1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,839 Speaker 1: Imagine possessing the most heavily guarded, earth shattering secrets of 2 00:00:03,879 --> 00:00:07,000 the United States military. You wake up every single day 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,640 carrying the absolute truth about advanced aerospace weapons, the reality 4 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,919 of highly classified Pentagon's special access programs, and potentially anyway 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:20,440 the definitive answers behind the long standing, heavily classified archives 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,600 of the US government's UAP investigation. Right, you are quite 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,519 literally a walking repository of information, the kind of data 8 00:00:28,519 --> 00:00:31,800 that nations would pay billions for or perhaps sacrifice entire 9 00:00:31,839 --> 00:00:33,479 intelligence networks just access. 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 2: Absolutely. 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: Then, one ordinary morning, under the vast open skies of 12 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,960 the American Southwest, you lace up your running shoes, you 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:41,799 head out for a jog on a trail you likely 14 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,840 know like the back of your hand, and you completely vanish, 15 00:00:45,079 --> 00:00:47,920 just gone, no trace, no digital footprint, just gone. 16 00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 2: Welcome to thrilling Threads. I am incredibly glad you are 17 00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:53,359 with us today because what we are tracking isn't an 18 00:00:53,399 --> 00:00:56,600 abstract theory or a piece of historical lore. It is 19 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,039 a very real, very current, and frankly unsettling, unfolding mystery. 20 00:01:02,119 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: It really is. We are unpacking a missing person case 21 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,640 that is completely enveloped in a massive national security puzzle 22 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,640 and to guide this investigation, we are analyzing a highly 23 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,200 revealing broadcast from the network News Nation. 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, that segment was incredible. 25 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,159 Speaker 1: Specifically, it was a segment titled disappearance of UFO Expert 26 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:27,040 General Neil McCaslin Alarming cul Fart. This aired on Jesse 27 00:01:27,159 --> 00:01:31,439 Weber Live, featuring the insights of investigative journalist Ross. 28 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 2: Coulthart, who many of you probably know from the Reality. 29 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: Check podcast exactly. He was on there alongside anchor Jesse Weber. 30 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,400 We have an incredibly dense stack of notes, timelines, and 31 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,120 geopolitical context to synthesize for you. And joining me to 32 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,439 cut through the noise and analyze the structural intelligence implications 33 00:01:47,439 --> 00:01:50,200 of this case is my co host. Let's get right 34 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,079 into the sheer, unprecedented nature of who we are dealing 35 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,079 with here, because this isn't just a high ranking officer. 36 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,000 This is a very specific type of military intelligence asset. 37 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,239 Speaker 2: Descinating here is that this is the crux of why 38 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:06,439 the case immediately sets off alarm bells across the intelligence community. 39 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,800 We aren't talking about a mid level bureaucrat or a 40 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:13,800 defense contractor who might have had peripheral access to a 41 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:19,240 classified memo. Once we're talking about Major General William Neil McCasland, 42 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,400 a highly cleared two star general, disappearing into thin air. 43 00:02:24,439 --> 00:02:28,280 In the architecture of military command and global intelligence, individuals 44 00:02:28,319 --> 00:02:31,719 with this specific pedigree of knowledge simply do not fall 45 00:02:31,759 --> 00:02:32,240 off the map. 46 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: We just don't. 47 00:02:33,039 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 2: There is a deeply ingrained infrastructure of visibility protocols and 48 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,680 continuous monitoring for people who hold the keys to the kingdom. 49 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,639 When someone of mccaslin's magnitude drops off the grid, we 50 00:02:43,719 --> 00:02:45,919 have to look far past the physical mechanics of a 51 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,680 missing hiker in New Mexico. We have to examine the 52 00:02:48,719 --> 00:02:52,840 sprawling classified shadow he casts, because the operational footprint of 53 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:54,199 a man like this is massive. 54 00:02:54,439 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: If you're tracking the timeline with us, you have to 55 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,759 look at the resume to really understand the stakes. General 56 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:04,400 mc kasland, often referred to as Neil or Mike, depending 57 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,199 on the circles he runs in, is a sixty eight 58 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,840 year old retired Air Force officer. Yeah, but referring to 59 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,400 him as a retired officer is a massive understatement. According 60 00:03:14,439 --> 00:03:17,960 to the News Nation Broadcast, General McCaslin is the former 61 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,520 commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the AFRL. 62 00:03:21,759 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 2: That's right. 63 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,159 Speaker 1: Jesse Weber points out that this is the organization directly 64 00:03:26,199 --> 00:03:30,919 responsible for advanced military technology and science, and we should Okay, 65 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,599 let's unpack this for a second, because I know our 66 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:34,759 audience is well versed in the defense sector. So we 67 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,120 aren't going to patronize you with simplistic analogies. 68 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:37,919 Speaker 2: Oh, of course not. 69 00:03:38,039 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: We are talking about some fictional Hollywood gadget lab. Here. 70 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,479 We are talking about the very real, bleeding edge spear 71 00:03:44,599 --> 00:03:49,120 of American defense research. We're talking hypersonic led vehicles, directed 72 00:03:49,199 --> 00:03:53,840 energy weapons, autonomous drone swarms, advanced material science. It's like 73 00:03:53,879 --> 00:03:57,159 the Q branch in James Bond, but with a staggering 74 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,879 two billion dollar public packspay budget. 