Elizondo's secure-room meetings (2020)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 10
| Speaker | Luis "Lue" Elizondo, To The Stars Academy |
|---|---|
| Venue | Coast to Coast AM, night of 19–20 July 2020, host George Knapp, with Christopher Mellon |
| Claim | At a classified meeting on Capitol Hill, an older man told him, "I had your job… back in the '80s" |
| The man's words | "We didn't get as far as you guys" |
| Significance | First time Elizondo said a U.S. UFO effort had preceded AATIP and AAWSAP |
| Status | Unnamed individual; no records released |
| Date | 19 July 2020 |
| Topics | Government programs (topic) |
| People | Luis Elizondo |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 197 |
| Year | 2020 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2020 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
On Coast to Coast AM on the night of 19–20 July 2020, Luis Elizondo said he had recently met, at a classified meeting on Capitol Hill, a man who told him he had held Elizondo's job "back in the '80s".[1] Elizondo took the encounter as evidence of an earlier organized government UFO effort. The Silva Record, which published his words, called it the first time Elizondo had confirmed a U.S. UFO program operating before AATIP and AAWSAP.[1] He did not identify anyone involved, and no record of a 1980s program matching his account has been released.[1]
The broadcast
Elizondo appeared with Christopher Mellon, a fellow member of To The Stars Academy (TTSA), and the host George Knapp.[1] The Silva Record described the pair as partly responsible for heightened government awareness of the UAP issue.[1] Elizondo discussed the legality of hidden programs. He said that if they existed, those responsible could face prison.[1] He introduced the story by saying, "I'm going to share something with you, and frankly the rest of America, I've never shared before."[1]
The account
Elizondo's account, as transcribed:[1]
- The meeting. "Not too long ago" he had been brought into a meeting on the Hill to answer questions "at the classified level". He would not say who invited him.
- The stranger. An older man sat in the corner and did not introduce himself, and Elizondo did not ask. Afterwards the man came up and said, "Look, I had your job." Elizondo asked from what perspective, since he had held many government jobs. The man said he had held the job with a particular service, which Elizondo would not name, "back in the '80s".
- His standing. The man said this in front of others who "knew who he was", so Elizondo was sure he "was obviously very legitimate". Elizondo himself did not know who he was.
- No questions asked. Elizondo did not press for details. "I was there for them to ask me questions," he said.
"We didn't get as far"
Elizondo said the encounter made it "very clear to me that AATIP was not the first of its kind ever. There was an organized effort back in the '80s to do exactly this as well."[1] The man told him, "verbatim", that "We didn't get as far as you guys." Elizondo said he did not know what that meant. It might refer to personnel, to political support of the kind Senators Harry Reid, Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye gave AATIP, to budget, or to findings.[1] He said there were witnesses to the meeting and that he knew "for a fact" that interest in the subject went back at least to the 1980s.[1] Reid, Stevens and Inouye had backed the $22 million program that began in the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2007.[3]
Reactions
Readers of the Silva Record offered their own speculation:[1]
- The Wilson notes. One noted that "We didn't get as far as you guys" recalled a remark in the disputed Davis–Wilson notes. He wondered whether a meeting in which only the hosts asked questions was a way of controlling the conversation.
- Howard Blum. Another asked whether the 1980s man might be someone described in Howard Blum's 1990 book Out There.
- Bruce Maccabee. The physicist read the developments as the Navy moving toward admitting non-human intelligence.
Context
In 2020 Elizondo and Mellon were briefing lawmakers. Congress went on to require the intelligence community to produce a public report on UAP, which was delivered in June 2021.[2][3] Elizondo's account of his own role remains disputed. The Pentagon said in 2019 that he had "no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program", while Reid affirmed his leadership.[2] The AAWSAP program that preceded AATIP was later described in Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, whose Pentagon review took over a year and which drew a sceptical review for its paranormal content.[4][5]
Assessment
The account rests on Elizondo's description of an unnamed person, and no record of a 1980s program matching it has been released.[1] In 2024 the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office reviewed government UFO efforts since 1945. It reported no evidence that any investigation had confirmed extraterrestrial technology.[6][7]
People and topics
- Luis Elizondo — Former Army counterintelligence officer who says he ran AATIP.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- To The Stars Academy — The company founded by Tom DeLonge in 2017 that released the Navy UAP videos.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- Gradisher–Gough FOIA coordination emails (10 July 2020) — A Navy spokesman's email shows efforts to coordinate FOIA replies about UAP across agencies.
- Navy UAP briefing cards (24 July 2020) — A Navy briefing card tells staff to say 'UAP', not 'UFO'.
See every 2020 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- To the Stars Academy — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- "Elizondo met UFO program point man from 1980s", Silva Record (July 2020) · silvarecord.com · archived copy
- Luis Elizondo — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Documents on the vetting of 'Skinwalkers at the Pentagon' — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: book review — Bad UFOs (Robert Sheaffer) · badufos.blogspot.com · archived copy
- AARO historical report finds no evidence of alien technology (2024) — Space.com · space.com · archived copy
- AARO Report on the Historical Record, Volume I — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Luis Elizondo”, “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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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