(Originally published Jan 2020)
A startling new analysis and an overview of available reports reveals that embedded deep within US defense and intelligence agencies resides a shadow group that are influential, rabidly-religious and who actively undermine government UFO studies and their associated program managers, believing such things are demonic.
A continuing investigation into this bizarre, anti-science situation seeks to call out by name the fundamentalists who want to dismantle such programs. In so doing, they destroy professional reputations and the advance of science. Incredibly, these extreme evangelicals believe that these “aliens” are demons (or of demons) and that those who study them are playing with fire. They are working from the inside to apply their pressure on these military and intelligence programs and the professionals engaged in examining the phenomena.
It has been over two years since The New York Times revealed the existence of the “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program” (AATIP) of the US Pentagon. The program had an acknowledged budget of $22 million and its said run was from 2007-2012. It yielded military radar reports, gun camera footage, and detailed sightings reports of UFOs (now officially referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAPs). Former AATIP Program Manager, Intelligence Officer Luis Elizondo, also confirmed the existence of a collection of strange metal-like materials recovered by civilians and military personnel, apparently as UFO residue, flotsam, shot-off pieces, or crash items. Federal contracts were let to Bigelow Aerospace for the modification of facilities near Las Vegas, NV to house and test these items. Bigelow Aerospace is owned by Robert Bigelow, a billionaire and a major financial contributor to UFO causes who is close to Senator Harry Reid and other influential individuals.
But it goes well beyond all of that:
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Luis Elizondo’s predecessor (a “Beltway” PhD rocket scientist) endured efforts by religious zealots to inflict professional ruin on him because the data he was gathering was a threat to their belief system! It appears that a particular element of the far-religious right has somehow placed themselves in key government military and intelligence agencies that enabled them to do this. And that element did not like Elizondo’s predecessor’s findings–and tried to destroy his career–because they find UFOs and their occupants demonic.
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Elizondo himself, when managing the program, experienced similar hindrance from those who impose their strange ET-as-Devil belief.
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Incredibly, former UK Ministry of Defence UFO studies official Nick Pope has also come forward to say that he too was hampered in his work on the phenomena by people thinking it Satanic, making these anti-science campaigns worldwide.
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The efforts by this author to track down and name the religious rightists who are impeding government UFO study and program managers that may help call out this harmful fringe element.
This threat to science, rationality and free inquiry is rampant. And unfortunately this belief set is not confined to just one branch or agency. This superstitious, reactionary way of thinking is hard to fathom in 2020, yet it spreads to senior-level officials in US military and intelligence who, driven by the odd idea that ET are demonic, continue to hinder the authorized study of UFOs.
ELIZONDO DIVULGES INTERFERENCE BY OFFICIALS CLAIMING “ET ARE DEMONS”
Former AATIP UFO Program Manager
Luis Elizondo
The November 1st, 2018 To the Stars Academy (TTSA) website blog featured a brief and little-known or mentioned post by Luis Elizondo where he writes in part:
“Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) has even been associated with demons and anti-Judeo Christian beliefs. I experienced this first-hand during my time working at the US Government's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), where certain senior government officials thought our collection of facts on UAP was dangerous to their philosophical beliefs. In fact, my AATIP predecessor's career was ruined because of misplaced fear by an elite few. Rather than accept the data as provided by a top-rank rocket scientist, they decided the data was a threat to their belief system and instead, destroyed his career because of it."
These extraordinary admissions by Elizondo indicate that both he and the person who held this role prior experienced the same “aliens are the devil” lunacy and career hindrance by officials when they were managers for the UAP program.
THE PENTAGON SCIENTIST WHOSE CAREER WAS DESTROYED BY ANTI-UFO RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS
Dr. James Lacatski is not a familiar name in the world of UFOs – but he should be. He was the Program Manager for the Pentagon UFO study just before Luis Elizondo. Elizondo provided clues about Lacatski in his post. These clues and others yielded Lacatski’s name thanks to the brilliant work of Keith Basterfield, a long-time Australian UFO researcher and author, and Roger Glassel, a Swedish UFO researcher who specializes in filing FOIA. They learned of an Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Glessel states that "AAWSA, if not the same, would seem to be closely related to AATIP." Support for this has now come from many sources:
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Emmy and Peabody award-winning Las Vegas columnist and TV investigative reporter George Knapp (who is personally well acquainted with Senator Harry Reid, D-NV, Ret.) confirms that: “Senator Harry Reid and colleagues secured funding for an ongoing study, but it wasn’t called AATIP. The original acronym was AAWSAP or Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program.”
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Senator Harry Reid (D-NV, Ret.) himself has stated: “I received communication from a man who worked for one of the defense agencies, a PhD. He said ‘I know everything about rockets but I don’t know what these things are.'” Reid was most certainly referring to Lacatski, who was a long-time Defense Intelligence Agency senior scientist and expert in subjects including novel power and propulsion. Senator Reid also told George Knapp that the Pentagon UFO program was ended for reasons including that “there were other officials who had religious objections.”
