What REALLY Happened to Skywatcher? The Story Doesn't Add Up

• Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Rio3IMsU0
• Channel: UAP Files Podcast, @UAPFilesPodcast
• Published: 2026-08-12
• Duration: 16:18
• Description: Video essay reviewing Skywatcher's public promises, subsequent silence, James Fowler's departure, comments from a former psionic participant identified as John, Sean Kirkpatrick's account of meeting the team, Eric Burlison's description of a reportedly successful UAP-attraction event, and the host's flight-tracking inference involving Van Horn, Texas.
• Extraction: Complete timestamped English auto-caption transcript via /code/scripts/youtube_transcript.py, captured 2026-08-12
• Fidelity note: The caption text is preserved as supplied by YouTube. It contains apparent transcription errors in names and terminology. Consult the video before quoting a name or technical term.
• Analysis: ../../sources/barber-noc-retrieval-claims and ../../sources/fowler-skywatcher-technologist

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[00:00:00.000] Over the next 12 months, we should be
[00:00:01.640] able to answer the following questions.
[00:00:04.120] What UFOs look like, who pilots them,
[00:00:06.800] and where they come from.
[00:00:08.640] That's the claim that was made by Jake
[00:00:10.400] Barber back in January 2025.
[00:00:12.640] >> There's a real message here from you of
[00:00:14.280] incredible optimism about what this
[00:00:16.040] could represent.
[00:00:16.880] >> Yeah, this is why I know disclosure's
[00:00:18.440] coming, and guess what? It's going to
[00:00:19.640] come out in the most beautiful way.
[00:00:21.615] >> [music]
[00:00:21.960] >> I believe the United States government
[00:00:24.440] in the next 12 months is going to use me
[00:00:26.800] and my team as a peaceful
[00:00:30.000] non-judgmental path forward
[00:00:33.080] to disclosure. [music]
[00:00:34.840] They're going to help us
[00:00:37.080] conduct our operations
[00:00:40.680] and gather evidence
[00:00:42.720] in order to present this subject matter
[00:00:45.240] to the public
[00:00:46.760] so that these [music] questions can be
[00:00:48.520] answered once and for all. And all the
[00:00:50.280] questions. I'm talking about what do the
[00:00:52.480] craft look like, how do they operate,
[00:00:54.800] who is operating them, how are they
[00:00:56.680] being operated, and where are they
[00:00:58.440] coming from. We should be able to answer
[00:01:00.320] those questions
[00:01:01.840] probably entirely in the next 12 months.
[00:01:05.040] >> Where is Sky Watcher now? They have
[00:01:07.160] disappeared for all intents and
[00:01:08.440] purposes. Now, there's some explosive
[00:01:10.280] claims about Sky Watcher being
[00:01:11.960] integrated into the US government. So,
[00:01:14.120] today we're going to get into that. And
[00:01:15.920] spoiler alert, I tracked the Sky Watcher
[00:01:17.880] helicopter.
[00:01:19.910] >> [music]
[00:01:28.425] [music]
[00:01:33.800] >> Sky Watcher created their YouTube
[00:01:35.440] channel on the 18th of January 2025,
[00:01:38.080] just 1 week before Jake Barber's
[00:01:39.920] NewsNation appearance where they made
[00:01:41.720] bold claims of disclosure within 12
[00:01:44.240] months. Their YouTube channel put out
[00:01:46.320] incredible cinematic videos, and it was
[00:01:48.600] clear they had investment, they had
[00:01:50.520] land, they had helicopters, and
[00:01:52.560] apparently credibility and credentials.
[00:01:55.360] Alex Cloacus, a financier, tech
[00:01:57.280] entrepreneur, and founder who was so
[00:01:59.280] involved in the leadership of the group
[00:02:00.960] that he personally registered the
[00:02:02.280] Skywatcher.ai domain in his name in
[00:02:04.800] December 2024, just a month before
[00:02:07.160] Skywatcher launched their YouTube
[00:02:08.759] efforts and Jake Barber appeared on
[00:02:10.320] NewsNation making big claims. But after
[00:02:13.080] two exciting parts of their supposedly
[00:02:15.120] multi-part series of encouraging and
[00:02:17.440] exciting YouTube videos and over 120,000
[00:02:20.800] subscribers to their channel, they go
[00:02:22.840] dark.
[00:02:25.040] No disclosure, no explanation on the
[00:02:27.480] origins of the craft or recovery of a
[00:02:29.440] craft as it was suggested, just rumor.
[00:02:32.800] And importantly, no formal explanation
[00:02:34.920] to any of us, people like me who had
[00:02:36.959] helped promote them, who was excited
[00:02:39.440] over what could come of them. I made
[00:02:41.600] videos, I wrote articles in defense of
[00:02:43.640] them asking people to give them the
[00:02:45.240] benefit of the doubt and support them
[00:02:47.200] until evidence points to the lack of
[00:02:49.680] trust. At that point, there wasn't. We
[00:02:52.160] were excited, let's give them the
[00:02:53.880] benefit of the doubt. Then, they
[00:02:56.080] disappeared. They ghosted us.
[00:02:58.800] We did have hints of what might be
[00:03:00.320] happening. First, from James Fowler.
[00:03:02.920] James Fowler posted on Twitter on the
[00:03:04.959] 18th of August 2025 that he had the
[00:03:07.200] opportunity to serve as founder and
[00:03:09.200] consultant to Skywatcher, where he led
[00:03:11.200] field operations supporting the mission
[00:03:12.760] of exploring UAP and advancing their
[00:03:15.120] domain awareness. He said, "I'm stepping
[00:03:17.360] away from active involvement with
[00:03:19.080] Skywatcher with my contributions now
[00:03:21.239] limited to my foundational work. I am
[00:03:23.880] excited to focus on new ventures in
[00:03:26.720] aerial intelligence dedicated to
[00:03:28.880] building innovative technology to
[00:03:30.760] address complex challenges in this
[00:03:32.400] field." He said, "I remain proud of my
[00:03:34.920] foundational contributions at Skywatcher
[00:03:37.480] and wish the team continues success in
[00:03:39.600] the future endeavors." And he's copied
[00:03:41.480] in Skywatcher HQ, Jake Barber, and
[00:03:44.120] Professor Gary Nolan. And Skywatcher's
[00:03:46.239] official X account reposted this message
[00:03:49.040] saying, "The Skywatcher team is excited
[00:03:51.320] to congratulate James Fowler on his new
[00:03:53.280] venture contracting with the US
[00:03:55.720] government and we sincerely thank him
[00:03:57.720] for his contributions to Skywatcher. He
[00:03:59.840] has played a key role in all of our
[00:04:01.720] field operations and in the data we have
[00:04:03.880] collected to date. So you probably agree
[00:04:06.400] there is a suggestion there, a hint at
[00:04:08.120] least that at least part of the
[00:04:09.600] Skywatcher team has been incorporated
[00:04:11.720] into the US government a special access
[00:04:13.720] program potentially. This gets very
[00:04:15.720] interesting and I'll get into this a
[00:04:17.040] little bit later. Let's move on. So what
[00:04:19.480] came of the psionics that worked on the
[00:04:21.440] Skywatcher team? Potentially if James
[00:04:23.600] Fowler has taken his dog whistle the
[00:04:25.600] electronic summoning device off to the
[00:04:27.600] US government, what about the remainder
[00:04:29.520] of the Skywatcher guys, the psionic
[00:04:31.800] assets? Well, I sat down with one of
[00:04:33.960] them, John, who told me what he thought
[00:04:36.480] happened to Skywatcher.
[00:04:38.680] >> You've touched on Skywatcher a fair bit
[00:04:40.400] there and I and there's a lot of
[00:04:41.600] intrigue around them. I would love to
[00:04:43.760] know what like a I mean I don't know how
[00:04:45.280] much you can say if you've got like an
[00:04:46.760] NDA or if they if you're free to talk or
[00:04:48.840] whatever. But what what does a a day out
[00:04:52.360] with Skywatcher actually entail? You
[00:04:54.040] know, is there several of of you, I e
[00:04:56.440] people that are doing the
[00:04:58.120] the sort of C5 work or is there just one
[00:05:00.160] of you at a time? How how does it sort
[00:05:01.680] of work?
[00:05:03.200] >> Well, I guess I can speak to what's on
[00:05:05.280] YouTube and there was multiple of us
[00:05:08.480] meditating at the same time.
[00:05:11.200] We had like a like a pre-meditation just
[00:05:13.560] sort of gathering the intention and then
[00:05:15.400] we go into our own modalities but as a
[00:05:17.760] group and
[00:05:19.800] as we're doing that we're just hoping
[00:05:21.520] that things come in for the
[00:05:22.760] documentation side to capture and film.
[00:05:25.960] There was a technology side that we I
[00:05:28.200] got zero exposure to so I know nothing
[00:05:30.440] about that. I just know they called it
[00:05:32.440] the dog whistle.
[00:05:34.040] Just like anybody else I have about that
[00:05:35.919] much knowledge but for the psionics we
[00:05:38.440] would meditate periodically for fairly
[00:05:41.680] long amount of time and just as a group,
[00:05:44.480] yeah. But each doing our own kind of
[00:05:47.120] ways, but um simultaneously.
[00:05:50.040] >> Yeah. Did Did you feel like it was you
[00:05:52.360] were more sort of successful with it as
[00:05:54.480] a group than when you had previously
[00:05:56.440] done it on your own?
[00:05:58.680] >> No, not necessarily. I think um as a
[00:06:01.680] group was a little bit different where
[00:06:04.600] it's just I don't know. You're not as in
[00:06:06.960] much control. You're a part of uh of a
[00:06:09.440] of a bigger process where when you're a
[00:06:11.440] solo, you own the process. Sometimes at
[00:06:14.280] Skywatch, when I would go out by myself
[00:06:16.480] in my own preferred time frame, maybe
[00:06:18.880] 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., I I was seeing a
[00:06:22.520] lot more sky activity than later in the
[00:06:25.080] night as a group. But then there were
[00:06:27.360] moments as a group that was magical
[00:06:29.200] where things came overhead that
[00:06:32.320] defied logic and you could just feel
[00:06:34.640] that it responded to the to the call
[00:06:36.680] out. Um
[00:06:38.600] but no, I think and most psionics would
[00:06:40.760] agree with me that the smaller the
[00:06:42.840] group, the easier it is. And that's
[00:06:45.440] that almost counter it like a lot of
[00:06:47.320] people will think, "Oh man, I want to
[00:06:48.720] get into like a large if more of us come
[00:06:51.040] together, it'll happen."
[00:06:53.000] Not necessarily. I
[00:06:55.000] I hope that that can happen, but it is
[00:06:57.320] easier
[00:06:58.680] um the smaller the group, in my opinion.
[00:07:00.840] >> What's Do you know much about what's
[00:07:02.160] happening with the Skywatch guys now cuz
[00:07:03.560] I know that we we got a lot from them
[00:07:05.640] maybe like 6 months back and just prior
[00:07:07.919] to that, but it seemed to have petered
[00:07:09.480] off and we've not really heard much from
[00:07:10.760] them in the last 6 months. I don't know
[00:07:12.640] if you're still connected to those guys
[00:07:14.120] or if you're going to be doing more with
[00:07:15.240] them. Are we going to see more from
[00:07:16.760] them?
[00:07:18.520] >> I hope so. I think Mike is starting to
[00:07:20.840] kind of go through his own endeavor
[00:07:23.560] entrepreneurial
[00:07:25.360] ways of um
[00:07:27.000] using psionics to show more people, but
[00:07:30.240] also it's it seems to be somewhat of a
[00:07:32.200] professional route, which was
[00:07:33.480] interesting. Jordan Joezacks doing his
[00:07:35.840] own thing. Shout out Jordan, where I
[00:07:37.960] think he's having events that people can
[00:07:40.360] go to and and take part.
[00:07:42.600] Um,
[00:07:43.400] you know, it's not it's not cheap to to
[00:07:45.160] put on an event, so I imagine there's a
[00:07:46.920] ticket price, but
[00:07:48.600] um, and then myself, I'm just, you know,
[00:07:50.400] freestyling it where I'm calling out to
[00:07:52.240] the sky and filming what coming what
[00:07:54.080] comes in and trying to kind of build
[00:07:56.160] socials maybe and
[00:07:57.960] um, J2 is uh,
[00:08:00.560] J2's interesting. He's he he he's not
[00:08:03.360] very out there on the social media
[00:08:05.000] platforms, but when he is it's pretty
[00:08:07.320] profound what he says and he wrote a
[00:08:09.400] book actually called Cyanocology and
[00:08:11.880] it's very interesting, but um, yeah,
[00:08:14.000] everyone's just doing their own thing.
[00:08:15.480] Nobody's kind of getting back as a
[00:08:16.919] group, I don't I don't believe. I think
[00:08:19.160] J2 and Mike meet up out west a lot or
[00:08:21.919] more often than than us the rest of us,
[00:08:24.200] but
[00:08:25.480] yeah, no, everyone's kind of doing their
[00:08:27.200] own thing. I haven't heard anything um,
[00:08:29.360] since the event I went to and
[00:08:31.720] I don't know. I guess it's all for the
[00:08:33.039] good though. Like everything I think's
[00:08:34.479] going to unfold the way it should. So,
[00:08:36.560] if Skywatcher needed to sort of disband,
[00:08:38.719] quote-unquote, then so be it and then we
[00:08:41.000] keep we keep flowing.
[00:08:42.320] >> Now, whatever you make of Dr. Sean
[00:08:44.160] Kirkpatrick, he was the director of the
[00:08:46.520] All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. I
[00:08:49.080] had the opportunity to interview him and
[00:08:51.000] one of the questions I put to him was
[00:08:52.680] had he met or even heard of Skywatcher.
[00:08:55.800] And very interestingly, not only had he
[00:08:57.880] heard of them, he had met them.
[00:08:59.440] >> Have you are you aware of Skywatcher,
[00:09:01.320] Jake Barber and those guys that say that
[00:09:03.360] they've got data and they're able to
[00:09:05.280] summon and they've got a dog whistle and
[00:09:06.800] all that sort of stuff? Have you had any
[00:09:08.280] contact with those guys or
[00:09:09.360] >> I I've heard about that, yep. Mhm, they
[00:09:11.960] we've talked to them.
[00:09:14.080] Absolutely.
[00:09:15.440] I I found absolutely nothing credible
[00:09:17.640] about it.
[00:09:19.440] >> Okay.
[00:09:20.560] >> They they were unable to produce any
[00:09:22.280] evidence. They weren't able to produce
[00:09:24.000] any pictures, documents,
[00:09:26.560] video, data, anything, right? It was
[00:09:31.800] >> Yeah.
[00:09:33.120] Now, regardless of what you think of Dr.
[00:09:34.800] Sean Kirkpatrick, um, honestly, I take
[00:09:37.160] everything he says with a pinch of salt.
[00:09:39.080] I'm not naive, but he is probably the
[00:09:41.760] only current or former Pentagon official
[00:09:44.760] who has made any public comment about
[00:09:46.680] Skywatcher. He claims that he met with
[00:09:48.960] them. They gave no data, no photographs,
[00:09:51.920] and no videos. Now, I know a lot of
[00:09:53.200] people are going to stop me there and
[00:09:54.280] say, "Hang on a minute. We've all seen
[00:09:55.880] the data that they've put out there.
[00:09:57.080] They put it out there on the YouTube
[00:09:58.280] channel. It's been on X."
[00:09:59.920] But, that's not what Schou was saying.
[00:10:01.360] Schou was saying that they didn't bring
[00:10:02.800] any data with them, and I don't think
[00:10:04.960] the Pentagon's going to accept a link to
[00:10:06.960] a YouTube video as evidence. So, why is
[00:10:09.680] that? Now, they've got the opportunity
[00:10:11.640] to respond to that. I reached out to
[00:10:13.120] them, and I haven't had a response. So,
[00:10:15.520] I'm putting that in there because that's
[00:10:17.480] pretty much all that we've got at this
[00:10:18.920] point. Let's move on. As I said earlier,
[00:10:21.040] I did reach out to Alex. I haven't had a
[00:10:23.400] response from him. I reached out to the
[00:10:25.600] Pentagon's public affairs officer, Susan
[00:10:27.920] Gough, who seems to be the middle person
[00:10:30.760] between anything within the Pentagon and
[00:10:32.920] released to the public. So, she's like
[00:10:35.360] the liaison for anything UAP-related.
