The majority of people who have read our “Source A Exposed” report know they have read a comprehensive and well documented account of deceit and deception. The tale of intergalactic politics and sentient rocks should never have stood the test of time in the first place, but the people running the show made sure theirs was a tight ship, it was next to impossible to verify even a single aspect of the story. When chinks did appear, such as the Katrina rapes that never were, they were glossed over and ignored.
However, our detailed investigation and subsequent report of the true story behind the Source A information cannot be ignored. Our facts are of the real kind, the kind which can be checked and verified.
The supporters and enablers of the Source A story have therefore attempted to attack our reveal from a different angle. Michael Salla, one of, if not THE principal supporter of Clay and Shawn Pickering’s story, has been very active in what could loosely be termed as damage control.
At OM, here in the comments section of the site and on his own site, he has fastened on to one particular aspect of our investigation and attacked it for all he is worth. His problem? My deliberately ignoring that part of Maccabee’s testimony that was contrary to my intended ‘exposure’. (He conveniently forgets this was a group effort and not the result of one person’s investigation)
Let’s examine Salla’s claim in more detail. He refers to the following section of the report:
“The information we already had was more than sufficient to nail this down, but this was, after all, the man who had personally met with Source A on a navy base and indirectly ended up vouching for him. I called him up a couple of days later and had a very productive conversation. Whilst on the phone, I told him that we had discovered the name of Source A and I wondered whether Source A had identified himself by name to him. He said he had, to which I replied “Richard?” he answered by saying “Yeah Richard, Richard Theilmann”.”
Salla argues:
“Unfortunately, for Broadbent he omits to mention that the same source he used to confirm his outing of Source A, directly contradicts his ‘exposé’. The source in question is recently retired Navy scientist Dr Bruce Maccabee who in 2008 was still working at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, in Virginia. This is what Maccabee had to say in a 2009 interview about a meeting he had with Source A in 2008.”
He did get that part right, Bruce Maccabee was indeed our source who confirmed Richard Theilmann’s identity for us. Unfortunately for Salla, this would be the only thing he does get right in response to our article.
Salla then quotes Bruce Maccabee:
“First of all, I work at a Navy Laboratory, at the time, he visited me, I think it was in April 2008. In a Navy Laboratory in order to get in you had to have credentials, you had to have clearances, a badge that would allow you to come in, and even if you get in, you might need an escort, if you didn’t have a sufficiently high clearance. Well Source A came right to my office, without any escort. Which tells me he had the credentials. He gave me a review of all the things he had done over the years. It … certainly looked real. At the very least, he was able to go right through the security of the laboratory and came right through to my desk. I told him how to get to the office and he did it.”
Salla continued (in part)
“So here we have a respected senior Navy scientist confirming that Source A had genuine credentials, and a very high security clearance as well to enable him to enter the facility unescorted.”
In light of the information to follow further below, quite how Salla can go from “..which tells me had the credentials” to “had genuine credentials” is anyone’s guess. The same applies to stating as fact that Source A had “a very high security clearance”.
From speaking with Bruce on the phone, I had the distinct impression that he had been conned by Source A and perhaps others in respect to the base access issue. There were a number of options on the table which could explain how Source A could gain access to the facility, but I didn’t dwell on this aspect because it wasn’t important based on everything else we had uncovered.
Time to Dwell
As it stands, there are a number of ways Source A could have gained access to the base and Maccabee’s office. Firstly, and considering what we had already discovered about Richard Theilmann and the inconsistencies in the Pickering’s story, he could have faked his way in.
Salla only gives a cursory glance to this possibility, with the following comment on this blog:
“If a hoax is what is occurring, that would at the least invite a Congressional investigation of lax security procedures at the Naval Warfare Center that allowed an alleged ‘hoaxer’ to walk around unescorted in the post 911 error [sic].”
Bryce Weiner, one of the researchers involved in this investigation, showed how “the ability for individuals to fake credentials to gain access to military facilities in a post-9/11 era is quite well established.” and provides the following examples:
Man faked his way into Army as an NCO
5 fake Army Chaplains arrested
Another possibility that would explain how Theilmann was able to access the facility, would be his previous service in the US Navy. I checked the visitor information for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division – Bruce Macabee’s place of employment when visited by Theilmann sometime around April 2008 – in order to better understand the security procedures for the base.
http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/PAO/visitInfo.aspx
“Standard Facility Access:
All visitors access the facility via the Main Gate. Visitors will be issued a visitor badge, which must be returned to the gate upon departure.”
