Time to Update Those Polygraphs, Boys
“The [experiencers] that I knew when they were in service were very cautious about making it known.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has a quote on the state of the UFO Phenomenon that I think perfectly sums up my own perspective. Per Marco:
We have people that have very high [security] clearances both today and in the past that did really important work for our government … who have come forward with some claims about the U.S. having recovered exotic materials ... That’s the claim they make. Now, I don’t know if those claims are true or not. What I do know is that one of two things is happening here. Either (1) they’re telling the truth and that is something that would obviously be the biggest story in human history, or (2) we have people in really important positions of government who are crazy... Either one is a big problem, so we’ve got to figure out which one of these two it is.1
An honest assessment of the UFO Phenomenon has to consider that second possibility. As much as we’d like to believe that every member of our government is honest, earnest, and accurate, these people are, after all, human.
So how would you get at the truth? How would you even try and determine if “some people in really important positions are crazy?” It turns out the solution is right in front of us, and it’s never been easier to implement. I think it’s about time we flip the *literal* switch on this problem and start …
Scoping It Out
When you apply to a job in the “Intelligence Community” (IC) you’re going to be subjected to three broad types of tests: a medical test, a psychological evaluation, and a full scope polygraph.2
Of all of these tests, the medical is probably the most standard and self-explanatory. You might not be a good candidate for CIA field work if you’re prone to epileptic seizures. Your employer is just trying to figure out if you have any underlying issues that might disqualify you from certain roles. And that extends here to both your legal and illegal drug use, which might be a problem.
Once that’s covered, attention moves toward your mental health. This seems like the likely step where a government might be able to “determine if you’re crazy” but the method and type of testing they do make that very unlikely. Here the United States uses a type of psychological evaluation called the “Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory” or MMPI-2. This test (which was originally invented in the 1930’s) is designed to ask you about very obvious psychological disorders. Over 567 true or false questions, they’ll drive at your level of paranoia, depression, schizophrenia and the like.3 In that sense, it might be helpful as a basic diagnostic tool but there isn’t exactly room to ask you if you think the government is run by lizard people.
The really good questions come in the third trial you’ll be subjected to: a full scope polygraph. Over a full day, you’ll be hooked up to a polygraph machine (sometimes called a lie detector) and subjected to invasive interview questions. Half the questions are posed from a counter-intelligence lens, where you’re asked about your professional history or willingness to betray the United States. The other questions are posed from a lifestyle lens, where you’re asked about your most intimate secrets to see what could be used to blackmail you. This second half notably includes your sexual habits and has been described as “very uncomfortable” by those who have gone through it.45
Once you’re hired, you’ll need to periodically revisit these tests during pre-scheduled “re-investigations” or randomly if you’re ever the target of suspicion. So when it comes to answering Senator Rubio’s question, could these kinds of tests help?
Enter John Ramirez
Before I tell you anything about John Ramirez, I should make very clear that I’m not saying he’s crazy. I think that John is, at minimum, a very interesting case study on how you should think about this problem.
John Ramirez is a former (now retired) CIA Officer who spent a full 25 years with the agency. Prior to that, Ramirez also had a fruitful 6 years of service with the United States Navy. The breadth of his career was spent in a highly sensitive “SIGINT” (Signals Intelligence) and weapons analysis role.67 When you think about some nameless bureaucrat trying to figure out how to stop Russian missiles from hitting the United States, that’s John – the recipient of several promotions, awards, and, according to him, repeated visits from extra-terrestrial beings.
You see, one of the more interesting points about John is that he claims to have been repeatedly abducted by Aliens since he was a small child. Much of this contact occurred before he joined the CIA and when it came to this famous full scope polygraph interview: “[It] never came up. They basically wanted to know if I was a spy working for a foreign government.”8
But let’s take a step back. What exactly is it that John claims in terms of his experience? Per John:
When I first looked through a telescope, I had this profound sense that I was not part of this planet. That I belong somewhere out there in the stars and that’s pretty remarkable for a four-year-old. But if you talk to experiencers, that seems to be the age when it [starts] and thereafter at five and six.
I [started to] have experiences of being led into a house by a woman who was not my mother and being examined by a doctor and a nurse and this happened over successive times where I was reassured ‘don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to see if you’re okay. We just want to give you an examination.’
And I’ve had similar experiences throughout my life where, you know, I experience being taken because I wanted to be. I experienced looking through a telescope … and seeing the Andromeda Galaxy and having an instant connection with someone out there and wondering ‘why don’t you pick me up? You left me on this planet. I don’t know why I’m here.’ [And I’ve had experiences] of being taken onboard a craft and being examined onboard a craft and then when I woke up the next morning there were markings on my body that looked like they were examining me.
