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Betty Hill could pack a lot into a letter. In a roughly 500-word note penned in 1993, the woman known for her 1961 interrupted journey suggested she was doubtful about the abundance of claims of alien abduction, emphasized her lack of confidence in those who investigated the claims, and shared two personal anecdotes as to why that was the case. She also asserted she was paid by government and intelligence agencies for her research and to lecture at military bases. The letter comes to us compliments of the Ann Druffel Special Collection, a section of the online Expanding Frontiers Archive. The April 23, 1993, note was apparently written as part of ongoing correspondence. It does not seem difficult to envision why Druffel, a pioneer of modern UFO research, may have identified this particular message from Betty as one to keep on file. Betty opens the letter by seemingly agreeing with Druffel that the abduction scene is in chaos. She says she receives a couple of phone calls a week from people thinking they have been abducted and tells them to contact Budd Hopkins (who was a relatively famous – if dubious - researcher of alien abduction and an advocate of hypnosis as a memory enhancer). “I know I am not going to believe them,” Betty adds. She suggests investigators share the blame for the chaos. Betty describes how she watched a well-known investigator over the course of a few days pressure a woman into submitting to his hypnosis to uncover what he told the woman were her abductions. He persisted through her resistance and even though she declared she never so much as had a UFO sighting. The investigator told her this was because her mind had been blocked. “She continued to refuse,” Betty explained to Druffel. “Then he suggested hypnosis, to cut down on her smoking, and she agreed. He said a few words, and then told her to tell him about her abduction. She said she was not in a trance, and she never had an abduction. The argument went on for a while, and she finally decided, to get rid of him, by saying she was told to never discuss this. He went home, happy, he had uncovered another abduction.” I wonder how happy his hypnosis subjects were. Betty suggested investigators suppress information that contradicts their preferred narratives and sensationalize circumstances to appeal to wider audiences. This is arguably very much a staple of the UFO subculture, then and now. “I have found if information disappears,” Betty explained, “it is not the government, but other investigators. I gave a report I wrote to one, and later he told me, he took my report, changed it a bit, and sold it for a good price.” Betty then proceeded to tell Druffel, “Our best friend in the 1960s was head of intelligence at Pease AF Base, and I have been paid by them to give lectures about ufos, at different bases. Also I have been paid by different government agencies for some of my research.” I don't recall Donald Keyhoe ever mentioning that part during any of his monologues about Air Force and CIA cover-ups. Go figure. Continuing to describe the nature of her relationships with government agencies and military personnel, Betty concluded, “When some one [sic] writes to them asking for ufo information, they check with me as to the identity of the writer.” The 1993 letter from Betty Hill to Ann Druffel:

By Jack Brewer and Erica Lukes The state of Utah is suing TikTok, accusing the social media company of contributing harm to the mental health of youth. The office of Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes suggested TikTok is lying about the safety of its product and exploiting the public while disregarding the terrible effects it has on mental health, physical development, family, and social life. At a recent news conference, Governor Spencer Cox indicated the lawsuit is grounded in consumer protection. Urged to elaborate on what the company did that was specifically illegal, Attorney General Reyes stated TikTok engages in “deception.” Some might consider that to be a stark contrast from the Attorney General's endorsements of activities conducted at Skinwalker Ranch. The ranch crew is widely known for its unapologetic cultivation and promotion of dubious, unverified tales. Those tales include claims of mysterious, Havana Syndrome-like phenomena, as well as the uncontrolled spread of a purported deadly contagion, dubbed the “hitchhiker effect.” Such claims of public health dangers made by Skinwalker Ranch television cast members were extensively covered by Expanding Frontiers Research as well as Stephen Greenstreet of the New York Post. Expanding Frontiers Research reached out to the Utah Office of the Attorney General for comment. No responses had been received at the time of this post. Reyes is widely known to publicly support the activities of Skinwalker Ranch and Brandon Fugal, the reported owner of the property. This includes Reyes taking the time to participate in a Skinwalker Ranch panel at the 2022 FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention. Skinwalker Ranch may not currently be at the top of the list of daily priorities reviewed by staffers in the Attorney General office. Their hands are full fielding - or deflecting, depending on who you ask - questions about Reyes's relationship with Tim Ballard, who is at the center of a civil lawsuit involving sexual assault, fraud and emotional abuse. Reyes was supportive of Ballard and his activities prior to his pending fall from grace. Tim Ballard is the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, an organization supposed to be combating human trafficking. The Ballard lawsuit represents yet another public relations blow to Utah anti-human trafficking groups, already reeling after some 31 felony charges were leveled against the director of Exitus, a Utah nonprofit organization at least ostensibly dedicated to the cause. Reyes went all-in on the Skinwalker Ranch narrative when he appeared on episodes of the cable television show, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. The Attorney General “lent his credibility to the investigation of paranormal activities" portrayed on the show, KSL reported.

