It's been almost five years since The New York Times published the story that established Hey, there, uh, might be aliens hanging out on Earth as a mainstream position. You all remember this story, right? The one that had the video footage of a strange flying object captured by a U.S. military jet, and introduced us to The Alloys. I remember reading that story and thinking, Wow, OK, I guess there are aliens now.
In the years since, it's been hard to keep track of where exactly we are on the whole "Are there aliens?" question. We just sort of stopped hearing about alloys; a slew of stories were published, many of them involving guys from the state department with weird titles; a lot of dopey TV specials were broadcast; Congress had some hearings; the guy from Blink-182 kept popping up; I'm pretty sure I read a 10,000-word magazine feature about something called Skinwalker Ranch. It's all been kind of a blur, is what I'm saying, and here we are, five years later, still not really sure what the deal is. As time has gone on, it's started to feel increasingly likely that there is no deal, at least as far as aliens are concerned, and that all this mainstreaming of UFOs (or UAPs) and mysterious alloys and government programs with scary-sounding names was just being done for the sake of increasing defense spending. The Pentagon once again asking for more money to research UAPs after we all got spooked by a stupid Chinese spy balloon was something of a low point.
But hey! Look at this: journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal just published a big story about all sorts of craft of "non-human origin" that have been collected by the United States government. (Why was this story published in The Debrief and not, say, The Washington Post? Don't worry about it!) This story stands out, like the 2017 Times story, because it revolves around a named whistleblower and all sorts of other named sources who believe the whistleblower is credible. The whistleblower, David Charles Grusch, worked for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (sounds fun!) and according to him, the U.S. government has for years been getting its grubby little hands on all sorts of freaky craft. From the story:
The task force was established to investigate what were once called “unidentified flying objects,” or UFOs, and are now officially called “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP. The task force was led by the Department of the Navy under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. It has since been reorganized and expanded into the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to include investigations of objects operating underwater.
Grusch said the recoveries of partial fragments through and up to intact vehicles have been made for decades through the present day by the government, its allies, and defense contractors. Analysis has determined that the objects retrieved are “of exotic origin (non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or unknown origin) based on the vehicle morphologies and material science testing and the possession of unique atomic arrangements and radiological signatures,” he said.
In filing his complaint, Grusch is represented by a lawyer who served as the original Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG).
“We are not talking about prosaic origins or identities,” Grusch said, referencing information he provided Congress and the current ICIG. “The material includes intact and partially intact vehicles.”
The Debrief
Listen, aliens are definitely real, OK? I've read The Three-Body Problem and you simply cannot change my mind about this. But even as someone whose brain is specifically wired to be captivated by a story like this, I must protest. I have been hearing and reading about aircraft of unexplained origin and mysterious alloys for five years now, but you know what I have not done? I have not seen one of these babies. So I'm putting my foot down. I don't want any more ships described to me by guys with jobs that sound fake. I want to see one. It is time to show me the ship.
You don't even have to show me a full ship! Just get me a picture of a glistening fuselage, or a chunk of a gravity propulsion system, or some other frickin' gizmo. I'm not asking for a flight demonstration, or to see some laser cannons in action. Mr. Grusch should simply go to whatever hangar these ships are being held in, get his phone out, and snap a pic. I just want to see some ship, OK? Let's stop screwing around here.
