MYSTERY WIRE — George Knapp began his interview Sunday night on Coast to Coast AM radio with a simple statement, “Let’s make some waves.” It’s fair to say ‘mission accomplished.’
Knapp’s guest was Lue Elizondo, the former intelligence officer for the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense who has been at the center of many UFO disclosure developments over the last three years.
Knapp has interviewed Elizondo several times, you can watch his interviews with Elizondo and many other notable people on the Mystery Wire interview page.
There were several headlines to come out of the late night interview:
- Elizondo indicated that he, Chris Mellon, and Steve Justice will be departing “To the Stars Academy” (TTSA).
- Elizondo proposed the creation of a larger, permanent, well-funded UFO research program.
- Elizondo indicated the current UAP Task Force has obtained images of multiple unknown aerial objects, including a clear image of a mysterious triangle emerging from the ocean, recorded by military pilots.
- Elizondo hinted that he plans to expand UAP investigations and disclosure efforts on a global level.
UFO blogger Danny Silva quickly published the exchange between Knapp and Elizondo about his relationship with TTSA.
George Knapp
“What’s going on with TTSA? There’s these rumors floating around that an announcement is coming in January that’s going to shake things up a bit. What, if anything, can you say about it?”Lue Elizondo
Coast to Coast interview, transcribed by Danny Silva
“Well, I can’t speak for TTSA. You’d have to go through TTSA channels to ask them about TTSA and I’ll tell you from my perspective I love my friends at TTSA. They are incredible human beings, but I also have to say my mission has always been very clear, George, and that was to push disclosure forward. That’s it. I think after three years, you know, I can look back and I think we’ve achieved much of what we’ve set out to do. TTSA, it’s no secret, also focuses on it’s entertainment division and, you know, let’s face it, guys like Chris Mellon and Steve Justice and myself, we’re not entertainers. We’re not. So, very much like the History Channel project, we have accomplished our mission. Mission success. We have done more in three years collectively than anybody I think really expected us to achieve. Now it’s time I think we shift from…you know it’s like a car, right? You know I speak in car talk, I’m kind of a gearhead, so I think the time has come from the proverbial first gear to now second gear. We have enough momentum, enough enertia where we can shift gears and continue moving forward and to do that guys like me are looking at new and exciting ways to expand that conversation to an even larger audience while still staying true to our core mission of disclosure.”
George Knapp
“I think I understand what you said there.”
As the interview was airing many people in the UFO research community were sharing thoughts on social media. One of those sharing his thoughts was Joe Murgia, who has the Twitter handle @UFOJoe11.
In the extensive Twitter thread Murgia paraphrases what was being said in the interview. One of the topics of interest was the recent leak and publication of an object seen from the cockpit of an F-18 fighter jet.
Murgia Tweets that Elizondo said, “It hasn’t been proven to be a balloon. Various people have different opinions on what that photo represents.”
In depth on UFOs, AATIP: Our interview with former Defense Department official Luis Elizondo
In another Tweet Murgia writes that Knapp asked about the alleged triangle UFO coming out of the water. Elizondo responded by saying he’s confident the photo exists. Elizondo adds it might even be a still frame from a video.
Knapp and Elizondo went on to talk about how much has changed over the last three years, the need for patience when talking about disclosure, and the series of high-level briefings that Elizondo took part in and that it was a “hot ticket” to be brought into them.
Elizondo also praised Florida Senator Marco Rubio for his willingness to talk about UFOs publicly.
Murgia then Tweets that Knapp asked if this (UFO) mystery can be solved “by just looking at military encounters with UFOs or do we need to expand our horizons (like AAWSAP did) and look at other topics like poltergeists & Bigfoot that seem to be connected to close encounter cases.”
To which Elizondo said the government programs have limitations such as an inability to speak with commercial pilots about sightings.
Knapp then asks if he would consider ever returning to the government to work on the new Unidentified Aerial Phenomena task force (UAPTF). Murgia Tweets Elizondo said he would have to clear it with his family first and if he did go back he would try to run it differently than when he ran the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) at the Pentagon.
Elizondo said he would push for more openness with the public and work to break down the barriers that stigma about UFOs can cause.