Ronilyn L. McDonald is the daughter of the late Dr. James E. McDonald, who was a senior physicist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and a professor of meteorology at the University of Arizona. Dr. McDonald became widely known for his UFO research. One could reasonably presume his children, were they inclined to be interested, developed familiarity with the people and issues making up the mid 20th century UFO genre. The younger McDonald became an exceptional academic student and apparently developed just such an interest. In 1967 while earning a Bachelors in Psychology, Ronilyn McDonald was recognized as one of the top ten students at the University of Arizona. That same year, she authored an honors thesis titled Psychological Aspects of Unidentified Flying Objects. The work will be explored in this blogpost. McDonald's thesis is part of the Ann Druffel Special Collection, located in the online Expanding Frontiers Archive. The select items posted online are part of a larger collection of files compiled by pioneer investigator Ann Druffel. The material was generously donated for the benefit of researchers and interested parties by her daughter, Allis Druffel. Learn more about Ann Druffel, the McDonalds, and our online and physical archives at the Expanding Frontiers Archive. Psychological Aspects of Unidentified Flying Objects assesses the reporting of UFOs and related phenomena from a psychological point of view. McDonald expresses interest in what UFO reports may offer psychologists for study and consideration. She thoroughly considers multiple emotional aspects of reported UFO encounters, including either fear or elation, and suggests the seemingly subjective conditions that manifest such emotions are in themselves worthy of study. This leads McDonald to sharing her observations that some who report UFOs seem in search of catharsis in the face of uncertainty and at least some negative public consequences, if not many negative consequences as a result of becoming known as UFO witnesses. McDonald equally, however, acknowledges the complexity of the “sighters,” observing a percentage of them are quite intent on gaining publicity. There are many different types of people who report UFOs and there are many different potential explanations, and each of the two points are ongoing themes of the thesis. Sighters and the circumstances they orbit are complicated. Some empathy for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and the UFO community at large is apparent, but her 100-page thesis mostly explores social dynamics and cites publications to establish the existence of those dynamics. McDonald aptly seems less interested in arguing UFOs than staying on point about the issues that can be competently dissected, or at least that may have been the case when she wrote it. Arguably, not much has changed on either side of the aisle, with skeptics and believers alike showing willingness to insert their preferred notions. Leading figures often speak in absolutes and sweeping generalizations, even when grossly inaccurate, and those are valid observations then, now, and all points in between. McDonald's paper is a salient and on point consideration of subjectivity and cultural influence, even if somewhat – and interestingly - serving as an artifact of same. McDonald explores circumstances surrounding select known hoaxes, including a stunt pulled by some Cal Tech students, and offers readers insights into how widely reports differed of what was actually observed. This provides obvious implications about the lack of witness reliability, even when one is thoroughly convinced of the accuracy of their account. The inherently vague nature of the entire shooting match is considered. “It seems that a recurring feature of considerations related to UFOs,” McDonald writes, “is the simultaneous existence of two directly opposite yet apparently equally plausible explanations of a single set of facts.” This leads to pointing out circumstances most skywatchers would not accurately recognize even under ideal conditions, such as an inversion layer or refraction phenomenon. Challenges in depth perception with objects in the sky are duly noted. This is potentially compounded with illusions subject to take place as lights dim and brighten. Witnesses may incorrectly interpret such sights as an object coming closer or moving farther away, yet the instability of the perception is rarely understood by the witness. Motivated perception – seeing what we want to see – undoubtedly factors in some reports. However, McDonald considers, “[T]he question of distortion of perception of an object due to factors of personal motivation is superseded by the question of the existence of the object itself.” Circumstances surrounding motivated perception and the related personal conditioning is not limited to creation of spaceships in the eye of the beholder. It may also lead people to prefer to not see something they deem out of the ordinary or unidentified. McDonald cites an interesting account of psychologists witnessing a UFO from a commercial airline flight and finding themselves emotionally averting from alerting other passengers or crew to the object. One of them later remarked they found that more concerning than the sighting itself: their reluctance to ask others to take a look. McDonald addresses media coverage of the UFO phenomenon. The context of 1967 should be considered, as this was a point in time that NICAP was pushing hard for Congressional hearings. The organization was quite successful in its public relations efforts, as some are likewise today. McDonald makes an interesting observation about the Air Force's Project Blue Book abandoning a news clipping service due to the sheer number of reports regularly being published. It was pointless to compile so many witness accounts of UFOs, seemingly validated in the newspaper or not. McDonald devotes ample space to addressing the “crackpot” factor, a term we might suspect was more widely in use and socially acceptable at the time than might be considered the case today. She adequately writes about different types of emotionally distressed and/or delusional people. Like other aspects of the complex social situations surrounding UFO reports, even the crackpots come in multiple shapes and sizes with layers of agendas. Such an exploration simply cannot be done without addressing cults. McDonald cites the work of H. Taylor Buckner, “who emphasizes the embedding of the saucer clubs in a social substratum of occult 'seekers.'” Consideration is given to Buckner's observations that the most important thing to know about saucer clubs is they are organized by people already functioning within the occult social world. Buckner described saucer clubs as “open-door cults.” Further explaining, McDonald quotes Buckner, “The flying saucer thus becomes a flying Rorschach blot. Anyone with an occult line to sell can hook it up to flying saucers in some way and have it accepted.” Alas, however, McDonald refuses to throw the sighter baby out with the crackpot bathwater. She notes the differences between a number of more sober UFO witnesses and those who flock to saucer clubs, in that the former lack occult interests, among other reasons. It is also noted that those who observe UFOs and subsequently seek further understanding of the occurrence through saucer clubs typically do not learn anything of value from the clubs about UFOs, not to mention might have to avoid extremist religious indoctrination. “The person whose interest in the UFO phenomenon has been aroused by a sighting of what he absolutely cannot identify will soon discover that the flying saucer clubs will have little information to give him about the status of the UFO problem,” McDonald writes. Moreover, the crackpots may often be recognized by their unshakable yet entirely unearned confidence. “Few, if any, crackpots have ever demonstrated humility,” McDonald notes from a 1964 Science article. “The crackpot is almost always overly impressed with his discoveries – they're earthshaking.” McDonald objectively observes commonalities between saucer clubs, religious extremists, and others who share such traits as participating in movements that have a splintering of sects. None of the movements and resulting sects can prove their beliefs, yet assert them with defiant confidence. McDonald