“Imminent” by Luis Elizondo - book review
There’s no doubt whatsoever that Lue Elizondo is an honourable man with a keen sense of duty. He’s tough and smart.
I have previously written that Lue Elizondo, Avi Loeb, and Garry Nolan represent a breath of fresh air to the study of UFOs/UAP which has been and still is commonly polluted by bullshit.
Chris Mellon - another individual who has likewise helped elevate this subject to better levels - has written an excellent foreword.
Overall, Imminent walks the reader through the recent history of how a group of concerned individuals have encouraged the US Congress to take UFOs/UAP seriously. For anyone who has closely followed events since 2017 onwards, there’s nothing new.
It was good to see that Lue and Chris referred to UAP throughout, rather than the incorrect use of “UAPs”. Preciseness matters, and mental sloppiness hinders, as we explained in a short film about “UAPeas”.
However, there are extremely worrying examples of belief that show up in the book - which, in all honesty, cannot be ignored. If Lue was merely making a case for the existence of unknown anomalous craft, telling his story about how he became involved in the study of these, it wouldn’t matter too much. But he is categorically stating that the US is in possession of exotic technology as well as non-human bodies, so the questions must be asked: “How has he arrived at this conclusion? And could he be mistaken?”
To his credit, Lue acknowledges the importance of data and the scientific method, knowing that bias distorts reality. Nevertheless, he personally demonstrates clear vulnerability through belief.
Chapter 3 begins well, covering Lue’s background, including a few stories about his interesting childhood. He then details being recruited into the Stargate “remote viewing” program during his army career, which was led by Hal Puthoff, albeit just as it was about to be officially closed down. Lue writes: “Remote viewing deserves science, not scorn.” He absolutely believes this alleged psychic phenomenon is real, that he is able to do it himself, and he gives examples of Stargate’s success stories that “seemed almost magical”.
Psychic research or parapsychology has been studying the possibility of extrasensory perception for over a hundred years. In an article titled Is there a connection between UFOs and psychic phenomena? An informed comment, I stated that I was one of the very first individuals in the UK to formally study parapsychology as a young scientist at a London university in the mid-1970s. I would urge you to read what I have stated in that article for a fuller outline of my considered views on the subject. But, for now, I have to clearly state that remote viewing (or clairvoyance as it is more commonly referred to) has failed to be scientifically proven. Parapsychologists such as J.B. Rhine at Duke University in the 1930s onwards, and Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s, claimed to have “evidence”, but their research was subsequently shown to be badly flawed. Other researchers could not replicate their results, repeatability being an essential requirement of science. Subsequently, after a lot of initial promise and enthusiasm, followed by many decades of failure and scandal, parapsychology has now faded away.
To stress this point, remote viewing or clairvoyance is a very easy thing to study under strict research conditions as it is a straightforward matter of verifying or falsifying claims of extrasensory perception. By comparison, claims of reincarnation or the continuation of life after death presented more difficult challenges to those investigating.
I should also state for the record that Hal Puthoff was caught up in Scientology between the late 1960s and late 1970s. His subsequent work on zero-point energy has been repeatedly disputed through peer review. Lue states that he holds Hal Puthoff in high regard. I have followed Hal’s career since the 1970s and consider him to be a thoughtful individual. However, he is obviously vulnerable to belief.
In Chapter 4, Lue writes about getting a “history lesson” from Hal Puthoff:
“Well…it all goes back to Roswell in 1947.”
“Wait - Roswell was real?” I asked.
“Yes, Lue, it was real.”
“You mean to tell me that a UAP actually crashed and we covered it up?”
“That’s exactly what happened”, he replied.
I’ve followed the Roswell saga for the past five decades, considering all of the witness statements (including those later to be exposed as liars), arguments from all sides, and attempts to uncover what actually crashed. Travelling from the UK to the US to make a film on the “best UFO cases”, we anticipated finishing on schedule, with a week to spare, which thankfully happened. We therefore were able to shoot a planned extra film about Roswell - at the crash site and nearby. Our assessment of what crashed in 1947 differs to that of Hal Puthoff.
Eric Davis - intricately involved with the Wilson memo - is described by Lue in Imminent, together with Hal Puthoff, as “like supergenius criminal profilers”. Yet Eric Davis is on record as saying he believes the alleged Aztec UFO crash of 1948 is real. But it was an acknowledged hoax. Two men selling “alien technology” were convicted of fraud in 1953. Jacques Vallée has recently championed the so-called Trinity UFO crash of 1945, which Douglas Dean Johnson has shown to be another hoax. Again, time after time, belief is a factor that constantly threatens to cause bias. And bias misleads.
I suggest that Lue has been influenced by these individuals and others. Like much of “ufology”, perhaps they’ve become trapped in a false narrative. As usually happens when there’s belief, you look for affirmation of that belief. One of our recent articles considered How do you assess the claims of David Grusch, James T Lacatski, and others? We looked at this matter of belief and social conditioning, as well as the unlikelihood of extraterrestrial craft crashing on our planet.
Some of Lue’s reasoning in his book seems shallow. For example, he writes: “If they’re good, they’re not doing a very good job of enacting a program of benevolence. They didn’t sweep down like angels in the 1940s to stop the deployment of two atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Nor have they stopped famine, wars, and mass slaughter.” But these were the result of human action (or inaction). If any extraterrestrial visitors were silly enough to intervene, initially saving lives, they’d soon be blamed for not “helping” if/when they failed to stop the murder or rape of one individual, someone dying in hospital because our medical knowledge is still inadequate, or (ultimately) poor weather happening on someone’s wedding day. People love a good scapegoat - yet shy away from accountability.
Lue also writes: “If they’re bad, they could be conducting what the military calls an IPB operation - initial preparation of the battlefield. And you know what? To a guy grounded in the reality of war, everything we have seen thus far looks a lot like IPB.” And again: “They have made ceaseless visits to our plane of existence since antiquity, with more recent visits since the dawn of the twentieth century.” If true, what have they been waiting for all of this time? For us to get more technologically capable so they can enjoy a one-hour-long battle rather than it all being over within a minute? His reasoning doesn’t make sense to me and his experience of warfare only extends to the peoples of this planet.
I wish to emphasise I have no doubt that all of the individuals mentioned above, not least Lue, are basically sincere people. It’s just that they underestimate the power of belief. They might clearly see it in others, especially when “demons” are mentioned, but less so when it comes to themselves. It’s really good they are working hard to unravel the truth. But we need hard evidence, not more “He said, she said” (nor the frustrating innuendo that you see in interviews and podcasts). The main issue here isn’t the existence of the unknown craft, but does the US government - including the military-industrial complex - have recovered exotic technology and bodies? This is for the elected politicians of Congress to investigate and ascertain, one way or another, and we wish Lue Elizondo, Chris Mellon, and their colleagues all the best in helping with this process.
Written by Iain Scott, 24th August 2024