Vallée meets D'Amato on secret programs (1992)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 22 May 1992 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, C. Richard D'Amato, Robert Byrd, Christopher Mellon, Richard Doty |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 114 |
| Year | 1992 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1992 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 19 |
According to Jacques Vallée's journals, on 22 May 1992 he met C. Richard D'Amato, counsel for international and national security on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who told him that mysterious triangular craft of the kind reported over Belgium were human-made and part of an illegal project for which no money had ever been appropriated.[1][2]
D'Amato
D'Amato worked for the Appropriations Committee, whose chairman was Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and has been described as Byrd's national security specialist. Vallée's journals date their first meeting to 21 January 1990 and record "four hours of intense conversation" on 12 June 1991. A 1995 Washington Post article credited D'Amato with helping defeat efforts to close the Defense Intelligence Agency's remote-viewing program.[1]
The 1992 meeting
At the May 1992 meeting, as recorded by Vallée, D'Amato described a group within the Federation of American Scientists that had looked into "mystery planes" of the Belgian type. He said they were made by humans, that the project was illegal and unfunded by Congress, and that intelligence groups kept Congress from learning what was happening; he said he intended to find out. In July 1992 D'Amato visited Belgium, where he met Air Force Gen. Wilfried De Brouwer, who had publicly discussed the 1989–90 wave of triangle sightings, and members of the civilian group SOBEPS.[1][3]
Other accounts
Jesse Marcel Jr. later said D'Amato had told him he was charged with investigating the "black government" and its spending, but that account is second-hand. As far as is known, D'Amato's inquiries did not produce any public finding of a hidden UFO program.[1]
Context
The Belgian wave of 1989–90 involved thousands of reports of large triangular objects and a much-publicised chase by Belgian F-16s; skeptics have disputed many of the reports, and no explanation has been confirmed.[3]
People and topics
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- C. Richard D'Amato — Senate Appropriations Committee counsel who looked into black budgets for Sen. Robert Byrd.
- Robert Byrd — Senate leader for whom C. Richard D'Amato and Christopher Mellon investigated black programs.
- Special access program — A U.S. classified program with access limited beyond normal secrecy rules.
- Christopher Mellon — Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence who helped release the Navy UAP videos.
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- To The Stars Academy — The company founded by Tom DeLonge in 2017 that released the Navy UAP videos.
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations — The Air Force's criminal investigation and counterintelligence agency.
- Richard Doty — Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent who fed disinformation to UFO researchers in the 1980s.
- Disinformation — False information spread deliberately to mislead.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- Riconosciuto backdoor claim (1992) (13 May 1992) — Michael Riconosciuto, a witness in the Inslaw lawsuit, says he was hired to build a secret software backdoor.
- Southaven Park crash claim (24 November 1992) — A book says locals believed a UAP crashed near Brookhaven Lab on Long Island.
See every 1992 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "C. Richard D'Amato and black UFO programs", UFOs Scientific Research (Mar 2019) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "Forbidden Science: journals of Jacques Vallée", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- UFO sightings in Belgium — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · wikipedia.com · archived copy
- Mirage Men (2013 documentary) — Internet Archive · archive.org · archived copy
- Greg Bishop, Project Beta (2005) · goodreads.com · archived copy
- The Bennewitz affair · lennyflatley.substack.com · archived copy
- Mirage Men and the architecture of UAP disinformation · newspaceeconomy.ca · archived copy
- Documents on the vetting of 'Skinwalkers at the Pentagon' — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: book review — Bad UFOs (Robert Sheaffer) · badufos.blogspot.com · archived copy
- AARO historical report finds no evidence of alien technology (2024) — Space.com · space.com · archived copy
- AARO Report on the Historical Record, Volume I — The Black Vault · theblackvault.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
- popularmechanics.com · popularmechanics.com · archived copy
- imgur.com · imgur.com · archived copy
- youtu.be · youtu.be · archived copy
- prnewswire.com · prnewswire.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- AATIP / AAWSAP — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Robert Bigelow — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Belgian UFO wave — 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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