This man ran the Pentagon's secretive UFO programme for a decade. We had some questions
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of GQ Magazine
This man ran the Pentagon's secretive UFO programme for a decade. We had some questions
GQ Magazine, November 9, 2021
Posted: 2024-02-22 10:32:27
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/luis-elizondo...
When it came to UFOs, there was a time when the US government's official line was that it didn't study them.
Luis Elizondo was instrumental in changing that.
In late 2017, he met with the freelance journalist Leslie Kean and revealed the existence of a $22 million (Ł16m) Pentagon programme investigating military reports of UFOs – a programme he had been in charge of since 2010. He had left the job the day before and decided to turn whistle-blower in the name of national security. As he put it in his resignation letter to secretary of defense Jim Mattis: "Bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets continue to plague the department at all levels... The department must take serious the many accounts by the Navy and other services of unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and displaying beyond next-generation capabilities... There remains a vital need to ascertain the capability and intent of these phenomena for the benefit of the armed forces and the nation."Kean joined forces with two other reporters, one from the New York Times, and on 16 December 2017 the story appeared on the paper's front page. It detailed the "Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program" set up in 2007 to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena or "UAP", the term that has replaced the now stigmatised "UFO".
Kean joined forces with two other reporters, one from the New York Times, and on 16 December 2017 the story appeared on the paper's front page. It detailed the "Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program" set up in 2007 to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena or "UAP", the term that has replaced the now stigmatised "UFO". Many UAPs, the Times reported, appeared impossible to explain, lacking any visible means of lift but able to travel at unfathomable speed. What's more, the story stated, Elizondo and his colleagues had "determined that the phenomena they had studied did not seem to originate from any country".
But the reader didn't have to take the Times' word for all this. There were videos. An ally of Elizondo's, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence Chris Mellon, had helped the reporters obtain footage shot from the cockpits of US Navy fighter jets. One of the videos corroborates arguably the most compelling UAP episode ever to come to light.
According to reports, it took place in November 2004, when pilots were flying training missions from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. While squadron leader commander David Fravor was in the air, he was asked to intercept a mysterious aircraft. Upon arrival at its coordinates, what he saw was extraordinary: a 40-foot object, resembling a huge white Tic Tac, that had no visible propulsion system, rotors, wings or exhaust plume. Yet Fravor says it was able to jam radar, react to his movements and run rings around his F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet – turning so sharply it was as if the UAP had no inertia – before flying away faster than anything he had ever seen. Simply put, it defied the known laws of physics. Not only were there multiple eyewitnesses – including another pilot who filmed the Tic Tac using his plane's targeting camera (this was the footage passed to the Times) – but the UAP was also detected by the radar of the nearby USS Princeton, an Aegis-class missile cruiser with state-of-the-art sensor systems.
Now, Elizondo's hopes for government action have started to be realised. On 27 April 2020, the US Department Of Defense confirmed the veracity of the Times' UAP videos and released them officially into the public domain. In a statement, the Pentagon said, "The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as â€unidentified'." In August that same year, the Pentagon announced a new UAP Task Force "to detect, analyse and catalogue UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to US national security". And in June 2021, the Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence released a report to congress about the government's work on the UAP issue. Of the 144 encounters studied, it stated, 143 could not be explained. It didn't blame extraterrestrials, but nor did it rule that explanation out.
One of the consequences of his efforts, he says, is a significant piece of legislation that is going through congress. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act contains important developments for the study of UAPs. It requires that the secretary of defense sets up a permanent office to carry out the duties currently performed by the UAP Task Force but on a department-wide basis. This new office would have to submit an annual report to congressional committees on a range of its findings, including updates on efforts to track, understand, capture and exploit UAPs – as well as an assessment of health-related effects on those who encounter these strange flying objects. Elizondo calls it "historic". GQ spoke to Elizondo as he prepared to head to Washington, DC, to brief members of congress on how to work with foreign allies on the issue.
