George Kavassilas, a life-long extraterrestrial contactee and expert on the "ascension" process of a possible "dimensional shift" of Gaia – the living planet Earth - from her 3rd dimension of time-space to a 5th dimension of living Light, has declared in an in-depth ExopoliticsTV interview with Alfred Lambremont Webre that approximately one-half of current humanity will accompany Earth on its dimensional shift, to occur on the equinox of March 21, 2013.
George Kavassilas' model of the coming consciousness and dimensional shift for humanity and for the planet Earth joins several alternative models for a significant evolutionary shift in consciousness and in planetary dimensional energy frequency that Earth is appears to be currently undergoing, according to diverse experts and commentators.
Two leading commentators and self-reporting experiencers advocating the model that Earth will experience a quantum leap from the 3d dimension of time-space to a 5th dimension of living Light are Mr. Kavassilas and Dr. Georgi Stankov, a Bulgarian scientist living in Munich, Germany. Mr. Kavassilas asserts this event will occur on the equinox of March 21, 2013, and Dr. Stankov asserts that this event will occur on the solstice of Dec. 21, 2012. Interestingly, both commentators use the phrase "Ascension is the Separation of the Wheat from the Chaff" in describing the ascension process.
It is important to note that Mr. Kavassilas states in the ExopoliticsTV interview that "should these events [the March 21, 2013 ascension] not come to pass, please know that I am not intentionally trying to promote disinformation. This is what I feel in my heart at this time."
Dr. Stankov has likewise developed a science-based approach to his model of ascension by humanity from the 3rd dimension of time-space to a 5th dimension of living Light.
Dr. Georgi Stankov has released a 182-page book "The Cosmic Laws of Creation and Destruction: Why and How the World Economic Order will collapse in 2011!" demonstrating that universal law supports the collapse of the world economy starting in 2011, coupled with the start of mass ascension of awakened humans in 2012, with the trigger date being December 21, 2012.
Open extraterrestrial "disclosure" will occur, according to Dr. Stankov, in the 5th dimension between advanced interdimensional intelligent civilizations and the ascended "5th dimensional" human race.
Both Mr. Kavassilas and Dr. Stankov state that massive Earth changes – tectonic plate shifts, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. – will accompany the ascension process of Earth's dimensional shift to the 5th dimension.
In his ExopoliticsTV interview, Mr. Kavassilas indicates that ascension will be accompanied by such Earth changes as an axis shift. From the 3rd dimension, the ascended Earth will appear as a magenta-colored star, Mr. Kavassilas states. Humanity that has ascended with planet Earth will experience Earth in a 5th dimension of Light.
According to one source, "The minimum mass required for spontaneous fusion [of a planet into a star] is about 10^28 Kg [around 20x the mass of Jupiter]. Assuming the composition is amenable to fusion [lots of hydrogen], the core would ignite once the former planet accumulated the necessary mass."
When asked in his ExopoliticsTV interview about the impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank on the current public debt crisis the U.S. and by extension world nations are now facing, Mr. Hellyer declared that without abolition or nationalization of the Federal Reserve Bank and the institution of a proper publicly owned central bank, the United States stands little chance of long-term survival.
Although the disclosure of now secret quantum access Tesla-based teleportation technologies that have been operational since the early 1970s in DARPA and CIA projects was not discussed in the interview, presumably Mr. Hellyer was referring to the public disclosure and application of sequestered advanced exotic technologies such as teleportation as well. At least three independent whistleblowers from top secret U.S. government programs, including former U.S. serviceman Michael Relfe, former DARPA Project Pegasus participant Andrew D. Basiago, Esq., and former U.S. DoD scientist Arthur Neumann have now come forward to confirm that the U.S. government has had operational teleportation for 40 years. Application of quantum access teleportation to the movement of people and goods around the planet would displace polluting systems now dominated by automobiles, trucks, buses, railroads and airplanes, and greatly improve land use urban land use, now dominated by highways and overpasses. Mr. Basiago, who has publicly stated on Coast to Coast AM that he routinely visited a DARPA forward time base in the year 2045 to retrieve materials prepared by project participants in the future for use by U.S. government planners in 1971, reports that teleportation appears to be a pervasive transportation technology in the venue he visited in the southwestern U.S. in 2045.
In 2005, Mr. Hellyer became one of the first major statesmen to come forward demanding disclosure and a proactive public policy toward extraterrestrial civilizations now visiting Earth and use of advanced ET-derived energy, transportation, health and other technologies for the public good.
As set out in his ExopoliticsTV interview, Paul Hellyer sees the current world debt crisis in part as a direct product of the "money as debt" system of the fractional bank reserve system, and in part by private central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, who have hoodwinked the public and politicians (perhaps) into borrowing money that governments as the People can themselves create.
Victory for the World platform – U.S.
"1. Immediately pass a law to prohibit all politicians, candidates for political office and political parties from accepting money from any financial institution as well as make it a criminal offense for any such institution, either directly or indirectly, to offer it.
"2. Rescind the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and establish a publicly-owned central bank of the United States.
"3. Meanwhile have the Treasury print sufficient greenbacks, or equivalent, to balance the federal budget, provide desperately needed relief to the states and municipalities, and stimulate the economy to the point where it is operating at its optimal capacity.
"4. Reduce the leverage of the privately-owned banks steadily from their current rates as high as 20 to 1 or more until they can be capped at 3 to 1. Enact strict new regulations as to the purposes for which banks may or may not extend loans.
"5. Accept the fact that global warming is at a critical stage and set a ten-year time target to change from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy.
"6. Disclose to the public and the world all advances in the development of exotic energy sources that have taken place in the last 60 years since the U.S. began to back-engineer the technology of visitors from other planets. Any such technology, including any secret patents filed during this period, should be made available to the world at very modest royalties in order to facilitate a worldwide energy revolution.
"7. Ask the U.N. to declare 2012 the year of forgiveness and reconciliation – a new era of cooperation and (agape) love between races, tribes, religions, nations and regions."
While the current crop of world politicians strives to save the world financial system for the banking and financial interests, Paul Hellyer does not mince words. In a speech earlier in 2011 to the International UFO Congress he stated, "The world financial system is a total fraud. It is one gargantuan Ponzi scheme, no better than the one Bernie Madoff used to swindle his friends and neighbors, and thousands of times worse if you add up the total number of victims it has ripped off over countless generations.
"The principal difference between the two schemes is that Madoff was acting outside the law while the international banking cartel has persuaded generation after generation of monarchs, presidents and prime ministers to provide legislative protection for their larceny.
"The banks' Ponzi scheme is alarmingly simple. They lend the same money to several people or institutions at the same time and collect interest on it from each. What the banks really lend, however, is their credit, and what they take back in compensation for that privilege is a debt that must be repaid with interest.
"The number of times they lend the same money is called leverage. The practice is as old as the hills but for our purposes we can start with the goldsmiths of Lombard Street in London, England, who accepted deposits for which they issued certificates redeemable on demand. They paid their depositors a nominal interest rate on the understanding that they could lend the money to their customers at higher interest rates. They soon found that they could lend more than they had in their vaults because only a few depositors came in to redeem their gold or silver at any one time. It was a scam. It was illegal. Nevertheless they got away with it for a long while and the scam was legitimized when the Bank of England was chartered to help King William finance his war. Rich people subscribed £1,200,000 in gold and silver, as capital, to found the bank, which then was lent to the government at 8 percent. To show his appreciation the King allowed the bank to print £1,200,000 in banknotes and lend them at high interest rates. In effect, the bank was allowed to lend the same money twice – once to the government and once to the people.
"Over the years, due to the avarice of the banks and the complicity of the politicians, that ratio has increased dramatically. In the early days of the 20th century, federal chartered U.S. banks were required to keep gold reserves of 25 percent. That means they were allowed to lend the same money four times. I remember when Canadian banks were required to maintain a cash reserve of 8 percent. That means they were allowed to lend the same money 12½ times.
"Today, thanks to Milton Friedman's irrational flip-flop from being a proponent of 100% cash reserves to the opposite extreme of zero reserves, and the adoption of his ideas by the major central banks of the world in 1974, multiples have increased dramatically – in some cases to as much as 20 to 1 or more. Banks only keep enough cash to meet day-to-day demands for those few customers who go in and request it, and consequently the fraud is virtually total.
"The system works this way. Suppose that you want to borrow $35,000 to buy a new car. You visit your friendly banker and ask for a loan. He or she will ask you for collateral – some stocks, bonds, a second mortgage on your house or cottage or, if you are unable to supply any of these, the co-signature of a well-to-do friend or relative. When the collateral requirement is satisfied you will be asked to sign a note for the principal amount with an agreed rate of interest.
"When the paperwork is complete, and the note signed, your banker will make an entry on the bank's computer and, presto, a $35,000 credit will appear in your account that you can use to buy your car. The important point is that seconds earlier that money did not exist. It was created out of thin air – so to speak.
"At some point, however, you have to pay off your note and any interest owing. And not only you but also everyone else who has borrowed "money" from banks – including governments which, by the way, own the right to print money but that have irresponsibly handed the right over to an elite group of private bankers. Anyone who defaults is in big trouble. Individuals who default will have the assets they pledged as collateral seized by the bank. A government that is in danger of defaulting, will be forced to borrow from the International Monetary Fund, which will then tell that government how to run its affairs including cutting back on services and selling off public assets to the international vulture capitalists.
