Credible info on incredible topics The UFO Trail The UFO Trail Friday, November 1, 2019 Joseph Bryan III, the FBI and CIA There are certain stories where researchers may start unearthing interesting nuggets at most any point on the timeline, and they'll soon find themselves immersed in ever expanding lists of people, organizations and circumstances. Many may seem worthy of further study. Pulling on a thread may take them into networks of individuals and actions which could have been accessed from any number of points of entry, and could continue to take research in lots of different directions. I eventually came to the conclusion that riding the UFO subject into the intelligence community is often a scenario whereby the topic of entry rapidly fades in brilliance when observed alongside the material to which it led. A shooting star into other vast lines of research. Many of those areas of research are specific fields of expertise for historians and scholars. Such scholars often have little interest in the subject of UFOs, and probably with good reason: it's not much more than a minor footnote as compared to wider and more consequential social issues within their fields of study. This post, as with many here at The UFO Trail, could have been presented a lot of ways. It could have been framed as an exploration of government propaganda and misinformation. It could have been about how the actions and statements of TTSA personnel mirror those of spooks and UFO researchers of yesteryear. We could also have gone down the covert government operations rabbit hole, because behavior modification projects, organized efforts to sow dissension, and the manipulation of the press have more than cameo appearances in this Cold Perhaps sometimes it's most accurate, however, if a researcher just presents what they're finding. Truth be told, sometimes we simply don't know what all we're looking at, or at the least we're unable to fully discern some subtleties and conclusively read between the lines of complex social situations. That might particularly be considered the case when a substantial amount of material seems to be obstructed, lost to time, or both. Yet in some instances, the gist of a chain of events nonetheless seems quite With that, let's continue to explore the circles and activities of the late Joseph Bryan III, and, as we do so, bear in mind the words of experienced FOIA researcher JPat Brown, who wrote, "By just picking a random page from a random file, youre doing your part to reclaim a history that has been hidden away, if not outright stolen." Seeking Files on Joseph Bryan III WAYWARD SONS: NICAP and the IC "Reading Jacks new book on the subject is a revelation" The Saucer Life "WAYWARD SONS is highly recommended" Eric Wojciechowski "Im just starting 'Wayward Sons, Jack, and am already full of admiration for your measured approach and thorough research." Mark Pilkington "[I]t is great! It was a wonderful touch to see the primary source materials obtainable as a simple link. Anyone seriously interested in the subject should read this." Adam Kehoe, PhD "Wayward Sons is a thorough examination of NICAP and by understanding its history we can see how Ufology is constantly on a spin- "[A] shining example of how, if we are to learn more about the exciting and sometimes intricate history of the UFOs, thorough source criticism is imperative. Jack Brewer leads the "Am reading now and it's very good: Recommended!" Jeffrey Kaye, PhD "MUST read" Michael Redmond Recommended by John E.L. Tenney Read reviews James Carrion on 'Wayward Sons: NICAP and the IC': UFO Classified | JaUFO Classified | Ja...... Recommended FOIA Posts MoreCreate BlogSign In Dette website anvender cookies fra Google til at levere sine tjenester og analysere trafik. Din IP-adresse og brugeragent deles med Google sammen med effektivitets- og sikkerhedsmetrics. Dette sker for at sikre tjenestekvaliteten, generere brugsstatistik samt registrere og hndtere misbrug. FLERE OPLYSNINGEROK Readers may recall Mr. Bryan sat on the Board of Governors of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a civilian UFO research group, from 1957-1969, and again in 1971. Bryan had the unusual distinction of serving as an officer in three separate branches of service (Army, Air Force and Navy), and apparently worked with the CIA from the late 1940's until 1953. He was born into a wealthy newspaper family and became a rather widely published writer. Bryan was a psychological warfare specialist, a circumstance which was not known publicly during his time with NICAP. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, a former director of the CIA, was also a NICAP board member. A summary of our efforts to this point to obtain files on Bryan: - Sep. 12, 2019, an FOIA request was submitted to the FBI for files pertaining to Joseph Bryan III. - FBI responded by providing a 37-page file on Bryan, and in a letter dated Sep. 20, stated two more files potentially responsive to Bryan were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The files were not previously processed under the FOIA, the FBI indicated, and identified the two files as 100-HQ-93216 and 62-HQ-116607. - Sep. 25 an FOIA request was submitted to NARA, explaining the response from FBI and seeking the two files referenced by the Bureau. - NARA soon responded that file 100-HQ-93216 was, according to an "initial assessment," confirmed to be related to Bryan. It was also described as an 8500-page document, creating substantial challenges and expenses for processing and producing, including several years wait and a $6,800 copying fee. The other file, 62-HQ-116607, NARA stated, remained in FBI custody. - Some emails to other researchers revealed John Greenewald of The Black Vault obtained file 100-HQ-93216 in part (about 360 pages) in 2005. The file primarily pertains to bacteriological - Following further correspondence with NARA, it was established that just two pages of the 8500 pertain to the subject of my original request, Joseph Bryan III. Oct. 28 NARA subsequently provided at no cost the two redacted pages, a 1953 FBI memo. - After informing the FBI that NARA stated 62-HQ-116607 remained in FBI custody, FBI responded files potentially responsive to my request, but not specifically stating the file in question, were destroyed. I submitted an appeal. - Additional FOIA requests on Bryan to other agencies remain pending. Bryan and the FBI The 37-page FBI file on Bryan, as explained in a previous post, largely chronicles the 1947 investigation of Bryan stemming from FBI attempts to groom him to frame a then-forthcoming article on the Bureau in a way that would please Director Hoover. After touring the FBI, meeting with Hoover, and being supplied material and sources for the story, Bryan informed the Bureau in early 1948 he would not be writing the piece. Bryan suggested a heavy workload was the reason. Bryan's association with the CIA is not overtly discussed in the file, and it is not clear at what point the FBI may have became aware of it. A somewhat interesting exchange seems to have taken place during Bryan's meeting with Hoover, and is described in an Oct. 20, 1947 memo (see p16) from Assistant to the Director Lewis B. Nichols to Associate Director Clyde A. Tolson. Describing an interaction with Bryan, Nichols explained to Tolson, "Sometime during the conversation with the Director he told the Director he was still a Naval Officer. The Director replied, 'I know.' He asked me how the Director knew he was still a Naval Officer." Nichols goes on to describe how he tried to reconcile the situation with Bryan, and seems to be passing his ostensible explanation along in the event the issue should ever come back up, as pictured below, along with a handwritten response from Hoover. Responsive Records on 'Coast to Coast' Relevant to Pending Law Enforcement Proceedings: FBI DIA Releases More AAWSAP Files DIA Further Verifies AAWSAP Award to BAASS, Fails to Locate Skinwalker Report Ongoing NICAP Research: FOIA Request Lands FBI File on Counsel Services Co- Office of Secretary of Defense: DIA Ran AATIP Until It Ended in 2012 DIA FOIA Search Finds No Correspondence With Elizondo Pertaining to AATIP CIA Serves Assist to Researchers Seeking Previously Processed UFO Docs NARA Tentatively Confirms 200-Page FBI File on NICAP Organizer DIA Withheld AAWSAP Contract Awarded to BAASS in 2011 FOIA Response NARA Further Declassifies 1949 FBI Memo on 'Unconventional Warfare' Meetings NSA Releases 1978 Memo on MUFON Conference "I just kind of started to point by point try to get evidence to support or evidence to refute the things that were in that article." -Sarah Scoles on the NYT AATIP article, The Black Vault "'but what about the anecdotal evidence' is the platonic ideal of whatever the complete opposite of science journalism is called." - Dave Levitan, Twitter "I don't want the perspective of pathological liars. They subtract clarity without adding anything." - Dr. Kathie Allen, Twitter "By just picking a random page from a random file, you're doing your part to reclaim a history that has been hidden away, if not outright stolen." - JPat Brown, MuckRock "You always have to ask 'how do we really know that?' Sometimes the answer is a disappointing: 'we really Dette website anvender cookies fra Google til at levere sine tjenester og analysere trafik. Din IP-adresse og brugeragent deles med Google sammen med effektivitets- og sikkerhedsmetrics. Dette sker for at sikre tjenestekvaliteten, generere brugsstatistik samt registrere og hndtere misbrug. FLERE OPLYSNINGEROK The latest two-page FBI file obtained from NARA skips ahead to 1953. It is a memo from Tolson to Assistant Director D.M. Ladd, subject line, "'Brain