Director's Message

It was a month ago, almost to the day, that I sat on a flight from Cincinnati to Irvine and wrote my first “Director’s Message” in seven years. It just does not seem that long.
That was a very trying week, but rest assured that MUFON is stable, strong and running well. In the last month our membership has continued to grow. The number of new visitors to our website is up 50%. New followers are up 33% and post views are up a staggering 13,000%
In this month’s message, I want to impress on you that the board of directors and I are listening to your concerns and suggestions and are trying to make them happen.
Deciding to fund the expansion of the MUFON laboratory is one of the things we have done so far. Many of you may not know that MUFON has a Tier 1 lab. We do, and it is about to expand. Funding is in place for additional equipment and greater capabilities. There is even some consideration being given to a mobile response unit for “on site” investigations. Funds also have been earmarked for other research projects in the near future.
We are reaching out to other established UFO research groups to set up cooperative projects where ideas and data can be jointly evaluated and acted upon. We hope to host round table meetings and panel discussions encompassing participants from around the globe.
We are planning to take advantage of the knowledge of our member groups to develop protocols for dealing with issues such as harassment, sexual or otherwise, diversity and inclusion.
We owe so much of our success to volunteers that we have established a page in our monthly journal to give recognition to our state and national chapters and the people who drive them.
We are thankful for every one of you.

Heartache, uncertainty, tears, disappointment, war and strife: It seems like MUFON has been through it all. And, we have! After 51 years MUFON has been through a lot. We have seen the good, the bad, the ugly and just about everything in between.

Regarding the recent unfortunate developments, we need you to know that the MUFON Board of Directors and staff were totally blindsided by the events. Though in shock, they moved quickly to address the issue.

But through it all we have continued on our mission. We have emerged from the darkness, risen up from the valley of tears and survived the constant attacks of our detractors—we have deflected the slings and arrows of a multitude of malcontents. However, the mothership we call MUFON has held its course and become faster, stronger, more powerful than any of those who try so hard to disrupt our mission.

Why?

Because of you! Our membership, our supporters, our volunteers, our backbone!

MUFON shall emerge from its troubles because we are strong. We can overcome our difficulties through it all, we understand the power of WILL, pure unwavering WILL! The absolute belief that we will endure, and we will continue the mission. And with that applied WILL, HOPE shall emerge and guide us through the dark night.

This is not the first time I have been called on to step into the position of executive director under less than perfect conditions, and I am humbled to accept the mantle.

There will be changes ahead, as there must be if we are to continuously evolve, strengthen and grow.
So, hang with me MUFONians. I am good at this and I promise that we will come out more competent, stronger and respected than when we came in. MUFON is in good hands with a sound board of directors, staff and dedicated leaders. We will go further than we have ever gone before.

As MUFON Executive Director since 2013, I would like to welcome you to our site and organization that surpasses 50 years of scientific UFO research, this year.
 
Tuesday, January 8th, 2019, marks the beginning of a new series on the History Channel that delves into recently declassified documents and uncovered activities surrounding the early U.S. Air Force UFO investigation program called Project Blue Book, in existence from 1948 to 1969.  Predecessor programs begun a few years earlier as Project Sign and Project Grudge later evolved into Project Blue Book, by far the most revealing and controversial of the three programs.
 
The official summary “finding” of Project Blue Book’s 12,618 reports left a staggering 701 reported sightings unexplained as the program was shuttered, while the government concluded that none of the reports represented a threat to national security or revealed any technological developments or principles beyond then present-day scientific knowledge…notions that were challenged by some key figures involved with uncovering the compelling evidence otherwise.
 
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an Ohio State University Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department, was the scientific advisor to UFO studies for the investigative programs.  Originally a UFO skeptic himself, he later became an outspoken critic to the program’s secrecy and what he felt were government cover-ups. 
 
