The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was an unclassified but unpublicized investigatory effort funded by the United States Government to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP). The program was first made public on December 16, 2017. The program began in 2007, with funding of $22 million over the five years until the available appropriations were ended in 2012. The program began in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to the Department of Defense, the AATIP ended in 2012 after five years, however reporting suggested that U.S. government programs to investigate UFOs continued. This was confirmed in June 2020 with the acknowledgement of a similar military program, the unclassified but previously unreported Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force.
Luis Elizondo, who has claimed to be the AATIP program director, went on to work for To The Stars... Academy of Arts & Science in 2017. Elizondo left the company in 2020.
History
Origins
Initiated by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) as the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP) to study unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP) at the urging of Reid's friend, Nevada billionaire and governmental contractor Robert Bigelow, and with support from the late senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the program began in the DIA in 2007 and was budgeted $22 million over its five years of operation.
The United States Air Force facility known as “Area 51” is located in Reid's home state of Nevada. In the 1970s, after revived interest in the "1947 Roswell UFO incident", “Area 51” was rumored by ufologists and conspiracy theorists to be the US government's storage location for the crashed alien craft for study.
When interviewed in the aftermath of publicity surrounding the AATIP, Reid expressed pride in his accomplishment, and was quoted as saying "I think it's one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I've done something that no one has done before." Reid explained the reasoning behind his sponsorship of the program by saying "I’m interested in science, and in helping the American public understand what the hell is going on" and stated that "hundreds and hundreds of papers" have been available since the program was completed and that "Most all of it, 80 percent at least, is public" adding "I wanted it public, it was made public, and you guys have not even looked at it."
A 2009 letter by Reid was published by KLAS-TV investigative journalists George Knapp and Matt Adams, where the Senator states that AATIP has made "much progress" with the "identification of several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings" that will "likely lead to technology advancements" and recommends the creation of a special access program for specific parts of AATIP.
Leadership and functions
AATIP, through a contract awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), has generated a 494-page report that documents alleged worldwide UFO sightings over several decades. This "Ten Month Report" has not been released to the public but focuses on reports, plans and extensive analysis of unexplained aerial phenomena. According to one former BAASS contractor, the BAASS report was only a sample of the materials provided to the Defense Intelligence Agency as "monthly reports were being sent to the Pentagon, in addition to annual program updates, that were all about UAP or anomalous phenomena.” The program also funded and published 38 studies. Those theoretical studies cover a range of advanced, exotic, and theoretical aerospace topics, ranging from "Detection and High Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities" to "Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions."Among the information that has been released by the program are "several short videos of military jets encountering something they couldn't identify". The release of those videos were part of a campaign by Luis Elizondo, then working for To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, who said that he wanted to shed light on the program. The Navy confirmed the authenticity of the videos stating only that they depict what they consider to be "unidentified aerial phenomena". Susan Gough, a Pentagon spokeswoman, confirmed that the three videos were made by naval aviators and that they are "part of a larger issue of an increased number of training range incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena in recent years.”