Projected AAWSAP funding

From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event

Contents 7
Projected AAWSAP funding
Dr. J. Allen Hynek (left) and Dr. Jacques Vallée (right).
Dr. J. Allen Hynek (left) and Dr. Jacques Vallée (right). Photo: United States Government · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Date29 October 2008
TopicsSecrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic)
PeopleChristopher "Kit" Green, Jacques Vallée, Harry Reid
TestimonyShellenberger testimony, p. 168
Year2008 in UFO history
Timeline2008 on the UAP Timeline
Sources22

According to Jacques Vallée's journals, in October 2008 former CIA physician Kit Green told him that funding for the Pentagon's new UFO study, the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), might eventually reach $240 million, and that backers in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, wanted the program to continue for years. The program in fact received far less and ended after about two years.[1][2]

Actual funding

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

Reid, with Senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, had added $22 million to the 2008 supplemental appropriations for the effort. In July 2008 Reid briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency's director on $10 million in start-up funds, and the DIA awarded the contract to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies that September. The Pentagon later said that the program's appropriations ran out in 2012, though the Bigelow contract itself expired in December 2010.[2][3][4]

Failed expansion

U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, September 2002.
U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, September 2002. Photo: United States Senate · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Supporters tried to secure the program's future. In June 2009 Reid asked the Deputy Secretary of Defense to make it a restricted special access program, which would have protected it and its information; the request was refused that November, and in December 2009 defence officials told Reid that the work could not be done within the intelligence community and might suit another agency better. A later attempt to move a version of the program to the Department of Homeland Security under the name Kona Blue was ended in December 2011.[3][4][5]

Significance

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

The gap between Green's projection and reality illustrates the program's political fragility: it depended heavily on a few powerful senators, and it never won support within the Pentagon. Reid continued to back UAP research publicly, helped bring the program to public attention in 2017, and died in 2021.[2][6]

People and topics

Jacques Vallée 2024
Jacques Vallée 2024 Photo: Cmichel67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  • Christopher "Kit" Green — CIA physician and analyst who became a long-time contact of Jacques Vallée and studied UAP-related injuries.
  • Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
  • AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
  • Harry Reid — Senate Majority Leader who arranged funding for AAWSAP.
  • Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
  • Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.

On the Timeline

U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 .
U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 . Photo: Chuck Kennedy, White House photographer · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

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. "DoD releases 'KONA BLUE' documents", The Black Vault (16 Apr 2024) · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  6. Harry Reid — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  7. Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
  8. Kit Green in Vallée's journals — Forbidden Science Dispatches · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
  9. Kit Green, Garry Nolan and UAP-related injuries — IBTimes · ibtimes.co.uk · archived copy
  10. Former CIA officer on UFO-related injuries — TweakTown · tweaktown.com · archived copy
  11. Glowing auras and 'black money': the Pentagon's mysterious UFO program — New York Times (2017) · nytimes.com · archived copy
  12. The origins of AAWSAP — Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
  13. DIA FOIA reading room (AAWSAP technical reports) · dia.mil · archived copy
  14. Documents on the vetting of 'Skinwalkers at the Pentagon' — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  15. Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: book review — Bad UFOs (Robert Sheaffer) · badufos.blogspot.com · archived copy
  16. AARO historical report finds no evidence of alien technology (2024) — Space.com · space.com · archived copy
  17. AARO Report on the Historical Record, Volume I — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
  18. Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
  19. Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
  20. Kit Green — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
  21. Garry Nolan on UFO materials and Kit Green's patient studies (Vice interview) · exo.substack.com · archived copy
  22. 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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