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Luis Elizondo is a former employee of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSDI) and a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent. He currently serves as Director of Global Security and Special Programs at To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science.

Biography

Elizondo was head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a $22 million special access program initiated by the Defense Intelligence Agency in order to study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs. Elizondo also claims that the government has recovered "metal alloys and other materials" from these objects. According to the Department of Defense, the AATIP program was ended in 2012 after five years, however reporting suggests that programs to investigate UFO continue.

Elizondo claims he resigned from OUSDI after expressing his concern of what he called "bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets" in all levels of the Department. In his resignation letter, Elizondo wonders why "certain individuals in the Department remain staunchly opposed to further research" of "unusual aerial systems interfering with military weapon platforms and displaying beyond next generation capabilities" despite numerous accounts by the United States Navy and other Services. Elizondo asserts that "underestimating or ignoring these potential threats is not in the best interest of the Department no matter the level of political contention."

In 2017 Elizondo joined To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science and led the release of three videos made by pilots from the United States Navy taken during the USS Nimitz UFO incident and the USS Theodore Roosevelt UFO incidents. The release was accompanied by the disclosure to the public of AATIP.

In April 2019, in the aftermath of those publications, the Navy acknowledged that it was drafting new guidelines for pilots and other personnel to report encounters with "unidentified aircraft." Elizondo called this policy decision "the single greatest decision the Navy has made in decades." In April 2020 the footage was declassified and officially released by the Department of Defense.

A six-part History Channel series titled Unidentified: Inside America’s U.F.O. Investigation features Elizondo and others affiliated with AATIP. Executive producer Tom DeLonge told the New York Daily News that he left his band Blink-182 because he wanted to focus on "setting up the foundations to create a vehicle for the disclosure of the UFO phenomenon". "In sum, DeLonge claims that he is the military’s chosen vessel for UFO disclosure."

References

1. "To The Stars Academy". To the Stars. 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2019-05-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
2. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2017-12-16). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
3. Blumenthal, Ralph (2017-12-18). "On the Trail of a Secret Pentagon U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
4. Staff, History com. "UFO Investigations: Revealing Documents from HISTORY's 'Unidentified'". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
5. "UFO Investigations: Revealing Documents from HISTORY's 'Unidentified'". HISTORY. May 31, 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
6. Mellon, Christopher (March 9, 2018). "The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn't the Pentagon care?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
7. Little, Becky. "Navy Confirms UFO Videos Are Real and Show Unidentified Aerial Phenomena". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
8. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2019-05-26). "'Wow, What Is That?' Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
9. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2017-12-16). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
10. Bender, Bryan. "U.S. Navy drafting new guidelines for reporting UFOs". POLITICO. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
11. Paul, Deanna (2019-04-25). "How angry pilots got the Navy to stop dismissing UFO sightings". Washington Post.
12. "Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Na". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
13. "Watch Preview: Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation: Aware Clip - Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
14. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2019-05-26). "'Wow, What Is That?' Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
15. "Interview with 'Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation' with former Special Agent Luis Elizondo". We Are The Mighty. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
16. Peter Sblendorio (May 27, 2019). "UFOs are coming, and rocker Tom DeLonge is ready". New York Daily News.
17. Keith Kloor (June 1, 2019). "The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He?". The Intercept.

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