"In reality, then, the banks have turned the world into one humongous pawn shop. You hock your stocks, bonds, house, business, rich mother-in-law or country and the bank(s) will give you a loan based on the value of the collateral.
Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd est futuriste et auteur de Exopolitique: Le Politique, Gouvernement et le Droit à la Univers (www.universebooks.com).
Son livre Exopolitique (2000) a fondé le domaine de la Exopolitique - la science des relations entre les civilisations intelligentes dans le multivers.
Patricia Cori's statements are also congruent with those of researcher Rosalind Peterson, who is actively concerned about the impact of the U.S. Navy's sonar program on cetaceans.
Rosalind Peterson states, "The United States Navy will be decimating millions of marine mammals and other aquatic life, each year, for the next five years, under their Warfare Testing Range Complex Expansions in the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS under NOAA), has already approved the "taking" of marine mammals in more than a dozen Navy Range Warfare Testing Complexes, and is preparing to issue another permit for 11.7 millions marine mammals (32 Separate Species), to be decimated along the Northern, California, Oregon and Washington areas of the Pacific Ocean.
"U.S. Department of Commerce – NOAA (NMFS) Definition: 'TAKE' Defined under the MMPA as 'harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect.' Defined under the ESA as 'to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.' Definition: Incidental Taking: An unintentional, but not unexpected taking.
"The total number of marine mammals that will be decimated in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico for the next five years is unknown. The NMFS approvals will have a devastating impact upon the marine mammal populations worldwide and this last Navy permit, which is expected to be issued in February 2010, for the "taking" of more than 11.7 million marine mammals in the Pacific will be the final nail in the coffin for any healthy populations of sea life to survive.
"Now with ever-increasing numbers of permits being issued for sonar programs in more than twelve ranges in the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic regions of the United States, our marine mammals and other sea life are facing complete devastation. When you add bomb blasts to this list, warfare testing of all types, future war testing practice, and the toxic chemicals that are both airborne and to be used underwater, there is little chance that most marine life will survive in any significant numbers. Our U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressmen refuse to postpone these disastrous "takings" or hold U.S. Congressional Hearings while pretending to be ocean environment friendly in their re-election speeches.
"[During] June 8th through June 16, 2009, a delegation from Connecticut and California spent time walking the halls of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. We left petitions, color fliers, and information about saving our marine mammals, requested a postponement and U.S. Congressional Hearings. Ninety-nine senate offices were visited and 2/3 of offices in the U.S. House of Representatives. The silent response from our elected officials regarding these two requests has been zero…one U.S. Congressman even stated that citizens would be 'laughed out of the halls of the U.S. Congress for suggesting that we protect our marine mammals'. Corporate paid 'Lobbyists', who hand out money by the $Millions, on the other hand, are always accepted at hearings, give testimony, and are welcomed in the halls of Congress…apparently the voices of citizens of the United States are not given the same status.
"These virtually unregulated Navy Warfare Testing Programs already approved are now taking a toll on marine mammals, the fishing and ocean tourism industries, and on all aquatic life. Many U.S. Senators and Congressmen are ignoring these issues by pretending that they doesn't exist even though they have been informed in advance of these programs.
"A brief history of the Navy Warfare Testing Program is needed to understand the full implications of this Pentagon/Navy Warfare Testing Program. In 2004, the Bush Administration signed a bill weakening U.S. Environmental Laws, with regard to the U.S. Navy. And then in 2008, President Bush signed an executive order allowing the Navy to be exempt from environmental laws that protects endangered and threatened species (2-4). The Navy Southern California Complex was the first one to benefit from this executive order. Soon other Navy Range Complexes were obtaining exemptions from the NMFS with little or no oversight or significant mitigation measures.
"A partial listing of known Navy Range Complexes shows the amazing scope of the disaster. According to U.S. Congressman Waxman in a letter dated March 12, 2009: '…The Navy estimates that its sonar training activities will 'take' marine mammals more than 11.7 million times over the course of a five-year permit…The sonar exercises at issue would take place off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Hawaii, Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico – affecting literally every coastal state. In many regions, the Navy plans to increase the number of training exercises or expand the areas in which they may occur. Of particular concern are biologically sensitive marine habitats off our coasts, such as National Marine Sanctuary and other breeding habitats…In all, the Navy anticipates that its sonar exercises will 'take' marine mammals more than 2.3 million times per year, or 11.7 million times over the course of a 5-year permit….' This statement was made in response to public inquiries regarding the Navy Northwest Training Range schedule for Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
"KTVU Oakland San Francisco Television Station is the only television station to investigate and air a story about this U.S. Navy program (13), on May 18, 2009. It took a great deal of courage, in the face of the fact that no other major television networks would carry this story. A few courageous radio stations are also helping to get the word out to the public.
"The 'taking' of marine mammals negatively impacts the entire ecology of our oceans and the life in them which feeds large numbers of people and other species around the world. It should be noted that the list of toxic chemicals that the Navy proposes to use is a long one as noted in the Navy E.I.S. Depleted uranium, red and white phosphorus, mercury, lead, and a whole host of chemicals known to be toxic not only to man, but to marine life, are being served up on the "Navy Warfare Chemical Menu" that will contaminate our air, water, and soil.
Since all of the Navy Warfare Training Range Complexes have received, or will receive in the near future, permits to "take" marine mammals during their respective 5-year warfare training programs the cumulative and synergistic effects of losing millions of marine mammals will be disastrous. It is time to say no to any future permits being issued by the National Marine Fisheries Services."
This 10-page summary of witness testimony on UFO facts is taken from the book Disclosure, compiled by Steven M. Greer, MD. Page numbers from the book for each excerpt are given at the end of each statement. These testimonies were taken verbatim from video interviews with the witnesses, which include astronauts, generals, admirals, and other top government and military officials. Both the book and witness videos can be purchased at the websitewww.disclosureproject.org. For a two-page summary of these UFO facts, click here.
Advanced spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin have been downed, retrieved and studied since at least the 1940s. Significant technological breakthroughs in energy generation and propulsion have resulted from the study of these objects. We have insiders and scientists who can prove that we do in fact possess energy generation systems capable of completely and permanently replacing all forms of currently used energy generation and transportation systems. The witnesses who have given testimony are extraordinarily brave men and women who have taken great personal risks in coming forward. Some have been threatened and intimidated. Not a single one of them has been paid for his or her testimony. Classified, above top-secret projects possess new energy generation systems that, if put into peaceful uses, would empower a new human civilization without want, poverty, or environmental damage. Every single person who is concerned about the environment and the human future should call for urgent hearings to allow these technologies to be disclosed, declassified and safely applied. pp. 5, 13 - 15. See Dr. Greer's website at disclosureproject.org.
Yes, there have been ET visitations. There have been crashed craft. There have been material and bodies recovered. There has been a certain amount of reverse engineering that has allowed some of these craft, or some components, to be duplicated. And there is some group of people that may or may not be associated with government at this point, but certainly were at one time, that have this knowledge. They have been attempting to conceal this knowledge or not permit it to be widely disseminated….People in high level government have very, very little, if any, valid information about this. Most have no more knowledge than the man in the street….[As to] the question, "How could it be kept secret?" It hasn't been kept secret. It's been there all along. But it has been the subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and create confusion so the truth doesn't come out….I believe it is a very important effort that we get Congressional oversight of all this. pp. 61-64. See also The Way of the Explorer, Edgar Mitchell and Dwight Williams, p. 212. More here.
There is a publication called JANAP 146E that had a section that says you will not reveal any information regarding the UFO phenomenon under penalty of $10,000 fine and ten years in jail. I never reported anything to FAA or the military. A lot of pilots just did not want to get involved in this because of peer pressure and ridicule. So the secret has been kept. pp. 45, 146. More here.
It is time for the truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings. Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense. To hide the facts, the Air Force has silenced its personnel. p. 58, from New York Times, February 28, 1960, p. L30.Click here to see original archived article and how to order it direct from the Times.
The Air Force has arrived [at] the conclusion that a number of anomalous phenomena have been produced within Belgian airspace. Not a single trace of aggressiveness has been signaled. p. 60.
We can't anymore deny that something is happening here in this field of ufology. Not just flying saucers, but there might be actual people, beings, extraterrestrial beings. p. 64. More here.
This particular incident started with a phone call from the people in Alaska….I said, "What's the problem?" He said, "Well, it's that UFO. The UFO was bouncing around the 747 here"….They brought in three people from the FBI, three people from the CIA, and three people form Reagan's scientific study team. Well, I've been involved in a lot of cover-ups with the FAA. When we gave the presentation to the Reagan staff, they had all those people swear that this never happened. But they never had me swear it never happened….For those people who say that if these UFOs existed, they would some day be on radar and that there'd be professionals who would see it, then I can tell them that back in 1986, there were enough professional people that saw it. What I can tell you is what I've seen with my own eyes. I've got a videotape. I've got the voice tape. And I've got the reports that were filed that will confirm what I've been telling you. pp. 79-85. For more, click here.
