The Diary

We are currently working to finish scanning in the diary but this is what we have as of now. The diary is copyright Joe Vaninetti, and cannot be used off site except by the S4 Database and Ground Zero. So if you wish to link to them please link to this page.

The Interview

Mr. Vaninetti was nice enough  to sit down with us and field questions from our visitors.  His answers, unabridged, are below.

Dear Mr. Hamilton

Sorry for the delay in responding to your questions. I wanted to take the time necessary to answer them in a way that will, hopefully, avoid any confusion.

Q: "With the tremendous opposition that Bob Lazar has had from researchers in UFOlogy, why have you now come forward and decided to release notes from your diary that coroborates Lazar's story?"

A: A brief review of my work history and my relationship with Bob is necessary to answer this question. I was employed with Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM) from 1979 until 1996. A security check was done on me and I was issued a Q clearance about 10 months after I hired on. (I was hired as a mechanical/electrical technician). When Bob started going public with his story about working at S4, I had worked at Los Alamos long enough to have a very good position that I didn't want to jeopardize. Also, Bob has a very strong outgoing personality and at first he liked the attention he received. I, on the other hand, was not very outgoing and I did not want to say or do anything that might divert some attention from Bob. In fact, I felt that I could not offer anything to Bob's story. He was the one who was there at S4, not me. I was just Bob's closest science minded friend. Later, when UFO researchers (I have a lot to say about UFO "researchers") started opposing Bob's story, Bob finally got fed up with the media, the negativity, and the poor research. His attitude was one of disregard rather than defiance. He couldn't care less if I or anyone else tried to corroborate his story. And I still had my Q clearance. After I terminated my employment with Los Alamos National Lab in 1996 and my Q clearance was taken away, I started thinking about the information contained in the diary I had kept. (The diary was really more like a record book at first, where I wrote things down that I didn't want to forget. Later it turned into a diary). I decided the information should be made available to legitimately interested people, but I didn't know anybody that I could contact that would be interested in the information rather than in how much money the information might net him. Chance would have it that I talked to Olav Phillips last year and he helped me to feel comfortable about getting this information out.

Q: What was your position at S4?

A: This question really bothers me, and it is the reason I took so long to answer these questions. You have made the decision in your mind from the little bit of information about me, mostly from my diary, that I worked at S4. It is questions or statements like this that generates disinformation and confusion. You don't ask "IF" I worked at S4, you already have jumped to the conclusion that I did. For the record, I never worked at S4 and I never said or implied that I ever did work at S4. My answer to your first question briefly explains my work history, which I will be happy to go into more detail about later. Please, do not make assumptions and then treat them as fact. If you (or anyone else for that matter) have questions, just ask. I will answer any reasonable questions honestly and in enough detail to avoid confusion.

Q: Do you have further information to impart concerning what the managers of these S4 projects are doing and where this is going?

A: I never worked at S4!

Q: We, in the skeptical UFO community, are still open minded enough to hear testimony, but many will want to have some means open to them to verify or authenticate sources of information. Does this bother you?

A: "To hear testimony"…it sounds like you (the skeptical UFO community) are the judge and jury and we (people with UFO related experiences) are the accused. In my case, all I can do is tell you the truth of what happened with regard to my involvement with Bob. Does it bother me if some of you need to verify or authenticate my diary, my story, or myself? Not at all. As I said before, I will answer any reasonable questions honestly and in enough detail to avoid confusion. What bothers me is poorly done research that distorts the truth.

Q: Let us know if you are going to come foreward and say more.

A: As I find time, I will write detailed explanations of each page of the diary so that things will make sense. I planned to do this before it was put out on the net, but Olav suggested just getting it out there and making sense of it later. I apologize for the confusion. Believe me, I do not like confusion. In the mean time, I will answer questions on the net as I have answered yours here. I feel that I should say don't place high expectations on me. I can corroborate Bob's story, and I can maybe explain some of the things Bob has said, but I cannot add any new and revolutionary information with regard to the UFO's or extraterrestrials.

I tried to answered your questions as truthfully and completely as possible for the time I had available. You may have noticed my skepticism of UFO researchers. I would be happy if both parties (the skeptical UFO community and the people with UFO related experiences) could get closer together in communicating the truth. A step in that direction might be by concentration on the "big picture", rather than each individual looking at what is in it for them.

- Joe Vaninetti