From The NY Times: The Pentagon's Secret UFO Program

[SRL+]

This Wikipedia entry may be of some use
Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program - Wikipedia

Below, seems somewhat interesting inasmuch as Christopher Mellon was heavily involved in the intelligence community. Specifically, counterintelligence.

“The newspaper also stated that it had conducted several interviews with Elizondo and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon, who is associated with Elizondo in a private venture named 'To the Stars Academy for Arts and Sciences“

 

[SRL+]

I agree, it's not consistent if what was being tracked on radar for two weeks is the very same phenomenon that was visually observed in the sighting. My problem with that... none of the other radar events involved a sighting of anything. No UFOs, nothing. Just this one instance in which some F-18 were sent to observe a strange radar signature. And when the first F-18 arrived, it's pilot saw nothing. No flying object whatsoever, just a disturbance on the surface of the water. Cmdr. Fravor was the first to observe a UFO, but he never saw it descend from 80,000 ft. What he described is the opposite - something coming out of the water and flying around in the sky.

Then again, I'm not married to my theory either. Disregard it if you like. I expect to do the same once more solid information becomes available. I hope that happens soon.

Christopher Mellon is directly associated with TTSA and Elizondo. Mellon was awarded “The National Imagery and Mapping Agency Medallion for Excellence”. National Imagery and Mapping Agency Reading through, in realizing Mellon’s credentials, he would have certainly known the protocol in releasing all official documentation.

Why has he left everyone guessing?

 

[Constance]

Someone linked above to an ATS thread from which I reached another ATS thread concerning the TTSA announcement, which includes information I haven't seen yet:

"AboveBoard
link

originally posted by: Link: TTSA scroll to bottom for "Team" as all these guys have long and impressive bios.

Tom DeLonge - President & CEO
Jim Semivan - Vice President Operations - retired CIA and IC Consultant
Dr. Hal Puthoff - Vice President Science & Technology - physicist (long resume)
Steve Justice - Aerospace Division Director - former Lockheed Martin Skunkworks
Luis Elizondo - Director of Global Security & Special Programs - former black project "UAP Threat" guy

Advisors:
Chris Mellon - National Security Affairs Advisor
Dr. Garry Nolan - Genetics Technologies Consultant - Stanford professor
Dr. Paul Rapp - Brain Function & Consciousness Consultant
Dr. Norm Kahn - National Security & Program Management Consultant
(Dr. Kahn had over a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency, culminating in his development and direction of the Intelligence Community's Counter-Biological Weapons Program. Dr. Kahn is the recipient of the Agency's Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the Director of National Intelligence's National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal...) sample from a bio I thought was interesting
Dr. Colm Kelleher- Biotech Consultant
Dr. Adele Gilpin
Biomedical Research & Attorney

Read the bios - these are serious professionals. Serious professionals in a new company with a certain amount of public shares and I think they may have private funding as well. For some of these people, To The Stars Academy projects represent their dream-projects.

I won't post the videos here as money is involved but they have a short one that explains it and introduces their team

So this isn't just "disclosure," it's " let's make new tech to benefit mankind based on the UAP tech and move mankind forward while educating them about what we know regarding the UAP phenomenon, its history and influence, etc."

It takes money to do that stuff. Ask Elon Musk. Ask movie makers. It just does."

New York Times :

 

[Constance]

ps, there's now a lot more information at the TTSA link than there was when I last checked:

To The Stars Academy

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Whale carcass?

This is a whale carcass:

Could something like that become airborne? It would be quite a sight!

Seriously, you telling folks who log thousands of hours to hundreds in Tornadoes, Typhoons, F-18s ,F117, B2 and F-35s are seeing blown up whale carcass floating on the ocean? Look man they have hundreds of flies we never see unless they say so. Also enyong the side show and agree with others Need To Know. Stanton Friedman was on the money and they decide when they are ready if ever.

 

[Constance]

Someone in the ATS thread I linked posted this link to a third page of a report on the Nimitz F-18s incident that I had not seen before. In case anyone else has missed it, here it is:

To The Stars Academy

 

[Flatwoods]

Seriously, you telling folks who log thousands of hours to hundreds in Tornadoes, Typhoons, F-18s ,F117, B2 and F-35s are seeing blown up whale carcass floating on the ocean? Look man they have hundreds of flies we never see unless they say so. Also enyong the side show and agree with others Need To Know. Stanton Friedman was on the money and they decide when they are ready if ever.

