Why Grusch Wouldn’t Talk to AARO
It’s been a busy week! John Oliver dedicated an episode of Last Week Tonight to UFOs and government coverups. Chris Mellon released a scathing review of AARO’s historical UAP report. And a FOIA request documented AARO’s attempts to get David Grusch to testify, their failures to address his security concerns, and includes Kirkpatrick’s private Signal messages, where he badgers Mellon and is surprised by Marco Rubio’s claims about whistleblowers.
John Oliver on UFOs
- In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackled the UFO topic.
- “From the very beginning of our modern obsession with UFOs, there’s been a belief that our government is keeping something from us, and that mistrust has been well-earned. The history of the U.S. government's study of UFOs is one ranging from the unsatisfying, to the actively misleading.”
- “While you can believe aliens exist or not, when it comes to UFOs, belief doesn’t really come into it. Whatever they are, people are seeing them. That poster in Mulder’s office (in The X-Files) shouldn’t have said, ‘I Want To Believe,’ it should’ve said ‘Believe, Shmelieve, What The Fuck Is That Thing?’”
Chris Mellon Slams AARO Historical Report
- Chris #UFODaddy Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and long-time supporter of the podcast, published an article called “The Pentagon’s New UAP Report is Seriously Flawed.”
- Weighing in at 16k words, or around 65 pages if you printed it (The same length as the AARO report itself), the article is a scathing rebuttal:
- ”AARO’s recent report on the history of the US government and UAP was perhaps the worst government report I've ever seen. Adding insult to injury, its findings were uncritically reported by the mainstream press. To help set the record straight, I consulted a group of UAP researchers and historians. I hope the resulting article will prove helpful to all concerned, including AARO itself.”
- “AARO has not complied with statutory orders from Congress for a detailed history of UAP sightings as recorded in USG’s historical records, instead providing a limited history of flawed US Government investigations of UAP.”
- “This new report is itself anomalous for several reasons. First, who ever heard of a government report being submitted months before it was due? Especially one so rife with embarrassing errors in desperate need of additional fact-checking and revision? Was AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick rushing to get the report out the door before departing, perhaps to ensure that his successor could not revise or reverse some of the report’s conclusions?”
- “This is the most error-ridden and unsatisfactory government report I can recall reading during or after decades of government service. We all make mistakes, but this report is an outlier in terms of inaccuracies and errors. Were I reviewing this as a graduate student’s thesis it would receive a failing grade for failing to understand the assignment, sloppy and inadequate research, and flawed interpretation of the data.”
- “One of the other concerns I have about press coverage of this report is the tendency to conflate the UAP topic generally with allegations the government has recovered off-world technology. The UAP issue is distinct and critically important regardless of the truth about allegations of recovered extraterrestrial, nonhuman technology. Asking AARO to investigate that allegation was unfortunate since a subordinate DoD or IC office finding its superiors innocent was never going to satisfy the critics anyway.”
- “There are unbelievable statements and insinuations in the AARO report such as the peculiar claim that the Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bomb somehow caused ‘sightings’ and ‘erroneous UAP reporting’ and did so even after it terminated on December 31, 1946 (a date they omit because it would not explain the sightings that began the modern UAP era in June 1947). That is a bit like saying trailer parks cause tornadoes. Since the Manhattan Project did not launch special aerial vehicles of any kind that could be ‘misidentified’ as UAP, did the Project’s buildings fly up in the air and cause ‘sightings’ and ‘erroneous UAP reporting’? This incredible claim is not explained by AARO.”
- “Indeed, the truth is precisely the opposite of what AARO suggests. Not only is there no evidence of outside civilians mistaking the Manhattan Project and successor operations for UAP, but we know that personnel working inside the US nuclear weapons program were sighting UAP, reporting them, and thereafter collecting hundreds of their own authentic UAP reports. The senior Air Force Office of Special Investigations officer responsible for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory compiled a detailed catalog of 209 recent ‘Unknown Aerial Phenomena’ sightings and instrument tracking incidents in the Los Alamos area and surrounding regions. He sent the catalog with a classified memo to the agency director on May 25, 1950, stating that security officials agreed: ‘… the frequency of unexplained aerial phenomenon in the New Mexico area was such that an organized plan of reporting these observations should be undertaken…’”
Kirkpatrick Leaks Mellon Messages
- But that’s not all the Chris Mellon news this week! The Black Vault, the site that makes FOIA requests about UFO topics, got a document from the DoD outlining AARO’s attempts to interview David Grusch.
- The document contains an AARO memo with a timeline of their contact attempts, a bundle of emails, and screenshots of private Signal conversations between former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick had with Chris Mellon!
- Lue Elizondo: “I wonder when did DoD authorize Kirkpatrick to use the Signal app for official U.S. business and correspondence? [Chris Mellon] and I would have been crucified for doing that while we were in the Government. And when did they allow personal identifiable info of U.S. citizens to be released contrary to the Privacy Act of 1974? I guess it’s more of the same regarding rules that apply ‘to thee, but not to me.’”
- And when someone responded, saying many of the DoD guys are on there, Lue continued: “Yes…but they don’t conduct official GVT business on it. That’s a big no-no. Unless you are AARO, I guess.”
