Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)
- Type: report (government program documentation)
- Author: Department of Defense / Defense Intelligence Agency
- Date: 2007-2012 (program operational); 2017 (publicly revealed)
- Credibility: primary (confirmed US government program)
Summary
A $22 million program funded through the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2007 to 2012. Initiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at the urging of his friend Robert Bigelow, a Nevada billionaire and government contractor. Co-supported by Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI).
Funding and Operations
Most of the funding went to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), which generated a 494-page report documenting worldwide UFO sightings. Monthly reports were sent to the Pentagon, plus annual program updates.
The program funded 38 studies covering exotic and theoretical aerospace topics, including “Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions” (Richard Obousy), “Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy” (Eric W. Davis, associated with Harold Puthoff), and “Invisibility Cloaking” (Ulf Leonhardt).
One paper, “Clinical Medical Acute & Subacute Field Effects on Human Dermal & Neurological Tissues” by Christopher “Kit” Green (former CIA), focused on “forensically assessing accounts of injuries that could have resulted from claimed encounters with UAP.”
Controversy
An anonymous former congressional staff member told Politico: “After a while the consensus was we really couldn’t find anything of substance. They produced reams of paperwork. After all of that there was really nothing there that we could find.”
Harry Reid defended the program: “I’m interested in science, and in helping the American public understand what the hell is going on.” He also said “most all of it, 80 percent at least, is public.”
The program’s connection to Bigelow (personal friend of Reid, major political donor) raises questions about whether this was a genuine national security effort or a pork-barrel project dressed up in UFO mystery. Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists called the BAASS contract “a good deal for the contractor” but questioned whether “either the military or the public got their money’s worth.”
Successor Programs
After AATIP’s funding ended in 2012, the work continued informally (per Elizondo) and formally through the UAPTF (2020-2022) and AARO (2022-present).
The connection between AATIP and Bigelow/Puthoff/Davis is relevant context for evaluating later claims: several of the same individuals involved in AATIP’s contracted research later appeared as key figures in the UAP disclosure movement.