The pilot was observing an object from thousands of feet in the air while trying to pilot a complicated jet aircraft at the same time. One of the few things you can say with %100 certainty is that his attention was divided, and he didn't have much time to sit there and ponder the scene. Mentioning a whale carcass was merely my attempt to suggest a natural cause for the event. This is a UFO sighting, and one thing you should do when studying a UFO sighting is look for natural and man-made phenomenon as a possible cause. Now I'm certainly no UFO investigator, but I've read enough UFO books to know that's what any competent UFO investigator would do, instead of pointing fingers and attacking people's character.

 

[uforadio]

Media Index Page Updated:
Pentagon UFO Study

Dear colleagues. Some interesting leftovers discovered. This time I was focused mostly on the local coverage as I suspected that there could be some that were missed, and I found a bunch.

Here is the latest batch:

2017-12-18 - 7 News Boston: Local Interview with pilot David Fravor on the USS Nimitz UFO Incident

Article: Former Navy pilot from N.H. says he saw a UFO over Pacific Ocean
(Additional information: Reporter claims that USS Nimitz video was taken by another pilot which corresponds with original Figthersweep article: https://fightersweep.com/1460/x-files-edition/
However, I’ll check this additionally with my source).

2017-12-19 - WMUR9: Local Interview with Pilot David Fravor on the USS Nimitz UFO Incident

Articles: NH man recalls possible UFO sighting in newly released video
Windham man recalls possible UFO sighting in newly released video

2017-12-28 - CBS News: Interview with Richard Dolan on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-17 - 7 News Boston: News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-18 - KTNV: News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-21 - KTNV: Interview with John Lear on the Pentagon UFO Study
2017-12-21 - Interview with John Lear on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-18 - KCTV5: News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study
2017-12-18 - News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-19 - KCTV5 - News Commentary on the Pentagon UFO Study
2017-12-19 - News Commentary on the Pentagon UFO Study

2017-12-19 - Time: News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study
2017-12-19 - News Segment on the Pentagon UFO Study
Article: Navy Pilot Says UFO He Saw Off California Was ‘Not of This World’

Plus this Fox News Article:
Mystery over top secret UFO program deepens
Mystery over top secret UFO program deepens (relayed from The Sun)

Best wishes.

 

[Realm]

A couple of potentially significant side notes from that ATS thread I mentioned earlier:

Some poster (who has only made 4 posts on the site) on page 8 claims (3 days after that thread was started) to remember seeing the video and alleged transcript on some other site before:

I remember watching this on a different site but the video was removed. Someone posted an alleged transcript of the conversation between the pilots and commander on board the ship. I remember reading that one of the pilots said he was flying "like a bat out of hell" but could not gain any ground on the object. They were debating whether or not to engage the craft before it flew away to the left.

Fighter Jet UFO Footage: The Real Deal, page 8

On page 9 after "cometa2" posted the event log, the first reply is:

Cometa2, have you ever heard the phrase, "Loose lips sink ships"?
If it is true it was very irresponsible of you to post it in the manner that you did. Just my 2 cents.

Possibly related to that, that event log post is edited and has a comment "2 names removed". There's no indication if those names were part of the log (my guess would be not).

 

[Thomas R Morrison]

Someone linked above to an ATS thread from which I reached another ATS thread concerning the TTSA announcement, which includes information I haven't seen yet:

"AboveBoard
link

originally posted by: Link: TTSA scroll to bottom for "Team" as all these guys have long and impressive bios.

Tom DeLonge - President & CEO
Jim Semivan - Vice President Operations - retired CIA and IC Consultant
Dr. Hal Puthoff - Vice President Science & Technology - physicist (long resume)
Steve Justice - Aerospace Division Director - former Lockheed Martin Skunkworks
Luis Elizondo - Director of Global Security & Special Programs - former black project "UAP Threat" guy

Advisors:
Chris Mellon - National Security Affairs Advisor
Dr. Garry Nolan - Genetics Technologies Consultant - Stanford professor
Dr. Paul Rapp - Brain Function & Consciousness Consultant
Dr. Norm Kahn - National Security & Program Management Consultant
(Dr. Kahn had over a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency, culminating in his development and direction of the Intelligence Community's Counter-Biological Weapons Program. Dr. Kahn is the recipient of the Agency's Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the Director of National Intelligence's National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal...) sample from a bio I thought was interesting
Dr. Colm Kelleher- Biotech Consultant
Dr. Adele Gilpin
Biomedical Research & Attorney

Read the bios - these are serious professionals. Serious professionals in a new company with a certain amount of public shares and I think they may have private funding as well. For some of these people, To The Stars Academy projects represent their dream-projects.

