By Paul Collins and Phillip Collins
The last installment of this series provided readers with an extensive review of Bernard Newman’s The Flying Saucer. Newman was something of an enigma, a man of mystery, with connections to covert political circles.
His 1950 novel may express the intentions of covert forces to manufacture an otherworldly aerial menace. The book’s fictional cabal stokes fears of an extraterrestrial enemy and uses the ensuing crisis to establish a technocratic world government. These writers see The Flying Saucer as a prophetic mixture of forecasts and recommendations that Newman couched in fiction.
The novel raises an important question: can a real-life equivalent of Newman’s fictional conspiracy be identified in the world today?
For some, uncovering such a secretive group of schemers is a daunting, if not impossible, task. Any person who dares to try runs the risk of becoming like Popeye Doyle, the determined detective in the 1971 neo-noir action thriller film The French Connection. At the end of that cinematic classic, Doyle is reduced to an obsessed fanatic who is attempting to catch a criminal mastermind who has evolved into an elusive phantom, more ghost than man. That’s certainly not a road anyone wants to travel.
Fortunately, some of the machinations that resemble the conspiracy in Newman’s literary work may have already been uncovered. A February 2024 report released by the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) may proved UFO sleuths with a good place to start. The report is to ufologists what garlic is to a vampire. The garlic can be found in the report’s summary, which begins with the following bold, declarative statement:
“AARO found no evidence that any USG [United States Government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology. All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification. Although not the focus of this report, it is worthwhile to note that all official foreign UAP investigatory efforts to date have reached the same general conclusions as USG investigations.” -“Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP),” 7; italics in original
The report also placed another sacred cow of the UFO community on the altar: the assertion that extraterrestrial technology has been reverse-engineered, producing a whole plethora of modern breakthroughs. The report states:
“AARO found no empirical evidence for claims that the USG and private companies have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology. AARO determined, based on all information provided to date, that claims involving specific people, known locations, technological tests, and documents allegedly involved in or related to the reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial technology, are inaccurate. (7)
Some will inevitably argue that the AARO report is just one more cover-up. Such an assertion is not without some justification. After all, the government has participated in several proven and documented cover-ups throughout the years. That being said, it is usually incumbent upon the claimant to provide evidence for his or her claim. The recent crop of so-called UFO whistleblowers, those problematic individuals populating the misnamed “age of disclosure,” have failed to provide even a shred of evidence. Given that fact, the term whistleblower may need to be tossed out the window in favor of a more applicable term: disinformation agent. So, in all likelihood, AARO’s 2024 report is nothing but honest, fair, and accurate in its assertions that there is no evidence of extraterrestrial UAPs and that there are no human plagiarists ripping off the best minds that Zeta Reticuli has to offer.
Later in the report, AARO begins homing in on the most viable candidate for the real-life counterpart to Newman’s fictional conspiracy. In a section entitled “Accounts of USG Investigatory Programs since 1945,” AARO provides background on an investigatory body that readers became acquainted with in the second installment of this series: The Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program (AAWSAP), also known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).
The report provides AAWSAP’s standard history, pointing out that the program was established in 2009 by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in coordination with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence “to assess long-term and over-the-horizon foreign advanced aerospace threats to the United States” (22).
The report also points out that the program was managed by the DIA and involved a private sector organization that was contracted by the government (22). The report shares a very interesting fact: the AATIP incarnation of the program “was never an official DoD program” (22).
According to the AARO report, “after AAWSAP was cancelled, the AATIP moniker was used by some individuals associated with an informal, unofficial UAP community of interest within DoD that researched UAP sightings from military observers as part of their ancillary job duties” (22). A group of individuals within the DoD who blur the lines between public and private interests is, needless to say, highly problematic. Who did the members of this “unofficial UAP community of interest within DoD” work for? Who exactly did they represent? The answers to those questions may bring one to a realm where Newman’s fiction merges with reality.
The AARO report then makes a significant observation:
“AARO researched and interviewed numerous people, programs, and leads. It has determined that modern allegations that the USG [US Government] is hiding off-world technology and beings largely originate from the same group of individuals who have ties to the cancelled AAWSAP/AATIP program and a private sector organization’s paranormal research efforts. These individuals have worked with each other consistently in various UAP-related efforts.” (36)
In that one paragraph, AARO identifies the most likely candidate for the real-life counterpart to the fictional conspiracy found in Newman’s The Flying Saucer.
In a sense, this investigation into the fake age of disclosure has come full circle, returning to a cast of characters who were introduced in the earlier installments of this series.