argues a staple of such groups is if their doctrine is not unintelligible, then it will often be vague, and if neither vague nor unintelligible, it must necessarily be unverifiable. The “salvationist saucer club,” by any other name, offers hope, as a movement must. It offers activities for the bored, meaning for the self-important, and optimism for those who have otherwise thrown in the towel on the things their culturally and socioeconomically more well-adjusted peers prioritize. Yet a percentage of compelling reports persist, McDonald acknowledges throughout her thesis, or at least a category of reports that stubbornly resist easy and conclusive dismissal. Is this the Low Information Zone (LIZ) as Mick West asserts? An argument can be made, even for reports that leave trace evidence and physical circumstances in their wake. The LIZ may still apply, or at least obviously does until enough information is obtained to provide a conclusive explanation, however extraordinary that explanation may or may not prove to be. McDonald writes on what she considers to be the difficulty in either dismissing or accepting accounts involving UFO occupants when reported by those other than crackpot fringe, or, in other words, not obvious cultist crackpots. She considers a number of such reports, including the Woodrow Derenberger encounter with “Mr. Cold,” of November 2, 1966, which provides some interesting context given the 1967 date of McDonald's thesis. Other cases are referenced that are now considered classics, as well, including the work of Dr. Olavo T. Fontes on what we can recognize as the alleged alien abduction of Antonio Vilas-Boas. Students of fringe history will appreciate the Easter eggs located in McDonald's work along with the references to Derenberger and Vilas-Boas. For instance, consideration is given to the ways hallucinations may arise as put forth by “L.J. West,” or Louis Jolyon West, a psychiatrist and professor destined to be controversial, thrust into the public spotlight due to his examination of infamous criminals and when heavily implicated in Project MKULTRA. No psychological thesis on UFOs would be complete without quoting Jung, particularly one authored in 1967. McDonald reflects, via the words of the famous psychoanalyst, “Even if UFOs are physically real, the corresponding psychic projections are not actually caused, but are only occasioned, by them... This particular projection, together with its psychological context, the rumour, is specific of our age and highly characteristic of it.” Yet McDonald does not seek the coattails of Jung, quite the contrary. She asserts Jung's arguments are not convincing. McDonald takes Jung to task for what she describes as his failure to adequately address the complexities of some specific UFO reports and his minimization thereof through selective omission. Moreover, she questions the logic of his dismissal of UFOs in the face of uncritically exploring unverified, arguably paranormal, beliefs, such as religious visions and related phenomena. McDonald essentially argues Jung picks low hanging fruit and asserts explanations that lack scientific validity. “At this point it appears that Jung himself fits the description of 'a man [who] with an excess of intuition lives in a world of unproven possibilities.'” McDonald intermittently argues throughout her work that cross-cultural consistencies contained in UFO reports make it difficult to attribute a significant number of the more intriguing accounts to psychological conditions. She makes some well-supported and competent arguments, but one might counterargue that selective citation is required to compile consistencies across global cultures; there are arguably as many different accounts as similar. It might also be on point to assert that in the decades since she wrote her worthy work, the psychological paradigm has evolved to better understand the manifestations of symptoms of emotional trauma and the fallibility of memory, among other salient issues. What consistencies we may observe across varying cultures and time periods may more be our inherent responses to select shared conditions than descriptions of physical flying objects and the characteristics and actions of alleged nonhuman entities. Very much in McDonald's defense, however, such literature was much less available in 1967 and her sober work was contributing to its ongoing emergence. The vast majority of UFO researchers still carefully shield themselves and their followings today from relevant material published by qualified psychology experts, which is to say people outside the psychological establishment know little about it now, much less then. McDonald was correctly identifying issues demanding to be adequately addressed and, in time, they were of course studied more sufficiently, even as some of her questions remain pointed and their answers elusive. She was not wrong in pointing out longer ladders are required to reach higher hanging fruit. Ultimately, however, do we collectively even want answers? McDonald quotes Russell Baker: After the first few landings, the public will begin to find the whole business tiresome... Nothing palls nowadays as rapidly as a miracle. After the first few saucer arrivals, we will ask, 'What's the idea of interrupting 'Bonanza' to report another saucer-load of moss balls?' This is why the psychologists are wrong. We do not want flying saucers to exist because, once their existence is established, something exciting will go out of life and saucer landings will take their place in the humdrum of daily existence along with the comings and goings of Lyndon B. Johnson, the crash of airliners, and the billingsgate of politics. What we want is to preserve the possibility that flying saucers exist without ever having to confront the real thing.

Press Release For immediate release Expanding Frontiers Research to Launch Online UFO Archive Expanding Frontiers Research (EFR) is set to launch an online archive about UFO reports and investigators. The Salt Lake City nonprofit organization will publish the archive Thursday, Sep. 14, at its website, Expanding Frontiers Research dot org. Records spanning decades will be freely accessible to researchers and anyone interested in browsing and downloading the material. Historic documents and audio recordings reflecting events surrounding UFO investigations, correspondence between high-profile researchers, the intelligence community and much more will be featured. EFR Executive Director Erica Lukes says the timing of publishing the archive couldn't be better, given all the recent interest in UFOs and what some are calling UAP. “With the UFO hearings in Washington and all the public interest,” Lukes said, “the archive launch comes at an exciting and critical time to look at this subject, understand its history, and see the potential for disinformation and spy games, all while considering the possibility of life out there.” Lukes began collecting UFO memorabilia several years ago. People started donating their personal collections to her growing file cabinets of material. Donors included investigators who spent lifetimes compiling case files and correspondence. Lukes now maintains a substantial physical collection making up one of the most important UFO archives in the United States. She subsequently co-founded Expanding Frontiers Research in 2022 and got to work scanning records and preparing them for posting. The online archive will include selections from the special collections of the late UFO research pioneers Ann Druffel and Gordon Lore, as well as records donated by longtime archivist Barry Greenwood. Work and correspondence with scientists J. Allen Hynek and James McDonald, as well as famous alleged alien abductee Betty Hill, will be featured. “While UFOs can be a fun and fascinating topic to explore, it's important for people to get a complete view of the individuals who made up the UFO subculture over the decades,” Lukes explained. “When we can browse the notes made by investigators and their contacts for ourselves, it better informs our perspectives than when we are limited to cherry-picked data that promotes a single point of view. At EFR we strive to publish reliable information that helps peel back some layers and show what's really been happening. That includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.” The Emma Woods Special Collection will be among the sections maintained in the online archive. “Emma Woods,” a pseudonym, became a controversial figure in the UFO genre after she voiced objections to the actions and methodologies of UFO investigator and author David Jacobs. Her complaints arose out of her 2002-2007 interactions with Jacobs which included his highly questionable uses of hypnosis. Woods has been contributing records to the EFR archive for publication. The archive will also highlight records obtained from intelligence agencies through the Freedom of Information Act. This includes FBI documents pertaining to intelligence officers who were active in the UFO community throughout their careers. EFR conducts FOIA requests as an ongoing part of its standard operations. “More clearly understanding the past helps us more accurately understand the present,” Lukes explained, “and there are no better ways of learning the past than through official documents and going right to the original sources.” Browse the Expanding Frontiers Research archive when it goes live Sep. 14 and learn more about the organization's activities at expandingfrontiersresearch.org.