Bhagavan Das Visits Central Florida

Bhagavan Das, 1960's counterculture icon, was prominently featured during the Temple of Sound Weekend held at Amrit Yoga Institute of Central Florida. A spiritual teacher, musician and performer, the guru was accompanied by his wife, Kali, during a Friday night presentation. Many follow such teachers in hopes of more healthily integrating life experience with deeper understandings of the nature of reality.

Bhagavan Das is credited with mentoring Ram Dass and opening for the Grateful Dead, among other items of note. More about the Friday night performance is described in my post, Bhagavan Das at Amrit Yoga Institute, at Orlando Paranormal Examiner.

Thought Drones Were New to the Skies? Think Again

A 1990 report prepared by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), an organization based in the US, stated that the military use of unmanned, remotely controlled air vehicles began no later than World War I. The report was presented to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and explained that remote controlled aircraft were operational during the 1920's in both the US and the UK.

The craft were initially rather limited in scope, the IDA reported, but by World War II radio-controlled aircraft were being upgraded to include cameras. Such efforts continued through the Korean War.

The Nite Gazelle, deployed during the Vietnam era.

A similar 2003 IDA report provided an overview of DARPA unclassified program activities since the 1970's. Unmanned aerial vehicles were given significant attention, including the wide use of remotely piloted vehicles, or RPVs, during the Vietnam War. RPVs successfully carried payloads, conducted reconnaissance, executed precision strikes and other advantageous maneuvers over SE Asia.

In 1971 an apparently rather brilliant model airplane enthusiast, Dr. John Foster, recommended DARPA scrap its designs and turn its attention to producing, more or less, souped up model planes. The cleverly simple concept initially resulted in the Praerie and Calere, each weighing about 75 pounds and powered by, of all things, lawn mower engines. Numerous additional models were subsequently produced. Their increasingly sophisticated capacities included reduced radar signatures and the addition of electronic warfare capabilities.

All was not always as stellar as the Department of Defense would have liked, however. IDA reported that the DARPA-Army collaboration on Praerie led to the Army's Aquila Program, a venture infamous for its lack of practicality.

The project succeeded in its objective to demonstrate an RPV could perform reconnaissance, acquire and identify targets, and survive. However, it dramatically overextended its original budget by the time it was axed in 1988. What's more, it was considered an acquisition nightmare, and, as IDA put it, “universally acknowledged as an example of what not to do in an advanced technology acquisition program.”

The effective but ill fated Aquila

Essentially, confusion developed within the ranks as to how Aquila should be deployed. IDA reported that a lack of cooperation between the branches ultimately undermined the program. Many believe it is such challenges that led to agencies such as DARPA and the CIA taking the lead in drone advancements, as opposed to allocating such operations to the services.

Production efforts of unmanned aerial vehicles continued, leading to projects such as Amber. The 1990's saw transitions from Amber into programs known as Tier I, Tier II and Tier III, representing production of drones with systematically increased capacities for stealthy flight, electronic warfare and lethal weaponry.

Drones were used in Iraq, Afghanistan and are of course deployed in current intelligence operations. They are also becoming more widely used in a variety of law enforcement and rescue operations.

The Associated Press recently reported that the Pentagon is creating a new prestigious medal for extraordinary achievement in cyber and drone warfare. It is the first addition of a medal since 1944. Many analysts suggest it exhibits an urgency allocated to high levels of performance and success in the field.

Whatever we may make of the ongoing saga of unmanned aerial vehicles, they are obviously here to stay. We can only speculate what related information may remain classified and to what extents it has effected ufology, but it might be advisable to take into consideration now and then.

Questions on Disclosure

Let's think about this disclosure thing a bit. As I understand it, there are some guys that consider themselves activists in something they call exopolitics. Those guys tell us we should join them in demanding Washington spill the beans they have long hoarded about aliens among us. I have some questions.

Why give the US government so much of the credit when it comes to keeping the lid on aliens? Can't the exos think of anywhere else to look for answers about the UFO phenomenon, anywhere at all?