In the second installment of this series, for instance, much attention was given to AATIP, the unofficial incarnation of the DoD’s “UAP community of interest.” The second installment of this series also provided a look at Luis Elizondo, AATIP’s most vocal and well-known participant. It is fair to say that Elizondo is the public face of the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity. He has appeared in scores of newspapers, magazines, documentaries, podcasts, radio shows, and television news programs. Often, he is portrayed in a positive light and enjoys soft ball questions from sympathetic journalists. While Elizondo has become a celebrity in the UFO community, there are problematic aspects of his background that many people are not aware of. Many of those aspects were examined in the second installment of this series. There is, however, much more that can be said about Elizondo.
Elizondo’s legal representation, for instance, opens a whole new can of worms. Currently, Elizondo is represented by Ivan Hannel, a Yale-educated attorney with the firm Cronus Law, PLLC. Hannel’s biography states:
“Ivan’s areas include general civil litigation, corporate law, and family law. Ivan has worked predominantly on cases for plaintiffs seeking justice, including medical and legal malpractice, contract disputes, breaches of corporate duties, business partnership disputes, and employment issues.” (“Ivan Hannel”)
It appears that Hannel is now adding UAP/UFO issues to his practice areas, with Elizondo acting as his entry point into UAP/UFO circles that possess less than benevolent goals. In an interview on the UAP Files Podcast, Hannel referred to Elizondo as “a friend” and “a very good human being” (“Luis Elizondo’s Lawyer Reveals New Witness in NJ Drone Mystery: Ivan Hannel Esq.”). Hannel also described criticisms of Elizondo that appeared on the social media platform X as “bullshit” and attacked a Wall Street Journal article that chronicled the contribution made by Pentagon disinformation to UFO lore (ibid).
Hannel’s dismissal of the arguments advanced in the Wall Street Journal piece is especially suspicious. The attorney described the article’s assertions as “insubstantive and silly,” concluding that the piece was a “crappy article” (ibid).
In the article, published June 6, 2025, journalists Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha charge that “the truth behind some of the foundational myths about UFOs” is that “[t]he Pentagon itself sometimes fanned the flames, in what amounted to the U.S. government targeting its own citizens with disinformation” (Schectman and Viswanatha). Schectman and Viswanatha further assert that “the very nature of Pentagon operations – an opaque bureaucracy that kept secret programs embedded within secret programs, cloaked in cover stories – created fertile ground for the myths to spread” (ibid). The mythmakers, according to Schectman and Viswanatha, included “military officers” who “spread false documents to create a smokescreen for real secret-weapons programs” (ibid). Schectman and Viswanatha also claim that “officials allowed UFO myths to take root in the interest of national security – for instance, to prevent the Soviet Union from detecting vulnerabilities in the systems protecting nuclear installations” (ibid).
Who was behind this disinformation campaign? Schectman and Viswanatha fail to answer that question, writing: “Investigators are still trying to determine whether the spread of disinformation was the act of local commanders and officers or a more centralized, institutional program” (ibid). While the authors of the Wall Street Journal piece were unable to identify the hidden hand responsible for the disinformation effort, the evidence indicated that the endeavor went “back all the way to the 1950s” (ibid).
In addition to deceiving the public, the disinformation effort sought to manipulate some within military circles. The Wall Street Journal piece revealed details regarding a fake reverse-engineering program dubbed Yankee Blue (ibid). Yankee Blue involved induction briefings in which “certain new commanders of the Air Force’s most classified programs” received “a piece of paper with a photo of what looked like a flying saucer” (ibid). The stunned recipients were told that the craft was “an antigravity maneuvering vehicle” (ibid). What purpose did this deception serve? Schectman and Viswanatha write: “Investigators are still trying to determine why officers had misled subordinates, whether as some type of loyalty test, a more deliberate attempt to deceive or something else” (ibid).
The Wall Steet Journal authors seem unaware of the fact UFO deception is characterized by function stacking, the employment of an element in an operation to achieve multiple ends. While the UFO disinformation described by Schectman and Viswanatha helped conceal secret weapon technology programs and advanced national security aims, it also played an indispensable role in a social engineering agenda. Aspects of that agenda have already been explored in previous installments of this series.
The second installment in this series focused on Elizondo’s and AATIP’s participation in the manipulation of social change. Are Elizondo, AATIP, and the long-running Pentagon UFO disinformation effort described in the pages of the Wall Street Journal just manifestations of the same social engineering agenda? More importantly, do all three constitute Bernard Newman’s UFO conspiracy brought to life within the bowels of America’s defense establishment?
