War of The Worlds 2.0: Drones Disclosure & Psychological Operations
“The world is stranger than we think, but thinking should not be strange” — Dr. Michael Haeiser
Americans believe there is a mysterious drone invasion currently besetting the nation. Many are truly scared, some are intrigued. But for those who believe there is an off-world component to the mystery, disagreement is not an option. The current drone hysteria must be understood within the greater context of the UFO/UAP movement. Be very careful with what you think you “know.” We live in the age of deceit and social engineering-Psyops abound!
Setting The Context
On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles’s radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds aired as a simulated live news report about an alien invasion. Despite several disclaimers, many listeners mistook the fictional program for actual news, sparking mass panic in New Jersey and New York. The broadcast, some eighty years before social media, exposed the public's susceptibility to hysteria after sudden, authoritative broadcasts.
In New Jersey, thousands fled their homes believing Martians had landed. Roads were congested as people tried to escape the supposed invasion zone.
In New York City, police and emergency services were overwhelmed with thousands of calls from people seeking confirmation or protection.
In rural areas, farmers armed and barricaded themselves indoors, expecting extraterrestrial attacks.
The War of The Worlds incident is a historical case study in the power of mass communication to incite panic. Through an ambiguous event of high strangeness conjured almost completely in the imagination, The event demonstrated how mass media could manipulate public perceptions, particularly when authoritative formats (like a news broadcast) were employed.
Mass hysteria refers to the collective panic, fear, or irrational behavior exhibited by large groups of people in response to ambiguous or sensationalized events. The modern UFO/UAP phenomenon, heavily influenced by media narratives, whistleblower claims, and governmental ambiguity, has sparked episodes of hysteria in specific locations and across broader cultural contexts.
The current New Jersey drone mystery, while likely true to some smaller degree, has become another case study in the kind of hysteria that can be incited by an ambiguous event and studied for a greater purpose.
Steven Greenstreet: How to identify mysterious "drones"
Intro to Psychological Operations: Leveraging Mass Reactions
Typically conducted by military, intelligence, or governmental units, psychological operations are coordinated strategies aimed at influencing public opinion, behavior, and perception for strategic purposes.
Exploitation of psychological vulnerabilities in individuals and groups through deliberate messaging, confusion, or controlled information leaks, psyops are often deployed to manipulate narratives, test public reactions, and prepare societies for acceptance of broader agendas.
Drones, Aircraft, and Unexplained Phenomena
In specific psyops scenarios, actual drones or unidentified aircraft may be deployed in a particular region without any explanation or acknowledgment from authorities to:
Stimulate Public Curiosity: By providing an ambiguous event, authorities can observe how the population reacts to unexplained stimuli.
Seed Theories and Conflicting Reports: Media outlets and social platforms are flooded with competing theories—official statements, eyewitness reports, and conspiratorial claims.
Test Public Response: Psyops agents carefully monitor the resulting hysteria, skepticism, or apathy.
The goal is to analyze behavioral patterns, information dissemination, and the effectiveness of various narratives.
Data Collection: Public reactions provide data on psychological triggers: How quickly does fear spread? What media sources are most influential? What demographics are most susceptible to hysteria or skepticism?
Behavioral Modeling: Understanding group psychology allows psyops agents to predict reactions to future events, such as crises, wars, or emergencies.
Information Control Testing: Testing the effectiveness of conflicting information helps refine government or military disinformation campaigns.
Crisis Preparation: Observing hysteria or calm responses allows agents to simulate larger-scale scenarios.
Hysteria diverts attention from other covert operations, political issues, or failures. A panicked population becomes easier to manipulate or direct, especially when a clear solution is presented by the same authorities orchestrating the hysteria. Conflicting theories can fragment trust among the public, making unified opposition to power structures less likely.
Mass Formation Psychosis
Mass formation psychosis describes a psychological phenomenon in which large groups of people lose their critical thinking and individuality, succumbing to groupthink, hysteria, or authoritarian narratives. This occurs through:
Isolation: Individuals feel disconnected and alienated from others (e.g., social breakdown or ideological divides).
Anxiety and Uncertainty: A general state of fear or ambiguity causes people to seek clarity and authority.
