The Mysterious Origins of the Nimitz UFO Video

This thread covers the curious story of the FLIR1 [or Nimitz] UFO video. A video that was used in media pieces during late 2017 to announce a secret US government project to investigate UFOs. But it was first leaked onto the internet back in 2007. Right here on ATS! With the alleged perpetrator telling a controversial and often contradictory story.

We were first told the story of an incident happening on the Nimitz at 23:00 , sometime in 2005, with all those aboard told to freeze as a disk shaped UFO hovered above the fleet. A video was also claimed to exist of this UFO. One that was burned to a CD and removed from the ship but then lost.

Less than 24 hours later a new thread appeared. The video had allegedly been retrieved on a CD containing further accompanying files from the Nimitz. Despite numerous requests to clarify whether there was a copy at a relative's and another copy on the Nimitz. TFT never adequately clarified it.

It was then sent to someone claiming to be in Germany and uploaded to a film student website. With the link being provided for those wanting to download and view it for themselves in the thread.

Because of the circumstances, it was viewed with much scepticism by members of ATS. Yet a decade later it was requested for release by none other than Luis Elizondo under dubious circumstances, as one of three videos. He claimed they were for “Not for publication. Research and Analysis only and info sharing with other USG and industry partners for developing a database to help identify, analyse and ultimately defeat UAS threats”. A few months later TTSA was launched with Elizondo front and centre.

In Dec of 2017 the FLIR video was unveiled to the world as part of the media blitz revealing a secret Pentagon UFO study.



This is the story of the video. Mainly as told by the character claiming to be responsible for acquiring and leaking the video. It also covers why, despite the DoD eventually confirming the video is a genuinely captured unknown by Navy aircraft, that members of ATS found the story full of holes.

The thread will draw mainly from two previous threads on here:


Observations of an Actual UFO (Feb, 3rd 2007)

This was where the story first appears from the person who supposedly retrieved the footage aka thefinaltheory [TFT]. The date, time and description of the UFO were completely different from the story we were all told later.


Fighter Jet UFO Footage : The Real Deal (Feb 4th, 2007)

This is a totally revised story posted 24 hours later by thefinaltheory.

The Initial Story

The leak of the FLIR video first appeared in early 2007. Just over two years after the incident. The story we are led to believe is that it was was uploaded to a German Film Production Company’s (Vision Unlimited) website by an ATS member named Cometa (supposedly from Germany). The video itself was allegedly ‘obtained’ by someone called thefinaltheory [TFT] who provided the video to Cometa, another member of ATS.

On 3rd Feb 2007, TFT posted a thread titled : Observations of an Actual UFO

TFT described events somewhat differently than he would 24 hours later…with the UFO described as a disk and the incident having happened in 2005.
Here is that initial post broken down piece by piece. Any grammatical and spelling errors have been left as is.

I dont have any footage, sorry ...but maybe my observations can help shine some light on all this ufo #.

It all started in 2005 when I was onboard and attached to a naval aircraft carrier… a west coust ship. We were doing workups off the coast of mexico.

If this was supposedly an account of the now famous Nimitz encounter, why does it say it began in 2005? We know it was November 2004 in daytime. Whereas we’ll see below that TFT claimed it began at 23:00.

I work in the computer field and am high enough ranked and trusted to access thet top secret network onboard.

It was about 2300 when the ship went into a "security alert" for those that dont know what that is, its when nobody can move on the ship AT ALL. If you do you will be targeted as a threat and be taken out quickly by the master at arms…. Rumor was circling around in my department that there was a UFO above the ship

I do not know why any such alert would be called and those on board told not to move if there was an unidentified object overhead. This doesn’t sound like standard Navy operating procedure or terminology. But perhaps someone out there can clarify?

…. … Curiousity got me though, I logged on to the top secret computer network and did a search of our File Server drive for the most recent modified files. This scanned all users, regardless of rank. Nothing was hidden from me. I especially looked for new files and those that were modified around the time of the "sighting".

