AATIP: the Pentagon’s UFO program

About AATIP

The full story, section by section

The story of AATIP in 4 parts. Tap any part to read it in full.

1. OriginsThe programme was initiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada at the urging of his friend Robert Bigelow, the Nevada billionaire, government contractor and founder of Bigelow Aerospace.Read this part → Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who arranged the programme's funding. · Photo: United States Congress, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
2. Research outputIn a 2009 letter later published by Knapp and his colleague Matt Adams, Reid said the programme had made "much progress".Read this part → Description of AAVs by AATIP. · Photo: SystemFailure0x5a, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
3. Luis Elizondo and the 2017 revelationLuis Elizondo, a former Army counterintelligence agent and senior official in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, said he led AATIP from 2010.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.
4. AftermathThe revelations led to classified congressional briefings.Read this part → Illustration drawn for this site — not a photograph.

Read the full AATIP article →

Key people

The people at the centre of the story — witnesses, investigators, officials and sceptics:

• Luis ElizondoLuis Elizondo is a former American Army counterintelligence officer and Defense Department official who became a prominent figure in the modern UFO debate after resigning in October 2017. He stated t…
• Harry ReidHarry Reid was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator from Nevada and Senate majority leader.
• Robert BigelowRobert Thomas Bigelow is an American businessman from Las Vegas who made a fortune in real estate and the Budget Suites of America hotel chain. He founded Bigelow Aerospace to develop expandable spac…
• George KnappGeorge T. Knapp is an American journalist, news anchor, and radio host who works for KLAS-TV in Las Vegas and hosts Coast to Coast AM. He is best known for his extensive investigative reporting on UF…
• Eric W. DavisEric W. Davis is an American astrophysicist who has worked on speculative propulsion physics, studies on teleportation, and as a consultant to Pentagon UFO programs. He is well-known in UFO circles f…
• Harold PuthoffHarold Edward Puthoff is an American electrical engineer and parapsychologist born in Chicago in 1936. From 1972 to 1985, he directed CIA-sponsored research into remote viewing at the Stanford Resear…
• Susan GoughSusan Gough is a U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson who became the Pentagon's main voice on unidentified aerial phenomena starting in 2019.
• John GreenewaldJohn Greenewald Jr. is an American researcher who founded The Black Vault, an online archive of millions of U.S.
• Jacques ValléeJacques Vallée is a French computer scientist, internet pioneer, venture capitalist, author, astronomer, and ufologist born in 1939. He began his career as an astronomer, co-developing NASA's first d…
• Colm KelleherColm A. Kelleher is a biochemist who transitioned from a career in molecular biology to investigate scientific anomalies, fringe science, and paranormal topics. He served as the deputy administrator …
• Christopher "Kit" GreenChristopher "Kit" Green is an American physician who worked in the CIA's scientific intelligence directorate during the 1970s and 1980s, later working for General Motors and Wayne State University. O…
• Michael ShellenbergerMichael Shellenberger is an American writer and political activist known for his ecomodernist views, books on various public issues, and unsuccessful runs for governor of California. In 2024, he publ…
• James ObergJames Edward Oberg is an American space journalist, historian, and former NASA engineer born in New York City in 1944. During his 22 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center, he specialized in orbital re…
• Christopher MellonChristopher Karl Mellon is an American former Senate intelligence staffer and Defense Department official who worked on defense and intelligence oversight from 1985 until leaving government service. …

Related cases & events

Events and sightings linked to AATIP:

🗓️ Event · 12 min readDIA interest in Skinwalker RanchIn 2007, a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official named James Lacatski became interested in Skinwalker Ranch in Utah after reading a book about the property. This led to Lacatski visiting the ranch, meeting with Robert Bigelow, and connecting with Senator…🗓️ Event · 8 min readAAWSAP begins (2008)In 2008, the Defense Intelligence Agency launched a government-funded UFO and paranormal research initiative called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Secured with $22 million in funding by Senators Harry Reid, Daniel Inouye, …🗓️ Event · 8 min readMUFON–BAASS contractBetween 2008 and 2010, the civilian UFO group MUFON worked under contract for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies to provide technical papers, database access, and rapid-response UFO investigations. The contracting company was secretly funded by the Pent…🗓️ Event · 7 min readAAWSAP DIRD releaseOn 25 March 2022, the Defense Intelligence Agency released 37 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents from the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The 1,473 pages of reports, w…🗓️ Event · 7 min readAAWSAP special access program requestIn June 2009, Senator Harry Reid requested that the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program be designated a special access program for tighter security and access to classified UFO data. A Defense Intelligence Agency review ultimately…🗓️ Event · 7 min readKona BlueKona Blue was a proposed Department of Homeland Security special access program put forward in 2011 by former participants of a Pentagon UFO study to investigate unidentified phenomena and recovered materials. The program was established as a prospective prog…🗓️ Event · 5 min readArea 2 encounters at NellisThis article is about personal accounts of UFOs and strange phenomena reported by security guards at Area 2, a nuclear weapons storage site at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada. The events took place mainly in late 1998, when four guards witnessed …🗓️ Event · 5 min readProposal for a new Project Blue Book (2000)In January 2000, Robert Bigelow told Jacques Vallée about an idea from technology company president Jim West to engage Congress to create a new official UFO study like Project Blue Book. The initial proposal led to no immediate action at the time. Eight years…🗓️ Event · 9 min readUSS Princeton data recordings claimThis article describes claims by several former U.S. Navy sailors that unknown men removed sensor and data recordings from the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton and its carrier strike group after November 2004 encounters with unidentified objects off south…