Asked later what turned him around in his UFO beliefs, he explained that because the Air Force was dead set on putting an answer on every report, regardless of the scientific vetting or lack thereof, and after speaking with many credible witnesses such as military fighter pilots, he was ultimately unable to ignore the preponderance of scientific evidence leading him to believe that these objects were, in fact, real.
 
Click here to see our recent Facebook Live interview about the program:
 
MUFON, later established by independent researchers and enthusiasts in 1969, picks up where Project Blue Book left off, and for 50 years has remained the largest and most scientifically-based UFO investigative organization in the world, with thousands of members spanning the globe.   
 
Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for additional exciting information to follow throughout the year.

Travel to Philadelphia this summer and attend the 2018 MUFON Symposium at the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia – Cherry Hill New Jersey. This is destined to be the Symposium for the history books. Leading off with Luis Elizondo, the man who ran the Pentagon’s UFO program, live and in person, followed by a dozen UFO greats who will share their thoughts on “UFOs, Extraterrestrials and the Future of Humanity.”

The weekend begins Friday with Free Events designed by Jennifer Stein and her PA team to get the public involved and introduced to the subject of UFOs. These include presentations by Lynne Kitei, M.D. and Travis Walton. The evening kicks into high gear with our general reception at 6 p.m. followed by the banquet and keynote address by Lue. The excitement continues Saturday morning with a presentation by plasma physicist John Brandenburg, Ph.D., who will be sharing new revelations from our planetary neighbor Mars. Hint, it has to do with extraterrestrial life, and it’s NEW news. This is followed by Lynne Kitei, M.D., sharing ideas on how to engage our youth in this incredible sea change we are now witnessing. Then Nick Pope shares his view on what the year 2045 may look like. A futurist in his own right, come hear what Nick’s vision of the future holds for humanity. You can check out all the speakers and schedules at MUFONSymposium.com. Can’t be there in person? Join us for the Live Stream.

We also have Special Events beginning Friday with tours of the Battleship New Jersey. These take two and a half hours and are one of the many highlights of the Cherry Hill area. Then Saturday and Sunday morning come join us for an Experiencer Workshop led by ERT Directors Kathleen Marden and George Medich. Over the lunch hour on both days we’ll be holding speaker panels, beginning with John Brandenburg, Nick Pope, Lynne Kitei, Bob Wood, Ted Peters, and David Paulides focusing on “The Future of Humanity.” And later Saturday you will have the opportunity to go one-on-one with Luis Elizondo in a private reception. It’s limited seating, so book your place now. Saturday night we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” We are honored to have Dan Richter, one of the actors from the original film, with us to kick off the evening and watch the movie that 50 years ago dared to suggest we are not alone in the universe.
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Finally, our Speaker Panel on Sunday includes Kathleen Marden, Don Donderi, Travis Walton, Randall Nickerson and Salma Siddick, an experiencer of the Zimbabwe UFO encounter. The topic for this panel will be “The Experiencer Experience.” There will be plenty to see, hear, and do, so make your reservations TODAY for the 2018 MUFON Symposium and come join the fun!

I am delighted to announce that Luis Elizondo will be our keynote speaker at the 2018 MUFON Symposium. As most of you know Luis was the man in charge of the Pentagon UFO program revealed December 16, 2017, in a front-page article in The New York Times. I have had the privilege to speak with Luis several times over the past many months and find him to be an exceptionally bright, compassionate, and articulate champion of the UFO cause—something we are all very much interested in. Late last year, Luis left his comfortable government employment to join To The Stars Academy (TTSA) as Director of Global Security and Special Programs, and has quickly become a worldwide sensation as the main spokesperson for the organization.