Boulevard of disclosure a one-way street

Have any of those activists talked to Greer? Like, has anyone championing disclosure demanded Greer disclose data? Wouldn't it stand to reason that if you're spearheading public disclosure of the truth about aliens, you'd drop a guy an email that claims to have one in a box? If not, why not?

Okay, forget Greer. That situation is only of interest due to its continued public support in the face of such profound absurdity.

How about the Mutual UFO Network? Those guys and gals have been chasing saucers longer than some of us can remember, and it's tougher to get straight answers out of some of them than verification of election results from a third world country. Why aren't disclosure activists complaining about MUFON secrecy and double standards? Wouldn't it stand to reason that anyone sincerely interested in the truth would be hammering The Captain and the MUFON board of directors with the same persistence in which they hound White House staff?

Maybe the only thing MUFON could tell us was that after having bird-dogged thousands of UFO sightings and reports of alien abduction, it has absolutely no conclusive evidence whatsoever of any aliens. Even if that were the case, wouldn't that be something you would think should be published in the spirit of disclosing the truth?

Another thing... Genre icon Whitley Strieber claimed he has an implant in his ear. He also claimed it repeatedly dodged a scalpel during a doctor's attempts to remove it. Have any disclosure activists demanded Strieber disclose corroborating data? Why not? Wouldn't taking a look at the man's ear, or at the least asking him to cough up related data, seem like much more practical uses of resources than trying to send a million faxes to Washington? That would seem to be the case, anyway, if one were genuinely interested in the disclosure of actuality.

Have any activists made repeated demands of Robert Bigelow? Shouldn't they demand that he, like Uncle Sam, come clean in the name of truth, the public's right to know and all that? Aren't they curious what's in his files?

Scamming, naive or biased?

Rational individuals will simply suspect self-described disclosure activists are insincere, naive or without objectivity until circumstances such as questioned above are adequately addressed. Those activists might, however, continue to be rather successful at getting irrational individuals to climb on board.

The entire situation is unfortunate in that it stands to further divide the UFO community into its poorly conceived – even if comfortably preferred - sects of debunkers, believers and so on. It's the old 'you're either with us or against us' strategy, exploiting people into adopting naively simplistic perspectives in which intelligent inquiry is neither required, rewarded nor allowed.

There are aliens. The White House knows. Demand they say so.

There ya go. What more of a platform could you want out of an activist movement?

Justice Department Paper on Drones Leaked

An Air Force RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle
as reported by ABC News.

NBC News reportedly obtained and subsequently published a previously confidential Justice Department white paper concerning the use of deadly drone strikes on American citizens. The paper addresses guidelines and circumstances for executing such strikes.

Human rights advocates are concerned the guidelines are poorly defined and leave far too much room for interpretation. This creates a situation, they claim, conducive to ill advised and otherwise unlawful assassinations and executions. Concern is also being voiced that officials are publicly averting from discussion of such loosely defined procedures while implementing their use behind closed doors.

Contrastingly, those who support the policies outlined in the paper argue that such measures are required in order to enable the Justice Department to act in timely and effective manners. Severe circumstances call for severe measures, they suggest.

Meanwhile, John Brennan, nominated by President Obama to direct the Central Intelligence Agency, will soon appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss his nomination. Brennan has acted as Obama's chief counterterrorism consultant while serving as Deputy National Security Advisor and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. He is credited with designing what have come to be known as US drone assassination programs. The drone projects are reported to be controversial and complex, largely consisting of circumstances unknown to the American public.

When the CIA Crashed La La Land: 'Argo, A Cosmic Conflagration', Part Three of Three

Originally posted at 'Orlando Paranormal Examiner'.

Public perception

When the intelligence community becomes involved in movies and ufology, for whatever reasons, it matters to the interested demographics. That is the case whether or not the selection of the genre matters in the least to the IC, and their involvement initiates chains of events that unfold in any variety of relevant manners and directions.

