he was the director, he served as the director.

He didn't serve as the former director.

Like I sad, nitpicky.

Sorry!

[left-of-center2012]

21. This?

[trev]

27. I'm not a former director

but I played one on TV.

[Ligyron]

29. Massed Gravitons

That's all I'm saying.