Whistlebloser Matthew Brown being interviewed by investigative journalists George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell
Whistlebloser Matthew Brown being interviewed by investigative journalists George Knapp and Jeremy CorbellYoutTube / Jeremy Corbell

The Modern UAP Movement Part III - Recent Witnesses and the Journalists Breaking the Story

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Tori Jane, TUO Reporter

New whistleblowers are coming forward with accounts of classified UAP programs — and paying a devastating price. Meanwhile, a small group of investigative journalists has stepped up to verify their claims and help them reach Congress.

Welcome to the final installment of our three-part series on the modern UAP movement (see part one and part two). In our previous articles, we examined the extraordinary developments leading up to the September 9th, 2025 congressional hearings — from anomalous objects captured on military footage to sworn testimonies from high-ranking officials describing craft displaying seemingly impossible characteristics: no visible propulsion systems, physics-defying velocities, and unprecedented maneuverability.

In this concluding chapter, we turn our attention to more recent witnesses and developments in the UAP disclosure movement. Their accounts not only corroborate earlier testimonies but reveal evolving patterns of secrecy, retaliation, and the ongoing struggle for institutional transparency.

Jake Barber and Skywatcher

Jake Barber is on a mission: to bring truth to light about phenomena he believes the public deserves to understand.

A former U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot with a distinguished military career, Barber's incredible experiences in the world of UAPs have positioned him at the center of the modern disclosure movement. His background includes service in Bosnia, NATO top-secret security clearance, and recruitment into the Air Force's elite Combat Control unit — credentials corroborated by multiple special operations veterans.

Barber came forward publicly in January 2025 through an exclusive interview with Ross Coulthart on NewsNation. According to his account, he participated in special missions to retrieve anomalous craft on numerous occasions. In one particularly striking instance, he recovered an egg-shaped object approximately the size of an SUV. While never explicitly told the object wasn't human-made, its design defied conventional understanding — no engine, no thermal signature, no discernible means of propulsion. Barber immediately recognized he was dealing with something extraordinary.

Twitter Post: NewsNation announces Jake Barber's UFO crash retrieval whistleblower interview

His claims are striking: he testifies to having retrieved craft of 'non-human origin' during his military service and witnessed phenomena that challenged his understanding of what should be technologically possible. More striking still, he alleges that these UAP weren't simply found — many were intentionally summoned by individuals the U.S. Government refers to as "psionics." Barber further claims he was contracted to transport mysterious cargo that he later discovered contained people — individuals with purported psychic abilities.

Unable to remain silent, Barber made public disclosure his mission. He founded Skywatcher, a private organization dedicated to advancing aerial intelligence and proving UAP reality through systematic observation and documentation.

Skywatcher operates as an air domain awareness system designed to detect UAP that allegedly evade conventional radar and tracking systems. Barber and his team — including colleagues on the board such as entrepreneur Alex Klokus, Special Tactics Airman Dan Flechsenhaar, Dr. Garry Nolan, Dr. Joseph Dinoto, Fred Baker, and Don Paul Bales — advocate tirelessly for transparency and whistleblower protections. Their goal: to end the era where servicemembers must fear career destruction for reporting unexplained encounters.

The organization has established a classification system identifying nine observed classes of UAP, with all but one (the egg-shaped object observed by Barber) documented across multiple incidents. As more witnesses come forward, this taxonomy may continue to evolve.

Michael Herrera: From Pariah to Legitimacy

Former U.S. Marine Michael Herrera understands the personal cost of whistleblowing all too well. After coming forward with his account, he faced skepticism, ridicule, and professional consequences — experiences he now shares openly to prepare others who might follow a similar path. Between 2023 and 2024, Herrera emerged in online UAP communities through claims made on podcasts, social media, and YouTube. Opinion was sharply divided: some found his testimony credible, while others dismissed it entirely.

Herrera's allegations are extraordinary. He claims to have sought congressional hearings for years regarding his experiences, only to be repeatedly stonewalled. Despite participating in SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) briefings where "non-human biologics" and intelligence were allegedly discussed, he found himself shut out whenever he attempted to report through official channels.