During Hannel’s appearance on the UAP Files Podcast, one thing became painfully apparent: the attorney has drones on the mind. The spate of sightings in 2024 caused a wave of hysteria that Hannel is determined to ride. “Something is going on with all these drones in the sky and I don’t think they are just advanced U.S. technology,” declared Hannel (“Lue Elizondo’s Lawyer Reveals New Witness in NJ Drone Mystery: Ivan Hannel Esq.”). The attorney then went on to claim that he had a client whose testimony regarding drones would contradict the findings of naysaying circles that included former acting Director of AARO Tim Phillips (ibid). Hannel also seemed to suggest that some of the drones seen during the 2024 drone flap may have been the product of reverse-engineering. Hannel stated:
“A client of mine is going to be coming out with some information that contests some things said by Tim Phillips and others with respect to the drones. I do believe the United States has a highly advanced drone program. The question is where did that technology come from. That is the real question.” (ibid)
The source of the drone flap may be closer to home than Hannel wants people to believe. According to an October 18, 2025 New York Post article, the employee of a private contractor allegedly took responsibility for the drone sightings while conducting a live demonstration of a manned aerial craft at the August, 2025 UAS and Launched Effects Summit held at Fort Rucker, the headquarters of the Army’s aviation branch (Galvin).
The New York Post article reported that the craft, which is supposedly a creation of California-based aviation company Pivotal, “wowed the crowd with its unconventional appearance and unorthodox flight movements” (ibid). A source provided the New York Post with video of the craft, which is a “roughly 20-foot across four-winged flier” (ibid). According to a summit attendee who spoke with the Post, the flier, which Pivotal identified as their BlackFly eVTOL, “feels like it’s a UFO because it defies what you’re expecting to see” (ibid).
The attendee also told the Post that the craft almost disappeared entirely when making turns (ibid). While Pivotal laid claim to the craft, a spokesperson for the company insisted in writing that the vehicle was “not involved in the reported drone events in November 2024” (ibid). This claim conflicted with the testimony of the summit attendee. The attendee claimed to hear the contractor’s employee who was conducting the demonstration say, “You remember that big UFO scare in New Jersey last year? Well that was us” (ibid).
The attendee was also allegedly told by the contractor’s employee that the UFO scare over New Jersey was caused by attempts to test the craft’s capabilities (ibid). This explanation, however, may prove to be only partially true. There are some indications that covert forces may have piggybacked any testing that occurred, using the trial run of new technology as a trigger for panic and hysteria. This speculation is supported by the fact that, when the drone flap was intensifying, the government failed to provide satisfactory answers to the mystery. A December, 2024 joint statement released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Defense Department (DoD) stated:
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sighting to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.” (Watson)
This response, of course, seems like gaslighting, especially when one considers that none of the explanations provided even remotely resemble the craft that was demonstrated at Fort Rucker’s UAS and Launched Effects summit.
If the craft demonstrated at the summit, with all of its amazing capabilities and otherworldly attributes, was, in fact, flying over the skies of New Jersey and other states in 2024, then the benign possibilities suggested by federal authorities are just downright insulting and far from reassuring. The company testing the craft, whether it was Pivotal or some other aviation outfit, may have also contributed to the wall of obscurantism and secrecy surrounding the 2024 drone flap. According to the New York Post’s source, the contractor’s employee conducting the demonstration said that the company was “not required to disclose their activity to the public because of a private government contract” (Galvin).
With sightings multiplying and viable answers in short supply, a climate of fear and paranoia emerged. That climate was exploited, but to what end? It appears to these researchers that an atmosphere of extreme anxiety was created and used to condition people to fear an aerial threat. Such a fear would help set the stage for a fake extraterrestrial invasion not unlike the one presented in Newman’s The Flying Saucer.
At least one individual associated with the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity is well-acquainted with the creation of aerial menaces: former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) scientist Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green.
Green’s involvement with the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity goes back to 2009, when the doctor authored a DIA-commissioned report for AAWSAP (McMillan).
In his book Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs, Mark Pilkington recounts a conversation he had with Green. Pilkington and Green discussed “the use of quiet helicopters ‘disguised’ as UFOs to probe security and nuclear installations” (Pilkington 278).
Green expressed a high degree of certainty regarding mystery helicopter accounts, “following up by hinting that he may have met a man who claimed to have flown similar missions” (279). The “similar missions” referred to by Green’s source may have been chronicled by deceased researcher Jim Keith. Keith’s 1994 classic Black Helicopters Over America: Strikeforce for the New World Order documents incidents involving unmarked, military-grade helicopters from 1971 to 1994 (17-54).
