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From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas) Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 23:42:39 -0800 |
A skeptical analysis of Dan Sherman's claims can be found at the MSN UFO forum at http://forums.msn.com/UFO/searchpd.htm It is written by an Army ELINT officer who ought to know about Sherman's working environment. I have reproduced the whole article here. (It is written by a military officer on active duty who is drawing on the resources of the U.S. Government, so I take it as a public domain work.) --GC --------------------------------------------------------------- The Search for the Truth on Project Preserve Destiny SYNOPSIS Claims about a special government program known as Project Preserve Destiny (PPD) have recently surfaced by one Dan Sherman aka D.L.Sherman. Mr. Sherman claims that while he was an Air Force Staff Sergeant Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) analyst that he participated in the PPD program as an empath, receiving information from aliens which he then forwarded to the U.S. Government presumably to the National Security Agency (NSA) via a special computer program and communications path located within his workstation terminal at two undisclosed duty stations. At first this information appeared to be locational then started to deal with abduction information. This upset Mr. Sherman. He admitted to committing homosexual acts or an act to get discharged from the Air Force rather than remain in the program. Mr. Sherman's empathic gifts are a result, of genetic engineering done to him while still being carried by his mother in 1963. According to him the PPD program was a joint US/alien program begun in 1960. Its avowed purpose was to have people who could communicate telepathically with aliens so that when an impending disaster struck and the earth's electromagnetic field was affected and all communications degraded, so that a method of communication with the aliens would be sustained. HIS BACKGROUND There is nothing in Mr. Sherman's background to suggest that he is not telling the truth with regard to his general military service. Given what he has said about ELINT, the course he was taking, and his general description of Ft. Meade and his assignments which he does list, he probably was what he says he was: an Air Force ELINT Analyst who graduated from EA280 and was sent to the field. Prior to that he claims to have been an Air Force Security Policeman, again there is no reason, at face value to dispute this aspect of his tale. HIS CLAIMS Mr. Sherman claims to have been part of the PPD program and that he was recruited after a period of years. His desire to be in the Air Force came from a pilot friend, another friend encouraged him to retrain from Security Police to ELINT analyst and it was only when he arrived at Ft. Meade, after he received his initial ELINT training at Goodfellow AFB, that he was selected for the PPD program. He does not state whether he went directly from Tech School to EA280 or whether he worked as an analyst for awhile. This leads us to the first problem: Why was Mr. Sherman allowed to enlist in the Security Police, why wasn't he immediately recruited into PPD upon entry into active duty? Most military personnel are chosen or choose to be in Intelligence during their first term of enlistment, yet Sherman, a genetically engineered empath, is allowed to enlist, enter a career field which requires lower aptitude scores, and works as a Security Policeman, a vital job, but not one requiring above average intelligence or aptitude. Upon arrival at Ft. Meade he is met by Capt. "Blank." Sherman finds it odd that an officer would contact him. We find it odd that he finds that odd, especially in the intelligence field where knowledge sometimes more than rank is held in greater importance. His clearance isn't in , and yet he is allowed to pass with this captain through a rather elaborate security system which presupposes that they already must have some security information about him. This is a violation of the most basic tenet of security procedures. Admittedly he could obtain access with the captain as his escort, but if that were the case his movement and actions would be severely limited. Upon completing both day and night schools, Sherman is then assigned to an active ELINT site. He claims to have forgotten which codewords and caveats he had except for one which frequently appears in open source literature. (We can neither confirm nor deny its existence as a legitimate caveat) however, Sherman says he has forgotten what access, in effect he had. This is absurd. One never forgets what one has been read on for. Sherman never claims to have been "read on" for PPD, yet it too must have a caveat. After Sherman is assigned to his first station he is then assigned a case officer and a terminal. It is in a van, probably not dissimilar from the Army's Electronic Processing and Dissemination System (EPDS) van. Most ELINT operations run twenty four hours per day. This means that someone has to be working at that terminal for sixteen hours per day when Sherman is not on duty. It is extremely difficult to imagine that a person not read onto PPD would be allowed to sit at a terminal that is sensitive during the time that Sherman is not there and alludes to a much bigger problem which is twofold: the first deals with format, and the other deals with connectivity