John Blitch
PersonMilitaryJohn Blitch
PersonMilitaryJohn Blitch is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and rescue-robotics pioneer who has described alleged abduction experiences and publicly backed UAP whistleblower Jake Barber.
John Blitch is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and rescue-robotics pioneer who has described alleged abduction experiences and publicly backed UAP whistleblower Jake Barber.
John G. Blitch is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, former Green Beret and cognitive psychologist best known outside UFO circles for directing rescue robots at the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks. Since early 2025 he has become a recurring voice in UAP media, both as a supporter of whistleblower Jake Barber and as someone who says he has had encounters with non-human beings himself.
Blitch graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1981 with a degree in civil and environmental engineering. His Society for Neuroscience profile lists five tactical command tours spanning nuclear artillery, special operations and hostage rescue, followed by work as an operations research analyst at U.S. Special Operations Command. He earned a master's degree in mathematics and computer science from the Colorado School of Mines in 1996 and became a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where, by his own account, he helped shape the agency's first mobile-robot programs before retiring from DARPA in 2002.
As founding director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, Blitch organized what the neuroscience society describes as the world's first robot-assisted humanitarian response, sending small robots into the rubble at Ground Zero in September 2001. The Association for Computing Machinery honored him with its Lawler Award, and in 2006 he was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame for transferring mobile-robotics technology between the Defense Department and NASA. He later founded a consulting firm and nonprofits, one of which responded to Hurricane Katrina, completed a PhD in cognitive psychology at Colorado State University in 2014, and worked as a senior research scientist with the Air Force's 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
His UAP profile rose with the January 2025 NewsNation reporting on Barber's crash-retrieval claims, when he told Ross Coulthart on Reality Check that he believed Barber and discussed his own experience with anomalous activity. In a March 2025 interview with Jesse Michels, Blitch recounted episodes of missing time and bruising and what he described as an encounter with a mantis-like non-human entity, which the episode presented as having reshaped his views on the soul and the afterlife. He presents these accounts as personal testimony; they have not been independently documented.
In 2026 Blitch has focused on the abduction experience and its psychological effects. He returned to the Psicoactivo Podcast in August to discuss abductions, mixed official messaging to whistleblowers and experiencers, and the risks of artificial intelligence, and he was billed among the speakers at the Beyond Institute's October 1 UAP event in Stockholm. His website promotes Killer Rescue Robot kNOT, a book on his robotics career, and announces a forthcoming book on abduction drawing on accounts from service members cleared under the military's nuclear Personnel Reliability Program. He brings to that work a documented career in military robotics and cognitive science, which has made his personal testimony unusually prominent in the experiencer debate.
John Blitch is a cognitive scientist, experiencer, retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, and former DARPA program manager. He joins Yvonne Smith, Sarah Gamm, and Alan Steinfeld to explore the experiencer dimension of the phenomenon. UAPCon
🎧 Now on the podcast: Remembering Mario Woods, 1955-2026 "I have nothing to hide and I have nothing to gain." Air Force veteran and UAP whistleblower Mario Woods told us that in 2023. His daughter Lexie Woods and Dr. John Blitch joined us to remember him. ↓ Listen below https://t.co/JAM2MGGN3g
Today (Sunday, October 25, 1PM PT): Remembering Mario Woods, the Air Force veteran and UAP whistleblower, with his daughter Lexie Woods and Dr. John Blitch
Mario Woods passed away on October 16, at 71. The Air Force veteran took his story to the Pentagon's UAP office, to History's Unidentified, and to podcasts around the world, and in 2023 he told it on our show. Today his daughter, Lexie Woods, and Dr. John Blitch join us live to remember him, followed by Mario's 2023 interview, in his own words. 🔴 Join us LIVE - Sunday, October 25 at 1:00 PM PT
In 1977, Air Force veteran Mario Woods and his partner were sent to check an alarm at a nuclear missile site. Mario said they found a huge spherical object sitting on top of it. He described seeing four beings, three small and one tall, outside a window before he passed out, and he later went through hypnosis to recall the missing time. Mario passed away on October 16, at 71. Today his daughter, Lexie Woods, and Dr. John Blitch join us live to remember him, and then we replay his 2023 intervi...
Air Force veteran and UAP whistleblower Mario Woods passed away on October 16, at 71. Today his daughter, Lexie Woods, and Dr. John Blitch join us live to remember him. Then we replay his 2023 interview, in his own words. 🔴 Join us LIVE - Sunday, October 25 at 1:00 PM PT
Mario Woods passed away on October 16, at 71. He took his story to History's Unidentified, to the Pentagon's UAP office, and to podcasts around the world, and in 2023 he told it on our show. Today his daughter, Lexie Woods, and Dr. John Blitch join us live to remember him, and then we replay that 2023 interview, in his own words. 🔴 Join us LIVE - Sunday, October 25 at 1:00 PM PT
Remembering Mario Woods, 1955-2026 "I have nothing to hide and I have nothing to gain." Air Force veteran and UAP whistleblower Mario Woods told us that in 2023. He took his story to History's Unidentified, to the Pentagon's UAP office, and to podcasts around the world. He passed away on October 16, at 71. This Sunday, his daughter Lexie Woods and Dr. John Blitch join us LIVE to remember him. Then we replay his 2023 interview, in his own words. ↓ Link below
Mario Woods Tribute: His Daughter on the Airman Who Never Backed Down
On October 1, something unique is happening in Stockholm. Beyond Institute is bringing together international whistleblowers, researchers, military personnel, legal experts, and investigators for an evening dedicated to one of the most widely debated questions of our time: UAP -- Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (formerly known as “UFOs”). On stage, you will meet Jake Barber, Dylan Borland, Jonathan Caplan KC, John Blitch, Jeff Nuccetelli, Marik von Rennenkampff, Beatriz Villarroel, and Jesse...
