Cryptids
The U.S. Intelligence Community is Doing Group Think on Steroids.
The line dividing consensus from group think is narrow and not well defined. There are four principal agencies in the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) who actually produce raw intelligence — the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Why is this important? The USIC is on the record supporting the analytical conclusion that Russia is in trouble, Putin is on the ropes and Ukraine can expel Russia from Ukrainian territory as long as it gets the necessary support. How can so many people with advanced degrees from top flight universities be so blind and so deluded? The answer is simple — the USIC is a collection of gargantuan bureaucracies that do not encourage or promote thinking out of the box. Any analyst inclined to engage in counter intuitive or counter narrative analysis is not just ignored. He or she will be punished and, in some cases, fired or shuffled off to dead end jobs.
Let me take you inside the process I experienced as an analyst. I would arrive at my desk in the Central America Branch of the Middle America Caribbean Division of the Office of Africa and Latin American Affairs (ALA) around 7am and had to quickly read a 6 inch stack of paper containing the latest intelligence in order to identify any issues that would merit producing an article for the National Intelligence Daily or the Presidential Daily Brief. (Can you smell the bureaucracy?)
The intelligence I perused consisted of messages from State Department and Embassies overseas, intercepted voice and electronic communications courtesy of the NSA, DIA human intelligence reports and CIA human intelligence reports. Let’s say that after my review I knitted together several pieces of intelligence showing that the Central American leaders were working in secret to produce a peace plan that ran counter to the policy of the President of the United States regarding Nicaragua. I would go to the morning Branch meeting, brief my colleagues and Branch Chief on the story and would get the green light to produce an analytical piece explaining the particulars of the Central American plan.
For the sake of illustration, let us assume that I used a CIA and a DIA human intel report, a message from the U.S. Embassy in Honduras, and an NSA piece reporting on a conversation between the President of Honduras and the President of Costa Rica. As I wrote that article I needed to refer specifically to the sources I was drawing on. Once my draft was complete I then submitted it to my Branch Chief who, like a dog marking territory, would piss on my prose and edit it with untrammeled glee.
While that was going on I had to send my draft to my counterparts in the Directorate of Operations at CIA, the Central American analyst at DIA, the Central American analyst at State INR and the NSA division that produced the report on the intercepted conversation. Everyone of those analysts had the opportunity to concur with what I wrote or offer their changes. Getting their approval is known as the “clearance process.”
Most of the time there was little disagreement and I secured their approval quickly. On occasion there would be a difference of opinion and a negotiation would ensue on finding mutually acceptable language. Once in a while the disagreement would be profound with no chance of compromise. In those rare cases, the dissenting analyst from one of the other agencies could write a dissent. This always was discouraged but not prevented.
After I made the changes requested by my Branch Chief and the other coordinating agencies, the piece went to the Chief or Deputy of the Middle America Caribbean Division (MACD) for another round of editing. I would make those changes and then it would go to the front office of ALA. Rinse and repeat. Once I had the blessing of ALA I could submit the proposed draft to the editing staffs of the National Intelligence Daily and the Presidential Daily Brief.
That was 38 years ago. Today there is no paper shuffling back and forth. Everything is done on line with computers. But that has not made the process more efficient. It has created more opportunity for a variety of people to weigh in and tweak the piece.
There also is something that did not exist when I was there — a Top Secret version of Twitter where analysts throughout the IC can congregate and engage in the same nonsense that occurs on unclassified Twitter (e.g., you may get mocked with snarky comments). Unlike regular Twitter, where you can mask your identity and hide behind a key board, the IC classified version of Twitter requires you to use your real name. And guess what? That classified channel of Twitter is regulated by senior managers who are quick, so I am told, to cancel anyone who dares offer an analytical perspective that departs from the “community standard.”
For example, imagine you are an analyst who tries to argue that the actions by the U.S. and NATO created a motive for Vladimir Putin to launch the Special Military Operation. Odds are you will be ridiculed or even cancelled. When analysts are being punished for stepping outside the IC “consensus” you have what I describe as Group Think on Steroids. There is enormous pressure to conform and no incentive to swim against the ideological current.
