Homeland Security and BAASS (2011)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | June-July 2011 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | James Lacatski |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 174 |
| Year | 2011 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2011 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 13 |
KONA BLUE was a proposed special access programme put forward to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2011 by people associated with the Pentagon's recently cancelled UFO study, AAWSAP, as a successor to that work. DHS briefly established it as a prospective programme before terminating it in early 2012.[1][2]
Background
The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), managed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 2008 and funded through congressional earmarks, was carried out under contract by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), part of Robert Bigelow's company in Nevada. The DIA ended it, citing a lack of merit and of utility in BAASS's products for its mission.[1][3]
The proposal
On 7 February 2011 James Lacatski, the DIA scientist who had run AAWSAP, gave a detailed briefing to colleagues in the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. According to the proposal, KONA BLUE would continue AAWSAP's work to investigate, identify and analyse sensitive materials and technologies, including advanced aerospace vehicles. Interviewees later told the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) that it was meant to protect the retrieval and exploitation of "non-human biologics".[1][2]
Approval and termination
In 2011 the DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology established KONA BLUE as a prospective special access programme, citing claims that relevant information and material existed, congressional interest and possible homeland-security impacts. About six months later the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security disapproved it and ordered its immediate termination, citing doubts about the justification and the information behind it; a DHS letter dates the termination to 10 February 2012.[1][2]
Disclosure
AARO described KONA BLUE in its March 2024 historical report, and in April 2024 the Defense Department released the DHS documents. AARO said the programme never received any material or funding and that no data or material was ever transferred to DHS. Lacatski and his co-authors, whose book Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (2021) describes AAWSAP, dispute AARO's characterisation; Lacatski has said that in 2011 he told a senator and a senior official that the United States possessed a craft of unknown origin.[1][2][4]
People and topics
- 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.
- Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
- AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
- Kona Blue — Kona Blue
- Skinwalkers at the Pentagon — A 2021 book about AAWSAP by Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp.
- James Lacatski — DIA official who started AAWSAP and co-wrote Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.
- AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
- Non-human intelligence — A term for intelligent beings of non-human origin, used in UAP legislation.
On the Timeline
- Chuck Wade's seven New Mexico crashes (26 March 2011) — A researcher presents claims from military sources about UAP crash recoveries.
- CHANI Project (July 2011) — A magazine claims researchers in Africa contacted an entity from a parallel universe.
See every 2011 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "DoD releases KONA BLUE documents", The Black Vault (Apr 2024) · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- "What is Kona Blue? The proposed Las Vegas UFO technology program unveiled", 8 News Now · 8newsnow.com · archived copy
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Kona Blue: insiders reveal how US agencies allegedly involved in legacy UFO programs rattled DHS officials", Liberation Times · liberationtimes.squarespace.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
- AAWSAP documentation (FOIA) — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · 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
- pearl-hifi.com · pearl-hifi.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Robert Bigelow — 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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