75 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 2: And we need to be incredibly precise about that two 76 00:04:03,319 --> 00:04:06,319 billion dollar figure too. Oh absolutely, because that is merely 77 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,159 the unclassified budget. That's just the portion of the ledger 78 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,599 that can be discussed in open congressional hearings. Ross Collthart 79 00:04:13,639 --> 00:04:17,959 rightly notes that McCaslin was overseeing aerospace weapons research for 80 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,600 the entire US Defense Department up until his retirement in 81 00:04:21,639 --> 00:04:25,720 twenty sixteen. The specific phrasing Collthart uses that should catch 82 00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:29,519 the attention of anyone familiar with defense infrastructure. Is very, 83 00:04:29,879 --> 00:04:30,920 very highly cleared. 84 00:04:31,079 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, that phrasing stands out. 85 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,079 Speaker 2: In the civilian sphere, the term top secret is often 86 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,480 viewed as the absolute ceiling of classified information, but as 87 00:04:40,519 --> 00:04:43,759 you know, within the Department of Defense, top secret is 88 00:04:43,959 --> 00:04:47,079 really merely the baseline for entry into the actual secrets. 89 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,279 Above that you enter the heavily compartmentalized realm of sensitive 90 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:55,600 compartmented information and more importantly, for this context, special access 91 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,000 programs or SAPs. 92 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,879 Speaker 1: And the broadcast explicitly states he wasn't just read and 93 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,480 to these programs. He was the director of special Programs 94 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,680 at the Pentagon before he ever even commanded the AFRL, 95 00:05:06,079 --> 00:05:09,920 So his day to day reality involved handling the absolute 96 00:05:09,959 --> 00:05:13,639 most sensitive, heavily guarded secrets at the very apex of 97 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,839 the DoD. Jesse Weber mentions, these are projects so incredibly 98 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:21,439 classified that vast majority of people inside the government I'm 99 00:05:21,439 --> 00:05:25,720 talking high ranking congressional members and other military leaders never 100 00:05:25,879 --> 00:05:28,079 even get to see them or know they exist. 101 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 2: I have no idea. 102 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: As director, he was essentially the traffic cup for the 103 00:05:32,079 --> 00:05:32,720 black budget. 104 00:05:32,759 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 2: He used the gatekeeper to hold the title of director 105 00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:40,240 of special programs means you are fundamentally responsible for overseeing 106 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,240 the need to know lists. You are determining who gets 107 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:45,560 read in, who gets read out, and how the deepest 108 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,959 secrets of the republic are shielded from adversarial espionage in 109 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:49,720 internal leaks. 110 00:05:49,759 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: It's an immense amount of power and. 111 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 2: A massive burden. The psychological and operational burden of managing 112 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,120 that level of clearance is profound. It requires a complete 113 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,439 compartmentalization of your own life. You are constantly managing intelligence 114 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,959 and capabilities that, if compromised, could fundamentally alter the strategic 115 00:06:07,959 --> 00:06:11,879 balance of global power dynamics. When you hold SAP oversight, 116 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,879 you are briefed on technological realities that might be decades 117 00:06:16,879 --> 00:06:20,279 ahead of what the public, the academic sector, or even 118 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,920 standard military personnel believe is currently possible. According to the 119 00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:28,879 laws of physics, you exist in a cognitive reality that 120 00:06:28,959 --> 00:06:30,800 is structurally different from the rest of the world. 121 00:06:31,319 --> 00:06:33,959 Speaker 1: I want to pause on that psychological aspect because it 122 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,319 plays so heavily into the theories of his disappearance later on. 123 00:06:38,399 --> 00:06:40,759 Is it even possible for a person who has lived 124 00:06:40,759 --> 00:06:45,439 for decades in that hyper secure, hyper monitor deeply compartmentalized 125 00:06:45,439 --> 00:06:47,519 cognitive space to just retire. 126 00:06:47,639 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 2: That is the big question. 127 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:50,879 Speaker 1: Do you ever actually walk away from that? Because he 128 00:06:50,879 --> 00:06:53,759 doesn't just forget the blueprints to a hypersonic missile system 129 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,639 or the locations of unacknowledged black sites. They remain locked 130 00:06:56,639 --> 00:06:57,120 in his head. 131 00:06:57,199 --> 00:07:02,079 Speaker 2: You never truly leave the apparatus. Individual with SAP overset retires, 132 00:07:02,079 --> 00:07:05,040 they transition into a different phase of security monitoring, but 133 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,839 the burden remains. There are lifelong non disclosure agreements, ongoing 134 00:07:09,879 --> 00:07:14,519 security evaluations, and an implicit understanding that you remain a 135 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,560 high value target for foreign intelligence for the rest of 136 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,079 your life. The secrets don't degrade in value simply because 137 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,680 you turned in your Pentagon badge. 138 00:07:22,759 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: If anything, they might become more valuable exactly. 139 00:07:25,639 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 2: In fact, in some ways, human assets become more vulnerable 140 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,519 in retirement. They no longer have the physical security infrastructure 141 00:07:32,519 --> 00:07:35,439 of a military base or the Pentagon surrounding them. Twenty 142 00:07:35,439 --> 00:07:38,199 four to seven. They go grocery shopping, they drive on 143 00:07:38,279 --> 00:07:40,639 public highways, they go for trail runs in the. 144 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,279 Speaker 1: Desert, which creates a staggering vulnerability. You have a sixty 145 00:07:44,279 --> 00:07:46,959 eight year old man living a seemingly normal civilian life 146 00:07:46,959 --> 00:07:50,319 in New Mexico. But he is a walking, breathing vault 147 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,920 of the nation's most sensitive defense architecture. It's an incredible juxtaposition, 148 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,120 there really is, and that brings us to the specific 149 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,319 geographical and historical context of his career. We have to 150 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:04,319 talk about where that research laboratory he commanded is actually located. 151 00:08:04,519 --> 00:08:06,720 We aren't talking about a generic testing ground. We are 152 00:08:06,759 --> 00:08:09,079 talking about Right Patterson Air Force Base. 153 00:08:09,439 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 2: Right Patterson is essentially the bedrock of American aerospace history 154 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:18,160 and simultaneously the epicenter of its most enduring classified mythology. 