I found many videos and powerpoint breifs (navy standard) and written reports and even message traffic that was being passed through our radio division…. but then our ship called in the Air Force because even the captain didnt know what the hell was going on.

The part about the ship calling upon the Air Force was later changed. The documents and powerpoint briefs would have to have been created rapidly to be related to this specific incident. So when exactly were the files burned to disc if this story is true?

I burnt all these files to a disk and stashed it somewhere, unfortunently I dont have it anymore....I've forgotten where i put it... though i think it might be out of state at a close relatives house...ugh...

NOTE: In a later story TFT also claimed a senior officer told him to install a CD burner into a PC to bypass the IT restrictions copying these files. And, despite thinking the disk might be at a close relative’s home, he decided to visit the Nimitz in port just a few hours after posting this. He was lucky and found the disk and then provides a description of the contents of this UFO video.

…It was taken directly from the cockpit camera of one of our ships fighter pilot jets F-18 I believe but cant be sure. It was in black and white and showed the altitude, the pilots "nickname" and the tempurature and all those little critical stats.

What we now know as the FLIR video did not show the ‘nickname” (callsign) of the pilots.

continues >>>

The UFO was floating extremely still in mid air, this was 30,000 ft above ground level. It looked literally and i mean LITERALLY just like a disk, … It's simply put, a disk.
So it was floating, the figher pilot tried to get numerous locks on the UFO but everytime the cross hairs tried to hone in the crosshairs scaled back and forth. …
After about I say 10 seconds or so the UFO started to move.. in ways that we have never seen before, it spontaniously moved in a half circle upward and paused once again. Then it suddenly teleported about five times all over the pilots screen. The movement is instant and cannot be followed. It simply put, is amazing and so fast the eyes cant see it.

There was a bright light and suddenly it dissapeared, out of sight.

Here the UFO is a ‘floating disk’ not a tic-tac as it was later described. The video released later by TFT & Cometa does not show erratic movements as if ‘teleported’, nor a bright light as it moves out of sight.

The powerpoints though I can’t recall the details, had all sorts of sonar and sonic charts to it. There was a map of the area and I know for a fact that all the names of the places where completely made up. Times and dates where in some weird code.

The documents were never released so we have no way of verifying any of this.

In conclusion, this is all i have to contribute to the truth of UFO's. I read alot of other posts and stories and can tell you first hand that most of it, if not 90 percent of it is bull#. Though I dont have any "above top secret" credentials or background, but I am in the NAVY and I do know what i had my hands on and saw...

Source for above

A lot to unpack there and a lot of questions were raised and posed.

It was also pointed out that security on the ship's systems should log any activity like this, and TFT could well have incriminated himself. TFT’s response to that last point was :

…It can track everything, but the catch to this is its being monitored by everyday sailors , there not looking for anything of this caliber and it takes days to look through the log files so they only hone in on porn and other things like music or games. Nobody would ever see this coming….

Cometa then turns up in the thread and encourages TFT to search for the video and other materials. To which TFT responds

…Here is an update. I am going to the ship now to look through the server and all my stashed disks. I hope I can find it, because I'm extremely tired of arguing and defending a case, I know to be true.

What I am asking the members of this board and thread is to start brainstorming amongst each other a COURSE OF ACTION and deploying this video and files, without my ass going to jail. I'm also going to need full admin / moderator support: To wipe all history of THIS THREAD away! This is important, I'm going to need support on this.

I'm leaving soon and should be back around 11pm. Either way I will post back updating everyone as to the status…

www.abovetopsecret.com...

So the CD that was deemed lost was now thought to have been on the ship all this time? So much so that TFT was off to retrieve it. He also requested all trace of this original thread to be wiped.

Some four hours or so later TFT posted this:

… Ok, I'm back. I went through some hell but long story short: I have the video and documents as I have previously described. I need to know how to deploy this [safely]. I'm awaiting an answer, and also, I need this entire thread erased and we will start anew. Those are my requirments before I let the cat out of the bag.

I'm just awaiting some guidance and suggestions on a method to share this. I'll be here for awhile so post back quickly….

www.abovetopsecret.com...

