Record

Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs

A 2024 memoir by former Pentagon intelligence officer Luis Elizondo, with a foreword by Christopher Mellon, describing his work leading the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and the campaign that followed his 2017 resignation to bring government UAP findings to Congress and the public.

Luis Elizondo · 2024

“Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs” is a 2024 book by Luis Elizondo, with a foreword by Christopher K. Mellon, according to its contents page.¹ The same page lists 25 chapters together with an Acknowledgments section, an Appendix, an Index, a Photo Section, and an About the Author section.² Mellon’s foreword is dated 2024-05-16.³ Elizondo dedicates the book to his wife Elizondo Jennifer (wife) and daughters Taylor Elizondo and Alexandria,⁴ and to people who have had Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) encounters or who are aware of facts they feel should be publicly known.⁵

In the foreword, Mellon states that Elizondo played a central and indispensable role in changing the way humanity views UAP.⁶ Mellon writes that he first met Elizondo at a closed-door Pentagon meeting early in 2017,⁷ after Jim Semivan, a mutual friend from the CIA, brought Elizondo to his attention.⁸ During that meeting, Mellon recounts, Elizondo showed him authentic military gun-camera UAP videos,⁹ presenting what Mellon describes as incontrovertible evidence that strange, unmarked aircraft with no discernible means of propulsion were routinely violating sensitive US military airspace.¹⁰ Mellon’s foreword also recounts the 2004 Nimitz UAP Encounter, describing how the USS Princeton detected a large number of manoeuvring objects appearing to descend from low earth orbit,¹¹ with David Fravor subsequently observing a wingless, white craft approximately 14.6 metres long.¹²

Elizondo states that he began a new job at the Pentagon in late 2008 and was shortly afterwards recruited into a highly sensitive intelligence programme investigating UAP,¹³ on which he says he worked for nearly a decade.¹⁴ According to Elizondo, Jay Stratton told him that he had helped create the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), which would later become the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).¹⁵ The contents page indicates that individual chapters address particular incidents: Chapter 2, titled “Colares”, covers the Colares Incidents;¹⁶ Chapter 7, titled “The Tic Tac”, covers the Tic Tac Sighting;¹⁷ and Chapter 15, titled “USS Roosevelt”, covers the 2015 USS Roosevelt UAP Encounters.¹⁸

The book reproduces a resignation letter that Elizondo says he addressed directly to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, effective 2017-10-04,¹⁹ after more than 22 years of government service,²⁰ stating that there appeared to be a direct correlation between UAP and US nuclear and military capabilities.²¹ Elizondo writes that, working with Mellon and Harold E. Puthoff, he selected three unclassified military videos for declassification and release: the FLIR1 Video, the Go-Fast Video, and the Gimbal Video.²² He recounts that on 2017-12-16 The New York Times published the story online, revealing AATIP’s existence, followed within seconds by Politico and then the Washington Post.²³

Elizondo describes a subsequent campaign, conducted with Mellon, to bring UAP before Congress; he writes that language they drafted was incorporated into a Senate report directing the Director of National Intelligence to submit an unclassified UAP report within 180 days.²⁴ He states that this effort continued through the establishment of the UAP Task Force and culminated in the NDAA FY2023 UAP Language, signed into law by President Joe Biden on 2022-12-23.²⁵ The book also covers a July 2023 congressional hearing at which witnesses, including David Grusch, testified about an alleged hidden programme to recover and reverse-engineer vehicles of nonhuman origin.²⁶

According to its “About the Author” section, Elizondo was formerly head of AATIP,²⁷ and before that role oversaw counterespionage and counterterrorism investigations worldwide for the Department of Defense.²⁸ The same section describes him as an Army veteran who served in South Korea, Latin America, the Caribbean, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East,²⁹ and a graduate of the University of Miami, where he studied microbiology and immunology.³⁰

References (30)

