Jimmy
Kimmel had Bill Clinton on his show, and said that had he, Kimmel, been elected
as president, almost before he had finished the oath of office, he would have
run to the White House to look at all the classified files on UFOs.
Clinton
said that he had “sort of” done that, though it came out it took him about four
years to make the run. Then he talked about Area 51 and said that he had
someone look at all the records for Area 51 to find out if there was an “alien
hidden down there.” He acknowledged that a lot of our stealth technology was
developed there and though he didn’t say it that would make it a place that should
be shrouded in mystery. He did say that there were no aliens there.
And
I have to agree with this. I have said for a long time that I believed the next
generation of military aircraft would be developed there, but other than a few
very weak claims that lack real evidence, there is probably nothing alien
there. This, of course, puts me at odds with many of my colleagues in the UFO
field, but I just don’t think the evidence supports the idea of aliens at Area
51. The development of military aircraft makes the high-level secrecy
plausible.
Then
Clinton said, “When the Roswell thing came up, I knew we’d get zillions of
letters, so I had all the papers reviewed. Everything.”
Kimmel
asked: If you saw there were aliens there would you tell us?
Clinton
answered: Yeah.
Kimmel:
You would?
Clinton:
I think, look. What do we know? We know now we live in an ever-expanding
universe. We know there are billions of stars and planets literally out there.
And the universe is getting bigger. We know from our fancy telescopes that just
in the last two years more than twenty planets have been identified outside our
solar system that seem to be far enough away from the sun and dense enough that
they might be able to support some form of life so it makes it increasingly less
likely we are alone.
Kimmel:
Oh, you’re trying to give me a hint there are aliens.
Clinton:
No, I’m trying to tell you I don’t know but if we were visited someday, I
wouldn’t be surprised. I just hope it’s not like Independence Day.
The
conversation then degenerates into some jokes about Independence Day and Clinton’s thought that such an invasion would
create a new spirit of cooperation around the world to repel the invaders…
probably like shown in Independence Day.
But
what I noticed is that Clinton didn’t really answer the question about Roswell.
He moved onto other things and had Kimmel been hosting a more news oriented
program, the lack of follow up would be inexcusable. But Kimmel’s show is
entertainment and he seemed to run where the laughs were… not that I blame him.
So
Clinton didn’t really talk about Roswell and what might have been found there.
Yes, I know that he answered a similar question when he was president, saying
that that he hadn’t been told if there were aliens at Roswell… and I also know
that had he said anything other than the jokes he made or the rather mundane,
trite, and useless speculation about other planets in other solar systems, he
probably would never had heard the end of it.
And
while he didn’t really answer the question about Roswell, he did say, when
Kimmel asked, that he wasn’t hinting there were aliens. He was just suggesting
he wouldn’t be surprised if we were visited someday… which is, of course, the
general feeling by millions if not billions of people.
What
did we pull from this interview? Not much. If you believe in the alien crash at
Roswell, you can look at how he really said nothing about it. If you believe
there has been no alien visitation, you can look at his response to Kimmel’s
question about the hint of alien visitation.
Or,
in other worlds, a little something for everyone… just a politician keeping
everyone happy with these statements.
Clinton didn't really say anything he hasn't said before but I'm curious why the question was asked. There are no ambush questions in these types of show biz interviews. Is this something Clinton wanted to talk about or is Kimmel or one of his staff a UFO buff?
ReplyDeleteFrank -
ReplyDeleteI had the same thoughts. Surely they discussed what they would talk about before the cameras began to roll... meaning some sort of pre-interview with Clinton's answers some what scripted.
I am perfectly certain that had Jimmy Kimmel been elected as president he would NOT have rushed to get his hands on the classified UFO files.
ReplyDeleteThis is because as soon as he got to the White House he would have realised that there were many far more important things on his plate than UFOs. Kimmel might one day have got round to looking at a few of the files but would soon realise they were useless as evidence for ET presence, and would have given up the idea.
Both USAF Roswell reports came out during Clinton's presidency. If he was so concerned with UFOs in general (or Roswell in particular), why didn't he speak out then, when he had the power?
