UFO News Update: Elizondo’s Memo, Drone Flaps & Spielberg’s Return to UFOs

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So I've got a bit of a thumping headache at the moment, but there was so much news to discuss. I didn't want to leave this too much later, to be honest. So lots to get through. And anyone waiting on the Joe McMonigle interview, it will still be happening. Right before the interview, Joe had a medical incident, and he is currently recovering in hospital. So all the best to Joe. Thoughts and prayers with him. He's okay, but he will be coming back on. He's still in touch with me, and I look forward to catching up with Joe McMonigle real, real soon. But listen, on to the news update, folks. And it's looking like a really busy December for UFO news and drops across various fronts. Even at the start of this week, USA Today ran a front page, a real serious piece on the Society for UAP Studies, and Michael Saffoni. I've had the pleasure of seeing Michael speak. And maybe some of this is the impact from the Age of Disclosure documentary starting to turn mainstream heads. Maybe they're starting to look further afield into the UFO topic and going, look, who else is studying this? Maybe USA Today, as far as I'm aware, is a pretty serious mainstream news outlet. They're looking at this topic and wondering, OK, we've got all these major governmental figures coming through, but where are the academics? Who can we find out? And the UAP Studies Society has been picked up. So fantastic work, and great to see that they're getting some acknowledgement from that. So let's get into the news, folks, because a lot to cover in a short space of time here. First off, you may have seen Ross Coulter a couple of days ago had Luis Elizondo on for a rare interview. Luis Elizondo doesn't do too many of those interviews these days, but he does pop up now and again on a couple of selected outlets, including with Ross Coulter on NewsNation. Now, Luis Elizondo wrote a memo to President Trump in January. It's dated 2024, January 2024, but apparently it was written for this year. And that's already a pain, because for those who pore over details and mistakes and issues and little inaccuracies, the date's already framing some of this discussion, and people are pawning over it, and it's bullshit. Why is it coming up now, et cetera, et cetera. But let me go through. I'm going to go through the summary of what the memo has in it, and then some of the discussion that Ross and Lou had, because there's some nice back and forward and some answers worth picking up on. So for those who don't know, Luis Elizondo is a former counterintelligence officer. His book, Eminent, was a New York Times bestseller. He ran the US government's ATIP program, which followed on from OSAP back in 2017. He left, the New York Times article came out, and the rest, as they say, is history. So the memo itself focuses on one central idea, and that is the United States is falling behind on emerging all-domain technologies, or EADT. For the love of Christ, another acronym I could do without. I'm sure many of you are thinking the same thing, but emerging all-domain technologies, and it needs a whole-of-government plan to catch up around EADT. It's an umbrella term covering drones, human-made and otherwise, UAP, and other advanced systems operating through air, space, sea, and more. According to Elizondo, these technologies are evolving fast. They're showing up in places they shouldn't, and they're putting American national security at risk. And as we know, these are now occurring around Europe, and no doubt other places as well. I've got no issue with the UAP umbrella and term being used, or EADT, because I do think a lot of this phenomenon that people are reporting, or misidentifying, or misreporting, or sensationalizing, unfortunately, for a lot of it, is drones or misidentifications. And even on the Discord for this podcast, which you get access to if you're a paid member, some of the guys in there were discussing the fact that there are some really cool balloons. And I think the problem, and people mention balloons at all, with the UFO topic, is you think party balloons, you think Batman balloons and all that argument from a few years ago. There are some incredibly advanced balloon technologies, believe it or not, that I think are being misidentified, or even used for spying and all that kind of stuff as well, folks. But let's go into it, because again, some of this is anomalous, genuinely anomalous. And let me stress that, especially to you, the camera watching me, some of this is genuinely anomalous. Elizondo breaks it into two parts. He says, first, drones. He points to conflicts like Ukraine, where advanced drones have been completely reshaping modern warfare. I see a lot of videos, especially on Facebook and my algorithm for some reason, of drones attacking Russian and Ukrainian targets and stuff like that. And these are incredibly advanced now. You see some of them flying inside, like empty small rooms and going around locations. And then obviously they have explosive devices attached and different things. Rogue actors, criminals, and even foreign governments are using these systems to bypass traditional defences. I've had conversations with folks who will talk about how drug cartels are spending millions and millions of dollars on advanced drones to ship drugs across