Startup company researching advanced tech, UFOs gives updates during Q&A

By Steve Hammons

More information was put forward last week about news reports describing U.S. Navy encounters with unusual, unidentified objects or phenomena.

In an email notice last Thurs., May 21, to interested members of the public, the startup company To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) published questions and answers from a May 13, one-hour, live, Q&A session on Twitter.

Twenty-five of the questions were posted and TTSA adviser Christopher Mellon did the answering on behalf of the company. Mellon is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence.

In the past two years, both the Navy and the U.S. Defense Department have confirmed that multiple incidents involved what they are officially calling “unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).”

The company also noted that it plans to launch a communications effort called “TTSA Talks” that will use various formats to discuss and explain TTSA’s research and other activities. Mellon’s Q&A session on Twitter is planned to be the first of several TTSA Talks, the company said.

COMPLEX, SENSITIVE STORIES OF UFO RESEARCH

Of the 25 questions selected by TTSA for publication, some focused on the Navy fighter jet videos that have been in the news. Other questions and answers involved the activities of Congress and the U.S. defense and intelligence communities. The role of the media and the accuracy of news coverage were also brought up.

Below are verbatim excerpts from 12 of the 25 Qs and As that seem to provide helpful ways to look at these and related topics:

Q #2: Is it plausible that the #UAP subject has been buried deep within private industry to avoid government oversight and public scrutiny? And if so, what can be done to identify the private entities in possession of the data (or technology)?

A: It is possible that there are aspects of this that are in private sector hands …

Q #7: Reporter George Knapp [award-winning investigative journalist, KLAS-TV News, CBS8, Las Vegas] has speculated there are other, better funded UAP programs that should come to light. Word is about 4 of them in existence for many decades. Do you feel confident we will learn about more programs in the near future?

A: I’m not sure what programs he is referring to but I see no evidence DoD is about to release info about new, undisclosed, classified programs on this topic. We applaud DoD’s recent openness regarding the videos however we would like to see greater transparency going forward. All of us at TTSA would like to see greater government transparency.

Q #9: How would the team respond to criticism of a small group claiming TTSA is positioning #UAP as a potential threat to create a "defense" narrative around the topic? This seems simply a way to engage those who only respond to something if they think it’s a POTENTIAL threat.

A: We were motivated by the lack of support for pilots concerned about threats to (them) from these aircraft, from mid-air collisions, or possibly worse.

Q #11: Thanks for getting credible mainstream outlets to cover this (NYT, CNN, WaPo, etc.)! My question is does appearing on disinformation programs like Glenn Beck/Hannity do more hurt than good?

A: I don’t regard the UAP issue as a partisan topic, and Lue [Luis Elizondo, TTSA director of government services and programs] and I do interviews for all manner of press. I have independently written about my concerns and distaste for excessive partisanship and the problems it poses

Q #12: Has there been any tangible progress on the international stage? What kind of progress, do you believe, has been achieved by other countries in tracking, investigating, and replicating these phenomena? And, lastly, are you seeing positive momentum?

A: There is growing international interest. In 2018, for example, the Chinese government-funded an international UAP symposium focused on high tech issues. Lue recently returned from a visit to Latin America that will feature prominently in an upcoming episode of #UNIDENTIFIED [A&E History Channel docu-series “Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation”].

Q #13: If @TTSAcademy could only accomplish one goal (in my opinion you've already accomplished a great deal) - What would the most important thing that comes out of all this?

A: Great question! If the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life is established, it will prompt the biggest transformation in humanity’s outlook since Copernicus.

MANY NARRATIVES SURROUND ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA

Mellon also fielded additional questions that have been raised over the decades as well in the last couple of years.

Q #14: Can you address how the understanding/realization of the UAP being a real phenomenon has changed you and other members of TTSA at a personal level?

A: Wow, interesting question. I’m proud of what we have achieved in a short period of time but also keenly aware that the ramifications are immense and potentially very concerning. The more concrete the issue becomes the more weighty it becomes.

Q #15: How do you guys straddle the confidentiality issues that are inherent with Disclosure of these matters? What's it like to work with people that know things but can't breach their confidentiality?

A: People in the IC live with that all the time. Even among people with TS clearances there are all manner of restricted compartments. I once had to live with a report that terrorists had smuggled a nuke into DC and I couldn’t warn friends and neighbors to get out of town! That was difficult, this is not.

Q #16: In May 2016, Leslie Kean [author, journalist, researcher] asked: "Are you certain there is no government cover-up?" You answered, "It’s impossible to prove the negative, so all I can say is that I never saw any evidence of official interest in UAPs."

A: Uncle Sam has a big basement and rummaging around there can turn up all manner of things. However, I think the central problem at the moment is the lack of government interest and effort to get to the bottom of the issue.

Q #17: If the 3 videos released thus far were unclassified (and it’s arguable whether they ever were) it begs the question: why? It seems out of character to release footage like this unless the content is unremarkable or part of a planned disclosure campaign.

A: DoD has thoroughly reviewed the videos and publicly stated: “After a thorough review, the dept. has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena.”

Q #24: Other than "these objects are real" do we know anything about the phenomenon at this stage... like what it is, who it is, where it's from, etc.?

A: Our government hasn’t bothered even to pull data from existing sensor systems much less engage in a vigorous investigation …

Q #25: Hello, my question is: do the vast majority of people in the intelligence community believe that the UAP’s could in fact be extraterrestrial?

A: Absolutely not! We’re still at the stage of getting the community to take the issue seriously. Once people do engage however this hypothesis inevitably arises.

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The TTSA company advises people to stay tuned for future communications about their research and work. In their recent email, TTSA explained about future TTSA Talks efforts. “The program will invite different members of the TTSA team to host informative conversations that dive deeper into the complexities surrounding the company’s mission."

"Those who are able to tune-in will get exclusive insight into the various people, partnerships and projects that are helping us achieve our goals. Formats will include live Q&A sessions, podcasts and more. We look forward to announcing our next installment of the series very soon,” the company email stated.

To read the full 25-question Q&A, visit the TTSA site here.


(Related articles "Navy Research Project on Intuition" and “Storytelling affects human biology, beliefs, behavior” are posted on the CultureReady blog, Defense Language and National Security Education Office, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense.)