Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Armed Services & Intelligence Committees
LISTEN: Laslo & Rounds
Ask a Pol asks:
Were you ever able to check out that Wall Street Journal report on an alleged Air Force secret UFO program meant to fake American pilots out?
Key Rounds:
“It’s not really secret,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “Let me put it this way, there was no surprise in the discussion of it. I thought that was pretty well common knowledge that that had been going on for years.”
ICYMI — UAP Caucus up in arms over WSJ report
"How is that not illegal?” — in wake of WSJ reporting, Rep. Burlison wants to investigate Air Force
Caught our ear:
There’s a former member of the intel community who says the US government has AI with unparalleled predictive qualities. Have you seen that?
“I don’t know if I could define that,” Rounds tells us. “That’s what I better leave it at.”
ICYMI — advanced artificial inteligence…
I’m curious if that’s what you guys meant by non-human intelligence in your UAPDA [UAP Disclosure Act]?
“No,” Rounds replies. “No.”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), slightly edited for clarity.
Transcript: Sen. Mike Rounds (6-18-2025)
Scene: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo waits in the wings as Sen. Mike Rounds poses for a picture with school children visiting the nation’s capital from South Dakota.
As the senator makes his way to down the hall to deliver a speech to another group of visiting voters, Laslo swoops in for a quick, if packed, interview.
Matt Laslo: “I know you’re in a hurry, I’ll be quick — were you ever able to check out that Wall Street Journal article?”
Wall Street Journal report:
Mike Rounds: “You got to remind me again which one it is.”
ML: “The UAP / UFO one…”
MR: “Oh, I…”
SUBSCRIBER-ONLY CONTENT*
ML: “…saying there’s like a hidden — or a program that’s been secret.”
MR: “…well, it’s not really secret, I mean…”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “...it’s been…”
ML: “Well, that was kept secret from Air Force members.”
MR: “Let me put it this way…”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “...there was no surprise in the discussion of it. I thought that was pretty well common knowledge that that had been going on for years.”
ML: “Oh really?”
MR: “Oh yeah, I mean…”
ML: “Interesting.”
MR: “...that’s what — I mean, the F-117 and other stealth products…”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “...that people hadn’t seen before…”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “...and some of the earlier ones, clearly anybody that could suggest that it was something…”
ML: “Yeah.”
MR: “...other than what it was, I was fine with them to — I never gave it a second thought that that wasn’t.”
ML: “There’s a former member of the intel community who says that US government has AI with unparalleled predictive qualities. Have you seen that? I’m curious if that’s…”
MR: “I don’t know if I could define that.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MR: “That’s what I better leave it at.”
ML: “Well, I’m curious if that’s what you guys meant by non-human intelligence in your UAPDA [UAP Disclosure Act]?”
MR: “No.”
ML: “No?”
MR: “No, no.”
ML: “Interesting.”
Elevator arrives.
MR: “No.”
ML: “Preciate ya!”
MR: “Okay.”
The senator and his aides enter a room tucked in back of a bank of elevators on the first floor of the US Capitol.
Discussion about this episode
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Colm Kelleher has talked about the MIC use of UFO as a cover for black tech. Rounds is right. Nothing new there. Vallee has gone even further with his assertion that some purported UFO “events” were actually staged by the MIC. But neither Kelleher nor Vallee argue that this explains or discredits all UFO sightings, events, or experiences reported by military personnel, let alone all UFO reports. That would be nonsensical. What is most despicable about the WSJ is that they refused to print Bob Salas’s detailed rejoinder to their “story.” Based on past patterns, one could have predicted the pushback evident in recent weeks by the WSJ, NYP, Douglas Dean Johnson, and Tim Phillips. A full court press of gaslighting.
Sounds like Rounds is saying we should all (re)read The Cryptos Conundrum: A Novel
by Chase Brandon.
So basically
1. the USG running psychological operations against it's citizens is an open secret that's been allowed to happen for decades under the premise of security (reminder its illegal and has taken an unimaginable toll on American society)
2. the USG has "AI with unparalleled predictive qualities"
Personally I would love to see the UFO community take number 1 with all it's energy. It's a tangible impact the community could make and it either removes "it's a psyop" from the list of hypothesis to explain the phenomena and/or the investigation reveals something even worse behind a disinformation coverup.
The USG is allowed to run psychological operations on its own soil as long as the intended target isn't it's citizens. If we happen to get caught in the cross hairs, even better because we are also helping the spread of the psyop. Look into "Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda" They live and breathe this guys stuff still to this day. Then it was under tmBush's OSI, now it's the Pentagon's IPMO that runs the "show". (Not the Army's IPMO under G-2, the other one...)
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/index.htm
Paul Bennewitz wasn’t the intended target? I think it’s time to start challenging these assumptions with congressional oversight, the courts and new legislation.
I’d love to see someone (Congress, media, anyone) further investigate the claims of the WSJ article, and any possible links to Richard Doty’s claims from the 80s to put pressure on the Air Force to finally and officially explain what happened to Paul Bennewitz. Regardless of what it might mean for disclosure, I think it’s important to give proper closure to the Bennewitz incident. His memory deserves it.
I don't disagree but I just don't see it ever getting challenged. Especially with a Congress like we have now, and the size of our MIC today. I wish I could see a path forward.
It’s the best use of the UFO communities energy. What’s more likely, progress is made on ending psychological operations against Americans or we find a reverse engineered anti-gravity space ship in a secret bunker?
Perhaps the real problem is that the UFO community actually likes being lied to. They are addicted to the stories and the lies just add a layer of plausible deniability to invent a new story.
Thank you. I just read your last article and you've found a new reader. I try often to get people to see it like this. And I'm constantly down voted, no matter the platform. My point in sharing the Rumsfeld stuff is because it shows how finely "crafted" this is and in operation. And yes, it is against us no matter how they try to show it as un-intended for us. They know exactly what they were/are trying to do. It's the consequences plus the money that we should be doing something about. Our energy should indeed be used as you suggest but, even getting in behind the scenes on some of these platforms in our community, I'm hitting my head against a wall finding others that are just not there with me.
yes I know the feeling. The vast majority of the UFO community just want their personal version of the truth validated. They aren't curious or interested in real investigation.
Thank you for sharing the Rumsfeld stuff. our conversation has me thinking about a new article.
Looking forward to reading it!
Highly recommend watching this new video from Kelly Chase if you haven’t yet. https://youtu.be/SF80nv1l32I?si=HsHeoZjDLEFoora-