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released two more pages Sep. 8 responsive to a Freedom of Information Act request for records pertaining to SafeMoon and submitted by Expanding Frontiers Research. The latest material obtained from the FTC reflects a consumer complaint leveled at a bogus web extension purporting to be associated with an online cryptocurrency wallet. The individual reported they lost over $15,000 invested in SafeMoon coins and hundreds of hours of time trying unsuccessfully to resolve the issue after a criminal gained access to their assets in January 2022. The complainant further explained the fake extension, calling itself Polkadot, was offered on the Google app store and had what are described as hundreds of fake 5-star ratings posted by sockpuppet accounts. The goal of the scam is to gain information needed to rob assets from the victim, the complainant suggested. “I know I will never see my investment back to me,” they wrote the FTC, “but I prefer the person who stole it never gains anything from it.” The latest responsive records do not directly involve SafeMoon activities, yet nonetheless suggest the vulnerabilities and lack of recourse inherent to many online financial transactions. The material obtained Friday from the FTC is in addition to 143 complaints filed with the agency against SafeMoon and already released to EFR, as previously reported. FOIA requests seeking info on SafeMoon and submitted to the FTC were part of a wider investigation into individuals who promote both cryptocurrency and dubious UFO stories. Along with the FTC, records pertaining to SafeMoon were received from the FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Browse a folder containing correspondence and records received from each agency, including a successfully submitted appeal of documents withheld by the CFPB and its administrative response. EFR continues to await a final release of the appealed material. The vast majority of the complaints filed and obtained to date show consumers who indicate they believe SafeMoon personnel willfully manipulated the coin and its software to deplete them of their investments. Problems for SafeMoon involved multiple class action lawsuits, including one reported in February 2022 that accused the company of conducting a “pump and dump” scam. It was alleged that the currency's value was artificially inflated to the benefit of those conducting the scheme, while investors lost their funds and complained they were obstructed from withdrawing their money as they watched it dwindle. In spite of a widely reported SafeMoon 2021 crash and February 2022 lawsuit, controversial cast member of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and purveyor of unsubstantiated paranormal tales, Brandon Fugal, continued to promote the volatile cryptocurrency. He used his high-profile social media accounts to tell followers about his SafeMoon optimism and relationship with its management. When his position was challenged, Fugal defended his knowledge of investing in cryptocurrency as late as March 2022 and stated he owned more SafeMoon than most. He would later tell EFR in a February 2023 email he lost over 90 percent of his investment in SafeMoon.

It has now been a year since the launch of Expanding Frontiers Research. In August 2022 the organization was formally incorporated in Utah after months of careful consideration. We spent the next few weeks obtaining IRS charity status, preparing a website, and conducting related administrative tasks, all while keeping primary organizational objectives at the forefront. Expanding Frontiers Research is dedicated to publishing original, reliable research and making historical records available for public review. It has been and will continue to be my absolute pleasure to collaborate on fascinating investigations, the production of video and blog content, and making a wide range of material accessible to the public. I consider it both a privilege and responsibility as the designated leader of EFR to contribute to the research community in productive and responsible ways. Looking back over the past twelve months, I am pleased beyond expectations with the accomplishments of our still-young organization. EFR hit the ground running when we obtained public records indicating tax funds were used to finance PhenomeCon, a paranormal-themed annual conference that vigorously promotes sensational and unsubstantiated beliefs. The records revealed that tens of thousands of dollars were directly paid to cast members of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch for their appearances at PhenomeCon, circumstances that create significant conflicts of interest, given the cast members' repeated claims of conducting scientific research. To be clear, the individuals dubiously claim to conduct scientific study while documented to have financial incentives paid through public funds to express premature, fantastic findings that promote credulous beliefs. Public response to our work on the PhenomeCon story was very encouraging. Our reporting was picked up by investigative journalist Nate Carlisle of FOX 13 News and cited in video work published by Steven Greenstreet with the New York Post. Additional blog highlights include records obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission pertaining to investigations of Joseph Firmage corporations; the questionable alliance of venture capitalists, UAP start-ups, and the intelligence community; the overlap between promoters of cryptocurrency and credulous UFO tales; and documents obtained from the FBI on historical figures in the UFO subculture, among other interesting reads. We frequently submit records requests and subsequently publish resulting documents as part of our corresponding stories. Meanwhile, we regularly produce a YouTube show, Expanding Frontiers. It consists of discussions with journalists, researchers, authors, content creators, human rights activists, and advocates for victims of domestic violence, among others. Our ever-growing collection of exclusive videos includes material addressing many issues. Combined with our blog, we are consistently publishing content on topics ranging from The Poe Museum and the Freedom of Information Act to the importance of archiving and an Ivy League-educated researcher following the money trail through the UAP genre. I am proud of the organization I represent, its work, its volunteers, and the board of directors. I am equally enthusiastic about what is yet to come. I am pleased that we will soon be launching our online archive. It will represent select materials from our physical archive located in Salt Lake City, as well as additional records obtained by EFR and content donated by valued individuals. We are happy to make the material available for interested parties ranging from recreational readers to researchers and scholars. The Expanding Frontiers Archive will be an ongoing work in progress, but we anticipate launching it on our website in the coming weeks. As we have been conducting our regular ongoing operations, we have also been composing and submitting grant proposals. We are committed to obtaining funding - expanding our frontiers, if you will – into a variety of areas. We intend to make meaningful contributions to disciplines such as the humanities, using our already established framework to execute additional projects of public significance. Objectives include producing relevant content for audiences while facilitating a rewarding work environment. I am enormously proud to help coordinate this effort. We will also continue to conduct records requests and subsequently produce quality blog posts. The next year of operation also includes continuing to grow our show, Expanding Frontiers, with various informative guests and exploring rich and intriguing subject matter. We have a full plate – just like I like it. EFR has ambitious goals and a growing team of focused personnel committed to excellence. We are proud of where we've been, pleased with where we are, and excited about where we're going. On behalf of Expanding Frontiers Research, thank you for your interest and your support of our organization. Please reach out to us with any questions or comments. It's been a great first year and we're tracking a strong second. We're just getting started. Erica Lukes Executive Director Expanding Frontiers Research

