{"id":6248,"date":"2025-03-25T15:05:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/25\/book-review-chase-brandons-kryptos-conundrum-3\/"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:05:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:05:49","slug":"book-review-chase-brandons-kryptos-conundrum-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/25\/book-review-chase-brandons-kryptos-conundrum-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Chase Brandon’s Kryptos Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Review: Chase Brandon’s Kryptos Conundrum<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently finished Kryptos Conundrum,<\/em> an intriguing book recommended by Matthew Pines. Written by a former senior CIA outreach executive, it\u2019s classified as “fictionalized fact”\u2014essentially, fact wrapped in a fictional narrative. The literary quality is lacking, roughly on par with a comedic fragment from The Naked Gun<\/em> (see here<\/a>). I see it more as a collection of ambiguous clues about the CIA’s covert operations.<\/p>\n

Chase Brandon has participated in several interviews with Coast to Coast (hosted by George Noory) over the last decade. One such interview can be found on YouTube<\/a>, in which he alludes to enigmatic artifacts from the past needing advanced technology to explain. Notably, around the 43-minute mark, he talks about a box containing evidence from Roswell, which he claims “validated” his belief in extraterrestrial life and “ancient astronauts,” though he provides no details. They also delve into the political aspects of disclosure.<\/p>\n

Overview<\/h2>\n

The book explores the hidden history of the CIA, starting from its inception and extending into the apocalyptic events of the early 2020s, eventually leaping into the 2150s and beyond to the 40th century. Amidst the obvious fictional elements, there are mentions of real historical figures and hints at shocking events that remain under wraps.<\/p>\n

A persistent question is the book’s purpose. Although published in 2011, it appears to have been written between 2005 and 2007, during Brandon’s tenure at the CIA, leading to speculation about why it wasn’t released until after his departure.<\/p>\n

While one might argue that its aim could be to bolster the CIA’s image, the text includes references to the agency’s illegal actions, the fabrication of charges against the press, and disinformation campaigns\u2014all justified, of course, in the name of the greater good. The book also strays from the apolitical facade that intelligence agencies strive to maintain, which raises doubts about its effectiveness as PR. Could this be why it was held back from publication while he was still with the CIA?<\/p>\n

Fact vs. Fiction: Discerning the Truth<\/h2>\n

The narrative consists of references to science-fiction scenarios and conspiracy theories, with recognizable real-life figures thinly masked by name changes. Some elements clearly serve as plot devices, while others feel more like cryptic hints that suggest factual occurrences.<\/p>\n

However, inaccuracies abound (such as Nazis in 1916 and binaural beats in the early 1900s) which are perplexing given the otherwise seeming accuracy of the narrative. This could lead one to question if such errors were deliberate markers.<\/p>\n

Many aspects intriguingly align with contemporary UFO lore, including narratives released by figures like Elizondo and Lacatski, yet the line between fact and fiction remains blurred\u2014leaving readers to speculate on what “they want you to think.”<\/p>\n

Key Character: Jonathan Chalmers<\/h2>\n

The protagonist, Jonathan Chalmers, is a senior executive in the OSS and, later, the CIA\u2014a founding member. Born in 1890, he participates in WWI, witnessing traumatic loss in what aims to be a striking yet ultimately exaggerated portrayal. Gifted with supernatural intelligence and an astonishingly slow aging process due to divine extraterrestrial intervention, he prepares for a range of potential global threats from the 1940s onward.<\/p>\n

Chalmers grapples with classic moral dilemmas as he oversees arms production, being implicated in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and eventually delving into esoteric pursuits like the Roswell incident. His reliance on binaural beats, although historically misplaced, suggests an exploration of altered states of consciousness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nBook Review: Chase Brandon’s Kryptos Conundrum I recently finished Kryptos Conundrum, an intriguing book recommended by Matthew Pines. Written by a former senior CIA outreach executive, it\u2019s classified as “fictionalized fact”\u2014essentially, fact wrapped in a fictional narrative. The literary quality is lacking, roughly on par with a comedic fragment from The Naked Gun (see here).…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Book review: Chase Brandon’s Kryptos Conundrum”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufos","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}