The Red Thread Files ◀ All entries Open the case room
Historical Incidents & Events

Project Palladium

1960

A declassified CIA/NSA electronic-deception program (from 1960) that made phantom aircraft appear on Soviet radar. Against the Soviet Tall King radar near Cuba, operators injected false returns while a submarine released balloons carrying radar-reflective spheres of varying sizes to gauge the radar sensitivity - producing water disturbances in the process. Cited by insiders (Barnes, Poteat) as a conventional-explanation precedent for the Tic Tac radar behavior, water disturbance, and sphere-in-cube shape.

Explore Project Palladium in the live connections board → Open the case file

Connections (4)

confirmedGene Poteat
the CIA electronic-warfare officer who ran the program
Source: The War Zone, Area 51 Veteran & CIA EW Pioneer on Navy UFO Encounters (2019); CIA reading-room, Stealth/Countermeasures/ELINT 1960-75
reportedTD Barnes
claims Palladium-style radar spoofing is the likely conventional explanation for the Tic Tac events
Source: The War Zone, Area 51 Veteran & CIA EW Pioneer on Navy UFO Encounters (2019); CIA reading-room, Stealth/Countermeasures/ELINT 1960-75
reportedDavid Fravor
referenced by insiders as a conventional-explanation precedent for the 2004 Tic Tac encounter Fravor reported
Source: The War Zone, Area 51 Veteran & CIA EW Pioneer on Navy UFO Encounters (2019); CIA reading-room, Stealth/Countermeasures/ELINT 1960-75
reportedRyan Graves
referenced as a precedent for the sphere-in-cube radar returns Graves described after a radar upgrade
Source: The War Zone, Area 51 Veteran & CIA EW Pioneer on Navy UFO Encounters (2019); CIA reading-room, Stealth/Countermeasures/ELINT 1960-75
Part of The Red Thread Files — an independent, evidence-first investigation into the UAP, USO, and consciousness question. Confidence labels (confirmed / reported / disputed) are an automated approximation based on the wording and directness of each source, not a verdict. Corrections: sddgfeedback@gmail.com.