The fact that the base has a standard facility access highlights how one does not need any classified security clearances in order to access the base. RU admin Access Denied showed how a retired naval officer, for example, may want to access the base in order to use the Commissary (grocery store) or the Exchange (general store) facilities available to all retired members of the US Navy. Dahlgren has both of these stores on site.
“Base Vehicle Pass:
Visitors will be issued a vehicle pass, when deemed necessary, at the Pass and ID office. A valid drivers license is required.”
Nope, no special credentials or highly classified security clearances needed there, either.
There is no need for us to comment on the “Submission of visit requests for classified visits” section, because as we will see further below, there is absolutely no need for us to do so.
The Real Deal
Prompted by Salla’s constant accusations of disingenuity regarding our “omission” of Bruce Maccabee’s expert testimony, we decided to contact him again.
RU’s Ryan Dube once again opened discussions with Dr. Maccabee, asking for further clarification regarding the meeting with Richard Theilmann.
Bruce replied a short time later:
“Haven’t had a contact from anyone regarding the “Affair of A”.
As for getting onto the Navy base is concerned, I offered to meet him at the check-in entry building, assuming that he would need an escort.
However, he assured me that he could enter without an escort…. and obviously he was correct.
He arrived within a few minutes of the planned time.”
Realising that this was info already in the public domain, Ryan knew that more information was needed in order to discover exactly what the requirements were – as understood by Bruce:
“Thanks for the response Bruce,
According to this document, you don’t need an escort, you only need to have an appointment with someone on base:
http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/PAO/visitInfo.aspx
As you’ve stated below, you and he had agreed upon a “planned time” when he would arrive – so is it safe to assume that he had an appointment to meet with you? According to the document above, if he had an appointment with you, he could simply pick up the visitor badge at the main gate. There’s nothing in the visitor information page that mentions anything about needing an escort.
Can you confirm?
-Ryan”
Keen to receive a response and after hearing nothing for several hours, Ryan sent a further email:
“Bruce, could you please confirm that the information Steve found is true and that Richard did not need an escort to visit you on the base, only an appointment?
SNIP
You’ve stated that you *assume* he’d need an escort. The documentation from the base shows that he only needed an appointment, not an escort. I hope you can understand how important it is that you confirm the truth and let us know if he really needed an escort or not – not just whether you assume as much.
Thanks Bruce – again, I really appreciate your insight on this.
-Ryan”
This time Bruce did reply:
“I thought I answered this question before.
I had assumed he would need an escort and said I would meet him at the entry office when he arrived.
He said he didn’t need an escort.
And, evidently he didn’t. He showed up at my office within minutes of the appointed time.
That meant he drove through the guard gate and followed a map of the lab to the building where I
worked.
To get through the guard gate he would have had to have a badge or a “common access card” that
would have been checked by the guard.”
Ryan, being the excellent researcher he is, knew we needed specific clarification on this issue and responded with the following important questions:
“Bruce…I understand your point, but people are using your description of the visit to imply that Richard had high-level classified clearances.
According to the visitor rules that Steve found here: (http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/dahlgren/PAO/visitInfo.aspx)
You mention below that he would have needed a badge – according to the document above, this could have been a visitor badge:
“All visitors access the facility via the Main Gate. Visitors will be issued a visitor badge, which must be returned to the gate upon departure.”
A “visitor” is defined as anyone with an appointment on the facility, and you will notice that the document differentiates between a simple facility visit and a “classified” visit…for some reason you don’t make that differentiation in your own description of the visit.
Salla and others are using your description of the visit to imply that because Richard was able to gain entrance to the facility, that he had classified clearances – however, the official visitor guidelines for the base state that a visitor can visit the facility without security clearances, so long as the visit isn’t a “classified visit”. Please take a look at the link above for the differentiation.
I guess what I’m asking is – isn’t it possible that he was there to visit someone else for non-classified reasons, and decided it would be a good opportunity to visit you? What if someone else at your facility signed for him as a visitor? What if there was an event or a Navy function he was attending at the facility, as a visitor? Aren’t there dozens of reasons he could have had access to the facility that don’t necessarily imply he has special classified clearances?
-Ryan”
The questions had the desired effect and Dr. Maccabee responded to Ryan later that day and was much more specific with his answers (emphasis added):
“My recollection is that a visitor badge had a big “V” on the front. I didn’t have that many unclassified visitors over the years so my memory is hazy on this. But my recollection is that he did not have a “V” badge.