I won't post the videos here as money is involved but they have a short one that explains it and introduces their team

So this isn't just "disclosure," it's " let's make new tech to benefit mankind based on the UAP tech and move mankind forward while educating them about what we know regarding the UAP phenomenon, its history and influence, etc."

It takes money to do that stuff. Ask Elon Musk. Ask movie makers. It just does."

New York Times :

I'm baffled that they have so many advisors in the field of biology, but no physicists or engineers (other than the two on the board). Seems like an odd emphasis for a company that's focused on replicating the physics of these devices.

 

[Realm]

I'm baffled that they have so many advisors in the field of biology, but no physicists or engineers (other than the two on the board). Seems like an odd emphasis for a company that's focused on replicating the physics of these devices.

I'm guessing they don't actually have a long list of people to choose from. Most physicists probably don't think having their name on that list would be an advantage for their careers and reputation.

 

[Realm]

Here's an interesting 3 part article by Robert Powell:
Video: U.S. Navy Carrier Strike Force-11 Encounters Unknowns on November 14, 2004 near San Diego – Part I/3 | Openminds.tv

He says he first heard about the Nimitz incident in July of 2016 and submitted 9 quite detailed FOIA requests in December 2016, all of which resulted "no information" responses. An appeal resulted two emails with the following contents:

JAG provided me an email they received from a Marine Lieutenant Colonel that began as follows: “I am definitely aware of the ‘flying tic tac’! We were aboard the USS Nimitz attached to CVW-11. The CO of VFA-41, CDR Fravor had the video footage on his ATFLIR and several pilots in VMFA-232 saw the video.”

a second email was provided to me by JAG from a Marine Major. In that email he states, “MAG-11 (Marine Air Group 11) Operations should have a Point of Contact at the archive to facilitate recovery of these files.”

Powell concludes:

In total, I have the names of nine different Marine and Navy officers who either participated in the encounter with the unknown craft or have direct knowledge of the event. I will again appeal for the actual case files but the only way to really get to the bottom of this mystery is to ask a Congressional subcommittee to get involved. In Part 3 I will give you step by step instructions on how you can help petition your congressman.

That is the kind of effort I really like to see. Clearly the navy is not eager to provide documents and needs to be pressured. In my view an official acknowledgement (which we don't have yet) of an event where an object of unknown origin near a US city showed superiority should be a clear security concern that would require proper investigation.

 

[Realm]

One more interesting post from "cosmania" in that ATS thread:

This is the first time that I've seen names associated with this sighting. Well, to my joy, I know one of the crewmembers. Like, I flew with him, deployed with him, I'm FB friends with his wife (for some reason, most of my buddies don't do FB, but their spouses do).

So I reached out to her about his and asked if her husband (my friend) saw this thing. She sent me his cell number and said I could call him about the "tic-tac"

I haven't called him yet, but here is his response:
"Hey Cosmania! something I'd really not thought about until a guy from OSD contacted me a few months ago. Then the Times contacted me to confirm XXXXX's story, so I told them what I could recall. The FLIR video they included is not from us, that was from a different flight, so I don't like that they attributed it to us.
Frankly, when I got back to the ship for my CVIC debrief, I asked them if there was a sub in the area doing cruise missile launch tests, since that seemed like the most plausible explanation I could come up with. I told OSD & the Times reporter that, too.
Anyway, didn't think it would be such a huge deal, just told them what I remembered."

Fighter Jet UFO Footage: The Real Deal, page 10

That NY Times story contains 2 names, so I gather he is not talking about Fravor but that other guy, who was in another jet that reportedly stayed higher up and didn't see the events that close (and didn't carry a FLIR pod either). If we take the contents of that post at face value, apparently from that vantage point the event looked like something that could have been a submarine missile launch. Then again that's not what the other jet reportedly saw and reportedly there weren't such submarine launches.

 

[Realm]

One more story from someone who claims to have been on Nimitz during the event:

My UFO Encounter/Exposure While on Board an Aircraft Carrier in the Military (No Pics, Only Story) • r/UFOs

Note that the post is made November 19, 2013, so long before the current media coverage and around a year and a half before that Fightersweep article was published. Some of the details do not match, and the poster doesn't claim first hand knowledge anyway, but there are quite a few details that do. For one, he describes the object as oval "tic-tac", a term that wasn't used in those event logs that were posted in ATS way back. So he seems to know details that are now well known but which I haven't seen documented elsewhere with that early date.