Dr. James Thomas Lacatski,
Luis Elizondo’s Predecessor,
in a 1986 photo
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Nick Pope, a former UFO investigator for the UK Ministry of Defence, told Metro (UK) newspaper reporter Jasper Hamill recently that he encountered the same sort of attitude when working in the UK, and that he himself heard about the religious fanatics in the US versus flying saucers with AATIP: '“I was aware that Pentagon pushback on UFO research was in part due to the religious belief of some of those involved", he said. "It was an odd irony that UFO investigations were being hampered because some people’s belief in God meant that they either didn’t believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life or that they regarded UFOs and extraterrestrials as demonic. The fact that some people regard UFOs as demonic seems to have its roots in the biblical description of Satan as being ‘the prince of the power of the air.’ Luis Elizondo says that he came up against religious pushback from senior staff when he ran the Pentagon’s UFO program, and I saw some evidence of this at the (UK) MoD too.”' This suggests that this “aliens-are-demons“ mindset is global and exists among powerful elements in other nations than just America.
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The Defense Intelligence Agency approved a study titled “Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions”, associated with AAWSAP [link]. James Lacatski is named as the contact for this document as the Program Manager of AAWSAP. This study is part of a series of advanced propulsion and navigation technology reports produced under the program.
Just how does this faction of the religious right embedded in military intelligence impede authorized UFO study? There are a host of possible ways: belittlement and verbal harassment, isolation, not replying to inquiries, denying or delaying needed resources, issuing poor performance reports and limiting program staffing.
FINDING AND LOSING LACATSKI
This author located Dr. Lacatski, 68, and obtained his personal contact information and directly reached out to him in retirement at his home in Bowie, MD in mid-December of 2019. Dr. Lacatski, like many, apparently does not answer the phone for unrecognized callers. After a couple of no answers over a few days, I left a voicemail asking him to please call me back, indicating that I wanted to briefly enlist his assistance on a ‘history of science’ project. Hearing nothing back, a second and final voice message left by me was more direct and detailed. I asked Dr. Lacatski to consider telling his story because it’s being told by others (mentioning Elizondo) and that we need to call out this anti-science element now by name and stop it from happening ever again because unfortunately it still is, to others.
I received no reply from him. I later reached out to his wife, Wisal, 61, employed by NASA, through a working email there. Again, no reply. And no surprise: I suspect that they want peace and federal pensions. Who can blame them? Lacatski has been through enough Luciferian lunacy and likely does not wish to relive it. He is a silent hero. All that he tried to do was to serve science and our country in pursuit of the unknown and instead was attacked by religious rightists.
LACATSKI’S PARANORMAL PURSUITS
I have learned that Lacatski was raised in a household where Catholic school education was valued. Even his mother was a Catholic school girl. But Lacatski also has a very strong interest in things paranormal and extra-dimensional. This probably added to the reason why the ultra-conservative religious element wanted to oust him.
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Lacatski wanted to visit a famed 550 acre ranch in Utah where for over a half-century, paranormal and UFO phenomena are reputed to have occurred. For years, until recently, the ranch was owned by Robert Bigelow (mentioned earlier) and is referred to as the “Skinwalker Ranch.” Activities and entities include orb and UFO sightings, cryptid animals, poltergeists, and disturbing magnetic fields. A telling thing was mentioned in The New York Times on December 17, 2017: "Mr. Reid said his interest in U.F.O.s came from Mr. Bigelow. In 2007 Mr. Reid said in the interview, Mr. Bigelow told him that an official with the Defense Intelligence Agency had approached him wanting to visit Mr. Bigelow's ranch in Utah, where he conducted research. Mr. Reid said he met with agency officials shortly after his meeting with Mr. Bigelow and learned that they wanted to start a research program on U.F.O.s." After this meeting with Reid and Lacatski, the program (AAWSAP, later AATIP) began with Lacatski managing it, and later Elizondo. This is supported by the research and considered opinion of Keith Basterfield (UFO investigator mentioned above).
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Lacatski is also closely associated with Dr. Eric Davis, a Baylor professor who has received military contracts for technical papers on novel, hyper-technical space travel concepts. Davis is also known to be a UFO insider. See Davis’ 2002 email to Admiral Tom Wilson, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1999-2002 discussing the reality of visiting ET [link]. Davis also claims that at the Skinwalker Ranch he experienced the presence of a large, dark hair entity and other anomalous phenomena. Dr. Lacatski is clearly listed as having read and approved Davis’ publication for the DIA mentioned above (Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions).
