John Herrington
PersonGovernment OfficialJohn Herrington
PersonGovernment OfficialJohn S. Herrington was Reagan's Secretary of Energy; a producer says he confided in 1981 that aliens were real, a story Herrington calls "total BS."
John S. Herrington was Reagan's Secretary of Energy; a producer says he confided in 1981 that aliens were real, a story Herrington calls "total BS."
John S. Herrington is an American lawyer and former Reagan administration official who served as Secretary of Energy from 1985 to 1989. He entered UFO history decades later, when Hollywood producer Brent Friedman said Herrington had confided in 1981 that he had been briefed on aliens. Herrington has flatly denied the story.
Born in Los Angeles in 1939, Herrington graduated from Stanford in 1961 and earned his law degree at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in 1964. He served as a Marine Corps officer, worked as a deputy district attorney in Ventura County, and practiced law privately until 1981. He joined the Reagan White House that year as director of presidential personnel, served as assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs from October 1981 to 1983, and returned to run White House personnel before Reagan named him Secretary of Energy. He led the Department of Energy, which oversees the nation's nuclear-weapons laboratories, from February 1985 to January 1989.
After leaving office he chaired the publisher Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, helped found the board of the Reagan Presidential Library, and served as chairman of the California Republican Party from 1995 to 1997.
Friedman's account went viral in March 2026 through a podcast he co-hosts with producer Bryce Zabel. Friedman says that in the summer of 1981, as an 18-year-old neighbor, he drove Herrington's car, belongings, and dog across the country, and that at a dinner afterward Herrington said he had been briefed on aliens, had spent time in an underground facility, cried after the briefings, and would deny it if Friedman used his name. Zabel says Friedman told him the story privately in 1994, and that former intelligence officer David Grusch later sought help reaching Herrington. Researchers noted that in the summer of 1981 Herrington was still a White House personnel official, not yet at the Navy.
Herrington called the story "total BS" when journalist Ben Schreckinger reached him in late 2025. In an October 2026 interview with Jesse Michels, he confirmed that Friedman had driven his car and dog east but denied any briefing or disclosure, said he found no Energy Department program that gave him UFO knowledge, and suggested any unexplained objects might come from the ocean floor rather than another planet. Friedman responded that he would repeat his account under oath. Herrington's significance in the UAP record is as a senior Cold War official at the center of a secondhand disclosure claim that he rejects and that no document has corroborated.
Kirkpatrick Fires Back at Stratton’s UFO Cover-Up Claims
David Grusch on JRE, Herrington Denial, RFK Shoot Down Briefing & QnA - UAP Gerb Live
🚨 Jesse Michels Drops UFO Bombshell ***This is the John Herrington & Brent Friedman story. During my research I found some things worth noting... 👉 https://t.co/vZ7mRUCobH
Jesse Michels Drops UFO Bombshell
We agree with this overview, and encourage people to watch and judge for themselves. https://t.co/T1Lm9c3RAX https://t.co/aUC12VJOAv [Quoted] This issue is more than "He Said, He Said," even though it clearly is a dispute where both sides can't be a little bit right. One of them is not telling the truth. https://t.co/EjmI222uq8 Brent Friedman says he was a neighbor of former Secretary of Energy John Herrington and that, as an 18-year-old, he was asked to drive Herrington's cars (plus his pet)...
[Retweeted] This issue is more than "He Said, He Said," even though it clearly is a dispute where both sides can't be a little bit right. One of them is not telling the truth. https://t.co/EjmI222uq8 Brent Friedman says he was a neighbor of former Secretary of Energy John Herrington and that, as an 18-year-old, he was asked to drive Herrington's cars (plus his pet) across the country after he'd taken a job in the Reagan Administration. Friedman says that Herrington told him (in the summer of...
[Retweeted] "That kind of propulsion is not within our capability, and it's not within the capability of any country that I know of." ~Herrington on UAP What might make Herrington cry himself to sleep? ⬇️ "I'm a practicing Christian. I believe strongly...that God created the earth and everything in it. If we have people coming from other planets (laughs), it puts a hole in my beliefs (laughs) a little bit." ~JH ~ John Herrington: "I did not, during the time I was there, come across anything i...
Look, straight up, John Herrington has turned this into a zero sum game. Either he's lying or Brent Friedman is. We urge you to watch this and make your own call. It's important, given that Dave Grusch wants Herrington to testify to Congress. https://t.co/T1Lm9c3RAX https://t.co/9saleNRQoX
[Retweeted] Secretary of Energy John Herrington admits to speaking with whistleblower David Grusch about UFOs 👇 https://t.co/amoG0bsiMp
[Retweeted] "That kind of propulsion is not within our capability, and it's not within the capability of any country that I know of." ~Herrington on UAP What might make Herrington cry himself to sleep? ⬇️ "I'm a practicing Christian. I believe strongly...that God created the earth and everything in it. If we have people coming from other planets (laughs), it puts a hole in my beliefs (laughs) a little bit." ~JH ~ John Herrington: "I did not, during the time I was there, come across anything i...