In his follow-up volume, Black Helicopters II: The Endgame Strategy, Keith provides an additional list of incidents from 1994 to 1997 (17-31). Some of these reports may have been baseless rumors used by the militia movement to attract new recruits and fill membership rosters. That being said, the reports are far too multitudinous to dismiss them all as examples of the kind of hearsay that was circulating within the survivalist right in the 1990s. At different times, incidents involving mystery helicopters, usually in conjunction with cattle mutilations and/or UFOs, were compelling enough to touch off official investigations. In November of 1975, in response to several weeks of reports involving mutilations, mystery helicopters, and UFOs in northeastern New Mexico, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Area Coordinator James Gordon announced an investigation of sightings in northeastern New Mexico airspace (Fawcett and Greenwood 103).
Regarding that investigation, Larwrence Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood write:
“In response to Freedom of Information requests in 1978 and 1979 to FAA offices in Albuquerque and Tucumcari, to Southwestern region office in Fort Worth, and to the Rocky Mountain region office in Denver, the FAA denied having any information about the northeastern New Mexico mystery helicopters and UFOs or any investigation thereof. If there was such an investigation, what did it find out? The FAA isn’t saying.” (103)
Official investigators received another opportunity to disappoint in 1980, when a Department of Justice (DOJ) grant was bestowed upon Kenneth M. Rommel, Jr., of the District Attorney’s office for the First Judicial District to investigate a spate of mutilations, UFOs, and mystery helicopters (103-04). Known as the “Operational Animal Mutilation” (OAM) project, the investigation came in response to “a deluge of inquiries and complaints to the FBI’s field offices in New Mexico” (104). According to Fawcett and Greenwood, “FBI headquarters financed a ‘full investigation’ into the helicopter/UFO/mutilations to ease public concern” (104).
Once again, the mystery helicopters phenomenon proved to be significant enough to warrant a federal investigation. Unfortunately, the OAM project, like the 1975 FAA investigation, yielded little in the way of meaningful results. An OAM report was released which “concluded that most mutilations were attributed to ‘scavengers’ and ‘predators’ and that the helicopter/UFO reports ‘invariably’ had a ‘simple practical answer.’” (104). Fawcett and Greenwood share the OAM report’s deficiencies:
“While the Project’s Director [Rommel] conducted a thorough investigation of the cases he studied, it should be noted that the OAM project was limited to New Mexico, after much of the important activity had passed. The investigation covered a one-year period, but only fifteen cases were studied personally by the Director, out of hundreds of reports nationwide. If we allow that, say, ninety percent of all reports were explainable, then, statistically, the Director should have found perhaps one baffling case in his small sample. He didn’t. This is probably because the Director conducted no detailed investigations of already existing unusual incidents, but essentially waited for new reports to come in. The chances of such a strange event occurring for the OAM Project are comparable to one standing on a street corner waiting for an accident and the likelihood of seeing one occur.” (104-05)
While both of the investigations shared here failed to provide adequate answers, they demonstrate how the mystery helicopter phenomenon has, at times, been considered important enough to justify official scrutiny.
In addition to the investigations, there is at least one high-profile incident dating back to 1980 that makes the existence of the mystery helicopters and their connection to the UFO phenomenon undeniable. The incident, known as the Cash/Landrum case in ufological circles, occurred at 9 p.m. on December 29, 1980 (106).
Three individuals bore witness to the incident: Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Vickie’s grandson, Colby (106). The three were the occupants of a car making its way down Cleveland-Huffman Road north of Lake Houston, Texas (106). Their destination was supposed to be their home in Dayton, Texas (106).
The journey, however, did not go uninterrupted. While driving down a portion of the road populated with only minimal traffic, the three witnesses “were stunned to see a large, diamond-shaped object hovering straight over the road a short distance away” (106). The object was illuminated by an intense light that was intolerable to the eyes of the witnesses (106). The light was bright enough to illuminate the area surrounding it (106). Periodically, flame would issue forth from the strange object’s underbelly in a way that resembled a rocket exhaust (106). The driver, Betty Cash, brought the car to a complete stop in the middle of the road in an attempt to avoid driving under the UFO (106). The occupants of the car exited the vehicle to get a better look at the diamond-shaped object (106). Fear, however, laid a hold of Vickie and Colby, prompting the two to quickly return to the car’s interior (106). Betty remained outside the vehicle a little longer, observing the otherworldly device dominating the sky over Cleveland-Huffman (106).
