Don Paul Bales

Don Paul Bales says he has 25 years of combined service in the military and law enforcement: first in the U.S. Air Force, then with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, and later as a full-time police officer. He grew up in Arkansas and, by his account, has run a mixed-martial-arts gym for about a decade. He offered NewsNation his two discharge records; the archive holds no record of his service beyond his own account. NewsNation's special calls him a "decorated special forces operator", which he does not claim himself.

He is in the archive as the longest-standing witness to Jake Barber's character and background. In a January 2025 interview with Ross Coulthart he said he met Barber in 1996, has been his close friend for decades, and confirms Barber's account of being diverted from combat-control training into a covert intelligence role, the aircraft-mechanic record being "a perfect cover story". He says he later worked for Barber as a subcontractor, was involved in the attempts to recover the Toughbooks, and was present when Barber questioned senior figures in the program. He declines to describe the classified work in detail, saying it has not been reviewed by the Pentagon's prepublication office.

His testimony is not independent of Barber: he is a close friend, worked under him, and says he would not have come forward if Barber had not asked him. Of anomalous sightings, the one he can discuss publicly is one he says his team saw and he did not.

Sources: NewsNation special (19 January 2025) · Reality Check with Ross Coulthart (NewsNation, January 2025)