The book is written by Luis Elizondo and contains a foreword by Christopher Mellon
“Foreword by Christopher Mellon”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Contents page
The book comprises 25 chapters, an Acknowledgments section, an Appendix, an Index, a Photo Section, and an About the Author section
“Chapter 1: Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don't ... Chapter 25: New Horizons ... Acknowledgments ... Appendix ... Index ... Photo Section ... About the Author ... Copyright ... About the Publisher”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Contents page
Mellon's foreword is dated 16 May 2024
“May 16, 2024”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, opening date
Dedicated to Elizondo's wife Jennifer and daughters Taylor and Alexandria
“This book is dedicated to the two most important groups of people in my life. First and foremost, to my loving wife, Jennifer, and daughters, Taylor and Alexandria.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Dedication
Dedicated to people who have had UAP encounters or are aware of relevant facts
“to all those who remain in the shadows. Whether you had a UAP encounter or are aware of facts that you feel should be known by all, know that you have a voice.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Dedication
Mellon states Elizondo played a central, indispensable role in changing views on UAP
“I can say without fear of contradiction that Lue has played a central and indispensable role in forever changing the way humanity views the issue of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 1
Mellon first met Elizondo at a closed-door Pentagon meeting early in 2017
“When I first met Lue at a closed-door Pentagon meeting early in 2017”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 2
Jim Semivan, a mutual friend from the CIA, brought Elizondo to Mellon's attention
“A mutual friend from the CIA, Jim Semivan, brought Lue to my attention.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 6
Elizondo showed Mellon authentic military gun-camera UAP videos
“as Lue described these military encounters and showed me authentic military "gun camera" UAP videos”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 10
Elizondo presented incontrovertible evidence of unmarked aircraft violating sensitive airspace
“Lue presented incontrovertible evidence that strange, unidentified aircraft were routinely violating sensitive US military airspace. These bizarre, silent craft lacked any discernible markings or means of propulsion.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 8
The USS Princeton detected manoeuvring objects appearing to descend from low earth orbit
“the USS Princeton, an Aegis-class guided missile cruiser, escorting the mighty aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz, detected a large number of maneuvering objects that appeared to be descending from low earth orbit.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 8
Fravor observed a wingless, white craft approximately 14.6 metres long
“For Navy Commander Dave Fravor, the 48-feet-long, wingless white craft he observed from the cockpit of his F/A-18”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Foreword, paragraph 8
Elizondo was recruited into a highly sensitive UAP intelligence programme in late 2008
“Shortly thereafter, my life changed forever when I was recruited into a strange and highly sensitive US intelligence program unlike any I had ever been a part of. The program investigated the global mystery that is 'unidentified anomalous phenomena,' or UAP for short”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Introduction, paragraph 1
Elizondo worked on the programme for nearly a decade
“For nearly a decade, I found myself on the front lines of the biggest paradigm shift in human history”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Introduction, paragraph 1
Stratton said he helped create AAWSAP, which became AATIP
“Jay explained that he helped create something called the AAWSAP, Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program, which would later become AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program).”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 1, paragraph 16
Chapter 2, titled 'Colares', covers the Colares incidents
“Chapter 2: Colares”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Contents page, Chapter 2 listing
Chapter 7, titled 'The Tic Tac', covers the Tic Tac sighting
“Chapter 7: The Tic Tac”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Contents page, Chapter 7 listing
Chapter 15, titled 'USS Roosevelt', covers the 2015 sightings
“Chapter 15: USS Roosevelt”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Contents page, Chapter 15 listing
Resignation letter states effective date of 4 October 2017
“For this reason, effective 4 October 2017, I humbly submit my resignation”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 21, Elizondo Resignation Letter text
Letter cites over 22 years of government service
“For over 22 years, I have been blessed to learn from, and work with, world-class leadership”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 21, Elizondo Resignation Letter text
Letter states a direct correlation between UAP and US nuclear and military capabilities
“In many instances, there seems to be a direct correlation the phenomena exhibits with respect to our nuclear and military capabilities.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 21, Elizondo Resignation Letter text
Elizondo selected three unclassified videos for release: FLIR, GoFast and GIMBAL
“I chose the FLIR video (aka Tic Tac from 2004), and the GoFast and GIMBAL videos from 2015.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 19, paragraph 8
The New York Times broke the AATIP story online on 16 December 2017, followed by Politico and the Washington Post
“The news exploded that afternoon. The New York Times broke the news online and was followed seconds later by Politico, then the Washington Post. Then every news platform in the world seemed to pick it up.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 21, news publication paragraph
Senate Report 116-233 directed the DNI to submit a UAP report within 180 days
“the Committee directs the DNI, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other agencies as the Director and Secretary jointly consider relevant, to submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 23, paragraph 31
Biden signed the NDAA containing UAP legislation on 23 December 2022
“On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed the historic UAP legislation into law when he signed the NDAA.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 23, paragraph 70
July 2023 hearing testimony described a hidden programme to recover and reverse-engineer nonhuman technology
“The world watched as these men spoke about the recovery of nonhuman bodies and technology, the deeply hidden program to recover and reverse-engineer nonhuman technology, and anomalous transmedium vehicles that violate our airspace, defy our understanding of physics, and would be impossible to defend against.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 24, paragraph 6
Elizondo was formerly head of AATIP
“LUIS "LUE" ELIZONDO is the former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the Pentagon unit that researched UFOs, now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 38, About the Author
Prior to AATIP, Elizondo oversaw counterespionage and counterterrorism investigations worldwide
“Prior to AATIP, Elizondo oversaw counterespionage and counterterrorism investigations worldwide for the Department of Defense”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 38, About the Author
Elizondo is an Army veteran who served in South Korea, Latin America, the Caribbean, Afghanistan and the Middle East
“served his country throughout the world, including South Korea, Latin America, the Caribbean, Afghanistan, and other countries in the Middle East”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 38, About the Author
Elizondo is a graduate of the University of Miami, where he studied microbiology and immunology
“Elizondo is a graduate of the University of Miami, where he studied microbiology and immunology.”
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs Chapter 38, About the Author

View the facts breakdown in the workbench →

Every claim and entity extracted from this record, each citing the original wording, in the review workbench.