I can remember the enthusiasm we had in 1958 when we started our task from scratch.
I also know the many experiences we went through and the maturity we reached dealing with the subject over the years.
In our experience, we were able to solve all the cases submitted to our consideration or those we went to investigate for our initiative.
Throughout the years, and with renewed people, one thing was characteristic of C.I.O.V.I.: we were serious, responsible, reliable, we never negotiated with the subject, we never even thought to make money exploiting commercially the phenomenon.
Starting in 1959 we cooperated with the Uruguayan Air Force, and have always been ready to do so. We can do it right now if we are asked for it.
With all this as a background, we never thought that the UFOlogy environment could be so twisted, contaminated, and distorted on purpose.
Regretfully from the very beginning, some people saw in the UFO theme a way to make money.
We remember very well what happened with the first contactees, like George Adamsky, Orfeo Angelucci, Truman Bethurum, Frank Scully, George Van Tassel, and others. Those who convened meetings at a place called Giant Rock, in California, gave speeches about their “experiences”, talk about their trips to other planets, and sold their books.
Now we have the pompously called the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. A place to buy books, toys, ET costumes, etc. Just for tourism, and nothing else.
There are some imitations –although much more limited— in some other places, particularly in Latin America. People who declare a road as the way to UFOs, or a field as a landing place for UFOs, or to see UFOs. People who have put signs of welcome to extraterrestrials, and people that exploit the credulity of others to organize excursions to some kind of “sanctuaries” where the presence of beings of other dimensions is only seen by those who have faith….or have consumed some hallucinogen.
We have people that fabricating false mummies pretend to convince others that they are authentic and belong to extraterrestrials.
We have the charlatan Sixto Paz Wells traveling permanently throughout Latin America to repeat tales about interplanetary trips and contact with aliens.
This is what we tend to see as fauna of collateral activities that although using the acronym "ufo”, and some individuals dare to call themselves “ufologists”, or “investigators”, they are nothing but merchants of the worst kind.
Some of them have TV programs –like Jaime Maussan in México—or radio programs –the list is enormous. Others produce videos that upload to YouTube, and have web pages, or publish books, and produce videos and DVDs like Ademar Gevaerd in Brazil, who also organizes international “congresses” where believing in aliens is a condition sine-qua-non to participate.
All this is pathetic, but now there is something even more sinister and dangerous:
a) people who belong to a private organization that presumably investigate UFO reports, and pose internationally as “official researchers”
b) an American company that is offering contracts to some “investigators” in Latin America, provided they report to the company UFO cases and the possible finding of “metamaterial” (supposedly coming from a crashed UFO).
We are astonished and vehemently denounce this that is going on, and there is only one word to describe it: corruption.
Almost reviving a dead
Unless you hear or follow the liars, the reality indicates clearly that the UFO subject in the World is almost dead.
There are no new cases, no fantastic encounters, nothing.
In Europe, Ufologists dedicate themselves to care and put in order their libraries and files, exchange press clips, and things like that. Skepticism has won their hearts.
In Latin America, with tiny exceptions, the subject has lost it's attractiveness and relevance. A book written by a Chilean military says it clearly: “Los Extraterrestres Han Muerto: El mito ovni-ET, Contactismo y Abducciones” (Extraterrestrials have died: The myth UFO-ET, Contactism and Abductions” by our colleague and UAPSG member Rodrigo Andrés Bravo Garrido.
In the United States –by reasons that still are not clear—the Defense Department this time through the U.S. Navy, is desperately trying to re-create the environment lived at the beginning of the UFO era. They use the same jargon to describe objects or phenomena seen by some pilots, as it was used in the 1950s: "something that defies the laws of physics", "impossible maneuvers", "not of this Earth".
The Navy cases are from 16 and 5 years ago (November 14, 2004, and January 21, 2015). Nothing new, after all.
They were made publicly known using two newspapers: The New York Times and The Washington Post in 2017.