Yes, Clinton knew, and knows, what went on and still goes on, at Area 51. And it has zilch to do with Roswell, visiting ETs, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle or the like.
As for specualtion of what ET life may or may not exist in the universe, or whether any of it has paid us a visit, hasn't this kind of speculation been going on for centuries? What is new about it?
Answer: nothing. So as Kevin says, why did Kimmel even bother to raise the subject?
If we do discover real ET intelligence, we shall all find out pretty soon afterwards; the astronomical/astrophysical community will see to that.
Clinton signed the order to allow seizure of 4000 acres of BLM land adjacent to Area 51. That part include Freedom Ridge, the best and closest view of the base before the seizure.
ReplyDeleteIn todays political climate, presidents (and ex-presidents) need to be very careful about what they say and how they say it. Bush shook the market when he talked about recession. Clinton knows what he's been told about UFOs, Roswell, and aliens, just like us. Whatever 'secret' information he may have will probably never be known. I'm surprised Clinton even addressed the subject, given his political acumen, but, again, he knew what he could get away with.
The probability of some governmental agency (of any nation) hiding aliens or ET craft is very low, but not zero. The probability of any president not knowing the details of such activity is much higher.
I gotta go...
Two thoughts: Clinton says he “had all the papers reviewed. Everything….” The GAO investigation that resulted in the USAF Roswell reports made essentially the exact same claim. Is it the GAO investigation (which happened under his Presidency) that he is referring to when he makes this claim? The investigation was conducted by the USAF which is under the Department of Defense, which is under the President, acting as Commander in Chief. Technically, it may be correct to describe the USAF investigation as the President having had “all the papers reviewed.”
ReplyDeleteClinton’s statement may not be telling us anything we don’t already know.
Second, it is now well established that Area 51 has operated since its inception under some combination of authority from the CIA and the USAF. Both of those agencies come under the ultimate authority of the office of President of the US. Meaning that the POTUS can grant clearances to individuals to go there and investigate. Clinton’s statements don’t tell us anything that wasn’t revealed in Annie Jacobsen’s recent book.
However, a number of sources claim that the UFO related activities are located at Area S-4, adjacent to Papoose Lake, some 15 miles away and out of line-of-sight from Area 51. Many people seem to conflate the two areas—referring to them both as “Area-51”. But that is a mistake. I’m told that access to Area S-4 appears to be controlled by Department of Energy. If so, the POTUS has no authority whatever to know about or review what goes on there.
@Larry,
ReplyDeleteThe DOE is a cabinet level department, so the President could, in theory, access any information they have, which is quite a lot, considering all the labs, etc. they administer.
Remember, the CIA's involvement with the U-2 project was to make it appear 'non-military', which seems silly today, but made sense back then. Eisenhower was a military man; he didn't want military aircraft overflying Soviet airspace. A prudent move, considering the Soviet paranoia.
I don't know that there is an Area S-4, with underground facilities, etc. There is a s***load of information on the web, with an emphasis on the s***. Lazar has been discredited for years. IIRC, there was a guy who trekked up the valley (from the south; not monitored as heavily as the closer eastern side of the test range). He recalled seeing a door open in the side of Papoose Mtn. This guy was history buff, trying to trace wagon train trails.
One wonders just how far black budget projects can go. With almost no accountability, could project managers start their own little projects?
I gotta go...
Larry,
ReplyDeleteDo you believe Area S4 exists an if so what do you think goes on ther? is it alien related?
An how does it fall under the command of Dept of Energy? i thought it was run by Naval Intelligence
Albert and Al12:
ReplyDeleteAll the laws regarding classification of atomic energy information are traceable directly to the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which came into effect in January of 1947. It explicitly gave control over atomic energy secrets (which it called Restricted Data--"RD") to the then Atomic Energy Commissioner. When Carter reorganized everything (circa 1975) he split the functions of the AEC, roughly speaking, into the civilian and military sides of nuclear issues. The DOE inherited the civilian stuff (like reactors) and other agencies inherited the stuff that goes boom. (All those agencies were and are civilian agencies, as required by law.) The names of agencies changed over time, but the authority traces directly back to the Atomic Energy Act.