If you want to know why the United States has intelligence failures (e.g., Saddam is hiding weapons of Mass Destruction) this is why. No bureaucratic entity in the world, regardless of whether it is a government enterprise or a publicly traded company, likes or encourages “boat rockers.” People who rock the boat (don’t tip the boat over now) or color outside the lines have a short life in any bureaucracy. That person is fired or put into a dead end job or subjected to so much pressure and abuse that he or she decides to quit. This ain’t the world of Jack Ryan sitting around a table with a bunch of colleagues amicably working together to figure out what those dastardly Irish terrorists will do next. Pure Hollywood bullshit.
The ability of any analyst to do good, solid, objective work is totally a function of leadership at the top of the organization. If the Director of the CIA is going to shade the truth, that message is communicated down the food chain and anyone in that chain who desires to get a promotion will happily go along with shading the truth as well. There is no law or procedure that you can create to fix this. It is truly a matter of having people in management positions blessed with courage, integrity and a commitment to telling the truth no matter what the price. I have a news flash — the current leadership in the IC is lacking on all counts.
The post The U.S. Intelligence Community is Doing Group Think on Steroids. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
By Larry Johnson
The aftermath of the I-35w Bridge Collapse in 2007. Image: Wikipedia
Just like the infamous Silver Bridge Mothman sightings, witnesses claim seeing a strange, 7ft tall flying humanoid in the weeks before the collapse of the I-35W bridge in 2007.
The Collapse of the I-35W Bridge
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (also known as Bridge 9340) was a large bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that carried Interstate 35W over the river. It was built in 1967 and was one of the busiest bridges in Minnesota, with thousands of cars using it every day.
Sadly, on August 1, 2007, during the evening rush hour when hundreds of people were driving home from work, something terrible happened. The bridge suddenly collapsed, causing a lot of damage. Sadly, 13 people died, and 145 were injured.
Investigators later found out that a part of the bridge, called the gusset plate, had failed. The gusset plate was worn and the stress of the extra cars on the bridge caused it to break apart.
Right after the collapse, people and emergency workers from nearby areas rushed to help. They worked hard to rescue anyone who was trapped and to take care of the injured.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation quickly made plans to build a new bridge called the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge. They finished building it just over a year later, and it opened in September 2008.
Connections to the Silver Bridge Collapse
The Silver Bridge Collapse
For many cryptid enthusiasts, hearing of a bridge collapse immediately brings Mothman to mind. The Silver Bridge was a suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. On December 15, 1967, during rush hour, the bridge suddenly collapsed, sending cars and people plunging into the icy waters below. The disaster claimed the lives of 46 individuals, making it one of the deadliest bridge collapses in American history.
In the months leading up to the tragedy, residents of Point Pleasant reported sightings of a mysterious creature dubbed the “Mothman.” Described as a large, winged humanoid with glowing red eyes, the Mothman sightings fueled speculation and fear in the community.
Following the Silver Bridge collapse, some people began to link the sightings of the Mothman to the disaster, suggesting that the creature was a harbinger of impending doom. This connection led to the Mothman becoming a legendary figure in cryptozoology and popular culture.
Both the Silver Bridge collapse and the I-35w collapse were caused by structural failures in the bridges. In the case of the Silver Bridge, the collapse was attributed to a single eyebar in the suspension chain that failed due to metal fatigue. In the I-35W collapse, a design flaw in the bridge’s gusset plates, combined with increased weight from construction materials and traffic, led to the catastrophic failure.
Mothman Sightings Connected to the I-35W Bridge Collapse
Dark Reocrds covers the I-35w brdge collapse
The I-35w collapse Mothman sightings differ from the Silver Bridge Mothman sightings in their frequency. Dozens of people around Pleasant Point reported strange sightings and unexplained paranormal or extraterrestrial activity in the months leading up to the Silver Bridge collapse. The sightings surrounding the I-35w collapse were mush less common.
On August 10, 2007, George Noory hosted the “Coast to Coast AM” program, where he spoke to several callers sharing their encounters with cryptids. Among these calls was one reporting a sighting on June 27th near Stewartville, Minnesota. The caller described seeing a 7-foot-tall, winged humanoid creature with a massive wingspan, roughly the width of her Ford vehicle. The sighting occurred approximately 90 miles from the I-35w bridge, just over a month before the bridge collapse.
There are references to multiple other sightings online but they seem to have been removed from the internet. A WIRED article from the time talks of numerous blog posts on the topic but the link no longer works. This article by Singular Fortean also alludes to their being multiple sightings but doesn’t provide references.
