Following
is an analysis of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit by Brad Sparks. I had
thought that we had disposed of this nonsense a long time ago. I thought we all
realized that there had been nothing like it. Many of us, led by Brad, had showed
that there was no such thing but there had probably been an IPU. It just had
nothing to do with “Interplanetary Phenomenon.” I’ll let Brad explain this in
detail and then hope this is the last time we talk about the IPU… which will
not happen. Someone, somewhere, will find a reference to this and think they
have something new and important. They will post it all over and we’ll all have
to explain this again. Here, then is Brad’s third edition of his analysis:
There never was an “Interplanetary Phenomenon” Unit just an “IPU” standing for “Input Processing Unit” of Army Intelligence (later Army FSTC Foreign Science & Technology Center) based on my reconstruction of events from extensive research into Army org histories and the many FOIAs. This "IPU" (Input Processing Unit) was the incoming documents Mailroom for Army S&T (science & technology) subjects in post-Sputnik 1958 space era, including routine UFO reports. We know from Air Force Project Blue Book UFO files that lots of teletype and other UFO reports were cc-ed to the Army and this is one place where they would have gone.
Decades later this space & science intelligence intake mailroom had the “IP” initials mistakenly misremembered as "Interplanetary Phenomenon" because the unit handled the receipt and forwarding of many routine UFO reports along with other incoming Army Intelligence on other space & science & technical intelligence subjects (remember, UFO Project Blue Book started in AF Technical Intelligence).
We even know exactly who was the Army tech intelligence “old-timer” — literally called the "institutional memory" in FOIA replies — who did the misremembering in the Army's FOIA replies: Craig Hunter. It was Hunter who supplied the info for Army FOIA replies that suggested that IPU was the "Interplanetary Phenomenon" Unit in his "institutional memory" (meaning not from any actual IPU documents) — or rather, his mis-memory. These were replies to Larry Bryant's general UFO FOIAs to Army and Army Intell in 1978, years before Dick Hall got involved, the latter getting the same type of replies Larry did.
This was 20 years after the IPU was created in 1958 and memories got jumbled over the years. It is likely that the Army’s Craig Hunter and any others who looked at vast Army org charts from decades in the past, and maybe saw initials for obscure low-level units like "IPU," had to guess what they stood for.
The IPU, Input Processing Unit, was never “disestablished” in the “late 1950s” (why no exact year or date??) (some FOIA replies suggest 1962 not 1950s) as I reconstruct the Army history. UFO sighting records (or just copies) may have been transferred to AFOSI in 1962 when IPU — still existing and not “disestablished” — got renamed within the new FSTC center. It was then, as I reconstruct it from Army org histories, that the IPU was elevated to a higher bureaucratic level of a "Section" — a "Section" is above a "Unit" in military org structure — thus became the IPU >> IPS (Input Processing Section), A&D Branch (Acquisition & Dissemination Branch), Support Division, FSTC (Foreign Science & Technology Center), Army Materiel Command.
The IPU, Input Processing Unit, probably still exists today in 2025 under the new IPS name or more likely still later renamings, as part of the Army NGIC (National Ground Intelligence Center), which is successor to Army FSTC — so much for purportedly being "disestablished" in the "late 1950s” or 1962. (The whole IPU “disestablishment” mistake cited in 1978 Army/Craig Hunter FOIA replies probably arose from IPU’s transition to FSTC and renaming as “IPS” in 1962-63. So it would have looked from glancing at bare-bones org charts that “IPU” had disappeared in 1962-63, mistakenly assumed “disestablished.”)
NGIC "provides scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI) and general military intelligence (GMI) on foreign ground forces in support of the warfighting commanders, force and material developers, DA, DOD, and National-level decision makers." (https://www.jmu.edu/cisr/research/gmar/search/national-ground-intelligence-center-ngic.shtml)
NGIC (with its presumably new version and name of its subordinate IPU Input Processing Unit) is the Army's "counterpart" to the Air Force's NASIC (National Air and Space Intelligence Center) (“counterpart” quote from Joint Force Quarterly, 4thQ 2015 p. 17b-c). NASIC in turn is the successor to the command division (FTD Foreign Technology Division) that ran UFO Project Blue Book in the 1960s.
Thus Army NGIC and Air Force NASIC likely both cover UFO reports today — or under the new term UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena).
Not one single page of actual legitimate “Interplanetary Phenomenon” Unit letterhead documents from the "late 1950s" or any other time has ever been found in USGovt records or by FOIA that (a) says the words
“Interplanetary Phenomenon” (b) as the name of the Org Unit that (c) prepared the document.
