UFOs, the Pentagon, and the enigma of Bob Lazar • Nevada Current
This month, a highly anticipated report is slated to be delivered to the United States Senate on the subject of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) — what we used to call Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The report is to be made public (although it may have a classified annex) and was requested as part of the […]
COMMENTARY UFOs, the Pentagon, and the enigma of Bob Lazar Will a Senate report solve a Nevada UFO mystery? GLEN MEEK JUNE 1, 2021 5:00 AM “Go Fast,” was one of three videos selected for release after official review by multiple government organizations. (U.S. Navy video screengrab) This month, a highly anticipated report is slated to be delivered to the United States Senate on the subject of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) — what we used to call Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). The report is to be made public (although it may have a classified annex) and was requested as part of the Intelligence Authorization Act attached to a COVID-19 relief bill. Its purpose is to provide lawmakers with the best information available from the Pentagon and the intelligence community about incidents that appear to involve vehicles with amazing flight characteristics far beyond those of our most advanced aircraft. But, this report should also shed light on — and, in theory, resolve — a thirty-year old, major UFO puzzle with Nevada origins: did a young physicist named Bob Lazar actually work on captured extraterrestrial spacecraft at a secret government facility called S-4, in Lincoln County near Area 51? Lazar surfaced publicly in 1989, when he was interviewed by my former colleague George Knapp of KLAS-TV, Las Vegas. At first, Lazar spoke only in silhouette, and used the pseudonym “Dennis”. Later, he came forward under his own name and with no disguise. Lazar’s claims were fantastic: that the U.S government had, in its possession, nine crashed or captive spacecraft from another world — at least one of them shaped like an actual saucer. Lazar claimed he’d been part of a team hired by the government to “reverse-engineer” the craft, which would unlock for American scientists the propulsion secrets they needed to pave a path to the stars. Lazar said he was fired from his job at the clandestine military base because he brought some friends into the desert near Area 51 one evening to surreptitiously watch a saucer being test flown. A Lincoln County deputy caught the group leaving the area and the deputy ratted Lazar out to the government. Lazar’s story combined the most compelling elements of alien abduction stories and shadow-government conspiracy theories. The tale had a profound influence on popular culture from cartoons like American Dad to movies like Paul & Independence Day. While publicity surrounding Lazar’s amazing claims literally put Area 51 on the map, it also shined a spotlight on himself, and it wasn’t long before people started picking apart his story. Places where Lazar claimed to have gone to college — like CalTech and MIT — said they’d never heard of him. About a year after his initial TV interview, Lazar found himself criminally charged for helping operate what prosecutors described as an illegal “high-tech whore house.” That didn’t help his credibility much. As his case worked through the legal system, Lazar produced one of the few bits of physical evidence that he’d worked at a secret base in Nevada. It was a W-2 form, reflecting income of less than one thousand dollars, purportedly paid to him by the Department of Naval Intelligence. Even that form was questioned over its authenticity. Skeptics pointed out that there’s an Office of Naval Intelligence within the Department of the Navy — but not a Department of Naval Intelligence. I covered Lazar’s criminal case as a reporter for KTNV-TV in 1990. I remember him pleading guilty to pandering and I recall thinking: if his saucer stories were true, and he’s typical of the scientists we have working on the most significant scientific project in history — then our planet might be in deep doo-do. Yet, credibility issues aside, and despite a dearth of physical evidence and lack of corroboration from other scientists, Lazar’s astounding tale has not only survived over three decades — but thrived. His claims received renewed attention in 2018 thanks to a documentary produced by movie maker Jeremy Corbell. The documentary — widely viewed on Netflix — led to Lazar appearing on the Joe Rogan podcast, possibly the most popular podcast on the planet (this planet, anyway). Corbell, meanwhile, has been interviewed multiple times recently on network news talk shows. He is the source of at least one, recently leaked UAP video that depicts what appear to be triangular shapes moving through the sky. Corbell — in the interviews I’ve seen — has not claimed the UAP videos show alien intelligence at work. But he did say in his documentary that he believed there was more evidence Bob Lazar was telling the truth than there was that he was lying. Far be it from me to suggest these aerial objects could not be of extraterrestrial origin. They may very well be. But, I would caution people inclined to rule out earthly explanations not to jump to conclusions. Just because you don’t know what something is doesn’t mean it is what you wish it was. UK science writer Mick West has provided...