Lacatski’s contacts extend to Reid, Davis, Bigelow and Elizondo. He is well connected to that paranormal / UFO circle and likely to other, similar ones.
ROBERTSON, FALWELL, HUCKABEE PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE “ALIENS AS DEMONS” MINDSET
The group who wished the ouster of Elizondo’s predecessor share the same views about ET as religious right extremists such as former Republican Presidential candidate Reverend Pat Robertson ("The 700 Club” TV show) and the late Reverend Jerry Falwell, extreme right-wing “Moral Majority” leader, political influencer and co-founder of evangelical Liberty University, and Mike Huckabee, minister, former Governor, Republican Presidential candidate and Fox News commentator.
Pat Robertson has on numerous occasions stated that ET are in reality “demons” and that they are attempting to steer or divert people away from Christ. He contends that even the study of ET is a grave offense. He states, “The Bible says the Earth belongs to man, but the heavens belong to the Lord. He has given us the Earth.” Robertson warned of ET, “These things are at best lifeless nothings, intelligent and demonic. They are not a host of heaven, they are fallen angels.” On another occasion racist Robertson said, "Can a demon appear as a slanty-eyed, funny-looking creature? Of course he can, or it can."
As far back as the late 1970s, Jerry Falwell made his followers aware of his thinking on the subject. In an interview in Virginia Beach, he admonished that UFOs are a “Satanic tool of deception to confuse and confound mankind.” In a televised sermon from the same town he said that UFOs were “transports of demons from hell.”
In 2008, on his campaign trail, Mike Huckabee was asked about the UFO and ET subject, to which he replied by spelling out “G-O-D not U-F-O.” He is well-known for expounding about the Devil, and disparaging talk of the extraterrestrial.
EARLY REPORTING ON THE ANTI-FLYING SAUCER FUNDAMENTALIST FACTION:
NICK REDFERN’S “FINAL EVENTS”
Noted writer Nick Redfern authored the groundbreaking Final Events in 2010 (Anomalist Books). It contains the first real examination of organized factions within government that promote the belief that ET are actually deceptive, demonic, fallen angels. Terming some of this element “the Collins Elite,” his sources and accounts are credible and span a period of years.
And now, a decade later in 2020, that faction has grown and their efforts are intensified. This is a clear reflection of today’s culture and political climate. We demonize those who are different than us.
NEWSWEEK AFFIRMS CHRISTIAN EXTREMISTS INFILTRATED THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Newsweek correspondent Nina Burleigh, in her 5/22/2017 article 'Trump Effect Inspires Radical Christians in Military', insightfully points out the perils of intersecting radical Christianity and the military. Note that the Department of Defense is the ultimate oversight agency for the UFO program AATIP:
“The commingling of radical Christianity and the U.S. war fighter has been under way for some time now. In 2007, the Department of Defense's
inspector general issued a report regarding a cadre of ranking DoD officials and officers who "abused their authority" by promoting a video for "Christian Embassy", a Washington-based, high-level evangelizing outfit with a website designed to make it look like an arm of the U.S. government. Fundamentalist views are decidedly in the minority in the general population, but they have adherents in some of the U.S. military's most powerful positions, especially in and around Washington, D.C., and in Colorado Springs, home of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the nation's nuclear command center.”
NAMING THE OFFICIALS WHO HINDER GOVERNMENT UFO RESEARCH BECAUSE IT IS “UNGODLY”
We can begin to understand just who these extremists are, by going back to Huckabee, Robertson and Falwell. All three had political aspirations and strong influence on government, with all three being extreme evangelicals. The sway that politicians and reverends similar to Huckabee, Robertson and Falwell have over millions about ET, clearly extends to military and intelligence leaders.
A profiler would point to the characteristics of these culprits as being of far-right wing political leaning; Southern or Western; Married and had children; White; Male; 40s-late 50s; of strict Fundamentalist Christian / Evangelical / Born Again religious persuasion; and in a high enough position to be able to exert such influence.
Conservative Christian bible studies, ministries, church organizations and fellowships exist throughout the country (such as Christian Embassy, mentioned above), whose members consist exclusively of US military officers (including Generals) and US intelligence agents. They gather regionally and nationally at Christian colleges, evangelical churches and military bases including Wright-Patterson. And at least one of these military/intel groups (Officers’ Christian Fellowship) gathers at The Pentagon (Room 2C453) and at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in West Virginia. If these officers and agents believe this demon-alien dogma, and exert the influence of their beliefs while in service to the country, this is very dangerous to the very foundations of science and free inquiry.
Using the above profile and information in this article – as well as a lead provided by someone privy to all of these affairs who prefers to remain anonymous at this point – I am beginning to make a short list of prospects, cross-linking them with those who may have made religious statements on the subject and identifying those that are ‘up the chain’ to the affected UFO program managers.