This whole thing has been a wild goose chase.
Apologies for any typos or errors in this necessarily messy dissection of an honest mistake by an Army official that got blown up over the years. My thanks to the many researchers who have helped contribute to this historical investigation.
17 comments:
Kevin,
This post comes at just the right time because a few days ago, I was involved in a discussion on Reddit with someone who was trying to defend the authenticity of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents. To support the authenticity of those documents, this person claimed that the existence of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit had been proven through various FOIA requests and declassified documents.
I pointed out to them that all those FOIA requests preceded the emergence of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents, and I also noted that the name had already been circulating within the UFO community for many years before the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents surfaced, so much so that the name "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" had even been mentioned in William Steinman’s book on the Aztec crash.
Then, I told them that there is no clear evidence proving that the unit was indeed called the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit, and explained that even if we were to admit that the name was accurate, it would not prove the authenticity of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents, precisely because the name had already been known beforehand. Therefore, anyone attempting to forge documents in the 1990s could have easily included a name that was already familiar within the UFO community during the 1980s.
This "IPU" (Input Processing Unit) was the incoming documents Mailroom for Army S&T (science & technology) subjects in post-Sputnik 1958 space era, including routine UFO reports. We know from Air Force Project Blue Book UFO files that lots of teletype and other UFO reports were cc-ed to the Army and this is one place where they would have gone.
....This was 20 years after the IPU was created in 1958 and memories got jumbled over the years. It is likely that Hunter and any others who looked at vast Army org charts from decades in the past, and saw initials for obscure low-level units like "IPU," had to guess what they stood for.
Decades later this space & science intelligence intake mailroom had the “IP” initials mistakenly misremembered as "Interplanetary Phenomenon" because the unit handled the receipt and forwarding of many routine UFO reports along with other incoming Army Intelligence on other space & science & technical intelligence subjects (remember, Project Blue Book started in AF Technical Intelligence).
Seems like pure speculation on Brad Sparks part, but given as a statement of fact. How in the world would "Input Processing Unit" get mixed up and changed into "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" of all things? Why not something a lot more mundane, like "Intelligence Performance Unit" or "Interagency Policy Unit?"
Of course, that doesn't prove anything either. I get that nothing can be found prior to 1958 mentioning an "IPU", but that too doesn't prove anything. Except for one FBI telegram from 1947, nobody has found any government documents discussing Roswell. You can interpret that to mean that Roswell was a nothing event. Alternatively, Roswell got deeply buried because it was so important.
Gen. Robert Landry was Truman's AF advisor starting from early 1948. In an interview he did with the Truman Library he stated Truman instructed him to provide quarterly oral briefings on UFOs. And since they were oral, there is no record of such briefings either. Yet presumably Landry wasn't misremembering or making this up.
I get that Brad was frustrated by being unable to come up with something definitive, such as a paper trail, for what the "IPU" stood for. The problem is in this subject if they want to hide information they can usually hide it. FOIA requests won't necessarily uncover the existence of such material. So, as usual, we are left bickering over ambiguous data.
Timothy Good wrote that the IPU was established during WWII by either Gen. Marshall or MacArthur, with McArthur reporting to Marshall. I am struck that MacArthur on 3 known occasions, starting 1955, discussed how the nations of the Earth would have to unite in the future to fight an interplanetary menace. Now why would he bring that up? Again this doesn't prove anything, but it does strongly suggest to me that MacArthur knew a thing or two from military UFO investigations and had reason to be concerned, whether an "IPU" was involved or not.
Because of this article, I did a deep dive into the history of the FSTC and the ITAC. I can not find anything on any "Input Processing Unit". I even have been looking at unit histories regarding the different Signal Intelligence Agency units that the FSTC evolved out of.
I would love to have more information on it, if it is available.
Regards,
Bob
Kevin, I'm a bit confused as to where the term "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" arose in the UFO literature to begin with. Was it the MJ-12 documents?
BTW, there is a lengthy interview with Harald Malmgren on the latest Jesse Michels show. Malmgren was a high level adviser for Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. Malmgren was trained in physics and economics (PhD Oxford) and advised primarily on economic and trade policy matters. He was the youngest of Def. Secretary Robert McNamera’s “whiz kids”, recruited in 1962 and played an important role in the Cuban missile crisis.