Vickie began pleading with Betty to get back inside the car (106). Betty attempted to do so but found that the door handle was too hot to touch (106). She was able to work the door open by covering her hand with a leather jacket (106). While the three watched on from the car’s interior, they noticed a considerable leap in the temperature (106). The heat was enough to cause the three to turn on the car’s air conditioner (106). This was a highly unusual development, given the fact that it was wintertime.
The strange object bobbed around in the sky, moving up and down in correspondence with the blasts of flame coming from its underbelly (106). Finally, the object moved southwest, passing from sight (106). At that juncture, the mystery helicopters made their appearance.
Fawcett and Greenwood write that “a number of helicopters were seen in the area a distance from the object” (107). The reintroduction of the diamond-shaped aerial terror came five short minutes later, as the terrified trio traveled on FM2100 (107). There, the three witnesses saw the object accompanied by numerous helicopters (107). Fawcett and Greenwood describe the situation:
“The helicopters made a tremendous racket and caused the witnesses to fear that there were so many of them in the sky that some might collide. More than twenty helicopters were counted by the women” (107). The object and its helicopter escort ascended into the sky, diminishing into a distant light (107). Betty drove on, delivering her passengers to their home and then returning to her own abode at approximately 9:50 p.m. (107).
In the days subsequent to the sighting, the three witnesses began experiencing a number of severe ailments. Vickie Landrum was afflicted with headaches, swollen eyes, stomach pains, diarrhea, hair loss, anorexia, arm sores, red skin discoloration, impaired vision, and other ailments (107). The young Colby’s afflictions were both psychological and physical. In addition to stomach pains, diarrhea, anorexia, swollen eyes, red skin discoloration, and weight loss, Colby “had nightmares for weeks after the incident and became fearful of helicopters and bright lights in the sky” (107).
Betty Cash seemed to be the witness hardest hit. Her symptoms, in many ways, mirrored those experienced by Vickie Landrum. The severity level, however, was much higher. Betty’s condition grew worse within days. Her eyes swelled shut and red blotches that had developed on her face turned into blisters (107). The situation became dire enough for Vickie to take Betty to a hospital emergency room (107). There, Betty received the kind of treatment that is administered to burn victims (107). A 12-day stay in the hospital followed Betty’s admission by medical staff (107). During that stay, patches of skin peeled off of Betty’s face and the majority of her hair fell out (107). Betty left the hospital only to turn around and come back for an additional 15 days of treatment (107).
An extensive investigation conducted by John Schuessler, a Project Manager for Space Shuttle Flight Operations for McDonnell Douglas Corporation and Deputy Director for Administration for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Seguin, Texas, concluded “that the witnesses may have suffered some form of radiation sickness, although the precise type of radiant energy is unknown” (107).
Schuessler also looked into the question of the mystery helicopters and determined that there were two types of helicopters present at the incident: double rotor Boeing CH47 Chinooks and helicopters similar to the Bell Huey (107).
What agency owned these helicopters? Fawcett and Greenwood write:
“Attempts to locate a large number of these helicopters at airports or airbases proved fruitless. All denied having this number of aircraft in the air in the vicinity of Betty’s car that night” (108).
Does this mean that extraterrestrials have taken to renting out helicopters during their visits to the “pale blue dot?” Someone who seemed resistant to the notion that the Cash/Landrum incident was extraterrestrial in nature was none other than Vickie Landrum. For her, the whole affair, from start to finish, had terrestrial origins. While speaking with the press in Texas, Landrum opined, “I don’t believe for a minute that the UFO was from another planet. I just don’t believe in it” (Kanon 58).
In their 1984 offering Clear Intent: The Government Coverup of the UFO Experience, Lawrence Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood present “some of the prominent speculative explanations which might provide answers to the mutilation/helicopter/UFO link” (110).
These “speculative explanations” include the possibility that the “helicopters belong to a ‘para-government,’ a group operating as a government within a government” (110). Pilkington’s conversation with Green certainly seems to support this possibility.
What are the ends that this “government within a government” seeks to reach?
What goal is served by filling the sky with mystery helicopters that, in the words of deceased researcher Jim Keith, “are flying over our land in violation of all local and federal laws, carrying on their secret business, and taunting and terrifying the populace” (Black Helicopters Over America: Strikeforce for the New World Order 17)?
Fawcett and Greenwood attempted to answer these questions back in 1984, bringing attention to the strong association between the mystery helicopter phenomenon and the cattle mutilation phenomenon. For Fawcett and Greenwood, the possibility that the mystery helicopters were a response to the growing reports of cattle being mutilated and dissected needed to be entertained.