[00:10:38.080] She did reply to me, but essentially,
[00:10:39.880] I've got nothing for you today. I'll let
[00:10:42.040] you know if I do get anything, and I'll
[00:10:43.360] post it on Instagram, which is my main
[00:10:45.760] HQ, if you don't follow already,
[00:10:47.600] UAP_Files
[00:10:49.280] on Instagram, and I'll also stick it up
[00:10:51.280] on Substack.
[00:10:53.240] Now, interestingly, the current rumor is
[00:10:55.280] the Skywatcher has been gobbled up into
[00:10:57.080] some kind of US government special
[00:10:58.680] access program, and comments made by
[00:11:00.760] Eric Burlison recently on the Annie Frey
[00:11:03.360] show have kind of fueled that.
[00:11:05.680] >> briefed on an event that occurred where
[00:11:07.280] they basically tried to set up a perfect
[00:11:09.000] case scenario where that would cause UAP
[00:11:11.800] to to come in,
[00:11:13.720] and then to capture them or to try to
[00:11:17.040] try to document them or record them, and
[00:11:19.440] it was very successful.
[00:11:22.200] So, this is this is when this only
[00:11:24.520] happened a few months ago,
[00:11:26.440] and this is when the whole conversation
[00:11:28.440] changed.
[00:11:29.800] >> The rumors are that some of these
[00:11:31.040] testing and weird behaviors and US
[00:11:33.080] government testing has taken place
[00:11:34.960] somewhere near El Paso and White Sands.
[00:11:38.080] Remember the February 2026 El Paso
[00:11:40.760] airspace shutdown?
[00:11:42.280] Rumored to be an active UAP shoot-down
[00:11:44.920] attempt. The official explanation
[00:11:47.120] subsequently became that a Mexican drug
[00:11:49.600] cartel drone had crossed into US
[00:11:51.600] airspace and that the threat had been
[00:11:53.720] neutralized.
[00:11:55.200] Transportation secretary Shawn Duffy
[00:11:57.520] said the closure resulted from the DOD
[00:11:59.920] and the FAA responding to a cartel drone
[00:12:02.200] incursion. But back on April 6th, 2025,
[00:12:05.880] I spotted this image Jake Barbee took in
[00:12:08.880] front of his helicopter. I found it
[00:12:11.080] intriguing that he had allowed the
[00:12:12.680] registration or tail number to be in the
[00:12:15.040] picture. I immediately screen grabbed
[00:12:17.480] it, checked flight tracker to see where
[00:12:20.000] he was hanging out, and it came back to
[00:12:22.200] Van Horn, Texas. Just up the road from
[00:12:25.360] El Paso International Airport. And just
[00:12:27.840] up the road from there is White Sands.
[00:12:30.680] Where they test missiles and so forth.
[00:12:33.913] >> [snorts]
[00:12:34.000] >> I know Pavel from See Co Activo podcast
[00:12:36.280] has been looking into El Paso and White
[00:12:38.280] Sands cases for a while now. And more
[00:12:40.360] recently Ross Coulthart from NewsNation
[00:12:42.839] Reality Check, he was covering it, too.
[00:12:45.440] So, I dug up the screen grabs from my
[00:12:47.200] phone. It strains that Jake and his Sky
[00:12:49.600] Watcher team have been operating in and
[00:12:51.720] around that area. It takes just 45 to 50
[00:12:55.080] minutes to fly from Van Horn, Texas to
[00:12:57.440] El Paso International Airport. Lots of
[00:12:59.720] desert. It looks like vast open spaces
[00:13:02.520] that they operated in. At least with
[00:13:04.800] that helicopter for a good 6 days that
[00:13:07.080] I'm aware of.
[00:13:08.520] So, where are we going with this? Well,
[00:13:10.560] let's look at three theories. Theory
[00:13:12.960] one. Sky Watcher decided that they
[00:13:15.080] wanted to come together and build some
[00:13:17.520] kind of technology, sell it to the US
[00:13:19.400] government, and somehow be incorporated
[00:13:21.240] into a special access program. So, now
[00:13:23.000] they had access to the goods. And in
[00:13:25.040] order to do that, they had to go out
[00:13:26.440] there, threaten to release this
[00:13:27.800] publicly, give everything to everybody,
[00:13:29.800] so the government had no option but to
[00:13:31.800] just take them on and pay them out. And
[00:13:34.280] probably give them quite a lot cash.