Based on what he observed and was briefed on while in government, Malmgren said Roswell was real, as was a UFO shootdown during a 1962 Marshall Islands nuclear test called Bluegill Triple Prime (saying he even handled the material at Los Alamos and Kennedy/Johnson were both thoroughly briefed there), the Magenta crash in Lombardy, Italy in 1933 was real (saying Area 51 director and CIA deputy director Richard Bissell also briefed him on this in 1962), and, oh, Majestic 12 was a real group too.
Malmgren fell ill the day after this interview and died early this year. His daughter Pippa, also a Presidential advisor for George W Bush, says her father on his deathbed admitted to seeing the sole survivor of the Roswell crash being interviewed on video. Allegedly the being provided information that was later used in the 1962 Bluegill shootdown.
The interview also brings up another possible MacArthur connection to UFOs. Malmgren mentioned that the Catholic Knights of Malta seemed to be intimately connected with the UFO question, including scooping up the crashed UFO from Magenta with Vatican help. People involved with this were James Jesus Angleton plus brother and father Hugh. At the time they were OSS operating out of Switzerland. OSS leader William Donovan was also involved as was Allan Dulles. Donovan and Dulles helped set up the OSS successor, the CIA, Dulles eventually became Director (Eisenhower/Kennedy), and James Jesus Angleton the head of counterintelligence. All were KOM. Also involved may have been no less than Philip Corso (God help us), then in Rome, eventually liaison with the next Pope, also instrumental in setting up Operation Paperclip brining Nazi scientists and engineers into the US. Other KOM CIA directors were William Casey (Reagan) and John McCone (Kennedy/Johnson). McCone had also been AEC director.
Jesse Michels claims MacArthur and his intelligence staff were also KOM, but ChatGPT disagrees about MacArthur. However MacArthur’s head of intelligence during WWII through the Korean War was Charles Willoughby, who was a KOM.
The KOM date back to the Crusades. After Napoleon kicked them out of Malta, they settled in Rome and still have sovereign nation status, much like the Vatican (the Pope does oversee some of their activities). This means they can do such things as issue passports, print their own money, and have diplomatic immunity. As a secret society with diplomatic status and close ties to the Vatican, they would be ideal as a group to carry out covert intelligence activities, such as recovering a crashed UFO with Vatican help--hypothetically. Malmgren said probably for real, though he didn’t provide anything definitive.
(Part 1 of 2)
David,
The story of the Magenta UFO crash emerged in the late 1990s, when Roberto Pinotti, an Italian UFO researcher, claimed to have received a series of anonymous documents allegedly dating back to Mussolini’s regime. These documents described the recovery of a flying saucer that had crashed near Magenta, a town in northern Italy, in June 1933. According to the documents, the Italian government took immediate action to secure the wreckage, and Mussolini himself supposedly established a secret committee to study the recovered technology.
However, the origin and authorship of these documents remain entirely unknown. They have no provenance whatsoever, no official records from the period hint at the existence of the alleged secret committee, and many historians and archivists have noted that the documents contain numerous errors and inconsistencies. Within the Italian UFO research community, both the documents and the story they tell are not taken seriously. As an Italian myself, I can confidently state that in Italy, the so-called "Fascist UFO Files" are regarded as forgeries riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, with the only exception being those who are desperate to believe and have not investigated the matter enough. In other words, the Magenta UFO crash is a hoax, which means that either Malmgren was lying, or that he was fed disinformation.
The same applies to MJ-12. Before the first MJ-12 documents surfaced in the early 1980s, no one had ever heard of a secret group called MJ-12. And no one had ever heard of it because the name "MJ-12" was invented by William Moore and Richard Doty in the early 1980s. There has never been any secret group with that name, and the documents have been conclusively proven to be forgeries, both by Kevin and many others (I have even written an article about it myself). Therefore, once again, either Malmgren was lying, or he was simply fed disinformation by other people within the government.
(Part 2 of 2)
Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that the first rumors regarding an alien who survived the Roswell crash and was held in custody by the U.S. government until its death also originated from the disinformation and lies spread by Richard Doty in the 1980s. In fact, the first mention of a surviving alien from the Roswell crash being kept in custody by the U.S. government can be traced back to a series of documents that Richard Doty showed to Linda Moulton Howe in 1983, when she was invited to Kirtland Air Force Base. As Linda Howe herself later stated in "An Alien Harvest":
«I sat down with my back to the windows. [Doty] sat behind the desk. “You know you upset some people in Washington with your film, 'A Strange Harvest.' It came too close to something we do not want the public to know about.” That began a brief discussion about my documentary. I asked him why extraterrestrials were mutilating animals. Richard Doty said that the subject was classified beyond his need to know. He told me I had been monitored while I was making the film. […]
[Doty] reached with his left hand to a drawer on the left side of the desk and opened it. He pulled from the drawer a brown envelope. He opened it and took out several standard letter-sized sheets of white paper. “My superiors have asked me to show this to you,” he said, handing me the pages. “You can read these and you can ask me questions, but you cannot take any notes.” I took the papers and I read the top page. It was entitled "Briefing Paper for the President of the United States of America” on the subject of unidentified aerial craft or vehicles.