In other words, the mystery helicopters make up a “quick response unit” that is mobilized and deployed whenever a new report of cattle mutilation is received by interested parties within the “para-government” structure (111). Fawcett and Greenwood “feel that the idea of helicopters being used by the government, or para-government, to monitor UFO and mutilation activity seems to be the most attractive hypothesis” (111).
The evidence that made this hypothesis so attractive to Fawcett and Greenwood included the testimony of L.L. Walker, a Dayton, Texas police officer who was a witness in the Cash/Landrum case. Walker shared his testimony with Schuessler, the aforementioned MUFON investigator who produced an in-depth investigative piece on the Cash/Landrum case. Walker told Schuessler “that several hours after the Cash/Landrum encounter, he observed helicopters in groups of three with their searchlights on” (108). Walker identified the helicopters as Chinooks and stated that they “behaved as if they were searching for something in the area” (108).
Jim Keith also explored the connection between mystery helicopters and cattle mutilation, but took issue with the “oft-voiced supposition” held by Fawcett, Greenwood, and others “that the black helicopters seen in these instances are piloted by government men investigating cattle mutilations after the fact, and researching their connections to UFOs” (Black Helicopters II: The Endgame Strategy 46). Keith voices the following objection:
“Militating against that view is that the choppers are often observed in the vicinity prior to the mutilation taking place. Additionally, if a government investigation was in progress, wouldn’t a ground search of the area of the cattle mutilation be more to the point than a chopper over-fly? In the majority of the accounts that I have read, this does not seem to take place.” (46)
Keith took the position that “the connection of UFOs and cattle mutilations with black helicopters is probably of a more terrestrial, although perhaps equally sinister nature in most cases” (45-6). Keith explored the possibility that the mystery helicopters are involved in illegal government biowarfare tests. In support of this contention, Keith cited a number of instances where mutilated cattle were autopsied and germ warfare grade bacteria and toxins were discovered (46-50). While searching for the culprits behind secret experimentation on cattle, Keith seemed very close to landing on the CIA’s doorstep. In his 1997 expose, Black Helicopters II: The Endgame Strategy, Keith made the following observation:
“After February 1970 and the accidental release of nerve gas at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, experimentation in bacteriological and chemical warfare research was banned in the U.S., with an order issued by Congress to destroy all existing stockpiles of such weapons. Senator Frank Church’s Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in 1976 found that the CIA, for one, had not complied with the order, and had stored enough shellfish toxin and cobra venom to kill hundreds of thousands of people.” (47-8)
Keith certainly seemed to be onto something, and that something may have involved elements of the CIA. After all, Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green, the individual who shared revelations regarding the mystery helicopter phenomenon with Mark Pilkington, had worked for the CIA. Was Green able to speak to the issue of the mystery helicopters because he was somehow involved in or close to their activities? There is nothing conclusive, but the possibility must at least be considered, especially given the fact that the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity to which Green belongs may be drawing some inspiration from UFO incidents involving mystery helicopters when promoting their faux age of disclosure.
There may be an even darker reason for dispatching mystery helicopters that find their way into media reports of terrified citizens and mutilated animals. That reason is detectable in an observation made by Fawcett and Greenwood: “What is clear in these sightings is that where there was once relatively quiet airspace, a sudden rash of helicopters appear for no obvious reason. The residents were startled and concerned, and most of all, they wanted answers” (103).
The mystery helicopter incidents as described by Fawcett and Greenwood smack of a psychological operation. Perhaps the “startled and concerned” residents described by Fawcett and Greenwood are the intended result. The fear, dread, and uncertainty created by mystery helicopter sightings and incidents maybe desired by the covert forces responsible for the phenomenon. The mystery helicopters, like the drone hordes that have now joined them in the creation of anticipatory anxiety, are meant to condition people to fear the very sky above their heads.
An aerial threat, whether it be mystery helicopters or mystery drones, plays an important role in any coming fake alien invasion. Consistent harassment from drones and helicopters will gradually create a population that habitually expects a nonhuman menace coming down from the once-peaceful heavens. The strange things being seen in the sky, however, do not indicate that extraterrestrial contact is close. They, instead, indicate that Bernard Newman’s fiction may soon become reality.
For many people, especially conspiracy researchers and elements of the patriot/militia movement that enjoyed a brief period of strong growth in the 1990s, the mystery helicopter phenomenon is also symptomatic of a growing anti-democratic trend.
