Welcome back to Signs of Life, PARADIGM’s weekly briefing tracking all things UAP and NHI (UFOs and aliens).
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EXCLUSIVE
UFO GOLD RUSH WATCH
Source: Alabama Secretary of State’s Office
Claims that humans are reverse-engineering alien technology remain unproven, but one of the most prominent sources of those claims is already positioning to capitalize on breakthroughs in aerospace science.
Public records obtained by PARADIGM list whistleblower David Grusch as the chief operating officer of StarDustX Materials, Inc., an advanced materials startup whose other executives have backgrounds in UFO activism and aerospace technology.
The records offer the latest glimpse into the commercial jockeying behind the scenes as the Disclosure movement pushes for release of more classified information about UFOs and the alleged existence of aliens.
Publicly available details about StarDustX remain sparse.
It was incorporated in 2024, according to public records. Stanford medical school professor Garry Nolan, a member of the Trump administration’s UAP Science Advisory Council, and Karl Nell, a retired Army colonel and Disclosure advocate, have both identified themselves as co-founders.
Nell — whose LinkedIn profile lists past engineering roles at defense contractors and indicates his tenure at StarDustX ended last year — has described it as “a multimillion-dollar VC-backed startup focused on metamaterial analysis and design.” He has also written that the company is “positioned to be the disruptive global leader in iterative meta-materials generation – imaging, analytics, engineering, and synthesis – spearheading a transformation of human material culture at an equivalent resolution and intricacy inherent to that of the natural world.”
Nolan has analyzed metallic debris allegedly associated with UFO sightings and holds patents related to materials analysis.
Grusch, Nolan, and Nell did not respond to queries. Nate Lucas, a spokesman for Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, whose office employs Grusch part-time, declined to comment.
The involvement of Grusch, a former military intelligence official, is notable because he is arguably the central figure of the modern Disclosure era: He delivered congressional testimony in 2023 alleging that the government secretly retrieves crashed alien craft; became a congressional staffer last year to aid the House UFO investigation; and has become an increasingly visible Disclosure activist in recent months.
His involvement in a for-profit aerospace venture, though, presents potential ethical pitfalls.
Ethics restrictions for lower-paid House staffers like Grusch, are laxer than they are for other legislative-branch employees. But rules bar all staffers from using their positions to benefit outside employers or representing them before federal agencies.
Burlison, one of Congress’s top Disclosure advocates, succeeded in July in getting the House to adopt his UAP Disclosure Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Disclosure Act would compel private contractors with information about UAP materials to provide that information to the federal government for eventual public disclosure.
A potential business rival is already crying foul.
PARADIGM reported last week that security consultant Gene Sticco is working with Michael Spicer, a Kansas businessman who claims to have reverse-engineered materials from a super-advanced U.S. aircraft.
On Tuesday, Sticco tweeted a screenshot he says he took earlier this year from a government database of federal contractors at SAM.gov, showing Grusch listed as a point of contact for StarDustX.
Currently, the StarDustX listing on SAM.gov shows only Joseph DiNoto, a former senior Army official, as the company’s point of contact. DiNoto did not respond to a query sent to Obsidian, a company where he is listed as an executive. StarDustX registered to receive federal contracts in May, according to the listing, which does not show any awards granted.
Public records from Alabama that show Grusch listed as the registered agent for the company’s Alabama branch (Huntsville is an aerospace hub). The company’s application to register an Alabama branch, obtained by PARADIGM, was filed in January and lists Grusch as the company’s chief operating officer.
In a text exchange, Sticco alleged that Grusch’s perch in Congress provided an unfair advantage in the jockeying over the disclosure of purported UFO tech secrets.
“If you have inside knowledge and you know the rules need to change so you can play in that game,” he said. “You work to change the rules.”
Also this week…
DISCLOSURE WATCH
The Department of War announced the issuance of a waiver for all current and former service members, civilian personnel and contractors bound by nondisclosure agreements related to UAP information. The waiver allows them to disclose information to authorized recipients under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP (PURSUE).
Disclosure advocates have called for releasing the text of the waiver itself and pointed out that a waiver covering intelligence community personnel has not yet been announced.
BIG, IF TRUE
Speaking onstage at a company event in Miami, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said the company does not take on technology projects its engineers do not believe in. He then claimed that a general once told the company, “Build me this bullshit alien anti-gravity machine that also tells me I am brilliant.”
Palantir’s press office did not respond to requests for more information.
FOR THE RECORD
For years, Hollywood writer-producer Brent Friedman has told a personal story that purports to provide evidence for longstanding UFO lore about a sprawling government cover-up.
In 1981, attorney John Herrington took a post in the Reagan administration and moved from northern California to the D.C. area. According to the tale, Herrington hired Friedman, his erstwhile California neighbor, then a recent high school graduate, to drive his car across the country to his new home.
Friedman claims that when he delivered the car to Herrington, the new political appointee hosted his old neighbor for dinner and began to drink. Herrington then allegedly revealed that he had received a series of destabilizing briefings to the effect that aliens are real and the government was involved in an elaborate cover-up of that fact.
Late last year, before PARADIGM’s public launch, I tracked down Herrington, who ultimately served as Reagan’s assistant Navy secretary and energy secretary, to put the story to him.
In a brief phone interview, Herrington, now 87, called Friedman’s tale “total BS.”
Herrington initially said he had never met Friedman, but after listening to a summary of Friedman’s story, Herrington said some aspects of it were real. “You just rung a bell with me,” he said. “I think he used to be a neighbor of mine.”
Herrington also said that he really did pay to have his car driven across the country.
“That’s a true story, but Brent Friedman had nothing to do with it,” he said. Instead, Herrington said he had hired his son-in-law to drive his car.
While Herrington maintains he never had an alien-induced meltdown after being read in on government secrets, he said he was intrigued by recent reports of Navy fighters encountering UAP.
Friedman told PARADIGM he stands by his story, pointing to a recent retelling of it on his podcast, “Sound, Light & Frequency.”
OF NOTE
A White House spokesperson told Wired that there are no plans for Donald Trump to deliver an alien disclosure speech.
In a post this morning on X, Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, publicly acknowledged ODNI’s recent meeting with the UAP Science Advisory Council. He said representatives from the Disclosure Foundation and To the Stars also attended.
Burlison joined Japan’s former defense minister in calling for greater international cooperation in understanding UAP. (op-ed in The Debrief)
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence Chris Mellon, chairman of the Disclosure Foundation, called on the National Press Club to rescind an award given to the Wall Street Journal for articles about alleged UFO disinformation and misinformation inside the military. (Letter)
Helen McCaw, a former economist for the Bank of England, called on the UK to use its upcoming turn as the leader of the G20 to push for UAP Disclosure. (Global Policy Journal)
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Song of the week
I don’t know who is telling the truth in the Friedman/Herrington story, but why would Herrington ever admit that he had confided in Friedman? I have also read that Grusch has asked for contact info for Herrington. Was that simply because of the Friedman story, or is Herrington someone known by Grusch to have information related to UAP?