Narrative Acceptance: A simplified, emotionally charged explanation unites the group around a common enemy or issue.
Conformity and Ritual: Social pressure ensures dissenters are marginalized, while group adherence solidifies trust in the narrative.
Case Studies in Mass Formation
The Roswell Incident
On Tuesday, July 8, 1947, The Roswell Daily Record reported an object described as a “flying saucer” of extraterrestrial origin had crashed on a ranch outside the town of Roswell, New Mexico. The next day, the same newspaper reported that authorities from the nearby Air Force base had identified the debris as parts of a downed weather balloon belonging to the base. In 1994, declassified documents suggested that the debris was part of a Soviet surveillance project (Project Mogul).
Almost immediately, locals from Roswell and nearby areas began reporting sightings of lights and objects in the sky. The narrative of alien visitation had been seeded into the public consciousness through science fiction books and Hollywood films.
At a time when newspaper reporting was highly competitive, compelling headlines were often used whether the facts were clear or not. As newspaper and radio coverage spread the Roswell incident, Americans began interpreting everyday phenomena, like meteors or planes, as potential UFOs of alien origin. Roswell became a symbolic epicenter for UFO mythology, fueling decades of belief in alien visitations and government cover-ups. No physical evidence of anything extraterrestrial has ever been presented.
UFOs Over The White House
In July 1952, radar operators and pilots reported unidentified blips on their screens that appeared to be over Washington, D.C., near the White House and Capitol. Headlines immediately declared an “alien invasion,” and public fear escalated about potential extraterrestrial threats. By the time an investigation attributed the “blips” to temperature inversions affecting radar equipment, the UFO narrative had already taken hold. D.C. residents began gathering in public spaces and scanning the skies for flying saucers.
In an effort to ease UFO hysteria, the U.S. Air Force launched Project Blue Book to study UFO sightings from 1947 to 1969. While, true believers will poo poo the study as a convenient cover up, the findings are publicly available and tend to describe natural phenomena or mistaken identification of known technology.
Big Business: An $8 Billion Industry
Over the decades, while physical evidence of extraterrestrials is non-existent, the hysteria caused the birth of a new genre of books, films, and TV shows along with at least three generations of “experts,” celebrities, eyewitnesses, abductees, ufologists, and paranormal investigators.
A wave of New Age spirituality in the West fueled the movement as well. Dr. Steven Greer, for example, is well known for merging mysticism and ufology in an effort to contact and commune with beings he considers to be humanity’s benevolent cosmic relatives.
In the United States, the psychic services industry—which includes astrology, aura reading, mediumship, and related activities—was valued at approximately $2.3 billion in 2024.
The global paranormal tourism industry—ghost tours, haunted site visits, and similar experiences—is projected to reach $8.2 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7% from 2020 to 2025.
Market research aimed at understanding consumer behavior to topics pushing the boundaries of knowledge identifies the common thread as a commitment to uncovering truth and the meaning of life and our existence in the universe.
The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH)
The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis is the proposition that some UFOs or UAP are tangible, technologically advanced vehicles or drones created by intelligent beings capable of interstellar travel implying a level of technological and possibly biological advancement far exceeding that of humanity.
The central claim of the ETH is that these entities and their technology originate from beyond Earth—other planets, interstellar regions, or interdimensional realms—and are evidence of intelligent life from other planets, solar systems, or galaxies interacting with Earth.
The ETH gained significant traction during the mid-20th century, especially after events like the Roswell Incident (1947) and widespread UFO sightings during the Cold War. Figures like J. Allen Hynek, Stanton Friedman, and Richard Dolan have historically supported the ETH as the most plausible explanation for UFO phenomena.
However, the problems with this theory are insurmountable. No definitive proof (such as a recovered craft or extraterrestrial body) has been presented to support the ETH.
Natural phenomena, human-made technology, and experimental aircraft or drones remain the best explanation for most of the sightings. The vast distances between stars and the enormous energy requirements make interstellar travel impossible within the known laws of physics.
The ETH also suffers from the bias of anthropocentrism. Human beings tend to project Earth-based assumptions about technology, travel, and behavior onto hypothetical alien civilizations.
