News show episode · Reality Check · 7 October 2026
Reality Check Rewind: Michael Herrera on the Sumatra craft, the NDA and the empty camera
A Reality Check Rewind, reposted 7 October 2026, of Ross Coulthart's interview with former Marine Michael Herrera (originally aired about August 2024). Herrera retells his 2009 Sumatra encounter and adds details not on file: the NDA showing only 'TS/SCI' and 'Indonesia', his camera found emptied on his rack, a teammate who told him to 'shut up', Jake Barber's identification of the containers, photographs of him sent to his house, and program engineers who have contacted him.
Overview
- Named, firsthand: the NDA, the emptied camera and missing phones, the teammates' messages, names given to SSCI, SASC and AARO without subpoenas, photographs sent to his house.
- Secondhand: Barber identifies the containers as psionics transports from 'the range'.
- Anonymous, via Herrera: program engineers with credentials; 'back end' confirmation of Weygandt's Peru event and a possible DOE role.
Leads to follow
- The teammate's 'shut up' message Herrera forwarded to Senate Intel, and the thank-you email.
- Whether SSCI, SASC or AARO ever contacted the five other Marines.
Notes
- Rewind repost of 7 Oct 2026; original air date about August 2024 from internal evidence (to confirm).
Timeline
On the recordWitness testimonyAlleged / one person's word
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The claims, checked
Witness testimony (6)
The NDA he signed for the Air Force lieutenant colonel on Okinawa showed only 'TS/SCI' and 'Indonesia' among what he could read; he wrote his name and Social Security number on it.firsthandSumatra, 2009: Michael Herrera's octagonal craft
Back on the ship after liberty at Subic Bay, he found his camera lying on his rack with the battery pulled out and the memory card gone, though his locker had not been disturbed; the other Marines' phones were also missing, and nobody else's in the platoon.firsthandSumatra, 2009: Michael Herrera's octagonal craft
One of the five other Marines messaged him to 'shut up' and not bother him, and Herrera forwarded that message to Senate Intel; another emailed after his Shawn Ryan interview to thank him 'for getting the word out'. He says he has 'receipts' of both.firsthandMichael Herrera
He gave all their names to SSCI, SASC and AARO; none has been subpoenaed, and he was told they count as 'incidental witnesses'.firsthandSumatra, 2009: Michael Herrera's octagonal craftAARO
Photographs of him were sent to his house as intimidation; he notified people about it. This is besides the unmarked helicopters already on file.firsthandMichael Herrera
Coulthart to Herrera: 'if you are telling the truth, and I think you are'.analysis
Alleged / one person's word (3)
Coulthart: Jake Barber identified Herrera's containers as the kind he saw at 'the range', used to transport psionics, and told his government contacts so. Herrera: 'Correct.'secondhandJake Barber → Michael Herrera / Ross Coulthart (Reality Check, about Aug 2024) → told itSumatra, 2009: Michael Herrera's octagonal craftJake Barber
Engineers who built such craft have contacted him; he has seen their credentials and they sent documents, and he is asking them to wait until protections exist.anonymousunnamed program engineers → Michael Herrera → told itMichael Herrera
People 'on the back end' confirmed the logistics of Weygandt's 1997 Peru event, and the Department of Energy 'may have played a role', with its own private military contractors to 'conceal stuff or go retrieve things'.anonymousunnamed people 'on the back end' → Michael Herrera → told itThe crashed egg in Peru (Weygandt, 1997)Jonathan Weygandt