The Sekret Handshake | Covert Intellect

"The chilling effect of subjecting researchers to such an inethical standard would undoubtedly stifle innovation and collaboration."

May 11, 2024

Those paying attention to the UFO topic have experienced many twists and turns over the past several months. Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the former director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), has displayed bizarre behavior in his media appearances during this time, demonstrating a deliberate attempt to obfuscate in an alarmingly brazen manner. In his most recent interview, however, he appeared to realize that his repeated mistruths are becoming a liability.

That's not to say he has shown any remorse. If he has any regrets at all, they likely pertain to his response to a question about his previous involvement in government UFO reverse-engineering programs. When asked if he was involved in a government coverup to prevent the public from knowing the reality of the UFO phenomenon, his two-word answer, "not likely," was both pained and awkward in its delivery.

As if that non-denial denial wasn't problematic enough, Kirkpatrick also refuted knowing details about several UAP-adjacent subjects—details he would undoubtedly possess. Making matters worse for the current employee of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he was exposed as a liar by a high-profile billionaire with a vested interest in the topic, presenting something Kirkpatrick demands but never actually provides himself: hard evidence to back up his claims.

Brandon Fugal, property owner of the paranormal hotspot known as Skinwalker Ranch, provided images of Kirkpatrick attending a briefing he gave to the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2018. In the aforementioned interview, Kirkpatrick stated he was initially unaware of the topic of Fugal's presentation—UFO and paranormal events surrounding the Ranch—even though pictures taken during the briefing demonstrate the opposite. The only explanation beyond an intentional effort to mislead the public would be extraordinary incompetence on Kirkpatrick's part.

Kirkpatrick's involvement with this briefing is significant for several reasons. The first important aspect is his intentional obfuscation surrounding the briefing, which reveals an intention to hide what he has known about the UFO subject since at least 2018.

The fact that Kirkpatrick was one of only six individuals in the audience indicates he had at least a familiarity with the UFO topic at the time. As we will discover later in this conversation, he likely even participated in a capacity as a subject matter expert on UAP. This is not a stretch, as Kirkpatrick would be trusted to head AARO—the DoD's first comprehensive, public-facing UFO office since Blue Book—just a few short years later.

Project Blue Book Status Report No. 8 chart attempting to explain UFOs away as a cultural phenomenon

This leads us to our first obvious line of questioning.

What did Dr. Kirkpatrick know about UFOs, and when did he know it?

The second notable revelation has more to do with the high strangeness surrounding UAP than the actual craft themselves. Anomalous objects in the sky are just one of countless phenomena that reportedly manifest on and around the property at Skinwalker Ranch. The legends surrounding the larger Uintah Basin are replete with stories of bizarre creatures, hazardous orbs, poltergeist activity, and, of course, the infamous Skinwalkers as described in the Ute oral tradition.

We now arrive at our second question.

What does Dr. Kirkpatrick know about paranormal phenomena more generally, and when did he know it?

A quick glance at Kirkpatrick's impressive work history on LinkedIn and official military biographical pages does not reveal any obvious answers at first. But it's the years of employment left off his resume that may tell the full story of his history with the UFO subject, and that is where we begin our journey now.

The Ultimate Loyalty

Whatever one may think of how Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick handled his time as the director of AARO, I don't think anyone would accuse him of being unqualified for the job. In fact, he was likely overqualified, which may have contributed to the clear resentment he displayed publicly towards the UFO topic. But bitterness only explains a small part of what can only be described as a systematic debunking and whistleblower "fly-paper operation" initiated by the office.

The more logical and obvious motivation for his actions during his tenure is that the DoD was determined to shut down the mainstream conversation around UFOs sparked by the 2017 New York Times article, and Kirkpatrick happily obliged due to his deep loyalty and belief in protecting national security—even at the expense of public trust.

I have written previously about Kirkpatrick's lifelong involvement in classified government programs, starting with his recruitment by the Department of Energy at 17 years old. According to a local news report, the DoE was interested in his invention of "a machine that could speed up blood typing with the use of lasers," and "all he had in mind was 'getting my first patent before I was 19.'"

