If you’ve spent any time digging into the rabbit hole of UFOs—or UAPs, as the government likes to call them now—you’ve definitely run into the name Steven Greer. He's a polarizing guy. Some people see him as a literal hero trying to save humanity from a secret "cabal," while others think he’s just a master of high-priced desert camping trips.
But here’s the thing.
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You can’t talk about the history of the disclosure movement without him. Long before the New York Times wrote that bombshell 2017 article about the Pentagon’s secret saucer program, Steven Greer was standing on a stage at the National Press Club in 2001. He had two dozen former military and government officials behind him. They were all ready to swear under oath that aliens are real.
It was a huge moment. Then, 9/11 happened a few months later, and the world stopped caring about little green men for a long time.
Who is Steven Greer, anyway?
Let’s look at the basics. Before he became the face of the "Disclosure Project," Steven Greer was an emergency room physician. He had a real career. He wasn't just some guy in a basement with a tinfoil hat. He was the chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in North Carolina.
He gave that up. Why? Because he claims he had a series of profound experiences that convinced him the public was being lied to about extraterrestrial technology. He started CSETI—the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence—back in 1990.
He basically created a new framework for how we interact with these things. Instead of SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which listens for radio signals from light-years away, Greer focused on "Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind" (CE-5). That’s the idea that humans can actually initiate contact through meditation and consciousness.
It sounds out there. Honestly, to a lot of scientists, it sounds like complete nonsense. But thousands of people pay to go into the desert with him to try it. They claim they see lights in the sky that respond to their thoughts. Whether that’s satellites, flares, or actual craft is the eternal debate.
The 2001 Disclosure Project and the "Secret Government"
The 2001 event was his peak "mainstream" moment. He brought out guys like John Callahan, a former FAA division chief, who talked about a massive UFO tracked on radar over Alaska. He had military pilots and radar controllers.
The core of Greer’s argument isn't just "aliens exist." It’s much more political. He argues that we’ve already mastered "zero-point energy" or "anti-gravity" by back-engineering crashed alien ships.
He believes a "shadow government" or "unacknowledged special access programs" (USAPs) have kept this tech hidden for 70 years. Why? To keep the oil and gas industry alive. If everyone had a small box in their basement providing free energy from the vacuum of space, the global economy would collapse overnight. Or at least, that’s the theory.
It's a heavy claim. It moves the UFO conversation from "science fiction" to "global conspiracy."
The Split in the UFO Community
If you follow the current news—the David Grusch hearings, the stuff coming out of Congress—you’ll notice something interesting. They don't really mention Steven Greer.
There is a massive divide now.
On one side, you have the "New Guard." This is Lou Elizondo, Chris Mellon, and the folks who worked with To The Stars Academy. They are very "pro-military." They frame UFOs as a "threat" or a "national security issue." This framing is likely why they’ve been able to get Congress to pass new laws.
Steven Greer hates this. He’s been very vocal about his distaste for the "threat narrative."
He thinks the government is setting us up for a "False Flag" operation. Basically, he worries they will use secret human-made craft to stage an alien "attack" to justify a massive space-weapons budget. It’s a bit like Watchmen or Independence Day, but played out in real-life policy.
Greer’s stance is that the visitors are peaceful. He calls them "Interstellar Civilizations" and thinks they are waiting for us to stop being so violent before they officially say hello.
Does CE-5 actually work?
You've probably seen the apps. There’s a CE-5 contact app that costs about ten bucks. It gives you a set of protocols: meditation, "coherent thought," and using lasers or tones to signal the sky.
Critics say this is just "flares and satellites." There have been some pretty embarrassing moments where people claimed to see UFOs at Greer’s events that turned out to be flares dropped by planes.
But then there are the people who have done it alone, without Greer, and had weird things happen. It’s a very subjective experience. It’s hard to prove in a lab, but for the people who experience it, it’s life-changing.
The Money and the Documentaries
Greer is a filmmaker too. Sirius, Unacknowledged, and The Underground are all over streaming platforms. They are slick. They use high production values and intense music.
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They also lean heavily into the "whistleblower" testimonies. He’s gathered hundreds of hours of footage from people who worked at places like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and the NSA.