[00:13:37.120] That's number one. Theory two, that
[00:13:38.800] SkyWatchers haven't actually stopped,
[00:13:40.720] that they've gone dark for a while
[00:13:42.040] because they're working behind the
[00:13:43.440] scenes to bring about disclosure, and
[00:13:45.440] that they're going to come back with
[00:13:46.640] YouTube episode three and just give us
[00:13:49.520] everything. Disclosure, where the crafts
[00:13:51.920] come from, what the crafts look like,
[00:13:53.440] who pilots them, all of the stuff that
[00:13:55.400] they said they were going to give us
[00:13:56.720] within 12 months.
[00:13:59.040] So then we come to theory three, that
[00:14:01.200] SkyWatchers have in fact not really
[00:14:03.320] achieved the things that they set out to
[00:14:05.200] achieve. They haven't figured out where
[00:14:07.040] the craft come from, who pilots the
[00:14:09.000] craft, they haven't got any clear photos
[00:14:11.120] of the craft, and we haven't really
[00:14:12.240] achieved this sort of disclosure from
[00:14:13.920] SkyWatcher. And in fact, rather than
[00:14:16.360] coming forward and saying, "Look, we've
[00:14:17.480] not achieved what we thought we're going
[00:14:18.560] to achieve," they've said, "Yeah, we
[00:14:20.080] have. We were so good at what we did
[00:14:21.480] that we got gobbled up by the US
[00:14:23.440] government, and now we're part of a
[00:14:24.520] special access program." Well, they
[00:14:26.160] haven't said that, that's kind of the
[00:14:27.320] rumor that's been put out there, and
[00:14:29.120] sources from wherever have passed that
[00:14:31.200] on to content creators and media
[00:14:32.800] personalities because they save face
[00:14:34.839] doing that. Not that we failed, but that
[00:14:37.160] we were so successful
[00:14:39.000] that they had to take us on, and that we
[00:14:40.720] had to get involved in national security
[00:14:42.480] to help them out.
[00:14:44.360] Now, I'm not going to point my finger
[00:14:46.280] and say this is definitely what's
[00:14:47.560] happening because I just don't know, and
[00:14:49.080] I don't think that's overly useful
[00:14:50.440] unless you've got data and evidence to
[00:14:52.560] point to that. There are some things
[00:14:54.160] that I don't feel comfortable about, and
[00:14:56.200] they just don't sit right. But equally,
[00:14:58.120] they were clearly there. They were
[00:14:59.839] working and operating in that area, the
[00:15:02.480] El Paso and sort of White Sands,
[00:15:04.760] where all of that weird stuff's been
[00:15:06.160] happening, and we've had the recent
[00:15:07.480] comments from Congressman Burleson about
[00:15:09.839] this event that's taken place that's
[00:15:11.240] sort of changed Washington. So that's
[00:15:13.760] really, really interesting. I just don't
[00:15:16.040] know. I really, really would appreciate
[00:15:18.000] somebody like Jake Barber coming forward
[00:15:20.160] or or Alex Klakkas coming forward and
[00:15:22.440] saying that this is actually what's
[00:15:23.560] happened.
[00:15:24.720] And given us something because they made
[00:15:26.280] promises to us, they took us on board,
[00:15:29.080] and we supported them, and we promoted
[00:15:30.840] them, and now we're not really getting
[00:15:32.520] anything back from them. So, if I've
[00:15:35.240] missed anything, if you think I'm wrong,
[00:15:37.040] if you think I'm right, whatever, let me
[00:15:38.680] know in the comments below. I'd really
[00:15:40.240] like to talk this one through. I'd like
[00:15:41.960] to follow this up, and if I get anything
[00:15:43.960] back from the Pentagon or from Alex from
[00:15:47.120] my messages, then I'll let you know.
[00:15:49.600] Until the next one, take it easy, guys.
[00:15:53.035] >> [music]
[00:15:57.620] [music]