155 00:08:18,279 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting. 156 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,879 Speaker 2: Ross Coulthart brings this connection to the forefront immediately in 157 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:29,120 the News Nation interview. Right Patterson is historically intrinsically linked 158 00:08:29,319 --> 00:08:33,000 to the US government study of unidentified anomaloust phenomena. 159 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: We all know Right Pat's legacy. We don't need to 160 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,559 rehash the nineteen forty seven Roswell weather balloon explanations or 161 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,840 the historical parameters of Project Blue Book. If you're listening 162 00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:45,879 to this, you already know that Right Patterson was the 163 00:08:45,919 --> 00:08:49,919 headquarters for the military's public facing UFO investigations for nearly 164 00:08:49,919 --> 00:08:50,639 two decades. 165 00:08:50,759 --> 00:08:52,519 Speaker 2: Yes, the public facing ones right. 166 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:54,799 Speaker 1: But what Culthar is pointing out, and what is staggering 167 00:08:54,879 --> 00:08:57,919 to consider, is that mchaslin wasn't just walking those same 168 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,440 historical halls. He had the clearance and the command authority 169 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,679 to access the vaults that even Bluebook's public facing officers 170 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,240 were likely locked out of. Culthart explicitly states that Wright 171 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,799 Patterson is long rumored to be a repository for top 172 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,919 secret materials that were recovered from alleged non human craft. 173 00:09:15,159 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 2: The phrasing Culthart chooses is very deliberate. If we connect 174 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,759 this to the bigger picture. He bridges the gap between 175 00:09:22,799 --> 00:09:26,960 decades old lore and contemporary high stakes national security discussions. 176 00:09:27,639 --> 00:09:32,200 The rumors of subterranean vaults, form materials, exploitation labs, and 177 00:09:32,279 --> 00:09:35,919 the reverse engineering of anomalists aerospace technology have swirled around 178 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,600 Right Patterson since the late nineteen forties. Roswell exactly, but 179 00:09:40,879 --> 00:09:43,320 it's critical to understand what it means to command a 180 00:09:43,399 --> 00:09:47,480 base with that specific legacy infrastructure. A base commander doesn't 181 00:09:47,519 --> 00:09:50,080 just oversee the runways in the mess halls if there 182 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,879 are legacy special access programs operating deep within the infrastructure 183 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:58,480 of Right Patterson. Programs dedicated to form materials exploitation, regardless 184 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:02,519 of whether those materials are of terrestrial adversarial origin or otherwise. 185 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,879 The base commander, particularly one who previously served as the 186 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:09,759 director of Special Programs at the Pentagon, would have ultimate visibility. 187 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,559 Speaker 1: Exactly if there's any factual basis to the rumors about 188 00:10:12,639 --> 00:10:17,480 right Patterson holding anomaloust materials or incredibly advanced reverse engineer technology. 189 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,799 McCaslin is definitively the individual who would know, without a doubt. 190 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,840 He wouldn't be guessing. He would have the specific clearance, 191 00:10:25,039 --> 00:10:28,519 the direct access, and the high level scientific background to 192 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,600 understand exactly what the United States possesses. He is the 193 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,759 man who oversaw the budget for the scientist's analyzing it. 194 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 2: Which fundamentally alters his threat profile. He isn't just a 195 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,000 retired general who knows troop movements or standard weapons yields. 196 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:48,399 He potentially holds the answers to the most heavily guarded 197 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:50,919 paradigm shifting questions in human history. 198 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 1: It's massive, and when. 199 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 2: An individual with that specific knowledge profile disappears, the investigative 200 00:10:57,399 --> 00:11:03,559 parameters have to immediately expand to include counterintelligence and espionaur scenarios. 201 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,519 Speaker 1: And that expands our scope right into a massive, incredibly 202 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:10,279 complex web of political leaks and some truly uncanny timing 203 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,600 that the News Nation broadcast maps out. Because General mccaslyn's 204 00:11:13,639 --> 00:11:16,279 name didn't just emerge from obscurity when he went missing. 205 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,480 He was violently dragged into the public spotlight several years ago, 206 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:20,600 back in twenty sixteen. 207 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 2: This is where the narrative intersects with public disclosure and 208 00:11:24,759 --> 00:11:29,320 the volatile nature of political intelligence leaks. Coulthart points out 209 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,639 that mccaslyn was prominently named in a highly publicized data breach, 210 00:11:33,279 --> 00:11:37,720 specifically the leaked twenty sixteen emails involving John Podesta, who 211 00:11:37,799 --> 00:11:41,279 was serving as Hillary Clinton's campaign manager during that election cycle. 212 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: Now, before we dig into the substance of those emails, 213 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,159 I want to establish a very clear framework for our 214 00:11:47,159 --> 00:11:50,000 discussion today. Yes, absolutely, we are bringing up the Clinton 215 00:11:50,039 --> 00:11:53,080 campaign and shortly we will be discussing the Trump administration. 216 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,200 We are doing this strictly and impartially to report the 217 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,279 factual timeline of events precisely as they were laid out 218 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:01,679 by Ross coulf Art and Jesse weberon News Nation. 219 00:12:01,879 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 2: We are not taking sides here. 220 00:12:03,399 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: We are absolutely not taking any political sides. We are 221 00:12:06,399 --> 00:12:09,519 not endorsing any political viewpoints, and we have no interest 222 00:12:09,519 --> 00:12:13,639 in the partisan battles of those administrations. Our sole analytical 223 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,480 focus is on how these high level political figures, their campaigns, 224 00:12:17,519 --> 00:12:20,799 and their public statements intersept with the timeline of General 225 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:25,960 mccaslon's career and his ultimate disappearance. The political arena merely 226 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,399 serves as the chronological backdrop for this intelligence puzzle. 