Richard Doty then stood up and said, “I want you to move from there.” He motioned me toward the large chair in the middle of the room. “Eyes can see through windows.” I got up and moved to the big chair, confused. I did not know what was happening. As I looked at the pages in my lap a second time, I wondered why he was showing them to me. I was very uncomfortable, but I wanted to read and remember every word…»
The documents given to Linda Howe detailed four distinct saucer crashes that were said to have occurred in Roswell, Aztec, Kingman, and northern Mexico. The Roswell crash reportedly involved a lone survivor referred to as EBE (an acronym for Extraterrestrial Biological Entity). EBE was described as being four feet tall, with grayish skin and no hair, possessing a large head and prominent eyes that were likened to those of a child, though he was said to have the intellect of “a thousand men.” EBE was held captive at the Los Alamos Laboratories until his death in 1952. According to the documents, before his death, EBE managed to establish contact with his home planet, leading to the arrival of other extraterrestrials, identified as EBE-2 and EBE-3, who came to retrieve him. This event supposedly initiated a secret exchange program between the U.S. government and the aliens. In other words, the entire story of an alien surviving the Roswell crash originated from the disinformation and lies spread by AFOSI and by Doty in the early 1980s, which again, means that either Malmgren was lying, or that he was fed disinformation.
If I were to come up with an hypothesis that does not include the possibility that Malmgren was simply lying, then I might say that perhaps he actually did put his hands of the remains of an alien craft, but that whoever granted him access to those remains did not tell him the truth about where the originated from. After all, the truth was probably beyond his need to know. So, maybe it is possible that the remains he handled originated from the Roswell crash, and that everything else in his account — the alien craft allegedly shot down in 1962, the captured alien who supposedly provided the government with the necessary information to shoot down that craft, the tales about MJ-12, and so on — is simply what they told him rather than the actual truth.
I keep bringing up Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s known comments (1955-1962) about the nation’s of the Earth having to unite to defend against an interplanetary menace because they seem so out of place for the times and high position that MacArthur held. He wasn’t some Buck Rogers comic strip artist. What in the world would prompt such comments? (Reagan while President made similar remarks on several occasions, including a UN speech.) At the very least, it suggests to me he took UFOs very seriously as interplanetary objects. But based on what? He had been a rare five-star general, so if anyone would have access to the top intelligence on UFOs, he probably would.
Does this prove he might have set up a unit like the IPU in 1945, as Timothy Good says is “rumored”. No, but I have little doubt he and his intelligence staff were receiving high level UFO intel. And not the junk stuff, like misidentified Venus or weather balloons.
As just one example, in the first few days of the Korean War, on June 29, 1950, the following UFO incident in Japan (where MacArthur was governing at the time) was reported in some US newspapers:
http://www.roswellproof.com/ufo_calnev_1950.html
June 29, 1950, Itazuke Air Base, Japan, 10:05 p.m.: An "unidentified aircraft" flew near the base but disappeared when U.S. fighters flew to intercept. Air raid sirens sounded for the first time since 1945. Speculation was that Communists were undertaking a reprisal blow at U.S. installations in Japan, but the official account of the alert was ambiguous about the identity of the craft. In addition, "There was no explanation of a bright flash which appeared on the horizon a few minutes before the all-clear." (UP stories, Humboldt Star, Winnemucca, NV, Boise Idaho Evening Stateman, June 29)
I have little doubt MacArthur would have been briefed on a major incursion like that, enough to set off air raid sirens for the first time since WWII.
Next post, the three known times MacArthur commented on fighting an interplanetary war.
Douglas MacArthur’s comments on future Earth fighting an interplanetary war:
NY Times, Oct. 8, 1955, p. 7
M’ARTHUR GREETS MAYOR OF NAPLES
Lauro Quotes Him as Saying Wars Between Nations Are Now Obsolete
Mayor Achille Lauro of Naples… called on General of the Army Douglas MacArthur yesterday and received the general’s cheering opinion that war between countries on this earth was probably obsolete. However, war between the planets may replace it, in the general’s opinion, Mayor Lauro reporter afterward.
