Luis Elizondo
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 7
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Lue Elizondo, Elizondo |
| On the Timeline | 21 events, 1998–2022 |
Luis "Lue" Elizondo is a former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer and Defense Department intelligence official who says he led the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) until he resigned in 2017. He became one of the most prominent public figures in the modern UAP debate, though parts of his account have been disputed by the Pentagon and by journalists.[1][2]
Early life and career
Elizondo was born in Texas, the son of a Cuban exile who took part in the 1961 Bay of Pigs operation with Brigade 2506. He graduated from Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida, and studied microbiology and immunology at the University of Miami.[1]
He enlisted in the Army in 1995 and served in South Korea, Kuwait and the United States. He later worked as a civilian intelligence officer running counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations in Afghanistan, South America and at Guantánamo Bay, against groups including al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. From 2008 he worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence at the Pentagon.[1]
AATIP and resignation
Elizondo says he was brought into AATIP around 2009 and led it from 2010. He resigned in late 2017, citing excessive secrecy and internal opposition to taking UAP seriously, and helped provide three Navy pilot videos to journalists.[1][3] When The New York Times and Politico revealed the program in December 2017, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White confirmed that he had run it. In 2019, however, spokesman Christopher Sherwood said Elizondo had "had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program" in his official role. An internal memo said he had "aggrandized" his role, and Elizondo filed a complaint with the Defense Department Inspector General alleging a campaign to discredit him.[1][4]
To The Stars and public advocacy
.jpg)
After leaving government Elizondo joined To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, founded by Tom DeLonge, and appeared in its History Channel series Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation (2019–2020). He left in late 2020 with Christopher Mellon to concentrate on lobbying Congress, and pressed for the provisions in the 2022 defence bill that created AARO. He has also been a research affiliate of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb's Galileo Project. In a 2021 interview he said UFOs were as likely to come from another dimension as from outer space.[1][5]
Imminent and the 2024 hearing
His memoir, Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs, published by HarperCollins on 20 August 2024, debuted at number one on The New York Times best-seller list. In it he describes a secret crash-retrieval program and claims that non-human bodies were recovered at Roswell.[1][6] On 13 November 2024 he testified to the House Oversight Committee that the government had secretly retrieved craft and bodies; the Pentagon said it had found no verifiable evidence for this.[1][7]
Criticism
Critics point to the lack of physical evidence and to cases where images he promoted turned out to show ordinary objects: a 2024 "mothership" photo he linked to the U.S. embassy in Romania was traced to a reflected light fixture, and footage he described as showing an object near Mars was found to be publicity film from the Soviet Phobos 2 probe. A former colleague has accused him of fabricating information. Journalist Keith Kloor, who first reported favourably on him, later questioned his account of his AATIP role.[1][4]
On the UAP Timeline
- Collins Elite (11 March 1998) — Nick Redfern's source says a group of officials believed UAP were demonic.
- Will Miller on senior officials kept in the dark (2000) — A retired Navy commander says senior officials are kept away from UAP knowledge.
- DARPA Advanced Aerospace System Concepts (June 2008) — A DARPA budget line describing advanced aerospace concepts becomes public.
- Kona Blue (February 2011) — A BAASS director reports to the DIA program about UAP studies.
- Sekret Machines (5 April 2016) — DeLonge publishes the novel Sekret Machines, which he says advisers helped shape.
- DeLonge's research groups (2016) (31 August 2016) — Tom DeLonge says he became involved with groups studying crashed craft and biology.
- DeLonge's advisers on Joe Rogan (26 October 2017) — DeLonge suggests on a podcast that senior officials and executives advise him.
- Elizondo on shoot-downs and recoveries (2019) (15 March 2019) — Lue Elizondo is asked about shoot-downs and recoveries and doesn't answer directly.
- TTSA Senate briefings (12 July 2019) — DeLonge says To The Stars spent 18 months briefing the Senate and committees.
- Elizondo's secure-room meetings (2020) (19 July 2020) — Lue Elizondo says he met lawmakers in a secure room about UAP.
- Greer's Elizondo vehicle story (19 May 2021) — Steven Greer says he heard Elizondo was in a facility holding an alien vehicle.
- Elizondo on interference with AATIP (26 May 2021) — Elizondo says some officials interfered with AATIP's work.
- Elizondo on a 1962 nuclear test retrieval (10 June 2021) — Elizondo responds to a question about an ocean crash retrieval during a 1962 nuclear test.
- Coulthart on Elizondo's oversight role (29 June 2021) — Journalist Ross Coulthart says a source described Elizondo's role reviewing secret programs.
- Elizondo on rogue programs (2021) (2 September 2021) — Elizondo says he saw no UAP programs in secret program oversight; any would be rogue.
- Daniel Sheehan on post-war control of UAP information (October 2021) — Elizondo's lawyer Daniel Sheehan describes how UAP information has been controlled since WWII.
- Elizondo on unfair corporate advantage (21 October 2021) — Elizondo says alien technology could give one company an unfair advantage over another.
- 1962 nuclear test UFO records reply (29 July 2022) — A FOIA reply suggests files exist on UFOs and a 1962 nuclear test but need expert review.
- Elizondo's Space Force contract (23 August 2022) — The Pentagon confirms Elizondo works for the U.S. Space Force.
- Puerto Rico underwater object (September 2022) — Elizondo describes a helicopter crew seeing a dark object underwater near Puerto Rico.
- Elizondo and the Mansfield Amendment (13 October 2022) — Elizondo highlights the Mansfield Amendment, which limited military research funding.
References
- Luis Elizondo — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program", The New York Times (16 Dec 2017) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- "The Pentagon's Secret Search for UFOs", Politico (16 Dec 2017) · politico.com · archived copy
- Keith Kloor, "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?", The Intercept (1 Jun 2019) · theintercept.com · archived copy
- "This man ran the Pentagon's secretive UFO programme for a decade", GQ (9 Nov 2021) · gq-magazine.co.uk · archived copy
- "A Memoir Offers an Insider's Perspective Into the Pentagon's U.F.O. Hunt", The New York Times (16 Aug 2024) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- "Startling claims made at UFO hearing in Congress, but lack direct evidence", The Guardian (13 Nov 2024) · theguardian.com · 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.
No discussion yet.