At Edwards Air Force Base I was having some of the cameramen film precision landings. A saucer flew right over them, put down three landing gears, and landed out on the dry lakebed. They went out with their cameras towards the UFO. It lifted off and flew off at a very high rate of speed….I had a chance to hold it [the film] up to the window to look at it. Good close-up shots. There was no doubt in my mind that it was made someplace other than on this earth….In my opinion they were worried it would panic the public if they knew that someone had vehicles that had this kind of performance. So they started telling lies about it. Then I think they had to cover it with another lie. Now they don't know how to get out of it. pp. 225 - 229. See also Gordon Cooper & Bruce Henderson, Leap of Faith: An Astronaut's Journey into the Unknown, pp. 80 - 91, 194 - 200.
In those days , every base had what they called a UFO officer. p. 98. For more, click here.
I was on the radar, and NORAD called me and informed me that there was a UFO coming up the California coast. I said, "What do you want me to do?" And they said, "Nothing. Just watch it. Don't write it down." I believe the technology they [secret projects based on UFO technology] have could enable us to stop burning our fossil fuels and stop the damage to the ozone. p. 45, 109. More here.
[The UFO] was very large. It came up to 10,000 feet like that – a fraction of a second. I thought it was going to go right through us. So I disengaged the autopilot, pushed the nose over, because I was going to go under it at the angle that it was coming toward me….We were not supposed to tell even our wives of our encounter….My boss told me that they had a craft back there, and they did have ET bodies. Now he's not the first one that ever told me that. p. 113, 117, 118. More here.
When you have the view of the airspace and the radar screen [and] you see the UFOs go around twenty or thirty miles a second – that is very real. They can turn suddenly almost 90 degrees in a second or half a second. The UFOs can go vertically straight up very quickly. p. 129.
One afternoon when we were just about ready to finish up training, Colonel Holomon brought out a piece of what appeared to be metallic debris. He went on to explain that this was material that had come from a New Mexico crash in 1947 of an extraterrestrial craft, and that was discussed at length….I got an opportunity to travel with the President [Eisenhower]. He was very, very interested in the shapes and sizes of the UFOs and what made them go….But what happened was that Eisenhower got sold out. He realized that he was losing control of the UFO subject. He realized that the phenomenon was not going to be in the best hands. That was a real concern….It had been discussed with me on numerous occasions what could happen to me militarily if I discussed this. Threats have been made and carried out. This [UFOs] being the biggest security situation that this country has ever dealt with, there have been some erasures….He said, "You will be erased – disappear." Those threats have been made and carried out. Those threats started way back in 1947. They will go after not only you, they will go after your family. pp. 33, 230-237.
I was a top secret control officer. I happened to see a classified message go through my com [communications] center which said, "A UFO has crashed on the Island of Spitsbergen, Norway, and a team of scientists are coming to investigate it." p. 176. For more, click here.
The UFO incident occurred on the USS John F. Kennedy in the summer of 1971. We observed a large, glowing sphere over the ship. It looked huge. I would say it was anywhere from three or four hundred feet to a quarter of a mile depending on how high it was. A few days later, the Commanding Officer looked at the camera – and I will never forget this – and he said, "I would like to remind the crew that certain events that take place on board a major combat vessel are considered classified and should not be discussed with anyone without a need to know." p. 203.
We had contact with an unidentified flying object that had entered our air space. The order was given by Admiral Trane to get this object forced down out of the sky if at all possible, by whatever means possible….Two gentlemen began to question me about this event. They were being pretty rough. I remember literally putting my hands up and saying, "Wait a minute fellows. I'm on your side." My logbook, I never did see that again. pp. 241 - 244. For more, click here.
Flying saucers exist. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the US Government, rating higher even than the H-bomb. p. 272.
It was buried in the side of a cliff. When I first saw it, I was scared. It [was] real strange. I think the creatures calmed me. It was weird. I think they were trying to communicate with me, like, I guess, telepathically. It is really weird, and I don't believe in any of that stuff. [Immediately after this] I was arrested. I thought they were going to kill me. He was saying, "Are you a patriot? Do you like the Constitution?" I'm like, "Yeah." He said, "We are on our own program. We don't obey. We just do what we want." And he said, "You have got to sign these papers. You never saw this. I don't exist. And if you tell anybody, you will just come up missing." pp. 275 - 277. For more, click here.
I was met by the head of the command post. He was very specific about the fact that an alien from outer space had been shot at Fort Dix, and that he had run away after being wounded, and headed for McGuire….One interesting thing is that many of the key personnel on the base at that time who had a connection with the event were quickly transferred – from the wing commander on down – indicating that if you knew something, they tended to split you up, so you couldn't talk about it….At times I used to carry nuclear weapons. In other words, I was mentally fit to carry nuclear weapons, but I'm not mentally fit if I see a UFO. This criticism and this ridicule have done more to keep the story [from] coming out than almost anything else. pp. 284 - 288. For more, click here. See also Major Filer's website at http://www.nationalufocenter.com.
I was posted to a division called Secretariat Air Staff. My duties there were to research and investigate the UFO phenomenon for the UK government. There have been a steady stream of good-quality cases which I think would convince any open-minded observer who actually looked at the data, that there was something here which went significantly farther than just lights in the sky. I've made no secret of the fact that I believe some of these UFOs may well be of extraterrestrial origin. pp. 289 - 296. For more, click here. See also Mr. Pope's website at www.nickpope.net.
I have frequently been asked why a person of my background – a former Chief of the Defense Staff, a former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee – why I think there is a cover-up of the facts about UFOs. Governments fear that if they did disclose those facts, people would panic. I don't believe that at all. There is a serious possibility that we are being visited – and have been visited for many years – by people from outer space, from other civilizations. It behooves us to find out who they are, where they come from, and what they want. This should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation, and not the subject of rubbishing by tabloid newspapers. pp. 305-307. See also Lord Hill-Norton, Forward to Timothy Good's Above Top Secret. For more, click here.
They said, "We are going to show you a film that might help you put into perspective what you gentlemen have witnessed." They ran the film….The best clip on it showed the berets of the Fifth Special Forces in Vietnam with low scrub brush and a guy with a camera. He turns the camera and this giant, green, delta-shaped thing rises out of the brush very slowly and deliberately, below where they are, up to face level. Shrubbery and brush is falling off this massive thing. I'll never forget that in my life!…The only reason I have my records is because I was advised to steal some of them by an Air Force Colonel, because he said they would vaporize you. pp. 316 – 320. More here.
Can any government keep secrets, let alone the US Government? The answer is unequivocally yes. The National Reconnaissance Office remained secret for many, many years. The mere existence of the NSA remained secret. The development of the atomic weapon remained secret until once you exploded one. I had classified documents the Air Force acknowledged. When I got members of Congress to help me open up more files, they were immediately destroyed, and I can prove this. I am prepared to state that I have been at locations where there were craft that did not originate on the face of this planet. While I was there, we saw living and dead bodies of entities that were not born on this planet….They are not hostile toward us. We are the enemy in this instance. It is not a scary story. The ETs have a perception of God. They are living, breathing creatures as mortal as you and me. They have families. They think, they have loves, they haves likes, they have dislikes, they have social culture. If we do not grow spiritually, we are forcing the situation where the entities will eventually make themselves known….Not more than two dozen UFOs had been retrieved by 1969 when I was briefed first….The entity was a little bigger than the 3, 3 ½ foot tall entities that are a lot of times reported. I looked right into the eyes of this little creature. And you know, it's like you are seeing it but everything is being pulled from your mind. He was reading my whole life. It is hard to describe what I really felt there – your life up to that point goes by in seconds. And I mean you were feeling everything. pp. 327 – 337. For more, click here. For a video interview, click here.
We walked over to one side of the lab and he said, "By the way, we've discovered a base on the backside of the moon." I was a little terrified, thinking to myself that if anybody walks in the room right now, I know we're in jeopardy because he shouldn't be giving me this information. Then he pulled out one of these mosaics and showed this base on the moon which had geometric shapes – there were towers, there were spherical buildings, and things that looked somewhat like radar dishes, but they were very large structures. I didn't want to look at it any longer than that, because I felt that my life was in jeopardy. pp. 415 - 418. More here. For a video interview, click here.
I said, "Now this is supposed to be a system that tracks radar anomalies on Earth, right?" He says, "Yep, that's what it does." So I ask, "Then why are half of them pointed toward outer space, towards the moon, towards areas that are just blank space? What are they looking for?" He says, "You've got to have a need to know to know about that".…We go back to a comment made by one of the astronauts when he stepped on the moon. It was the day after they got there. And he says, "You're right, they're already here." It got out on the airwaves. I know several people who recorded it. It was quickly taken out of all tapes that were public broadcast. pp. 424 – 427. For more, click here.
I was in a facility in California doing classified work. Our astronauts were doing a loop around the moon. I heard them say they had a bogey coming in at 11:00. It was another type of ship. There were portals there that they could see in. They could see beings of some sort. They just took photographs. After a few thousand miles, they took off from the capsule and went away. This happened before the lunar landing. This event was unedited because of where I was. p. 431. For more, click here.
I had access to special libraries, so we could go up to the library that the Air Force ran and sort of paw through top-secret material. Since I was interested in UFOs, I'd look to see what they had. For about a year, I was getting quite a few hits. Then, all of a sudden, the whole subject material vanished. The entire classification for the subject just vanished. pp. 434 - 435. See also Dr. Wood's website at www.majesticdocuments.com.
