Army Confirms Testing UFO Debris; Secrecy May Loom For Years About Results

Part of the cover page from the CRADA that TTSA signed with the U.S. Army

In October of 2019, Tom DeLonge’s company To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA) announced an agreement with the U.S. Army. It allowed TTSA to take an untold number of UFO artifacts; pieces of debris or other related material from Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) that they have collected, and take it to the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command [CCDC] to “advance TTSA’s materiel and technology innovations in order to develop enhanced capabilities for Army ground vehicles.” In other words, the Army agreed to offer their equipment to test the UAP artifacts TTSA had collected in order to see what results may appear. Those results would be mutually shared and exploited.

But has anything been done in the nearly two years since that was announced? TTSA did not want to talk about it, but The Black Vault confirmed with the U.S. Army testing has already been conducted. The only problem is that the actual results from those tests thus far, and any findings in the future, may remain secret for years or possibly even forever.

The Original Interest

“These are actual photographs of material in our possession.” – Luis Elizondo, 27 October 2018 (Source: Keith Basterfield)

Despite the allegation the material came from UFOs; the Army had no problem expressing their interest.

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“TTSA has a set of different materials, the properties of which they’re interested in investigating the properties. As materials research in general is of key interest to Army research, the Army is interested in any insights gained from investigating the properties of these materials, too,” Dr. Doug Halleaux, Public Affairs Officer for the Army’s CCDC Ground Vehicle System Center (GVSC), stated in an e-mail to The Black Vault in 2019.

A press release by TTSA in October of 2019 also showed their interest in their collaboration with the U.S. Army, and stated that they, “…will share its discoveries with Ground Vehicle System Center (GVSC) and Ground Vehicle Survivability and Protection (GVSP) and the U.S. Army shall provide laboratories, expertise, support, and resources to help characterize the technologies and its applications.”

Missing from the press release? They would share the results with the public.

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It seemed that both sides were eager to work together and achieve results. But sharing the information with the general public? The same general public that funded the tests should they take place? Well, that was another story entirely.

When The Black Vault reached out to TTSA, they wanted to offer no information. Rather, they recommended via e-mail that The Black Vault sift through a mountain of records for answers.

“Thank you for your inquiry in this regard. We must refer you to our SEC filings, press releases on our website, and other public disclosures regarding the CRADA,” the TTSA Press Team sent The Black Vault in an e-mail. No direct links or specific citations were offered (the anchor links here are provided by The Black Vault.) Between all of the aforementioned, it comprised of an enormous amount of information spread between TTSA’s website, the SEC, various press release distributors, and whatever other “public disclosures” they were referring to, but remained unnamed.

After an extensive search, The Black Vault was unable to find any confirmation that TTSA had done any testing. The closest to that was actually a denial that anything had happened under the agreement with the U.S. Army, and that was found in their 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which took place on March 24, 2021.

Tom DeLonge, CEO, To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science

Tom DeLonge, TTSA’s CEO, told stockholders:

“As announced earlier in 2019 we entered into a collaboration agreement with the U.S. Army. This was the continuation and next step of our ADAM project to analyze and advance our understanding of the collected exotic materials. The scope of the ARMY agreement covered metamaterial science, advanced communications, vehicle camouflage, and beamed energy propulsion. This contract spans five years, giving the Army access to TTSA data to support Army research. In return, TTSA gains access to scientific expertise that accelerates the quality and pace of our research. We kicked off this partnership in early 2020 with excitement, hosting the principal officers in the US Army at our headquarters in San Diego. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter the pandemic took over and all operations affiliated with our project were closed due to safety concerns or redirected to focus on other government priorities concerning the national state of emergency. As there seems to be light on the horizon to the end of the health crisis, I am confident we will have some interesting progress to report as the year progresses and the country reopens. We are dedicated to our partnership and excited to pick up where we left off as soon as we can.”

It appears that at least in March of 2021, nothing really had happened due to the COVID pandemic, at least, that’s what TTSA was telling their investors.

However, when The Black Vault reached out to the U.S. Army, they were much more open and transparent about offering an update on the CRADA, albeit they remained brief.

“Overall since the beginning of the CRADA, we’ve successfully executed some tests, and those details and results, if releasable upon conclusion of the CRADA, will be available then,” Halleaux said in an email to The Black Vault in August. The date(s) of those tests are unknown, and follow ups to obtain the exact date(s) were unanswered by the publishing of this article.

The original CRADA will last until September of 2023, however it is unclear if the pandemic will extend the original dates due to lost time. At the termination of the agreement, the U.S. Army can not confirm whether information will be released from them, as it will rely heavily on the actual results produced.