That trend, which received significant exposure in the nineties because of abuses at Waco and Ruby Ridge, is characterized by ramped-up militarism at home and abroad, police state apologetics and recommendations in the realm of media, naked authoritarianism, and frequent flirtation with outright totalitarianism. Deceased research Jim Keith highlighted the relationship between the anti-democratic trend and mystery helicopters in two books. In those books, Keith expressed a fear that the mystery helicopters and other developments contributing to the anti-democratic trend were signs that violent competition between the American people and the nation’s globalist oligarchy may be on the way. Writing in 1994, Keith stated:
“Even if only a small portion of these reports which we are receiving are true, the conclusion is inescapable: All of these activities are the preparations for a war which will be fought within the borders of the United States, a war planned to be initiated against the American people by the power hungry internationalists.” (Black Helicopters Over America: Strikeforce for the New World Order 145)
While the war on American soil predicted by Keith did not materialize in his lifetime, the anti-democratic trend and its attendant mystery helicopter phenomenon has continued. Populist pushback in 2016 and 2024 only slowed the trend. The trend then experienced a rebound that was helped along by technological advancements. Among those advancements is the drone technology that, like the mystery helicopters that came before it, appears to be contributing to the aerial menace narrative that is desired by UFO deception circles.
Neither the drones nor the mystery helicopters have been deployed in a kinetic war with the American people, but the two have been used to cultivate UFO fever dreams and a climate of hysterical fear, a toxic mixture that has proven deleterious to the American democratic experiment.
In addition to its ties to the activities of the mystery helicopters, the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity has made unique contributions to America’s tyrannical drift. Once again, a look at Elizondo’s background is in order.
Most people who are familiar with Elizondo either regard him to be a complete charlatan or heroic truth-teller. What is little known by people in both of these camps is Elizondo’s past journey into the realm of oppression. \
In his book Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs, Elizondo states that, during the Obama administration’s final years, his “primary work focus had shifted to counterterrorism efforts” (119). Elizondo’s work in the area of counterterrorism included “running certain elements of Guantanamo Bay and the secret program there known as Camp 7” (119).
Elizondo describes Guantanamo Bay and its Camp 7 as “a purgatory of sorts, where the US had placed the worst of the worst suspected terrorists” (119). A more appropriate description of the location would be a living hell where due process, human rights, and the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment go to die.
In 2006, five envoys from a UN commission on human rights reviewed photographic evidence of Guantanamo detainees being “shackled, chained, hooded and forced to wear headphones and goggles” (“UN calls for Guantanamo Bay to close”). Interrogation techniques employed at Guantanamo Bay, which included “the use of dogs, exposure to extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation for several consecutive days and prolonged isolation,” also faced scrutiny from the commission (ibid).
The evidence proved to be far too egregious and the commission recommended the closure of Guantanamo Bay, a recommendation that was flatly rejected by the George W. Bush administration (ibid).
In 2023, Patrick Hamilton, a senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), visited Guantanamo Bay and reported that he was “struck by how those who are still detained today are experiencing the symptoms of accelerated ageing [sic], worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention” (“Guantanamo Bay prisoners show signs of ‘accelerated ageing:’ ICRC”). Elizondo did not go unscathed by the abuse allegations swirling around Guantanamo Bay. In his book, Elizondo writes:
“My work with Guantanamo Bay brought endless rounds of drama and stress. An attorney for one of the 9/11 suspects labeled me in open court as the “US Czar of Torture.” From that moment, I would forever be branded by some as the nation’s Darth Vader. At one point I was informed that Europe had issued an open arrest warrant for me and anyone involved in the notorious Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) program of high-value detainees (HVDs). The International Court of Human Rights had decreed that any US intelligence officer involved in that effort would face trial if arrested.” (120)
Was Elizondo involved, directly or indirectly, in any of the abuse that transpired at Guantanamo?