However, I could be wrong on this. I didn’t pay close attention to all the details of the visit because I didn’t foresee this controversy. I was doing C&S P a “favor” by agreeing to meet “A”. So far as I knew, they had much more information than I had about “A” and his testimony. He certainly did not need a high level clearance to have an unclassified visit with me. However, because of all the “hush hush” activities and the claim by C&S P that he was working for an Admiral, I assumed he had a high level clearance. He never said anything to me that would make me think that he had no clearance level. Had I thought that I was supposed to be thoroughly vetting this person I would have taken notes at the time and I would have written down all the pertinent info on his badge.At any rate, the truth or falsity of his various claims will be determined by further investigation.”
Boom! That is the sound of Salla and Co’s hopes and dreams for the Source A story exploding around their ears. The one remaining aspect of the story -in their eyes at least- that these people could use to prove to others there MUST be something to the story, has gone up in a cloud of white hot shrapnel and billowing smoke. Salla’s assertions that Theilmann gaining access to the base and meeting with Maccabee “supports his claims that he was a covert operative for classified programs involving senior US Navy personnel” are thus completely and utterly without merit.
Bruce says he didn’t pay attention to all the details of the visit and was actually doing Clay and Shawn Pickering a FAVOR by agreeing to meet Source A! One can only speculate why Clay and Shawn would need such a favour. To lend veracity to their claims, perhaps?
In case you missed it above, Bruce also confirms that Source A “certainly did not need a high level clearance to have an unclassified visit” with him. Bruce confirms that he only assumed he had a high level clearance based on what he was told by the Pickerings.
That Richard Theilmann accessed the base is without question. However, there were any number of ways he could have done this, none of which necessitate the need for any kind of classified clearances whatsoever. The people pushing this story need you to believe that he did have such access, because without it, the story is dead in the water.
It is clear to us that Bruce Maccabee was used as an unwitting pawn in the game being played by the Pickerings. Based on Salla’s extensive comments on this subject and past behaviour promoting the outlandish claims, one would be forgiven for wondering if he – and others in the exopolitics crowd – are more heavily involved in this apparent con game than at first thought.
This is something we are actively investigating.
Richard Theilmann
There has been one other major development in the Source A investigation. I spoke with Richard Theilmann on the telephone today and had a brief, but amicable conversation with him. Due to the nature of the information discussed, I shall refrain from mentioning any details for the time being. However, further calls have been arranged and we will be reporting on these conversations in the very near future.
Stay tuned for further updates.
Stephen Broadbent
According to the publication, "An Estimate of the Situation: The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis," presented at the 2007 MUFON International UFO Symposium, allegedly an AF Colonel (possibly former) and Rick Doty contacted Moore initially in September of 1980. Taking this date into consideration, it’s important to dig further back into the ongoing activities of these individuals prior to 1980, before they started interfacing more often with UFO researchers. The important clues in tracing back the activities of Rick Doty and any other individuals involved in the MJ12 scam include following where same philosophy might have showed up prior to making its appearance in the materials passed to Pratt, Moore, Howe, and so many other researchers after 1979/1980.
In the first part of the interview, Kellerstrass describes his only two eye-witness accounts of UFO’s. One was witnessing some models of experimental aircraft at Wright AFB that matched stereotypical descriptions of UFO’s (cigar and saucer), as well as witnessing an event where a jet that had been scrambled to intercept a UFO over Japan got shot down. Other than those two “eye-witness” events – he admits that everything else he "knows" about Aliens and UFO’s were told to him through 1st and/or 2nd hand accounts.
H: And then he told me about this book (a reference to the “Yellow Book”?). He said there were about 40 copies but they were all controlled. I asked if it was possible to see the book and he said “No, it was just sent back six months ago.”
In an interview published in the article “The UFO/FBI Connection,” Maccabee makes reference to this meeting with Kit Green, in 1979, when he states, “…what it amounted to was that I gave them a lot of information and they gave me nothing.”
Before leaving the subject of Bruce Maccabee, there is one minor additional issue to note. According to the AIG report on Maccabee’s CIA interactions, Maccabee admitted that, in the mid 1980’s, he attended one “standing room only” meeting in a CIA conference room in which he was asked to brief CIA personnel on the “MJ-12” group that was detailed in the documents revealed by researcher and author William “Bill” Moore.