227 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 2: That is a crucial baseline because the intelligence community, while 228 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:37,519 striving to operate outside of partisan politics, is inextricably bound 229 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,600 to the policy directives of the executive branch. What those 230 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,039 leaked twenty sixteen emails allegedly revealed, according to coulth Heart's 231 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,960 analysis on the broadcast, were direct communications between John Podesta, 232 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,879 General McCaslin, and another unnamed US Air Force General Right, 233 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,960 and the substance of those communications was not mundane campaign logistics. 234 00:12:56,399 --> 00:12:59,039 Could art states there was clearly an intention to deploy 235 00:12:59,159 --> 00:13:02,799 UAP disclosure and release UFO secrets to the American public 236 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,480 under the assumption of an incoming Clinton administration. 237 00:13:05,759 --> 00:13:07,759 Speaker 1: Just process the gravity of that for a moment. The 238 00:13:07,799 --> 00:13:10,960 man who commanded the base long rumored to hold anomalous 239 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:15,320 crashed materials. The former gatekeeper of the Pentagon's most sensitive 240 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,679 SAPs was allegedly engaging in direct dialogue with a presidential 241 00:13:19,759 --> 00:13:23,960 campaign manager about a coordinated plan to finally disclose these 242 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,799 historic secrets to the American public. 243 00:13:25,879 --> 00:13:26,879 Speaker 2: It's unprecedented. 244 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: Coulthart makes a point to say McCaslin was well respected 245 00:13:30,159 --> 00:13:33,399 by people who are pushing for UAP disclosure. This paints 246 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,200 a picture of a military leader who wasn't necessarily an 247 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:40,039 adversary to the truth or a stubborn obstructionist, but seemingly 248 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,279 a key, willing participant in a potential organized plan to 249 00:13:44,399 --> 00:13:45,399 pull back the curtain. 250 00:13:45,759 --> 00:13:51,919 Speaker 2: It reveals a fascinating suggests that the monolithic wall of 251 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,960 secrecy isn't entirely uniform. There are factions, or at least 252 00:13:56,159 --> 00:13:59,679 highly placed individuals like McCaslin, who perhaps believed that the 253 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:04,159 time for compartmentalization on this specific issue had passed. However, 254 00:14:04,519 --> 00:14:08,360 the anticipated political transition of twenty sixteen did not occur 255 00:14:08,399 --> 00:14:13,399 as Podesta planned, and that specific avenue for disclosure abruptly closed. 256 00:14:14,159 --> 00:14:19,000 The secrets remain classified. McCaslin eventually retired to New Mexico. 257 00:14:18,799 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: But the environment regarding UAPs didn't just stay quiet, It 258 00:14:22,279 --> 00:14:25,519 completely inverted and evolved over the next few years, which 259 00:14:25,559 --> 00:14:28,679 brings us to a concept Colthart explicitly introduces during the 260 00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:33,639 interview synchronicity. Because the timing of mcchaslym's actual disappearance in 261 00:14:33,679 --> 00:14:37,039 the present day is jarring, jesse Weber points out, and 262 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,840 Colthart forcefully affirms that mcaslm vanished right on the heels 263 00:14:40,879 --> 00:14:43,840 of a massive public announcement by President Trump regarding his 264 00:14:43,919 --> 00:14:48,279 intentions and directives to declassify UFO and extraterrestrial files. 265 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,519 Speaker 2: Now, Colethart is careful to add the caveat that this 266 00:14:51,559 --> 00:14:54,480 is a rhetorical promise the former president hasn't factually followed 267 00:14:54,559 --> 00:14:57,879 up on yet. But in the realm of intelligence, the 268 00:14:57,919 --> 00:15:00,639 sequence of events and the public signaling or what matter. 269 00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:03,159 Speaker 1: Right, But let me play Devil's advocate here for a second. 270 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,559 Could it just be a massive, tragic coincidence. Jesse Weber 271 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,000 asks Culthart this directly. You have a man who is 272 00:15:10,039 --> 00:15:13,759 allegedly architecting a disclosure plan in twenty sixteen that evaporated 273 00:15:14,039 --> 00:15:18,559 years go by. Suddenly a completely different political figure forcefully 274 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,399 brings the concept of UFOD classification back into the glaring, 275 00:15:22,559 --> 00:15:27,320 unpredictable spotlight of presidential politics, threatening to unilaterally expose the 276 00:15:27,399 --> 00:15:31,559 exact legacy programs mccaslyn spent his life guarding or trying 277 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,960 to manage, and precisely as that massive political spotlight swings 278 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,639 back toward his life's work, mcaslyn goes for a run 279 00:15:38,639 --> 00:15:42,399 and disappears. Culthart says, it's synchronicity. IK we can put 280 00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:44,639 it that way. Is it possible we are reading too 281 00:15:44,679 --> 00:15:45,519 much into the timing. 282 00:15:45,759 --> 00:15:49,399 Speaker 2: It is always possible, But in counterintelligence work, investigators are 283 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,000 fundamentally trained to view coincidences with extreme suspicion. Synchronicity in 284 00:15:54,039 --> 00:15:58,240 this context implies a meaningful, potentially causal connection between events 285 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,279 that might appear unrelated on the surface. When a geopolitical 286 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:06,360 catalyst occurs, like a sudden, unpredictable push for unilateral declassification 287 00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:10,159 from an executive level, it creates massive waves through the 288 00:16:10,159 --> 00:16:13,480 intelligence community. You have to look at the pressure that 289 00:16:13,559 --> 00:16:15,360 places on an asset like McCaslin. 290 00:16:15,559 --> 00:16:17,879 Speaker 1: The pressure must be absolutely unimaginable. 291 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,559 Speaker 2: It is was he feeling the acute pressure of this renewed, 292 00:16:22,039 --> 00:16:27,600 highly volatile political focus. Was the prospect of sudden uncoordinated declassification. 293 00:16:28,159 --> 00:16:33,440 Going to carelessly expose delicate programs, foreign materials, exploitation methods, 294 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,159 or embedded personnel that he had spent his entire career 295 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,240 fiercely protecting it makes a lot of sense, or looking 296 00:16:40,279 --> 00:16:42,960 at it from a darker angle, did his unique knowledge 297 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,639 profile make him a sudden liability to a different faction 298 00:16:45,879 --> 00:16:49,039 within the defense sector, a faction that desperately wanted those 299 00:16:49,039 --> 00:16:52,399 secrets to remain buried, regardless of the prevailing political rhetoric. 300 00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:55,679 When the political temperature rises around a classified topic, the 301 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,200 individuals who hold the ground truth knowledge become focal points 302 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,919 of His disappearance is the match that ignites the speculation 303 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,079 of a targeted. 