It is a common misconception that the President must have access to RD, but he/she generally does not, by law. I know this for an absolute fact. I have held an executive branch security clearance for the last 35 years, starting at Secret and working all the way up to the highest category, but whenever I have had to work on nuclear related topics, I have had to request an RD clearance from the DOE. Like every other kind of clearance, you have to pass the background investigation to convince them that you are trustworthy and then be working on something in an official capacity that gives you a need to know. The DOE generally accepts the same background investigation required for say, Top Secret, but the DOE decides whether to grant access or not. If the President asked, on a whim, how much Plutonium is used in a particular warhead, for example, that would be RD, and he/she would be denied that information (and probably reported as a security risk). Jimmy Carter and George Bush (senior) may have been the exceptions. Carter would have had at least an AEC "Q" clearance when he was in the nuclear Navy, and Bush may have had the equivalent when he was DCI. If so, it would have been given to Bush only because his job required it and the AEC agreed to grant it. Whether either of those men would have retained their AEC clearances after they became President, I don't know.
There absolutely is an area S-4 on certain maps; I have seen it on unclassified maps. I have approached to within about 10 miles of it, from the Nevada Test Site (NTS) side of things. My information has nothing whatsoever to do with Bob Lazar. All the workers at the NTS who have approached the boundary say that the security at S-4 is even more gonzo than at the NTS (which is the most extreme I have ever experienced). What goes on at S-4, of course, is open to conjecture. Over the years, a fair amount of information about Area 51 has leaked out, and a few years ago, of course, Annie Jacobsen wrote her book on the topic after the CIA decided to declassify a bunch of information. Relatively speaking, very little about S-4 has leaked and basically nothing has been officially released.
Personally, I neither believe nor disbelieve the Bob Lazar story completely. I think he fibbed about his academic credentials, for example. On the other hand, I have friends and professional colleagues with significantly higher clearances than I had at the time tell me they personally visited a place in the American Southwest with many of the characteristics that Lazar described. He may have heard similar stories from the time when he worked at Los Alamos and used that to create a narrative with himself as the hero. I don't know.
@Larry,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clearances update.
Would information about UFOs be considered restricted to the President?
It is certainly not restricted to the military, or the CIA.
Problem with Lazar (as Glen Campbell so eloquently pointed out), is that he seems so believable. His story about meeting Teller is an example. Teller was an iconoclast, but highly respected, and he could have easily got Lazar a job somewhere in Los Alamos (and he'd need to pass a background check, etc.)
A good propagandist, like a good con artist, always include a percentage of facts in his presentation. You want a balance of facts, reasonable assertions, and total BS.
Lazar _may_ have worked at Los Alamos, lots of folks did. The rest of his story is total BS.
I have not found the 'history buff' story yet.
Is there an underground base at S4? There certainly could be. Did Lazar see flying saucers there? Only in his imagination.
It makes sense that nuclear info be restricted, and it would be logical to include alien technology in that classification. There has to be a group of folks who know about Top Secret projects, and there must be a chain of command somewhere. I'd hate to think that there are rogue projects happening somewhere...
I gotta go...
Larry
ReplyDeleteWhat unclassified maps are these that youve seen Area S4 on?
Bob Lazar was far from the only person to comment on S4 either, Ed Fouche, Anonymous etc
Although Fouche claimed S4 didnt exist
However i do believe Lazar has been out there though, just my opinion.
Here is a link to the 'history buff' story:
ReplyDeletehttp://web.archive.org/web/20060422222649/www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/events/journey/index.html
I gotta go...
@Larry:
ReplyDeleteWhere you say, above:
"I have held an executive branch security clearance for the last 35 years, starting at Secret and working all the way up to the highest category..."
I find that most interesting, particularly where you note "the highest category."