borders to try and not be caught, especially at the weakened areas of border control. Inside the US, drones are routinely violating restricted airspace. And now we know across Europe, Belgium's had a lot of issues recently, including military and nuclear facilities. Nuclear facilities are a really sensitive one. And the response from federal, state and local agencies is inconsistent and often ineffective. Personally, again, as a bit of a layman, I don't think a lot of the authorities are prepared or capable of dealing with even the most basic of drone incursions, regardless of there being hobbyists or something more sinister. I don't know. I just, I would say that's the case. The second thing he breaks down from drones are UAP, genuine UAP. And he says these are even more concerning. They demonstrate capabilities that don't match anything the US currently understands. Meanwhile, America's adversaries are aggressively studying them and trying to exploit the technology. I can't imagine the US aren't doing the same thing. You know, he argues that US efforts, including the Pentagon's arrow office, are bogged down by bureaucracy and a culture of secrecy that's eroding public trust. The end result is what he calls failures at steep price. Unfocused research, weaker technology compared to adversaries, poor transparency, and the public is increasingly suspicious of government's handling of this issue. Need I say more than going back to when the Biden administration was being really quiet on the whole drone flap. Trump's administration, as they were finishing their campaign to, you know, when we get in, if we get in, we're going to tell you what this stuff is. And they didn't, you know. Biden didn't, Trump didn't. So, you know, what's the difference? They came out and said it was FAA approved. The FAA came out and said that was nonsense. So, again, transparency is severely lacking. Elizondo says, essentially, folks, and throughout the interview with Coulter, I'll go over some of the highlights, that the solution to this is an EADT czar. That is C-Z-A-R. Basically, leader or a role at the head of government part of that. A major structural change. Appoint a senior advisor to the president with that title EADT czar, something like that. The advisor would coordinate the entire government's response to drones, UAP, and related technologies. They would develop national policy and a long-term strategy and serve as the president's lead communicator on this issue to Congress, the media, and the public. He argues that giving this job to an existing Pentagon or intelligence official wouldn't work. They're already overloaded and they may not have the authority or access needed to take charge. Some folks may be looking at this or hearing this and thinking, well, isn't this Lou Elizondo suggesting a job or role for himself? Perhaps. It's been mooted before. Would he take that role? I imagine he would. It sounds a little bit like a pre-interview or kind of pitching the job. Would he be qualified to do it? I can't say that he wouldn't given his history, his involvement, and his continued media presence and media training now. But I'm sure there would be other folks who would be less happy with Lou getting that position, taking over that position. But I think that would be the case for anyone. A lot of folks, I imagine, would say David Grush should be in charge. Other folks would say it should be someone completely new, completely neutral. We had that kind of with Arrow and Sean Kirkpatrick, which turned out to not be so neutral. It's a real difficult one. Is the position relevant? I think so. How it's carried out? I don't know. But some of the things the Czar would do, essentially, given what Lou Elizondo says in the memo and in the interview is unifying federal, state, local, and tribal reporting and response systems. So bringing all that under one umbrella and to one house, which makes sense. Integrating intelligence capabilities and streamlining data sharing. Leading discussions inside the National Security Council. Guiding a national intelligence estimate on UAP and other emerging technologies. Providing assessments on how EADT affect national security, economics, and foreign policy. Accessing all classified UAP information and advising on what should be classified. Strengthening laws to protect the homeland from EADT threats. I hate that acronym. Christ. And accelerating research in advanced propulsion and related technologies with help from academia and private industry. So in short, this role would pull together all those scattered and broken fragmenting pieces that the US and government and other aspects of the government are involved in and treat it like a solid, solid, God, I'm going to say thing. What a terrible way to put that. But, you know, treat it properly. Give it a role. Give it a place. And I think having a real figurehead to look at for this would be really beneficial. I don't know how folks, for example, in the Air Force, the legacy program, the gatekeepers would see that. But I think it's one that we maybe just have to find out. And the kind of final message there in that memo is he ends it by saying the situation is rapidly evolving. Challenges are inevitable and the US has to be proactive. He argues the moment is right politically and strategically to take action and to communicate more honestly with the American public. He offers