304 00:17:03,679 --> 00:17:07,759 Speaker 1: Operation, which forces us to rigorously analyze the actual day 305 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:12,079 he vanished. Let's trace his footsteps, or rather the terrifying 306 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,480 and complete lack of them. So what does this all mean? 307 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,519 Let's examine the physical circumstances of February twenty seventh in Albuquerque, 308 00:17:19,559 --> 00:17:23,240 New Mexico. The News Nation broadcast lays out the timeline 309 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,319 he went missing while out on the local trails. Colthart 310 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,799 mentions he was known to be an avid runner, specifically 311 00:17:28,839 --> 00:17:29,680 a trail runner. 312 00:17:29,839 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 2: We have to evaluate the physical environment of Albuquerque. It 313 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,319 is a city uniquely situated right against vast, incredibly rugged terrain. 314 00:17:37,799 --> 00:17:41,640 The Sandy Mountains, the foothills, and the high desert offer extensive, 315 00:17:41,799 --> 00:17:46,240 unforgiving trail networks. Absolutely, from a purely geographical standpoint, these 316 00:17:46,279 --> 00:17:49,519 are areas where an individual could easily suffer a catastrophic fall, 317 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,000 a sudden medical emergency, or succumb to the elements completely 318 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,759 out of sight of standard infrastructure. 319 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: I've actually spent some time hiking the Sandy Mountains, and 320 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,200 I can tell you firsthand the vastness is. You can 321 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,319 be ten minutes from a major roadway and feel like 322 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,359 you are on the surface of Mars. The terrain is rocky, 323 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,079 the elevation changes are brutal, and it is incredibly easy 324 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,960 to step off a trail and disappear behind a ridge line. 325 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,640 It provides a false sense of security because the city 326 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,920 is right there in your peripheral vision, but the wilderness 327 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,400 itself is absolute. However, as Culthart notes, these foothills and 328 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,119 primary trails are also heavily trafficked by the local population. 329 00:18:27,799 --> 00:18:31,440 He poses a very logical question if this was a 330 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,880 standard outdoor accident. Why hasn't a massive search grid yielded 331 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,680 any physical evidence. Why haven't other hikers, dog walkers, or 332 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,799 trail runners bumped into him or found a piece of 333 00:18:40,799 --> 00:18:41,200 his gear. 334 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 2: That is where the standard lost hiker narrative begins to fracture. 335 00:18:45,079 --> 00:18:47,680 Jesse Weber states that authorities have no clear direction of 336 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:51,799 travel and absolutely no identified clothing or personal effects recovered 337 00:18:51,839 --> 00:18:52,759 on the trails. 338 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: Nothing at all. 339 00:18:53,279 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 2: But the most glaring anomaly, the detail that shifts this 340 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,880 entire paradigm from the search and rescue operation to a 341 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:05,079 counter intelligence puzzle is the revelation that General mccaslan left 342 00:19:05,079 --> 00:19:07,079 his cell phone at his residence. 343 00:19:07,319 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: That is the detail that completely derails the accident theory. 344 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,640 For me, if you are an average civilian runner, maybe 345 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:15,920 you leave your phone behind because it's bulky, you want 346 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,119 to disconnect for an hour, or you just forgot to 347 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,039 charge it. But we are not talking about an average civilian. 348 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,000 We are talking about a highly cleared former intelligence officer. 349 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,319 Speaker 2: This raises an important question because we have to look 350 00:19:27,319 --> 00:19:30,519 at this through the lens of signals intelligence or singand 351 00:19:30,839 --> 00:19:33,319 in the modern era, a smartphone is not just a 352 00:19:33,319 --> 00:19:38,079 communication device. It is a continuous, highly precise tracking beacon. 353 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: It really is. 354 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 2: It is constantly pinning local cell towers, communicating with GPS satellites, 355 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:48,200 and transmitting background operating system telemetry, regardless of whether you 356 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,759 are actively making a call. An individual who served as 357 00:19:51,799 --> 00:19:55,720 the director of Special Programs understands the architecture of electronic 358 00:19:55,799 --> 00:19:59,319 surveillance and geolocation better than almost anyone on the planet. 359 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,160 He knows intimately how effortless it is for state actors 360 00:20:03,519 --> 00:20:06,720 or even local law enforcement to track a mobile device's 361 00:20:06,839 --> 00:20:11,160 MAAC address and IMEI number. So for him to intentionally 362 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,000 separate himself from that device before heading out into the desert, 363 00:20:14,279 --> 00:20:16,759 you're saying that is a deliberate act of counter surveillance. 364 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,920 It strongly suggests intentionality. When an intelligence asset wants to 365 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,400 go dark, the very first protocol is physical separation from 366 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,960 any device emitting an RF signal. Now it could be 367 00:20:27,079 --> 00:20:30,119 entirely innocent. Perhaps he genuinely just wanted an hour of 368 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,000 absolute peace without the burden of connectivity. But a trained 369 00:20:33,039 --> 00:20:36,079 investigator looks at that action as a massive red flag. 370 00:20:36,799 --> 00:20:39,799 Did he want to drop off the grid intentionally? Was 371 00:20:39,839 --> 00:20:42,799 he executing a pre planned route where he knew he 372 00:20:42,839 --> 00:20:46,440 needed to avoid creating a digital breadcrumb trail. Was he 373 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,480 attempting to facilitate a meeting without triggering location based alerts 374 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,559 AH or in a far more sinister scenario, did a 375 00:20:54,599 --> 00:20:57,599 hostile party intercept him at his home before he could 376 00:20:57,599 --> 00:21:00,200 take the device or force him to leave it behind 377 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,920 to delay the inevitable search predious calculations. 378 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,599 Speaker 1: It adds an incredibly chilling calculating layer to the timeline. 