Rtd Col John Alexander. Copyright: Sam Morris, Las Vegas Sun
John B. Alexander. Who is this man? Many people have heard of him in different capacities and within different contexts. Some are aware of his technical work in the field of non-lethal weapons – in fact, he is a man who has been deeply involved within the military-industrial complex for many years. Other people know of him from his very early days in the U.S. Army from 1956 through 1988, when he finally retired as a Colonel.
The man is no slouch – having served time in Vietnam leading Special Forces teams. After the war was over, he worked his way up through the ranks until his last position as the Director at the Advanced systems Concepts Office under General Stubblebine.
As many people know, the Ufologist who was the original victim (or collaborator) of an elaborate effort to distribute MJ-12 documents upon the Ufology community was Bill Moore. Bill Moore eventually reported the names of all of his contacts during those MJ-12 years (1980s) in the form of his “Aviary” list of contacts. John Alexander was one of those contacts.
Coincidentially, John Alexander’s retirement from military/government work and his entry into private research at Los Alamos National Laboratory somewhat coincided with Hal Puthoff’s 1985 retirement from his Remote Viewing government contract and entry into private research at his privately owned research institute in Texas. Hal was also a member of Moore’s “Aviary” list of contacts. Coincidentally, Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green also retired from full time government work (CIA) in 1985 to enter into private industry as well, doing neuroscience work for General Motors.
At Los Alamos, Alexander began his work on Non-Lethal Defense technologies. Like Kit Green, he maintained contractual connections with government agencies, attended conferences and conducted briefings or talks for various U.S. Government and Intelligence organizations as well as collaborating and heading up various research endeavors with organizations throughout Industry and Academia. His non-lethal technology work is very public. He has wrtten articles in The Boston Globe and the Washington Post, and his work has been featured in publications like Scientific American, Wired and TV programs like CNN and Dateline. Now that you have an idea of the man’s public life, it’s time to dig deeper and explore into the man’s private endeavors that many people in the general public don’t know a whole lot about.
Dumpster Diving into Ufology
Like Kit Green and Hal Puthoff, John Alexander was listed by Bill Moore and others as a “U.S. Intelligence Contact” throughout the mid and late 1980s. Coincidentally, the public release of MJ-12 perfectly coincided with the military/government retirements of these men. What other evidence is there regarding the specifics of Alexander’s involvement with Ufologists during the mid to late 1980’s?
Once again, Bob Collin’s book Exempt from Disclosure leaks more information into the public domain that was previously hidden in secrecy, or at least obscurity. Also like Hal, Kit and most of Moore’s other contacts, Alexander has a direct connection to the parapsychology research that was ongoing within the military at the time. In particular, John Alexander worked under General Albert “Bert” Stubblebine III within INSCOM – looking for ways to improve the psychic performance of the military remote viewers.
In fact, according to “Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies”, by Jim Schnabel, Stubblebine signed contracts with the Monroe Institute to test various hypnosis techniques to enhance remote viewer’s performance.
The Turning Point – When Paranormal Research Results in Disaster
John Alexander (Los Alamos), Gordon Novel, and John's wife Victoria
In 1984, General Stubblebine sent an officer to the Monroe Institute for another “RV enhancement” test. According to one of our sources, the technique that the Monroe institute applied to this particular officer was one where all stimuli was removed from the environment. Clothes, lights or sounds were all removed, leaving the officer stark naked in a pitch-black room. The event led to the officer having a psychotic breakdown, and finally Stubblebine’s “retirement” in 1984.
We’re talking about a man, now featured in the major motion film “The Men Who Stare at Goats” as repeatedly attempting to walk through a wall, only to collide with it. We confirmed with several sources that this really took place.
What does all of this have to do with Ufology? Well, psychic phenomenon was not all Stubblebine or Alexander were interested in. In 1991, years after his retirement, Stubblebine, C.B. Scott Jones, and two Ufologists Victoria Lacas and Rima Laibow (who later became his second wife), traveled throughout Europe and the Soviet Union conducting research (and making contacts) into UFO and Psychic phenomenon there. Later, Stubblebine and his new wife Rima held “spoon-bending” parties for their elite friends and colleagues.
