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Supervised Speculation

Area 51

Plasma UAPs (The 'New' UFO Solution)

Dr. Robert Wood on my 1995 UFO Article, "Other Space":

"Jack,

You present no compelling evidence for:

• Any in-depth knowledge of the literature
• Any way to validate your "sources"
• Any knowledge of other specific explanations or theories
• An understanding of the way science advances
• Cheers, Bob Wood"

Bob, you are so right. I offer no proof of anything. "The Colonel" preferred not to be identified publicly, a request that I will honor. A lot of military officers have gone on the record on the subject of UFOs. They seem to be individuals with very limited knowledge, or knowledge of specific incidents. They may be financially motivated by the subject.

"Bob,

Your sources don't seem, to me, to have:

• a comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of the phenomenon
• detailed information on Intelligence operations, including gaps in the public record
• a deep philosophical perspective on the potential scientific repercussions of UFOs
• held a position at Hanger 18, attended the briefing on The Roswell Incident (in the public vernacular), had a massive Intelligence background and been a friend of Wernher von Braun and two U.S. Presidents
• Cheers, Jack Littleton"

Dr. Wood has an impressive resume. However, I found it a lot more interesting to talk to someone with real "insider" knowledge than to try to acquire an "in-depth knowledge of the so-called literature". Others might have an interest in such "literature". But, would you rather learn how to drive a race car from a video gamer or Mark Martin?

Roswell

"The Colonel" attended the briefing on what the public called The Roswell Incident. A lot of what is in my notes (probably the majority) refers not to "UFOs" but to nuclear weapons (due to ambiguous questioning on my part). Here's some of what is in my notes (that does seem to refer to UFOs):

Referring to what was found:

"Not unusual in the element area. Unusual in speed and trajectory. Debris referred to as "stones". July 4th correct. Not a crash - more of an event. No other such event is ever known to have happened. Not an extraterrestrial spaceship with little men! Life forms could exist that we wouldn't even recognize as living things. Officially, UFOs can't be ruled out. Officially, other speculative causes CAN be ruled out. Nothing we (the military) were doing or did wrong. A closed subject."

This general comment was made on the overall topic of UFOs:

"Knowledge could literally "blow our minds"." 

And that's what my notes say.

I asked him, jokingly, "So you didn't find any little green men?"

He paused and then replied, "There were no associated life forms which could be perceived by any of the six human senses."

The Official Briefing:

Six men traveled from Washington and there was a briefing in Albuquerque that Friday. They interviewed "witnesses" (he said with some disdain). No materials were destroyed. They reviewed an existing report and corrected some errors. This report was never seen again. We would have information in case it happened again. No further action possible.

This pretty much sums up my first lunch with "The Colonel". As intriguing as these statements are, a lot of things were later clarified that gave me a more developed, mature, perspective on the entire topic.  Quite simply, I wasn't a very good "interviewer" at our first lunch. He could spin you in three directions at once. As time went on, I became much more careful in the wording of my questions and I believe that the answers became more "accurate". My understanding certainly evolved of the way that he approached any given topic. He had a way of speaking that gave a tremendous weight to any little thing he said. That's the best I can describe it. When he talked, you listened. But, after any conversation, you always knew less than when you started (true in my case). He was very, very good at this.

The conversation went on for years. You can see why. We had a lot of fun with it, but I never kidded myself that I was going to "break him". Don't think so! (I even said that to him once and he agreed that it was unlikely, with a smile). Still, I developed a theory, refined and tested it, and I was satisfied in the end that I had taken it as far as it should be taken. Some people think I should have pressed him more. We were friends and that really wasn't what it was all about. The back-and-forth with someone of his caliber was the fun part. It wasn't about "winning". I think because I realized this I was privileged to talk to him for a long period of time. I never pretended to be in his league. I never felt that he "owed an explanation" to anybody. He knew that I understood this. More on this later.

