Thursday, April 7, 2022

The Pentagon UFO Program: Documents Released


Update: The AAWSAP - AATIP documents on the DIA website under the heading "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” were temporarily removed. After two weeks the folder was (mostly) restored under the new name, "Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program."

John Greenewald shared this statement on Twitter from Pentagon Spokesperson Susan Gough:
"DIA mistakenly selected UAP as the tab label for those documents.  We’re working with them to change it to a more accurate name. As we have said before, while the AAWSAP contract allowed for research drawn from a wide variety of sources, including reports of UAP, the examination of UAP observations was not the purpose of AATIP nor the AAWSAP contract."
As a result, the links below to the DIA site for the documents no longer lead to the intended results. They will be updated once the documents are re-posted by the DIA. For now, use the link to the collection hosted by The Black Vault at the end of the main article.



Documents recently released from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) provide more insight into the inner workings of the alleged Pentagon UFO program. The DIA’s FOIA Electronic Reading Room has been updated with a section for “"Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program." About 50 documents relating to AAWSAP/AATIP recently released under the Freedom of Information Act are now hosted there.

The disclosure finally makes it clear that the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program (AAWSAP) and the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) were the same entity. AATIP was the “Unclassified Nickname” used by Senator Harry Reid when asking for Special Access Program status and funding for the project.

More than 30 of the documents are the subject studies, Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs), subcontracted contracted by Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies (BAASS) to fulfill the requirements of the primary objective of their contract with the DIA. The other documents include the contract proposal, PowerPoint presentations on AAWSAP progress reports, and correspondence requesting and rejecting SAP status for AAWSAP/AATIP. As of this writing, there is no documentation that AATIP existed beyond the termination of the contract with Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies (BAASS) in 2012.


Was AAWSAP/AATIP a U.S. government UFO Program?

The 2021 book, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon was written by two participants of AAWSAP, James T. Lacatski and Colm A. Kelleher, along with journalist George Knapp. The authors state that AAWSAP was definitely a UFO program, but it also studied associated phenomena, such as the strange paranormal events reported at Skinwalker Ranch. In an appendix at the end of the book, it lists over a hundred reports BAASS produced under the contract, all supposedly delivered to the DIA. James Lacatski’s interest in the topic caused him to contact Robert Bigelow and work with Sen. Harry Reid to develop the program with the government.
The AAWSAP contractor bid form 

The BAASS contract with the DIA contains no reference to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UFOs or any such terminology. If it was a UFO project, it was camouflaged. As a result, there has been speculation that AAWSAP was just what the language stated, a study into future developments in aerospace technology that could pose a threat to the US. It’s clear that Bigelow was conducting UFO research with funding under the contract, and that Lacatski approved it. The question is: Was the UFO research secret outside the program? Apparently, yes.

The newly released documents show that the DIA was aware of only the DIRDs and made their decisions about the program based on those studies. From the DIA visit with Senator Harry Reid, Nov. 19, 2009:

“To our knowledge, the senator did not receive copies of these draft reports [DIRDS], although he was aware of the general topic list. Thus, we can not find a direct link between the content of the reports and his letter.” [Later] “Senator Reid cites the ‘identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings' that will 'require extraordinary protection.’ Although most of the unclassified reports discuss unconventional aerospace technologies, DIA is unaware as to which ones the senator believes are sensitive.”

As a result, their conclusion was:
“Based on the content of the delivered FY09 and expect FY10 technical reports, DIA can not find sufficient grounds under DoD regulations to establish a restricted SAP.” 
They did state however, that if the project moved instead into technological “research, development and acquisition (RDA) effort that lies outside the DoD Intelligence Community's purview.”


Where Did the Money Go?

To the DIA, the DIRDs were all that AAWSAP produced, but there was something justifying further expenses for FY10 (fiscal year 2010). In the PowerPoint presentation from mid to late 2009, “Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Contract – Update,” slide 7 is “Option Year 1 (FY10) Deliverables.” At the bottom, it contains a box stating:

“FY10 $12M also covers BAASS overhead, staff, facilities, IT, security, databases, etc.”