Elizondo: I have in my possession official US government documentation that describes the exact same vehicle that we now call the Tic Tac [seen by the Nimitz pilots in 2004] being described in the early 1950s and early 1960s and performing in ways that, frankly, can outperform anything we have in our inventory. For some country to have developed hypersonic technology, instantaneous acceleration and basically transmedial travel in the early 1950s is absolutely preposterous.
Elizondo: I've got to be careful, I can't speak too specifically, but one might imagine that you get a report from a pilot who says, "Lue, it's really weird. I was flying and I got close to this thing and I came back home and it was like I got a sunburn. I was red for four days." Well, that's a sign of radiation. That's not a sunburn; it's a radiation burn. Then [a pilot] might say, if [they] had got a little closer, "Lue, I'm at the hospital. I've got symptoms that are indicative of microwave damage, meaning internal injuries, and even in my brain there's some morphology there." And then you might get somebody who gets really close and says, "You know, Lue, it's really bizarre. It felt like I was there for only five minutes, but when I looked at my watch 30 minutes went by, but I only used five minutes' worth of fuel. How is that possible?" Well, there's a reason for that, we believe, and it probably has to do with warping of space time. And the closer you get to one of these vehicles, the more you may begin to experience space time relative to the vehicle and the environment.
Elizondo: The government has already admitted not only that they're real, but that they truly are unidentified objects and they're behaving in a very peculiar way. For example, you have an object that is at altitude, going at 120 knots against the wind, that is rotating at 90 degrees without losing altitude. Anybody who understands aerodynamics, when you're flying an aircraft and you turn 90 degrees you lose lift, unless you're in a hard bank. What makes those videos more compelling is not so much what you see, but what you don't see. It's the radar signatures, it's the call signs from pilot to pilot, and pilot to ship, saying, "Hey, we've got a bogey up here." And in one case you hear one of them say, "Look, we have a whole fleet of these things on the ASA [radar display]." Some of the pilots have come out and said there was actually a whole fleet of these things manoeuvring right off camera. The pilots are trained observers. They are trained to identify an aircraft silhouette at 20 miles away – an SU-22, a European Tornado, a Harrier or even an F-16 – and literally within a split moment's notice be able to identify friend or foe and shoot it down. What they're reporting doesn't fit any type of parameters of any type of conventional aircraft that we know of.
Elizondo: I have been told I have to be very careful how I answer this question. I am not allowed to expound upon anything I've already said. What I have said is that it is my opinion, my belief – a strong belief, hint, hint – that the US government is in possession of exotic material associated with UAPs. That is all I'm allowed to say.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on UFOs from reliable major media sources.
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U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba
2001-05-01, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662
In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban emigres, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's ... Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were presented to President Kennedy's defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years. The Joint Chiefs even proposed using the potential death of astronaut John Glenn during the first attempt to put an American into orbit as a false pretext for war with Cuba. Should the rocket explode and kill Glenn, they wrote, "the objective is to provide irrevocable proof ... that the fault lies with the Communists." The scary thing is none of this stuff comes out until 40 years after.
Note: Why was ABC the only major news source to report on this highly revealing story? Read the shocking declassified documents on Operation Northwoods. Many military and political leaders look at the world as a grand chessboard. Sacrificing pawns (innocent civilians) is sometimes necessary to capture the queen. Explore revealing news articles on military corruption. Then check out eye-opening 9/11 news articles.
Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group
2005-09-29, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm
How much influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government policies and international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often attracted speculation that it forms a shadowy global government. Every year since 1954 [they have brought] together about 120 leading business people and politicians. At this year's meeting in Germany, the audience included the heads of the World Bank and European Central Bank, Chairmen or Chief Executives from Nokia, BP, Unilever, DaimlerChrysler and Pepsi ... editors from five major newspapers, members of parliament, ministers, European commissioners ... and the queen of the Netherlands. The chairman ... is 73-year-old Viscount Etienne Davignon. In an extremely rare interview, he played down the importance of Bilderberg. "I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling class exists." Will Hutton ... who attended a Bilderberg meeting in 1997, says people take part in these networks in order to influence the way the world works, to create what he calls "the international common sense". And that "common sense" is one which supports the interests of Bilderberg's main participants. For Bilderberg's critics the fact that there is almost no publicity about the annual meetings is proof that they are up to no good. Bilderberg meetings often feature future political leaders shortly before they become household names. Bill Clinton went in 1991 while still governor of Arkansas, Tony Blair was there two years later while still an opposition MP. All the recent presidents of the European Commission attended Bilderberg meetings before they were appointed. Informal and private networks like Bilderberg have helped to oil the wheels of global politics and globalisation for the past half a century.