TFT then discussed a means of making the video public with Cometa.

The thread was closed some hours later by a moderator to prevent changes and deletions to posts already made. Also, because another member was posting from the same IP address as TFT. Later identified as a room mate of TFT.

continues >>>

Fighter Jet UFO Footage : The Real Deal

Discussion then moved to a completely new thread created by TFT : Fighter Jet UFO Footage: The Real Deal some 3 hours and 24 minutes after TFT’s last post.

The opening post detailing a completely different tale to the previous thread.

The video you are about to see seems to be a FLIR-hud-vision captured by one of the jets, that were sent out to intercept the unknown object. The materials we (me and one other ATS member who wished to remain nameless) used for this analysis/post were this video, an event-log and a power-point-presentation, but the information included in there has not been worked out yet. The files we have can be released on demand.


RECALL OF AN EVENT LOG OF A SHIP OF THE US-NAVY FLEET
This is the video here and these are the events happened.

Date 14 November 2004

Two interceptor fighters were directed to a certain location, where an unknown object has been…..

The jets could not find any object at that location. While the jets were searching for the air contact, they spotted a large object in the water at 1430L. The pilots saw steam/smoke/churning around the object. The pilot described the object initially as resembling a downed airliner, he also stated that it was much larger than a submarine.

A jet descended down from 24KFT to gain a better view of the object in the water. The jet then spotted an air contact, it appeared to be a capsule shaped (wingless, mobile, white, oblong pill shaped, 25-30 feet in length, no visible markings and no glass) 5 NM west from the object in the water.

Neither of the two jets could achieve radar lock or any other means of positive id.
The other jet was flying high cover and saw the engagement by the other jet, this jet confirms visual id of the capsule and the other jet chasing it. Both jets lost contact in haze.

The time has come for the truth to be revealed…

www.abovetopsecret.com...

TFT [and now Cometa] obviously had access to some information pertaining to what is now known as the Nimitz UFO Incident. The new thread featured a much-changed story. But far closer to what appeared in Fighter Sweep in 2015 and from TTSA in 2017. With the video uploaded to server of Vision Unlimited (a German film student website).

Other members were immediately doubtful as to the new story. Partly due to the earlier thread baring little resemblance, the video being rather underwhelming and because of the suspicions this was all a hoax.

Various members requested the extra documentation be made public as it was claimed they would be made available “on demand”.
Some more direct questions were posed to TFT with his responses recorded below:

Why a partial video?

This was all the footage that was taken, (sort of) I have four versions of this video they all are the same for the most part. The "full version" is about twice the length of this and has more ufo movement etc. But for some reason I can't get it to play , it says codec error... though I am 100% positive my codecs are up to date, I even have a codec pack. The second video is the one you see now. The third and fourth appear to be the same video as the second but just a bit shorter. So all in all your not missing anything, I promise you that. Its all more or less...the same.

2. Why did you say in your initial post on your initial thread that your carrier called in the Air Force to check it out?

Let me explain by first apologizing steering you in the wrong direction, that wasnt the intention. On the day that this happened, I was told the air force was here. At that time (3 years ago) i didnt really read the reports in depth to verify if it was true or not, it appears that it was just Navy. At least now we have that clarification.

3. Do you reside in the United States? And are you a citizen of the United States of America?

Yes, born and raised here. The video does reside on a German server for security of myself if thats what your trying to get to.....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

TFT was then accused of walking back the story. Which he appears to have done in some respects. His IT skills were also brought into question given some of his actions and responses.

TFT now claimed he was delaying any issuing of the documentation because it had “tons of names and sensitive information”. It was no longer available “on demand” as previously offered.

Another member was very aware of the possible national security pitfalls if this was genuine and posted their concerns here : www.abovetopsecret.com...

Then on Feb 13th, 2007 cometa2 posted a “CVW-11 EVENT SUMMARY”

This has never been confirmed as a genuine report but records much of what we now know about the Nimitz UFO events accurately. Why this report detailed events with different dates, times and observations from the first thread was never explained.

What Happened Next?