I worked on the 1977 Carter White House Extraterrestrial Communication Project. It called for creation of central and regional databases under independent control on UFOs and EBEs – that is Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. The full management staff and the research institute had signed off knowingly on the proposal….I flew back from my meeting with the White House, at which this final approval had been given. And when I arrived back at my offices at SRI (Stanford Research Institue), I was called back into the office of the senior SRI official. The project was to be terminated. They had received direct communication from the Pentagon that if the study went forward, SRI's contracts would be terminated. These contracts were a substantial part of SRI's business at the time. The senior Pentagon liaison stated that the project was terminated because, "There are no UFOs." Here we have a President of the United States who came to office under a pledge to open up the UFO issue, and an open study in the White House, and that was squelched. pp. 441 – 446. See also Dr. Webre's website at http://www.exopolitics.com.
Sophia Hoffer asked me to come work at SAIC. I came in and there wasn't any paperwork to fill out. She just said, "You have the job." I didn't even know what department it was. These supervisors were playing games on their computer. There was nothing on their desks. A supervisor gave me letters to respond to. He said, "Oh, you know, just put a letter together and send it off." I opened up the files and even the letters that were in there were backdated several years saying the same exact form letter. It was talking about sometimes millions of dollars in contracts. It looked like there had never been any activity on it. That struck me as very odd. Sophia was in the position of one of the head scientists, which I thought was interesting, because I had met her working at a fabric store. They were getting a lot of money for doing nothing, and I didn't know where the money was going. Later, I put her last name in a computer to do a search. It took me to this DEA site. There was a picture of her with a different first name, same last name. But this was the deceased site for DEA or CIA agents. I was shocked. This person is supposed to have been dead for years. pp. 451 – 455.
The story I put out was very simple. We had in our possession a flying saucer. It was found on a ranch up north of Roswell. It was being flown to General Ramey's office. The information was given to me, almost verbatim, by Colonel Blanchard. He said, "I want you to give it to the local newspapers and radio stations, and do it post haste".…The cover-up was pretty well orchestrated. I think the thought of handling it that way came down from Washington, through channels. We were told that we were all wrong, that it was just a weather balloon. p. 478. More here.
My security guard says, "Sir, there's a glowing red object hovering right outside the front gate – I'm looking at it right now. I've got all the men out here with their weapons drawn".…The nuclear-tipped warheads went into a "no-go" condition, meaning they could not be launched. We lost anywhere from between 16 to 18 ICBMs at the same time UFOs were in the area and were observed by airmen. Bob Kominski headed up the organization to look at all aspects of these shutdowns. He was told by his boss that the Air Force said, "Stop the investigation. Do no more on this, and do not write a final report." This is very unusual, especially in light of the fact that headquarters was stating that this was of extreme importance. pp. 168-171. For more, click here. And for Capt. Salas' personal research into the incident, click here.
So this thing [UFO] fires a beam of light at the warhead, hits it, and then it moves to the other side and fires another beam of light, and then moves again and fires another beam, and another. And the warhead tumbles out of space. What message would I interpret from this? Don't mess with nuclear warheads….After an article [about the incident], I would get telephone calls all night long. People would call and start screaming at me. One night somebody blew up my mailbox. pp. 184, 185, 187. For more, click here.
We were getting reports of visits by UFOs over the storage facilities and even some of the manufacturing facilities. That went on continuously. We found that formal reports were few and far between. Security people were reluctant to report because of the protocol and the bureaucracy involved in reporting them….I learned about incidents involving nuclear weapons. Among these incidents were those where a couple of nuclear weapons that were sent into space were destroyed by the extraterrestrials. There was one incident when we exploded a nuclear weapon over the Pacific in '61, I believe. This was one that the extraterrestrials were really concerned about because it affected our ionosphere. In either the very end of the '70s or the early '80s, we attempted to put a nuclear weapon on the moon and explode it for scientific measurements. [This] was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials. They destroyed the weapon as it went toward the moon. The idea of any explosion of a nuclear weapon in space by any Earth government was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials. That has been demonstrated over and over. p. 191-193. For more, click here.
We had objects with four-way confirmation – ground visual, ground radar, airborne visual, airborne radar. It doesn't get any better than that! In my following of unusual aerial phenomena for the past 50 years, there seems to be some reason to discredit very viable and very reputable witnesses when they say something is unidentified….By humidifying air, I was getting 20 to 30% improvement in efficiency over a car engine. I started selling these devices. The Federal Trade Commission performed an illegal act. I lost my vehicle, about $100,000 worth of equipment, and a test vehicle was stolen. So in three weeks, psychologically I was wiped out. pp. 247 - 251. More here.
As a rule, [places where UFOs appear] are objects of strategic significance – rocket complexes, scientific test establishments – in other words, there is a high concentration of advanced science and to some degree danger. I know that in some places they even learned to create a situation which would deliberately provoke the appearance of a UFO….They came up with a table with pictures of all the shapes of UFOs that had ever been recorded – about fifty – ranging from ellipses and spheres to something resembling spaceships….The study of UFOs may reveal some new forms of energy to us, or at least bring us closer to a solution. pp. 345 – 347. More here.
Eisenhower wanted somebody to be in charge. The CIA was working primarily for itself. Most of the military intelligence directors were working for themselves….So, it was organized, but the name of the NRO was kept secret for years….The National Security Agency – the killers work in that. Secretary of Defense Forestall was the first powerful person that was eliminated because he was going to release information [on UFOs] – and nobody has ever paid for that crime….Who was stationed at Roswell? The only nuclear bomb squadron in the world. We focused several powerful radars on the UFOs, and it caused two of them to crash. One of them had two aliens on it. One of them was wounded or hurt, the other was alive then, but before we could get him anywhere, he had passed on….I would interview people who claimed they had seen something, and try to convince them they hadn't, or that they were hallucinating. If that didn't work, another team would give all the threats – threaten them and their family. They would be in charge of discrediting them, making them look foolish. Now, if that didn't work, there was another team that put an end to that problem, one way or another….UFOs are both extraterrestrial and manmade….Even back in Tesla's time, we had free energy. It's not that our government doesn't want us to know that there are other people on other planets. What they don't want us to know is that this free energy is available to everybody. That's the greatest secret. So secrecy about the UFOs is because of the energy issue. Some would like for us to believe that the aliens are our enemy now. There's no proof that I have ever read in any official document where – unless they were attacked – they ever shot. We don't have a threat from Russia anymore, but if we keep shooting at those aliens, we might have a threat from them. We should demand that our government stop trying to shoot down those aliens. pp. 358 - 366.
These UFOs were huge. They would just come to a stop and do a 60 degree, 45 degree, 10 degree turn, and then immediately reverse this action….During the Apollo landing, Neil Armstrong says, "They're here. They are right over there and look at the size of those ships. And, it is obvious they don't like us being here".…When I was working with the Skunkworks, we signed an agreement with the National Security Agency, and the National Security Council, as well as the CIA. And we kept very quiet about this. Anti-gravitational research was going….We know that there were some captured craft from 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. And, yeah, they were real. And, yes, we really did get some technology from them. And, yes, we really did put it to work….We knew each other from what we call unseen industry. We can term it black, deep black, or hidden. The knowledge I have of these technologies came from the craft that were captured here. I didn't see the craft, nor did I see the bodies. But I certainly know some of the people that did. There was no question that there are peoples, or beings, from outside the planet. Are these ET people hostile? Well, if they were hostile, with their weaponry they could have destroyed us a long time ago….We got these things that are handheld scanners that scan the body and determine what the condition is. We can also treat from the same scanner. Are these things real? Well, I can tell you personally that we've been working on them. And we have ones that can cure cancer. Yes, diagnose and cure. Politics, and God bless them, the FDA, and other people whose financial interests could be damaged by the release of certain technologies keep these out of view….One of the purposes for founding this technology corporation that I did in 1998 was to bring forth these technologies that can help get rid of the toxins – that can clean the air, that help get rid of the need for so much fossil fuel. Yes, it is time. I can tell you personally that it has already started. pp. 375 – 383. For more, click here.
The simulator wasn't actually functional until around 1958. The simulator that they used was for the extraterrestrial craft they had, which is a 30-meter one that crashed in Kingman, Arizona, back in 1953 or 1952. I was inside the actual alien craft for a start-up. Over the last 40 years or so, not counting simulators – I'm talking about actual craft – there are probably two or three dozen, and various sizes that we built. pp. 384 – 387.
This craft was what they called the Alien Reproduction Vehicle. It was also nicknamed the Flux Liner. This antigravity propulsion system – this flying saucer – was one of three that were in this hangar at Norton Air Force Base. We have found a patent filed by James King Jr., and this patent looks just like this system, except that instead of having a dome for a crew compartment, it has a cylinder in the center. It has the same flat bottom and sloping sides. The patent was filed initially in 1960 and was secured in 1967….There is a scientist in Utah by the name of Moray B. King – he wrote a book called Tapping the Zero Point Energy. Zero-point energy is actually what keeps the electrons energized around the atomic structure of everything in the universe. There's enough of this flux, this electrical charge in the nothingness of space, that if you could capture all the energy that was embedded in just a cubic yard of space, you'd have enough energy to boil the oceans of the entire world. pp. 501, 508. For more, click here.
US Army, National Security Council, Colonel Philip J. Corso, Sr.