379 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,799 You don't just forget the one device that connects you 380 00:21:08,839 --> 00:21:11,200 to emergency services when you were heading into harsh terrain, 381 00:21:11,559 --> 00:21:14,359 especially not a man whose entire career was built on 382 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,759 situational awareness. And right as we are processing that, the 383 00:21:17,799 --> 00:21:22,240 News Nation report presents a massive glaring contradiction regarding mcaslyn's 384 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,640 physical state. Jesse Weber mentions near the top of the 385 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,839 segment that authorities issued a silver alert for McCasland. For 386 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,279 those familiar with local law enforcement protocols, a silver alert 387 00:21:33,319 --> 00:21:37,200 is typically a mechanism reserve for older missing persons, specifically 388 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:42,480 those who are highly vulnerable suffering from Alzheimer's, dementia, cognitive decline, 389 00:21:42,559 --> 00:21:45,799 or severe health related issues that render them incapable of 390 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:47,119 navigating their surroundings. 391 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:48,640 Speaker 2: That's the standard definition. Yes. 392 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,440 Speaker 1: Later in the broadcast, another guest or Weber himself, naturally 393 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,960 extrapolates on this, discussing the heartbreaking possibility of an older 394 00:21:56,039 --> 00:21:59,960 individual experiencing a sudden mental health crisis or cognitive break 395 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,039 and simply wandering off into the desert to succumb to 396 00:22:03,079 --> 00:22:03,720 the elements. 397 00:22:04,039 --> 00:22:08,279 Speaker 2: But Ross Colthart forcefully and emphatically pushes back on that 398 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,440 narrative during the interview. He states that he has spoken 399 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,079 directly to mcaslyn's inner circle his friends, and has reviewed 400 00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:19,039 a direct statement from the general's wife, Susan. Their assessment 401 00:22:19,039 --> 00:22:23,240 of the general's physical capability and mental acuity completely shatters 402 00:22:23,279 --> 00:22:26,480 the implication of a standard vulnerability based silver alert. 403 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: It is a night and day difference. Coulthart says. The 404 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,519 family made it crystal clear there was absolutely no mental 405 00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:36,480 incapacity whatsoever. He states to general was extremely fit and 406 00:22:36,519 --> 00:22:39,039 not just good for his age fit. Colthart reveals that 407 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,440 mcaslyn had actually cycled sixty miles the previous week. 408 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 2: Sixty miles. 409 00:22:43,519 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: Think about the physiological reality of that. A sixty eight 410 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,400 year old man who is casually putting down sixty miles cycling. 411 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,480 Rotes is not frail. He is in the uppermost percentile 412 00:22:52,519 --> 00:22:56,079 of cardiovascular fitness. For his demographic Culthart describes him as 413 00:22:56,079 --> 00:22:59,720 a dedicated trail nut and someone who remained incredibly sharp mentally. 414 00:23:00,039 --> 00:23:04,240 Speaker 2: So the analytical question becomes, why was a silver alert 415 00:23:04,279 --> 00:23:09,240 issued if it contradicts the reality of the subject, Coulthart speculates, 416 00:23:09,599 --> 00:23:12,400 and from a law enforcement procedural standpoint, this is a 417 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,079 highly logical deduction that the silver alert was utilized purely 418 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,559 because mcchaslin requires a specific prescribed medication. 419 00:23:19,759 --> 00:23:20,839 Speaker 1: Okay, that makes sense. 420 00:23:21,079 --> 00:23:24,880 Speaker 2: In many jurisdictions across the United States, the bureaucratic criteria 421 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,640 for triggering a silver alert can be met simply if 422 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,400 a missing person is over a certain age threshold, often 423 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:37,480 sixty five, and requires daily life sustaining medication, completely irrespective 424 00:23:37,519 --> 00:23:40,839 of their overall physical stamina or cognitive baseline. 425 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: But isn't there a danger in that? It sounds like 426 00:23:42,519 --> 00:23:44,680 the family or the local police might have used it 427 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,200 as a bureaucratic skeleton key if you are desperate to 428 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,000 find a missing loved one and the local precinct says, well, 429 00:23:50,319 --> 00:23:52,720 we can only activate the highway signs and blast his 430 00:23:52,799 --> 00:23:54,480 face to every new station in the state. If we 431 00:23:54,559 --> 00:23:57,079 classified this as a silver alert based on his prescription, 432 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,079 you are absolutely going to leverage that tool to maximize 433 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:02,960 the immediate deployment of resources. 434 00:24:03,039 --> 00:24:03,559 Speaker 2: Yes, you would. 435 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,759 Speaker 1: But the unintended consequence is that it creates a deeply 436 00:24:06,839 --> 00:24:10,920 flawed public perception. The public is looking for a frail, 437 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:16,039 confused senior citizen wandering aimlessly, when in reality they should 438 00:24:16,039 --> 00:24:19,640 be looking for a highly capable, fit outdoorsman who knows 439 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,640 the terrain intimately exactly. 440 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,279 Speaker 2: It skews the public's situational awareness, but more importantly, it 441 00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:29,160 brings us to the most unsettling and complex aspect of 442 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,160 this entire broadcast, the actual nature of the ongoing search, 443 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,599 the silence of the federal agencies involved, and the terrifying 444 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:41,000 geopolitical implications. Jesse Weber notes that the FBI and multiple 445 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,079 other federal agencies have become heavily involved in the search matrix. 446 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,759 They're reportedly dedicating a ton of resources to locating the general. 447 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,759 Yet Coulthart brings up a point that has mccaslin's network 448 00:24:50,759 --> 00:24:55,200 and independent investigators deeply alarmed. He describes the operational posture 449 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,559 of the local Sheriff's Department and the FBI as extremely 450 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,240 low key. Yes, He points out that the disappearance of 451 00:25:02,279 --> 00:25:05,400 a senior Pentagon general, a man who held the keys 452 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,279 to the SAP kingdom, hasn't featured prominently in media releases, 453 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:14,200 daily press briefings, or aggressive public outreach by the authorities, and. 454 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,799 Speaker 1: That silence is deafening. If a highly decorated two star 455 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,680 general goes missing on a morning hike, standard operating procedure 456 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,079 would dictate a massive, highly visible search and rescue operation. 