itself. FORMAT: At the time that Sherman alleges to have been active in PPD, all communications via systems and terminals that he describes were through the Automated Digital Information Network or AUTODIN (or simply DIN). This network consists of both a high and a low side meaning that routinely classified and unclassified messages are sent over one kind of message router and those that have a caveat or are compartmentalized are sent over another type of router. Since this is an automated system, either router requires a specific type of message format. One simply does not type data into a blank screen and send the data off to NSA. Now it could be that the format was already preprogrammed into the program, but there is some administrative data that must be "hand jammed" into the message before it can be sent. If a message is not properly formatted it will be kicked back by an AUTODIN Switching Center (ASC) which monitors all traffic, one simply does not sit down at a blank screen and type in data and push a send button, it does not work like e-mail. CONNECTIVITY: The type of system that Sherman routinely worked with requires maintenance and upgrades. This is either done by military maintainers and/or civilian contractors. Any software loaded into such a terminal and the terminal itself requires routine maintenance, this means that someone other than Sherman and his handler would have to know about PPD, and those would be the maintainers of the system. This suggests that at least one more person per installation besides Sherman and his handler would have to know about the PPD program. I have yet had to use an automated intelligence system that did not fail on occasion and had to be fixed, and there are times when the AUTODIN circuit is down. Sherman has not addressed the logistical and maintenance aspect of his work and if he pleads ignorance because he was "just an operator" then he is either the dumbest operator that ever worked a system, or he hasn't looked at this aspect of his tale, and has yet to make something up. Sherman claims that as an operator, he did not know the names of the systems he operated. This is simply not the case. The types of systems that provide ELINT information and that process ELINT information are well known to all operators and is taught in the basic ELINT course. Sherman also claims to have an Associate Degree in Communications Applications Technology from the Community College of the Air Force, it is inconceivable that he would not be "not really sure" of the computer operating system used. The types of systems used and even the types of software and hardware are well known and are available in official open source documents. VERACITY OF MR. SHERMAN'S CLAIMS Mr. Sherman has failed to convince us that the tale that he has related is true. We feel that he has taken the framework of very real intelligence operations and used this as a foundation with which to tell his story. This makes about seventy percent of his story true, and it is much easier to lie when one is telling the truth most of the time. He has a great fear of releasing real classified information. As long as he tells an outright lie he cannot be prosecuted for revealing something which does not exist. Sherman appears very earnest, sincere, and glib, he goes to great lengths to correct minor points of his story regarding his service record, for instance, in the audio interview. This only builds his credibility. On many specific facts about the aliens he is very vague, stating that they would not answer his questions. This is very convenient. Because he has described his routine intelligence work so well, and has an air of sincerity and plausibility about him ( a result of his Security Police training?) people are most taken with him. Frankly, we are. But now lets consider what he is really saying: 1. He is recruited after many years in the Air Force. Why have the PPD people waited so long? Please see item 3. 2. He carries out this mission in the context of his regular duties. If the project is that important then why aren't all PPD empaths at Ft. Meade doing this full time? 3. Certain demographics are factors in genetic engineering and PPD people are attracted to the military, maybe even groomed for it. This is a pretty ineffective way of recruiting operatives. NSA and other intelligence agencies employ thousands of civilians, if someone is being monitored by the government as part of a secret program then why aren't they directly recruited into the program as civilians the way civilians are recruited routinely into the CIA, FBI and NSA? If Sherman says that the reason that they join the military is so that they can be checked out we would say that, that is contrary to how we recruit people into our business. A person going into intelligence receives an extensive background check and in some cases a polygraph examination as well. 4. Mr. Sherman claims that the aliens are without emotion. He also states that he feels an underlying compassion, this appears contradictory. 5. Mr. Sherman describes his work as "Intuitive Communication" and then describes a faculty that operates well in passing numbers (hardly intuitive!) and functions even when he is tired. Intuition is largely image based and functions best when the subject is alert. 