Jensine Andresen, PhD, is an expert in religious studies and anthropology. She is an independent scholar whose areas of interest include demilitarizing space and related issues of importance to planet and space. In her most recent book, Hyperconflation: Recommending a Relational Alternative to the Datacentric Approach to UAP, Dr. Andresen takes readers through her research and resulting concerns about the exploitation of the UFO narrative for reasons ranging from financial gain to religious fanaticism. Those implicated include start-up corporations, their board members & funding entities. This writer recently spoke with the author and you may view the discussion below. Andresen identified Kirsten Bartok Touw as previously listed as a source of pre-seed funding for Enigma Labs, Inc., a recently launched company outwardly dedicated to UAP investigation and transparency, yet seemingly much less forthcoming than their self-description suggests. As documented by Andresen, the role of Bartok Touw has since been removed from websites. Bartok Touw is a “Special Government Employee” at the Office of Strategic Capital (under the Office of the Secretary of Defense), as well as a managing partner at New Vista Capital and AirFinance, among other roles of potential significance. If designated a “Special Government Employee,” or SGE, one may simultaneously represent the interests of big tech companies, banks, venture capital funds, military contractors, intelligence agencies, defense tech start-ups and, pretty much, anybody with skin in the game. Ms. Bartok Touw did not immediately respond to a request for comment for potential inclusion in this article. Andresen documents in her new book how ethics experts are voicing concern about SGEs, even if capitalists, start-ups, and intelligence officers are more than pleased with the arrangements. Working for private and public sectors simultaneously carries inherent conflicts of interest, some argue. “Outsourcing defense to a corporate adviser doesn't seem like an ideal way to put the public's interest first,” ethics official Walter Shaub, formerly of the Obama administration, is quoted by Andresen. The circumstances evolved out of the activities of agencies such as the CIA, which utilized a venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, to both develop tech products and apparently make money. In-Q-Tel provided the CIA with a means to invest in start-ups. In years past, such arrangements were typically limited to more discreet use of shell corporations and nonprofits, acting as covert funding arms of intelligence agencies. The CIA and other agencies are now, in a manner of speaking, outsourcing research and development while investing in futures, and a whole lot of people are recognizing the wide and profitable coattails created in the wake. In the UFO, or UAP, arena, however, it's not just about creating funding dollars for threat narratives or making cool apps to document UFO reports. It's about data collection. Decades of it. Then, Andresen suggests, artificial intelligence is subject to being used to conduct analysis and produce reports out of the mountains of data collected – and some of the data involves you and your phone. This, it is argued, gives rise to privacy concerns that result from less than transparent companies using anonymous and questionable characters to hoover up archives, obtain databases, and put software on your tech devices in the questionable name of UAP research. The activities may be circumventing legislation that limits law enforcement and intelligence agency domestic surveillance of American citizens. Moreover, there is little that restricts the start-ups, which purport to use AI and machine learning to generate reports on data collected, from marketing those reports to a wide variety of customers. It may simply depend on what various potential customers want gleaned and projected from the data, regardless of the pretenses under which it was initially obtained. Andresen presents herself as a humanitarian who is concerned about both the open, honest treatment of global citizens, as well as maximizing the functionality of opportunities to interact with potential extraterrestrials. She is clear in expressing her concerns that a data-driven approach to UAP investigation, conducted under layered veils of secrecy, is an ill-advised first step to embracing co-inhabitants of the universe. All the more so if the approach is a charade for other agendas. Edited for update, August 13: Dr. Andresen informed Expanding Frontiers Research via email of the following information concerning the funding of Enigma Labs and advised that the passage below has been added to her book, Hyperconflation. "Update of August 13, 2023 [to Hyperconflation]: This book was first published on July 25, 2023. At 4:09 AM EST today, Australian researcher Keith Basterfield emailed me to state that the financials tab was now appearing again on the Crunchbase site for Enigma Labs. I verified this at 5:43 AM. The site now appears precisely the way it did when I first viewed it in April 2023, with Kirsten Bartok Touw showing as one of the two investors for pre-seed funding on the Summary tab, and with the Financials tab restored, also showing her name. "Furthermore, her own Crunchbase site has been restored to how it looked in April 2023, with Enigma Labs listed as the Organization name under the April 21, 2022 date (where the name of the Organization had been replaced by a hyphen in July 2023, right before I published the book originally). While I am glad that whoever is making these changes decided to put things right, this mysterious website change forgot to go back and fix the January 20, 2023 version of the Enigma Labs page on the Wayback Machine. Although it has a Financials tab, it does not list Kirsten Bartok Touw. In addition, the Summary tab on the Wayback Machine version is still the same as what I saw on the main Crunchbase cite in July 2023, namely only one pre-seed funder is listed, FJ Labs, with no mention of Kirsten Bartok Touw. I will check periodically to see if the Wayback Machine version is 'fixed,' too, since on logical grounds, by January 20, 2023, it was already known that Kirsten Bartok Touw had provided pre-seed funding on April 21, 2022. "Furthermore, it strains credulity to suggest that the Wayback Machine version of January 20, 2023 simply was 'wrong' and now things have been fixed on the regular site for the company, given that in July 2023, right before I published this book, the regular site appeared the same way that the Wayback Machine version still appears this morning, August 13, 2023. Only the regular site has been rather 'magically' corrected, only two days since the blogpost on this book was published on the Expanding Frontiers Research site, and only five days since my YouTube interview on this book was posted. However, I do see that it would have been problematic to 'fix' the Wayback Machine version, since it would suggest an ability to manipulate websites that many people would like to think does not exist. "I close by commending whoever for listing Kirsten Bartok Touw again as an Enigma Labs pre-seed funder."

