Puthoff on tracking the phenomenon (1989)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 11 July 1989 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic) |
| People | Harold Puthoff, Jacques Vallée |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 104 |
| Year | 1989 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1989 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
According to Jacques Vallée's journals, on 11 July 1989 physicist Hal Puthoff told him that no sensible person seemed to be tracking the UFO phenomenon, suggesting that any official interest was scattered or ineffective. Vallée disagreed.[1]
The debate
The disagreement reflected a wider question that ran through Vallée's journals: was the government hiding a sophisticated programme, or did it simply not know much? Earlier in the 1980s Vallée had heard from Richard Niemtzow and others that a secret project existed, and Puthoff himself was named among the participants in the 1985 Advanced Theoretical Physics working group, which tried and failed to find or create one; Col. John Alexander, who organised it, concluded there was "no program".[1][2][3]
Two months later
On 17 September 1989 Vallée listed the negative findings he had gathered: photo-interpretation chief Arthur Lundahl was unaware of a black project, Kit Green had found nothing, and two officers denied receiving any briefings about a UFO threat. He concluded that he had no evidence, not even a hint, of an active black project — while noting signs of a large disinformation campaign.[1]
Later
Puthoff's view shifted again in later decades. His company EarthTech worked on research for the Pentagon-funded AAWSAP programme from 2008, and in 2017 he co-founded To The Stars Academy, which helped bring the Navy UAP videos to public attention.[2][4]
People and topics
- Harold Puthoff — Physicist who co-founded the SRI remote-viewing research and later worked on AAWSAP and To The Stars Academy.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
On the Timeline
- Arthur Exon's Roswell statements (July 1989) — Gen. Arthur Exon says he was told Roswell was an alien craft recovery.
- Vallée on the disinformation campaign (1989) (17 September 1989) — Vallée writes there is a large disinformation campaign around UAP.
See every 1989 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Was there secret US government research?", UFOs Scientific Research (Oct 2016) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Harold E. Puthoff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- John B. Alexander — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "AAWSAP DIRDs", The Black Vault · theblackvault.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
Further reading
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
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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