I went back and there were five crates. I lifted one up and here's this body floating in fluid. First, I thought it was a child because it was small. Then I looked at its head and all. The head was different. The arms were thin. The body was gray. So right at that moment I figured I don't know what this thing is….The one ET craft I saw was at one of the airbases….General Trudeau created the Foreign Technology Division and put me in charge of it. There I started getting the autopsy reports of ETs, and I started getting other crash reports and the artifacts from the crashes….We gave information about the ET technologies out and insisted the corporations take the patents. We put the integrated circuit out. The general said, "let's keep a secret, but when I die, I relieve you of my oath." pp. 459 – 462. See also The Day After Roswell, by Col. Philip J. Corso.
When I was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, we had flying saucers that covered the distance from Columbus to Detroit in the equivalent of about 20,000 miles per hour….Zero-point energy represents about 40-50 megawatts of power per cubic inch of space. That's a lot of power. If you could tap it at will, then no one would have to sell gasoline or oil anymore…Depending on the secrecy level, you have to go through a significant background check. When you do that, if you're in a very tight compartment, you sign a statement that you will not divulge the existence of the project or even answer a question that could acknowledge the existence of the project. I know people today that worked on one of the things I worked on, and if you asked them about it, they would say, "No, I have no idea what you're talking about." They're in their seventies now, but they still absolutely would never admit that they even know what you're talking about. pp. 511 – 519. More here.
Some of the breakthroughs in the past have been deliberately suppressed. T. Henry Moray was inspired by Tesla's work. There was absolutely no question that he had a system that produced 50 kilowatts out of a 55-pound box. There are all kinds of skullduggery that happened there. The Russians even tried to kidnap him at one time. Gabriel Crone invented a true negative resister, working on a Navy contract for Stanford University. He was never permitted to reveal the exact way that he constructed it. There is real stuff in cold fusion. 600 experiments worked, for goodness sake. Probably 50 inventors have invented free energy systems….What we have is a situation where the entire structure of science, industry, and the organizations of science and the patent office are against you. I've been a victim of quite a bit of suppression. So has any other legitimate researcher in the area. And behind this, we have a few people who are quite wealthy and who own these things. The more powerful the agency, the more they will resort not only to legal, but to extra-legal means to suppress their competition. Lethal force is used. And it is not one cartel. It is many, many groups in energy. And each one does not wish to see simple little electrical taps pulling out enormous energy from the vacuum. They would much rather see you burning a lot more oil. If we use this system where we extract energy from the vacuum, we can clean up this biosphere. pp. 534 – 542. For more, click here. See also Dr. Bearden's website at www.cheniere.org.
I was the Chief Science Writer at the MIT news office when the cold fusion story out of Utah broke on March 23, 1989. It turns out the cold fusion effect was real. One day while at MIT, I inadvertently was looking through some piles of paper by physicists doing their repeat of the Pons-Fleischmann experiment. To my utter astonishment, I can remember sitting at my desk and actually seeing two sheets of paper, one dated July 10 and another July 13. The July 10 control experiment showed in the raw data excess heat. But then, on July 13, it was shifted completely. It was altered. Clear fraud – no question. I asked for a review at MIT. I got nowhere. Yet today, MIT data is held up. In fact, what Pons and Fleischmann found was only the tip of an iceberg. There are huge quantities of technical literature published by proponents, and a much smaller amount by the people who found so-called negative results. There has been an extraordinary abrogation of legal responsibility at the Patent Office and the Department of Energy on the matter of cold fusion. There is serious criminal activity going on that ultimately must be rooted out if the cold fusion and new energy revolution are to go forward. pp. 544-546. See the late Dr. Mallove's website www.infinite-energy.com.
When Wernher Von Braun [father of modern rocket science] was dying of cancer , he asked me to be his spokesperson. Von Braun actually told me that the reasons for space-based weaponry that were going to be given – the enemies that we were going to identify – were all based on a lie. He said the strategy that was being used to educate the public and decision makers was to use scare tactics; that first the Russians are going to be considered the enemy. Then terrorists would be identified. Then we were going to identify third-world "crazies." We now call them Nations of Concern. The next enemy was asteroids – against asteroids we are going to build space-based weapons. And over and over during the four years that I knew him and was giving speeches for him, he would bring up the last card. "And remember, Carol, the last card is the alien card. We are going to have to build space-based weapons against aliens, and all of it is a lie." He would not tell me the details. I am not sure I would have absorbed them if he had told me the details, or even believed him in 1974….In 1977, I was at a meeting in Fairchild Industries in a conference room called the War Room….They continued the conversation about how they were going to antagonize these enemies and at some point, there was going to be a war in the Gulf, a Gulf War. Now this is 1977! pp. 255 - 259. For more, click here. See also Dr. Rosin's website, www.peaceinspace.com.
The government – as you and I might think of it – is really quite outside the loop. Indeed the situation is so dire that senior Joint Chiefs of Staff leaders in the Pentagon who I have briefed have no more access to such projects than any other civilian – unless they are on the "inside" for some reason. We have found that the technologies to replace fossil fuel usage already exist and need to be exploited and applied immediately to avert a serious global economic, geopolitical, and environmental crisis in the not-so-distant future. As daunting a disclosure may be, with all its potential for short-term instability and change, continued secrecy means that we will destroy the earth through our folly and greed. We do not have 50 more years – the earth's ecosystem will collapse before then. There are no easy choices. But there is one right one. Will you help us make it? pp. 567, 491, 570. See also Dr. Greer's website at www.disclosureproject.org.
Washington, DC - On July 8, 1947 General Roger Ramey held a press event at the 8th Army Air Force Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas in which he changed an earlier press release announcing a recovered crashed disk near Roswell, New Mexico to that of a retrieved Rawin weather balloon. This was the informal beginning of the now 64-year truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race.
Five years after Roswell in July of 1952 a plethora of sightings took place over Washington, DC creating great concern among those responsible for the nation's security. Subsequently the Central Intelligence Agency commissioned a classified panel to study and assess the phenomenon and the growing public awareness of extraterrestrial craft in the skies over the United States. The panel first met formally on January 14, 1953 under the direction of Howard Percy Robertson, a physicist, CIA employee and director of the Defense Department Weapons Evaluation Group.
The Robertson Panel's report concluded the extraterrestrial craft were not a direct threat to national security, but the public's growing interest and engagement of the phenomenon was a threat. Consequently, President Truman's decision to reverse the Roswell crashed disk explanation in 1947 became a highly classified formal government policy in 1953. Official acknowledgement would be withheld and public awareness of the phenomenon would be suppressed by any and all means. This policy was very much connected to grave concerns over the developing cold war and nuclear arms race and was certainly legal under the National Security Act of 1947. For this reason Paradigm Research Group has worked to replace the term "UFO Cover-up" with "Truth Embargo."
Twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War it is time for this policy of embargo to end.
Disclosure with a capital "D" is the formal acknowledgement by world governments of the extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and is the primary goal of a growing international truth movement. The purpose of World Disclosure Day is to provide a focal point for people and organizations to come together to assert their right to know extraordinary information being withheld from them by their governments. World Disclosure Day will also help broaden public awareness of the Disclosure process and those organizations involved in the advocacy work. The date July 8 was chosen to close the circle back to the Ramey press event in July of 1947.
People and organizations from every nation can register their endorsement of World Disclosure Day at the website. Endorsements from around the world are already pouring in and being archived. Here is how supporters can help make this international effort a success.
1) spread the word via email lists, Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.
2) create graphic banners/poster promoting WDD and send it to PRG to be distributed with attribution.
3) create a video promoting WDD and put in on the Internet. Provide PRG the link so it can promote the video.
4) let local TV and radio talk shows know about WDD.
5) join the WDD Facebook Page and the PRG Facebook Page.
6) grab banners from the WDD website for placement on other websites.
7) looking ahead to 2012, plan events for July 8 to draw attention to the public's right to know the truth.
8) help educate friends, family and colleagues about the mission of the Disclosure advocacy movement.
Note: on the day the first nation comes forward to finally and formally acknowledge the extraterrestrial presence, that day will then become World Disclosure Day historically recognizing the most profound event in human history.


text:
Of Milk And Money, Part Five:
The Art Of The Conservation Deal
The Forest Trends Supply Change initiative has identified more than 100 companies that plan to include smallholder farmers in their sustainability efforts, but such inclusion is easier to conceive than to achieve. Here's how Danone, Mars, and a handful of other companies are teaming up with regional NGOs to deliver on that promise.
This is the fifth in an ongoing series that begins with "How Agroforestry Is Reshaping The Kenyan Countryside"
13 March 2017 | By all accounts, the Kenya Agriculture Carbon Project (KACP) has been a stunning success.
Launched by environmental NGO VI Agroforestry in 2009, the KACP tapped carbon markets to help 30,000 farmers shift to Sustainable Agriculture Land Management (SALM), which is climate-safe farming that blends low-till methods with mulching and – above all – the planting of trees among crops to draw nitrogen and carbon from the air and infuse it into the soil.
The practices helped farmers increase their yields an average of 30% and infused 41,000 metric tons of carbon into the earth as the trees pulled 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, released 109,000 tons of oxygen, and infused the carbon into the ground – where the low-till farming is designed to keep it.
The program improved soil fertility and piloted new methods of validating and verifying carbon removals under the Gold Standard, which is a science-based approach backed by 88 environmental NGOs.
In the end, it generated 150,000 carbon offsets that have been validated and verified by recognized third-party auditors, which enabled the World Bank to buy them for $5 each – providing an income stream that aligns VI Agroforestry's fundraising with its mission, and creating a template for spreading climate-safe agriculture to hundreds of thousands of other farmers across Kenya.