I also briefly addressed his time at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a secretive defense contractor with a board of directors at the time that included former Admiral Bobby Ray Inman. Inman is infamous in UFO circles for a 1989 conversation covertly recorded by former NASA engineer Bob Oechsler, where he appeared to acknowledge the existence of a UAP reverse engineering program.

Included in my analysis was a patent filed by SAIC that listed Dr. Kirkpatrick as an inventor, titled "Holographic recording and micro/nanofabrication via ultrafast holographic two-photon induced photopolymerization." Interestingly, the patent was granted to the company just a week after Inman retired from the board. This is most likely a coincidence, but it proves how involved Kirkpatrick was in obtaining proprietary rights for the company's technology.

Sean Kirkpatrick is listed as an SAIC affiliate in the meeting abstracts of DoE’s Femtosecond Materials Science and Technology symposium

This is understandable in a vacuum, as Dr. Kirkpatrick may have a monetary interest in the patent and we have seen how determined he was to claim his intellectual property as a teenager. What I did not realize, however, was the relevance this specific patent holds to the technology his future office would be tasked with investigating.

The patent describes a method of micro/nanofabrication, meaning the creation of complex nanostructures on the microscopic level. These structures are formed through holographic polymerization using two photons emitted by lasers. This allows for extremely precise detail in the fabrication process that is the product of a photochemical reaction and ultimately defined by the resulting holographic pattern. This process can also be harnessed for holographic recording, providing a secure and compact storage mechanism for large amounts of data.

In short, this method of holographic two-photon induced photopolyrization (H-TPIP) is a highly advanced laser technique used to manufacture nanotechnologies with extreme precision. The patent filed by Kirkpatrick under SAIC likely gave the company a sizable advantage in this cutting-edge area of defense research and development.

An Archaic Mindset

Again, nobody is faulting Dr. Kirkpatrick for a lack of ingenuity or scientific prowess. However, education level and career achievements are immaterial to the potential conflict of interest issues that may arise in the course of business—especially in what is supposed to be a highly regulated industry entrusted with an unmatched proportion of U.S. taxpayer funds.

Unfortunately, as displayed on countless occasions, military leadership has allowed private defense executives to abuse public trust under the guise of national security.

This mindset can be observed by reviewing public comments from Admiral Bobby Ray Inman himself. A 1982 article published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Inman proposed the requirement of a national security review as part of the standard scientific peer review process.

A special problem is posed by scientists who, unfettered by the contractual obligations entailed by government agency support, "conduct research in areas where the federal government has an obvious and preeminent role for society as a whole." One such area of longstanding concern to him was cryptography.
Despite the recent "reasonable and fair" arrangement for voluntary submission of manuscripts in this area to the National Security Agency for prepublication review, Inman still expressed concern that "indiscriminate publication" might cause "irreversible harm to national security interests..."
"Examples include computer hardware and software, other electronic gear and techniques, lasers, crop projections, and manufacturing procedures," he suggested. If these rather broad categories are merely examples of what might be controlled, one is tempted to wonder about the dimensions of Admiral Inman's complete list! If all areas of science and technology which are of potential interest to the Soviet military establishment are included, the list is long indeed.
Rather than risk the divisive confrontation between the government and the scientific community which is likely to result from the imposition of formal statutory controls, Inman suggested that a balance acceptable to both sides "may lie in an agreement to include in the peer review process (prior to the start of research and prior to publication) the question of potential harm to the nation." When restrictions are judged necessary, he said, "speedy procedures for appeals, review, and appropriate compensation should be included."

It is quite disturbing to consider that this clandestine outlook surrounding the scientific method has a top-down impact on the government's interactions with the academic community. The chilling effect of subjecting researchers to such an inethical standard would undoubtedly stifle innovation and collaboration.

Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick’s H-TPIP Patent filed under SAIC

Unsurprisingly, it is exactly this kind of scientific knee-capping that is so often criticized by those with deeper knowledge of legacy UFO programs. It is in this context that we must view Dr. Kirkpatrick's patent, as the still-classified science he has worked on is obviously unknowable.

When it comes to UAP projects buried deep within the government that Kirkpatrick did everything in his power not to find, it is clear that his expertise would be of immense value to such research. His H-TPIP method of nanofabrication, providing unparalleled precision in shaping materials at the microscale, would have innumerable aerospace applications in the development of metamaterials.

Patently False

One of the most challenging roadblocks reported by insiders in cracking UAP technology is not the theoretical physics, but the materials science required to replicate what Lue Elizondo first coined the "five observables": antigravity, no visible means of propulsion, low observability, instantaneous acceleration, and transmedium travel.

If UAPs are truly constructed with highly advanced metamaterials that defy our current scientific understanding, H-TPIP would appear to be a uniquely useful tool in decoding those properties. Although the resolution of H-TPIP is limited to the molecular level, it is hard not to wonder how similar technologies have advanced within classified programs over the twenty-five years since the patent was filed.

Highly detailed 3D modeling of nanoscale structures could capture the arrangement of these anomalous materials and enable analytical insight into their potential use cases. Computer simulations could be run with extreme detail, providing a cost-effective way to experiment with different theoretical frameworks.

Most importantly, H-TPIP's intricate fabrication process could allow for the recreation of these isotopic structures at the microscale. Prototypes could then be manufactured for testing with environmental factors like radiation and electromagnetic fields. Reverse engineering UAP microstructures could also provide insight into material compositions that are capable of withstanding the outrageous maneuvers and sudden changes in velocity these anomalous craft have been observed to perform.

Even if these materials remain too enigmatic to fully implement or replicate, integrating a potentially "dumbed down" version of these structures into our existing technologies could still prove to be a huge leap forward in many ways. H-TPIP also plays an integral role in sensor development, and has likely led to advancements in platforms fundamental to detecting UFOs.

Speaking of sensors, Dr. Kirkpatrick also holds an additional patent for an “Optical pulse correlator having an interferometer array.” This type of technology could be used in advanced sensing systems that might be deployed to detect or analyze optical signals associated with UAP.

The redacted “Common Shapes” page of the original UAP report is a running joke in UFO circles

It would be unsurprising if we eventually learn that the reason UFO data, images, and videos remain under lock and seal is due to their detection on the very technologies Dr. Kirkpatrick holds a patent for under SAIC. The sensitivity of these platforms has been invoked time and again as a major reason for the Pentagon's lack of transparency on this issue. It would be quite concerning if the director of the UFO office had a monetary interest in withholding data from the public because he had a patent on the technology that acquired it.

Questions Remain

At this juncture, we have addressed Kirkpatrick's involvement—and potential financial interest—in the development of technologies that could aid in the detection, analysis, and reverse engineering of UAP materials and sensor platforms. But this does not provide clarity on his apparent relevance when it comes to the more paranormal aspects surrounding Skinwalker Ranch, a hotspot of high strangeness where these craft are only part of a much more elaborate phenomenon.

Part two of this series will explore these odd inconsistencies and try to make sense of a few more uncomfortable questions.

Why is Dr. Kirkpatrick's employment at SAIC nowhere to be found on his LinkedIn or any of his official military biographical summaries?
Why was Kirkpatrick listed as a subject matter expert "in the fields of chemical and biological security and safety" in a Department of Energy report that focuses on "synthetic biologic systems" and making "living matter fully programmable?"
Why was Kirkpatrick applying his H-TPIP technology on hybrid structures containing biomolecules and synthetic proteins—a process that can only be called "biologics" in even the strictest sense?
And, most importantly, why did he obfuscate about his knowledge and history regarding the UFO topic, and specifically his involvement in the Senate Armed Services Committee Skinwalker Ranch briefing?

I will leave the reader with a list of links to Dr. Kirkpatrick’s work. Feel free to peruse them and leave a comment with any relevant data points related to UAP technologies, sensor platforms, or biologics.

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