...”He thinks that another war would be double suicide and that there is enough sense on both sides of the Iron Curtain to avoid it…”
“He believes that because of the developments of science all the countries of earth will have to unite to survive and to make a common front against attack by people from other planets.”
The politics of the future will be cosmic, or interplanetary, in General MacArthur’s opinion, the Mayor continued. He quoted the military leader as saying that a thousand years from now today’s civilization would appear to be as obsolete as the stone age.
NY Times, July 5, 1961, p. 14
Speech, Manila, Philippines, July 4
“The thrust into outer space of the satellite spheres and missiles marked the beginning of a new epoch in the long story of mankind—the chapter of the space age. In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth--in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a greater or more abrupt evolution.
“We deal not with things of this world only, but with the illimitable distances and as unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We have found the ‘lost horizon.’ We have discovered a new and boundless frontier. We speak now in strange new terms of harnessing the cosmic energy… of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister force of some other planetary galaxy…”
Speech, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., May 12, 1962
“You now face a new world, a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite spheres and missiles mark a beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind.ยบ In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a more abrupt or staggering evolution.
We deal now, not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier. We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy… of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy…”
Thank you for explaining these Army acronyms, Kevin.
In response to David's comment, I listened to George Knapp interview Matt Ford on April 27 when they spoke of Harald Malmgren and Pippa Malmgren. As to the controversial deletion of their pages on Wikipedia, suspicious, but boring. I actually agree with what Robert Sheaffer wrote over a year ago about how this talk of a "Wikipedia cabal" is a rather dumb conspiracy theory. We already know Roswell is real. Never been told about a shoot down in 1962 before today. That one seems new. Please tell us more. If something really crashed in Magenta, Lombardy, Italy in 1933, we would be forced to reject things we learned on this blog. Still convinced it is fiction. Scary how many ufology enthusiasts just accept the story since the summer of 2023. Yes, all twelve American men named as the Majestic 12 really did exist, however nobody proved they all got together to form a group in secret. Another blogger who goes by the name Recluse has written many posts about a possible connection between Knights of Malta and ufology. Maltese Knights wear black robes which would technically make them men in black. Check out this post.
https://visupview.blogspot.com/2017/01/fringe-strange-and-terrible-history-of_15.html
The post is long and part of a longer series. Many of the names David mentioned are mentioned in the post and other posts on that blog. Honestly, I do not agree with the authors who tell us whatever happened in New Mexico in 1947 was a magic ritual working or whatever they mean by that term. I still prefer the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Kevin, do you have any opinions about the things that mystics, occultists, and other religious folks say about Roswell?
(Part 1 of 5)
I asked Kevin if he knew when the IPU was first mentioned in the UFO community. Perhaps the answer is in an earlier blog by Kevin and the follow-up commentary:
https://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2014/03/interplanetary-phenomenon-unit-summary.html
Todd Zechel (claimed to have worked for 10 years at NSA) contacted Larry Bryant ~1978/79 and tells Bryant of a group called the IPU or Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit. Bryant then sent in a FOIA requesting more information. Frank Warren then writes in response to Kevin’s blog:
Larry's FOIA request (re the IPU) for CAUS was sent in '79, to "USAF Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI)," not the Army. Larry writes, (Just Cause Sept. 1979) "acting on a lead provided by W. Todd Zechel's acquisition of information pointing to the existence of a now-defunct U.S. Army "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit, CAUS has dispatched a Freedom of Information request . . .."
Their response (June 6, 1979) states:
"A review of the Defense Central Index of Investigations and inquiries to the appropriate offices of this headquarters have failed to disclose any information regarding the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit…”
According to Warren, CAUS then appealed and threatened a lawsuit but the second reply also said nothing about the existence of the IPU.
At this point Dick Hall sent another FOIA request, saying nothing about the IPU. Says Warren:
It was actually Dick Hall who performed the FOIA request on Sept. 6 1980. Dick was requesting “all of the Army’s records pertaining to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s June 2, 1980 teletype message describing a Peruvian Air Force / UFO Encounter.” The request was made to the Army’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence.
In the response, dated Sept. 25th, 1980 not only was the acronym used (IPU), but so was the full title: —“Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit.” It stated:
“Please be advised that the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit of the Scientific and Technical Branch, Counterintelligence Directorate, DA was disestablished during the late 1950's and never reactivated. All records pertaining to this unit were surrendered to the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations in conjunction with operation ‘BlueBook.’”
