John Greenewald

John Greenewald is the founder of The Black Vault, a Freedom of Information Act archive, whose reporting has scrutinised US government UFO-related disclosures and figures such as Luis Elizondo.

Founder, The Black Vault

John Greenewald is the founder of The Black Vault, an archive built from documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).¹

Greenewald has scrutinised claims made about Luis Elizondo’s role leading the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). He was initially enthusiastic about To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) but grew increasingly sceptical when he was unable to verify many of Elizondo’s claims about the government’s UFO programme through FOIA requests and conversations with Pentagon representatives.² Elizondo declined Greenewald’s requests for an interview.³ Greenewald contacted TTSA spokesperson Kari DeLonge, sister of Tom DeLonge, seeking further information about Elizondo’s involvement in AATIP,⁴ asking specifically where within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Elizondo had worked while running the programme.⁵ By the time DeLonge replied, Greenewald had become frustrated at the lack of tangible information about AATIP and Elizondo’s role in it.⁶ According to the same report, Tim McMillan - who, like Greenewald, has a longtime interest in UFOs - had come to doubt Elizondo’s involvement with any government UFO programme.⁷

Greenewald’s FOIA requests have also been directed at the department that housed AATIP. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSDI) located eight pages determined responsive to two parts of one such request concerning AATIP and Elizondo.⁸ According to Jason Samosa, a separate FOIA request filed by Greenewald returned information indicating either about 3,000 or about 30,000 references in Barack Obama’s presidential documents.⁹

Through The Black Vault, Greenewald has reported on further official disclosures. According to the book In Plain Sight, Greenewald reported on 2019-09-11 that the United States Navy (USN) had released the dates of three officially acknowledged encounters with unidentified phenomena.¹⁰ The same source states that Greenewald reported on 2019-10-18 that the United States Army had released its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences (TTSA) and US Army.¹¹

References (11)

Greenewald founded The Black Vault, a FOIA document archive
“[note: John Greenewald - Researcher who runs The Black Vault FOIA archive]”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event (2026-07-14) line 255
Greenewald grew sceptical of Elizondo's AATIP claims after being unable to verify them via FOIA requests and Pentagon conversations
“Initially enthusiastic about To the Stars, Greenewald became increasingly skeptical when he was unable to verify many of Elizondo’s claims about the government’s UFO program through FOIA requests and conversations with Pentagon representatives.”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:15769-15997 View the source record →
Elizondo declined Greenewald's interview requests
“Elizondo had spurned Greenewald’s interview requests.”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:3331-3375 View the source record →
Greenewald contacted TTSA spokesperson Kari DeLonge for information on Elizondo's AATIP role
“Greenewald reached out to To the Stars spokesperson Kari DeLonge (Tom’s sister) for more information about Elizondo’s involvement in AATIP.”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:16028-16161 View the source record →
Greenewald asked DeLonge specifically where within the DoD Elizondo worked while running AATIP
“Greenewald told me that he had asked DeLonge specifically where Elizondo worked within the Department of Defense when he ran AATIP.”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:3386-3511 View the source record →
By the time of DeLonge's reply, Greenewald was frustrated at the lack of tangible information about AATIP
“At the time, Greenewald had become frustrated at the lack of tangible information about AATIP and Elizondo’s role”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:3202-3311 View the source record →
Tim McMillan, like Greenewald a longtime UFO researcher, had come to doubt Elizondo's government UFO programme involvement
“who, like Greenewald, has a longtime interest in UFOs but has come to doubt Elizondo’s involvement with any government UFO program.”
The Media Loves This UFO Expert Who Says He Worked for an Obscure Pentagon Program. Did He? (2019-06-01) char:19108-19231 View the source record →
OUSDI located eight pages responsive to two parts of Greenewald's FOIA request on AATIP and Elizondo
“The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, a component of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, conducted a search of their records systems and located eight pages determined to be responsive to parts one and two of your request.”
FOIA Response 18-F-0324: AATIP and Luis Elizondo Documents (2022-08-17) char:569-809 View the source record →
A Greenewald FOIA request returned information indicating either about 3,000 or about 30,000 references in Obama's presidential documents
“Did you see the John Greenwald thing where he filed a FOIA and he got information back, which indicated, I can't remember if it's 3,000 or 30, I think it might've been 30,000 references in Obama's documents in his presidency”
The UFO Cover-Up Leads to One Secret Society — and One Final Event (2026-07-14) 00:53:49.7-00:54:01.2
Greenewald reported via The Black Vault that the Navy released the dates of three officially acknowledged encounters
“John Greenewald Jr, 'U.S. Navy Releases Dates of Three Officially Acknowledged Encounters with Phenomena', The Black Vault, 11 September 2019.”
In Plain Sight (2021) ch34:47692-47829 View the source record →
Greenewald reported via The Black Vault that the Army released its CRADA agreement with TTSA
“John Greenewald/TheBlackVault.com, 'U.S. Army Releases Agreement with To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science', 18 October 2019.”
In Plain Sight (2021) ch34:51759-51881 View the source record →

John Greenewald

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