Richard Haines's conviction about a secret project (1982)
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Contents 8
Richard Haines's conviction about a secret project (1982)
| Date | 6 April 1982 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Richard Haines, Jacques Vallée |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 94 |
| Year | 1982 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1982 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
According to Jacques Vallée's journals, on 6 April 1982 the NASA scientist Richard F. Haines told Vallée about a recent visit to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Vallée wrote that Haines "came back certain there was a secret government project to study UFOs".[1][9] The entry, on page 93 of the third volume of Forbidden Science, does not record what convinced him.[1] Michael Shellenberger's 2024 UAP timeline lists it.[9]
The entry
- The text. Keith Basterfield quotes it: "Dick Haines told me about a recent visit to Vandenberg Air Force base. He came back certain there was a secret government project to study UFOs."[1]
- Timeline wording. The timeline describes Haines as a "NASA scientist" who came back "certain" there was a secret government project to study UAP.[9]
- The journals. The Forbidden Science series is described by the Anomaly Archives and Anomalist Books. Later volumes are reviewed and summarised by SFCrowsnest and Tanner Boyle.[5][6][7][8]
Richard Haines
- NARCAP. Haines later headed the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP). The timeline mentions a 2002 meeting at the house of "NARCAP head Dick Haines".[10]
- The Debrief describes Ted Roe as NARCAP's founder.[2]
- Correction note: the earlier version of this article said several things about Haines that are not covered in the sources read here, which describe him only as a NASA scientist and NARCAP's head.[9][10][2]
- It said he worked at NASA's Ames Research Center on human factors in aviation and spaceflight.
- It said he co-founded NARCAP with Roe.
- It said NARCAP was one of the first organisations to treat UAP as an aviation-safety issue.
Vandenberg
- The base. Vandenberg, established in 1941 as the Army's Camp Cooke and now Vandenberg Space Force Base, is in Santa Barbara County, California. It is a space-launch base on the Western Range and also carries out missile tests.[3]
- The site was chosen for missile work because missiles could be launched west over the Pacific without crossing populated areas. Satellites could also be put into polar orbit toward the South Pole without crossing land before Antarctica.[3]
- The 1964 film. The base has its own UFO history. In 1964 a test missile was destroyed shortly after launch.[4]
- Lieutenant Robert Jacobs, who said he filmed the event, came forward in 1982, the year of Haines's visit. He said a space object approached the missile and fired a "plasma-type beam" at the dummy warhead from four angles.[4]
- See Robert Jacobs and Big Sur UFO film.
- The 2003 sighting. At a House Oversight subcommittee hearing on 26 July 2023, the former Navy pilot Ryan Graves described a 2003 incident at the base.[4]
- Boeing contractors near a launch facility saw "a very large, 100-yard-sided red square" approach from the ocean and hover at low altitude for about 45 seconds before "darting off over the mountains".[4]
- Graves said there were further sightings later that day, including objects approaching security guards at speed.[4]
- The Santa Barbara Independent noted that "the credibility is questionable — how did others miss it?"[4]
Vallée's journals
- Back and forth. The entry is one of a series in which Vallée and his colleagues swung between belief and doubt about a hidden program.[1]
- After Haines. After Haines's visit, Richard Niemtzow "convinced me that there was a secret project within the US government" (6 July 1985).[1] See Richard Niemtzow's Toulouse remarks (1985).
- By 17 September 1989, Vallée wrote that he had "no evidence, not even the hint that a black project is active".[1]
People and topics
- NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
- Richard Haines — NASA Ames scientist who founded NARCAP to study aviation UAP reports.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- NARCAP — An aviation safety group founded by Richard Haines in 2000.
- Vandenberg Space Force Base — The California missile and space launch base.
On the Timeline
- Ground Saucer Watch and the State Department (1982) (25 February 1982) — A civilian FOIA group gets no answer from the State Department about UAP records.
- Pat Price's alien base reports (July 1982) — The Army's remote viewing chief finds 1973 reports of claimed underground UAP bases.
See every 1982 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Richard F. Haines — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Vandenberg Space Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- "Was there secret US government research?", UFOs Scientific Research (Oct 2016) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "Ted Roe", The Debrief · thedebrief.org · archived copy
- Vandenberg Space Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Big red UFO hovered over Vandenberg in 2003, congressional witness testifies", Santa Barbara Independent (Aug 2023) · independent.com · archived copy
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 94 · oversight.house.gov
- Michael Shellenberger, written testimony to the House Oversight Committee (13 November 2024), p. 149 · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Vandenberg Space Force Base”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Categories: 1982 | Government programs | Jacques vallée | Nasa | Richard haines | Secrecy cover-up | Timeline event | Unidentified anomalous phenomena | Unidentified flying object
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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