THE BATTLE FOR MUFON, part 6: At Last, Here's What Was Behind the Curtain

     

The wreckage from partnering with BAASS

A lot of years have glided quietly beneath the bridge since I last blogged about the Battle for MUFON (Mutual UFO Network). In recent years I’ve let my membership lapse, but I still support their cause and wish them well. Every nation needs a well-organized, professionally-run, trustworthy place to report their experiences, know that their information is secure, and feel that investigators care about the experiencers.

MUFON was just such a well-run machine, staffed by dedicated and competent volunteers, until about 2009. Then they entered into a partnership with billionaire Robert Bigelow’s research organization called Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a subsidiary of Bigelow Aerospace. For buckets of money that MUFON needed badly, Bigelow contracted a partnership with MUFON in 2009, in which the Network pretty much gave BAASS the key to all data collected thus far and access to new cases coming in. That’s when the wreckage began at MUFON. For review:

• Imperious, rude people who hadn’t been with the organization that long wound up on the board. How did that happen?
• Cases came into the CMS reporting system, then somehow disappeared.
• GPS coordinates appeared on the CMS. Because of confidentiality issues, that was not allowed. When Chase K. asked about it, Marie M. told her it didn’t matter because the coordinates weren’t correct. So why were they there?
• When the rapid deployment team did rush off within minutes of an important case coming in, the BAASS team somehow got there first, and often convinced the reporting party to not cooperate with MUFON.
• John Schussler and possibly others acquired security clearances. Why?
• The sign-up form for new volunteers became vastly more challenging and thorough.

When I was blogging about all this in 2011, someone associated with BAASS called me twice, asking me to not write about the contract issues. It was obvious that BAASS was applying for a new contract, undoubtedly with the government, and probably for millions of dollars, but no one knew what it was about.

Last, but not at all least, anyone who asked too many questions or who didn’t submit meekly to the non-answers, was fired, pushed to resign, or screamed at in a humiliating manner. Many experienced investigators left or were summarily dismissed, and none were defended by the old bosses. These are not woo woo conspiracists walking away. They were accomplished men and women with a wide range of knowledge and expertise.

There were rumors that BAASS was buying up small reporting sites and sequestering all of their files. The affront of all this was that information about UFOs and ET contact that fell into the BAASS net might never see the light of day.

It seemed fairly clear that MUFON was being infiltrated by the same U.S. Government that covered up UFO reality for decades. Elaine Douglass was sufficiently alarmed at the developments that she created a group called The Committee to Reform MUFON. It didn’t accomplish much because decisions had already been sealed behind the locked door. You can read all about these events in my previous blog posts, parts 1–4.

BAASS and the Government Funded AAWSAP Program

I recently discovered the answer to the mystery from a new book called Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders’ Account of the Secret Government UFO Program, by James T. Lacatski, D.Eng., Colm A. Kelleher, Ph.D., and George Knapp. If you’re actually reading this post, you will already recognize Kelleher and Knapp as the authors of the 2005 book The Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah. That book describes another BAASS program, National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS, 1995 to 2004), in which Bigelow scientists studied a wide range of paranormal events alleged to have taken place at the Utah ranch.

The ranch lore included a huge wolf-like creature that was impervious to bullets, portals, orbs, cattle mutilations, UFOs, dogs lured into the woods and incinerated, and cattle shut up in locked sheds. Although the NIDS program ended in 2004, Bigelow held onto the ranch foe a few more years.

In 2007, a rocket scientist working for the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, no, Honey, not the Dept of Infernal Acronyms) named James Lacatski wrote a letter to Robert Bigelow asking if he could visit the ranch for the purpose of evaluating UFO threats. The end result was a two-year long (2008–2010) $22 million dollar contract between BAASS and the DIA, promoted by three U.S. senators, including Harry Reid. Bigelow assembled dozens of top tier engineers, academics, and medical personnel to analyze the ranch phenomena. They walked the property and shared their experiences. They sliced, diced, parboiled the ranch, and wrote many reports, all of which went to the DIA. Everyone involved had to have a secret clearance. This program, called Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) is the reason for all of the aggressive, rude, and counter-productive behavior that BAASS exhibited during the contract with MUFON. No wonder they wanted the best cases. The government could then assess and classify whatever they wanted, or dismiss and delegitimize this case or that. Was there any guarantee that those cases would ever benefit the public or bring closure to the reporting parties? Although I only recently read this book, Bigelow began publicly revealing the program early in 2021.

