DIA interest in Skinwalker Ranch
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
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| Date | 21 October 2007 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic) |
| People | Robert Bigelow, Jacques Vallée, James Lacatski, Harry Reid, Colm Kelleher, George Knapp |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 165 |
| Year | 2007 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2007 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 17 |
In 2007 the Defense Intelligence Agency's interest in Skinwalker Ranch, Robert Bigelow's property in Utah's Uinta Basin, set in motion the chain of events that led to the Pentagon-funded Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). According to Jacques Vallée's journals, Bigelow told him in October 2007 that the DIA had written to him about the ranch after a DIA official visited and saw something unexplained.[1][2]
James Lacatski
The official was James Lacatski, a DIA scientist and intelligence analyst specialising in rocket and space technology. According to the program's insiders, in early 2006 Lacatski and a colleague, Jay Stratton, had discussed whether repeated UFO intrusions at sensitive military sites might be a national-security threat. Lacatski's account says he wrote to Bigelow on about 19 June 2007; the DIA later told a Freedom of Information requester that it could find no record of the letter. With DIA approval, Lacatski visited the ranch with Bigelow, and he and Stratton outlined a possible program to investigate UFOs and related phenomena.[3][4]
From visit to program
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Bigelow put Lacatski in touch with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Reid, with Senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, added $22 million to the 2008 supplemental appropriations for the effort, and in 2008 the DIA awarded the AAWSAP contract to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a new Bigelow subsidiary.[2][5]
The ranch in AAWSAP
Skinwalker Ranch had been studied since 1996 by Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science, whose staff reported strange lights, animal deaths and other phenomena there. Under AAWSAP it became one of the program's study sites alongside the investigation of UFO reports and the commissioning of 38 technical reports on advanced physics. The ranch's role is one reason critics have questioned whether the program was a serious defence study.[2][6]
Publicity
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AAWSAP became public in December 2017 through The New York Times. Lacatski, BAASS deputy administrator Colm Kelleher and journalist George Knapp described the program, including Lacatski's ranch visit, in their 2021 book Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.[2][4][7]
People and topics
- Robert Bigelow — Businessman who founded NIDS and Bigelow Aerospace and ran the AAWSAP contract.
- Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
- Skinwalker Ranch — A Utah ranch known for reports of strange events, studied by NIDS and AAWSAP.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- James Lacatski — DIA official who started AAWSAP 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.
- Harry Reid — Senate Majority Leader who arranged funding for AAWSAP.
- BAASS — The Bigelow Aerospace division that carried out the AAWSAP contract.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Colm Kelleher — Biochemist who helped run NIDS and BAASS and co-wrote Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.
- George Knapp — Las Vegas journalist who broke the Bob Lazar story and co-wrote Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.
- Skinwalkers at the Pentagon — A 2021 book about AAWSAP by Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp.
- The New York Times — The newspaper that revealed AATIP in December 2017.
On the Timeline
- Puthoff locates the hardware program (2007) (4 August 2007) — Puthoff tells Vallée he thinks he knows where the secret UFO hardware program hides.
- Fort Worth HFGW jamming claim (2008) — An anonymous website claims UAP communications jamming was tested near Fort Worth.
See every 2007 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
- "New book uncovers secrets of government-funded UFO investigation program", KLAS 8 News Now / Mystery Wire · 8newsnow.com · 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
- Skinwalker Ranch — 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
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.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.
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