KABOOM! The Explosive UFO Story That Changed The World - Guest : Ralph Blumenthal (PART 1)

Summary

This podcast delves into the groundbreaking New York Times article published on December 16, 2017, that exposed the Pentagon's secret investigation into UFOs and UAPs. Journalists Helene Cooper, Leslie Kean, and Ralph Blumenthal share the challenges they faced in bringing this story to light, confronting ridicule from peers and institutional pushback. The discussion covers the implications of their findings and the broader significance of UFO encounters beyond mere technological competition.

Key takeaways

• 1The New York Times published a significant article on Dec. 16, 2017, about secret government investigations into UFOs.
• 2The article shed light on the encounters between U.S. military and unidentified aircraft that are more advanced than known technology.
• 3Journalists Helene Cooper, Leslie Kean, and Ralph Blumenthal faced significant challenges, including opposition from colleagues and editors.
• 4Ralph Blumenthal is noted for his dedication to investigative journalism and his focus on the topic of UFOs.
• 5Dr. John Mack, a Harvard psychiatrist, is discussed as a key figure in understanding human encounters with non-human entities.

Glossary terms

Source

Transcript excerpt

In this episode of Weaponize, featuring former New York Times reporter and writer of the 2017 bombshell UAP New York Times article, Ralph Blumenthal. There are some key dates, you know, 1947, when Kenneth Arnold and Roswell both happened, 1969, the so-called end of government studies when Project Blue Book was closed down, and 2017, when the New York Times uncorked a front-page blockbuster story by Ralph Blumenthal, Leslie Kane, and Helene Cooper about secret government investigations into UFOs. We had an exclusive source, basically, who gave us slides that were shown to, you know, within the Pentagon, showing or naming, actually mentioning recovery, material recoveries of UFO remains, retrievals. This phenomenon does not lend itself to documentation, for whatever reason. You started to answer it, but I'd love to hear more. What did you leave out that you knew back in 2017 that you didn't have space to write about? This is Weaponize. I'm George Knapp, joined by my colleague, Jeremy Corbell. Jeremy, how you doing? I'm good. How you doing, man? Good. You know, as we have talked about many times, UFOs and big-time journalism are kind of like oil and water. They don't really mix, or at least that's the way it's been for decades. I mean, major news media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News have been overtly hostile to UFOs over the years and to UFO researchers and to UFO claims. But something happened in December of 2017, which kind of threw a monkey wrench into that whole thing, when the New York Times ran this blockbuster front-page story about a secret government-funded investigation into UFOs. Included in that story was the now-famous Tic Tac case that you and I had discussed on the air prior to December of 2017. ...

Excerpt from Weaponized, Mar 11, 2025. Rights remain with the original creators. Hear the full episode at the source.