Joe Rogan Experience #2533 - Diana Pasulka · Aired Jul 30, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
Harold Malmgren was a physicist at Cornell who was recruited into secret government programs at age 27.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Malmgren was an economist, not a physicist. He held a doctorate in economics from Oxford and worked as an assistant professor of economics at Cornell, then joined the Institute for Defense Analyses in 1962 around age 27 as an economic analyst. His later claims about secret government and UFO-related programs, including a supposed Cuban Missile Crisis role, were investigated using declassified FBI files and job records and found to be fabricated.
Read the supporting source · en.wikipedia.org ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that Harold Malmgren was a physicist at Cornell who was recruited into secret government programs at age 27?
No, not as stated. Malmgren was an economist, not a physicist. He held a doctorate in economics from Oxford and worked as an assistant professor of economics at Cornell, then joined the Institute for Defense Analyses in 1962 around age 27 as an economic analyst. Diana Pasulka said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2533 - Diana Pasulka, aired Jul 30, 2026, at 1:10:37. The supporting source is en.wikipedia.org, linked below.
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No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
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