his own help and says that many in Congress and the national security would see this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to finally make progress. So I'll say for the first time in this update, folks, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on that. And would you want Lou Elizondo as the UAPs are? Would you want someone else and why? Is the position relevant? Is it not? I'd love to know your take on that, folks, really would. Oh, and I suppose a good place to drop in, I'm doing an end of year AMA, ask me anything, any and all questions from this year, next year, whatever it might be, send them over, use thatufopodcast.com forward slash contact. Oops, I've got my notification on the PC. Or you can email ufouapam at gmail.com. All those links are in the descriptions below. Get in touch with me, send over a question. If you have and have not been in touch yet, sorry, please resend it, that would be great. But if you've sent over something, I've got quite a few already, look forward to hearing from you. So some of the highlights from Ross Coulthart's News Nation piece. Ross asks Lou if President Trump had received this memo directly. Lou can't answer whether or not he has had time to read it, and he means Trump, or even if Trump's staff have had time to read it, but he hopes someone has. Ross asks why he combines UEP and human drones in the memo, and I said, folks, personally, I think that's fair, and it doesn't show a bias or assumption. I think we need that approach, especially in the public, especially in the mainstream. We have to appear open to different possibilities. the folks who go too far left or too far right in any conversation, whatever way you want to take it. Like I say, if I look at this topic and think of this, the sceptics being on the far left, the debunkers, the real hardcore debunkers, everything's bullshit, and the far right, everything's UAP. You need to be more central. I would say I'm right of central on that argument. I want stuff to be UAP, UFO, but I know not everything is. Less than 10% is going to be truly anomalous, but I don't give a shit that 90% isn't. I care about the stuff that is anomalous. That's the interesting stuff. The real meat and bones, nuts and bolts, woo, whatever it is, that's the interesting stuff in this topic, and that's what drives it forward. Ross asks, oh, so, yeah, Ross asks why Lou combines UAP and drones. Lou says that EADT is a large umbrella, and with so many emerging technologies, it's important to understand what's in our skies. Ross asks him if the president was poorly advised when the administration said back in late January 2025 that the drones were FAA authorised, and we know that is part bullshit at least. Lou talks about this being down to too many branches of government not communicating. He gets again at the US government needing that UAP czar ahead to go to on this topic. He does reference, and Elizondo references multiple times in this interview, in our skies, but nothing about the water. I don't know whether that's deliberate or not. You know, space, air, water, all equally important, especially the water discussion. I can see that really getting more traction in the mainstream, especially as 2026 goes on. Again, folks, I'll say I think there are something akin to a base, at least in one part of the ocean, that is providing some of these things. Drones, perhaps, non-human drones, definitely. I'm not talking about China or Russia launching drones from under the water. So, Lewis says he is heartened by efforts going on behind closed doors, but he can't go into details. I am speaking to Jeff Nusitelli, who is one of the witnesses from the last hearing. I met Jeff at the Sol Foundation. I've had Jeff on the podcast before. He was the security officer for the Vandenbergh UFO incident and interviewed the witnesses. Really looking forward to speaking to Jeff. He is now involved with those whistleblowers going forward and working on stuff behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to that interview. This show is going to come out really similar time to that interview. So, if you haven't listened to that yet, go and check it out, please, because it'll be a good conversation. I've got some great stuff to ask Jeff. And meeting Jeff personally, one of the only people I have in this whole topic now in the five and a half years doing this podcast. Really nice guy. He was so nice and spent a lot of time with me. Really good to talk to him. Ross talks about the drone flap and are these drones or something else because authorities say they can't track or find the origin of these objects. And that's quite a common argument, I think, for a lot of folks who want to say, oh, they're UAP, that means they're UFOs, they're aliens. But is that what the truth is or are they just telling us that? Are the authorities just telling us, we can't track these, we don't know where they're coming from, we don't know their origin. But if it was Russia or China, would the US come out and tell you, yeah, we know they're Russian, we know they're Chinese? That opens up a can of worms. And there are potential times those would be classed as acts of war. So are they going to say anything? Because let's be honest, are the US doing the same thing in those countries? Probably. So I don't pay too much attention to this whole we can't track these objects, we don't