The centerpiece of his testimony is a 2009 incident that remains both incredible and corroborated. While deployed on an Indonesian relief operation following the 2009 earthquake, Herrera and his fellow Marines encountered what he described as a 300-foot octagonal craft hovering silently in the jungle. When they attempted to investigate, the entire team was detained by what appeared to be private military contractors — "men in black" who issued threats and enforced secrecy.

Twitter Post: NewsNation features Michael Herrera's Indonesia UAP encounter with Ross Coulthart

These operatives, described by Herrera as intimidating mercenaries, were guarding what he initially assumed to be weapons being loaded onto the craft. The reality proved far stranger: the containers held human beings.

This is where Herrera's testimony takes its most unusual turn. These individuals weren't ordinary civilians — they allegedly possessed demonstrable psychic abilities that might enable them to pilot or interact with these craft. According to Herrera, these people came willingly from third-world nations in exchange for improved living conditions. The government terminology for such individuals: "psionics" — not psychics, but functionally similar.

Remarkably, Herrera's account found unexpected corroboration from someone who didn't previously know him: Jake Barber. After years of ridicule, Herrera received validation when Barber confirmed key elements of what Herrera witnessed, providing crucial context based on his own experiences. According to Barber, the operation wasn't drug-related as some speculated — it was human trafficking of psionic individuals.

Despite following proper reporting procedures, Herrera faced ridicule and criticism from superiors. He watched as other servicemembers who attempted to whistleblow met similar fates — ostracized professionally, with the federal government taking no action even as decades-long careers were destroyed.

Exhausted by the professional and social backlash, Herrera recently posted a video advising potential whistleblowers to carefully consider their decision. The government already knows these things exist, he argues — why sacrifice your career when nothing changes?

This raises a troubling question: is he speaking from genuine exhaustion, or has he been pressured by the same forces that previously attempted to silence him? While we can't know for certain, his experience underscores the incredible personal cost of coming forward. The work whistleblowers like Herrera undertake requires extraordinary courage, and their willingness to speak truth despite the consequences remains vital to the broader disclosure effort.

Dylan Borland

Dylan Borland's story exemplifies the professional toll of UAP whistleblowing. A former 1N1 geospatial intelligence specialist for the U.S. Air Force (2010-2013), Borland brought extensive expertise in analyzing video, radar, and advanced electro-optical imagery — skills he described as involving "official identification of aerial order of battle as well as naval and ground."

He has provided testimony to both AARO and the Intelligence Community Inspector General regarding "Direct firsthand knowledge of and experience with craft and technologies (commonly known as UFO or UAP) that are not ours and that are reportedly operating without Congressional oversight."

Borland appeared at the September 9th, 2025 Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection hearing, where he delivered compelling testimony about his experiences.

Twitter Post: Dylan Borland's congressional testimony on UAP retaliation

His watershed moment came in 2012 at Langley Air Force Base. According to his testimony, he witnessed "an approximately 100-foot-long equilateral triangle fly from near the NASA hangar on base and come within one hundred feet of where I was standing. This craft interfered with my telephone, did not have any sound, and the material it was made of appeared fluid or dynamic. I was under this triangular craft for a few minutes, and then it rapidly ascended to commercial jet level in seconds. It displayed zero kinetic disturbance, sound, or wind displacement."

Years later, through his position within Special Access Programs, Borland gained exposure to classified information about what he describes as "UAP retrieval programs" — knowledge that would fundamentally alter his career trajectory.

By 2023, after experiencing work denial, forged documents, workplace harassment, and systematic attempts to silence him, Borland made a decisive choice: he would blow the whistle regardless of consequences. He testified before AARO, reported to the Inspector General, and supported other whistleblowers facing similar retaliation.

The cost has been severe. Borland claims he has faced obstruction and reprisals from government agencies for over a decade. Now unemployed and professionally blacklisted, he has expressed ambivalence about whether whistleblowing achieves meaningful change when the government seemingly chooses inaction despite possessing the knowledge he's fought to reveal.

Yet his testimony remains crucial. In an era when truth and transparency face systematic suppression, whistleblowers like Borland represent the conscience of institutions that might otherwise operate entirely in shadow. Their courage — despite the personal cost — makes accountability possible.