According to the TTSA website, Luis was a career intelligence officer whose experience includes working with the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, the National Counterintelligence Executive, and the Director of National Intelligence. As a former special agent in charge, Luis conducted highly sensitive espionage and terrorism investigations around the world. As an intelligence case officer, he ran clandestine source operations throughout Latin America and the Middle East. Most recently, Luis managed the security for certain sensitive portfolios for the U.S. government as the Director for the National Programs Special Management Staff. For nearly the last decade, Luis also ran a sensitive aerospace threat identification program focusing on unidentified aerial technologies. Luis’s academic background includes microbiology, immunology and parasitology, with research in tropical diseases. Luis is also an inventor who holds several patents.

Chase Kloetzke, our recently announced Director of Investigations, had the opportunity to interview Luis on his role at AATIP and his plans going forward with TTSA, and you as MUFON members get to read all about it in the feature article of this month’s MUFON Journal. The mission of the new TTSA organization is to “Strive to be a powerful vehicle for change by creating a consortium among science, aerospace and entertainment that will work collectively to allow gifted researchers the freedom to explore exotic science and technologies with the infrastructure and resources to rapidly transition them to products that can change the world.” Sounds a lot like the MUFON mission statement, The Scientific Study of UFOs for the Benefit of Humanity, since this “exotic” science and technology are coming directly from the study of UFOs. This is what it is all about, and why we do what we do as an international organization investigating UFO sightings and doing UFO research. It is finally, after long last, all coming together.
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Come hear Luis firsthand at the 2018 MUFON Symposium. You’ll have a chance to meet and speak with him, and ask those burning questions you have on your mind. It will truly be a life-changing experience for you, I will promise you that.

I have recently returned from five days in Curitiba, Brazil, a city just a few hours west of Sao Paolo. My purpose in going there was to kick off a partnership with our good friend A.J. Gevaerd of Brazil, a longtime member of MUFON and to speak at his UFO Conference. The partnership includes a licensing agreement which was signed in late 2017 to allow the translation of the MUFON Field Investigators Manual into Portuguese and Field Investigator classes to be set up across Brazil. It’s a first of its kind agreement and one that will most likely be replicated around the world over the next several years. This not only includes the right to translate the FIM into Portuguese, but also the right to market it along with Field Investigator training courses. A.J. Gevaerd has been our long time National Director for Brazil and this agreement serves to reinforce that role and raise it to a whole new level. In addition, AJ has recently announced some changes within his organization naming Thiago Luiz Ticchetti as his Assistant National Director for MUFON Brazil and co-editor of UFO Magazine.

AJ Gevaerd is owner and editor for Brazil UFO Magazine which is part of the Brazilian Center for Flying Disc Research (CBPDV) which he also runs. It is one of the oldest publications on ufology in the world, being started with the CBPDV in 1983. CBPDV is the largest and most respected UFO research entity in Brazil, and now partnered with MUFON is on a course to do even greater things. This new initiative will offer face-to-face classes one weekend a month initially in Curitiba, and will soon be extended to other cities in Brazil. It is also planned that the course will have distance classes, and the classroom lessons will be followed by activities in the field, to train and perfect the students in this important part of the UFO research and investigation.
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The course is based on MUFON's Field Investigator Manual, considered the most complete UFO hunters guide in the world and will be published exclusively in Brazil by UFO Magazine. Students, upon completing the course, will receive a certificate of completion signed by CBPDV and MUFON, and will be considered a true ufologist. Our next step is to translate the FIM into Spanish which will expand this training even further into South America and much of the world. As an international organization, this is what we are all about, extending the reach and knowledge of ufology around the globe. This is a great start.

Just last month President Trump signed the “Space Policy Directive 1” – a directive that orders NASA to start sending American astronauts back to the Moon and eventually Mars. I always thought that was where NASA was headed, but perhaps not based on the slow progress to date in making anything happen in this regard. I, for one, was beginning to wonder; perhaps President Trump and others in Congress were wondering as well. The White House press release went on to say, “The President…will change our nation’s human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology.” Makes one wonder what “new knowledge” we will gain from the cosmos. Perhaps that we are not alone? Or what “incredible technology” will suddenly appear. An interesting statement since for nearly eight years now the United States hasn’t been able to put a man in space. We have been using Russian technology to do so.