know where they're going to or coming from. Bullshit. Of course they do. Of course they do. And I would say that includes whether these objects are going to container ships off the coast of the US being launched by Iran, China, Russia, or if they're happening on shore, or if they're perhaps something that are coming from, you know, up there or down there by something else. Coulthard asks Lou if he thinks President Trump is contemplating disclosure. Lou gives an answer which is very much a maybe, maybe not. He says it's a risk as there could be a foreign adversarial element to this. not unfair, bit of a nothing answer. Coulthard says that President Trump was given a limited briefing by a mutual friend. I'm going to presume David Grush but I don't know and is aware of the US's knowledge on this. Ross asks Lou his thoughts on Secretary Rubio and would he now be read into any crash retrieval programs. Really interesting. Lou says he hopes so but understands why now given his position and future aspirations he would hold his cards close to his chest. He won't want to break ranks from what the administration's direction is now on this. This also brings up I think Marco Rubio walking back statements he made in the Age of Disclosure documentary. A lot of folks really honed in on those. At the time he was a senator. Senator Rubio? Yeah. Congressman Rubio? Senator? Sorry I've took a blank on that folks. I'll blame the illness. But now he's moved up to a much higher level. He is constantly beside Donald Trump and I would hasten to think that perhaps is there an advance Rubio ticket for the future for presidency is Rubio himself thinking down the line of running for presidency. So right now does he want to commit to some major statements? And he's kind of basically said that for walking it back that he wasn't seeing all that stuff himself from a place of knowledge but more quoting what others high ranking still had told him. Lou brings up again that if we ignore this then it's a matter of time before we have a 9-11 level event that a state or non-state actor will use reverse engineered UEP technology against us. That's quite the statement because for me and again this is why I would love to have Lou back on in the near future if he could do it you know just to dig into that and it would be such a difficult thing for him to go into detail on frustratingly I know for many folks but on some level Lou will be guarded with his NDAs his oath he's taken he's very patriotic he doesn't want to overstep the line but then he goes in to say that you know we're essentially heading towards another 9-11 event where they're going to use reverse engineered alien technology against us that's quite a big claim that comes from a place of presumption assumption or assumed knowledge or actual knowledge yeah interesting statement they also have a discussion around Louis saying the people the American people can handle the truth of this but then there's a continuation where they bring up Jim Semivan's comments that the truth is so indigestible that people may not want to hear it Lou likens it to a doctor telling you bad news or finding out your partner's cheating news you might not want to know at the end of the day so yeah go back and check it out folks it's around an hour Ross Coulter always does good interviews with Lou Elizondo and others yeah definitely check it out and I appreciate Ross battling through illness to get out the other end of that one to follow that up Lou Elizondo did also appear alongside James Fox for a kind of impromptu appearance it was an interview at Lou Elizondo's bar Bombshells it's called in Wyoming and James Fox managed to grab about 13 minutes and record it with Lou Elizondo asking him a couple of questions I'm not going to go over it again word for word folks this is someone else's content but I'd love to comment on it basically James asks Lou four or five questions around the topic James asks Lou if he would consider himself a first or second hand witness Lou said first hand but he then cleared it up by saying he saw material of unknown origin and also that knowing how long the US government has studied this he would consider that him being a first hand witness James asks Lou if he told him everything he knows would Lou go to jail Lou said yep or worse and with each of these answers he goes into more detail but go and check that out folks if you can on James's socials James asks him what would you like to say to people who criticise him for everything he has done or doing Elizondo basically says it doesn't bother him they discuss the online UFO community UFO cults battles of differing sides stuff that doesn't particularly interest me either way all that gossipy bullshit but I agree with what he says around people's families should always be left out of this stuff at the end of the day there is no need whether you like or dislike someone or hate someone or disagree with their message or think they're a disinfo agent to be posting up stuff to do with their family totally uncalled for unnecessary we're all big kids at the end of the day we're all adults I say big kids we're all adults there's a lot of big kids out there and we should be able to deal with this in the appropriate way but I'm also aware it's 2025 2026 and yeah the world's fucked up isn't it and James asks Lou if you had 30 seconds to talk to the world about UAP on a podium