CSETI on unacknowledged special access programs
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7

| Date | 22 August 1998 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Steven Greer, David Grusch |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 135 |
| Year | 1998 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1998 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
In a paper dated 22 August 1998, Steven Greer of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) argued that senior U.S. military and national-security leaders were being kept uninformed about UFOs because the subject was managed inside Unacknowledged Special Access Projects (USAPs). The paper was reprinted in the Disclosure Project's 2001 briefing document.[1]
What a USAP is
In Greer's description, a USAP is a top-secret, compartmentalised project that needs special access even for people with top-secret clearance, and whose existence is denied to anyone outside it, including superiors and the President. He called the UFO matter "the grand daddy" of such projects.[1] Special access programs are a real category of U.S. classified program, and some are "unacknowledged".[2]
The 1998 paper

Titled "Operational Readiness and the UFO/ETI Subject: Why Military and National Security Leaders Have a Need to Know", the paper said this lack of information created national-security risks. It listed three dangers: alien reproduction vehicles (ARVs) being used in false warning scenarios; the sudden appearance of extraterrestrial craft with faster-than-light ability; and possible extraterrestrial concern over weapons in space. It named the Joint Chiefs, the National Security Council, the National Military Command Center's senior watch officers, key members of Congress, the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence as people with a need to know.[1]
Later echoes
The claim that UFO programs are hidden inside special access programs became a central theme of the Disclosure Project's May 2001 press conference, and resurfaced in David Grusch's 2023 congressional testimony. No documents have confirmed it.[1][3]
People and topics
- CSETI — The organization founded by Steven Greer in 1990.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Steven Greer — Physician who founded CSETI and the Disclosure Project.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Unacknowledged special access program — A special access program whose very existence is not acknowledged.
- Special access program — A U.S. classified program with access limited beyond normal secrecy rules.
- Disclosure Project — Steven Greer's campaign for UFO disclosure, best known for its May 2001 press conference.
- David Grusch — Former intelligence officer who testified in 2023 that the U.S. has recovered non-human craft.
- Crash retrieval — The alleged recovery of crashed non-human craft by governments.
On the Timeline
- Former colonel's underground facilities claim (1998) (17 June 1998) — A researcher says a former colonel claims he worked in underground facilities.
- Blackburn–Warmkessel drag reduction patent (22 August 1998) — Lockheed's Ron Blackburn patents a technology to improve vehicle efficiency.
See every 1998 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Disclosure Project Briefing Document (2001), Internet Archive (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- Special access program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- David Grusch UFO whistleblower claims — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- 'Group calls for disclosure of UFO info' — ABC News (2001) · abcnews.go.com · archived copy
- Greer's Disclosure Project — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- A historian on the Disclosure Project — History News Network · historynewsnetwork.org · archived copy
- Greer's Disclosure Project event, 9 May 2001 — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Disclosure Project National Press Club event, 9 May 2001 (video) · amara.org · archived copy
- 'Deafening Silence': media response to the 9 May 2001 event — Jonathan Kolber · lifeboat.com · archived copy
- archive.org · archive.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Steven M. Greer — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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