Person
Hal Puthoff
Also known as Harold Puthoff, Puthoff
- Physicist (PhD, Stanford; laser physics, zero-point energy); director, EarthTech International
- Former naval intelligence officer at NSA; senior advisor on DIA UAP research (AAWSAP)
Harold "Hal" Puthoff is an American physicist and former naval intelligence officer who has been at the centre of government-funded research into the anomalous for half a century. After a PhD at Stanford, work in laser physics and service as a naval officer at the NSA, he joined SRI International. There, in the early 1970s with Russell Targ and the artist Ingo Swann, he began the CIA-funded remote-viewing research that grew into the Stargate program and ran for about 23 years. He later founded EarthTech International and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, which studies zero-point energy and advanced propulsion.
From 2008 his company EarthTech was a subcontractor to Robert Bigelow's BAASS under the DIA's AAWSAP contract, run by James Lacatski. Puthoff commissioned the 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents on future technologies, including his own paper on spacetime "metric engineering". He says the program also interviewed the Nimitz pilots. When DIA ended the program, he was part of the group that proposed KONA BLUE at DHS. In 2017 he co-founded To The Stars Academy with Tom DeLonge, Jim Semivan, Luis Elizondo and Chris Mellon, which helped bring out The New York Times story of December 2017.
He now speaks openly about crash retrievals. He says the U.S. holds "more than 10" non-human craft, that disclosure was scored and rejected under George W. Bush, and that he knows many of the programs David Grusch describes. He appears in The Age of Disclosure (2025). AARO's 2024 report is the main counterweight. It describes AAWSAP's paranormal work as outside its remit and KONA BLUE as a failed proposal that never collected any craft or bodies. It also finds the bismuth–magnesium sample he championed to be an ordinary terrestrial alloy. AARO traces the modern reverse-engineering claims largely to the circle around AAWSAP.
Sources: CIA reading room (SRI research) · 2018 presentation · Joe Rogan Experience #2314 (2025) · AARO historical report (2024) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- documented Co-founded and directed the CIA- and DIA-funded remote-viewing research (later Stargate) at SRI International. Source: cia.gov (archived)
- claimed He says the CIA first funded a $50–60K study of Ingo Swann at SRI in the early 1970s, noting that Puthoff had served as a naval intelligence officer at NSA and that the Soviets were spending millions on ESP research; the program then ran about 23 years. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 7:23
- claimed He says the DIA program behind the 2017 New York Times story began with Senators Reid, Inouye and Stevens. DIA's James Lacatski issued an open broad area announcement, Bigelow Aerospace won it and set up BAASS, and Puthoff's EarthTech was hired as a subcontractor. — Hal Puthoff Source: Hal Puthoff Presentation 06/08/2018 at 12:15
- claimed He says he commissioned 38 mostly unclassified technical papers over two years, which the DIA released as Defense Intelligence Reference Documents, including his own on spacetime “metric engineering”; he argues reported UAP performance is beyond our engineering but not beyond known physics. — Hal Puthoff Source: Hal Puthoff Presentation 06/08/2018 at 14:28
- claimed He says that after AAWSAP and AATIP the same group proposed a new special access program at the Department of Homeland Security, KONA BLUE, since revealed by AARO. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 1:08:55
- documented AARO's 2024 report says AAWSAP's contractor team and at least one government program manager also conducted UAP and paranormal research at a property owned by the contractor, that DIA cancelled the program in 2012 for lack of merit, and that KONA BLUE was rejected by DHS leadership; “no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected”. Source: AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1
- claimed He co-founded To The Stars Academy with Tom DeLonge and former CIA officer Jim Semivan in 2017, and says it helped Leslie Kean get the December 2017 New York Times story out. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 1:32:00
- claimed He says that under George W. Bush a think tank asked CIA, DIA and military participants to score the effects of disclosing that the U.S., Russia and China hold non-human craft and bodies, and that every group came out against disclosure. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 49:32
- claimed Asked how many non-human craft humans have recovered, he said “More than 10” in U.S. possession, with more worldwide. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 1:46:26