6. Mr. Sherman refers to Black Programs and Gray Programs. He has a very incomplete understanding of what constitutes a Black Program. His routine work as an ELINT analyst, while being classified is not considered black. OUR SEARCH FOR PROJECT PRESERVE DESTINY An extensive search of our data bases failed to find any reference to PPD. This does not mean that there is not a program out there, but we could not find it and we have access to some fairly comprehensive data bases. We found nothing. Mr. Bob Huff claims that someone in Pacific Sierra Research is familiar with a database of that name. Pacific Sierra Research is a civilian contractor not unknown to us that does some work with ELINT. This may be coincidental, or it could be a contractor friend who served with Sherman on active duty merely perpetuating the tale, or it actually could be the name of a database. WHAT IS MR. SHERMAN'S MOTIVATION? We believe that Mr. Sherman is motivated by a desire to make money by marketing his tale. A secondary reason maybe to justify his discharge for homosexuality. He may have been unjustly accused. This would be a way of "getting back" RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION We highly recommend that the UFO Forum do the following in preparation for an interview with Mr. Sherman: 1. Review all of his military records and his DD Form 214. (By the way his 214 will give you his last duty station, or PPD assignment number 2, something that he is very coy about) If he refuses what is he hiding? 2. Find out more about his work as a Security Policeman. Did he guard airplanes or did he do investigative work, if so that would contribute to his glibness. 3. Have Mr. Sherman agree to take a polygraph test. It might prove inconclusive, but then again it might not, If he is telling the truth, he has nothing to fear. (Yes we know that polygraphs are not recognized in a court of law, but they are routinely used at NSA for security purposes and they are good indicators) 4. Have Mr. Sherman take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test. This is not required, but many people in the intelligence community do end up taking it at some point or another. This would give us some insights into Mr. Sherman's personality. 5. Address the issues that we have presented in this critique. ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THIS PAPER Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mark E. Louttit is currently assigned as the Officer in Charge of the First Analysis Platoon, D Company, 201st MI Battalion, 513th MI Brigade, Fort Gordon, GA. His primary training has been in ELINT and he taught ELINT related subjects at the Army Intelligence School formerly at Fort Devens, MA. He has had assignments in Korea, Turkey, Alaska, Colorado, Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts. With almost twenty years of active service, CW2 Louttit has spent sixteen of them in intelligence. In addition to military schools, he is a graduate of the University of Arizona with degrees in History and Music Education. The author of this paper is grateful for the input provided by members of the Military Intelligence community, who took time from their busy schedules to review Mr. Sherman's claims. Their insight was most helpful. [end of article] -------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE MODERATOR What is perhaps most interesting about this review is that it is written by an officer on active duty, whose name and credentials are given. This may mean that the military has learned a lesson from Bob Lazar: Address the claims early and openly to avoid turning your secret installation into UFO Central. Whether or not such UFO claims are true, the UFO believers are certainly real and can cause a lot of disruption. I am trying to figure out how this review came to be: Did Louttit decide to do it on his own, then sought permission, or was he asked to do it? I can't imagine him giving his name and assignment info if he did not have the authorization to do so and had vetted the document through security channels. I've dealt with a lot of present and recently retired military people, and most of them would be extremely cautious about putting their name and credentials on any UFO-related posting, even a skeptical one. There is a lot of professional risk in it and no real benefit. On the other hand, if Louttit was asked to do it by his superiors, authorization to use his name would come with it. He would not be blamed for any consequences. I can imagine the NSA reading the PPD book with interest. They are the agency at risk, not the Army or Air Force. NSA Headquarters is the place the alleged training took place, so that's where the UFO buffs might descend. (Hmmm, maybe the Research Center should move to Maryland!) Knowing how the Lazar story and its aftermath compromised Area 51, the NSA might realize that they have to formulate a response to defuse the situation. This article might be it. This theory says nothing, however, about whether the analysis is valid. That has to be reviewed on its own merits. (Anyone care to?) Glenn +--------------------------------------------------------------- | AREA 51 MAILING LIST - A moderated forum for selected topics | http://www.ufomind.com/area51/list/ - G. Campbell, Moderator | "unsubscribe"/"subsingle" to: <area51-request@lists.best.com> | Submissions to: <area51@lists.best.com> | | RELEVANCE: Specific government UFO cover-up claims | Index: Dan Sherman +---------------------------------------------------------------
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Created: Nov 25, 1997