How much was Alexander involved with Stubblebine and C.B. Scott Jones in all of this research? Well, Victoria Lacas is now Victoria Alexander – John’s wife. Read Victoria’s comments about the film “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” In the 1990’s, John went on to work part-time for Bigelow-funded National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), alongside the usual fringe-research folks – Hal Puthoff, Kit Green, Kolm Kelleher and others.
And for those of you who thought Gordon Novel only recently popped up on the Ufology radar in recent years with his strange “RAM” project – take another good, long look at the photo above.
John Alexander and Ufology
On Page 8 of Exempt from Disclosure, under a section titled “Summits without the cocktails, the fall of 1986,” Collins writes:
“Ernie Kellerstrass had Bill Moore, Jaime Shandera, Hal Puthoff, Col. John Alexander (author of the book, Future War), Scott Jones (assistant for Senator Pell), and I over to his house in Beavercreek, OH (suburb of Dayton OH) for dinner. All of our meetings were very somber with most of us lookin glike stiffs right out of an “X-Files” show.”
At the time, Alexander was not yet retired, and still actively working on classified remote viewing work while taking part in these private UFO meetings. Given the ongoing activities, up to 2005 and beyond, of many of the individuals listed in this paragraph by Collins, we thought that it is very likely John Alexander is also still involved and active as well.
So, we decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth and ask John Alexander directly about these matters. His responses were interesting. The interesting part was more in what he chose not to answer, rather than what he answered.
The John Alexander Interview
Ryan: On Page 8 of Exempt from Disclosure, Collins writes: “[pasted quote above]” – Could you describe why you agreed to take part in this “summit without the cocktails” in 1986, with personalities like Kellerstrass and Ufologists Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera?
John: Don’t understand the question or context. Did meet him once. Certainly no summit.
Ryan: The context was a meeting in 1986 at Ernie Kellerstrass’ house in Beavercreek, Ohio – apparently to discuss some of Ernie’s stories related to UFOs. Again – could you describe why you agreed to meet with Ernie to discuss the topic? Did a friend invite you, or did Ernie himself?
John: Not sure – that was over 20 years ago and not of a great deal of importance.
Ryan: I know that you were involved (are involved) with non-lethal research, and back then it was just about a year or so from your military retirement and entry into private research. Your interest and involvement in the PSI field is well-documented (such as in your book and in the movie) – but I’m trying to understand why you were interested in UFOs and if there was some connection to your PSI work?
John: Am interested in many areas.
Ryan: On page 9, Collins describes a cloak and dagger operation where the members of the group he just outlined all traveled individually to meet with Executive Producer Seligman (the person who eventually produced “Cover Up Live” featuring Collins and Doty) in Dayton, OH at a secluded State Park. Did you take part in this operation to brief Seligman, and if so, why were you specifically involved and what did information did you plan to share with the Executive Producer?
John: No.
Ryan: On page 11, Collins describes yet another meeting in September of 1988 where everyone met in Albuquerque, NM to conduct interviews for the 1988 UFO show. Were you specifically interviewed by the producers of that show either at the Albuquerque interviews or at any other time or place? If so, can you share what information you provided to the producers and why?
John: No.
Ryan: Throughout the years, Collins consistently refers to a secret “Los Alamos” source who discusses UFO/Alien matters with him. Are you that source, and why?
John: No.
Ryan: On November 3rd, 2009, your wife, Victoria Alexander, wrote a review for the movie “The Men who Stare at Goats.” In that review she writes: “John was formerly with the U.S. Army Intelligence & Security Command (INSCOM) under Major General Albert Stubblebine.” We’ve learned that previous to Bert’s retirement, the last incident that led to his departure was related to a case at the Monroe Institute where he subjected an officer to a particular treatment meant to increase psychic ability (we were told it was the removal of all stimuli) which drove the officer into a psychotic state.
Were these events taking place while you were working for Stubblebine – and can you share more details about the event and how it impacted your own personal beliefs and research related to PSI effects?