Intelligent minds must wonder what is really going on behind the scenes, and this was one of the reasons for the theme of our 2017 MUFON Symposium, “The Case for a Secret Space Program.” Hopefully we’ll learn very soon as I was recently informed by a former NASA employee that President Obama, before he left office, signed a directive authorizing six different groups to begin releasing information on extraterrestrial life and the fact that we are not alone in the universe. From recent announcements, it is clear that at least one of those groups is the new TTS venture by Tom DeLonge. One would have to assume that NASA and JPL are two other groups given this same directive. Who the other three are is a mystery to me. Perhaps someone reading this knows the answer to that question and can enlighten all of us. But does it really matter? The point is, we are going to begin seeing a flood of official notifications, on a rather frequent basis, that we are not alone in the universe. Something that MUFON has been saying for 50 years now. Oh, and that there is some nifty technology that is going to benefit us all. Get ready people of Earth. Hmmm, sounds very much like our mission statement: “The Scientific Study of UFOs for the Benefit of Humanity.”
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As MUFONers, we stand with open arms welcoming our brothers and sisters from the establishment, whether that be our government, DOD, private industry, or the intelligence community, who wish to share the truth with us. We are more than ready for it, as is the rest of humanity. Welcome to 2018!  

As 2017 draws to a close, I want to thank you, our many loyal members, for all you do making MUFON what we are today. Your membership in MUFON helps fund the great work we do and keeps us as the leader in UFO investigations and information on the web. It takes the hard work and dedication of volunteers across the globe to make this all happen. So again, thank you!

We accomplished quite a lot in 2017 starting with the launch of our new website with its member’s only section where an archive of the past five years of e-Journals resides, as well as other exciting content.  Next is the launch of MARRS (MUFON Anomaly Research and Reporting System) with its sophisticated document management system designed to help one easily find information in our files. To date, over 1,000 Pandora cases have been redacted and loaded into MARRS. We hope to have it fully loaded by sometime mid-year 2018. Katie Griboski, the project lead, could use your help to get it done even faster if you are interested. We are very excited about what MARRS will do for the future of UFO Research.

A third project in the works for nearly a year now is the­­­­ rollout of the new front-end to CMS designed to make it mobile friendly. We also plan to upgrade CMS to allow the easier collection of Entity and Experiencer cases. As it ­­­becomes more and more evident that we are not alone, the public is going to want to know “who are those guys?” And we intend to be able to answer that question with facts and data rather than hysteria and conjecture thanks to the great work of our investigations and communications teams.
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Year 2017 also saw the move of our offices from Newport Beach to Irvine, CA, precipitated by our building being sold, as well as our most successful Symposium ever in Las Vegas, NV. And finally, as we approach year-end, we are launching a new crowdfunding initiative to drive new memberships in MUFON. Your participation is certainly encouraged, but what we really need your help with, is getting the word out by forwarding emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets you receive to those on your personal distribution lists. You never know who may have an interest in UFOs and ETs and it may just rekindle an old relationship. Thank you and Happy Holidays.

A major event in the UFO Community happened a few short weeks ago when several Department of Defense and Intelligence community insiders stepped to the podium in a live broadcast to announce that not only are UFOs real, but the technology they are displaying is something we should try to understand and engineer for our own advancement as humans – something I have been saying for many years now. Most of them are now retired, and knowing what they know from their former positions in government and the intelligence community, want to see this information come to light and be used for the good of all and the advancement of our civilization.

I was pleased to see Dr. Hal Putoff and Chris Mellon, two men I know personally, involved in this new venture titled, “To The Stars… Academy of Arts and Science.” The team members include;

Tom Delonge –  CEO & Founder
Jim Semivan – Former senior intelligence service member of the Central Intelligence Agency
Dr. Hal Putoff - President and CEO of EarthTech International, Inc. (ETI)
Steve Justice - Former Program Director for Advanced Systems from Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs
Luis Elizondo – Former intelligence special agent last responsible for sensitive DOD threat identification program focusing on unidentified aerial technologies.
Chris Mellon – Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Clinton and Bush Administrations.