While the ETH is shot through with problems and contradictions, it remains the most popular explanation shaping public discussions of the topic. The ETH has profoundly influenced science fiction, pop culture, and public imagination and has inspired countless books, movies, and conspiracy theories while also sparking Quixotic pseudoscientific inquiries into astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
The New York Times and Disclosure Propaganda
The modern wave of UFO hysteria can be traced to a New York Times article published on December 16, 2017, written by Leslie Kean, Ralph Blumenthal, and Helene Cooper. The article claimed the U.S. government had been secretly investigating UFOs through AATIP. This reporting created a firestorm of public interest and served as the catalyst for widespread UFO speculation.
Supposedly classified Navy videos of unexplained phenomena (GoFast, Gimbal, and FLIR1) reignited global UFO interest. Whistleblower claims from figures like Luis Elizondo and David Grusch amplified the narrative.
Social media platforms became inundated with discussions, memes, and conspiracy theories, polarizing audiences between skeptics and believers. Countries worldwide reported increased UFO sightings as media sensationalized the narrative.
A UFO "religion" has infiltrated the United States government and sent elected leaders on a wild goose chase for aliens.
Kean’s Admissions of Misleading Narrative
Leslie Kean herself later acknowledged in an HBO interview that the article was misleading:
Selective Framing: The Times article emphasized military encounters with UAPs and sensationally tied them to alien hypotheses, omitting the mundane explanations behind many incidents (e.g., drones, classified aircraft, radar glitches).
Propaganda Intent: In Kean’s own words, the article was crafted to build public interest in UFOs and alien visitation. The goal was not pure journalism but to promote a narrative that heightened intrigue and legitimized belief in extraterrestrial visitation.
Senator Harry Reid, Bigelow Aerospace, and the Skinwalker Ranch Connection
In the NYT article, Kean reported on the $22 million Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program (AAWSAP), which is often conflated with UFO research:
Senator Harry Reid directed AAWSAP funding to Robert Bigelow’s aerospace company, a close friend and political ally. Bigelow, the former owner of Skinwalker Ranch, used this funding not to investigate UFOs but to study alleged paranormal phenomena at the ranch.
Skinwalker Ranch, infamous for reports of poltergeists, cryptids, and interdimensional portals, became a focal point for Bigelow’s investigations. The program was never engaged in any rigorous research, but was in fact a pseudoscientific venture into paranormal phenomena.
The NYT article deliberately misrepresented AAWSAP as a UFO program to generate public intrigue, with figures like Elizondo and Bigelow perpetuating this framing.
AAWSAP was a Bigelow-funded program with roots in paranormal research at Skinwalker Ranch. AATIP was a far smaller program that primarily reviewed military encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena but was not a comprehensive UFO study or extraterrestrial investigation. Contrary to media claims, AATIP lacked the resources, funding, and scope to confirm extraordinary claims about UFOs.
Impact of the NYT Article
The New York Times publishing of the piece led to mainstream acceptance of UFO stories that were previously confined to fringe circles. By presenting Elizondo’s claims without sufficient scrutiny, the article positioned him as a credible authority—he is not. Media outlets simply cut and paste the NYT piece amplifying the uncritical reporting and solidifying the phenomenon’s mainstream resurgence. One such outcome has been the lucrative Whistleblower movement.
The Whistleblower Movement: Luis Elizondo, David Grusch, and Media Figures
Despite media portrayals, neither Luis Elizondo nor David Grusch have provided concrete evidence supporting their extraordinary claims. Instead, they rely on anecdotes and appeals to authority, leaving their testimonies unverifiable.
Figures like George Knapp, a journalist deeply embedded in UFO lore, and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell, a self-styled documentarian, have elevated these claims through “yellow journalism.” Their uncritical reporting prioritizes entertainment and sensation over verifiable facts.
This movement bears all the hallmarks of a years-long psyop with public manipulation, media complicity, and government cover. Classified research and development programs benefit from UFO narratives, shielding advanced technologies from public awareness.
Rather than becoming consumed with alien crash retrieval programs and New Age spiritual ideals about Oneness with our distant relatives from Zeta Reticuli, this should teach us an important lesson: postmodern culture and the effects of unrestrained liberalism on our nation have left Americans in the 21st Century gullible and weak. There is a strong need for a return to true classical education, healthy skepticism, and critical thinking.