My UFO Theory:

As my conversations with "The Colonel" came to, more or less, a conclusion, I thought it might be nice to have someone in the UFO community take a look at it. This is where Dr. Robert Wood entered the picture. I believe he was the International Director of Research for MUFON at that time. This is the UFO group that used to be featured on the X-Files. The information, let's just say, did not receive a warm reception at that time.^1.  One or two ideas he did point out as possibly something new. He notes, in particular, that the relation between nuclear activity and UFOs was a different idea, to him, at that time. Today, that connection has been pretty firmly established. Where did I get such an idea in 1995? "The Colonel".

"You have a few ideas in there that are a little different, such as the whether UFO reports began as early as 1938 due to the atomic pile output (p.4), such as apparent shape change possibly reflecting inter dimensional travel (pp. 5,6)"

Dr. Robert Wood

10 October 1995

A link to Dr. Wood:
Majestic Documents

More on this later.

"There are objects in space that we don't know the contents of."
"The Colonel" would sometimes make statements, such as the one above, and say no more. When this would happen, I would usually say, "Okay", or "I understand". Then I would wait to see whether he cared to go any further. Generally, he was not one to elaborate. If I pressed him, he might repeat the statement in different words. If I pressed him further, he would generally refer me back to the original statement and confirm that he felt that it was accurate and complete. He was happy with it. Then I would say, "Okay, thanks."
 

"Alien Autopsy"

Quite often, I would call "The Colonel" when there was going to be something on TV. Such was the case with "Alien Autopsy". It was on "In Search Of" or one of those a few years back. I thought the whole thing was a big joke. It turned out he remembered the film (and I paraphrase):

"It was fun to see that old film again. It had something to do with Orson Welles' 'War of The Worlds' and was made in a private lab. They gave it to us (the O.S.S.) with a challenge to disprove it. In other words, could we prove it wasn't true. It had some minor classified information in it, so we LQ'd it. That was around 1943. It would be declassified after 50 years."

NORAD and Strategic Air Command

3% of all UFO sightings are considered by the Air Force to be truly unexplainable. This is an official figure and takes into account data from NORAD and SAC. What if this 3% of sightings all exhibited common characteristics? In fact, they do. Here are the three characteristics:

1. Highly unusual in terms of speed and trajectory. These trajectories may appear to defy our laws of physics, as they are currently known.

2. Radar signature is highly unusual. Objects in this class may appear to change shape.

3. Objects likely exhibit an EXTREME lack of stability, as though they are on the verge of existence or non-existence.

These are the objects that "The Colonel" found quite interesting. Flying cigars not so much.

Cover-up?

I had known "The Colonel" for probably ten years before I ever asked him about UFOs. He said I was the first person that had ever asked him about it. He never denied that UFOs were a real phenomenon. He's the one that gave me the three characteristics above. I talked to him about it for years and he answered every question. Let me clarify: he told me to ask him every question I wanted to ask. Sure, there are things he couldn't get into. But he always told me that anything we discussed I could tell anyone. He told me that over and over. His one request was not to be personally identified. He didn't want people with tin foil on their heads showing up at his front door.

I also need to state the obvious: you do not sit down and question someone with his background about anything. I had no right to ask him anything. It's a courtesy he chose to extend. These were not interviews. We had conversations. Some things might later get clarified. For the most part, the statement he made is the statement he intended to make on a given topic (based on the exact wording of the question). He did not err either in what was stated nor in what he chose not to include. Some might suggest this individual is a "witness" who should take prior legal action to protect his pension - and then come out with full disclosure. This may speak to the quality of the witness. If your character was such that you would do that, psychological evaluations would have made you unsuitable to have access to certain information much earlier in your career (provable).

"The Colonel" knew I was writing about the things you are now reading and that was fine.I asked him many times, "Are you sure you should be telling me all this?" He always found that quite humorous and I was glad to have amused him with those questions.

He wrote a book once. I had it in my possession for a while (about a year). Every page was stamped "Top Secret" and then that was crossed out and it was stamped "Declassified". Every page. This was a hand-typed original document with handwritten corrections. It was the most impressive thing I have ever held in my hands (other than a new baby). He was a big part of why we won World War II. He was also a big part of why we got to the moon. He could think big.

Rule #1: always talk to old people. You might get lucky and hear the story of a lifetime.
 