Trade Secret – inscription on a white card in the beam of light

If piece(s) are determined to be classified, which one would assume if a piece of TTSA’s UAP material came from classified human technology, it would be withheld from the public. The other wild card, is if the results are considered “trade secrets” which would then exempt the U.S. Army from releasing results in perpetuity. The release determination on any results would likely then fall on TTSA if they felt the public should be made aware of their findings. But in the eyes of the law which ties in to the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Army would be unable to release it due to Exemption (b)(4), which primarily exempts “trade secrets and commercial or financial information.”

The Black Vault reached out again to TTSA for comment, given the revelation sent to The Black Vault that testing had occurred. Seeking confirmation the general public will be made aware of their findings, and test results would be released, they simply said, “We are not able to provide a comment at this time.”

When the U.S. Army was asked about the closure of their facilities during the pandemic, Halleaux confirmed there were times the labs were unavailable. “Lab availability and testing schedules were both intermittent during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; in many cases, our health protection measures meant that travel was limited to mission-critical purposes only for which CRADA testing doesn’t qualify. As a result, when travel was restricted, testing was not possible.”

When asked how often, or exactly when, facilities were off limits; no answer could be given by the time this article was published.

The Documents

In addition to seeking comments for publishing directly from the U.S. Army and from TTSA; The Black Vault relies heavily on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to remove layers of secrecy on issues such as these.

So, in January of 2021, a FOIA request was filed for all memos, letters, reports, e-mails, etc., that were generated due to this CRADA up until that point.

The FOIA response letter to The Black Vault outlined the full scope of the request.

The key goal was to obtain the reports that were considered “milestones” according to the agreement. This was outlined on the second to the last page of the CRADA:

The milestone chart, as stipulated by the CRADA.

The FOIA request was responded to on August 12, 2021, with a batch of responsive documents related to the request. What was absent, was any report by TTSA or update by the same submitted to the Army. Which, should that exist, would have come up under the scope of my request.

The records primarily dealt with The Black Vault’s requests to stay updated on the CRADA, along with references to other potential media interest in the CRADA. It appears, by the records anyway, The Black Vault may have been the only one asking.

The Pentagon Gets Involved

In a “Media & Public Affairs Activity Weekly Update” message sent on May 7, 2021, the U.S. Army GVSC sent out the following:

This record shows that in May, which coincides with The Black Vault’s attempts to get updates regarding the CRADA, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the query be shifted into their hands. Per the wording of the above, the likely PAO (Public Affairs Officer) referenced would be Susan Gough; the lone Pentagon spokesperson currently tasked with responding to all UAP and UFO related enquiries.

This is a cause for concern, since the Pentagon’s messaging regarding the UAP topic has been full of changed statements and contradicting information. If the above document does indeed reveal that the Pentagon and Gough have taken over the messaging behind the CRADA; it may be very difficult to get solid answers from the government-side of this agreement.

But wait, that’s not all.

The Pentagon Denies Being Involved

The Black Vault reached out to the Pentagon to see why they took over the messaging regarding the CRADA. According to them, the Pentagon never took over the messaging for the CRADA with TTSA, and therefore, they stated that the U.S. Army / GVSC remained the lead for any and all queries relating to it.

No formal statement was received for print, but the above was confirmed to be published for clarity.

It is unclear why documents obtained via FOIA showed there was a “request [by]  the Department of Defense’s task force that was set up to work the various UFO-related topics…” and to have queries shifted to them.

Will We Ever Get Answers?

It remains unclear whether this CRADA, which excited many, will produce results that are given to the public.

From the standpoint of the U.S. Army, it will rely on numerous factors that will take years to determine.

From the standpoint of TTSA, they do not want to add any comment whatsoever.

Will the public ever get results, and will UAP debris possibly show through the scientific method an extraterrestrial origin?

We may just never get to know.

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Note: The Black Vault reached out to numerous investors into TTSA. Each new voice that The Black Vault spoke with, proved their investment with the proper paperwork, or their comments were not considered. Most submitted statements about the above, but it was decided that they would not be published. Across the board, investors were unaware any actual testing took place, and most were under the impression it was “on hold” based on TTSA’s recent meeting. Others were not following developments closely, so declined to comment.

The comments submitted ranged from still somewhat supportive, but seemingly more cautious; to frustration; to even some much more strongly worded assertions and even allegations about certain actions on the side of TTSA. It was decided in an effort for transparency on the side of The Black Vault, it would be unfair to withhold the stronger, more stern comments (for obvious legal reasons), and only choose to publish others. Doing so, would skew the overall attitude that was collected by The Black Vault in creating this article. Therefore, it was decided to hold them all, with the hopes that the investors whom wanted to speak out publicly once this article was published, no matter their stance, would feel comfortable to do so with their name attached. 

Document Archive

Original FOIA Release

FOIA Case File

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This post was published on September 7, 2021 3:32 pm

John Greenewald

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