AAWSAP begins (2008)

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Contents 8
AAWSAP begins (2008)
Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow talks during a press conference shortly after he and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver toured the…
Bigelow Aerospace President Robert Bigelow talks during a press conference shortly after he and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver toured the… Photo: Bill Ingalls · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Date2 October 2008
TopicsSecrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic)
PeopleRobert Bigelow, Jacques Vallée
TestimonyShellenberger testimony, p. 168
Year2008 in UFO history
Timeline2008 on the UAP Timeline
Sources16

By the autumn of 2008 the Defense Intelligence Agency's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was under way, run under contract by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) in Las Vegas. According to Jacques Vallée's journals, Robert Bigelow told him in October 2008 that the DIA sponsor had not yet delivered promised access to defence contractors and to older "legacy" information.[1][2]

The contract

Harry Reid (D-NV), United States Senator from Nevada and Minority Leader of the United States Senate
Harry Reid (D-NV), United States Senator from Nevada and Minority Leader of the United States Senate Photo: United States Congress · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

In May 2008 Senators Harry Reid, Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens met a DIA project manager to express interest in a research program on "exotic sciences", and in July Reid briefed DIA Director Lieutenant General Michael Maples on $10 million in start-up funds. The DIA posted a public solicitation and statement of work on 22 August 2008, and the contract, identified as HHM402-08-R-0211, was awarded to BAASS on 22 September 2008, with Lacatski as program manager. BAASS was the only bidder.[3][4]

Staffing up

Illustration of an observer watching the sky
Illustration: an observer watching the sky. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

BAASS hired Colm Kelleher, formerly of Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science, as deputy administrator in November 2008 and retired Air Force Colonel Douglas Kurth in December. Over the program's 27 months it employed about 75 people, including some 50 full-time investigators, and drew on hundreds of outside helpers, partly through a contract with the Mutual UFO Network.[4][5]

Early frustrations

George Knapp (8221331696) (cropped)
George Knapp (8221331696) (cropped) Photo: Peabody Awards · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Bigelow had hoped the contract would open doors to existing government data. The difficulty of getting access to such information became a recurring theme in AAWSAP's history, as described in Vallée's journals and in Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (2021), written by Lacatski, Kelleher and George Knapp.[1][2][5]

Afterwards

Illustration of official papers and files
Illustration: official papers and files. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

The program produced a large database of UFO reports, a 494-page "Ten Month Report" and 38 technical reports on advanced physics. The contract expired in December 2010. AAWSAP became public in December 2017 through The New York Times, and in 2024 the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office concluded that it had found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology.[2][4][6]

People and topics

Jacques Vallée 2024
Jacques Vallée 2024 Photo: Cmichel67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  • Robert Bigelow — Businessman who founded NIDS and Bigelow Aerospace and ran the AAWSAP contract.
  • Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
  • Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
  • AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
  • BAASS — The Bigelow Aerospace division that carried out the AAWSAP contract.
  • Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
  • Skinwalkers at the Pentagon — A 2021 book about AAWSAP by Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp.

On the Timeline

Illustration of lights in formation over the landscape
Illustration: lights in formation over the landscape. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

See every 2008 event on the UAP Timeline →

References

  1. "Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
  2. Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  3. "The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) documentation", The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  4. Justin Snead, "Timeline of modern UFO investigations: AAWSAP to AARO" · justinsnead.substack.com · archived copy
  5. "New book uncovers secrets of government-funded UFO investigation program", KLAS 8 News Now / Mystery Wire · 8newsnow.com · archived copy
  6. "Pentagon UFO office finds 'no empirical evidence' for alien technology in new report", Space.com (Mar 2024) · space.com · archived copy
  7. Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
  8. Glowing auras and 'black money': the Pentagon's mysterious UFO program — New York Times (2017) · nytimes.com · archived copy
  9. The origins of AAWSAP — Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
  10. DIA FOIA reading room (AAWSAP technical reports) · dia.mil · archived copy
  11. Documents on the vetting of 'Skinwalkers at the Pentagon' — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  12. Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: book review — Bad UFOs (Robert Sheaffer) · badufos.blogspot.com · archived copy
  13. AARO Report on the Historical Record, Volume I — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  14. Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
  15. Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
  16. amazon.com · amazon.com · archived copy

Further reading

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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