In a previous article, The Pentagon UFO Money Trail, we tried to trace how the $22M was used by BAASS. That’ll give a more comprehensive look at what was treated as miscellaneous associated expenses.


There’s No Such thing as Bad Publicity

Media focus has centered on the 38-page DIRD authored by Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green, “Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects On Human Biological Tissues.” It’s the only of the documents that explicitly refers to UFO research. “Appendix A: Schuessler Catalog of UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects (Frequency Distribution)” relies on data from a UFO book:
“The Schuessler catalog, UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, was complied in 1996 by MUFON's past Director, John F. Schuessler. Covering the time period 1873 - 1994, the catalog comprises a summary of 356 selected cases of UFO-induced physiological effects on humans during close encounters.”

The appendix included a frequency listing of over 50 physiological effects allegedly experienced in UFO encounters and abductions, ranging from skin discomfort to electromagnetic effects on vehicles. The tabloid media focused on the sensational and quoted the passage mentioning the case of an “unaccounted-for pregnancy.” 


As Dr. Adam Kehoe noted in a series on Twitter, Schuessler’s book UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, 
“… is a catalog that is derived from reports in ‘newspapers, magazines, UFO organization journals,’ etc… The quality of sources is often poor, including publications like National EnquirerFlying Saucer Review… The problem is structural. This is not data: it is a collection of stories.”
Kehoe concluded by discussing Green’s paper and the other DIRDs:
“Returning to the DIA paper, the use of the MUFON material is not a throwaway reference… Because these documents were produced as the result of a DIA contract, they have an aura of mystery and authority. However, chasing the references shows weak underpinnings.”
Of the 1500 or so documents released, Dr. Green’s paper represents just about 2.5% of them. Yet the sensational UFO material within has gotten all the press. John Schuessler was a key member of Robert Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), and in his leadership role in MUFON, the facilitator for their contract with BAASS to provide UFO data and investigations. It’s poetic justice that Schuessler’s work is responsible for the AATIP story getting tabloid press. It's the kind of sketchy data that Bigelow’s project was founded on, so in that sense, maybe the most accurate portrayal yet.

The documents are available for now for us to read and judge for ourselves.

You can find the AAWSAP/AATIP documents at:

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s FOIA Electronic Reading Room, section: “"Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.


The DIA’s publication of the AAWSAP/AATIP documents is a bit jumbled. John Greenewald at The Black Vault has published a page that is more user-friendly organized f, arranging the documents in chronological order and displaying both the DIA file name and title or description. The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) Documentation.


For a deeper examination into the AAWSAP and AATIP saga, see the earlier articles at Blue Blurry Lines, many of which were co-authored by Roger Glassel:

Part one uncovered a trove of information about the origins of AATIP, about the contract between the Pentagon and Robert Bigelow (BAASS), and secret subcontracts with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to produce technical papers and furnish them with case files and access to investigation sites. Documents were reproduced from the MUFON Advanced Technology Establishment (MATE) and the contracts between the group and Bigelow.

The Pentagon UFO Program’s Secret Partner March 17, 2020

In the second part of the article, participants of the secret MUFON contracts spoke about their involvement and the fact that most of them were unaware that Bigelow’s sponsor was secretly the US government.

Breaking the Silence: AATIP's Secret Partner Speaks March 23, 2020


Continuing the examination, we probed the $22 million government funding for Robert Bigelow’s company under the AAWSAP contract. We attempted to trace where the money was spent.

A related article examined Dr. Kit Green's DIRD from the perspective of the Cash-Landrum UFO case. 

2 comments:

  1. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS AS MUCH ABOUT UFO'S AND UAP'S AS THEY WOULD LIKE TO MAKE BELIEVE THAT THEY KNOW.THE ENTITIES THAT CONTROL THESE ANOMALIES ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE THIS KNOWLEDGE.LITTLE BY LITTLE THEY'RE SHARING WITH US THIS KNOWLEDGE.SOON WE MAY BE GIVEN A LOT MORE.PAUL YOUNG- THE MESSENGER.

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    1. the British ufologist Nick Redfern has after using the Freedom of Information Act to access as many official documents as possible arrived at the conclusion that the US military+intelligence agencies probably do not know much more than the ufologists do...

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