As the AAWSAP program wound down, there was a push to renew the contract. It was extended for a few months, but ended in December 2010. It was for the best that it did because that eventually resulted in the declassification and release of much of the information in the reports, including the book Skinwalkers at the Pentagon. Disclosure was one caveat that Harry Reid insisted upon.

What survived was a smaller program called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program). The director was Luis Elizondo, whose impressive resume is easily googled. The program allegedly ended in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2017 that he left the DIA out of frustration with secrecy and the fact that that the government wasn’t taking the whole topic seriously enough. He formed To the Stars Academy for Arts and Sciences. He and his team also created a TV series called “Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation.” You can stream two seasons of this show anytime.

As long and tedious as this recitation is, it isn’t complete without mention of Brandon Fugal’s TV series "The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch." Fugal bought the ranch from Bigelow in 2016. The difference in his approach is that he has a small regular team that spent many hours at the ranch. They included Travis Taylor, a physicist and reality TV personality; an electronic whizz; a security/safety team; and a general maintenance couple. Any time they needed an expert, they called one in. I can't imagine anyone turning down an offer to go to the Skinwalker Ranch. The other important difference is that everything of note that happened on the ranch is on video. Nothing was classified. The government had no control there. Imagine that! Two seasons of this show are available to stream, and I highly recommend it.

Apparently, the government UFO research grinds on under the moniker Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force. I know nothing about it.

What Has All That Research Led To?

There are just a few cogent points that we can take away in this space.

·       Whatever you think of this or that administration, the millions of dollars dedicated to the above studies were not dispersed by gullible dummies to tinfoil-hatted doofuses. Every person involved in what I’ve described above is an expert at something beyond the reach of the average person, so knock off the eyerolls. This is serious business.

·       Some of the researchers above were willing to acknowledge the need for studying lights in the sky, but little green men were a bridge too far. Don’t talk to them about the paranormal aspect of it. They want to remain sciencey. James Lacatski made the right call when he declared that without understanding the paranormal aspect of UFOs, all research is a waste of time. I would add one more challenge to the Bigelows and Fugals of the world. You can't stop with lights in the sky and paranormal research because world religions have been describing and interacting with these characters for millennia. Cattle mutilations? Perhaps that’s where animal sacrifice came from. Terrified Mesopotamian farmers undoubtedly resolved the random destruction of their herds by offering the god one or two bulls in a respectful, ritualized manner. Flying saucers and black triangles? How about Psalm 18:10, “And he rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind,” (NKJV). The ancient Canaanite god Baal was called Cloud Rider in their epic literature. Did a poltergeist follow you home? A good Pentecostal minister could cast it out. Was the experiencer taken through a closed window by an alien abductor? Did you know that a voodoo priest can walk through a wall?

·       These entities are not angels. They don’t come from the same interdimensional space that angels come from. They are not our friendly space brothers from some star system, but they are our next door neighbors, and the place that they come from is akin to the Christian description of hell. Yes, these entities are dangerous and can be easily accessed; they are a national security risk, but we can be shielded from the damage they can do to us by calling on the good energy that comes from where angels dwell, also next door. Sometimes we invite these negative entities into our homes and lives by dabbling in the occult or buying our child a Ouija Board.

·       This is my last point, and it’s a big one. Bigelow’s AAWSAP program brought out a major finding that the Fugal research ignored. This finding will be no surprise to Pentecostal ministers. Just about every researcher who visited the ranch during the AAWSAP program took a hitchhiker home with them, and those visiting entities wreaked havoc with the researcher, his or her spouse and children, and neighboring children who spent time at the house. Health problems include a host of nasty autoimmune diseases. Poltergeist activity may include sightings of a dogman that can run on two legs. I just don’t have the space here to do this topic justice. For an example in my blog, you could search “Linette’s Little Black Blob.” That is another sample of the contagion that comes with paranormal events. 

·       What is the answer? Where do we look for safety? Sorry, DIA, DOD, NCIS, Pentagon. You really can't help us. But Jesus Christ can. How does one fight an immortal entity that you can't see? With a bigger, tougher entity that you also can't see. If aliens are real, why not God? If demons can harm us, why can't God heal us? Why are miracles harder to believe in than poltergeist wonders? Try prayer. God is just next door and the NSA can't compete with his ability to hear your requests.