ELIZONDO, Luis
Former Pentagon intelligence officer who led the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) from 2010-2017 and became a prominent UFO disclosure advocate after leaving government service.
Luis Elizondo served as a career intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and later worked for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. From 2010 to 2017, he directed AATIP, the Pentagon's classified program investigating "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP) that succeeded Project Blue Book.
Elizondo resigned from the Pentagon in October 2017, citing excessive secrecy and internal resistance to investigating UAP encounters by military personnel. His resignation letter, addressed to Defense Secretary James Mattis, criticized the government's dismissive attitude toward potentially significant national security threats.
After leaving government service, Elizondo joined Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science as Director of Global Security and Special Programs. He appeared in the 2017 New York Times exposé that revealed AATIP's existence and released three Pentagon videos showing unexplained aerial objects encountered by Navy pilots.
Elizondo has testified before Congress and appeared in documentaries advocating for government transparency about UAP encounters. His credibility has been questioned by some Pentagon officials, but his role in bringing military UAP encounters into mainstream discussion is undisputed. He continues to push for declassification of government UAP files and scientific study of the phenomenon.
Bibliography:
- Blumenthal, Ralph, and Leslie Kean. 'Glowing Auras and Black Money.' *New York Times*. December 16, 2017.
- Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs*. 2024.
- Cooper, Helene, et al. 'U.F.O.s That Hummed and Moved Like No Aircraft.' *New York Times*. December 16, 2017.
— EC