In the early 90's Ben Rich gave a presentation to a number of UCLA alumni. One of the alleged comments from that presentation is...

"We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity.... Anything you can imagine, we already know how to do."

I've heard that the lecture was video taped, but have been unable to find the video online. Can anyone confirm the lecture was taped, or provide the video itself? Thanks.

here Here...this video I want to see also.....that statement my Ben Rich is a bomb waiting to blow...if its real...

I'd always heard he'd said it 'on his death bed'... which I took to mean as he was close to dieing.

That comment that Rich made was at his retirement speech in 1993 (I think that was the year). As for the veracity of the speech...... the retiring Vice President of one of the world's largest aerospace companies doesn't come out and make "crazy" statements without there being any truth behind them. He's not stupid and he knows the implications of what he says. Regardless of what his health is like or not (he died 5 years later), he knows the potentially explosive nature of the comments that he made.

Basically what he's said is that we have the capability for interstellar travel now, but the military-industrial complex, of which he was a part, have tied it up so tight in secrecy (or did till then), that we'll never get the benefit of it. They're keeping it for themselves.

Power and Money.

Quite frankly it will take an "Act of God" to pry it loose from them. It'll take a government of integrity and honesty to put the screws on the M-I and make them release what they've got. The really crazy thing is if they did release it so everyone would benefit from it, with all the world's scientists working on it, their original drive systems would improve out of sight in a very short time.

Eisenhower warned the people that something like this would happen, back in 1961. That the M-I would become so powerful that they'd be able to do whatever they wanted, without proper oversight or scrutiny. Hell, with all the major intelligence services, sections of the armed forces and big business involved.....plus co-opted pollies, how could they lose. Even if the President wanted to change things, he'd be given the run around and thwarted at every turn. In reality it'd take a vote of Congress and some very robust legislation to get the ball rolling. Or a very emphatic executive order from the President......and only then if he was aware of the situation.

Since I don't know any firsthand witnesses to the event the only way for me to know for a fact that it was said is to see a tape. That's the reason I'm searching. I don't doubt the public is in the dark on a wide number of topics.

You won't get to see the tape. It'd be only done for the event and probably only one made. It's more than likely in the Rich family's possession. So the only thing you're ever going to have to go on is what was reported to have been said at the function.

I hope you can get a copy of the video off the guy......it would be interesting to see.

I like how Rich was described as the "Head Skunk"

"The Big Stinker"

well i contacted UCLA but they apparently dont have a video recording of the presentation. unless someone in the general public has a video there isn't a way to absolutely confirm what he said. i suppose some people will accept second-hand information, but seeing really is believing.

Yeah. We need to keep trying. It would be amazingo to view this tape. I'll try and see what I can dig up on it as well.

Heres a thought. If we can find anyone who was or knows someone who attended that lecture. I'm sure some of them took voice recorders or something with them (I mean thats what you do at lectures) Perhaps that would be a viable option?

GhostITM is right on the money here....

As is his interpretation of the comments (imho)....

Does anyone have more info about this? Has the lecture video been found?

I once asked a former colleague of Ben Rich about some of Ben's comments and anecdotes. The man (who had served as a high-level Lockheed flight-test manager at the Skunk Works and worked on a number of black programs at Area 51) said that, "Ben tended to fire for effect rather than accuracy." He implied that Ben's stories were often embellished.

These alledged coments by Mr Rich have long been a touchstone of mine. In a legend full of 'white noise', Mr Rich's claims (assuming they were actually made) have always intrigued and encouraged perseverance.

Even if the comments were seriously sexed up (in terms of the then state of the art in black science or it's projected capabilities), it still feels like he was frustrated by secrecy. From what I understand of the man, Secrecy regarding weapons systems would be no problem to him, however secrecy regarding science that could benefit the planet (not just human kind) would likely be a problem and may have caused him to speak out.

my two cents... I wish there was a way to verify that these comments were made