AATIP
Name used for both a funded Defense Intelligence Agency aerospace study and a later informal Pentagon effort to investigate military reports of unidentified phenomena.
The Defense Intelligence Agency established the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) in 2009 to study potential long-term aerospace threats. Congress appropriated $22 million for the work across fiscal years 2008 and 2010 at the urging of Senator Harry Reid. Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies received the research contract.
The name Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) appeared in records associated with AAWSAP. According to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, people within the Defense Department later used AATIP for an informal effort to examine military sightings after AAWSAP ended.
Luis Elizondo has described working on those investigations. In his October 2017 resignation memorandum to Defense Secretary James Mattis, Elizondo said he was leaving the Pentagon because he believed officials were giving too little attention to reports he considered a potential national security concern.
Public attention grew after press coverage in December 2017. In April 2020 the Defense Department officially released three Navy videos, including footage from the USS Nimitz encounter and the Gimbal video. The release authenticated the footage and left the phenomena unidentified.
Bibliography:
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. (2024). Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume I.
- Elizondo, L. (2017, October 4). Resignation memorandum to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
- U.S. Department of Defense. (2020, April 27). Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos.