Public Affairs emails with The Debrief

McClintock was dismissive of the idea that U.S. military encounters with UAP could be related to any form of classified aerospace
testing.
"It is unlikely that the U.S. government would intentionally conduct tests against its own unwitting military assets," he told The
Debrief in an interview. "To do so would require a very high level of coordination and approval for the potential safety and
operational security risks."
In separate interviews last year, aerospace engineer and Area-51 veteran T.D. Barnes and former CIA executive S. Eugene "Gene"
Poteat both suggested radar detections by the Navy of extreme aerial maneuvers sounded suspiciously similar to a top-secret
electronic warfare program they were involved with in the 1960s, codenamed PALLADIUM.
However, Poteat and Barnes acknowledged they had no explanation for any of the physical sightings by military aviators. Coinciding
with Gen. McClintock's comments, both men said everyone involved in any classified assessments involving the use of classified
aerospace platforms was made aware they were participating in a test. This even included times when the platforms were deemed
"UFOs because they were so secret that they didn't exist."
McClintock, who also served as Senior Defense Attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, seemed equally doubtful that UAP might
represent the technology of a foreign adversary.
"It is not outside the realm of the plausible that an adversary would test the ability of the United States to detect some new
capability, although it would be more likely they would only do this after testing the capability within or closer to their own territory
before trying to penetrate U.S. airspace," he stated.
Ultimately, after asking numerous current and former defense officials and subject matter experts, The Debrief has been unable to
find anyone of authority—whether on, or off the record—willing to say the UAP encounters reported by military aviators are
consistent with black budget testing, or "ferreting" of U.S. air defense by foreign governments. Equally, we have been unable to find
anyone of credentialed background willing to say what, exactly, this means the source of these UAP could be.
Offering The Pentagon one final opportunity to discuss what we intended to report or comment on McClintock's statement, The
Debrief once more reached out to spokeswoman Susan Gough. Our offer went unanswered.
At least from an official position, the source behind unidentified aerial phenomena appears to remain a mystery.
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