Simone Mendez was a young Air Force airman in 1981. She was granted Top Secret clearance as a telecommunications specialist with the 2069th Communications Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base of Area 51 fame. As she explained by telephone while this writer was conducting research for the book The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community, Mendez had an interest in UFOs before ever arriving at Nellis. She experienced a sighting years prior in her native Illinois. This resulted in forming relationships with members of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), who Mendez continued to interact with throughout her Air Force service. In October 1981, a male coworker, “Airman Green,” a pseudonym, approached Mendez at her off-base apartment. He had in his possession a multi-carbon copy of a purported classified transmission allegedly received at the message center where they worked. The document suggested the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked a group of unknown objects originating from deep space. Some of the objects allegedly entered earth atmosphere, headed to Moscow, and hovered for over an hour. Mendez retained a copy of the form containing the message. What unfolded over the next few months was a complex series of events that, now some 40-plus years later, are still muddled and murky. Airman Green's former girlfriend – a civilian - showed up at the apartment of Mendez in January 1982, informing Simone the mysterious document was a fake and she was to immediately accompany her to the base. Mendez voluntarily did as requested and turned over her copy to the Air Force. She then underwent months of emotionally grueling interrogation from both the FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), which included threats of long-term imprisonment. Her apartment was thoroughly searched and correspondence was confiscated. She was eventually cleared of all spying and espionage charges, but not before her security clearance was revoked. She was relegated to working in the laundry at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Interestingly, OSI continued to occasionally visit her and discuss her activities, such as attendance at a MUFON conference. It should not be difficult for most UFO enthusiasts to empathize with the precariousness of the unforeseen situation in which the 21 year-old Mendez abruptly found herself that October day in 1981. She more recently indicated she now suspects the document was, in fact, a forgery. That was the position of the Air Force as clarified and pointedly explained via FOIA documents eventually released. Researchers such as George Hansen (The Trickster and the Paranormal) and your author suspect Mendez may have gotten caught up in a counterintelligence operation, something potentially designed to track information lines through MUFON and the UFO community and, more specifically, identify bad actors within. Think throwing a dye pack in a sinkhole and seeing where it comes out. Hansen in particular suggested that Mendez's interest in UFOs and contacts in MUFON may have not been coincidental, but exploited. For more information on the Simone Mendez case, see Just Cause: Number 28, June, 1991: Airman Mendez vs the Bureaucracy: A Case of UFO “Espionage” and Just Cause: Number 29, September, 1991: Airman Mendez vs the Bureaucracy – Part Two. The two publications reflect the successful efforts of Mendez and researcher Barry Greenwood to obtain her service records and select material released through the FOIA, which validated her descriptions of the chain of events. See also a 2018 interview of Mendez conducted by Paul Carr of Aerial Phenomena Investigations. Richard Doty To better understand the context of the Mendez case, it is useful to consider the Wild West era of 1980s ufology and, particularly, events surrounding the Air Force's Richard Doty. It was during the same time Mendez was approached with bean-spilling records that Linda Moulton Howe, Bill Moore, and the ill-fated Paul Bennewitz do-si-doed with Doty around Kirtland Air Force Base. Not entirely unlike Mendez, Moulton Howe was shown records by Doty, purporting to represent paradigm-shifting official documentation of an extraterrestrial presence on a grand scale. Significantly, Bennewitz was also presented with documents co-conspirators Moore and Doty would later acknowledge were false, but not before furthering the man's descent into delusional fear the planet was under attack by aliens. Quite interestingly, Doty received no clear consequences or scrutiny for floating the fraudulent records around, and certainly not to the extent as experienced by Mendez, who was not even the creator of the document passed to her. Neither did Mendez circulate any such bogus records as was the case with Doty. Was OSI tilling the UFO community in an effort to uproot spies? George Hansen put forth in The Trickster and the Paranormal that individuals such as Doty might be recruited for OSI precisely because of their troubled UFO pasts, not in spite of them. By the time Doty was dancing with Moore and Moulton Howe, his dubious involvement with ufology was already known and, Hansen argued, may have been viewed as advantageous: He could be easily discredited if he was caught in something that embarrassed the Office. Moreover, it was possible OSI had similar plans for Mendez after she was cleared of charges, which might explain its continuing contact with her. For further information on the Doty entourage, see Mark Pilkington and company's Mirage Men, Greg Bishop's Project Beta, and Adam Gorightly's Saucers, Spooks and Kooks. Vincente DePaula Other 1980s news of note includes the case of Vincente “Vinnie” DePaula. He immigrated to the United States from Cuba as a child and grew up to work in the defense industry. According to a website maintained by Ron Regehr, DePaula worked on classified satellite systems. Regehr also worked in the defense industry, and that's how he apparently met and befriended Vinnie. In addition to career paths, the men also shared an interest in UFOs. Regehr was a longtime staple of MUFON and the UFO community. DePaula seems to have likewise become active in MUFON circles. Vinnie DePaula subsequently had reason to draw an alien head. Whatever those reasons may have been, they involved the identity of an individual DePaula preferred to keep secret. The drawing received a certain amount of notoriety around ufology, reportedly triggering a series of interrogations conducted by the Defense Intelligence Service, or DIS, later integrated into the Defense Security Service. The DIS seemingly wanted to know who described the alien to DePaula that was portrayed in the drawing. According to Regehr's website, four interrogations took place between April 18 and October 31, 1986, totaling 41 hours. A session initiated on August 22 reportedly went on for some 28 hours. Vinnie would later proclaim he “didn't tell them a damned thing.” Unfortunately, FOIA requests submitted in 2015 did not bear fruit. The Defense Security Service indicated it did not retain any such records that may have been compiled by its predecessor on DePaula in 1986. Those in MUFON circles and the surrounding community at large seemed to believe DePaula was harassed for reasons related to government investigation of extraterrestrials. This also seemed to be thought to involve his awareness of how satellite systems worked and the data that could be mined from them, presumably further informing DePaula's knowledge of alleged aliens and how their spacecraft maneuvered about the planet. Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt that the timeline of events is close enough to accurate, alternative theories might include intelligence services becoming concerned with activities of employees. That might be the case when those issued security clearance and charged with classified satellite operations develop contacts who erode loyalties and confidence in the employer. That might be of further concern when those contacts seemingly undermine employers through the use of stories about aliens to the extent the employees conceal the identities of the contacts. It might be considered that extraction of classified information was of substantially more likely concern to intelligence agencies than pursuit of ET. Boyd Bushman Such scenarios were by no means exclusively limited to distant yesteryear. In 2014 a video featuring an interview of scientist Boyd Bushman made a bit of a splash, at least around UFO circles, in which Bushman narrated sensational stories of the cover-up of alleged aliens. He even shared photos. Unfortunately for the late Mr. Bushman, the images of aliens were soon shown to bear striking resemblance to figurines sold at Walmart. Other images in his files were likewise adequately demonstrated to be out of context and misrepresented, or, simply put, fake. The then-aged Bushman explained how during his career at Lockheed Martin he developed a network of contacts who exchanged stories – and obviously photos – about alleged otherworldly activities at Area 51. Bushman also made remarks about Chinese and Russian scientists collaborating with Americans, and that their interests included anti-gravity technology. Some of those scientists and he believed, Bushman added, that a great deal of classified information concealed at Area 51 should be brought out of the shadows so people could see it. Suffice it to say that's a pretty bright red flag of a position expressed by someone issued security clearance. As a matter of fact, FOIA records released in 2016 show that in 1999, Lockheed Martin investigators became so concerned that Boyd Bushman was targeted for extraction of proprietary and/or classified government information that they notified the FBI. From the FBI records: Additional FBI records released demonstrate the suspicious activities and subsequent questionable motives of those in Bushman's “network” who were presumably encouraging the sharing of classified information under the premise of penetrating the UFO cover-up: In spite of what might seem to some as rather obvious instances of attempts to exploit one's interest in UFOs as a means to manipulate them, skeptics and believers alike often fail to grasp the implications. In some circumstances they no doubt simply do not understand the situations. After all, this is how people wake up to find themselves in the precarious and often legally perilous conditions in the first place: They were thinking about UFOs and didn't see it coming. Others may have emotional aversion – as much as intellectual blinders - to the topic of UFOs as espionage tools. It tends to take all the fun out of a good goosebump-inducing tale of alien abduction or simple dismissal out of hand when fake photos and documents are involved. As Hansen suggested, the very absurdity of the circumstances potentially serves the perpetrators. It also just doesn't fit the agenda of certain influencers or the UFO genre as a whole to drill down through the circumstances. It obviously is not in the interest of those who use the topic to exploit others to change streams and embark on increasing public awareness of the potential pitfalls of viewing the world exclusively through UFO glasses. It has now been 70 years since the CIA funded a UFO think tank commissioned to assess the situation. While the purposes and intentions of the 1953 Robertson Panel will continue to be debated – as everything always is – within segments of the UFO subculture, perhaps the most salient section of the resulting report continues to ring true. Although evidence of any direct threat from UFO sightings was deemed “wholly lacking,” Panel members and intelligence professionals were in agreement related dangers might well exist. That danger? Subjectivity of the public resulting in mass hysteria and greater vulnerability to possible enemy psychological warfare.

A consumer who owns stock in To The Stars sought advice from the Securities and Exchange Commission on how to recover their “investment,” Expanding Frontiers Research learned Friday through a Freedom of Information Act request. It was not entirely clear how much money the individual gave Tom DeLonge and his UFO-promoting corporation, but they indicated to the SEC they owned 200 shares. For some context, a 2022 To The Stars Class A Common Stock offering stated a minimum investment of $750 yielded 150 shares. “I own 200 shares of 'To the stars academy' [sic],” the consumer wrote the SEC in 2020. “I have never seen anything telling me how to sell the stock to return my investment. Can you advise me as to the options in selling my stock?” The SEC explained there is no guarantee Class A stock will ever develop an actual value. The Commission replied in part: The FOIA final determination letter and responsive records received by EFR from the SEC: A visit to the To The Stars investor resources page provided in the SEC response revealed transcripts from annual meetings. In both 2022 and 2023, Jim Semivan is quoted as speaking favorably about a 5-year Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army. “The goal of this CRADA,” Semivan is quoted in 2023, “is to advance developments in material science, space-time metric engineering, quantum physics, beamed energy propulsion and active camouflage.” To the uninitiated, that means something or other about alleged crashed flying saucer debris. Some readers will recall this involved acquiring extremely dubious material with a $35,000 price tag from longtime UFO personality Linda Moulton Howe. To The Stars likewise reported to the SEC in 2019 it entered into a purchase agreement with DeLonge for 35 grand “to purchase a set of metamaterials.” It is entirely unclear how UFO Disclosure advocates can simultaneously claim to be both in possession of and feverishly searching for the evidence they purport to so desperately want published, all while themselves obstructing its transparency. To wit, researcher D. Dean Johnson reports that part of the Fiscal Year 2024 Intelligence Authorization Act contains language paving a path for individuals in possession of materials or information derived from unidentified anomalous phenomena to cough it up already. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) wants to hear from them. In related news, experienced FOIA man John Greenewald, Jr. recently obtained documents from the Department of Defense that indicate it established as early as 2017 the grandiose claims of Luis Elizondo were not credible. The former DOD man left the Department to launch To The Stars with Tom DeLonge and was widely reported to have run a UFO program - mostly because he said so. Select reporters such as Keith Kloor tapped the brakes on the runaway story, pointing out not only was there a lack of evidence supporting Elizondo's claims, but a Pentagon spokesperson directly contradicted the narrative. Greenewald has now shared DOD records indicating numerous concerns that seemingly arose over Elizondo's departure and actions, ultimately including a dismissal of his complaints of unfair treatment and alleged retaliation for his interest in UFOs.