Washing' movie". The memo documents a June 11, 1953, meeting in the Attorney General's office. In attendance, among others, were Ladd, Hoover, and Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles, who presented the CIA film, "Brain Washing," for viewing. It pertained to material we now know to have involved implications to such topics as the use of bacteriological warfare by the U.S. in Korea, damning confessions issued by American prisoners of war, and what was ultimately Manchurian Candidate-type subject matter. There is a single mention of Joseph Bryan III midway through the third paragraph of the memo, as Bryan is described as an associate of what seem to be certain people related to the film: The release of the two-page memo was accompanied by a letter dated Oct. 18, 2019, from Steve Hamilton of the NARA Special Access and FOIA Staff. Mr. Hamilton explained about the memo, "I have completed a line-by-line review of FBI file 100-HQ-93216-642 and released information to the greatest extent possible. The file has been redacted to protect names of CIA employees and former employees." As we proceed on this exploration of people and events from yesteryear, it might be an apt time to suggest keeping in mind such projects as MKULTRA and COINTELPRO. Many readers will be aware the former was an infamous CIA descent into behavior modification, with forerunners bearing such titles as Bluebird and Artichoke that started in the late 1940's. COINTELPRO was a decades-long covert FBI operation designed to surveil, infiltrate and disrupt organizations. We very well may have never heard of either of the projects or any of the related operations if it weren't for the work of activists. Cold War Fever If this is supposed to be covered up as a defensive feasibility study, it's pretty damn transparent. - CIA officer commenting on MKULTRA to his boss as quoted by John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate Now, remember that the two-page memo, "'Brain Washing' movie", was lifted from a yet to be fully released 8500-page file on bacteriological warfare, as was the case with the 360-page file obtained by John Greenewald. Each of those pdf's came from the same FBI master file, the 8500 pages of 100-HQ-93216, the vast majority of which, the Bureau informed me, has not been processed pursuant to the FOIA. We previously considered some of the records in the 360-page bacteriological warfare file, and how the documents carried implications to reported cattle mutilations. Also found in the pdf are FBI memos outlining an ongoing series of late 1940's meetings between representatives of various agencies and academics to discuss what is described, at least overtly, as the threat of don't.' That is the BEGINNING of progress, not the end." - API Case Files, Twitter "Any time scientists withhold information and ask you to trust them, it is a giant red flag." - Dr. Robert Bartholomew, Psychology "If access is granted to the evidence, it will not take long to establish facts. We can debate hear-say forever." - Dr. Tyler Kokjohn "The recordings of my hypnosis sessions are full of [David Jacobs] regaling me at length about his other subjects' testimonies." - Emma Woods Get this Recent Comments Widget Robertson Geo Conwy commented on Cia Responds To Foia Request On Jack: I believe in UFOs. But everyone at my work believes i them also. I like Star Wars and Star Trek... Anonymous commented on Carol Rainey Open Letter To Ufo: BINGO! Anonymous commented on Lapd Denies Request For Lash Files: You are correct Anonymous commented on Revisiting Gulf Breeze Six: Two of your "related matters of interest" are stretches at best. First, as INSCOM... Joey Vimsante Poet commented on In With New: I think there should be a Pseudoscience University to study aliens and conspiracy theories. Recent Comments Followers (66) Next Read reviews: "The most important UFO book of the year" Dette website anvender cookies fra Google til at levere sine tjenester og analysere trafik. Din IP-adresse og brugeragent deles med Google sammen med effektivitets- og sikkerhedsmetrics. Dette sker for at sikre tjenestekvaliteten, generere brugsstatistik samt registrere og hndtere misbrug. FLERE OPLYSNINGEROK bacteriological warfare. Among other points of potential interest is the ominous reference to a "National Academy of Sciences Committee on Truth Serum". A blog reader apparently found the topic interesting, further browsed the file, and shared something we agree was intriguing. Pages 207-212 of the 360-page file contain a May 31, 1949 FBI memo from Ladd to the Director, Subject: Biological Warfare. The memo indicates the Bureau used a "liaison" to attend the ongoing meetings pertaining to bacteriological warfare and what were described as "unconventional methods of warfare". Minutes were obtained from what is described as an Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Defense, and "regular" members of the Committee were in attendance, which included representatives from the CIA, Johns Hopkins and Yale. The minutes of the May 15, 1949 meeting, apparently conducted in an apartment, describe a CIA representative addressing security implications concerning a research subject and related issues: Techniques of interest were covered. Topics included extraction of classified information through subconscious isolation and interrogation through regression; reproduction of the subconscious state and related possibilities of espionage and sabotage guidance; instilling of false information and eradication of information from the conscious mind; negative visual hallucinations and the surveillance possibilities involved; destruction and re-creation of personality and character traits: It was further stated the Committee expressed considerable interest in isolating the subconscious, particularly in relation to using drugs to enhance hypnotic techniques: Readers may find the memo reminiscent of the "work" of CIA-funded consultants such as Maitland Baldwin, Ewen Cameron, and a host of hypnotists including Martin Orne. Experiments also come to mind pertaining to early attempts to employ hypnosis to manipulate the morals of research subjects. Corresponding records are contained in the published MKULTRA Collection. While the acts and implications may not be news, one might nonetheless wonder what the other 8100+ pages of 100-HQ-93216 hold. The above material seems to provide a fascinating, albeit dark, glimpse into the rise of MKULTRA from an FBI perspective. Such records, more of which may well exist within the unreleased trove of FBI investigations surrounding bacteriological warfare, would seem potentially quite valuable to historians. Furthermore, the possibility is raised that individuals involved in unethical and sometimes illegal FBI and CIA operations collaborated to some extent. We simply do not know what we would learn from file 100-HQ-93216 in its entirety until given an opportunity to find out, and what we've seen so far would suggest a deeper look would be worthwhile. A strong argument can be made the file should be fully processed pursuant to the FOIA and Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover "Probably the most honest book on UFO alien abduction I've ever seen..." Eric Wojciechowski "Must-read for anyone interested in the alien abduction phenomenon" Michael S Heiser, PhD "Brewer has done the hard work of tracking such stories to their lairs" Carol Rainey "The heinous practices pointed out in this carefully organized, well-indexed study deserve to be widely exposed" William Grabowski "A long time coming" "Important and complex cases are presented in a readable format" Emma Woods "One of the most important books on the UFO subject in recent years" Lorin Cutts Amazon Reviews Goodreads Ratings December (5) November (4) Gen. Flickinger & the FBI: Obtaining & Sorting Puz... Recording of Controversial Phone Message for Marti... NARA Further Declassifies 1949 FBI Memo on 'Unconv... Joseph Bryan III, the FBI and CIA October (3) September (3) August (2) April (2) March (2) February (1) January (3) Blog Archive Dette website anvender cookies fra Google til at levere sine tjenester og analysere trafik. Din IP-adresse og brugeragent deles med Google sammen med effektivitets- og sikkerhedsmetrics. Dette sker for at sikre tjenestekvaliteten, generere brugsstatistik samt registrere og hndtere misbrug. FLERE OPLYSNINGEROK released. Researchers should not be denied opportunities to comb through it, particularly as compared to just leaving the thousands of pages of Cold War era FBI material to sit dormant behind a wall of bureaucracy. So, where does that leave us with Joseph Bryan III? What do currently available FOIA files and authenticated documents tell us about the man and his social circles? How directly does any of it involve covert intelligence operations? To begin forming answers to such questions, we must cross reference more files and sources. Bryan and the CIA As I digested the two files I obtained from the FBI on Bryan, some of the material was increasingly perplexing to me. In the recently obtained two-page 1953 memo referenced above, the one about the brainwashing film, why was Bryan's name mentioned without further explanation? That certainly seemed to imply a familiarity with Bryan between the sender and recipient of the memo, a familiarity that would not have existed without mention much more recently than Bryan's visit to the FBI years earlier. I continue to wonder what other files might exist - or have been destroyed - that could further clarify the situation. Similarly, it was perplexing that I simply did not understand what some of the documents were doing in the 37-page file. Take, for instance, an April 17, 1953 memo from M.A. Jones