I invite readers to consider the extents investigators may commonly be missing the mark when contemplating IC involvement in sci fi and ufology, at least if the 'Argo' operation is much of an indicator. For instance, fans of 'Lord of Light' would have been concerned about the script whether or not the Agency cared any at all about the subject matter. UFO buffs and similar such demographics stood to be interested in both the purchase of the script and most certainly about the fact the CIA was involved. After all, you're reading this, aren't you?

I suggest there is relevant established precedence in the 'Argo' circumstances as declassified by the Agency and subsequently explained by Tony Mendez and reported by Joshuah Bearman. I further suggest there are lessons to be learned.

I submit for consideration that had certain parties discovered in 1980 that the 'Lord of Light' script was purchased and subsequently canned by the CIA, at least one of the evolving theories would have included the oversimplified suspicion that the Agency was attempting to discourage interest in the subject matter. While having only a partial view of a bigger picture, some might very well have suggested that, in essence, the powers that be were hiding the supposed truth contained in a tale of cosmic conflagration. An apparently incorrect assumption, or at the least an oversimplified perspective, of a UFO cover-up was ripe for the picking.

There would have been additional theories, many of which would have related in some fashion to the IC asserting itself in UFO circles. My point being that speculation would abound and completely regardless of what interests, if any at all, the CIA actually had in the subject matter of the script. Once such chains of events are set in motion, the domino effect is on.

Moreover, I invite consideration of how events might unfold if the 'Argo' operation were not yet declassified. Perhaps at some point an ambitious investigator might suggest further research was justified into the possibility Studio Six had been a CIA front. Perhaps that same investigator might correctly suggest the 'Lord of Light' script was obtained for purposes related to deception operations in the Middle East. Would it not be reasonable to suspect that many would ironically call the investigator a fanatical conspiracy theorist, virtually regardless of the quality of research put forth? An irony, indeed, particularly considering the likelihood a high percentage of the investigator's critics would so adamantly subscribe to a conspiracy of ongoing and orchestrated UFO cover-up.

Perhaps the IC, at least at some points in time, placed its members in ufology for reasons other than their stated purposes. Maybe they indeed networked and developed connections to support hidden agendas. There is certainly precedence to suggest such. As with Mendez and his Hollywood collaborators, there would not be any single, long term specific purpose for such operations as is often mistakenly oversimplified and commonly argued to be the case, but many different general purposes as times change and objectives dictate. The primary reason I think further consideration should be given to the likelihood members of the IC in ufology conducted covert activities is rather simple: they are here.

Tony Mendez and President Jimmy Carter circa 1980.

Ufology and accountability

Certain deception operations overlap with science fiction and UFO subject matter, as confirmed in the case of 'Argo' and as cited by Mark Pilkington in his work, 'Mirage Men'. It is apparent and would stand to reason that some similar operations remain classified.

Tight lips surrounding such currently classified operations would further fuel the fires, intentionally or otherwise, of supposed UFO cover-up, gradual disclosure and so on. In actuality, such circumstances are apparently substantially more likely to be related to such matters of state as clandestine aircraft and deception operations than alleged alien spacecraft. This appears to be the case in spite of what sometimes overzealous, naive or possibly even blatantly dishonest UFO disclosure activists would have us believe. Repeatedly demanding the White House fully address such circumstances and classified operations, or at the least pretending to believe doing so might soon result in anything more rewarding than successful fundraising, is a whole 'nother topic of fallacy and deception unto itself.

I am not suggesting that one is necessarily ill advised to research possibly paranormal events. Neither am I suggesting that what has come to be known as the UFO phenomenon is necessarily void of any such paranormal events. Competent researchers may produce increasingly significant results of such possibilities and I would be most interested should that prove to be the case.

That stated, we indeed know the IC developed a presence and resulting influence in both science fiction film and the closely related genre of ufology. We therefore need not establish IC involvement in the UFO community, but accurately gauge its extent and impact.

If the challenge is deciding what to believe, then the solution is requiring accountability. To be clear, I am not talking about counter productively badgering elected officials or unfairly discrediting sincere witnesses. I am talking about requiring accountability of people claiming to be qualified to provide conclusive information about UFOs, aliens, disclosure and the like.