Skepticism
So it seems we just have the one account to work with here. It’s possible that the George Noory’s caller was just someone making up a story and looking for a bit of attention. The fact that the account didn’t come out until after the collapse of the I-35w bridge does take from its credibility.
It is also possible that the caller simple saw a large crane or other bird and misidentified their memory as the mothman following the bridge collapse.
What if it was Mothman?
If it was Mothman that was seen before the collapse of the I-35w bridge it leads us to more questions than answers. Is this Mothman the same creature that was seen before the Silver Bridge collapse? Could Mothman actually be a species of creature that is drawn to human disasters, particularly bridge collapses?
Tell us your theories in the comments.
If you enjoyed reading about Mothman and the I-35w bridge collapse you might be interested in our article on the original Mothman story or the blackbird of Chernobyl.
The Awful cryptid as described by Vermont residents in 1925
In 1923, several residents of Berkshire and Richford, Vermont reported seeing a creature resembling a griffin, with a 20 foot wingspan and a serpentine tail.
“The Awful” Cryptid Sightings of 1925
Berkshire and Richford, Vermont are peaceful countryside towns located between Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, near the Canadian Province of Quebec.
In 1925 several residents of these towns reported encounters with an unusual flying creature.
The creature was described as being similar to the mythical Griffin, with a grayish color, a 20-foot wingspan, a snake-like tail, and big claws capable of holding a medium sized dog. These strange sightings caused panic among the locals who came to dub the creature “the Awful”.
The first sightings of the mysterious creature were reported by two sawmill workers in Richford. As they crossed the main street bridge, they saw a very large beast on the nearby rooftop of the Boright building, glaring at them. According to the tale, one of the men was so scared that he had a heart attack out of fear. He had to be carried home but eventually recovered. However, for weeks afterward, he had nightmares about the creature, waking up his family with screams during the night.
In the following months, locals kept reporting sightings of this mysterious creature, causing fear and panic among residents. Farmers shared stories of it flying over their fields, and others saw it landing on their house rooftops. One resident, Oella Hopkins, experienced this when she was hanging laundry outside. The family dog got upset and started barking, and when Oella looked, she saw the creature, known as The Awful, perched on her farmhouse roof, staring at her. Terrified, Oella ran inside and hid under her bed for hours.
Later Sightings of “The Awful”
By the end of 1925, sightings of the creature became less frequent and almost stopped completely by 1928. Even though people thought it had disappeared, some locals claimed to see it every now and then since the 1920s. One such person was Lisa Maskell from Montgomery, who said she spotted the creature near Trout River when she was a child. When she saw a drawing of a pterodactyl later on, she thought it looked like the creature she saw and believed it resembled The Awful.
In 2006, there were a few new reports suggesting that The Awful might have returned to Northern Vermont. In October 2006, a person wrote in the County Courier about a respected person in Richford who saw the creature suddenly appear and grab a big black crow from a pine tree. The witness was surprised and said the creature flew around his house three times.
After this article, more people shared sightings. A woman remembered seeing the monster when she was about ten. It was in a tree near the Trout River, watching them with its strange beak, reminding her of a pterodactyl.
A dowser named Edith Green said people in Richford have been nervous about the creature for a long time.
An older man mentioned that the creature has been seen often in the Gibou area for the past 25 years, even recently. Locals usually leave it alone, and it leaves them alone, with a few exceptions.
A resident of East Richford said the creature has been spotted recently around the Slide Road area. He mentioned you can often hear it before seeing it, making a strange, low screaming sound and the flapping of its large wings when it’s close.
Despite its scary appearance, the creature was never known to attack people; it seemed more like it was just watching. There’s one account mentioning it flying over Berkshire Field near Lost Nation Road and appearing to hold a baby or a small animal, although it’s more likely to have been an animal.
William DeFalco covers the story of The Awful
Possible Explanations for the Awful
Assuming the reports of the Awful are not just a hoax or an old wives tale what else could be going on here? It’s possible that soe type of rare, large bird is lurking in the wilds of Vermont and is only seen very rarely due to a lack of numbers. The Awful could simple have been a particularly large owl or Eagle.
If paranormal in origin, the Awful does bear a small resemblence to the Mothman of West Virginia. Perhaps it continues to lurk in the shadows, waiting to come our and warn residents of impending doom.
What do you think about the Awful? Tell us your theories in the comments.
If you enjoyed learning about the Awful you might also be interested in the Lechuza, a strange owl-like creature or the Prime Hook Swamp Monster.
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