THE LIES THAT RULED THE WEB - PART 1
How the Pentagon tried to control information on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)
BEFORE THE PENTAGON UAP Task Force, there was the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a program that investigated anomalous aerospace vehicles. The Public Affairs Office handling of the Pentagon’s defunct ‘UFO program’ that ran from 2007-2012, is a complete disaster putting it quite bluntly. There actually comes a point where you must really consider the group mindset of military intelligence think-tank individuals that have been assigned to manage the ‘AATIP’ situation. Despite the severe contradictions in both official statements and evidence, the Pentagon are still holding firm with their mixed-message position towards both Luis Elizondo and AATIP in a post UAPTF world. The difficult question is therefore asked: Is there a unwitting release of false information as a result of classified material, or are we seeing something more sinister and calculated? To answer we look back at the AATIP timeline.
With regards to AATIP and the Pentagon, and as reported by John Greenewald at the BlackVault and others, the issue comes from the Pentagon infamously putting out seemingly mixed messages as far back as 2017. In some cases, it is thought that they have actively mislead and even stonewalled certain FOIA researchers, journalists and activists who were trying to establish a narrative over the actual remit of the mysterious ‘Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program’ (AATIP).
‘They (Pentagon) have flip-flopped on several issues and provided information that conflicts with statements from individuals who worked with the program. In some cases, the DoD has given answers counter to what former Senator Harry Reid, who founded the program, has claimed.’
– Rojas, R., Open Minds, (11/08/2020)
Are you asking the question as to why they would they do this? Possibly, the re-classified elements of AATIP might not allow for FOIAs to be accessible to the public or even Pentagon spokespersons? Possibly AATIP remains unclassified and a rogue group of individuals within DOD are actively and quietly blocking the truth? These are questions to answers we don’t have. What we do have, however, is a strong case to suggest someone is ensuring the Pentagon’s official position on AATIP is less then accurate on various issues.
December, 2017
To start the timeline, let’s look closely at what was said on record. The official statement of the Pentagon in 2017 was that it never actually claimed to run a ‘UFO’ program, nor did it say aliens or anything anomalous. Is this important? Yes. The confirmation that AATIP was a UAP (UFO) program came through the multiple sources of the New York Times and Politico, and through Senator Reid, Luis Elizondo and various undisclosed DOD officials. One might argue, the Pentagon (DIA, OUDSI, et al) was blindsided in a tactical move that saw them admit to the existence of a program which was semi-hidden from them, aka, they didn’t know what they were admitting to.
The true nature of AATIP and the videos may have been shielded to enable an unclassified element to break free? Is that why we see ‘Balloons’, ‘Drones’ (UAS) and the like on the now infamous and heavily debated DD1910 form. We don’t know for sure.
What we do know for sure, is that whatever AATIP was, it started it’s unclassified public life on Saturday the 16th of December, 2017.
‘For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times.’
– Keen, L., Blumenthal, R. and Cooper, H., New York Times, (16/12/2017)
Initially, Pentagon spokesman Thomas Crosson confirmed to the New York Times in 2017 that the program was dissolved of funding in 2012 by DOD, due to ‘higher priority issues that merited funding’.
Politico had similar investigation conclusions, with Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White confirming AATIP ‘existed and was run by Elizondo,’, however, Politico journalist Bryan Bender went on to source an undisclosed DOD employee that suggested there was seemingly nothing to AATIP besides paperwork.
From the opening day we see contradictions within DOD on AATIP.
Three options, the first is that these statements were made by the Pentagon spokespersons and DOD officials in good faith, meaning they genuinely believed AATIP existed but was a program for investigating foreign (terrestrial) enemy craft. The second option was that the Pentagon spokespersons and DOD officials knew AATIP and Elizondo was UAP/UFO, acknowledging only half truths. The third unlikely option is that AATIP wasn’t UAP at all and ended in 2012.
‘There was really nothing there that we could justify using taxpayer money,” he added. “We let it die a slow death. It was well-spent money in the beginning.’
– Unnamed DOD employee quote. Bender, B., Politico (16/12/2017)
For me, this was a very interesting and telling statement taken from the 2017 Politico article, referring to that of an individual within the DOD. At this point, a theme of significant contradiction emerged in those early months and years which continued right up until the time of writing in 2020. The Department of Defense was unable to keep its story straight when it came to AATIP, with multiple issues arising across various platforms. This was just the very beginning.
January, 2018
More issues came in January, the very title of AATIP itself provided a war across the field of UFO researchers. Was AATIP ‘Aviation’ it or was it ‘Aerospace’? The then confirmed AATIP director, Luis Elizondo and the New York Times both confirmed it as ‘Aerospace’, whilst Politico stated ‘Aviation’. After much debate it eventually turned out to be indeed ‘Aerospace’, following documentation from Sen. Harry Reid to William Lynn 111, that would be released by George Knapp in the July of 2018. Additionally, other congressional documentation would also verified ‘Aerospace’.
The on-record statements by Senator Harry Reid, who created the program would also go along way to explaining AATIP’s true nature and at the same time cleared up a lot of manufactured confusion.
The conflicting statements didn’t stop researchers researching, in fact it made them more determined. Long term researcher, John Greenewald, pointed out that AATIP was not mentioned in the usual government places you might expect to find data on such unclassified programs (6), whether this was a case of AATIP not being FOIA-friendly? Was AATIP just a case of the program being classified to the point it wouldn’t allow for data to flow to the public? We had more questions than answers.