what would you say really disappointing but Lou says gives a non-answer and says it deserves a great answer but doesn't answer he'll need to think about it so there you go yeah so that was a couple of Lou Elizondo news drops I'll reach out to Lou see if you can get him on the podcast I was hoping to have him on back earlier in the year never quite worked out but I know with commitments and everything else that Lou doesn't do anywhere near as much media as he used to but he doesn't owe people like myself anything so if I can get him on fantastic if you're watching this you might notice after that cut my eyes are a bit watery little bit of a coughing fit there folks apologies UEP Disclosure Foundation has or the UEP Disclosure Foundation has announced some shake-ups as they have made this announcement let me just read directly from their website the Disclosure Foundation today announced the appointment of Harold Putov Hal Putov a physicist and research leader and Carlos Eire it's E-I-R-E so I'm going to say Eire or Eire a distinguished scholar of history and religion to its advisory board their addition strengthened the foundation's multidisciplinary leadership at the intersection of national security science and public understanding Dr Putov brings more than five decades of research and advisory experience across government academia and the private sector he currently serves as the president and CEO of Earth Tech International and the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin his career includes research positions at the NSA Stanford University and SRI International along with recognised contributions in electrodynamics quantum vacuum physics and advanced energy and propulsion concepts Dr Eire is the T. Lawrenson Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University and a National Book Award winning author I wrote a book once folks I'll just let you know that a leading scholar of the early modern world comparative religion and the cultural history of belief Dr. Eire brings deep expertise on how societies interpret anomalous experiences govern uncertainty and negotiate the boundaries between scientific and humanistic inquiry Chris Mellon made a comment to say we are honoured to welcome Dr. Putov and Dr. Eire to our advisory board their combined scientific historical perspectives will help guide the foundation's efforts to promote transparency and strengthen public understanding so yeah really good appointments there it looks like if you want to know more about the UEP Disclosure Fund and what they're doing sorry Disclosure Fund Disclosure Foundation it has changed names on that if you want to check out more information Jordan Flowers who is one of the directors there he was just on with me recently discussing that name change from funded foundation and what they're doing and of course I've spoken to Lester Mare who is involved with the UEP Disclosure Foundation and Yuan Fung all in the last year or so so go and check out those interviews and the link for the website will be in the description as well a couple more things just to pick up on folks Steven Spielberg has his new movie out on 12th of June 2026 it's been announced for so he is returning to the world of UFOs and ET mystery with a brand new film set for release next summer the project is still shrouded in secrecy you know ironically but it's already generating huge buzz so there's no official confirmed title yet though several production reports suggest the working title might be Disclosure with other internal names including IMDB have it listed as The Dish and Nonview popping up throughout filming so there's a few different names around we don't know what it's called yet but the cryptic marketing has appeared billboards in New York yesterday has the phrase all will be disclosed which only has added to the speculation about the films direction and themes we do know that Spielberg has got a big cast Emily Blunt leads the film joined by Colin Firth Joshua Connor Eve Hewson Coleman Domingo and Wyatt Russell the screenplay is written by David Coop based on a story by Spielberg and they work together on Jurassic Park one of the worlds and of course legendary John Williams is back to compose the score making yet another return for one of cinema's most iconic director composer partnerships John Williams has done some of the classics over the years folks I'm not even going to tell you what he's done if you don't know just type in John Williams to your Spotify and enjoy some huge scores that will take you back to your childhood and beyond for the cinema releases huge cinema fan myself as you may know plot details are so minimal almost non-existent we literally know this is a UFO type movie no synopsis released and the studio has not commented to anyone I can't find any spoilers online early reporting suggests it's a direct UFO movie his first since Close Encounters of the Third Kind obviously E.T. huge movie as well fans can expect the first trailer in the 19th of December attached to Avatar Fire and Ash here's a little sidebar folks Avatar movies I think are crap not a fan at all I went to see the first one not for me but I appreciate other folks will like them same with Lord of the Rings just boring for me yeah anyway so many of you probably just turned off their apologies love Avatar for now the mystery continues Spielberg making a UFO film is again enough