Hallmarks of a Coordinated Psychological Operation
The patterns since 2017 align with those of sophisticated mass psychological operations campaigns designed to manipulate public attention. Key indicators include:
Ambiguity and Confusion: The lack of definitive evidence for UFOs, combined with contradictory narratives from whistleblowers, creates cognitive dissonance and fascination.
Distracting Attention: By directing public focus toward speculative phenomena (UFOs), attention is diverted away from critical issues such as military advancements, geopolitical concerns, and domestic policies.
Cover for Secret Technologies: UFO sightings often align with areas of active military testing. The extraterrestrial narrative provides a convenient smokescreen for classified aerospace programs, allowing governments to test advanced drones, hypersonic aircraft, or experimental weapons without scrutiny.
Media Coordination: Figures like Knapp, Corbell, and Kean act as conduits for controlled narratives, amplifying specific voices while sidelining critical inquiry.
The UFO/UAP Movement as a Psyop
The modern UFO phenomenon is a blend of media hype, government misdirection, and paranormal mythmaking. From the New York Times article to whistleblowers like Luis Elizondo and David Grusch, the narrative has been deliberately shaped to evoke intrigue, mystification, and hysteria.
The UFO/UAP phenomenon has repeatedly demonstrated the human capacity for mass hysteria, from localized panics like the War of the Worlds broadcast to global movements sparked by the 2017 New York Times article. These incidents underscore the role of ambiguous narratives, authoritative messaging, and media amplification in driving collective fear.
Mass hysteria serves as a key tool for those seeking to manipulate public attention, whether for profit, propaganda, or distraction. By critically analyzing these events, we gain insight into the mechanisms of societal fear and the importance of skepticism in the face of extraordinary claims.
The UFO/UAP phenomenon demonstrates how narratives—absent of tangible proof—can dominate societies and how belief in aliens serves as a psychological placeholder for unexplained events, creating a cognitive bias, true believers, resistant to rational critique.
How The UAP Narrative and The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Benefits The National Security State
The UFO and extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is an ideal cover for advanced military research.
Here’s how:
Obfuscation of Technology: If experimental aircraft or weapons are misidentified as UFOs, the public focuses on aliens, not terrestrial breakthroughs.
Psychological Shielding: Alien narratives deter adversaries from probing deeper into defense technologies. It’s easier to dismiss sightings as “conspiracy theories” than pursue counterintelligence.
Testing Stealth and Optics: Deploying advanced drones or aircraft allows agencies to test detection systems and public awareness without revealing classified details.
Social Conditioning: Familiarizing the population with UFO narratives desensitizes them to future sightings of experimental technology, ensuring minimal panic.
Psyop operations aim to exploit psychological vulnerabilities through ambiguous events, narrative manipulation, and mass hysteria. Events like the War of the Worlds broadcast illustrate the ease with which public panic can be triggered and studied. From a strategic standpoint, UFO narratives offer a convenient cover for secret technological developments, obscuring military advances while simultaneously shaping public perception. The confluence of hysteria, mass formation psychosis, and psychological manipulation demonstrates the power of psyops in influencing both individual minds and collective behavior.
Sources:
Canetti, Elias. Crowds and Power. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1962.
Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. New York: Vintage, 1973.
Greenstreet, Steven. The Basement Office (New York Post investigative series).
Kean, Leslie, et al. “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program.” New York Times, December 16, 2017.
New York Post archives, Steven Greenstreet reporting.
Reid, Harry. “Funding AAWSAP and the Reality of Paranormal Research.” Government documents.
Reif, Philip. The Triumph of the Therapeutic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966.
Skinwalker Ranch investigations, as detailed in Robert Bigelow’s AAWSAP records.
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Welles, Orson. The War of the Worlds Broadcast. 1938.
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It's scary how stupid the public really is. Even my family, while they know it isn't UFO's/aliens, still don't believe it's a psychological operation, which is literally the SOLE purpose of the news and social media. They were just 'smart' enough to complain about the grainy/low clarity of the video; yet they fail to understand the fake, psyop nature of these stories.