For a decade the thread disappeared into the bowels of ATS. It was claimed there were official investigations in 2007, 2009 and 2015 by various parties.

But the only statement the DoD have ever made publicly was in 2020.

…. Navy officials became aware that the video had been posted online in 2009.

“With respect to the 2004 sighting by aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68); that video was widely shared throughout the ship at that time,” Gough writes. “In 2007, one of those crewmembers posted the video onto the public web.”

But in terms of investigating the video leak, Gough writes, “Given the time since recording (approximately 5 years), the widespread distribution of the recording within the ship at the time of recording, and the size of the crew at the time (approximately 5,000), it was determined that there was no way to accurately determine who might have released the video.”…

Popular Mechanics [Jan 2020]

continues >>>

The Final Theory Returns?

Then in 2017 the FLIR video appeared as part of the story in the New York Times “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program”.

Back on ATS someone calling themselves TheFinalTheoryReturns appeared on June 6th 2019. Two members of ATS were provided some personal details to verify TFTR was indeed TFT. They both found it difficult to establish this definitively. However, they also felt he probably was the same person.

TFT also made another interesting statement:

People on this site, know that it was I who personally went to the carrier at like 3am , on a trolley, and a ferry at the time to go retrieve the data. The truth is there, its archived on this website in like 2006/2007 that is about a decade before it hit the news.

There was a gaping hole and weakness in the SIPRNET network at the time, the ADP officer had instructed me to put a CD/DVD burner in his SIPRNET machine. I didn't question it at the time, I just did it, (but knowing that it was highly against policy.) Later while visiting the aircraft carrier early in that morning, nobody was there and that's the moment I struck. How? By using his machine with the burner. I did all of this personally.

It was definitely a UFO, 100% real and definitely the vibes on the ship were that of danger, and of a threat. The military definitely didn't know exactly what it was and put everyone into battlestations. Most people around me in my office thought of it as a joke, and were laughing about it. I knew it was real.

The powerpoint at the time, had the mapping of the air field of where it was sighted. It had reports of the weather, and the wind and things that detailed where it physically happened.

There was a .doc with the actual report, I believe I posted that in the original thread, (there were 2 original threads).

There was also (two versions) of the video, one long and one short. One seemed a bit edited and chopped up, and one was a straight through running of the video.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

So now we have the involvement of the ADP [Automatic Data Processing???] Officer aboard the Nimitz bypassing security protocols by asking for a CD burner to be installed.

TFT’s comment was:

I thought the order was very weird too, I even felt weirded out installing it. I mean what could i say? Young hungry second class trying to make it on a ship. I just did it.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Why this request was made has numerous possibilities. From the ADP officer acquiring military secrets for nefarious purposes to genuinely believing this was a UFO of possible extra-terrestrial origin and wanting some proof for personal reasons.

But it was never established whether the ADP officer also acquired a copy of the CD and /or files.

TFT also confirmed that no one appeared to come looking for him from the military or the FBI or whomever else in the 12 years that had passed.

I've never been locked up. I've had zero interaction, and nobody has ever came to find me….

Which all suggests that this long and convoluted story and the leak of this video were of little concern to the US military or government. If members of ATS knew the culprit(s) they weren't interested in bringing them to justice.

That question was covered in more detail another thread : The IDs of the Parties involved in the 2007 Nimitz UFO Video Leak are Known


There are no definite answers as to why we had two very different stories presented of the Nimitz Encounter by the same author less than 24 hours apart in 2007.

Nor how the FLIR video eventually drew the attention of Lue Elizondo in the Pentagon. Who used it to make headlines in late 2017.

We still don’t even know what the video really shows.

I think someone left that video on the old oem? was it forums? for people to find. Seeing as nobody was able to find it they decided to give it a push.

This whole case was a sleeper disinfo operation. But that is not important. What is important is the thousands of people who act as useful idiots despite ttsa and the other players being a sham(mellon with the mera balloon, delonge with the case of the ufo that shot down a helicopter which never happened etc)

Ive seen coming to the forefront greer,bushman,doty,skinny bob, lazar, lear, and all the other snake oil sellers. Uncle sam for whatever reason saw the ufo interest waning and dumped some coals into the fire.

