BAASS "back door" approach
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 4

| Date | 24 December 2008 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, Harold Puthoff |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 169 |
| Year | 2008 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2008 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 13 |
BAASS "back door" approach — A BAASS team member says he tried to get 'back door' access to an aerospace contractor.
According to Jacques Vallée's journals, in December 2008 a member of the BAASS team told him he was cultivating contacts at an aerospace contractor he believed held UFO hardware, hoping to gain "back door" access since official channels hadn't worked.
The entry shows that AAWSAP staff were actively trying to find and reach any hidden programs, consistent with the disputed Wilson/Davis notes and with Hal Puthoff's belief that hardware was held by contractors.
Nothing came of the effort publicly. In 2024, the Pentagon's AARO said in its historical report that it found no evidence of such a program, while some former AAWSAP officials maintain they were blocked from accessing it.
People and topics

- BAASS — The Bigelow Aerospace division that carried out the AAWSAP contract.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
- Wilson–Davis notes — Wilson–Davis notes
- Harold Puthoff — Physicist who co-founded the SRI remote-viewing research and later worked on AAWSAP and To The Stars Academy.
- AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
On the Timeline

- Cape Canaveral Chronicles (3 December 2008) — An alleged former NASA employee claims a saucer landed near Kennedy Space Center.
- Obama White House meeting interest (2008) (24 December 2008) — Puthoff tells Vallée the White House is interested in a meeting about the phenomenon.
See every 2008 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP/AAWSAP) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · 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 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
- 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.
No discussion yet.