There seems to be plenty of indication that the events happened, they were widely known on that ship, and there wasn't any special secrecy about them. It definitely looks like an event that could have been properly investigated, and reportedly there was an investigation in 2007 (same year that AATIP began, so likely by them), so it seems very probable that somewhere there's a pile of paper with more details and Elizondo has seen it all.

 

[SRL+]

Clearly the navy is not eager to provide documents and needs to be pressured.

I'm not buying it. Don't fool yourself.

 

[Realm]

I'm not buying it. Don't fool yourself.

Which part? That sentence you quoted? Didn't those FOIA requests with some results only after second appeal more or less already prove that part?

 

[SRL+]

Which part? That sentence you quoted? Didn't those FOIA requests with some results only after second appeal more or less already prove that part?

What you are implying is that TTSA went into this without realizing they were leaving out important information and that Elizondo & Mellon are incompetent.
Or for some reason they did this on purpose.
Which then is it?

 

[Realm]

What you are implying is that TTSA went into this without realizing they were leaving out important information and that Elizondo & Mellon are incompetent.
Or for some reason they did this on purpose.
Which then is it?

I think there's some misunderstanding. I believe this investigation was performed by Elizondo's group in 2007, that is soon after they started:

He told me that a government agency with a three letter identifier had recently conducted an investigation into the AAVs and had exhaustively interviewed all parties involved.

All of the seven flight crew, including 6 aircrew from VFA-41 and Cheeks from VMFA-232. The Fire Control Officer and Senior Chief from Princeton, and the radar operator on the E-2. They even queried the crew of the USS Louisville, a Los Angeles-class Fast-Attack submarine that was in the area as part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group who reported there were no unidentified sonar contacts or strange underwater noises on that day.

https://fightersweep.com/1460/x-files-edition/

Then they no doubt documented their work, which is the pile of papers I was referring to. That means Elizondo had access to all that, but probably doesn't have anymore, and is bound by NDAs. So it's more or less the same FOIA route they need to take to make it public and in principle at least Elizondo can't even reveal all he knows to his buddies.

 

[SRL+]

I think there's some misunderstanding. I believe this investigation was performed by Elizondo's group in 2007, that is soon after they started:

It doesn't make any difference in any case. TTSA should have never presented their video without being able to back up their evidence.
This should be painfully obvious by all the confusion swirling about.

That means Elizondo had access to all that, but probably doesn't have anymore, and is bound by NDAs.

Probably doesn't cut it here.
If Elizondo fancy's himself as the whistle blower, then should blow the damn whistle.

 

[Realm]

It doesn't make any difference in any case. TTSA should have never presented their video without being able to back up their evidence.

This is what TTSA actually claims:

FLIR1 is the second of three US military videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that has been through the official declassification review process of the United States government and approved for public release. It is the only official footage captured by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet present at the 2004 Nimitz incident off the coast of San Diego. Like GIMBAL, this footage comes with crucial chain-of-custody (CoC) documentation because it is a product of US military sensors, which confirms it is original, unaltered, and not computer generated or artificially fabricated. While there have been leaked versions on the internet, the CoC establishes the authenticity and credibility that this version is the original footage taken from one of the most advanced sensor tracking devices in use.

2004 USS NIMITZ FLIR1 VIDEO

So first they claim it has been officially declassified, but so far we haven't seen any documents to validate that claim. Multiple FOIAs have been filed by multiple parties, so they should find such documents if they exist. The Defense Intelligence Agency at least has denied having released anything:
Mystery over top secret UFO programme deepens as US government is accused of backtracking on staggering footage released

Secondly they claim to have "chain-of-custody (CoC) documentation". So what does that actually mean? In general terms that means there's some sort of trail of ownership:
Chain of custody - Wikipedia

Does that mean there has to be official paper trail and the video would be from official sources, or can they say that if they knew how the version they have ended up there through the persons they know to have been involved? I think there's some wiggle room in those words.

In any case they have access to multiple persons, who can verify they have seen the same content during the event or the investigation that followed. So in that sense it should be a safe bet for them, even if the video itself didn't come through official routes. It could even be, that they hope those FOIAs will result in the original, before they need to reveal what they actually had. In "if you build it, they will come" style...