Ps Notice how they talk of craft, never of occupants. Its easy to show a craft but not so easy to show a body it seems

a reply to: mirageman


Great thread. What has been Celtys role in all this too. I highlight that aspect .

Nice

Haven't had time to go through it all - only thing I could add is I looked into the "security alert" in the past and it IS a security lockdown protocol aboard a Naval Ship.
Sometimes called a security violation.....it requires all hands to stand fast and they then close all the gangways/patrol with guns as per TFT#s description.

ADP could well be as you guessed- but there's loads of old sailors on ATS who should know...paging @KPB.

a reply to: mirageman

Bet it was uploaded to a film student website to completely discredit it. And off course, it was never 'lost'

Anyone knows if the original video had the same audio ?

I always get a feeling the audio was added later for the dramatisation effect and to steer people into a opinion based on the comments made in the audio.

Check out laser generated or maser (microwave laser) generated plasma.



I've seen a patent showing modern planes equipped with this technology as a defense mechanism.

Laser and masers can generate plasma in 3-D that can be steered similarly to a laser pointer dot, but in 3 dimensions.
Theses plasmas can be seen visually, thermally, and with radar.

They can simulate many planes, or the technology can be used to create a DEW radar shield, to hide aircraft.

I haven't watched this video yet, but it looks like covers some of the things I just mentioned. Enjoy!



Here's one more. This video is 11 years old.



Oh, and I might as well mention that I lived on the USS Nimitz for a few months before the turn of the millennium.

Got lost along the way.!! Yawning..!!

I'm sure it's a wonderful thread..!

a reply to: Vanux

You do not think it is significant that the Tic Tac video and all the red flags around all the evidence is presented as a smoking gun ?

*Just posted 3 hours ago. A little video on the topic of the events and supported by an eye witness aboard the carrier

a reply to: IndieA

Oh, and I might as well mention that I lived on the USS Nimitz for a few months before the turn of the millennium.

That's nice but am really not in the mood for watching "another" Prof Simon video.

a reply to: SLAYER69


Hmmmmm . A very emotional man.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Glad to see someone uploaded this Kevin Day segment of UFO Witness S1E1 “Secrets of the State” from 2021 to YouTube.

Kevin Day also appears in UFO Witness S2E1 “The Shapeshifter” from 2022.

Seems to be a jittery chap..what do say BB?

👽

Another thing that interested me about these fighter pilot sightings was the fact that they're all saying these objects had no wings and no exhaust, but upon looking at the after action report, they noted wings on the craft. I don't have time to look right now, but maybe one of my savvier fellow members can find it?

Found it!

www.thedrive.com...

a reply to: Ophiuchus1

Seems to be a jittery chap..what do say BB?

Very Ophi. Not a comfortable watch imo.

originally posted by: Baablacksheep
a reply to: IndieA

Oh, and I might as well mention that I lived on the USS Nimitz for a few months before the turn of the millennium.

That's nice but am really not in the mood for watching "another" Prof Simon video.

I just watched it. It was pretty good. It explains how the steerable plasma technology works.

Steerable plasmas would explain things like objects appearing to accelerate at unreal speeds and being able to do things like make 90 degree turns at high speeds.

originally posted by: Schmoe1223
Another thing that interested me about these fighter pilot sightings was the fact that they're all saying these objects had no wings and no exhaust, but upon looking at the after action report, they noted wings on the craft. I don't have time to look right now, but maybe one of my savvier fellow members can find it?

Found it!

www.thedrive.com...

Someone fooling pilots in a similar manner as someone can fool a cat with a laser pointer. This technology is already decades old.

I hate to burst your guys bubble, but it's time to realize that there's no solid evidence that advanced intelligence has come anywhere near Earth. All of our accomplishments are the cumulation of human intelligence, ingenuity, hard work, teamwork, and time. The problem it seems, is that when technology is kept secret, it can seem like magic, or out of this world.