Information can generally be placed into one of three categories: that which has been verified as accurate, that which has been demonstrated to be false, or that which requires suspension of judgment pending further investigation. If we remain mindful of such circumstances when contemplating the credibility of any given statement or concept, it would seem we would consistently increase our likelihood of forming accurate perspectives.

Perhaps the next time we click on a podcast or attend a lecture about ufology that features a member of the intelligence community, we might consider the many, many possible reasons they could be present – far and above those they claim and those commonly supposed. Whatever we each may choose to think, the 'Argo' saga provides us with an intriguing glimpse into intelligence operations. It offers us confirmation of one of the more interesting cases of IC tampering in sci fi and UFO-related subject matter yet declassified, the operative word very possibly being 'yet'.

When the CIA Crashed La La Land: 'Argo, A Cosmic Conflagration', Part Two of Three

Originally posted at 'Orlando Paranormal Examiner'.

'Argo'

Studio Six was a CIA front during a 1979-80 deception operation. The 'Argo' script itself served a purpose and a film was never actually produced. In 2012, a movie of the same name was released and based on events surrounding the original operation.

The film tag line in 1980 read, “A Cosmic Conflagration.” The tag line today reads, “The movie was fake. The mission was real.”

For those who have not seen the film, opening shots take viewers through Persian history and its eventual clash with the West. A narrator explains Iranian traditional perspectives and the manners England and the States questionably intervened in Iranian affairs circa 1953.

“That's not true!” a man who sat to my left blurted out in protest.

The film quickly progresses to the 1979 storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Angry Iranian demonstrators surround the grounds, eventually breaching the gate. Embassy occupants struggle to most wisely use what precious moments remain before the impending confrontation with the mob. Scenes include embassy employees frantically destroying classified material and weighing decisions of potential life and death proportion.

“Oh,” a woman to my right gasped in distress.

So began my viewing of 'Argo'. Bankrolled by Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov, the politically sensitive film is apt to invoke emotional spikes among viewers. The film starred and was directed by Affleck, and won Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director.

One of the more artistic and impacting scenes in the movie was a script reading conducted by actors portraying spies portraying filmmakers – or something like that. They read sci fi lines which were mixed with shots of footage of actual newscasts of the day, along with shots of actors portraying American hostages and Iranian captors. The combined effect of an unfolding variety of film and audio - in which actuality and reenactments increasingly mingled as one - left the viewer with a pronounced uncertainty of the extents the entire saga may have been conducted for cameras and to influence spectators. I particularly found the effect of the scene thought provocative that was achieved by the intermittent addition of lines about alien wars of worlds.

Men behind the movie

Tony Mendez and Joshuah Bearman were identified as consultants in the film credits. Bearman wrote about the original saga in a 2007 'Wired' article, 'How the CIA Used a Fake Sci Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran'. His work is attributed with inspiring the 2012 film script.

Bearman is an editor for 'LA Weekly' where he maintains a blog. He has written for such publications as 'Rolling Stone' and 'The New York Times Magazine'. No stranger to the Fortean community, Bearman has also written extensively about the legendary Yeti.

Bearman explained on 'Wired' that the veteran makeup artist involved was John Chambers, winner of a 1969 Academy Award for his work on 'Planet of the Apes'. Chambers is additionally credited with such makeup sensations as those of 'Star Trek', where he served as makeup designer during the 1966 television series. Considered a special effects master within the industry, Chambers designed such innovative staples as the skull cap, which remains in use today. He contributed his expertise to such productions as 'Lost in Space', 'Night Gallery' and 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. Bearman identified Chambers as a friend to Mendez and “one of Mendez's longtime CIA collaborators.”

Bearman also wrote about the role of professional makeup artist Robert Sidell in the operation. Sidell posed as producer while manning phone lines, fielding press inquiries and handling similar such responsibilities. The Tinseltown veteran was nominated four times during his career for an Emmy Award, including once in 1980 for his work with Chambers on the sci fi television show, 'Beyond Westworld'. He also received nominations for his work on the shows 'The Waltons' and 'Dynasty', as well as the 1982 blockbuster film, 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'.