I had the opportunity to speak with Chris after the presentation to better understand the purpose behind the new venture.  His answer, in short, was to get to the Truth. Chris is very forthright and firm in his resolve to get to the bottom of the UFO question regardless of where the truth leads. Having worked on Capitol Hill he wants to keep it simple by focusing on one case which he outlines in the video of the Live event https://dpo.tothestarsacademy.com at the 10:40 mark. It is the 2004 Nimitz encounter with an unknown object off the coast of San Diego, CA.

I see this as a major step forward in the DOD-Government-Intelligence apparatus finally telling the American public, and the world that UFOs are Real, and the technology is so advanced that if we can find a way to duplicate it, we will advance our civilization centuries in a very short period of time. Pretty exciting stuff!
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The Call to Action is for each of us to write our congressmen and senators and ask for a congressional inquiry regarding the Nimitz 2004 incident where multiple F18s were scrambled to chase an unknown object. Certainly, Congress, with its ability to request information will be able to get to the bottom of this and in so doing it may open the floodgates that will finally drain this swamp. I certainly hope so. My letters are already in the mail. I hope yours go out shortly.

There are 7.2 billion people on planet earth, and surveys tell us that 1 in 10 have had their own personal UFO experience. Either seeing a structured craft at close range (less than 500 feet), or encountering non-human entities, or both. And what those individuals have in common is a burning desire to know the truth about the UFO phenomenon. That’s 720 million people worldwide who have a keen interest in UFOs, quite a number to wrap one’s head around, and that’s where MUFON comes in. These are the people who value the good work that MUFON does.

As you know, MUFON operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, supported by those who choose to become members and/or donate, which allows us to do the important work that we do. We are 100 percent publicly funded. Our work includes collecting sighting reports from the public, carefully investigating them to determine their veracity, and doing research on the most important cases reported to us. There is no other organization on the planet, government or otherwise, that is collecting and analyzing the number of UFO reports that MUFON does and making this information available to the public.  That very simply is what we do.

The more important question is Why do we do it? It’s because we believe the study of this phenomenon will lead to 21st Century solutions to the many problems and opportunities we face as a planet. Especially in the fields of energy and transportation, as well as perhaps answers to the social and economic challenges we currently face on this planet. Not to mention bringing closure to one of the most important questions humankind has ever asked, “Are We Alone in The Universe?” The short answer is, no, we are not.

While some demand more proof, others are already taking what’s known and extrapolating it into working models for faster than light travel, possible new energy systems, and so much more. Meanwhile, MUFON continues to collect, analyze, and research UFO and Experiencer reports one by one, knowing that the payoff is just around the corner. Soon, we’ll be looking at new analytical tools like IBM’s Watson to help us in our research and analysis efforts. There is much to do in this regard.

Along these lines, there are two important changes we are in the process of making. One is moving from reporting on incoming reports, formerly known as the UFO Traffic Report, to a Cases of Interest format that will highlight the latest and best cases recently investigated by our field investigators. This will focus our attention on real UFOs that are more likely true extraterrestrial visitations. A second change is offering our long-time members easy transition to the new membership levels announced in 2016. Look for a special offer in your mailbox on this very soon.
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I hope you are as excited as I am about our mission and what we are doing to move the needle on UFO research. It is a labor of love and doesn’t come without a price, whether it be new computer systems to collect and analyze the data, office staff to support our membership and reporting systems, or research dollars to fund the detailed analysis and ultimate communication of the results to our membership and the public via our website, monthly Journal and public outreach. We are making a difference in the field with more people than ever before knowledgeable about MUFON and the global UFO situation. Thank you for your ongoing support and for being part of the MUFON family.