Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program
In December of 2017, the government stated that it had been officially investigating UFO reports since 2007; making it the most recent UFO study. With a budget of over twenty million dollars, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was initiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2007 and was led by Luis Elizondo.
Elizondo claimed that, apart from investigating UFO reports, the government was in possession of metal alloys that were extraterrestrial in origin. In an interview with Alejandro Rojas, Elizondo stated that these metals have “strange isotopic values, indicating it is not from earth.” 154 Elizondo also stated that this material was most definitely not terrestrial and couldn’t have originated from technologically advanced countries such as Russia or China.
“The data we have been seeing is so advanced it is hard enough for us to replicate our observations with our understanding of quantum mechanics,” Elizondo said. “But for this type of technology to be available when we first start seeing it, I think is beyond improbable, I’m not going to say impossible, but I think it is really, really unlikely to come from another country like Russia or China.”
Elizondo continued, “It leads to the next quest if it’s not ours and not theirs, then whose is it? I don’t know whose it is and that is why we are asking the questions and why we did what we did for the last 10 years and why we need to continue doing what we are doing because we need to ask those questions. We don’t know who they belong to, we don’t know who they are or what they are, but we know they are real.” 155
Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon in 2017 because he believed the government was concealing information regarding the UFO phenomenon,and was not properly investigating UFO reports. With that being said, Elizondo’s journey to raise awareness on the phenomenon continued when he joined To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science, which is the company that released the GIMBAL, Tic Tac, and Go Fast videos showing military jets chasing UFOs. In his resignation letter, Elizondo claimed that the Department of Defense and other organizations within the military were not taking the phenomenon seriously, even though these objects posed a threat to national security. Elizondo’s resignation letter stated: “Despite overwhelming evidence at both the unclassified and classified levels, certain individuals in the department remain staunchly opposed to further research on what could be a tactical threat to our pilots, sailors and soldiers, and perhaps even an existential threat to our national security. … I humbly submit my resignation in hopes it will encourage you to ask the hard questions: “who else knows?”, “what are their capabilities?” and “why aren’t we spending more time and effort on this issue?” 156
The reason why the project was terminated was due to the lack of finances. Interestingly enough, the same explanation was used for Project Blue Book. Tom Crosson, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, stated the following when asked about AATIP: “it was determined that there were other, higher priority issues that merited funding and it was in the best interest of the Department of Defense to make a change.” 157
Although AATIP was officially terminated in 2012, I firmly believe that the air force is still investigating the UFO phenomenon, and is spending millions of dollars on the study, but simply under a different name. When there is footage, such as the videos released by To the Stars Academy that clearly show an aircraft of extraterrestrial origin, it is difficult to believe that the air force simply disregards these reports and assumes that they do not pose a threat to national security. As a matter of fact, given that wars are started without any hesitation or for vain reasons, I firmly believe that the phenomenon is being studied profoundly, and attempts are being made for the military to obtain the technology that these beings possess, and is even attempting to duplicate and reverse engineer it.
154. Alejandro Rojas, interview with Luis Elizondo, June 8, 2019.
155. Alejandro Rojas, interview with Luis Elizondo, June 8, 2019.
156. Luis Elizondo, letter of resignation, October 4, 2017, https://www.history.com/news/unidentified-ufo-investigation-documents.
157. Helen Cooper, interview with Thomas Crosston, New York Times, December 16, 2017.