Just as someone interested in matters such as the UFO Phenomenon and the so-called “paranormal” aspects of reality begins to conclude that these topics will always remain on the very fringes of both our collective radar and our collective curiosity, a startling piece of news comes to the fore, demonstrating that, as painstakingly slow as it may feel to those of us deeply invested in these matters, the collective imagination does eventually come around, finally entertaining and investigating these fascinating dimensions of reality.

Such news emerged with fresh, startling clarity in recent weeks with the publication of a trailblazing new book titled Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders’ Account of the Secret Government UFO Program. The book, penned by James, Lacatski, Colm Kelleher, & George Knapp, details a truly ground-breaking program known as AAWSAP – the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, that approached the topic of UAP – unidentified aerial phenomena – with a refreshingly broad lens, recognizing the uncanny but unmistakable connection between the UFO Phenomenon and what has come to be referred to as “high strangeness” or “the paranormal”.

It is one thing for a forward-thinking private think tank or some paradigm-challenging corner of academia to explore these matters. It is something else entirely for an official government body to do so. And yet, this is exactly the story we learn about in this book. The DIA – the Defense Intelligence Agency – steered 22 million dollars in tax-payer funds towards precisely this endeavor.

And, as is stated in the book, “AAWSAP personnel chose to launch the UAP program with as broad a scope as possible” and to “research paranormal phenomena that co-locate with UAPs and to examine psychic effects in UAP witnesses in addition to scrutinizing the core UAP technology itself.”

While this broad-reaching net was as ambitious as it was unorthodox, to say the least, ultimately the data it produced proved revelatory. And while the program seemingly opened up more new questions than it ever managed to answer, the findings are nevertheless essential, because they help to define the direction such research needs to take in the months and years to come.

It should not be surprising, however, that so many new questions emerged at the culmination of the AAWSAP program. Because, ultimately, these findings point towards the undeniable necessity to expand our current model of reality. But what were these revelations? And what do they hint towards in regards to the very fabric of what we call “the real”? These are precisely the matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 44th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

In 2017 the New York Times dropped a bombshell article detailing a secret government UFO program that included footage of newly categorized “UAP” – unidentified aerial phenomena. That article, published by a mainstream, industry-leading publication like the Times inspired other publications and news outlets all over the world to follow suit. The ensuing drama resulted in a new wave of public and political interest in the topic of UFOs that has vaulted this field to new heights in the public sphere.

Still, as groundbreaking as that article and its contents were, it turns out that numerous errors also squeaked through. In addition, the article opened up many intriguing questions that were never fully answered. At least, until now. This past week saw the publication of a trailblazing new book titled Skinwalkers at the Pentagon that is garnering considerable attention – for numerous reasons, not the least of which is because it sets the record straight on many of the details that the Times article ultimately got wrong.

But serving as much more than a correction of the historical record, this new book, penned by James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher, & George Knapp, sheds wholly new light on a secret program, titled the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (or AAWSAP), whose paradigm-changing findings were ultimately delivered to the DIA – the Defense Intelligence Agency, at the culmination of its research.

As it turns out, the program Lacatski and Kelleher spearheaded between 2008 and 2010 covered a broad swath of phenomena that included, but went well beyond sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena – aka UFOs. Other matters investigated included psychic effects, the colloquially deemed “hitchhiker phenomenon”, poltergeist activity, and the documented physiological effects on human beings of contact with these various mysterious phenomena.

No doubt the contents of this book will shock many. And without question, many from the mainstream – both scientists and journalists alike – will balk at much of this material, because it brings the question of the primacy of consciousness and controversial matters such as sophisticated, non-human intelligence into the fore.

But of course, this kind of material is perfectly suited to a podcast such as this one. And so this is precisely the terrain we plan to traverse in this, the 43rd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.