David Grusch gives the Sol Foundation 2023 Symposium Closing Remarks
During the SOL conference, whistleblower David Grusch explained why the subject of UAP was important to him and answered a number of questions.
Former Air Force and intelligence officer David Grusch, co-responsible for the analysis of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from the end of 2021 to July 2022 and a whistleblower, is also co-founder of the SOL Foundation, created in August 2023. Presented by the Nolan Laboratory and the Stanford School of Medicine in November 2023 at Stanford University, the symposium brought together an unprecedented number of leading representatives from academia, government, and industry to collectively give new academic legitimacy to UAP.
In his closing address, David Grusch summed up what we learned over two days discussing unidentified anomalous phenomena, a subject of great importance. The aim was to lift the veil of secrecy imposed by the American government. The Foundation is committed to the truth. David Grusch stated:
The realization that we are not alone in this vast universe could serve as a powerful catalyst for international cooperation, reminding us of our shared destiny as inhabitants and stewards of the Earth. Moreover, imagine the technological advancements that could stem from broad study. The integration of this kind of technology into our scientific knowledge could propel us to the future with unprecedented innovation, shaping industries, and improving our quality of life. It's not just about knowing, it's about the potential to revolutionize our understanding of physics, biology, and chemistry, and other foundational sciences.
David Grusch goes on to emphasize the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the subject. Unraveling the enigma of UAP requires a vast study encompassing physics, chemistry, biology, and other foundational sciences. The dissemination of this information must be carried out in a controlled and planned manner.
David Grusch then took questions from the audience.
The first question concerned reverse engineering and the real capacity of the United States to fly recovered devices and understand how they work. Grusch says he does not have permission to answer this question.
The next question deals with his personal involvement in public disclosure. Grusch explained that he thought long and hard before deciding to speak out, but that for him, it was a no-brainer, because as a soldier he places integrity above all else. That's why he joined the team advising the President of the United States several years ago. He didn't want, thirty years later, to look back and say that he hadn't done anything while he was in government. When he saw that Congress was interested in the subject and heard about the Schumer amendment in preparation, he knew that it was time, that it was his duty to go.
He was then asked about what he thought about the nature of UAP, answering that they seem to be physically very different from each other, but also in their behavior. He was also asked if the people Grusch had spoken to thought this was a fundamental aspect of the phenomenon.
Grusch replied that there was probably not just one form of the phenomenon, and that most of the people he had interviewed had used the term “extraterrestrial”, but he was skeptical that it had a single origin. Indeed, he's not thrilled that the term “non-human intelligence” was used in the Schumer amendment:
Your worldview says, “anything that doesn't look Homo sapiens must come from elsewhere”. I'm familiar with, obviously, the work that Jacques Vallée and others have done, and I think, certainly - and many scholars will probably back me up on this - I think there's this non-corporeal phenomenon, just like as Jacques Vallée had mentioned in Passport to Magonia, it could be interdimensional, multidimensional, because the phenomenon shows itself in different forms over the years from antiquity, with of sitting on chests, which maybe was the progenitor of the modern abduction phenomenon.
For Grusch, there is no indication of where UAP come from, nor does he think that the government knows.
A question was then asked about the use of UAP technology, and Grusch was asked whether he or the foundation were considering defending a treaty banning the use of weapons resulting from such research. Grusch felt that this was a pertinent question, which they had not considered. He pointed out that the space treaty signed and implemented in 1969 governs outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies.
The threats that Grusch has received as a result of his statements were also mentioned. On how researchers working on these phenomena can protect their families, he said that he was careful in what he said and wrote. Anyone with high-level clearance, or in the military, knows that they have to keep things secret. He is in favor of a legal approach involving procedures through the Inspector General and the AARO office. He encouraged anyone in the audience to do the same, and offered his help. For citizens, only legal and ethical research can protect them.
A man then asked him why Disclosure was happening now, and what he thought were the next steps for the community. For Grusch, we're at a turning point. People have been embroiled in a whirlwind that began in 2017 with the New York Times article. Then Congress took up the subject. The potential danger of the phenomena to the national security of the United States is one of the public's concerns. The fact that it is constantly being reported on in various media has played a major role in destigmatizing the issue, as have the government's provisions to prevent the diversion of money from specific programs that fund special access programs that are not reported to Congress (the Intel Authorisation Act). In his view, this is a step in the right direction.
There’s the very reason for the creation of the SOL Foundation: enabling progress to be made on the subject, just as Ryan Graves created the American For Safe Aerospace (AFSA), in order to have research channels that are independent of the US government and to obtain answers. Nevertheless, according to Grusch, it will be up to the President of the United States to disclose.
We need to set up think tanks, foundations and venture capital-type profit-making organizations to study the material, just like the Galileo project, which deals with external data collection, and we need to find the means to identify the phenomenon in every possible way, using optical radar and so on. We need to discuss it widely and openly through conferences like this one and peer-reviewed publications. Grusch is convinced that this is the way forward.
Finally, someone asked him where he sees himself in five years' time and what he would like to be doing. David Grusch replied that, ideally, he would like to have a private life again. He had a clear career path in intelligence before becoming a whistleblower, so becoming a public figure was not in the cards. He would like to continue working on the subject of unexplained phenomena, and he hopes to be able to return to government so that he can continue to serve his country, even in a private capacity, through a foundation. Furthermore, he is keeping his fingers crossed that the amendment will be adopted as part of the law on national defense and public procurement, and says he is open to suggestions.
The conference concluded with Garry Nolan and Peter Skafish taking the floor to thank him.
Translation by Guillaume Fournier Airaud
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0