The story behind the pictures associated with the cases is one of a billionaire (Robert Bigelow) that put money to the electoral campaign of a Senator. Later this Senator (Harry Reid, leader of the Majority of the Senate during the Presidency of Barack Obama) convincing two other colleagues, obtained the approval of “black money” –that is money with unknown purpose—for a total of 22 million dollars, with two main recipients: the billionaire (10 million dollars) and the Pentagon (12 million dollars). See our article of October 7, 2019, under the title “Dissecting the U.S. Navy U.A.P. Case”.
With that money, de Department of Defense (Pentagon) created a program called initially Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program (AAWSAP).
This program studied different technological approaches for possible future applications on space travel, as reveals this official list:
--Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering
--Spacetime Modification – Metric Sensor Approach
--Physical Effects as a Function of Metric Tensor Coefficients
Time Interval, Frequency, Energy
The velocity of Light in Spacetime-Altered Regions
Refractive Index Modeling
Effective Mass in Spacetime-Altered Regions
Gravity/Antigravity “Forces”
Considering:
Blueshifting of Infrared Heat Power Spectrum
Light-Bending in a Spacetime-Altered Region
Alcubierre Warp Drive Metric Structure
Later the Department of Defense created another program called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) and declared that it has nothing to do with UFOs (named now UAPs).
This program originally dealt with the danger for U.S.A --air and space activities-- posed by military activities of Russia or China.
On April 15, just 8 days ago, Russia fired an anti-satellite missile in a test of technology that the U.S. Space Force considered a threat to the American orbital assets. The Russian missile is capable to destroy satellites in low Earth orbit.
The AATIP also implied creating a center of expertise on advances in aerospace technologies.
It is possibly behind this second objective of AATIP that hides the interest on UAPs, interdimensional and paranormal phenomena.
And here comes Bigelow Aerospace.
Robert Bigelow, the billionaire, founded the company in 1998 using a great part of the money he gained through his ownership of the hotel chain Budget Suites of America.
In 2013 Bigelow invested U$250 million in the company and he announced that wanted to invest U$500 million through 2015.
The main purpose of the company was to create a modular set of space habitats to expand the International Space Station.
Later, Bigelow created what now is called Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) that produced a 494-page document under the title "Ten Month Report" compiled for AAWSAP.
In 2008 BAASS was awarded a U$10 million contract with one year of guarantee and a 5-year option.
The magazine Popular Mechanics says that “The Month Report” was followed by many others during the duration of the contract, and the subject dealt with was not the danger posed by foreign technologies but the UAPs.
There are references to “interdimensional phenomena” and Popular Mechanics made a list of topics dealt with by BAASS, among which:
--Strategic plans to organize a series of intellectual debate forums targeted to broad audiences about the "potential disclosure of an extraterrestrial presence”
--Project databases of UAP-related materials compiled through various partnerships, and the intent to expand these databases by coordinating with foreign governments
--Summaries of multiple UAP events both inside the U.S. and in foreign countries
--Photographs of UAPs provided by various sources, including foreign governments
Taking into account this background, BAASS has been trying to contact investigators in foreign countries.
The author of this article received in 1999 a letter from Ms. Melissa Godoy who was trying to explore the possibility to work with BAASS exchanging information about UFOs.
She received the proper information about the way CIOVI dealt with the subject, the investigation the Center developed in Uruguay, and the results of its work. It was enough to never again hear about Ms. Godoy or BAASS.
But we know that more recently BAASS sent to Latin America a group of people –some of them former USAF agents working for the company.
They visited Brazil, Argentina, and possibly Uruguay, and were also interested to get in contact with investigators in Chile, at least.
Among the people that went to Latin America were Ms. Godoy, Tim Koonce, Lucas Gornicher, Loran Huffman, and Douglas Kurth.
Some other people –that is the case of Argentina— were contacted by email signed by Colm Kelleher.
There is a notorious intention to involve in the program developed by BAASS as many investigators and institutions as possible, no matter if they are private or official. But behind the company is the Department of Defense.
If we put the pieces in order, BAASS is used to contact and if possible engage foreign countries in the policy that the Department of Defense wants to develop.
And that policy is no other than to create once again a kind of euphoria about UAPs.
But they know that the wish to know, the curiosity and the interest waked up for the cases happened in the United States starting with Kenneth Arnold, plus films, books, and articles in magazines of that era is not the same now.