Some of these witnesses are incredibly credible. Others... well, they’re harder to verify.
And then there's the money. Greer charges a lot for his "Ambassador to the Universe" training sessions. Some people find this incredibly sketchy. If you’re trying to save the world with free energy, why are you charging $3,000 for a week in the desert?
His supporters say he needs the money to fund his research and films because he doesn't have corporate backing. His detractors call it a cult of personality.
Why we should still pay attention to Steven Greer
Despite the controversies, Steven Greer did something important. He forced the conversation into the public eye when it was still a joke. He collected documents that would have otherwise been shredded.
He has consistently named specific locations—like the "Manzano Base" or specific "Special Access Programs"—that other investigators are now looking into.
Even if you don't believe the "peaceful alien brothers" stuff, his work on the secrecy of the military-industrial complex is grounded in some very real, documented history. We know the government lied about MKUltra. We know they lied about Tuskegee. Is it really that big of a leap to think they’d lie about advanced propulsion systems?
What most people get wrong about him
People often think Greer is just a "UFO guy." He’s actually more of a "New Energy" guy.
He’s spent decades looking for a "plug-in" device that can prove over-unity (producing more energy than it takes in). He’s had several inventors come forward, though none have successfully brought a product to market. He claims these inventors are routinely threatened or killed.
It’s a dark way to look at the world. But it explains his urgency. To Greer, this isn't about seeing lights in the sky; it’s about stopping climate change and ending poverty through technology that he believes is being illegally suppressed.
Realizing the scope of the claims
When you listen to a Steven Greer presentation, you have to be prepared for a massive amount of information. He talks fast. He uses a lot of acronyms.
He recently held another "Grit" event in 2023 and 2024, bringing forward new whistleblowers like Eric Hecker, who talked about advanced tech at the South Pole station.
The evidence is always "just about to break." That’s the frustration with the disclosure movement in general. It’s always "next month" or "next year."
The Complexity of Truth
Is everything Steven Greer says 100% accurate? Probably not. Even he admits that some of the people who come to him might be plants or disinformation agents.
But is he onto something? Probably.
The fact that the U.S. government has now admitted they have "off-world" or "non-human" craft (as implied by the language in recent Senate bills) vindicates a lot of what Greer has been shouting about since the 90s.
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He was the "crazy guy" for thirty years. Now, he’s just one of many voices in a very crowded, very strange field.
Actionable insights for the curious
If you’re interested in Steven Greer’s work but don't know where to start, or if you’re skeptical, here is how you should actually approach it:
- Watch "Unacknowledged" first. It’s probably his most coherent argument regarding the history of the secrecy. It lays out the "why" better than his other films.
- Verify the witnesses. Don't take Greer's word for it. Look up the names of the people he interviews. Search for their military records or their FAA careers. Many of them are exactly who they say they are.
- Read the 1997 Briefing Document. Greer wrote a massive briefing for the Clinton administration. It’s available online. It’s a fascinating look at what he was telling the government decades ago.
- Try the CE-5 protocols for free. You don't actually need to buy the app or go to a retreat. The basic instructions—meditation, visualization of your location in the solar system, and an invitation for contact—are available in plenty of YouTube videos and forum posts.
- Maintain a "Middle Way" mindset. You don't have to join the "Greer is a Savior" camp or the "Greer is a Fraud" camp. You can acknowledge that he has done great work in bringing witnesses forward while still being skeptical of his more "woo-woo" or conspiratorial claims.
The UFO topic is messy. It’s full of ego, secrets, and half-truths. Steven Greer is right in the middle of that mess. Whether he’s the one who finally breaks the seal on the secret or just another footnote in the history of the "Great Cover-up" remains to be seen.
But for now, he’s not going anywhere. He’s still holding press conferences, still making movies, and still telling anyone who will listen that we are not alone.
If you want to understand why the government is suddenly talking about UAPs, you have to understand the pressure that people like Greer have been putting on the system for over thirty years. He paved the road that others are now driving on. Just keep your eyes on the road and maybe your hands on your wallet.
The truth is out there, but it usually comes with a price tag.