NNSA rescues the JASON group
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 25 April 2019 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic) |
| People | Luis Alvarez, William Steinman |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 192 |
| Year | 2019 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2019 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 9 |
In April 2019 the U.S. Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) moved to keep the JASON scientific advisory group running after the Pentagon let its long-standing contract with the group lapse.[1][2]
JASON
JASON is a group of independent scientists, dating from the late 1950s, that advises the U.S. government on sensitive scientific and technical questions; much of its work is classified. It is administered by the MITRE Corporation, and its studies influenced issues from Vietnam-era technology to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.[1]
The lapse
The Pentagon allowed its contract for JASON, run through the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, to expire on 31 March 2019, with a final task order ending in April; it cited cost savings and said JASON's open-ended structure no longer made sense. The decision came to light at a congressional hearing with NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, who praised JASON's reports.[1]
The rescue
The NNSA posted a notice of intent for a short-term, sole-source contract with MITRE to support JASON through 31 January 2020, as JASON's work was important to the nuclear weapons program; studies under consideration covered the cybersecurity of operating equipment, nuclear detonation detection and plutonium ageing. Congress later directed the Pentagon to continue using JASON.[1][2][3]
UAP connections
The testimony notes that no official documents link JASON to UAP. However, physicist Luis Alvarez, a JASON member, sat on the CIA's 1953 Robertson Panel, and researcher William Steinman claimed Alvarez told him in 1986 that he would not discuss his involvement with UFO matters. JASON did evaluate high-frequency gravitational waves in 2008 and the "Havana Syndrome" recordings in 2018.[4][5]
People and topics
- JASON — An elite group of scientists that advises the U.S. government.
- MITRE Corporation — A federally funded research center that administers the JASON group.
- Department of Energy — The U.S. department that runs the nuclear weapons laboratories.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Luis Alvarez — Nobel physicist who sat on the 1953 Robertson Panel and was a member of the JASON group.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Robertson Panel — Robertson Panel
- William Steinman — Researcher who corresponded with Robert Sarbacher and Eric Walker.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- Elizondo on shoot-downs and recoveries (2019) (15 March 2019) — Lue Elizondo is asked about shoot-downs and recoveries and doesn't answer directly.
- Eric Davis on underfunded reverse-engineering (30 April 2019) — Eric Davis says crashes happened and reverse engineering is split into small, underfunded efforts.
See every 2019 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Nuclear weapons agency moves to save JASON advisory group", Defense News (25 Apr 2019) · defensenews.com · archived copy
- "Pentagon terminates JASON contract", Federation of American Scientists · fas.org · archived copy
- "Secretive group of elite scientists saved from Pentagon", Gizmodo · gizmodo.com · archived copy
- Robertson Panel — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- JASON (advisory group) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- npr.org · npr.org · archived copy
- amazon.com · amazon.com · archived copy
- inteltoday.org · inteltoday.org · archived copy
- amazon.com · amazon.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.
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