Pentagon Reinforces Mr. Luis Elizondo Had "No Responsibilities" on AATIP; Senator Harry Reid's 2009 Memo Changes Nothing - The Black Vault

Published on 2019-06-14 by The Black Vault and its founder John Jr. Greenewald, this article examines the United States Department of Defense (DoD)’s reiterated position that Luis Elizondo held no assigned responsibilities for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), and analyses whether a memorandum written in 2009 by Senator Harry Reid alters that conclusion. Elizondo had widely claimed to have headed AATIP, a secret Pentagon programme concerned with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).¹ Some of his supporters had offered the Reid memo as documentary evidence supporting that claim.²

The article reports statements attributed to Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough, who confirmed that the Harry Reid memo to William Lynn III on AATIP Special Access Program status (2009-07-24) is authentic³ while simultaneously maintaining that Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities for AATIP during his tenure at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)).⁴ This position had previously been communicated to journalist Keith Kloor on 2019-06-01, with the Pentagon specifying that the absence of assigned responsibilities persisted up until Elizondo resigned, effective 2017-10-04.^5,6 The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) administered AATIP,¹⁶ and Elizondo was never assigned to the DIA;¹⁷ he interacted with the DIA office managing AATIP while the programme was ongoing, but, according to Gough, did not lead it.¹⁸

The Harry Reid memo to William Lynn III on AATIP Special Access Program status (2009-07-24) is dated 2009-07-24⁸ and was addressed to Deputy Secretary of Defense William III Lynn.¹² It outlined Senator Reid’s request and reasoning for granting AATIP Special Access Program (SAP) status.¹¹ The article notes that the date of the letter predates Elizondo’s claimed assumption of leadership of AATIP by at least five months.¹³ The DoD confirmed it received the memo and responded to Senator Reid,¹⁴ though Gough stated that Pentagon Public Affairs does not release Congressional correspondence, and so could not provide The Black Vault with a full copy of the DoD’s response.¹⁵ Earlier releases of the memorandum had redacted the names of Elizondo and Hal Puthoff,⁹ with the initial one-page release having been published by KLAS-TV with those names removed.⁷

The article provides contextual background on the programme’s administrative history. Contracted work under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) and AATIP began in 2008 at the DIA,²¹ with LLC Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies initially winning the AAWSAP contract.²³ Elizondo’s alleged assumption of programme leadership is placed at 2010, coinciding with a transfer of the programme to OUSD(I).²² Funding for AAWSAP/AATIP contracted work was cut entirely in 2012.²⁴ Puthoff is noted as well-established to have worked within AATIP;¹⁰ in his own first-hand account, he stated that as an AAWSAP/AATIP contractor and senior advisor he attended meetings, provided briefings, gained access to videos, provided proposed programme plans, and met with staff, all under Elizondo’s leadership until Elizondo resigned.²⁰

The article also notes that Puthoff is a co-founder of To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, the organisation where Elizondo is employed.¹⁹ The Black Vault’s broader analysis holds that the authenticity of the Reid memo, which the Pentagon does not dispute,³ does not by itself establish that Elizondo led AATIP, given that the Pentagon’s denial of his responsibilities is maintained independently of the memo’s contents and that the memo predates his claimed leadership by at least five months.¹³