Does that mean you have not only "Q clearance" but also CDNWI and Top Secret-Code Word clearance in addition to "Q"? And SAP/SCI, in addition to "restricted data," or RD?
If so, can you tell us, within the 15-point range (some have suggested 22 point range) what your SIGMA level is or may have been?
I take it you have done work at the NTS, as a contractor, then?
How is "executive branch clearance" different from either DOE or DOD clearance and levels? What motivated your interest in the UFO phenomenon, also?
I'm rather curious as to what you do or did for a living, considering your reference to having "an executive branch security clearance for the last 35 years...up to the highest category."
Steve, Al12:
ReplyDeleteI’m not trying to be mysterious, but I was always told by security officers that one is not supposed to say exactly what clearances one has, outside of official channels. So, I am trying to convey as much information as I can without tripping over the line. Also, I wish to retain a modicum of privacy.
I’m not going to comment on where I saw a map with S-4 on it. You can believe me or not, as you wish, or simply file that information for future reference.
But I think it’s OK to talk about the past, and to talk about what clearances one does not have. I do not have a current DOE clearance of any kind. I have never had any Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI) access, so the Sigma level question does not apply.
When I had access to the NTS, it was as a US Government employee working as an Aerospace Engineer. My interest was in applications of nuclear power to the Civilian Space Program.
When I used the term “executive branch clearance” I was simply trying to distinguish between a clearance to access National Security Information (NSI) and one granted to access Restricted Data, which was the whole point of my post. NSI comprises the familiar Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret categories, together with any caveats that might connote any additional access, such as SCI, CRYPTO, etc. The authority to declare information secret within the NSI system derives from the President’s constitutional powers as Commander in Chief. Permission to access NSI ultimately is granted or revoked on behalf of the President; that’s why I refer to it as an executive branch clearance. The executive branch can grant that kind of clearance to anyone, regardless of where they work--DOD, uniformed armed forces (like Kevin), State Department, NASA, the National Security Council, FBI, DOE, etc., etc. NSI access—what I’m referring to as “executive branch clearance” is legally independent of and totally parallel to, access to RD.
Access to RD can ONLY be granted by the DOE, and access to NSI can ONLY be granted by the executive branch. In theory, you can have access to either one without the other, or both simultaneously. The “Q” clearance is actually a package of clearances—a Top Secret “executive branch clearance” and an RD DOE clearance. My point is that Clinton, as President could have had access in principle to some NSI, but he could not have had access to any RD, unless the DOE was willing to give him a clearance. This is one method by which the President can, quite legally, be kept out of the loop.
As to how I became interested in the UFO topic, that’s a long story for a different day, but there were two main components. First, my father was involved in the subject since before WWII and imparted some of his knowledge to me (similar to Jesse Marcel Senior and Junior). Second, I have witnessed the phenomenon on multiple occasions.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteCan appreciate that you have no comment on these maps but you said they were declassified so ther shouldnt be a problem.
Would you consider revealing in future perhaps?
As the only information we have on S4 is from whisltleblowers.
It is off topic slightly Kevin but do you believe S4 exists?
Even if President Clinton did know, I doubt he would reveal such information.
ReplyDeleteI did think he squirmed a little and quickly changed the subject when asked direct questions.
No surprised and it only confirms my believe that no one in authority is going to answer such questions, even if they know the answers.
AlbertGuitar asked:
ReplyDelete“Would information about UFOs be considered restricted to the President?
It is certainly not restricted to the military, or the CIA.“
Your question/comment has two parts.
I don’t think the President is automatically either excluded or included from the subject. Like any Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP), if the President is lawfully required to know about the situation in order to play some particular role, like making an executive decision, he will be informed. If not, he doesn’t have a need to know. Likewise for members of the CIA and military. Clearance for access to any particular compartment of information is attached to an individual, not necessarily to the organization the individual works for.
If anyone thinks Clinton would admit knowledge about ET-UFO's now, then you're completely overlooking the fact that Hillary Clinton might run for President.
ReplyDeleteNo way are they going to give the opposition a winning trump card for that hand.
Forget it!