By 2013, VI Agroforestry was ready to spread the program further, but there was a catch.
"We couldn't take market risk," says Wangu Mutua, who runs their operations in Kenya. "Carbon markets offer tremendous potential, but they don't offer guarantees."
It was, she knew, quite possible for VI Agroforestry to do everything right – and to replicate its success with 30,000 new farmers – but to still find no buyers for the offsets. It was also possible for a deeper drought or flash floods to disrupt the carbon content of the soil, which would squeeze the funding just when it was needed most.
So, in 2013, just as the KACP was hitting its stride, she invited Bernard Giraud, CEO of Livelihoods Venture, to the KACP site.
Would he, she asked, be interested in financing the expansion?
The answer, it turns out, was forming in the Nairobi suburb of Ruiru, about 500 kilometers to the east, where a Kenyan executive named John Gethi was looking for milk, while his boss, Muhoho Kenyatta – the younger brother of President Uhuru Kenyatta and CEO of the Brookside Dairy Group.
The Milk Market
In 2013, Brookside was gathering milk from more than 130,000 farmers. That number has since grown to 160,000, and Gethi, as the company's Director of Procurement, is charged with keeping the trend going – or, more accurately, keeping the milk flowing in ever-higher amounts.
The son of farmers, Gethi knew that even a single cow is a major investment for people like Prisca Mayende and Ignatius Sifuna Nabutola – and one that can quickly turn sour if no one buys the milk. So, to "de-risk" the investment, Gethi instituted offtake agreements, which are guarantees to buy whatever milk farmers could deliver, provided it met quality criteria.
Then he noticed something truly astounding: in most territories, cows delivered an average of just three liters of milk per day – an amount that fluctuated wildly with the rains. But in areas where farmers had adopted agroforestry, the cows yielded 10 liters per day – and they did so consistently – because farmers were turning leaves into fodder, while trees were helping to replenish the watershed.
If he could combine agroforestry with uptake agreements, Gethi reasoned, farmers would both purchase more cows and deliver more milk per animal – a double-win that could geometrically increase Brookside's milk supplies.
At the same time, French dairy group Danone, which had Launched the Livelihoods Fund, was looking to expand its operations across Africa, while the Kenyatta family was looking for investors to fund its expansion. So, in early 2014, just as VI Agroforestry was receiving its first carbon-offset payments from the World Bank, Danone took a 40% stake in Brookside – creating a conduit between Gethi, Giraud, and Mutua.
This series of articles has a companion series on the Bionic Planet podcast, also called "Of Milk and Money". The first episode is available here and below. Other episodes will post in March of 2017. To get the full story, be sure to subscribe on iTunes, TuneIn, or wherever you access podcasts.
Cows, Carbon, and Milk
"Wangu wanted to expand her agroforestry project, and John Gethi wanted to get more milk," says Giraud.
"Ninety-five percent of our raw milk comes from small farmers," adds Gethi. "If we don't make it worth their while to produce milk, the smallholder is going to forget about dairy and do something else."
The three began talking.
"We looked for ways that Livelihoods could finance Wangu's project and expect a reasonable return with acceptable risk," says Giraud. "We came up with what I think is a pretty novel solution."
The Livelihoods Fund decided to invest in the Mount Elgon project, with its returns coming from three streams: two related to carbon, and one related to milk.
The Income Streams
The first stream comes from the carbon captured in soil, and it uses the exact methods that VI Agroforestry piloted through the KACB. The second stream also follows a recognized Gold Standard methodology, but it reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by improving something called "methane efficiency" – which, to put it crudely, means reducing the ratio of methane emissions to cow farts.
Cows, as anyone who has ever stepped into a barn knows, are notoriously flatulent. That flatulence is methane – a greenhouse gas 23-times more harmful than carbon dioxide. If you can increase the amount of milk without increasing the amount of methane, the emissions per liter will decrease.
"Today, the average production per cow is three liters [per day]," says Giraud. "We want to raise this productivity up to nine and even more, depending on the breed and the feed. So we will increase massively the production, and at the same time reduce the ratio, and we will get 500,000 carbon offsets through this milk efficiency."
Between the soil and the methane, he sees one million tons of offsets over the next ten years – which is good, but not necessarily enough to justify the risk.
That's where the milk comes in.
"We've targeted 30,000 farmers who are delivering a total of just 5,000 liters per day," says Gethi. "We believe that by working with VI, we can increase that to 130,000 per day in a time span of four to five years."
That's almost a thirtyfold increase, but it will only happen if VI Agroforestry has the manpower to send more people like Makanda Khisa out to recruit and train farmers. So, Brookside agreed to co-finance the expansion and share an undisclosed portion of the increased milk revenues with The Livelihoods Fund – providing the template for a second fund that works by forging tighter cooperation among farmers and food companies, and correcting what Giraud sees as a common defect in global supply chains.
Fixing the Chain
Both Giraud and Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber talk of "broken supply chains" that leave producers disconnected from consumers, and Giraud noticeably winces at the word "commodities", which he says only widens that disconnection.
"We've been buying raw materials, but ignoring where they come from," says Giraud. "We don't know the impact they've had on the environment and on the livelihoods of the farmers.
And that, he says, leaves the company vulnerable to existential disruptions in its supply chains.
"In many cases, stakeholders are in lose-lose situations," he says. "Farmers are trapped in farming models and practices that generate low productivity, unacceptable poverty, and environmental degradation; while companies suffer from supply insecurity, irregular quality and reputational issues. Our goal is to co-develop a win-win model that will create more value for all stakeholders and turn vicious circles into more virtuous ones."
A growing number of companies seem to share that goal: the Forest Trends Supply Change initiative, for example, identifies more than 100 companies that have pledged to work with smallholders in the soy, palm, cattle, and timber & pulp sectors to reduce their impact on forests.
Those are the "big four" commodities responsible for most deforestation, but thousands of other ingredients – like tea, cacao, and cardamom oil (a key component of perfume) – come mostly or exclusively from smallholder farms, and companies like Swiss "perfume and flavor" purveyor Firmenich are especially vulnerable.
Dominique Roques, the company's director of sustainable acquisition, says Firmenich depends on 200,000 small suppliers for 180 exotic ingredients, and it increasingly sees a competitive advantage in treating those suppliers as partners rather than just people to bargain with.
"It's easier to sit in the office and wait for a drum of cardamom oil to show up and discuss the prices," he said, at during a panel discussion called "Shaping sustainable supply chains of the future" at the 2015 Global Landscapes Forum, on the fringes of the Paris Climate Talks – where Gethi, Mutua, and Giraud also spoke.
"But now we understand that we need to know who is growing it and what their revenues are," he continued. "[We need to know if] they wish to keep planting and collecting it – or do we have problems?"
Barry Parkin, director of sustainability at family-owned Mars, participated in that panel, too, and he says his company faces a similar dilemma.
"We have about a million farmers that supply us," he says. "Most of those are smallholder farmers, and many of them are struggling."
Like Brookside, Mars had tried to offer certainty to its suppliers through offtake agreements, but it began to see that certain environmental NGOs – like VI Agroforestry in Africa and the Naandi foundation in India – were doing more to boost productivity than Mars ever could. Might there be a way of partnering?
The Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming
In early 2015, Danone and Mars launched the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F) to compliment the Carbon Fund (LCF). Like its predecessor, the L3F partners with NGOs that have a proven track record of helping small farmers improve their land management. Unlike its predecessor, the L3F aims to earn its return primarily by sharing in the higher profits generated at corporate level. The "investors" provide both up-front finance and long-term offtake commitments, while the fund acts as a conduit for expertise and vehicle for risk-sharing among different projects.
"We get a secure supply of quality material coming into our supply chain, and we have smallholder farmers who have been transformed in terms of their livelihoods," says Parkin. "We also have agriculture that's being done in a way that's within planetary boundaries, so basically, we get sustainable agriculture and a sustainable supply of materials through the fund, at a very efficient financial set-up."
Firmenich and water management group Veolia have since joined as well, and the four plan to funnel 120 million euros into helping 200,000 farms shift to sustainable agriculture – impacting, they say, roughly two million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America while gaining more reliable supplies.
Giraud says the fund is about to announce three projects involved in cocoa and vanilla, and it's looking into sugarcane, coconut, and rice projects – as well as some involving three of the big four deforestation commodities: namely, cattle/dairy, palm, and timber & pulp.
That's a longer horizon than many investment funds take, but this one involves partnerships among types of organizations that don't normally cooperate – including companies like Brookside, which have long-standing procurement procedures, and NGOs like VI Agroforestry, which have long-standing fundraising procedures, but also governments and other suppliers and sub-suppliers.
How to Follow this Series
We amended the closing paragraphs of this piece because the original phrasing implied that the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming had no projects. They do, in fact, have three but have not yet made them public.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Some great historical information on our legendary heroes, the 65th Infantry Regiment Borinqueneers, hailing from Puerto Rico!
Click on the button below to see how you can help champion this HISTORIC cause!
The First Company of native Puerto Ricans enlisted in the new "American Colonial Army" 1899.
The 65th Infantry Regiment prides itself on its long, rich tradition of military history, service, and achievements. Since the first shot of World War I which originated from "El Morro" San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the end of the Korean War, over 100,000 Borinqueneers have distinguished themselves as true American war heroes. After all, the Borinqueneers' motto is "Honor Et Fidelitas" which is Latin for "Honor And Fidelity"!