Mendez stated in 'A Classic Case of Deception, CIA Goes Hollywood' that while employed with the CIA Office of Technical Service Disguise Section he engaged the services of many consultants in the entertainment industry. He further stated such consultants were “masters at working the Hollywood system” and indicated their expertise was extremely beneficial during the 'Argo' operation.

Mendez and the CIA obviously maintained a presence in Hollywood. What's more, such connections were demonstrated to have multiple, evolving purposes as situations and objectives dictated.

“They had begun applying 'grease' and calling in favors even before I arrived,” Mendez wrote of his Hollywood 'Argo' collaborators. “Simple things such as the installation of telephones were supposed to take weeks, but we had everything we needed down to the paper clips by the fourth day.”

“Several black-bag deliveries” of cash were used to set up Studio Six, he reported. A CIA contract officer was enlisted to witness cash deliveries, “follow up as bagman” and similar such responsibilities. “It would take two years to clear all accounts on these matters,” Mendez explained.

He further explained that at one point an embassy hostage rescue was seriously considered in which Special Forces could possibly infiltrate Tehran using the same Canadian film crew cover that was at the time being developed to exfiltrate the six. “We imagined that it might be possible to conceal weapons and other material in the motion picture equipment,” he wrote.

Mendez and his accomplice to Tehran each received the prestigious Intelligence Star award. Mendez was also later honored as a CIA Trailblazer. Chambers was eventually granted the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit, a recognition rarely bestowed upon non-staffers and quite possibly as likely due to his collective service as any given single operation.

Mendez reported that by the time Studio Six closed shop several weeks after the successful exfiltration, 26 scripts had been received for consideration. “One,” he wrote, “was from Steven Spielberg.”

Food for thought

Such circumstances as contained in the 'Argo' saga provide us with a great deal of potential food for thought. Researchers James Carrion, Mark Pilkington and Dr. Jacques Vallee, to name a few, have served up such dishes on occasion.

Carrion, a former military intelligence analyst, suggested deception operations might well cross paths with ufology from time to time. Mission objectives could be as complex as took place surrounding 'Argo'. Such operations might be particularly difficult for a UFO community to understand that collectively tends to think in rather limited terms, suffering from tunnel vision while generally failing to consider broader contexts and the significance of global affairs.

Writer Pilkington told 'U.S. News' that his research led him to conclude that virtually every aspect of UFO lore has been exploited and deliberately seeded into popular culture by the American intelligence community. He explained that UFO stories sometimes provide cover for such circumstances as clandestine aircraft. Pilkington further suggested IC exploitation of UFO lore may sometimes be related to deceiving adversaries into fearing non-existent super weapons, a possibility Carrion also researched extensively. 

The renowned Vallee has long questioned the extent the IC influences ufology, though the UFO community typically limits its perspective of Vallee to his paranormal-based points of view. In more recent years he published a most interesting series of blog posts on the likelihood some crop circles may be linked to deception operations and social experiments. Ufology largely averts from such work and gives it minimal discussion.

On a related note, Dr. Michael S. Heiser of 'UFO Religions' directed our attention to the manner some self-described paranormal researchers play the persecution card in lieu of addressing true rebuttals. Discriminating thinkers have lost patience with supposed investigators who complain they have been forsaken by mainstream science, when, in fact, there is actually plenty of qualified review that such investigators just refuse to accept and competently address.

Dr. Heiser authored the novel, 'The Facade', and has been interviewed many times by such media outlets as 'Coast to Coast AM'. He published the paper, 'The Majestic Documents: A Forensic Linguistic Report', an objective assessment of supposed MJ-12 documents. The piece contains results of scientifically conducted linguistic tests that are most damaging to the possibility the documents could be authentic.

We might particularly choose to chew on the matters revealed in the 'Argo' saga when we consider the extent people tend to form their beliefs due much more to what they see at the movies and watch on television than the results of professionally conducted research. What's more, the gap between ufology and science fiction is a short distance indeed. We might be wise to question how extensively and for what specific reasons the IC has been involved in other sci fi productions, as well as UFO-related entertainment products, conferences and events in general.

When the CIA Crashed La La Land: 'Argo, A Cosmic Conflagration', Part One of Three

Originally posted at 'Orlando Paranormal Examiner'.

A cosmic conflagration -
or something like that.

Please join me in considering the recent award-winning film, 'Argo', as I continue to address the involvement of the intelligence community in movies. In this three-part series of posts we will contemplate a fascinating saga of a CIA deception operation in which script and reality literally intertwined.

Interesting as the operation was, however, it is not my primary point to address. My point is to cite the saga as an example of the intelligence community, or IC, tampering in science fiction, and invite readers to consider the extents some may suffer from short-sightedness when attempting to analyze such tampering. I suggest that interested parties would be well served to consider there are many potential reasons the IC might have a presence not only in the sci fi genre, but in ufology and similar such other media, far beyond the reasons typically discussed. The 'Argo' saga provides us with just such a circumstance for review.

In order to proceed with such considerations, we must first take a look at what, for those unaware, was the apparent remarkable execution of a brilliant deception operation. The artist, both literally and figuratively, was Antonio J. 'Tony' Mendez, who described himself as “a painter first and a spy second.” When not committing his visions to canvas, Mr. Mendez served in the Directorate of Operations and the Directorate of Science and Technology of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The challenge

Tony Mendez was an expert at physically moving people in and out of otherwise hostile regions and conditions, work known within the IC as infiltration and exfiltration. He was called upon in December of 1979 to help with an operation eventually declassified in 1997 by the Clinton administration.

The challenge in 1979 was related to the infamous November takeover of the American embassy in Tehran, Iran. Hostages would be held for some 444 days before their release in January of 1981 but, at the time Mendez was contacted in December, 1979, there was yet another problem at hand. In addition to the dozens of Americans being held at the embassy by Iranians, Mendez was informed there were an additional six Americans, five of which had worked at the embassy, who evaded capture and were hiding with the help of Canadian diplomats. The CIA wanted Mendez to assist in somehow safely bringing the six from Tehran back to the West.

Mendez described the 1979-80 operation in his work, 'A Classic Case of Deception, CIA Goes Hollywood'. The piece was posted in 2007 on the CIA website and is labeled a historical document. Mendez reported developing an elaborate scheme in which he posed as a filmmaker in order to create cover stories for the endangered six and successfully exfiltrate them from Iran.

The solution

Mendez proceeded to set up a CIA-funded Hollywood production company, aptly naming it Studio Six. He also enrolled the assistance of a seasoned Hollywood makeup artist to help him navigate the film industry.

A science fiction script was obtained, based on a 1967 Roger Zelazny award-winning novel, 'Lord of Light'. Scenes included settings of rough terrain and markets as found in and around Tehran. Mendez found such scenes advantageous to his plan to visit Iran under the guise of searching for locations to shoot the film.

The 'Lord of Light' fantasy storyline involved aliens, futuristic humans and gods. Advanced technology was also involved. The story delved into philosophy and metaphysics, contained overtones of Buddhism, Hinduism and reincarnation, and built up to a cosmic war waged for all the marbles. Would we expect anything less?

The script was subsequently titled 'Argo' and included the accompanying tag line, “A Cosmic Conflagration.” Mendez explained how money was flashed around Hollywood, events were conducted and press releases were published in trade magazines. Posters were made, business cards were printed and resumes were created, all for the production of a movie that he never had any intention whatsoever of actually making.

Mendez and an accomplice flew separately to Tehran in January, 1980, claiming to be leading a Canadian production team searching for a place to film 'Argo'. With the continued help of the Canadian government, Mendez met with the six Americans in hiding, supplied them with alternative identities and provided them with Canadian passports. The resumes supported their cover stories.

Posing as a Canadian film crew while the American embassy was under siege, the entourage successfully navigated the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, boarded Swissair and flew from Iran to Switzerland. The entire operation, from start to finish, amazingly took only about a month and a half to complete.