The FBI provided 33 pages of records on the late convicted murderer Ira Einhorn stemming from a 2022 Freedom of Information Act Request. The Bureau previously provided some 356 pages of responsive records. A follow-up request was submitted, seeking all documents not included in the initial release, resulting in Thursday's FOIA response from the FBI. The Bureau explained 47 additional pages were reviewed and 33 of those pages were released. Expanding Frontiers Research is appealing the withheld 14 pages. The 33 recently received pages: Download the 356 pages previously released on Ira Einhorn: Einhorn, dubbed the Unicorn Killer due to “Unicorn” being the translation from his German sir name, was convicted in 2002 of the brutal murder of his former girlfriend. Holly Maddux disappeared in 1977. Her remains were found during a police search a year and a half later, located in a trunk in a closet of Einhorn's Philadelphia apartment. He would take flight in 1981 and not be found until 1997 in France. Einhorn fought extradition for some four years before finally being returned to the United States to stand trial. The controversial environmental activist, counterculture figure, and UFO World personality took the witness stand on his own behalf, claiming the CIA killed Maddux. Einhorn asserted this was related to him knowing too much about the Agency's military paranormal research. The latest documents received from the FBI include memos exchanged between Bureau Field Offices and partnering agencies, alerting law enforcement personnel to the fact Einhorn failed to appear for a 1981 court date. It was then that he became a fugitive and fled to Europe. The records reflect instances of monitoring Einhorn's associates in attempts to learn the whereabouts of the man considered armed and dangerous. Writer, researcher, and podcaster Greg Bishop interviewed Einhorn in approximately 2001 on Bishop's Radio Misterioso. Einhorn was apparently residing in France and fighting extradition at the time. The writings of longtime ufology staple Jacques Vallee contain several references to Einhorn, as documented by @seriations on Twitter. The French scientist was well acquainted with Einhorn and expressed in his writing a willingness to entertain the idea Einhorn was unjustly accused. The FBI, Philadelphia law enforcement agencies, and a jury disagreed. Einhorn died of natural causes in 2020 in a Pennsylvania prison. He had served about 18 years of a life sentence.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final response earlier this month to a FOIA request seeking records responsive to SafeMoon, a cryptocurrency surrounded by management controversy. The request was submitted by Expanding Frontiers Research (EFR) as part of its coverage of high profile UFO personalities and conferences that incorporated promotion of investing in cryptocurrency into their usual assortment of unverified stories of otherworldly visitors (see Following the Money: Cryptocurrency and UFO Culture). Several pages of records were obtained from multiple agencies during the course of the investigation. The records released by the CFPB, which document consumer complaints and allegations of SafeMoon fraud, are available for download at the end of this article. The author of a particular email provided by the CFPB questioned how a “totally unregulated investment product,” referencing SafeMoon, was being sold by an unlicensed broker and framed in such capacities as “a crypto IRA” and “cryptocurrency banking.” The email author went on to cite another example of what was termed “the SafeMoon card,” and asked, “[T]his is a bank, how is it just being allowed to operate completely freely?” A potentially larger takeaway than what was released by the CFPB may be what was withheld. While granting EFR its request for media status and a subsequent fee waiver, the agency explained in its final response of May 2 it was providing just one page in full and one page in part of a total 58 pages of documents identified as responsive to the request. Seven FOIA exemptions were cited as justification for the withheld 56 pages. A CFPB FOIA manager further wrote, “Additionally, I have determined that response letters that have been issued to individual complainants as well as response letters from financial institutions would also be responsive to your request. I have determined that these letters should be withheld in their entirety under FOIA Exemptions 4 and 6.” EFR is appealing the withholding of records, asserting that personal information may be properly redacted while the documents and letters should still be released in partial form. The public should be granted access to the salient content in the withheld documents and letters. The struggling Utah-based SafeMoon was repeatedly given Twitter shoutouts from Brandon Fugal, a cast member of the cable television show Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and participant on the Utah Blockchain Advisory Board. A high profile crypto-related YouTube channel explored the controversial Fugal's apparent fondness of SafeMoon, documenting how Fugal asserted he owned more of the coin “than most [people].” Fugal ironically defended his investment expertise when challenged about his assessment of the integrity of SafeMoon and his subsequent confidence. He would later tell EFR he lost over 90 percent of his investment. ---------------------------------------------- Correspondence and records obtained from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pertaining to SafeMoon:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released additional records responsive to “ManyOne” and pertaining to interviews conducted during the course of its 2016-17 investigation of the corporation operated by Joseph Firmage. The material was released in the wake of a successful FOIA appeal submitted by Expanding Frontiers Research (EFR) and includes records of the existence of two more planned interviews, in addition to the one previously reported. In the most recently revealed interview, a witness who described them self as an investor and advisor repeatedly told the SEC of some $59 million reportedly gone through by ManyOne. The witness indicated he interpreted the company had interests in internet services and “focusing on a spaceship.” In the second of the newly discovered interviews that were scheduled, SEC documented how a witness, whose name is redacted, failed to show up to a 2016 interview. When SEC promptly contacted them by phone, the person claimed they had just experienced a massive sewer line break and “everything” was flooded in their house, adding that the mishap was reported and a work crew was on its way. However, SEC investigation revealed no such situations were detected or reported to local authorities as described by the witness, either at the address in question or elsewhere in the water district. Joseph Firmage did not respond to multiple attempts to discuss the records obtained and provide him opportunities to comment for potential inclusion in this series of blogposts. As previously reported, records obtained thus far from the SEC include a 2017 interview conducted with a former employee of ManyOne, a company known in the UFO subculture as having solicited investors to purportedly create an anti-gravity device. A relatively well-known cast of characters including Ron Pandolfi, Brandon Fugal and Hal Puthoff are associated with the saga. The witness interviewed by the SEC described over-committing on investment returns, quoting figures off the cuff, and failing to pay bills and investors as ManyOne standard operations. The elusive anti-gravity device was never produced. EFR submitted a FOIA appeal after receiving records from the SEC. The appeal sought further release of redacted information along with previously withheld records. Some examples of material further released is shown below, before appeal on the left, after appeal on the right: Records newly obtained include dozens of pages of another 2017 interview with a redacted witness who told the SEC they first heard about ManyOne from the owner of a gym. The gym owner told them they invested in the venture, hoped the witness would look into it for them, and suggested they might choose to invest as well. The witness proceeded to invest in ManyOne but explained they became increasingly reluctant to release additional funding due to concern about the company's failure to produce financial records as requested. “They were trying to get me more involved,” the witness told the SEC, “and I said – I can't get involved or recommend this to anybody unless I complete due diligence.” What was it the witness wanted? “I wanted to see all the financial information in the past. I wanted to see the debt – all the debt that was – because it was very nebulous who invested what, who owned what, and what they were told when they bought the investment.” “That's what I want to know,” the SEC interviewer interjected. “I know you do,” the witness replied. “I wanted to know it [too].” Circumstances described by the witness include testimony of sympathy felt for ManyOne personnel, unaccounted for tens of thousands of dollars, and investors believed to have gone to prison for how they originally obtained funds they gave ManyOne. The witness ultimately grew intolerant that ManyOne personnel could not – or would not – account for expenses. He made it clear they were to only allocate funds to items he approved, under certain conditions as agreed. His expectations were not met. The witness described one individual who he believed invested and lost a million dollars in Firmage's corporation. “[He] spent his entire estate putting money into ManyOne.” The witness indicated he believed some $20 million was invested in ManyOne, Inc. before it filed bankruptcy and reformed as Many One, LLC. At one point thereafter, he reportedly could account for $59 million that had gone out the door. The witness told the interviewer he never recovered his investment. To the best of his knowledge, the gym owner lost his money as well. -------------------------------- The records most recently obtained from the SEC: