Obama White House meeting interest (2008)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 24 December 2008 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Harold Puthoff, Jacques Vallée, John Podesta |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 169 |
| Year | 2008 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2008 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
According to Jacques Vallée's journals, in December 2008 physicist Hal Puthoff told him that people around the incoming Obama administration were interested in a meeting about long-term interaction with the UFO phenomenon. No such meeting has been documented.[1]
Context
Puthoff, a former SRI remote-viewing researcher, had long been part of a circle of scientists seeking official engagement with the subject. The best-known UFO advocate close to the new administration was John Podesta, who had been White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton and co-chaired Barack Obama's transition team; he had publicly backed a 2002 campaign for the release of government UFO files.[1][2][3]
Podesta at the White House
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Podesta later served as counselor to President Obama from 2014 to 2015. On 13 February 2015, his last day in the post, he tweeted that his "biggest failure of 2014" had been "once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files". He went on to chair Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, during which emails published by WikiLeaks showed contacts with musician Tom DeLonge about UFOs.[3][4]
Obama
Obama himself treated the subject lightly while in office, joking on Jimmy Kimmel's show that "the aliens won't let it happen" when asked about UFO files. The journal entry shows how researchers hoped the new administration might be more open; whatever interest existed did not lead to any public step during his presidency.[1][3]
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.
- John Podesta — Clinton campaign chairman with a long interest in UFO disclosure.
- Disclosure — The official release of government information about UFOs.
On the Timeline
- BAASS "back door" approach (24 December 2008) — A BAASS team member says he tried to get 'back door' access to an aerospace contractor.
- Project Grudge data and the artifact file (23 January 2009) — A BAASS team member is said to be retrieving old Project Grudge data from Area 51.
See every 2008 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Jacques Vallée, *Forbidden Science 5: Pacific Heights* (journals 2000–2009), Amazon · amazon.com · archived copy
- Harold E. Puthoff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Former Obama aide Podesta regrets not disclosing UFO files", Fox News (Feb 2015) · foxnews.com · archived copy
- "Blink-182's Tom DeLonge emailed Clinton's campaign chairman about aliens", BuzzFeed News (Oct 2016) · buzzfeednews.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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