The strange story of Gary McKinnon

Gary McKinnon is a fascinating facet of UFO lore.

He is a UK citizen and has been called, among other things, a computer genius, a man obsessed with UFOs, a "bumbling nerd," and the man who committed "the biggest military computer hack of all time."   His story is mainly one of drawn out legal battles over extradition, but it's what he claims to have found deep in the recesses of US Defense Department computers that interests me and most others who follow this kind of thing, First, a bit of context.

Last week I asked a question. If UFOs really are alien in origin, could we ever defend ourselves against them if we needed to? After all, there are claims that suggest we might need to.  Something that may support this notion is a 1940s memo from four star general, Nathan Twining. The alleged content of this memo has Twining arguing that UFOs are very real, that they represent a security risk, and should be treated as a defense priority by investing in new technology. It's been said that Twining was reacting as a military man should given the limited amount of information available at the time. Others have said that the veracity of the memo itself is questionable. Regardless, the Twining memo gives an interesting jumping off point. Did we develop anything to defend ourselves against this "threat"?

Well, kinda.

There was the X-20 Dyna-Soar. This craft had similar roles/design specifications as the space shuttle. It would travel into space and return to land like an ordinary aircraft. It did, however, have offensive capabilities as well. It could attack Soviet satellites or carry out bombing operations. Could it have been deployed against UFOs? We may never know as the Dyna Soar never made it out of the design phase. A tricked out version of it did appear with SHIELD in an issue of Marvel's Strange Tales. But I digress...

It also might have paved the way for the X-37B. This is an unmanned, reusable spaceplane that has spent a great deal of time in orbit. Its true purpose has never been made public but it's not hard to see why "UFO faithful" might start making claims...however baseless...that the X-37B is a platform for UFO defense.

That returns us to the question, "is our government preparing to fight against extraterrestrials?" Well let's take a look at what McKinnon claims he saw before he was caught and shut out of the systems for good. 

McKinnon said that he saw NASA photographs of UFOs. These objects, one of them "cigar shaped" according to McKinnon, were then airbrushed from the photo before release to the public. He also claimed have seen other enormous spacecraft outside of Earth orbit. These however had American flags on the hulls and names like USSS (United States Space Ship?) Hillenkoetter. That name is intriguing as Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter was said to have been a member of the famed Majestic 12. Given the extreme doubt cast upon the notion of MJ12, that might not do much for you in terms of McKinnon's credibility. There is one more thing, however.

McKinnon said he saw a list of names. They all held military rank and were listed under the heading "Non-terrestrial officers." These latter two points don't have much to do with UFOs but they may indicate something else: a clandestine US space program.

That's as fascinating as UFOs in its own right. 

While US authorities and McKinnon appear to have reached an irenic state of sorts, his claims remain. The problem is that they are just that. Claims. There is nothing physical to substantiate them. That is not to say that he is lying. There simply is nothing tangible to corroborate what he's saying.

Still, it's interesting as all hell.