Borinqueneers artillery unit training in Bayamon.
March 2, 1917 - Jones-Shafroth Act passed giving US citizenship to Puerto Ricans.
May 1917 - Regiment returns to Puerto Rico in Mar 1919.
1943 - Again deployed to guard Panama Canal against attack by the Axis.
where they had first combat action in WWII, 47 battle casualties.
1945 - Served in Mannheim, Germany during occupation.
July 26, 1948 - Executive Order 9981 was an executive order issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. This decree would take years to take effect within the 65th Infantry Regiment.
Korean War. Regiment eventually assigned to serve as part of 3rd Infantry Division.
Marine and elements of the 7th Infantry Division's retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. One of the biggest military withdrawals in US military history.
February 2, 1951 - Two battalions of the 65th Infantry charged Chinese positions for the last Battalion-Sized Bayonet Charge in U.S. Army history.
February 14, 1951 - Saved 3rd Division HQ from being overrun by an infiltrating North Korean Regiment.
July 25, 1952 - The "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" government status is proclaimed and Puerto Rico is officially no longer a colony.
September & October 1952 - Involved in bitter, bloody fighting for Hill 167, Outpost Kelly (September) and then Outpost Jackson Heights (October). The battle for Outpost Jackson Heights resulted in 90+ Court Martials for various factors such as refusing to obey orders, misconduct in front of the enemy. The charges were all pardoned or remitted by the then Secretary of the Army, Robert Stevens.
March 1953 - The Regiment is desegregated and is no longer a "Puerto Rican regiment. The Regiment is fully integrated among other Anglo fighting units.
June 1953 - After reintegration, the 65th Infantry Regiment fought in the battle of Outpost Harry where 1st Lieutenant Richard Cavazos, a Mexican-American, earned the Distinguished Service Cross. 1st Lieutenant Richard Cavazos, a Mexican-American, would then become the only Hispanic Army four-star general in US Armed Forces history.
By the end of the Korean War the 65th Infantry had suffered approximately approximately 750 killed and 2,400 wounded in action, making the Korean War the bloodiest war in Puerto Rican history.
April 10, 1956 - Inactivated at Camp Losey, Puerto Rico.
Feb 6, 1959 - The unit "colors" were transferred to the Puerto Rico Army National Guard where the 1st Battalion, of the 65th Infantry remains a functional National Guard unit serving in the nation's on-going military campaigns. Only unit from the active-duty military to transfer to the National Guard/Reserves.
June 10, 2014 - President Barack Obama signs Bill H.R. 1726 awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment into Public Law 113-120. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award in the U.S. and equivalent to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The 65th Infantry Regiment is the second Latino-American recipient of the Gold Medal since Baseball Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente. The first Congressional Gold Medal recipient was George Washington in 1776.
April 13, 2016 - The Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal was officially unveiled in a ceremony held at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington D.C. in which many of the 65th Infantry veterans, their families, Secretary of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, acting Secretary of the Army, key Congressional leaders from both chambers, and other dignitaries were in attendance. The event was spearheaded by the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Present and Future - The Borinqueneers legacy is continually weaved in the fabric of our society and honored as evident through various street/highway renamings, memorial dedications, commemoration events, parades, and other tributes.
The following are several video clips which do a great job in narrating the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment in a brief format. We highly recommend these video clips for academic and educational purposes.
"History of the 65th Infantry, 1899-1946"
"Strictly Personal" book excerpt narrating then Major John Eisenhower's accounts of the 65th Infantry Regiment after the court-martial episodes. John Eisenhower is President Dwight D. Eisenhower's son.
Link to free book download!
The most decorated Puerto Rican soldier in US history: A proud "Borinqueneer", the late Don Modesto Cartagena served in WWII & Korea. He is a recipient of the nation's 2nd highest award for heroism, the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and "V" device, the Purple Heart, and many others. Honor this wonderful hero-patriot's lasting legacy and that of our other distinguished Borinqueneer brothers by writing to your 2 US Senators & 1 US House member to seek the Congressional Gold Medal for the "Borinqueneers"!
His official citation reads: "The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Modesto Cartagena (RA10404100), Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Sergeant Cartagena distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Yonch'on, Korea, on 19 April 1951. On that date, Company C was assigned the mission of capturing Hill 206, a terrain feature dominating a critical road junction. When the company assaulted the summit, it encountered stubborn resistance from a well-entrenched and fanatically determined hostile force. Sergeant Cartagena, directed to move his squad forward in order to approach the enemy positions from another ridgeline, led his men toward the objective, but, almost immediately, the group was forced to seek cover from an intense and accurate volume of small-arms and automatic-weapons fire. Locating the hostile emplacements that posed the greatest obstacle to the advance of the friendly forces, Sergeant Cartagena left his position and, charging directly into the devastating enemy fire he hurled a grenade at the first emplacement, totally destroying it. Ordering his squad to remain under cover, he successfully and single-handedly assaulted the second enemy position. Although knocked to the ground by exploding enemy grenades, Sergeant Cartagena repeated this daring action three more times. Finally, an increased volume of fire from the remaining hostile emplacements was concentrated on him and he was wounded. The extraordinary heroism and completely selfless devotion, to duty displayed by Sergeant Cartagena throughout this action enabled the company to secure its objective successfully with a minimum of casualties, reflect great credit on himself and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service. Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, Korea: General Orders No. 698 (September 16, 1951) Home Town: Puerto Rico."
Richard E. Cavazos, a Mexican-American, earned his commission as a distinguished graduate from the ROTC program at Texas Technological University in 1951. During the Korean War, as a member of the 65th Infantry Regiment, Cavazos won his first of two Distinguished Service Crosses for his heroic actions during an attack on Hill 142.
Later, he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the British Staff College and the Armed Forces Staff College.
In 1967, Cavazos commanded 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, in Vietnam. His valiant leadership of that unit in the attack at Loc Ninh earned him a second Distinguished Service Cross. After Vietnam, Cavazos served as commander, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, and commander, 9th Infantry Division. In 1980, he became the innovative commander of III Corps. In 1982, Cavazos assumed command of the U.S. Army Forces Command and earned his fourth star, making him the first Hispanic four-star general in the Army. His early support for the National Training Center and his involvement in the development of the Battle Command Training Program enormously influenced and advanced the Army's warfighting capabilities.
One of the pinnacle achievements of the Borinqueneers in Korea was when they rushed to the defense of the US Marines & stayed behind to fight off the enemy after the Marines were encircled & ordered to withdraw to Hungnam.
After providing rear guard cover of epic proportions for the Marines, the operation culminated on Christmas Eve 1950. The last two US soldiers to board ship at Hungnam were Borinqueneers Cpl. Julio Guzman & Sgt. Major Lupercio Ortiz (see photo).
Borinqueneer Master Sergeant Pedro Rodriguez served in the 65th Inf. Reg. during WWII and Korea. He had joined the Borinqueneers in 1937 at the age of twenty five. Earlier, at age 14 after his father died, he took over his father's small business to support his family, delivering goods around Lajas, PR, with an ox cart.
During Korea, He was awarded two Siver Stars in a one-week period. The first citation reads, "MASTER SERGEANT PEDRO RODRIGUEZ, RA6674697, Infantry, Company "F", 65th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division, United States Army. On 24 March 1951, near Kopi-Dong, Korea, Sergeant RODRIGUEZ, acting as platoon leader in the absence of a commissioned officer, was leading his unit to secure Hill 476, when the enemy opened fire from a well camouflaged machine gun nest. Although he did not know the exact location of the gun, Sergeant RODRIGUEZ ordered one squad to fix bayonets and assault the general area from which the fire was coming. After the enemy weapon fired again, Sergeant RODRIGUEZ charged the position, yelling and shooting his rifle demoralizing the enemy and causing him to flee in haste, taking his gun with him, but leaving ammunition and rations behind. The gallantry and extreme devotion to duty displayed by Sergeant RODRIGUEZ reflect great credit upon himself and the military service. Entered the military service from Puerto Rico."
Several days later, he was awarded another Silver Star. The citation reads, "MASTER SERGEANT PEDRO RODRIGUEZ, RA6674697, Infantry, Company "F", 65th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division, United States Army. On 31 March 1951, near Choksong-myon, Korea, Company "F" was attacking Hill 398, defended by a firmly entrenched enemy supported by mortars. At some distance from the top of the hill, the lead platoon was halted by intense machine gun fire and fragmentation grenades, suffering several casualties. When Sergeant RODRIGUEZ received the order to move his platoon to assist the stalled unit, he ran forward and led his troops in a furious assault, causing the enemy to retreat hastily, thereby relieving the besieged lead platoon. Continuing his charge, Sergeant Rodriguez pursued the fleeing enemy and covered by friendly machine gun fire, he personally searched the area to rout any enemy troops which might have been left behind. The aggressive leadership and personal gallantry exhibited by Sergeant Rodriguez reflect the highest credit upon himself and the military service. Entered the military service from Puerto Rico."
MacArthur requested that the Borinqueneers be assigned to him in the Pacific during World War II. The Pentagon denied his request because of prejudice toward the 65th.
Cpl. Enrique Vega Lugo of G company, 2nd Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3rd US Infantry Division. was awarded the "Silver Star Medal" from Col. Juan Cesar Cordero Davila, the Commanding Officer of the Borinqueneers, during a ceremony held at Regimental Headquearters in Korea on April 16, 1952. Col. Cordero received his own Silver Star later that year. See below.