As one would expect, Dick did a follow-up FOIA request after hearing of this Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit, and in that response (Nov. 29th), they played it down stating:
“The unit was formed as an ‘in-house’ project by the Chief of the Scientific and Technical Branch, as an ‘interest’ item for the ACSI. It was never formally organized or reportable as such. It had no investigative function, mission or authority. The transfer of any records, if they formally existed, occurred through the Office of the Adjutant General, DA, during the late 1950's. The establishment of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) absorbed the functions, mission and personnel of the Scientific and Technical Branch, and institutional memory recalls the transfer of the unit files to the U.S. Air Force BlueBook" office. No transfer record exists in the files of this office."
Cont. part 2
(Part 2 of 5)
So if Frank Warren has it right, it was Todd Zechel who originally brought up the existence of an IPU (but it’s unclear where he learned of it). When Larry Bryant filed a FOIA with AFOSI (counterintelligence), they denied knowing anything about it. But when Dick Hall filed another FOIA with the Army Asst C/S Intelligence, but didn’t mention the IPU, they spontaneously confirmed the existence of the IPU by name, but then claimed it was a nothing outfit of no official status and disestablished in the late 1950s with records, if any, turned over to AFOSI and Blue Book. It is only in the second response to Hall that they mention the “institutional memory part” and nothing about it being disestablished in 1962, if it was the “Input Processing Unit” of Brad Sparks research.
In yet another interesting slant on this, I came across Anthony Bragalia’s website (https://www.ufoexplorations.com/us-army-secret-ufo-study), wherein he mentions a researcher/contactee named John Frick of Melbourne, FL. First he discusses something called the Defense Central Index of Investigations (DCII).
”The DCII “...is a very little-known arm of the US Department of Defense. It is an "automated control index" that identifies and reports on investigations that have been conducted by all of the Department of Defense investigative agencies. This military and intelligence data center is one of the most complex and comprehensive in existence.”
“...By the early 1980s, ...Frick… had become aware of a computer printout that was generated by the DCII that had related some historical UFO sightings and investigations, including those made under General Douglas MacArthur's command. The listing of sightings had curiously ended the very year that MacArthur had left the South West Pacific Area Command. The first line of the short printout read: "01 INTERPLANETARY PHENOMENON UNIT" and the column which shows "DESTROYED" has been left blank.”
I have not seen this printout, but if it is as represented, then it would be official documentation of the existence of the IPU, it long predating 1958, and being tied to Gen. MacArthur. However, if you go back to Part 1, the DCII printout was also mentioned in the original response to Larry Bryant’s FOIA, but AFOSI stated contrarily it came up with nothing on an IPU. So there is a big contradiction here.
“Frick expanded on this in an article that appeared in the August 7, 1982 edition of The News World, the predecessor paper to the New York Tribune. His research had shown that in 1945, General MacArthur began an unusual project. He and others had started to compile and analyze reports of unidentified objects in areas under his command that were flying in the
skies over the Philippines and Japan. MacArthur's UFO investigations may have continued through 1951 or later. Frick also indicated that MacArthur himself had a sighting at Clark Field in the Philippines, of what MacArthur was certain was an alien vehicle. MacArthur had determined that some of these anomalous flying objects were of interplanetary origin…”
“Frick indicated that one of his sources, the former AFOSI Agent Rudolph M. Schellhammer (now deceased), revealed to him that MacArthur's IPU files were transferred in 1962 to AFOSI. This author has confirmed that Rudolph Schellhammer was indeed a deep-cover AFOSI agent...”
(Part 3 of 5)
Bragalia then posits the following interesting theory:
“The Army claimed that the IPU was an "interest item" for an unnamed "Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence" within the Army. General Douglas MacArthur's Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence was Colonel Charles A. Willoughby. Willoughby was later made Chief of MacArthur's Intelligence Staff…”
I brought up Willoughby and MacArthur before in relation to the recent Harald Malmgren (Presidential adviser) interview by Jesse Michels in which Malmgren suggested the Catholic Knights of Malta seemed to be deeply involved in UFO investigation. Malmgren said he was briefed by Deputy CIA Director Richard Bissell in 1962 that there was a 1933 UFO crash retrieval in Italy, but with the Pope’s and Vatican help the OSS grabbed the craft and brought it to the US. Various big names in U.S. intelligence were involved (Angleton, Dulles, Donovan) and all were Knights of Malta. Michels then as an aside brought up MacArthur and his intelligence staff were also KOM, but I’ve only been able to confirm that Willoughby was a KOM.
