Key figures
The former Pentagon official who says he ran AATIP, and the disputes over his role. 11 events, newest first.
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Open Luis Elizondo as a timeline
Media9 Mar 2025
Dan Farah's documentary The Age of Disclosure had its world premiere at SXSW in Austin. It features 34 current and former officials, including Marco Rubio and Luis Elizondo, asserting a hidden government UAP effort; reviewers noted it offers testimony rather than new proof.
Government13 Nov 2024
Two House Oversight subcommittees held a joint hearing at which Tim Gallaudet, Luis Elizondo, Michael Gold and Michael Shellenberger testified under oath. The witnesses alleged excessive secrecy around UAP and urged more disclosure and better reporting.
Photo: U.S. Navy, Public domain
WhistleblowersAug 2024
Luis Elizondo, who says he led the Pentagon's AATIP effort, published Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs, arguing that UFOs are a serious national security issue the Defense Department withholds. The Pentagon said in 2019 he had no responsibilities for AATIP.
Photo: Luis Elizondo/HarperCollins/United States Department of Defense, Public domain
Media30 Oct 2021
Harvard's Galileo Project, led by Avi Loeb, named former Pentagon intelligence official Christopher Mellon and former AATIP figure Luis Elizondo as research affiliates, to help choose sites for its sky-watching instruments and weigh the implications of any findings.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Whistleblowers3 May 2021
Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo filed a 64-page complaint with the Defense Department inspector general alleging officials tried to discredit him over his UAP work, including a threat to call him crazy. The allegations were his; the inspector general did not publicly rule on them.
Photo: Freedom of Information act document publicly provided by John Greenewald, Jr., Public domain
Media11 Jul 2020
History began the second season of Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation. Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo and former defense official Chris Mellon examined military and civilian sightings and argued the objects warrant serious government study.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Whistleblowers2020
Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo and former intelligence official Christopher Mellon, who joined Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy in 2017, left the company at the end of 2020. They later said the firm's science mission was losing out to entertainment.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Whistleblowers1 Jun 2019
Pentagon spokesperson Christopher Sherwood told The Intercept that Luis Elizondo had no responsibilities for AATIP while in his intelligence office. Days later spokesperson Susan Gough said he had no assigned AATIP role, starting a long dispute with Elizondo, who says he ran the program.
Photo: Txint445444, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media31 May 2019
History premiered a six-part series following Luis Elizondo, Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy and former Pentagon official Chris Mellon. It featured Navy pilot David Fravor describing his 2004 encounter and other accounts tied to the Navy cases.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Media16 Dec 2017
The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had run a little-known Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, funded with about $22 million from 2008 to 2011. The story ran with two Navy videos and said Luis Elizondo had led the program.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
WhistleblowersOct 2017
Luis Elizondo, who said he ran the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, left the Defense Department in October 2017, citing a lack of support for the work, and joined Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