Note: Why is this meeting of top world leaders kept so secret? Why, until a few years ago, was there virtually no reporting on this influential group in the major media? Thankfully, the alternative media has had some good articles. And a Google search can be highly informative. Explore many other revealing major media news articles on powerful secret societies. And for those interested, check out reliable, eye-opening information covering the big picture of how and why these secret societies are using government-sponsored mind control programs to achieve their agenda.
[9/11] Hijack 'suspects' alive and well
2001-09-23, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
Another of the men named by the FBI as a hijacker in the [9/11] suicide attacks on Washington and New York has turned up alive and well. The identities of four of the 19 suspects accused of having carried out the attacks are now in doubt. Saudi Arabian pilot Waleed Al Shehri was one of five men that the FBI said had deliberately crashed American Airlines flight 11 into the World Trade Centre on 11 September. His photograph was released, and has since appeared in newspapers and on television around the world. He told journalists there that he had nothing to do with the attacks. He has contacted both the Saudi and American authorities. He acknowledges that he attended flight training school at Daytona Beach in the United States, and is indeed the same Waleed Al Shehri to whom the FBI has been referring. But, he says, he left the United States in September last year [and] became a pilot with Saudi Arabian airlines. Abdulaziz Al Omari, another of the Flight 11 hijack suspects ... says he is an engineer with Saudi Telecoms, and that he lost his passport while studying in Denver. Meanwhile ... a London-based Arabic daily says it has interviewed Saeed Alghamdi. He was listed by the FBI as a hijacker in the United flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. And there are suggestions that another suspect, Khalid Al Midhar, may also be alive. FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged on Thursday that the identity of several of the suicide hijackers is in doubt.
Note: The deceptions in the 9/11 official story are clearly shown in this key story. The FBI never revised its list of alleged hijackers. These four are all listed in the official 9/11 Commission report as the hijackers. Click here and scroll down a little over half way to see their photos in the official report. For more, see this webpage. Explore also concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles with evidence of a 9/11 cover-up from reliable major media sources. Then examine an abundance of reliable information suggesting a major 9/11 cover-up.
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Below is a sample of the three articles most recently posted to this website.
Why Epstein's Links to the CIA Are So Important
2025-12-19, The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/jeffrey-epstein-cia-ties/
On November 18, Donald Trump suffered a major political defeat when the House of Representatives passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act by a nearly unanimous vote: 427–1. But the final version specified that the Department of Justice must make public "all unclassified" documents on Epstein. The word unclassified potentially gives Trump and the CIA wide latitude to hold back Epstein-related materials that they claim are too sensitive to release. People have linked Epstein to the spy world for years. In 2019, Vicky Ward, writing in The Daily Beast, reported that Trump's then–labor secretary, Alex Acosta–who, as a federal prosecutor, had cut a notorious sweetheart plea deal with Epstein before his trial in 2008–had made some startling comments about Epstein when he was being vetted for his role in the first Trump administration. As Ward noted, Acosta claimed that he had "cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had â€been told' to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. â€I was told Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to leave it alone,' he told his interviewers in the Trump transition [team]." Just as much of the policing of the American empire is now done by private military companies (notably Constellis, formerly known as Academi and Blackwater), billionaires like Epstein have their own private foreign policy. Whatever work Epstein did with the CIA or the Mossad would have been as a peer rather than an employee.