John: Yes, Pat was not wound too tight to begin with. TMI was a step too far for him, and he had missed the examination process that all of the other attendees went through. He recovered just fine. Bert didn’t, but that’s another story. Recommend you read The Warrior’s Edge. Most of the stuff I wrote in that book.
Final Words
I admit – the interview felt like it was a bit “lacking” in substance or openness. John was evasive and ignored a number of the questions – in a few cases the most important ones. John ignored the importance of that 1986 meeting that Collins described as involving the group of people Moore eventually identified as his list of contacts throughout the MJ-12 affair. The fact that Alexander was on that list, and here he was meeting with other folks related to the topic of UFOs, is very likely not lost on our more discerning readers.
In short, based upon a close review of his history, associates and which pots his hands are in, in combination with his brisk and evasive answers – I have to conclude that John Alexander is far more involved in these particular Ufology matters than he would like people to know about. I am now even more suspicious than ever before that John was one of the integral players in the distribution effort of the MJ-12 memes upon the public domain, starting in the 1980’s and continuing throughout the next several decades to today.
In time, through interviewing additional players, digging further into the background activities and events, and uncovering more about the interactions among the various players – we will be able to definitively prove or disprove that suspicion.
Try as I might, I can never seem to get Gary Bekkum and 
“I need you to know that Col. Weaver has contacted me and said he is Gene Loscowski. Her [sic] referred in detail to the meeting you and I had with Barry Hennessey about Rick’s polygraph records … He quoted what I said, what you did, and the circumstances of the meeting to convince me of who he was. He also told me the essence of the SERPO story was true.”
Most anyone who’s researched Ufology history for any length of time knows the story of Bill Moore, Bob Pratt, and Jaime Shandera. The short version is that following the publication of his book The Roswell Incident in the summer of 1980, Moore was contacted by someone claiming to be a Colonel at Offut AFB, as well as from another individual (Doty) from Kirkland AFB. Those contacting Moore convinced him that they were "high level government Intelligence" personnel who were "uncomfortable with the government’s continuing cover-up."
It helped that they had access to the "secret tapes," in which MUFON UFO Journal Editor, Robert Pratt, had recorded meetings and phone conversations with Moore. These tapes revealed some fascinating new details about the men behind the scam. (Unfortunately, Bob Pratt passed away in November 2005, the same year and month the hoaxers attempted to start releasing the same stories via Project Serpo.) The general timeline detailed in the MUFON document, covering the years before the MJ-12 stories went "public" is summarized as follows.
"Some months later, in early 1983, I became aware that Rick was involved with a team of several others [in AFOSI], including one fellow from Denver that I knew of and at least one who was working out of Washington, D.C., in playing an elaborate disinformation game against a prominent UFO researcher [Linda Howe] who, at the time, had close connections with a major television film company [HBO] interested in doing a UFO documentary…."
In July of 1977, the FBI conducted three early-morning raids of Scientology Guardian Office facilities (the Guardian Office was Hubbard’s Intelligence agency). Senior GO personnel were sent to jail as a result, and the GO was disestablished afterwards. Prior to this raid, there was a virtual intelligence war between the cult of Scientologists and U.S. government agencies. Scientologists dedicated an inordinate amount of resources and time to infiltrating U.S. agencies – even by simply using low-level positions in order to “convert” others within the agency over to Scientology. L Ron Hubbard’s ultimate goal was to obtain whatever Scientology related documents existed within various government organizations. L Ron Hubbard had filed countless FOIA lawsuits leading up to that critical point when the FBI raid took place. With these raids, the U.S. intelligence complex dealt Scientology a deadly blow.
In a fascinating article by Janet Reitman in Rolling Stone magazine titled Inside Scientology – Unlocking the complex code of America’s most mysterious religion, she writes:
Imagine – a story so terribly dangerous to an unprepared human mind, that it could actually make a person who was previously mentally healthy, very sick. A poisonous viral meme, if you will. A story that could make a previously healthy person very sick, sick, sick. Sound familiar?