- claimed Of David Grusch, he says Grusch was tasked by Jay Stratton for the UAP Task Force to find out what was going on at the most classified levels, and that “I know many of the programs” he describes. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 1:11:12
- documented He says the layered bismuth–magnesium sample said to come from Roswell debris was analysed at Oak Ridge through AARO: the isotopes were terrestrial, but the layering was unexplained. AARO concluded it is “a manufactured, terrestrial alloy” with no exceptional qualities. Source: AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1
- claimed He says reports from people in the government programs indicate non-human beings associated with some of the craft, humanoid but significantly different, and that among those deeply involved “the fact of it is is is taken for granted”. — Hal Puthoff Source: The Sol Forum #1: Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallée and Larry Lemke at 45:49
- claimed Asked whether the government uses stigma to protect its programs: “certainly there are parts of the government who consider that to be their job”. He adds that people “shut down a piece of a program on the basis that american taxpayer dollars should not be spent on pursuing demonic technology”. — Hal Puthoff Source: Eric Weinstein Debates CIA UFO Expert Hal Puthoff (American Alchemy) at 30:32
- claimed He calls himself agnostic on origin: his paper on “ultraterrestrials” surveys every hypothesis, from extraterrestrial visitors to hidden civilizations, time travellers and other dimensions, and his working conclusion is non-human intelligence of unknown source. — Hal Puthoff Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff at 1:17:42
Connected files
Books
Claims
- Recovered alien craft were studied at Area 51, at a site called S-4 near Groom Lake in Nevada (disputes claim)
- The Brazilian Air Force's Operação Prato team saw and photographed structured craft of unknown origin over Colares in 1977 (asserts)
- The U.S. government has deliberately spread false or misleading information about UFOs (asserts)
- Programs dealing with UAP have been hidden from congressional oversight (comments on claim)
- The U.S. has recovered the bodies of non-human beings from crashed craft (asserts)
- The U.S. holds recovered craft of non-human origin and runs a secret program to reverse-engineer them (asserts)
- A craft of non-human origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and the military recovered it (asserts)
- Close encounters with UAP have physically injured people (asserts)
Documentaries
- The Age of Disclosure (appears in)
Organizations
- Battelle (claims)
- National Reconnaissance Office (statement about)
- To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (founded)
- SRI International (worked at)
People
- Bob Lazar (assessed) — Puthoff found Lazar's apparent clearance too low for his story but cannot rule it out
- Chuck Schumer (statement about)
- Diana Walsh Pasulka (statement about)
- Eric Davis (worked with) — Davis joined Puthoff at EarthTech International in Austin
- Luis Elizondo (co-founded with) — Co-founders of To The Stars Academy in 2017
- Chris Mellon (co-founded with) — Co-founders of To The Stars Academy in 2017
- Harry Reid (statement about)
- Ingo Swann (worked with)
- James Lacatski (statement about)
- Linda Moulton Howe (statement about)
- Robert Bigelow (hired by) — Puthoff sat on the advisory board of Bigelow's NIDS, and his EarthTech was a BAASS subcontractor under AAWSAP
- Russell Targ (worked with)
Incidents
- USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter (commented on) — He says the program also interviewed the Nimitz pilots
- Roswell crash (claims about) — Puthoff says Battelle worked on foil-like material reportedly from Roswell, and that a layered sample came from Roswell debris
Programs
- Stargate Project (co-founded)
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (contractor for) — From 2008 his EarthTech was a subcontractor to BAASS under the AAWSAP contract
- KONA BLUE (proposed) — He was part of the group that proposed KONA BLUE at DHS
Concepts
- Bismuth–magnesium “Roswell” sample (Art's Parts) (vouches for) — Puthoff says the layered sample came from Roswell debris and stresses its unexplained manufacture; AARO says it is ordinary alloy
Events
- The New York Times reveals the Pentagon UFO program (commented on) — Puthoff says To The Stars Academy helped Leslie Kean get the story out
Videos
- “These Are Parts Of an Alien UFO!”: Garry Nolan at Stanford (American Alchemy) (appears in) — Called by phone on the provenance of the bismuth–magnesium sample
- Eric Weinstein Debates CIA UFO Expert Hal Puthoff (American Alchemy) (appears in)
- The Sol Forum #1: Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallée and Larry Lemke (appears in)
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) (discussed in)
- Hal Puthoff Presentation 06/08/2018 (appears in)
- Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff (appears in)