Note: Our latest 7-min video with Joe Martino of Collective Evolution explores compelling evidence that Epstein was heavily involved in both CIA and Mossad operations. Even after his conviction as a sex offender, Epstein was meeting with top officials at the CIA and the White House. Read our comprehensive Substack investigation covering the connection between Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations.
Statement announcing Jeffrey Epstein's death emerges from files... but it's dated a day before he killed himself
2026-02-09, Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15539609/Statement-announcing-Jeffre...
A federal statement announcing Jeffrey Epstein's death has surfaced in newly released Justice Department files but it carries a date that appears to precede the moment he was officially found dead inside his New York prison cell. The document, issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and dated Friday, August 9, 2019, states that Epstein had already been found unresponsive and pronounced dead. But prison records and official accounts show Epstein was not discovered unresponsive until the morning of August 10, 2019. According to official accounts, Epstein was discovered unresponsive in his cell shortly after 6.30am on August 10 by a corrections officer. Medical personnel attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead soon afterward. Epstein's death came amid a cascade of failures inside one of the federal government's most secure detention facilities. Prison records show that guards assigned to monitor Epstein did not conduct required checks during the overnight hours before his body was discovered. Scheduled rounds at 3am and 5am were missed, according to official findings. Furthermore, cameras positioned outside Epstein's cell were not functioning properly that night. Investigators later confirmed that at least two surveillance cameras had malfunctioned, leaving critical gaps in visual monitoring. Because of those failures, officials were unable to establish a definitive timeline of Epstein's final moments.
Note: Mark Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein's brother, believes that his death involved an official cover-up. An email thread between high-level federal investigators discusses what appears to be an unnamed individual attempting to extort Mark Epstein. The sender claims: "with the coordination of the director of prison regulations, the cameras were tampered with and some the videos of the prison cameras were cut. At that time, prison guards [redacted] were paid $6,500 so that they would not visit prisoners at this time. Within 15 minutes, a man named [redacted] entered your brother's prison cell and strangled him." For more, internal US Bureau of Prison (BOP) documents suggest a possible cover-up, while a 60 Minutes 2020 investigation uncovered compelling evidence that challenges the official suicide ruling in Epstein's death–including suspicious neck fractures, missing surveillance footage, and a series of unexplained security failures.
UK Ambassador Told Epstein â€I Think the World of You,' Emails Reveal
2025-09-10, Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-jeffrey-epstein-emails-peter-mandelson/
The day before Jeffrey Epstein reported to a Florida jail in June 2008 to begin serving time for soliciting sex from a minor, he received an outraged message from a friend anguished at the injustice of it all. "I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened," Peter Mandelson wrote, in an email obtained by Bloomberg News. "I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain." At the time, Mandelson was European Commissioner for Trade. Today he is the UK's ambassador in Washington, the most prestigious posting in Britain's diplomatic service and the latest in a decades-long career of high-profile positions in government and politics. And he finds himself at the center of a furor over his links to the serial sex abuser, after the publication this week of a 2003 birthday book in which Mandelson penned a 10-page tribute calling Epstein his "best pal." In one cryptic [email] exchange, Epstein referred to an upcoming meeting between his lawyer and somebody he called "mr. big," and told Mandelson, "I need your guy to remind him one time before the meeting.. then we are done." Mandelson replied, "I will get a message. He is travelling at moment." Neither "mr. big" nor "your guy" are named. News accounts in the early 2000s describe how Mandelson helped persuade Queen Elizabeth to appoint Prince Andrew, her second son and the Duke of York, to an influential role as an international trade ambassador.
Note: This article is also available here. Following publication of this article, Peter Mandelson was fired as UK ambassador to the US. Don't miss Part 1 and Part 2 of our in-depth investigative series on this massive elite crime ring now coming to light in the documents being made public. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking ring.
The above three are excerpts from the news stories most recently posted to this website.
Explore our index to revealing excerpts of news articles on several dozen topics.
Don't miss amazing excerpts from the 20 most revealing news articles ever published.