Even recently, when I moved to Arizona a being came to me and said ‘don’t worry. We know you moved. We can always find you. We found you [here] and just want to see if you’re okay.’9
And how would John describe these beings he’s interacting with? Again, in his own words:
I don’t like to use the word ‘reptilian’ because people think of snakes or lizards. They’re not snakes or lizards … they’re more like humanoid with a mixture of Sarian. Bipedal, two arms, a head, two eyes, mouth and so forth. They’re flesh and blood and, as far as I can tell, these are the beings I interacted with.10
Now that’s a lot. What I have just presented you with is basically the UFO equivalent of a Rorschach test. Some of you will read this account and think that John is mentally ill and should have been immediately disqualified from a position of trust with the government. And if you happen to find yourself in that camp, you should care deeply that John was never asked about it. Not in his full scope polygraph and not in any of the periodic re-investigations he did over a 25-year career.11
But a mature take on this topic also requires me to examine John’s claim at face value. In which case I have this question: “wouldn’t that experience point to an obvious security risk?” Somewhere in the half day of content covering his willingness to cooperate with a foreign government, do you think anyone should have asked him about a foreign species? If, as Senator Rubio indicates, the United States may have “in the past recovered exotic materials and then reverse engineered those materials to make advances in our own defenses and technologies” would we care that a top intelligence official might have been having casual conversations with its owners?12
Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s tempting to write John off as a statistical anomaly within the CIA – one man with an extraordinary claim in an agency that employs 22,000 people. But that would be underselling the problem. When asked how many employees had discussed similar experiences with him over the course of his career, John indicates that it was “about a dozen.”13 And given the social stigma around this topic, particularly during the years he was in active service, you might expect this figure to be artificially low.
In one instance, John describes an interaction where “this one gentleman, a colleague of mine [at NSA], revealed to me that they’ve actually seen craft land and that beings came out and he and his brother were witnesses to this event. And so he was an active NSA Officer, a SIGINT Officer who did not want that known at NSA. So that’s [one] example. Maybe he felt [that] at NSA [it’s] not good for me to reveal this information.”14
New Plan, Who Dis?
Whether you are inclined to believe accounts like this speak to real experience or mental illness, we should be able to agree that it would, in fact, be good for these people to “reveal this information” to their employer. The mechanism to achieve that is the IC’s full scope polygraph, which, to paraphrase the 2015 New Polygraph Policy, can be used “for anything and everything at any time they choose.”15
This is a prime example of where “UFO Policy” might just become regular policy that influences the inner workings of our government. But taking this issue seriously would require our leaders to consider the following immediate changes:
Inserting UFO/UAP interaction questions in the full scope polygraph during your initial IC application.
Inserting UFO/UAP interaction questions in the full scope polygraph during your periodic IC re-investigations.
Considering a widespread, dedicated “Specific Issue Polygraph” for every IC employee currently in service to ask questions on this issue.
And what might the outcome be of pursuing this policy change? Well first, you should be able to get a sense of how many IC members feel they have seen a UFO, interacted with a UFO, or interacted with what is now called a “non-human intelligence.” One possibility is that these questions and subsequent tests point to a legitimate and underdiagnosed from of mental illness within the IC. But another possibility involves hearing the same answers, the same descriptions, the same patterns, and drawing conclusions, no matter how disturbing those conclusions might be.
As Senator Rubio has characterized some of his own interactions with the IC: “these are credible people that have done and continue to do important work for the country and by law we’re required when they come forward as whistleblowers to take their claims seriously and to investigate them. But we just don’t know. That’s the answer.”16
I’d like to get that answer. And since we’re already asking these people about the kind of sex they have and what they search for on Pornhub, what’s the harm in asking them what they search for in the stars?
P.S. Do you think these questions are important? Help prompt better coverage of UFO Policy and:
Hannity, Sean. “China Is Watching America’s Leaders Falter on the Global Stage.” Fox News, July 11, 2023. https://youtu.be/AMvFZvhUaGU?si=oT70IzwPpdpZ7CIB. At 4min 24s.
“Security Clearance Process.” U.S. Intelligence Community Careers. Accessed November 15, 2023. https://www.intelligencecareers.gov/security-clearance-process.
Cherry, Kendra. “What Is the MMPI Test?” Very Well Mind, November 18, 2022. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-minnesota-multiphasic-personality-inventory-2795582.
Note: Several applicants in online forum discussions have identified the MMPI-2 as the standard test currently in use for the IC.
Bradley, Dan. “Background Investigations Polygraphs.” D.C. Security Clearance Consultants. Accessed November 15, 2023. https://www.dcsecurityclearanceconsultants.com/polygraphs-background-investigations.php.
Andersen, Jay. “GS-15 CIA Officer John Ramirez | Navigating the US Intelligence Community for UFOlogists.” Project Unity, November 2, 2021. https://youtu.be/cQfySY_2BLc?si=RXUC0Kwl_6KWCKf-. At 17min 1s.
Willis, Martin. “John Ramirez, CIA Retired, UFOs/UAPs, Encounters and More!” Podcast UFO, December 7, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d7Mmss5TVI.
Note: John Ramirez’s years of naval service are summarized in the description to this video.
Raasch, Sean. “The Return of John Ramirez.” Witness Citizen, January 11, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjeWwoyzb5E. At 1h 08min 33s.
Note: John Ramirez indicates that after he joined the CIA, he began attending UFO conferences in a personal capacity. This interest came up in his five-year re-investigation, but it would appear he never explained the breadth of his abduction experiences, as presented in this article.
Bradley, “Background Investigations Polygraphs.”