457 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,039 You'd expect joint task Force press conferences. You would expect 458 00:25:29,319 --> 00:25:33,119 blackhawk helicopters grid searching the mountains on the evening news 459 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:36,680 every single night. You would expect a massive public mobilization. 460 00:25:37,079 --> 00:25:39,039 So why the low key approach? Could it just be 461 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,839 that local Albuquerque law enforcement is underfunded, overwhelmed, and treating 462 00:25:42,839 --> 00:25:45,759 this as just another missing hiker until they find definitive 463 00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:46,720 proof of foul play. 464 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 2: While local resource constraints are always a factor in standard cases, 465 00:25:50,519 --> 00:25:53,799 the presence of the FBI and other federal agencies negates 466 00:25:53,839 --> 00:25:57,680 that theory. Here When federal law enforcement, particularly the FBI, 467 00:25:57,799 --> 00:26:01,279 in conjunction with DoD elements as a deliberately low key 468 00:26:01,319 --> 00:26:04,359 approach to a high profile, high value missing person, It 469 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,559 almost universally indicates one of two operational reality. 470 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:07,759 Speaker 1: Yes. 471 00:26:08,759 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 2: First, they may possess specific classified intelligence, suggesting that aggressively 472 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,680 publicizing the search could actively endanger the victim, for instance, 473 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,200 in a hostage or extortion scenario. Blasting the investigation across 474 00:26:23,279 --> 00:26:25,839 national media can force the hand of the captors. 475 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 1: That makes sense. 476 00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:30,079 Speaker 2: Second, and more likely, in this context, it indicates that 477 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:34,079 the investigation has transitioned entirely away from a standard search 478 00:26:34,079 --> 00:26:37,200 and rescue framework and has been reclassified as a high 479 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,519 stakes counter intelligence operation. When an individual possessing the nation's 480 00:26:41,559 --> 00:26:45,759 most sensitive compartmentalized secrets vanishes, the initial assumption by the 481 00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:48,759 intelligence community is never simply a twisted ankle on a 482 00:26:48,799 --> 00:26:53,519 dirt path. The immediate protocol driven assumption is a catastrophic 483 00:26:53,559 --> 00:26:55,720 security breach, and Koulfa. 484 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,039 Speaker 1: Does not mince words regarding the severity of this. He 485 00:26:58,079 --> 00:27:03,160 explicitly refers to this situation as a grave national security crisis. 486 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,680 During the broadcast, they lay out the primary theories being 487 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,559 actively debated. We have the medical emergency theory, which we've 488 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,480 unpacked and seems highly improbable given his documented extreme physical 489 00:27:14,519 --> 00:27:17,480 fitness and the lack of a body in heavily trafficked areas. 490 00:27:17,519 --> 00:27:20,640 Money likely, we have the theory of an intentional disappearance. 491 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,640 Did a man who understands the very fabric of electronic 492 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,559 surveillance use his vast operational knowledge to drop off the 493 00:27:28,599 --> 00:27:32,279 grid perfectly and seamlessly, And then we have the darkest, 494 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,240 most consequential theories domestic foul play or a targeted extraction 495 00:27:37,319 --> 00:27:39,160 and kidnapping by foreign adversaries. 496 00:27:39,279 --> 00:27:42,839 Speaker 2: Jesse Weber presses Coulthart on this exact point. He asks directly, 497 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,640 if this was a targeted extraction, who would have the 498 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,400 motive and the capability to take him? What countries would 499 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,240 be actively looking to acquire an asset like General mcasle, 500 00:27:51,319 --> 00:27:55,359 and he names names. Coulthart explicitly names the primary strategic 501 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,279 competitors China and Russia. He reiterates the foundational premise of 502 00:27:59,279 --> 00:28:03,880 this entire crime. McCaslin has the most sensitive, paradigm altering 503 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,880 secrets of the United States military locked inside his head. 504 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,640 He was managing intelligence at the very apex of the 505 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:10,559 Department of Defense. 506 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: Just try to conceptualize the sheer intelligence value of that 507 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,839 human asset in the modern era of cyber warfare. We 508 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,319 are so accustomed to thinking of espionage as hacking a 509 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,640 server to steal terabytes of encrypted blueprints, or infiltrating a 510 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,279 network to disrupt a power grid. 511 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 2: But this is different, completely different. 512 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 1: This is about acquiring the human being who authorized those blueprints, 513 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:35,759 the man who inherently knows the structural flaws and the 514 00:28:35,799 --> 00:28:39,400 unreleased technology, the man who possesses the long term, multi 515 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,519 decade strategic plans for American aerospace dominance, and this highly 516 00:28:43,599 --> 00:28:46,960 valuable repository of data is just out there, physically vulnerable, 517 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,160 running in a T shirt on a public trail in 518 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,319 New Mexico. The contrast between the mundane, everyday reality of 519 00:28:53,319 --> 00:28:56,480 going for a morning jog and the terrifying, high stakes 520 00:28:56,519 --> 00:28:59,319 reality of international espionage is deeply jarring. 521 00:28:59,559 --> 00:29:04,039 Speaker 2: Ithighlights a critical, almost unsolvable vulnerability in the architecture of 522 00:29:04,119 --> 00:29:08,799 national security. The United States spends billions of dollars physically 523 00:29:08,839 --> 00:29:12,359 and digitally securing facilities like Wright Patterson and the Pentagon. 524 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:17,880 We utilize advanced biometrics, armed security forces, subterranean vaults, and 525 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,839 completely air gapped data networks to protect the information. But 526 00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:25,160 the human beings who are required to hold, process, and 527 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,200 manage all that knowledge. Lugley retire, They transition back into 528 00:29:29,279 --> 00:29:31,799 the civilian populace. They go to the hardware store, They 529 00:29:31,839 --> 00:29:34,440 drive their cars, they go for trail runs. How does 530 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,759 a government adequately protect a retired, walking repository of top 531 00:29:38,799 --> 00:29:43,759 secret information without fundamentally restricting their constitutional freedoms and confining 532 00:29:43,759 --> 00:29:44,920 them to a gilded cage. 533 00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:45,839 Speaker 1: You really can't. 534 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 2: It is an incredibly difficult, perhaps impossible balance to strike. 