Patrick Hughes was a Lieutenant General who served as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). During his tenure, Thomas Wilson served as the agency’s deputy director and Assistant Joint Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J-2).1 Wilson later testified that Hughes was his direct superior.2
In April 1997, Hughes was present in a Pentagon conference room when Steven Greer, Willard Miller and Edgar Mitchell gave a talk, also attended by Admiral Mike Crawford; the meeting is recorded as the 1997-04 Pentagon briefing by Greer, Miller and Mitchell, held at the Pentagon.3
Hughes invited Greer and Miller back to the DIA in 1998 to brief him further on UFOs.4 The follow-up invitation came months after the April 1997 briefing.5
According to Greer, Hughes responded to the briefing by producing a doll modelled on the extra-terrestrial from the Steven Spielberg film that he kept on his shelf, saying: “I have no doubt that what you are sharing is true, but I have made inquiries through channels in my agency and nobody can tell me anything! In fact, all I have gotten is this!"6
Journalist Ross Coulthart has said that, if Greer’s account is accurate, publicly naming both Wilson and Hughes sent a discouraging signal to other officials who might otherwise have considered disclosure, since it suggested Greer could not be trusted to keep confidences.7 Coulthart has also said he suspects the two DIA officials involved in the 1997 meeting were more interested in UAPs than they publicly acknowledged.8