The Rats Weigh In

As I'm writing this on my laptop, my two pet rats are observing me. They're not sure what I'm doing, but one of them has a theory about the laptop. The smart rat is trying to explain it to the other rat, who is thinking, "I want a peanut." The smart rat also believes that there's a third rat who knows The Truth but won't tell. In fact, although they are directly observing me, the thought of what I'm doing can't fit in their heads. It's a little bit like one human trying to explain to another human about UFOs.
 

Going back to Roswell, I asked him, "How can the UFO writers get certain facts right and everything else wrong?" He said that, "The public wants to hear a complete story. They don't want to know what we don't know." I'm sure that we have (I speculate) some very cool film, radar data and photos that would have a great "Gee whiz" factor. Then people would want answers. Then we'd have one rat trying to tell another what a laptop does. It would be a counter-productive move (if this speculation is true).

Independence Day

The movie Independence Day brought an actual volunteered response from "The Colonel"! (Note the tacky exclamation point at the end of that last sentence. It was that unusual). He motioned for me to come over. "Jack. I have to tell you something." I laugh as I remember this. "Really? You have to tell me something?" "I saw that movie Independence Day. Really good. But you know that underground thing in the desert? Jack, I promise you, we don't have anything like that." I laughed. "Oh, really? Well what about that facility out there? Area 51? Isn't that supposed to be a big secret?" "Well, I guess it's not a very well-kept secret."

Hangar 18

One of the most mythical locales in UFO lore is Hangar 18 at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. Legend has it this is where the Roswell Incident debris ended up. "The Colonel" had an assignment here at one time. Some believe that Hanger 18 is related to a reported UFO recovery operation called Project Moon Dust. The theory is that you have teams ready to pounce if a flying saucer crashes on the 405 freeway during rush hour. Well, I guess that's possible. You might also want to consider that we might like get our hands on the advanced aircraft of other nations. Just a thought.

Cigarette Smoking Man?

"The Colonel" didn't spend his life defending a nation that suppresses information or ideas. That's not the kind of thinking that got us to the moon. That's the kind of thinking that lives in caves. Yet, as far as our adversaries are concerned, some deception is absolutely legitimate. To that end, the public also doesn't need to know everything (because even good people are bad at keeping secrets). I met a few of "The Colonel's" friends over the years and they were just like him - top men. They were the best of The Greatest Generation, every one of them. They were not dark and scary. They were not hiding in the shadows. You could talk to them freely. It was all very normal.

"The Colonel" passed away a few years ago. It's a huge loss. Now, I choose to respect his memory by respecting his way of doing business. I'm telling my story in a responsible and accurate manner. Time and again he told me that anything we discussed I could tell anyone. His professionalism was beyond reproach. He would have never told me anything that was secret, classified, or could endanger my safety. My goal is to be accurate. Also, to be careful of drawing false conclusions and mislabeling them as facts.

Self-discriminating Information

This sort of information means different things to different people. "The Colonel" once said something that made me think he had a very similar idea on this. To some people it means nothing. Others get more out of it. I'm not out to convince anybody of anything (because there's no possible way to do that). I'm not interested in debating anyone ever on the UFO topic (it accomplishes nothing) and I don't want to ever get in a situation where I could be viewed as trying to be a proxy for "The Colonel". Not interested.

Supervised Speculation

What my time with "The Colonel" on this subject led to was a theory. It uses the facts from my previous emails, but adds the speculative element of what this could mean. "The Colonel" gave me a tremendous amount of input, (and he sure had boundless patience with all of my phone calls). In the end, he looked me in the eye and said, "It's very good." Then someone took a red pen to it with a vengeance (actually, it was green). I can't let that happen again. Next time, I will do better.
 

1. Remember, you had a rocket scientist (engineer) such as Dr. Wood judging something written by a non-scientist as though it were written by a peer (which he knew I was not). Why? "The Colonel" was aware of the Dr. Wood response and had little to no reaction.

The author has no financial interest in any particular UFO theory and is NOT a part of the UFO Industry. The author has written this article purely for his own enjoyment in studying one of the great mysteries of the world.

"Supervised Speculation" is Part II of this article.