MYSTERY WIRE — Investigative reporter George Knapp tells the story of the agencies that have been involved in recent government investigations of UFOs and other supernatural topics during a 2019 presentation at the UFO Mega Con in Laughlin, Nevada.
AATIP, AAWSAP, NIDS, BAASS and TTSA — alphabet soup to some, but major players in the pursuit of information about an elusive topic to the people who know.
Subscribe to Mystery Wire on YouTube: George Knapp’s 2019 presentation at UFO Mega Con
- AATIP — Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program
- AAWSAP — Advanced Aerospace Weapons Special Application Program
- NIDS — National Institute of Discovery Science
- BAASS — Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies
- TTSA — To The Stars Academy (now To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science)
Before the New York Times broke the story in December, 2017, Knapp was on the trail of the story. And the Times report in 2017 is only a part of the story, Knapp says. Although he was ticked off at the time, Knapp says the story had to come from the New York Times — otherwise it might have been ignored.
Videos of the “Tic Tac” and the “Gimbal” UFOs captured the public’s attention, and 2017 brought a change to the media landscape. The reports from the New York Times, which happened largely because of the work by TTSA — the To The Stars Academy — set the stage for other major media participating in the coverage of the topic.
In addition, Knapp credits academics, scientists and military personnel who have publicly talked about what they have seen and what their studies tell them.
“The phenomenon, whatever it is … It is elusive. It is enigmatic, it’s hard to pin down, it’s hard to document it. That’s just the nature of the beast. That’s what we’ve got to deal with here.”
The UFO part of it is a tiny part of the mystery, Knapp says.
Watch George’s explanation of the story, as well as his frustration over anger and hostility from ufologists as more people get involved in the study. “Skepticism is fine,” he says, but the hostility is on the same level as the debunking that destroyed cooperation over the past decades. “It’s supposed to be fun.”
Among the “Easter eggs” in the video: George coins the terms “Twitfologists,” as well as “podfologists” and “blogfologists.” Also, an interview with former US Sen. Harry Reid taped on the same day that Bob Lazar came forward with his story about Area 51.
