Dr. Hal Puthoff delivered a lecture titled “A Brief Overview of the U.S. Government Stance on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs)” at the symposium organized by the Sol Foundation at Stanford University in November 2023. Despite the brevity of his speech, lasting only 20 minutes, there is much to discuss. The subject is not merely a brief history as one might suppose from the title but is rather an initial presentation of the serious challenges that disclosure represents at this point in history.
Dr. Puthoff begins with a brief look back to the origins, which he dates to 1947 with Project SIGN. It was an effort to learn more following the reported observations after World War II. Various programs followed, reflecting the U.S. government's more or less official interest in UAP. From Project SIGN to the closure of Project Blue Book in 1969 following the Condon Report, the government sought to understand the nature and intentions of the phenomenon. At that stage, the official stance of the government, consistent with the recommendations of the Bolender memo, could be summarized as: we are observing a phenomenon we do not understand, but it does not seem to represent an immediate threat to national security, so it will be monitored in the same way as other potential threats. However, in reality, “Blue Book didn’t just disappear, it was obscured,” declared Hal Puthoff.
In the next part of his address, Dr. Puthoff chose to discuss a conference he attended “a few decades ago” in Washington. This meeting, which brought together “about twenty people from the CIA, the DIA, various intelligence agencies and contractors,” was intended to prepare for disclosure. They were tasked with determining what they could tell the public and evaluating the consequences. It was soon discovered that revealing information to the public would have so many trivial yet complex repercussions that they would be difficult to manage concurrently. To illustrate his point, Hal Puthoff cites examples such as agreements the government had signed with certain private companies to conduct reverse-engineering operations on debris. Competitors of these companies might sue the government for lack of transparency in the awarding of contracts. Similarly, the government signed confidentiality agreements with these companies, which would be breached by disclosure. Hal Puthoff, who was initially convinced that disclosure should occur, thus decided not to recommend it.
He then mentioned his participation in the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) initiated by senators Reid, Stevens, and Inouye in 2008. This was a study starting from scratch on UAP, designed to clarify their nature and origin for the DIA, and accordingly, whether it was imperative to outpace China and Russia on the matter. The investigation was to focus on twelve identified potential threats, ranging from fundamental physics to human effects, including engineering. The task force's mission was to seek the opinions of the top scientific experts on these issues. Hal Puthoff suggests that the specificity of the identified threats implied that, at a minimum, they had debris in their possession. After some trials and failures, particularly due to over-classification, the study group had to abandon the idea of providing debris to scientists for analysis. Ultimately, an agreement was signed with the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) to launch a broad study within the scientific community on the following question: where will your discipline be 50 years from now?
The collected articles were finally compiled and made available on the Pentagon’s website under the name DIRDS. "They represent a sustainable set of high-quality documents," enthuses Dr. Puthoff. "In reality, they are as good as if we had been able to share the actual debris,” he concluded, thus emphasizing that these articles have no connection to either debris or UAP.
Dr. Puthoff concluded his lecture with a quick survey of the contemporary situation. He began by praising Leslie Kean's 2017 article that revealed the existence of the AATIP program. He continued by recalling the testimony of David Grusch stating that the government is in possession of materials, objects, and bodies of unknown origin. And he concluded with the book recently published by Jim Lacatski, Colonel Kelleher, and George Knapp under the title “Inside the US Government's Covert UFO Program: Initial Revelations.” For the record, Jim Lacatski was involved in the AATIP program, and Colonel Kelleher was at that time the project manager at BAASS. The progressive revelations from these eminent personalities are, for Hal Puthoff, a compelling argument for the existence of UAP. He then mentioned the Schumer amendment, which he hopes will accelerate disclosures. Today we know that it was rejected in its initial form, but nevertheless, other bills are on the table. Dr. Puthoff thus concluded with his hope that the year 2024 will bring many answers to the public.
This intervention provides an update through the eyes of one of its participants, on the twists and turns of disclosure from the 1950s to today. We discover that the attitude of the government and experts has varied regarding the interest, the extent, and the intrinsic difficulties of the disclosures. The official line has fluctuated greatly, contributing to the public's mistrust and the scientific community's doubt about the existence of UAP.
Let's pause for a moment on the nature of the intervention. It is brief, and Hal Puthoff’s delivery is slow and cautious. He often consults notes, turns to Leslie Kean as if seeking support. The moment is significant, for sure. So who is speaking, in what place, and when?
Hal Puthoff holds a doctorate in theoretical and experimental physics, specializing in lasers, from Stanford University. His recent works focus on fundamental electronics, gravitation, and the quantum vacuum, but also on innovative approaches in energy generation and space propulsion. His expertise has led him to serve as an advisor on frontier technologies to the Department of Defense and NASA. He is known for his involvement in several secret programs since the 1970s, including Project Stargate, which gives him notoriety in research on the paranormal. He is the founder and director of the private company EarthTech International and the associated Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin (IASA). EarthTech International offers consulting and research services in the following fields: fundamental physics, interstellar studies, and life sciences. This career makes Hal Puthoff a privileged and well-informed witness to the history of UAPs. His business activities add another layer to his remarks concerning the legal difficulties related to disclosure. Lastly, let's remember that he is speaking at Stanford, in front of an audience of students and scientists. His status as a former student of the university and a former collaborator at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) hence ensures a very receptive audience.
And this is the intended goal. To make an impression on the scientific community. Indeed, this lecture is part of a series of conferences, organized by the Sol Foundation. The main interest of this symposium is to offer a high-quality overview of all the areas challenged by the existence of UAPs: religion, anthropology, physics, security, astronomy, etc. The conferences open avenues for research and reflection, which the foundation hopes scientists from various disciplines will pursue to advance our understanding of the phenomenon.
The Sol Foundation, established in 2023, aims to both advance scientific research on UAPs and offer advice to policymakers on managing the human and social impact of discoveries. It also has a secondary mission to facilitate access to existing data, whatever it may be, and to ensure the publicity around this information.
In conclusion, it is understood that the underlying crux of Hal Puthoff's speech, seemingly serving here as the spokesperson for the Sol Foundation, is to enable access to the collected debris, materials, and objects on the one hand, and to convince the scientific community to engage in the study of UAPs on the other. The goal is to extract from military control the existing material evidence. It also is to allow a broader scientific community to study and collaborate, thereby accelerating understanding of the phenomenon and advancing science. Certainly, companies like Lockheed Martin or Bigelow Aerospace would lose a significant competitive advantage. Disclosure, therefore, might take a few more months or years...
Translated from French by Kate and Guillaume Fournier Airaud
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0