Programs, organizations & documents

The official programs, groups and papers involved:

🏛️ Program or study · 11 min readAAWSAPThe Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was a Defense Intelligence Agency contract funded from 2008 that was awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies to study unidentified aerial phenomena and advanced aerospace technolog…🏢 Organization · 9 min readDefense Intelligence AgencyThe Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is the United States Department of Defense's main military intelligence agency, established in 1961 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It produces a significant portion of the intelligence in the President's Daily Brie…🏢 Organization · 6 min readUAP Task ForceThe Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force was a United States Department of Defense program that collected and analyzed military reports of unidentified aerial phenomena from August 2020 to November 2021. Managed by the under secretary of defense for intel…🏢 Organization · 15 min readAAROThe All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is a United States Department of Defense organization created on July 20, 2022, to investigate unidentified anomalous phenomena. Its scope covers objects in the air, at sea, in space, and moving between those do…🏢 Organization · 7 min readBigelow AerospaceBigelow Aerospace was an American space technology company founded in Nevada in the late 1990s by Robert Bigelow to develop expandable space station modules. The company successfully launched prototype modules and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM)…🏢 Organization · 7 min readNIDSThe National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) was a privately financed research organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that operated from 1995 to 2004 to study UFOs and other anomalous phenomena. Founded by Robert Bigelow, the organization is best kno…🏢 Organization · 10 min readBAASSBigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) was a company formed in 2008 by businessman Robert Bigelow to carry out the Pentagon-funded Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Over roughly two years, the company collected UFO repo…🏢 Organization · 7 min readMUFONThe Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is an American non-profit organization founded in Quincy, Illinois, in 1969 to investigate reported UFO sightings. It operates as a civilian volunteer network that publishes a monthly journal, holds annual symposiums, and mainta…🏢 Organization · 9 min readTo The Stars AcademyTo The Stars Academy is a San Diego-based company founded in 2017 by Tom DeLonge, Harold Puthoff, and Jim Semivan that produces entertainment and promotes fringe science and UFO research. The organization brought public attention to US Navy UAP videos and the…

Books, films & documentaries

Where to read and watch more:

🎬 Book or film · 5 min readThe New York TimesThe New York Times is a major American daily newspaper best known in UFO history for its December 2017 article revealing the Pentagon's secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and publishing Navy videos of unidentified objects. This coverage a…🎬 Book or film · 6 min readImminentImminent is a 2024 memoir by former Defense Department intelligence officer Luis Elizondo about the Pentagon's UFO study and hidden government programs. Published by HarperCollins in August 2024, the book became a best-seller while claiming that authorities h…🎬 Book or film · 6 min readThe DebriefThe Debrief is an American online news site launched in late 2020 by Micah Hanks, Tim McMillan, and MJ Banias to cover science, aerospace, defense, and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The site has closely followed government UAP reports, including publis…🎬 Book or film · 6 min readThe Age of DisclosureThe 2025 American documentary film The Age of Disclosure, directed and produced by Dan Farah, features former government, military, and intelligence officials who claim that a non-human intelligence is present on Earth and that the U.S. government has hidden …🎬 Book or film · 5 min readIn Plain SightIn Plain Sight is a 2021 book by Australian investigative journalist Ross Coulthart that surveys military and government involvement with UFOs from 1947 to the present. Published by HarperCollins in Australia and the United States, the book concludes that tec…

Related topics & places

Ideas, terms and places that come up in the story:

📍 Place · 11 min readSkinwalker RanchSkinwalker Ranch is a 512-acre property in Utah that is reputed to be a site of paranormal and UFO activity. After a ranching family reported seeing strange lights, craft, and mutilated cattle there in 1996, the property was purchased by Robert Bigelow and la…📖 Term · 13 min readUnidentified anomalous phenomenaUnidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) is the U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects or events in the air, space, or underwater.📖 Term · 17 min readUnidentified flying objectAn unidentified flying object, or UFO, is an unexplained phenomenon or object seen in the sky, with the modern craze originating in the United States in June 1947. While popular culture often equates UFOs with alien spacecraft, most investigations reveal them…🧭 Topic overview · 26 min readGovernment programs (topic)This encyclopedia overview outlines government and private programs established to study UFOs and UAPs from 1947 to 2023. U.S.📖 Term · 9 min readZero-point energyZero-point energy is the lowest possible energy a quantum mechanical system can have, causing atoms, molecules, and empty space to continuously fluctuate. While various observed phenomena like the Casimir effect confirm aspects of these vacuum fluctuations, e…

🗓️ AATIP on the UAP timeline

1. 8 February 2020Puthoff says Richard Doty worked for him on a program before AATIP. Read the article →
2. 26 May 2021Elizondo says some officials interfered with AATIP's work. Read the article →

Search the timeline →

🛸 UFO sightings about AATIP

Sightings that mention AATIP

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More in the encyclopedia

Other articles that link to or mention AATIP:

• Elizondo on interference with AATIPIn a May 2021 interview with Richard Dolan, former AATIP official Luis Elizondo claimed that elements within the government interfered with the program's data collection and described religious oppos…
• Leslie KeanLeslie Kean is an American investigative journalist and author known for her reporting on unidentified flying objects and her 2010 best-selling book on the subject. She co-authored a 2017 New York Ti…
• Navy underwater-object program claim (2017)In September 2017 in Hulett, Wyoming, astronomer and MUFON analyst Marc D'Antonio claimed that the U.S. Navy secretly logs fast unidentified submerged objects under a "Fast Mover Programme".
• Elizondo's Space Force contractIn August 2022, Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough confirmed to the Liberation Times that former intelligence officer Luis Elizondo provides technical advice on classified topics for the U.S. Space Fo…
• DeLonge's research groups (2016)In 2016, musician Tom DeLonge claimed he was working with military and government insiders studying recovered craft to help shape his books and projects. The following year, he co-founded To The Star…
• Elizondo on shoot-downs and recoveries (2019)In March 2019, former defense official Luis Elizondo was the keynote speaker at the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies conference in Alabama. During a question-and-session, he declined to answer wh…
• Coulthart on Elizondo's oversight roleIn 2021, Australian journalist Ross Coulthart stated that an anonymous source told him former Pentagon intelligence officer Luis Elizondo served as a liaison to a special access program oversight gro…
• DARPA Advanced Aerospace System ConceptsDARPA Advanced Aerospace System Concepts is a budget line item within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used to evaluate emerging aerospace technologies, concepts, and military threats. I…
• DeLonge on hidden crashesIn April 2016, musician and To The Stars co-founder Tom DeLonge stated in an interview with journalist George Knapp that the government hid several UFO crashes and managed a secret crash program larg…
• Doty worked for PuthoffDuring a talk in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, on February 8, 2020, physicist Hal Puthoff confirmed that former Air Force agent and disinformation spreader Richard Doty had worked for him as a con…
• Nuclear lure plan claimJournalist Tim McMillan reported a claim that a formal operations plan existed to lure unidentified anomalous phenomena by exploiting their interest in nuclear materials. The claim relies on anonymou…
• Secrecy & cover-up (topic)This overview page covers official secrecy, classification, and cover-up claims regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena from 1947 to 2023. It outlines historical classified studies, released gover…
• Beings & bodies (topic)This topic overview covers reports and claims about non-human beings, bodies, and biological material spanning from 1947 to 2023. It outlines various second-hand and anonymous accounts involving cras…
• Crashes & retrievals (topic)This topic overview covers claims from 1947 to 2023 that governments have recovered and studied crashed non-human craft or debris. Beginning with the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico, ufology clai…
• Vallée meets D'Amato on secret programs (1992)On May 22, 1992, UFO researcher Jacques Vallée met with C. Richard D'Amato, a Senate Appropriations Committee counsel. According to Vallée's published journals, D'Amato stated that mysterious triangu…
• Homeland Security and BAASS (2011)KONA BLUE was a proposed Department of Homeland Security special access program established in July 2011 by individuals associated with the Pentagon's ended UFO study. The program aimed to investigat…
• Holloman landing and hangar claim (1964)On April 30, 1964, a B-57 pilot over the Holloman-White Sands range in New Mexico reportedly radioed that an egg-shaped white UFO had landed. A civilian research organization published the story alon…
• U.S. Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the air service branch of the U.S. armed forces that became an independent service in September 1947.

Questions & answers