reply to post by greencmp
I don't think anyone will ever be able to make definitive declarations about Bob Lazar, but that applies to his detractors as well as his supporters.
I keep hearing and reading that "he has largely been discredited" but if there was a poll or a formal vote on it, I was not invited to
participate.
I can say this with considerable confidence---the people who have harped on Lazar's story the most vehemently --and that includes many pro-ufologist
types--have resorted to the same kind of tactics that the UFO debunkers are known to use. namely, they have chosen to ignore any and all facts which
do not fit their pre-conceived hypothesis.
One point I think needs to be made is that there has been no "Aha" moment regarding Lazar's claims, no grand expose' or crucial fact that was
uncovered by his critics. In the very first news story that ever mentioned his name in connection with UFOs, I reported that we were unable to verify
parts of his background, that we could not confirm his educational credentials in particular. this is not something that some UFO researcher
discovered later. it was in the very first story we aired.
For me, the educational credentials has always been the weakest part of his tale. I won't go into all of the reasons for it, but I have expressed
this opinion from the very beginning, and it was included in my first ever appearance at a MUFON symposium. if you do not want to believe Lazar at
all, this is probably enough for you to toss out his entire story. In my opinion, that is a terrible mistake because it ignores so many other facts,
things that Lazar knew which have since been confirmed beyond all doubt.
Let's say, for the moment, that Lazar is lying about the colleges he attended. It is a major problem for his credibility, but I know he would not be
the first person to exaggerate his background in order to land a cool job, and that includes a lot of scientists and technicians. i can tell you
this--whether he got a degree from MIT or not, he is an amazingly smart guy, brilliant in so many fields, and I don;t think there are many peopel who
would dispute that.
So, is it possible that a really bright guy with an inquisitive mind could get hired by the government or a government contractor to work on
classified stuff, even if he did not have a great academic background? I don't know. Maybe we could ask Edward Snowden.
The key for me has always been--did Lazar work on classified stuff at Los Alamos national Lab? Because if he did, it strongly suggests he had some
kind of educational credentials, and if he did work there, it is at least plausible that he could be hired years later to work on interesting projects
in the Nevada desert. Well I can tell you, he DID work at Los Alamos, and as I reported in that same first news story, there were diffiiculties in
confirming this,. The lab flat out denied he was ever there until I showed them his name in their phone book, and a newspaper article and photo which
listed him as a LANL physicist. it took another two years before they confirmed to me that he was ever there, or that he had a "Z" number, even
though, by that time, i had already interviewed a half dozen people who had worked with Lazar at the lab and who said he worked on classified
projects.
if he worked at Los Alamos, it is feaible he could have worked at 51 or S-4. it is as simple as that.
There is much more to the Lazar story but I have a feeling we will get to some of that in further questions still awaiting me. I am slammed this week
but will do my best to get to as many as I can over the next few days.