‘AATIP did not appear in Intellipedia until after the NY Times published their story (2017). However, the author just based their information off of the newspapers that reported on AATIP. Why is that? It is unclear.’
March, 2018
In the March of 2018, John Greenewald again further pursued information on AATIP, this time sending an FOIA to the Navy, following an interview by Open Minds with Luis Elizondo.
The response was a complete denial from the Navy that any records existed with regards to AATIP. The response stated that there was ‘not a single photograph, video, report, letter, or memo existed within the Navy’s possession’ revealed Greenewald’s research.
April, 2018
In the early days of April, the Blackvault and John Greenewald reached out to Maj. Audricia Harris (Pentagon spokesperson) to get further clarification on AATIP. She stated that the program ended in 2012 which was already known. Also, she stated that the 3 ‘UFO’ videos were not released by the DOD in relation to AATIP (that was new information, and a whole other convoluted story). And finally, it was stated that the the aim of the program was to investigate ‘far-term foreign advanced aerospace threats’, again, no mention of anything genuinely ‘anomalous’ and no mention of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP).
Email exchange in 2018 between Maj. Harris (Pentagon Spokesperson) and the Blackvault.
Researcher Paul Dean made an intriguing claim in the later days of April of 2018. He stated that he had been in contact with a senior DOD program leader back in March who had confirmed something regarding the program. This anonymous source stated that AATIP was almost a nickname for the a overall program and officially went by the name of the ‘Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program,’ (AAWSAP).
‘In March, 2018, I was contacted by someone who claimed to be in a senior defence program leadership role. He stated that the UFO program on everyone’s lips was not officially called the “Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program” (AATIP). This was, apparently, a loose, almost ad hoc term for one part of a somewhat larger defence program. The true name of the overall program, or at least the official starting title, was the “Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program” (AAWSAP), or something extremely similar.’
– Dean, P., The “Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program” (26/04/2018)
May, 2018
The early months of 2018 had produced the revelations of another program with disclosures from researcher Paul Dean (29), as stated already, the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program (AAWSAP) caused more confusion. Similar to AATIP, the new program’s definition again was another highly confusing government body that was a sister program to AATIP, or was born from AATIP, or was the bigger program, or was just a contract, depending on who you believe.
The link between the two programs would provide further bewilderment from Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Harris to Roger Glassel in April of 2018.
‘Roger Glassel: My question is what the relationship is between the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications [Program] (AAWSAP) program and the AATIP program?”
Maj. Harris responded the following.
“Hi Roger,
Same program. Just an alternative name for AATIP….…AATIP was funded in the July 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Bill (a Sen Harry Reid add). Its mandate, as outlined in a 2009 letter from Reid to DSD, was to assess “far-term foreign advanced aerospace threats the United States,” including anomalous events (such as sightings of aerodynamic vehicles engaged in extreme maneuvers, with unique phenomenology, reported by U.S. Navy pilots or other credible sources).
AATIP was terminated in 2012 due to lack of real progress and concerns about the viability of the program.
I don’t any anything further to provide you.
Sincerely,
Maj. Harris”
Very important point here. Roger Glassel gets Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Harris to confirm AATIP was AAWSAP in April 2018, and that it investigated objects such as those reported by the Navy with ‘unique phenomenology’.
Again, John Greenewald of the Black Vault reached out to the NSA for clarification around the same time, but he was being stonewalled with AAWSAP as he had been early on with AATIP.
‘In addition, I also filed a request on May 2, 2018, for Intellipedia entries pertaining to the “Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP)” This is the name that is rumored to either be the precursor project that ultimately was renamed and became AATIP, or it could also be the larger project that AATIP was born out of. Regardless of what the origin is, the NSA also gave a “no records” response on this project name, and the fact there are zero references to it.’
JULY, 2018
Mr. Reid said in a letter to William Lynn III, a deputy defense secretary at the time, requesting that it be designated a “restricted special access program” limited to a few listed officials. NYT, 16.12.2017
July of 2018, and investigate journalist George Knapp was able to release an important document. The Harry Reid/William Lynn 111 letter showed that AATIP was ‘Aerospace’ and that in 2009 Senator Reid had requested AATIP apply for a ‘Special Access Program’ status. It was denied (one theory is that if it had achieved SAP status we might might have never heard of AATIP).
So despite the run-around for researchers, we in July 2018 had official statements on record from Pentagon spokespeople saying officially that AATIP was ran by Elizondo and investigated vehicles with extreme manoeuvrability and unique phenomenology as seen by credible Navy reports.
August, 2018
In the August of 2018, the Elizondo resignation letter was leaked to Twitter by the now defunct group UAPinfo and @Jay09784691. This was not a verified release and came about by an accidental open website belonging to Christopher Mellon (TTSA colleague and close associate to Luis Elizondo). The decision was taken by myself and others in the group UAPinfo to delete the published article containing the resignation letter (and other sensitive details) upon discovering the open website was accidental and we did not wish to handle potentially classified information. Even though the Mellon website closed within the same afternoon, by this point it was too late, our extended group had published details to the internet for several hours before deleting the article. The letter had already been copied and pasted.
Luis Elizondo resignation letter leaked to social media by @Jay09784691 and UAPinfo (Now defunct)
In Part 2 will we look at the important events from 2019 onwards.
