AATIP — Pentagon UAP Program Revealed 2017

On December 16, 2017, the New York Times published a front-page investigation revealing the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) — a classified Pentagon program tasked with investigating UAP that had operated from 2007 to 2012 with $22 million in congressionally earmarked funding. The program was established at the direction of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, primarily through the efforts of his chief of staff, and was administered through a contract with Bigelow Aerospace. The article was published simultaneously with the release of three previously classified videos — the Tic Tac, Gimbal, and GoFast clips — authenticated by the Pentagon. The revelation that the US Department of Defense had maintained a secret UAP program for five years, had determined that the phenomenon warranted classified investigation, and had captured video of encounters that could not be explained marked the most significant shift in the official US government relationship with the UAP issue since Project Blue Book was closed in 1969. Former AATIP director Luis Elizondo, who resigned in protest at the lack of senior attention to the issue, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon, participated in the disclosure. The New York Times revelations triggered the establishment of the UAP Task Force, AARO, and ultimately the Congressional hearings of 2023.