Citing Timothy Good, Bragalia says MacArthur and the IPU may have been ultimately under the direction of Gen. George Marshall, Chair of the Joint Chiefs during WWII and Truman’s Sec. Of State after the War.
In the next part, I will go through the later 1990’s Majestic Documents dump when the IPU is mentioned several times, with a suggestion that it was established by Gen. George Marshall (allegedly) right after the Feb 1942 LA air raid.
(part 4 of 5)
For the 1990’s Majestic documents directly mentioning or perhaps suggesting the IPU, refer to Bob and Ryan Wood site: majesticdocuments.com/documents/majestic-documents/
1. George C. Marshall to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 5 March 1942 (1 page)
States: ““As a consequence I have issued orders to Army G2 that a special intelligence unit be created to further investigate the phenomenon…” At the top of the page, in another typeface are the words “INTERPLANETARY PHENOMENON UNIT copy TOP SECRET”. The Woods conclude that it is logical to believe this is when the IPU would have been set up (assuming the information genuine).
2. Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit Field Order, 4 July 1947 (1 page)
Directs “IPU” to send a team of four men to investigate at Roswell
3. Counter Intelligence Corps/Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit Report, 22 July 1947 (7 pages)
Summary of the findings of the IPU at Roswell. Kevin goes into great detail in his 2014 blog why he thinks this document is fake, and first cites Brad Sparks negative research on the IPU. This prompted Frank Warren's responses about the early history of FOIAs and the IPU.
(Part 5 of 5)
So in summary, the origins of the IPU in the UFO community seems to be the following:
1. Started around 1978/79 with Todd Zechel, who got wind of it from somewhere
2. Was passed on to Larry Bryant of CAUS who filed FOIA’s 1979 with AFOSI and got negative results. They claimed they had done a thorough computer search with the comprehensive DCII system (which contradicts item 5 below).
3. Was passed on to Dick Hall who filed a FOIA 1980 with Army Intelligence not mentioning the IPU and got back an unexpected reply that an IPU existed and was disestablished in the late 1950s
4. A follow-up FOIA by Hall got back the response that it was known only from “institutional memory”, had no official status, and sounded like the hobby of one guy.
5. Independently John Frick in 1982 found an official computer printout of all DOD military investigations (DCII), which mentions an “Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit” in relation to UFO sighting reports from the South Pacific under MacArthur’s command. It did NOT indicate that the records had been destroyed. Frick thought MacArthur set it up in 1945 after maybe a UFO sighting of his own.
6. Tony Bragalia theorizes it was MacArthur’s head of intelligence, Col. Charles Willoughby, who mostly ran the IPU and may match the description of an “Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence” mentioned in the 1980’s FOIA documents. It may have been a very small intelligence unit reporting to MacArthur (who may ultimately have reported to Marshall).
7. MacArthur in 1955 publicly started bringing up Earth having to fight a future “interplanetary” war against a hostile alien power. Bragalla suggests MacArthur’s use of “interplanetary” may not have been coincidental assuming he was connected to the IPU. (It wasn’t a common word back then. And MacArthur bringing this up at least 3 times 1955-62 is just plain odd.)
8. A Majestic documents dump in the 1990s to Timothy Cooper mentions the IPU in at least 3 documents going back to March 1942, with Gen. Marshall telling Roosevelt he was starting a special intelligence group after the LA Air Raid incident of Feb. 1942. (Robert and Ryan Wood theorize this was the start of the IPU, since “IPU copy” is typed in at the top of the page)
I think the two most critical pieces of evidence here are: 1) the initial response of Army Intelligence to Dick Hall’s 1980 FOIA inquiry where THEY, not Hall, brought up “Interplanetary Phenomeno Unit”, and 2) the 1982 John Frick DCII computer printout with the words “Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit” in association with UFO sightings around MacArthur’s East Asia command that ended in 1951.
Frick’s DCII printout, however, contradicts the 1979 Bryant FOIA response from AFOSI where they said the DCII printout did NOT indicate the existence of an IPU.
If I have got any of this wrong (probably), please correct.
It was very interesting to read the lengthy and detailed comments posted by David above. However, as I also stated in my first comment in this thread, I am of the opinion that even if we were to entertain the possibility that the unit in question was indeed called "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit," this would still not prove that the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents that surfaced in the 1990s are authentic, precisely because, as David himself pointed out, the name "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" had already been circulating within the UFO community since Richard Hall's 1980 FOIA request. In fact, as I mentioned in my first comment as well, the name was even mentioned in William Steinman’s book on the Aztec crash, in which Steinman claimed that the helicopters of the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit hovered over the crash site for several hours, while ground teams were busy dismantling the craft. And since the name "Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit" was already known within UFO circles during the 1980s — to the point of being mentioned in Steinman’s book — anyone who might have hypothetically wanted to fabricate documents in the 1990s could have easily included the name, given that it was already in circulation. Not to mention that Kevin has highlighted numerous errors within the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit documents themselves, which further strengthens the idea that they are not authentic.
