AAWSAP special access program request
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 29 November 2009 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, Colm Kelleher, James Lacatski, David Grusch |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 170 |
| Year | 2009 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2009 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 16 |
In 2009 supporters of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) sought to have it designated a special access program (SAP), a status that would have given it tighter security and, they hoped, access to other classified UFO-related information. The request was refused.[1][2]
The request
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According to Jacques Vallée's journals, in November 2009 Colm Kelleher told him that AAWSAP staff now had their security clearances, but that the Air Force and other agencies would not talk to them about UFO matters until a SAP was set up to protect the information. Senator Harry Reid had already written to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn on 24 June 2009, saying the program had made "much progress" and recommending that parts of it be made a restricted SAP.[1][2][3]
Refusal
Defense Intelligence Agency records include a "Review of Special Access Program Request" dated 13 November 2009, and a meeting between DIA, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and Reid on 19 November appears to be when the request was turned down. According to one timeline, a DIA review found insufficient grounds to classify the program as a SAP, though it said the work might be of merit to other departments, and in December 2009 defence officials told Reid that AAWSAP could not be carried out within the intelligence community.[3][4]
Consequences
Without SAP status, the program's leaders say, they could not reach the most sensitive information, whatever it might have been. In 2011 former participants in the program urged the Department of Homeland Security to take over the work as a special access program called Kona Blue, saying they had been informed there was "a body of previous work"; it was terminated in December 2011 without receiving any funding or material.[4][5]
Later debate
The failure to obtain SAP status is described in Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (2021) as a key reason AAWSAP struggled. In 2023 whistleblower David Grusch argued that UAP programs were hidden inside existing special access programs, which would explain why outsiders could not get in; the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office said in 2024 that it had found no evidence of such programs.[2][6]
People and topics
- BAASS — The Bigelow Aerospace division that carried out the AAWSAP contract.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Colm Kelleher — Biochemist who helped run NIDS and BAASS and co-wrote Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.
- AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Special access program — A U.S. classified program with access limited beyond normal secrecy rules.
- Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
- James Lacatski — DIA official who started AAWSAP and co-wrote Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.
- Skinwalkers at the Pentagon — A 2021 book about AAWSAP by Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp.
- David Grusch — Former intelligence officer who testified in 2023 that the U.S. has recovered non-human craft.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
On the Timeline
- Sunnyvale and the Roswell materials theory (12 September 2009) — Eric Davis suggests Roswell materials may have been held at Lockheed in Sunnyvale.
- Underwater Tic Tac near Haiti (January 2010) — A Navy sailor sees a Tic Tac-shaped object under the water near Haiti.
See every 2009 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) documentation", The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Justin Snead, "Timeline of modern UFO investigations: AAWSAP to AARO" · justinsnead.substack.com · archived copy
- "DoD releases 'KONA BLUE' documents", The Black Vault (16 Apr 2024) · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- "Pentagon UFO office finds 'no empirical evidence' for alien technology in new report", Space.com (Mar 2024) · space.com · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Glowing auras and 'black money': the Pentagon's mysterious UFO program — New York Times (2017) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- The origins of AAWSAP — Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
- DIA FOIA reading room (AAWSAP technical reports) · dia.mil · 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 Report on the Historical Record, Volume I — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
- amazon.com · amazon.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Robert Bigelow — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Jacques Vallée — 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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