Therefore they need to send people to Latin America trying to give a push to the natural apathy of today, and even being ready to spend some dollars to pay for the cooperation of investigators.
This never happened before!
And when they talk about governments, the level they can reach tells us that they think that authorities in Latin America are enough corruptible that they can win their favor delivering some dollars here and there.
We do not want to offend any government. But we do not doubt that some individuals surely are ready to cooperate in exchange for money, because that is why they have been always interested in UFOs: how to make money.
We are sure that no one honest, serious, and reliable investigator will accept to sell himself or herself to the will of BAASS.
As I wrote in my book “Elementos de Ovnilogía – Guía para la Investigación” (Elements of Ufology – Guide to the Investigation), Montevideo, 1989, 102 pages) on May 4, 1986, we developed –together with the Argentinian investigator Dr. Roberto E. Banchs a document under the title “Perfil de la Ovnilogía” (Ufology Profile).
Within that Profile, there was the principle of Non-Subsidiarity, and it says: “It is necessary to develop an investigation and study policy that will not be subsidiary of interests, concepts, opinions or foreign initiatives, but that has a firm root in the interests, perspective, and possibilities of each country."
We continue thinking in the same way.
Arrived at this point, it is obvious that we need to find an explanation for the barrage of press releases, comments on TV, and the abundance of opinions in the United States about the possible UAPs seen by U.S.Navy pilots, the creation of AATIP, the creation by the History Channel of a TV series with Mr.Luis Elizondo as the main figure called “Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation”, the creation also by the History Channel of the series “Project BlueBook” portraying an absurd Dr.J. Allen Hynek and exaggerating the facts of some “UFO cases”; the BAASS activity and also the creation of “To the Stars – Academy of Arts and Science” (a kind of Donald Keyhoe’s NICAP, but this time headed by a rock singer named Tom DeLonge) which we consider is not serious.
The explanation is simple: on the one hand, the United States is really worried that one day could be an accident due to the suspected interference of devices from Russia or China. Both countries are working on the development of hypersonic glide vehicles.
Russia declared that the “Avangard” –the name of the glider—will be capable to develop 20 times the speed of sound or more.
China has developed hypersonic missiles that can reach a speed of 10 times the speed of sound.
On the other hand, the United States is working on the development of hypersonic missiles capable of reaching many times the speed of sound. The contract has been given to the Lockheed Martin Company.
Also, Lockheed Martin is in charge to develop the SR-72 hypersonic. Called "the son of SR-71" the supersonic spy plane, the SR-72 will be unmanned and capable of reaching a speed of 14,500 miles per hour.
But there must be something else, more revolutionary, and for all of that, like in the old times, it is necessary to create the idea of UAPs. This time not extraterrestrial, but from another dimension. Just in case someone sees something extraordinary that it is not supposed to have seen.
Those who have read my book “OVNIs: La Agenda Secreta” (UFOs: The Secret Agenda”) will understand this perfectly well
We have to take into account that soon after the observations made by pilots of the carrier USS Nimitz and the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Princeton, people with authority came on a helicopter and sequestered the EP (electronic protection) records from both ships.
We will continue with our work
Unshakable about what BAASS could be doing we will continue with our work, that we properly call today as Aerospace Identification.
It implies the scientific approach to study and analyze any UAP report, apply all the experience we have accumulated, all the knowledge and technology we can use currently –a big difference compared to what it was possible to do 40 or 50 years ago— and be able to validly explain the UAPs reports.
Once they have been explained, and at the end of every year, --but also at any moment if it is needed— we are ready to make public what we have done. We are against secrecy and subscribe to a transparent policy of communication.
By the same token, if there were a case in which we were not able to reach a valid conclusion, we will declare it.
All our work is ready to be submitted to pair review, as the correct way to ratify its validity or correct any mistake.
We are ready to provide information to any investigator who asks about it but based on the same level exchange.
And we will continue to be selective about the people that can be part of our work or want to participate as Member of the UAPSG.
Milton W. Hourcade
Iowa City, April 23, 2020.