- AARO did reach out to David Grusch repeatedly, and he considered providing evidence and testimony to them, but ultimately declined due to security concerns.
- Liberation Times: “In January 2024, AARO provided Grusch with a memo… affirming AARO's mandate to receive and oversee all UAP-related information, regardless of its classification. However, the memo, and other emails sent by the AARO, failed to address Grusch’s specific security-related questions, made at the direction of his legal representative and former ICIG, Chuck McCullough.”
- “Intelligence community sources speaking to Liberation Times state that neither the DoD nor AARO possesses jurisdiction over the Intelligence Community's CAPs (Controlled Access Program), some of which purportedly encompass retrieval and reverse engineering activities concerning non-human materials. One source told Liberation Times that the DoD possesses zero authority to grant the AARO access to CAPs - nor would they have the authority to receive testimony and evidence from Grusch relating to such programs. Sources have informed Liberation Times that only the Intelligence Community’s Controlled Access Program Coordination Office (CAPCO) could grant authorities relating to CAPs.”
- “That's not the only obstacle AARO would face; the office would also require approval from the CIA. Human-Sourced Intelligence Control System Operations (HCS-O) would require specific CIA approval separate from DoD SAPCO and Intelligence Community’s CAPCO. Any unauthorised disclosures relating to HCS-O programs would be taken very seriously as it could expose ongoing operations and identities of assets providing the CIA with Human Intelligence.”
- “Another concern raised by sources, which was not acknowledged by Dr. Kirkpatrick and OUSDI&S officials in their email exchanges, is that the AARO lack the authority to waive clearances for Controlled Access Programs with dual purposes. In essence, these are programs that are valid, significant, and legal, yet allegedly conceal operations involving materials of non-human intelligence.”
- Included in the document are screenshots of conversations between Kirkpatrick and Mellon on Signal. To put it bluntly, Kirkpatrick comes off as petulant and harassing in these messages. He repeatedly demands that Mellon force Grusch to contact him, but refuses to provide any contact mechanism. He demands contact info for Grusch’s lawyer, which Mellon says he won’t provide without permission.
- See the exchange here
- Chris Mellon: “To my surprise, parts of a conversation I had with Dr. Kirkpatrick on Signal were recently made public via a FOIA request. These messages simply relate to my effort to facilitate a meeting between AARO and Dave Grusch at Dr. Kirkpatrick’s request. I don’t give out people’s contact info without their consent, but I told Sean I would be happy to convey his request to Dave. My recollection is that Dave was going to consult his attorney and proceed from there. Dave has an excellent attorney, so if he was advised by counsel not to meet with AARO or others I certainly don’t blame him. I was not in a position to judge the legal arguments and issues involving conflicting ICIG, DOJ, and AARO jurisdiction and claims, I was simply trying to facilitate communications in the hope of helping the Congressionally mandated investigation.”
- In the document are screenshots of another Signal conversation between Grusch and someone who’s name has been redacted, concerning a comment Sen Marco Rubio made in July about UAP whistleblowers with high clearances.
- Marco Rubio: “There are people that have come forward to share information with our committee over the last couple of years. I find most of these people, at some point, or maybe even currently, have held very high clearances and positions within our government. So you start to ask yourself, what incentive would so many people with that kind of qualification - these are serious people - have to come forward and make something up?”
- Liberation Times: “These whistleblowers are first-hand witnesses of legacy UAP programs and chose not to approach the AARO… because they shared similar security-related concerns as Grusch.”
- Kirkpatrick messages this individual, who through contextual clues seems to be either a member of Congress or a Congressional staffer, requesting details about Rubio’s whistleblowers
- See the exchange here
- Liberation Times: “This admission, revealing Dr. Kirkpatrick's lack of awareness regarding such whistleblowers, highlights a significant gap in AARO's understanding. It underscores that AARO was and continues to operate with limited comprehension of the core allegations and evidence. These were not only presented to the Intelligence Community's Inspector General but also to Senators, whose staff possess investigative authority.”
- Mike Colangelo, a participant on UFO Twitter summed it up like this: “Kirkpatrick said ‘We’ve had great cooperation, and we have access to anything we need.’ But AARO couldn't get access to any info about David Grusch's allegations from the ICIG. According to Sean Kirkpatrick in the text messages below, the info was part of a criminal investigation and the DOJ had to release it first. So AARO hit a brick wall, they couldn't get access to any David Grusch info from the ICIG, seems like info they would definitely need to properly investigate Grusch's allegations.”
References
- Last Week Tonight: UFOs
- Chris Mellon: The Pentagon’s New UAP Report is Seriously Flawed
- Chris Mellon: “The worst government report I’ve ever seen.”
- Black Vault: FOIA Documents Reveal AARO’s Authorized and Repeated Attempts to Engage with David Grusch
- Liberation Times: New Documentation Reveals Significant Flaws In U.S. Government’s UFO Investigation
- Lue Elizondo: “When did DoD authorize Kirkpatrick to use Signal for official business?”
- Chris Mellon: “To my surprise, parts of a conversation were made public via a FOIA request.”
- Mike Colangelo: “AARO hit a brick wall and couldn’t get access to Grusch info from ICIG.”
Episode 43, posted on