Matthew Brown

Matthew Brown never intended to become a whistleblower. His journey into public disclosure emerged organically from his long career in high-level government operations — work that granted him access to classified documents and information most would never encounter. During this service, he discovered something that seemed almost too incredible to be real: Immaculate Constellation, a project dedicated to tracking highly advanced craft of "human and non-human origin."

What followed was a descent into a world where conventional explanations failed — phenomena that defied experience, logic, and established physics. In late 2024, Brown compiled his findings into an eleven-page document submitted to Congress: the Immaculate Constellation Report. This groundbreaking paper synthesized years of investigation, drawing from restricted files, eyewitness accounts, sensor data, and classified imagery.

The report's implications are profound. Brown alleges that UAP programs are being actively shielded from oversight and covered up, with secrecy itself functioning as "a form of control." The document describes data stored on air-gapped servers, advanced surveillance technologies capturing evidence of these phenomena, and the systematic burial of information that might otherwise inform public understanding and congressional oversight.

Perhaps most significantly, Brown claims the Pentagon operates a program that systematically collects UAP imagery and data from all military branches. The objects under observation sometimes display signs of intelligent control and demonstrate a troubling pattern: apparent attraction to — or fascination with — nuclear weapons sites.

Brown elaborated on his findings in a three-part interview series on the WEAPONIZED podcast with Jeremy Corbell. The full interview is worth experiencing in its entirety — many of the claims challenge conventional understanding of what our government knows and how that knowledge is managed.

YouTube Video: Matthew Brown reveals the Immaculate Constellation report on WEAPONIZED

Brown's decision to go public came at enormous personal cost. He described giving up the future he'd built and acknowledging that there may no longer be room in government service for those who prioritize conscience and constitutional ideals over institutional secrecy. Yet he chose transparency, joining the growing ranks of officials who believe the public deserves to know the full scope of what their government has discovered.

Investigative Journalism: The Bridge Between Witnesses and Public Disclosure

While the modern UAP movement owes much to courageous whistleblowers, it equally depends on dedicated investigative journalists who've risked professional credibility to pursue this subject seriously. These reporters have served as essential bridges between classified information, credible witnesses, and public awareness — often facing ridicule and marginalization for their efforts.

George Knapp, an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist, has reported on UAP since 1987 and broke the Bob Lazar story about alleged reverse-engineering programs at Area 51. His decades-long relationship with the late Senator Harry Reid helped catalyze congressional interest in UAP research. Jeremy Corbell, a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist, has released multiple pieces of UAP footage and been acknowledged as essential in organizing whistleblowers for congressional hearings. Together, Knapp and Corbell co-host the WEAPONIZED podcast, featuring exclusive interviews with government insiders. Ross Coulthart, an Australian investigative journalist and author of "In Plain Sight," continues this work as NewsNation's special correspondent, with documentary work reaching over ten million viewers globally.

These journalists don't simply report claims — they verify sources, authenticate footage, facilitate congressional testimony, and maintain networks of credible insiders willing to share information. Their work has been instrumental in the shift from fringe conspiracy theory to legitimate congressional inquiry.

Yet mainstream media remains largely skeptical. A recent Wall Street Journal article titled "Pentagon Fueled UFO Mythology, Then Tried Coverup" exemplifies this approach. While acknowledging that some Pentagon disinformation campaigns did fuel UFO stories, the article's framing suggests most UAP reports can be explained as misidentified conventional technology or deliberate military deception. This narrative, however, glosses over the substantial body of evidence presented in congressional testimony — multi-sensor data, credible military witnesses, and objects displaying performance characteristics beyond known human technology.

The tension highlights a fundamental challenge: how should media report on phenomena that challenge established understanding while maintaining journalistic rigor? Investigative UAP journalists argue that dismissing credible testimony and authenticated evidence is itself a failure of journalism. Meanwhile, mainstream outlets often approach the subject with heavy caveats and emphasis on prosaic explanations, even when those explanations don't account for all reported facts.

As the congressional process continues and more evidence emerges, the question becomes whether mainstream media will seriously engage with the substantive evidence, or continue framing the entire subject through the lens of historical hoaxes and misidentifications. The work of dedicated investigative journalists suggests the former approach is long overdue — but whether their mainstream colleagues will follow remains an open question.