Spaced Out Radio, one of the leading and fastest growing nighttime radio shows, broadcasting worldwide from British Columbia, Canada, hosted Chase Kloetzke, international UFO investigator, and so much more, on April 5, 2018. Among Chase’s other accomplishments, she has been associated with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) since 1996. During the interview, she shared many of her MUFON experiences, and answered hard-hitting questions posed by SOR host, Dave Scott, regarding a couple MUFON issues which have caused ongoing concern to the UFO community.
The first issue, which has been rumored for several years, dealt with billionaire, Robert Bigelow’s financial involvement in the organization. Did he or did he not buy MUFON, or at the very least, did he buy their files?
The first time Bigelow involved himself with the organization was in 1994, when he suggested creating a coalition of U.S. UFO organizations comprised of MUFON, the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR). By 1995, the groups involved had formed the UFO Research Coalition (URC), and worked together on some very successful projects. Unfortunately, in less than a year’s time, conflict arose over the group’s financial management, and Bigelow severed his ties with URC.
The second time Bigelow became involved with MUFON was in 2008, when James Carrion, Jan Harzan, Chuck Modlin, and John Schuessler met with him and his team in an effort to find a way of establishing cooperation between their organizations.
The result of this was a contract negotiated by Carrion with Bigelow Aerospace. The agreement would provide MUFON the ability to organize rapid response teams of investigators who could be in the field within 24 hours on high value UFO cases. In return, Bigelow Aerospace would be given full access to the MUFON Case Management System, which included not only the witness report, but all their personal information, which witnesses had believed would be kept confidential.
The contract specified details of the arrangement where Bigelow purchased access to the MUFON database for a price of $672,000, payable in monthly installments of $56,000. There were other contractual stipulations which MUFON was required to meet; and unfortunately, did not.
After eight months, in September of 2009, Bigelow required an accounting for the expenditures of funds to date, and after an audit, pulled out of the agreement in November, 2009. That action left MUFON with only having received $334,000 of the promised $672,000; all of which contributed to internal panic at MUFON, culminating in the resignation of James Carrion, its International Director at the time.
The end of it was Robert Bigelow invested money into MUFON twice, with the second time providing him information in return. Ms Kloetzke stated repeatedly that MUFON did not sell their files, that all personal information of witnesses was kept confidential, and that Bigelow merely was given access to information which already was public. She pointed out the UFO reports are available to anyone who accesses the MUFON website, and asked why would anyone think the files would want to be bought, or were sold, when they were available for free?
However, this brings up the second issue of concern to the UFO community; that being just how private a witness’s personal information they have provided MUFON really is?
In response to Dave Scott’s persistent questioning, Kloetzke did say MUFON had received phone calls from puzzled witnesses who had been visited, not just by MUFON investigators, but also by Bigelow teams. Scott pointed out these visits from Bigelow investigators proves the personal information of witnesses was indeed accessed by Bigelow’s people.
Kloetzke’s response to this was she believed the witnesses must have been contacted first, and permission sought before Bigelow’s team was given their personal information. That would seem plausible had the witnesses not called MUFON asking who Bigelow’s people were, and what their purpose was.
Ms Kloetzke was forthcoming in her responses to Dave Scott’s questions, and as the interview progressed, mentioned an upcoming interview she had with Luis Elizondo. She was very enthusiastic about it, albeit she was unable to give the radio audience any details, due to the interview being MUFON property.
Although mention of the Elizondo interview had no bearing on questions about Robert Bigelow’s involvement with MUFON, it does open new doors of speculation and warrants close scrutiny in the near future: Luis Elizondo was the man who managed the The Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a secret investigatory program funded by the United States Government to study unidentified flying objects. The program was given $22 million over a period of 5 years, and those monies went to Robert Bigelow. Elizondo, having quit his position with the government, now works with the To The Stars Academy, which has several of Bigelow associates as board members. If MUFON partners with To The Stars Academy, there is a distinct possibility Robert Bigelow will once more be involved. Nothing has been made public, yet, but it bears close watching and reporting as details emerge.
Galactic Junction 