All Elizondo will say is the following: “From my perspective, I was serving my country and my president, and preventing another 9/11” (120). While that statement is very cryptic, what can be gleaned from it is that Elizondo is fairly unapologetic for what went on within the walls of that infamous facility. He stands by his questionable activities in the areas of counterterrorism and intelligence. What is even more disturbing is that Elizondo’s involvement in the UFO/UAP community may be a continuation of that controversial counterterrorism and intelligence work. While appearing on the Calling All Beings podcast, Elizondo stated that he left the Department of Defense “ironically enough to finish the very mission they gave me in the first place. I didn’t ask for it” (“#33 Luis Elizondo”). Without stopping to define the pronoun “they,” Elizondo plows ahead with the following admission:
“I’m not a UFO guy. I’m not a ufologist. I never have been. I never will be. I’m a counterterrorism and counterespionage guy. Counterintelligence, counter-insurgencies. That’s what I do and it just so happens that in 2008 I was asked to apply the same skill sets into the UFO community.” (ibid)
Who is it that Elizondo is referring to with the pronoun “they?” Just who is it that assigned Elizondo with this supposedly noble task that he considers to be a mere continuation of his intelligence work? Once again, sleuths and researchers are led back to the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity, that “unofficial UAP community of interest within DoD” that was identified by the 2024 AARO report. That fraternity appears to extend into the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Recall that this office, according to the 2024 AARO report, was involved with the DIA in the establishment of the AAWSAP incarnation of the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity in 2009. Who was the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence at the time of AAWSAP’s establishment?
None other than disgraced former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper.
In his book, Elizondo claims a special relationship with Clapper. Elizondo describes Clapper, who is an alleged perjurer and principal player in the 2013 National Security Agency (NSA) scandal, as a man who “had the pedigree of Tiberius – a true warrior and a scholar” (82).
Clapper, according to Elizondo, “had been one of my upper-level supervisors, in what I considered the golden era of OUSD(I) [Office of the UnderSecretary of Defense for Intelligence], when people were happy and the mission was their focus” (211-12).
Elizondo also recounts an encounter with Clapper that occurred “in the green room at CNN prior to an on-camera interview” (211). Clapper, Elizondo recalls, “was there to give remarks on other breaking news” (211). In Elizondo’s account, Clapper seems to express great delight with the work that Elizondo has done for the AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity. Elizondo writes: “[Clapper] greeted us warmly, saying how surprised he was that the Pentagon admitted it had a UAP program and that he was proud of me. Honestly, Jim Clapper acknowledging me at all made me proud” (212).
Like Elizondo, Clapper has made significant contributions to the anti-democratic trend that has had such a corrosive effect on American politics and the public trust. Most informed people with long memories recall Clapper’s infamous March 12, 2013 with Senator Ron Wyden.
During that exchange, Wyden asked Clapper a rather straightforward question: “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans” (Greenberg)? Nervously rubbing his forehead, then-DNI Clapper flatly responded, “No sir” (ibid). With what seemed to be a trace of skepticism, Wyden sought more from Clapper, interrogatively stating, “It does not” (ibid)? Clapper proceeded to elaborate: “Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly” (ibid).
In June of that same year, for NSA intelligence contractor Eric Snowden leaked classified documents to a number of journalists. Those documents clearly demonstrated that Clapper’s testimony before the Senate was not true. The NSA and several other intelligence agencies in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance had taken global surveillance to a new level, collaborating with telecommunications companies and European countries to collect data on scores of people. When asked in an interview if there was a “decisive moment” that led to his decision to leak documents regarding massive surveillance, Snowden gave the following response:
“I would say sort of the breaking point is seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress. There’s no saving an intelligence community that believes it can lie to the public and the legislators who need to be able to trust it and regulate its actions. Seeing that really meant for me there was no going back. (“Snowden-Interview: Transcript”)
During a June 7, 2013 NBC interview, Clapper claimed that, when answering Wyden’s question, he “responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner by saying no” (“NBC New Exclusive: Transcript of Andrea Mitchell’s Interview with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper”). Many found Clapper’s explanation for such an egregious lie to be appalling and unacceptable. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul gave a voice to the outrage when he suggested that Clapper “share a prison cell” with Snowden (Glueck). A bipartisan group of 26 senators drafted and sent a letter to intelligence chiefs that accused Clapper of lying and denounced “secret interpretations of the USA Patriot Act” that “have allowed for the bulk collection of massive amounts of data on the communications of ordinary Americans with no connection to wrongdoing” (Roberts).
It is questionable whether or not Clapper ever faces the music for any criminal allegations. If a trial ever does materialize, the dissemination of UFO disinformation may have to be added to the list of charges.
In 2025, James Clapper appeared with 33 other liars who were either current or former senior government officials in The Age of Disclosure, a documentary that claims to reveal the truth regarding the UFO/UAP issue. While the film does not present a shred of evidence or proof for its assertions, it does allow audiences to familiarize themselves with the kinds of disinformation that have plagued the UFO field since its very inception. The AAWSAP/AATIP fraternity is also on full display in the film and their real agenda is subtly conveyed in certain segments. An examination of The Age of Disclosure will be taken up in the next installment of this series.
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