Borinqueneers Commanding Officer Col. Juan César Cordero Davila receives the Silver Star in Korea on Sept. 23, 1952. His citation reads: "Colonel Juan C. Cordero, 0222751, Infantry, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Army. On July 20, 1952, Company "C" was attempting a withdrawal after completing a raiding mission on enemy positions near Chongdong, Korea. In the initial phase of the withdrawal the friendly troops were subjected to intense hostile automatic weapons, artillery and mortar fire from nearby enemy positions. Under the withering fire the men became disorganized and began to move in all directions. Realizing the necessity for the company to effect an orderly withdrawal and evacuate the wounded, Colonel Cordero, the Regimental Commander, continuously exposed himself to the hostile bombardment as he moved among the men, offering encouragement and directing them through the heavy enemy fire. Inspired by his courage, the men assumed the initiative and continued to move toward friendly positions. At this time the ridge line over which the withdrawal was to be made was subjected to heavy artillery and mortar fire. Despite the urging of his executive officer that he seek a place of safety, Colonel Cordero refused to leave his men, and with complete disregard for his personal safety, braved the enemy fire to ensure that all had reached safety and the wounded had been evacuated. Colonel Cordero's gallant and inspirational leadership was instrumental to the success of the withdrawal and reflects the highest credit upon himself and the military service. Entered the Federal Service from Puerto Rico."
"The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Richard E. Cavazos (O-64593), First Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while as Company Commander of Company E, 2d Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Cavazos distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Sagimak, Korea, on the night of 14 June 1953. On that date, Lieutenant Cavazos led his men in a raid on the entrenched enemy upon whom heavy casualties were inflicted. When a heavy barrage was laid on the position by the enemy, Lieutenant Cavazos withdrew the company and regrouped his men. Lieutenant Cavazos three times led the company through the heavy barrage in assaults on the enemy position, each time destroying vital enemy equipment and personnel. When the United Nations element was ordered to withdraw, Lieutenant Cavazos remained alone on the enemy outpost to search the area for missing men. Exposed to heavy hostile fire, Lieutenant Cavazos located five men who had been wounded in the action. He evacuated them, one at a time, to a point on the reverse slope of the hill from which they could be removed to the safety of the friendly lines. Lieutenant Cavazos then made two more trips between the United Nations position and the enemy-held hill searching for casualties and evacuating scattered groups of men who had become confused. Not until he was assured that the hill was cleared did he allow treatment of his own wounds sustained during the action."


In a networked-software-services world, to render an entire customer journey is a matter of managing overwhelming complexity. No team of designers, no matter how talented and capable, can acquire the necessary deep knowledge across so many domains to deliver robust work. This means that the design team can no longer rely solely on the hard skills of their practice and craft to succeed. In order to arrive at the most suitable solution regardless of context, the design team needs to practice the soft skill of facilitation. This is because designers are not the sole creators – there are too many moving parts, too much specialized knowledge necessary to fully appreciate a situation. Designers need to facilitate the creative output of others throughout the organization, tapping into a resource often left dormant. If working in a hospital setting, get nurses, technicians, and doctors to ideate around their specific problems. In a call center, have the customer service representatives pitch how they think things should be. The point isn't to be slavish to the input from other functions – the design team still has the crucial responsibility of refining, honing, and executing these ideas. But it's a recognition that the problems we're solving are too big for any one team to have a complete handle on.


Do I Need an Equipment Mat for My Elliptical Trainer?
An equipment mat is a mat that sits at the base of a piece of exercise equipment like an elliptical. It is similar to an exercise mat in terms of appearance but is made of heavy duty rubber making them extremely durable. Equipment mats sit perfectly under the machine and serves several purposes. Some use a mat while others do not but placing a mat under your elliptical can do a lot of good. Let's discuss why you need an equipment mat for your elliptical.
Whether you have carpet in your home gym or hard flooring, an equipment mat will protect your flooring. For hard floors like hardwood, laminate and tile, such a large, heavy machine like an elliptical trainer will damage the flooring. It is almost impossible not to have scratches or a series of scuffs on your floor but laying down a mat prior will keep flooring damage free. Equipment mats also protect carpet by preventing those deep indentations that never seem to go away.
Elliptical trainers produce vibrations when in use. The continual motion that occurs stride after stride creates vibrations that increase the noise output of the machine. This noise is increased more when the user weighs close to 200 pounds. Ideally, an elliptical should be quiet during operation. It makes the workout more enjoyable. Having that soft surface below the machine acts as a cushion to reduce noise, absorbs the vibrations and muffles sound.
Rubber equipment mats also provide users with a non-slip surface when they get off of the machine. Those who use ellipticals regularly have probably slipped or lost their footing as they were dismounting the trainer but the mat will decrease the chance of that happening.
Having a shock absorbent surface under an elliptical will improve the stability of the machine. Several models have a small base that can cause the trainer to rock back and forth during use. The cushion provided by the equipment mat will stabilize the unit.
Many are surprised by this but placing a mat underneath your elliptical will prolong the life of the machine. Mats do this by protecting the parts against carpet fibers and dust that may become trapped in the moving parts. They also balance friction. Dust and fibers cause obstructions while a friction imbalance can result in the misalignment of essential components which can cause them to fail leaving the trainer less comfortable or inoperable.
As you can see, you do need an equipment mat for your elliptical. This inexpensive and very durable mat will protect your floor, reduce noise, prevent slips, improve stability and prolong the life of your trainer. A small $15 to $50 investment is definitely worth it.


Safe and reliable visual inspections via WiFi to a smartphone or tablet. DEHNcheck portable inspection camera can be safely used in electrical installations up to 123 kV/15-60 Hz for regular visual inspections and for documenting condition status.
In the event of an electric arc, workers are exposed to temperatures of more than 18,000°F, resulting in severe burns. Our arc-fault-tested personal protective equipment protects you against thermal effects.
The new SDS enclosure, which is directly fixed at the contact line mast, allows to replace voltage-limiting devices without having to access the critical point of the track section.


This is the final story in a three-part series profiling the United States Digital Service (USDS) and its team at the Homeland Security Department (DHS). Read parts one and two.
What if there was a safe space, an environment that encouraged employees to give honest feedback about projects — where they're falling short and how they can be corrected.
This is the kind of atmosphere that the United States Digital Service (USDS) is working to instill within the cultural DNA of federal agencies, including the Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs (VA) and Homeland Security (DHS) departments.
GovLoop recently sat down with leaders from DHS Digital Service to hear how the team has evolved, current projects underway and how they are gradually transforming the cultural norms, particularly when it comes to launching, developing and maintaining large-scale digital projects. There's no shortage of watchdog reports and congressional hearings centered on the billions that have been wasted on failed government IT projects.
To help you break through the cultural barriers at your agency, we've highlighted these five tips from the digital experts at DHS.
1. Create air cover for your staff and listen to them.
At DHS, specifically, Executive Director of DHS Digital Service Stephanie Neill is intimately involved in selecting which projects the team will tackle and sees her role as creating the air cover for employees to test new concepts, make iterative changes and execute on those projects.
Andrew Miller, Director of Immigration Benefits Processing, added that the digital service team is working with DHS components to better understand the needs and pain points of people who regularly use mission systems and products. These are the types of known problems that can be proactively addressed before they become a bigger issue.
It helps that DHS Digital Services is uniquely positioned outside of the hierarchy at DHS, so the team can meet with engineers, designers, project managers in one setting and then meet with executives at the secretary level to share what is happening on the ground level. Oftentimes, it's not DHS Digital Service that identifies a problem; it's the people working on a project.
2. Demonstrate new ways to work that drive results.
Neill's recipe for buy-in among DHS officials has proven successful so far.
3. Establish values and promulgate them.
Not every agency has a small army of digital experts from the private sector who can come in for a few years, work alongside employees to solve tough problems and speak freely without fear.
A poster at the United States Digital Service's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
That's why USDS headquarters is working to instill its values across government through efforts such as the Digital Service Playbook, which outlines 13 successful practices to help government build effective digital services.
"Our value system isn't as well known, and we try to sort of bring it into the groups that we work with and try to get them to take them on as well and build it into the culture," Neill said.
4. Make continuous improvements and iterations a priority.
The idea of constantly iterating on a product or monitoring how new software is performing after it launches isn't something that government has done particularly well. Liz Odar, Director of Asylum, recalled when the I-90 form used to renew or replace green cards was brought online to help speed up the process.
The project launched and attention quickly shifted to the next project. It wasn't until a year later that DHS leadership reached out asking the team to figure out why process times hadn't improved. Odar explained that although the form was online it was basically a digital copy of the paper form. She stressed that the set-it-and-forget-it mindset cannot work with government projects, especially those as dynamic as digital initiatives.
5. Know the value of design.
Unfortunately, there is no clear career track for designers in government, but their skills are needed. Having service and interaction designers, for example, can help the engineers and product owners more effectively solve problems, Miller said.
At U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the team uses design to subjectively test whether a company can actually deliver software and if contractors know what they're doing. The team has also used tech challenges to test companies' design capabilities.
"The number one tactic that I think that a lot of government agencies could do is appointing design- background advisors or evaluators on those contract teams," Miller said. Not enough agencies have design experts at the table who can tell if vendors know what they're doing or are simply using the right jargon.