535 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,640 And if a sophisticated foreign adversary, whether Russian intelligence or 536 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,720 Chinese state security, decided to actively exploit that specific vulnerability, 537 00:29:59,039 --> 00:30:02,319 a secluded, rugged trail in the foothills of Albuquerque would 538 00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:04,880 be the optimal theater of operation for an extraction. 539 00:30:05,279 --> 00:30:08,359 Speaker 1: It is absolutely chilling to consider the logistics of that. 540 00:30:08,799 --> 00:30:12,359 A coordinated team waiting on a trail they know he frequents, 541 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,640 utilizing the vastness of the desert to slip away before 542 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,319 the missing phone even raises an alarm back at his house. 543 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:20,839 It's like something out of a thriller, but it's happening 544 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:21,519 in real time. 545 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:22,039 Speaker 2: It is. 546 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,839 Speaker 1: As we pull all these threads together and wrap up 547 00:30:24,839 --> 00:30:28,200 our analysis of this News Nation broadcast, we are left 548 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,640 staring at a massive, seemingly impenetrable wall of contradictions. 549 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 2: To synthesize the intelligence picture we've mapped out today, we 550 00:30:36,279 --> 00:30:38,319 are looking at a sixty eight year old man who 551 00:30:38,359 --> 00:30:41,240 is in peak physical condition, a sixty mile a week 552 00:30:41,319 --> 00:30:44,680 cyclist who vanishes without a single physical trace in a 553 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,319 heavily trafficked recreational area. We have an individual who holds 554 00:30:49,359 --> 00:30:53,240 the literal keys to the military's most profound historic secrets 555 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:58,839 regarding advanced aerospace capabilities and allegedly highly classified form materials 556 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,920 exploitation programs. He disappears precisely at the volatile moment when 557 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,000 the exact categorical secrets he guarded are making massive, unpredictable 558 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,839 headlines through presidential declassification announcements. 559 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:12,359 Speaker 1: Synchronicity, we have. 560 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 2: The deliberate abandonment of a primary tracking device, a highly 561 00:31:16,519 --> 00:31:21,799 misleading silver alert that skews public perception in an eerily silent, 562 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:26,160 low profile federal investigation into what journalists and insiders are 563 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,640 explicitly calling a grave national security crisis. 564 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,279 Speaker 1: It is an immense amount of data to process, and 565 00:31:32,319 --> 00:31:35,480 the implications ripple far beyond one man on a trail, 566 00:31:36,039 --> 00:31:38,920 and it leaves me with one final, deeply provocative thought 567 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,279 that wasn't heavily featured in the broadcast, but I want 568 00:31:41,279 --> 00:31:43,319 to put it out there for you to really mull over. 569 00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:46,440 We've spent a lot of time analyzing the potential of 570 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,480 foreign adversaries, and we've debated the likelihood of a tragic 571 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,559 unfound accident. But what if we look at the intentional 572 00:31:52,559 --> 00:31:56,039 disappearance theory from a different angle. If General mcaslm did 573 00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:59,039 intend to disappear entirely on his own terms, perhaps to 574 00:31:59,079 --> 00:32:02,720 insulate himself a building political pressure cooker, or to protect 575 00:32:02,759 --> 00:32:05,680 the profound knowledge he carries from being misused or recklessly 576 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,240 exposed by shifting political winds, what does that ultimately say 577 00:32:09,279 --> 00:32:12,640 about the current state of transparency, trust, and safety within 578 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:14,279 the highest echalons of our government. 579 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 2: That is a staggering thought. 580 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: If a highly decorated to star general, a man who 581 00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:23,240 reached the absolute pinnacle of the defense establishment, feels that 582 00:32:23,279 --> 00:32:26,319 the only viable way to survive or protect his legacy 583 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,920 is to completely vanish from the face of the earth. 584 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,119 What does that mean for the structural integrity of the 585 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:33,680 rest of the intelligence community. 586 00:32:34,079 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 2: It means we are in the very uncharted territory. 587 00:32:36,559 --> 00:32:38,759 Speaker 1: So I want to turn this over to you, after 588 00:32:38,839 --> 00:32:42,319 weaving through all these thrilling threads, the legacy of the 589 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:46,160 UFO vaults at Wright Patterson, the intent behind the leaked 590 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,759 twenty sixteen Podesta emails, the calculated missing tracking device, the 591 00:32:50,759 --> 00:32:54,839 bizarre bureaucratic use of the silver alert, and the incredibly silent, 592 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,559 low key federal response. What is your stand Where does 593 00:32:58,599 --> 00:33:00,960 your analysis lead you? Do you think this is simply 594 00:33:01,039 --> 00:33:04,440 a tragic, highly anomalous outdoor accident involving a very fit 595 00:33:04,559 --> 00:33:07,279 runner that the elements have just managed to hide. Do 596 00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:11,000 you lean towards a brilliantly executed, intentional disappearance by a 597 00:33:11,039 --> 00:33:13,559 man who knew exactly how to evade the surveillance state 598 00:33:13,599 --> 00:33:16,039 he helped build. Or do you believe we were witnessing 599 00:33:16,079 --> 00:33:19,119 the silent aftermath of a targeted, high stakes national security 600 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,279 kidnapping by a foreign power. Trump a comment below and 601 00:33:22,359 --> 00:33:24,400 let us know your theory. We read them all, and 602 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:26,839 in cases like this, the collective intelligence of the audience 603 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,640 often spots the details everyone else misses. Thank you so 604 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,319 much for joining us on thrilling threads. Remember to stay 605 00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:36,000 insanely curious, keep looking far past the official headlines and 606 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,200 always keep questioning the narrative. 607 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,319 Speaker 2: Until next time. Stay observant, think critically, and take care