(part 1 of 2)
Just to complete the subject of Gen. MacArthur and interplanetary war, John Keel also wrote about additional instances in which Douglas MacArthur (allegedly) brought up the subject. The problem here is that Keel didn’t document his sources. You can read Keel’s article here (I don’t know where or when it was published):
https://www.scribd.com/document/230363655/General-Douglas-MacArthur-Ufologist-by-John-A-Keel
Keel says MacArthur discussed this in an interview with conservative columnist/radio commentator Henry J. Taylor. (Taylor apparently knew Eisenhower and Eisenhower appointed him ambassador to Switzerland 1957-1961.) Says Keel:
“In an interview with columnist Henry Taylor in 1955, MacArthur had already expressed his concern over unidentified flying objects and their possible impact on our civilization. He was then living in retirement… and felt free to express his conclusions that UFOs were real and posed a horrible threat.”
I have searched for more information on this claimed interview with Taylor, maybe a newspaper column Taylor wrote about it, but so far to no avail. This would have been about the same time that the mayor of Naples, Achille Lauro, met with MacArthur and then related in a NY Times article how MacArthur thought there would be a future interplanetary war. In an archive of Taylor papers, there seems to be a lot of correspondence between Taylor and Mrs. MacArthur (nothing specified), so that he spoke to MacArthur doesn’t seem implausible.
Following the big UFO wave of Nov. 1957, Keel further claims:
“An elite group of scientists and military officers gathered for a very private meeting in New York City [where MacArthur lived] in 1958. Their purpose was to discuss UFOs and the principal speaker at the meeting was none other than Gen. Douglas McArthur. ...the General was an avid student of the UFO phenomenon. He was even obsessed with the subject and he feared that UFOs were hostile invaders from some other planet. ...In his deep, articulate voice he told the 1958 meeting that he believed an extraterrestrial military force was scouting the planet preparatory to a massive invasion. He felt we should be working to develop weapons and plans to combat the invaders. As an initial first step, he suggested we set up a crash program to perfect rockets and space travel ourselves. ...The men who attended that meeting left tight-lipped an grim-face, impressed and alarmed by the brilliant general’s careful analysis of the situation. Details of the meeting were kept secret for years, until after MacArthur’s death in 1964.”
Again, I can’t find out anything more about whether this meeting happened or not.
“...When he retired into civilian life… MacArthur maintained his interest in UFOs. He collected books and magazines about them and, according to a person who was close to him in the last years of his life, he talked for hours about the threat from outer space to anyone who would listen…”
Unfortunately, an unnamed source, so again unable to confirm.
Keel also mentions MacArthur meeting with Kennedy in 1962 for 2 hours and spoke privately. According to the NY Times, it was actually twice in 1961, April and July. The first time was for an hour 10 minutes at MacArthur’s NY residence where they spoke in private, topics unknown The second time was the White House for only 10 minutes shortly after his Manila July 4 speech where he had brought up the topic of interplanetary war. Keel speculates that maybe they spoke about UFOs and their threat in addition to more earthly topics like Vietnam, but that’s all it is—speculation. We simply don’t know.
(part 2 of 2)
I found one other military quote about interplanetary war:
“We hear stories that the next war will be fought with atom bombs and the one after that with bows and arrows—or another version is that the next war will be fought with atomic missiles and the one after that will be interplanetary.” Maj Gen Oliver P. Echols, USAAF
The little-known Gen. Echols was a highly important general during WWII, being in charge of the Air Materiel Command and boosting wartime aircraft production by 1400%. After the war he was sent to Germany to aid in the reconstruction. He also helped select people to assist MacArthur in Japan in his reconstruction efforts, but I can’t find evidence that they ever crossed paths. He retired from the military in late 1946, was President of the Aircraft Industries Association (1947-49), and became President of Northrup Aviation 1952-54 until his sudden death.
His quote is remarkably similar to the statements of Naples’ mayor Achille Lauro after meeting MacArthur in 1955, but Echols died the year before. So why was Echols saying this? I can only speculate that talk of interplanetary war may have been circulating in the upper ranks of the military post-war.
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