to get everyone watching the skies if you look at the picture for the billboards with that slogan it's got like a face you can kind of see I'll put the picture up on YouTube if you're watching this now but otherwise I'll just have to describe it for those on audio but you can see a kind of eye and an eyebrow and it looks like someone's tilting their head up and looking back you see half their face but it's shrouded around a silhouette of a blue jay bird and if you look in the reflection of the person's eye it looks like they're small lights some folks saying it could be like an abduction and they're looking up and seeing the object but I'm really excited for that movie really excited for a big UFO movie in the cinema look when these things happen sometimes they end up massive letdowns but it's Spielberg it's UFOs there's a lot of romanticism there John Williams doing the score will be incredible I'm excited for this one and I hope you are too and I really look forward to seeing that I really look forward to seeing that trailer dropping in the coming weeks and also on that folks reminder James Fox's moment of contact new revelation of alien I've totally fucked up the thing the name of it where did I put it where did I put it where did I put it Fox Fox Fox I might cut this bit out folks I might not I did have the details in there oh yeah so it's a moment of contact new revelations of alien encounters is released digitally on the 22nd of December just before Christmas I can't see any details yet of how to purchase I imagine it's going to be like Hulu Apple TV Amazon Prime potentially as soon as those details are out I'll let you know but yeah go support James that'll be a wonderful documentary lots of new content in it and I look forward to seeing it myself I've been very fortunate to get a screener sent over to me I have not watched it just yet because I am ill and I want to enjoy said screener but James will be joining me towards the middle of December to discuss the new documentary and finally folks just a reminder I spoke to Stephen Bassett last week and he announced that the State of the World Forum is returning from the 14th to the 17th of December that is a global virtual gathering bringing together thinkers leaders indigenous voices technologists and creators to ask some of the biggest questions facing humanity today the theme for this year is four intelligences one future exploring how human natural artificial and even cosmic intelligence shape the world we're stepping into across four days the forum will tackle everything from ecological regeneration and ethical AI to geopolitical instability cultural restoration and the future of space and consciousness so you can expect high level conversation practical action frameworks and perspectives from a global mix of speakers which is always nice always nice all online local watch parties are happening around the world digital passes are available for anyone who wants to dig deeper if you're interested go check it out on the website Stephen did give me a code PRG95 you can enter that at checkout and you get a discount off of the online price and with that said folks lots of great content coming up an interview with Geoff Nusatelli like I say dropping very soon after this episode so make sure to check that out Geoff was one of the whistleblowers at the last hearing and is heavily involved in the UFO topic now behind the scenes trying to make progress in DC as a whistleblower thank you for checking out this update folks thank you for picking up a copy of my book as we head towards Christmas if you've got the book and haven't yet done so please go to Amazon click on orders and leave a review of the book it takes like 10 seconds to click five stars you can leave a comment to if you like all would be much appreciated and finally you can take advantage of the Black Friday offer now through December and I'm going to leave it up in January as well tough times for folks really tight times financially but thank you for all your support you offer so if you go to Patreon you'll automatically see your first month as half price or you can get a full annual membership half price on most of the tiers on there all makes a huge difference to me and folks maybe 2026 will be that year I finally go full time with this podcast terrifying thought but yeah who knows who knows but thank you so much for listening and I will speak to you all very very soon that's all for this episode of that UFO podcast thank you so much for listening and watching if you enjoyed the show please follow subscribe and leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcast it really helps others find the show if you're watching on YouTube hit like subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss future episodes you can also support the show directly and get early access add free episodes and bonus content on Patreon or by subscribing on Apple podcasts Spotify or YouTube memberships all the links are over at that UFO podcast dot com or in the show description below along with merchandise and more don't forget you can also pick up a copy of my book Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects available now in all good bookstores and through online retailers including Amazon big thank you again to all of you for listening and tuning in until next time keep looking up you never know what you might see