Jack Brewer's Blog, page 13

Who's Been Running MUFON?

The Mutual UFO Network recently announced a new Director of Research, Dr. Christopher Cogswell. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and "hopes to bring a seriousness and strong research focus to this field," according to the MUFON website.

While we wish the doctor the highest degree of success, we would be remiss if we failed to observe the organization where he chooses to volunteer has an infamous history of substantially obstructing the very efforts he claims to undertake. His predecessor...

FOIA Tips

In this post we'll take a look at some resources and tips for submitting Freedom of Information Act requests. You may send requests to virtually any type of government body or agency, and submissions are typically accepted via websites, email, fax or standard mail. 

First we'll consider where to send an FOIA request, then we'll explore how you might choose to compose your submission. Below are just a few potential sources. 

FOIA Sources

FOIA requests may be emailed to the De...

Updates on Paracast Host Gene Steinberg 'Emergency' Cash Solicitations

This is a follow up to a Jan. 2, 2018, blog post, Gene Steinberg Personal 'Emergency' Cash Solicitations Span Years, Hundreds of Emails . See the original post for information on Steinberg's years of repetitive cash solicitations framed as emergencies. This post will serve as a place to publish ongoing updates and developments. 

For more info on Steinberg's email cash solicitations, follow @SchemeGeneRC on Twitter. You may also choose to keep an eye on a UFO Trail Twitter thread track...

NSA 'Glomars' FOIA Request on Boyd Bushman

The National Security Agency responded to an FOIA request on the late Boyd B. Bushman by neither confirming nor denying the existence of any such files. The request sought files in which Bushman was the subject of investigation or interviewed during the course of an investigation.

An appeal is in the works, requesting further consideration be given to the fact Bushman is now deceased. It will also be pointed out that, should such NSA files exist, it may very well be in the better public and na...

DIA: More Time Needed for UFO-Pentagon FOIA Requests

Shot from video published in conjunction with reports of AATIP,
a Pentagon UFO venture involving Robert BigelowThe Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) provided an interim response for an FOIA request seeking clarification about the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The DIA indicated more time is needed to process the request. A letter dated Jan. 10, 2018, and composed by FOIA and Declassification Services Office Chief Alesia Y. Williams, stated in part:

This is an inte...

Gene Steinberg Personal 'Emergency' Cash Solicitations Span Years, Hundreds of Emails

Gene Steinberg solicited cash donations from an e-list hundreds of times since 2014 and earlier, including 139 emails during 2017, for circumstances framed as financial emergencies. Screenshots of subject lines of many of the emails are posted below. A list of the 2017 emails by subject line and date is provided at the end of this post.

The dozens of 2017 messages continued what has become an ongoing story of financial destitution narrated for years by the host of The Paracast. The m...

UFO-Pentagon Story Reflects Fundamental Problems

Mainstream news outlets jumped into the deep end of Billy Cox's Great Taboo. The New York Times, Politico and The Washington Post are among those reporting to have confirmed that Luis Elizondo, a career intelligence officer formerly with the Defense Department and currently of Team DeLonge, headed a UFO investigation project as claimed. The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, reportedly operational from no less than 2007 to 2012, was financed through black funding which...

Intelligence Community Influence Is a Ufology Staple

Historian Aaron J. Gulyas is doing a podcast, The Saucer Life , and I recommend checking it out. Gulyas is a longtime researcher, writer, and presenter in the UFO community. He does good work and his podcast is entertaining, as well as full of intriguing, well sourced tidbits. The Nov. 26 episode, Encounter 206: And then the feds showed up... , addressed the type of circumstances often explored here at The UFO Trail.
The show focused on a chain of events involving the 1954 Detroit Flying Saucer...

FOIA Appeal Update

I recently received an email about the status of an FOIA appeal after I asked for an update. The original FOIA request was submitted to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 2016. It was about circumstances surrounding Joint Security Control (JSC) and its activities in 1946 and 1947. 

"We have identified and gathered all the responsive documents for your case," Deputy FOIA Officer/Archivist Jodi L. Foor of NARA wrote in a Nov. 13, 2017 email. 

It's...

NSA Releases 1978 Memo on MUFON Conference

The National Security Agency recently released the majority of a 1978 memo prepared by an assignee about his attendance at a UFO conference. The document was obtained following a Jan. 24, 2017, request for a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR). The five-page memo contains the subject line, "Information request solicitation," and advises the NSA on such matters as likely fraudulent CIA letters showcased at the conference, activities of some specific researchers in attendance, relation...