George Knapp: Breaking the Bob story

Hey George,

Thanks for answering all of springers questions in the interview and of course for strapping on the ol tin foil hat and joining the rest of us here at ATS.

I have quite a few questions but my first question is in regards to the early days of the Bob lazar story.

As you may or may not know one of our more high profile members around here is John Lear, who is usually credited with hooking you and Bob up in the first place...if I'm wrong please correct me.

So my question is simply this:

How did you, John and Bob all end up meeting and what is your opininon of John's theories in regards to area 51, groom lake and ufos in general.

Also can you recall what your gut reaction was before you started investigating the story and if it was along the lines of "Oy vey another crazy person" when did your gut feeling start to change.

Though I don't want to start anything here, so if you feel uncomfortable with any of these questions just let me know and we'll move on to one of my many, many other questions some of which actually have nothing to do with aliens or the skinwalker event.

Thanks again for your time and welcome to the screw loose ranch, I mean ATS.

SPiderj

John Lear is definitely responsible for hooking me up with Lazar and with getting me interested in UFOs in general.

John was an important source for my jounralistic mentor, the late Ned Day, a muckraker of some repute. Lear helped Ned in breaking the story about the existence of the Stealth Fighter, which was big news back then and became a national story. But when Lear approached Ned to try and interest him in the UFO topic, Ned wanted nothing to do with it. At the time, I was the host and producer of a half-hour talk show called On The Record. I overheard the conversation between those two and told Lear that I wanted to hear more. He gave me a pile of stuff. I read it and then had him on the show. At the time, I had no great interest in UFOs beyond what most regular people have. But I was blown away by the things Lear said, and the reaction from the viewing public was dramatic, especially for a little public affairs program. I had Lear on a second time and the reaction was even larger. It occurred to me that something was going on that I did not understand. This was a subject that really touched a nerve with a big segment of the public, so I decidd to dig a little deeper. Lear provided me with a lot of background material, government documents, et.c I had him on a third time, accompanied by the infamous William Cooper, and Lear hinted to me that he knew someone who worked on saucers at Groom Lake. Hmm, I thought. This sounds intriguing.

In May of 1989, while anchoring the 5:00 News, we had an interview guest cancel at the last minute, so I called Lear and asked if his mystery friend from 51 would give us an interview. The arrangements were made and we interviewed Lazar through one of our live units, although his face was blacked out and his real name was not used. It was a blockbuster. The phones rang off the hook. Media organizations from all over tried to get us to put them in contact with the mystery man. My boss and I decided we needed to meet Lazar in person and Lear made the arrangements. We grilled him for quite a while and decided after the meeting to go for it. I spent the next several months working on a multi-part series that eventually covered two full weeks of our newscasts and was made into a two-hour prime-time special, still the highest rated local TV show ever aired in LV. I was hooked, not because of the ratings, but because of the story and its ultimate significance for the world. I was--and still am--amazed that other major news organizations weren't giving UFOs a fair shake.

There was no single gut-check moment. There were several. One was when Lazar took and passed a polygraph exam. Nother was when he took us into Los Alamos lab--the place where he supposedly never worked--and obviously knew every building and many of the employees, including the security folks who waved us through without so much as a question. More telling were some of the very strange events that unfolded in Bob's life, things that I personally witnessed, things that were very ominous and disturbing and that I am not going to dwell on in this forum.

Originally posted by GeorgeKnapp
John Lear is definitely responsible for hooking me up with Lazar and with getting me interested in UFOs in general. John was an important source for my jounralistic mentor, the late Ned Day...There was no single gut-check moment. Nother was when he took us into Los Alamos lab...and obviously knew every building and many of the employees, including the security folks who waved us through without so much as a question.

Hey George,

Thanks for clearing that up. I knew Lear was involved but I didn't have all the details.

I find the bit about going to Los Alamos with Bob the most interesting.

How could a man who had never worked at such a sensitive facility basically waltz in with a couple of complete strangers who in the company of this man who never worked there were also waved in by security?

The answer seems obvious. He couldn't unless he actually had worked there and (IMO) had been well thought of. Enough so that current employess (both security and scientific) seemed at the very least; not worried about Bob's appearance at Los Alamos.

That, is very interesting thanks a lot for answering that and clearing all this up for me.

Oh and again welcome to ATS.

Spiderj

Good points, Spider. I was stunned during that visit to Los Alamos. Bob took us into several buildings and labs. he ran through the innards of some of them like a rabbit zipping through its own burrow. He waved at the employees, including security, and they waved back. No one even questioned us, even when my photographer fired up his camera and started shooting video (most of which has never been made public.)

The question for hardcore critics is---what did Lazar do at Los Alamos? They think he was a low level flunky. Even if the lab's security was ridiculusly lax, I tend to doubt that a flunky could take a TV crew wherever we wanted to go without any interference. Maybe I'm wrong.

People who don't want to accept the story will discard this entirely. That's their right. I was there--they weren't, and I know what I saw. A lot of it is recorded for posterity on videotape.

The question for hardcore critics is---what did Lazar do at Los Alamos? They think he was a low level flunky. Even if the lab's security was ridiculusly lax, I tend to doubt that a flunky could take a TV crew wherever we wanted to go without any interference. Maybe I'm wrong.

Well I consider myself an open minded skeptic in all things paranormal and of course some hardcore skeptics don't really want to believe but for me I find this whole Los Alamos account very telling.

You work for KLAS. How tight is the security at KLAS. Could say anybody on the sanitation crew or other support staff (that let's face it when it comes to news and entertainment they would certainly be considered "low Level") be allowed to just wave past security with their friends (unknowns) in the car?

Of course not and that's just a local tv station. I doubt (or at least hope) that security at a place like los alamos would be at least as diligent as say the security staff at a television station or studio.

IMO of course, but again this for me is very telling.

Spiderj

PS I got the impression that this whole guest speaker thing was over, thanks for coming back and participating some more...how badly did we screw up your vacation?

Good point. No one could get into KLAS the way Lazar slipped into Los Alamos...of course, it all happened in 1989 and the world has changed.

You didn't screw up my vacation. I underestimated the time it would take to answer all of the ATS questions. I've tried to give complete answers and explanations, but that's a character quirk on my end. It's been fun and I appreciate the invitation and the patience of Mr. Springer. I will check back with you folks in a week or two.

Good point. No one could get into KLAS the way Lazar slipped into Los Alamos...of course, it all happened in 1989 and the world has changed.

Yes the world is different now than in 89, but while the wall in berlin came down in 89 the cold war was still on until 91 or so, I would think that while security at KLAS may have been lighter in 89 I doubt Los Alamos would have been so laxed during the cold war.

So I would think your hunch still holds water. Bob must have been someone in good standing at the time to shuttle you folks in.

Anyhoo, thanks for clearing all that up for me.

Spiderj

[edit on 8/12/2006 by Spiderj]