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Did Luis Elizondo Really Run AATIP?                                                                                      19





              The Media Loves


              This UFO Expert


                  Who Says He

                 Worked for an


             Obscure Pentagon


             Program. Did He?



                       by Keith Kloor




          One of the first images in the opening episode of
          the new History Channel show “Unidentified:
          Inside America’s UFO Investigation” is a 2017
          headline from the New York Times projected on
          a flickering screen: “Glowing Auras and ‘Black  There is no discernible evidence that          and longtime UFO enthusiast, is the co-founder
          Money’:  The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO
                                                         Luis Elizondo ever worked for a                 and interim CEO of To the Stars, the company
          Program.”                                                                                      Elizondo joined in October 2017, several days
                                                         government UFO program, much less
                 It’s the story that launched Luis Elizondo                                              after he resigned from the Department of
          into the public eye, the article that “shocked the  led one.                                   Defense. Since the company’s inception, certain
          world,” the narrator of “Unidentified” declares,                                               members of its “elite team,” including Elizondo,
          before continuing, “A clandestine U.S.         The email was sent over a year ago by Kari      have appeared frequently in the news media.
          government program had been investigating      DeLonge, a public relations representative for         This week is a prime example. Another
          UFOs. For eight years, the secret program was  To the Stars, to John Greenewald, a UFO         former Pentagon official with a prominent role
          run by this man, Lue Elizondo.”  The camera    researcher who runs an online archive of        in “Unidentified” appeared several days ago on
          then pans to a visual of the former military   Freedom      of   Information    Act-obtained   “Fox & Friends.”
          intelligence case officer in a darkened house  government documents on a website called the           “We know that UFOs exist,” Chris
          peering out warily through half-drawn window   Black  Vault.  At the time, Greenewald had      Mellon, a deputy assistant secretary of defense
          shades.                                        become frustrated at the lack of tangible       for intelligence in the Clinton and George  W.
                 It’s an odd scene. Is Elizondo on the   information about AATIP and Elizondo’s role;    Bush administrations, pronounced on the show.
          lookout for aliens or a bad guy from his old   additionally,    Elizondo     had     spurned   “This is no longer an issue. The issue is why are
          spook life? Either way, the History Channel    Greenewald’s interview requests.                they here? Where are they coming from? And
          show, which premiered on Friday and is being           Greenewald told me that he had asked    what is the technology behind these devices that
          promoted as “groundbreaking nonfiction,” goes  DeLonge specifically where Elizondo worked      we are observing?”
          on to follow Elizondo as he re-investigates    within the Department of Defense when he ran           Mellon, like Elizondo, works for To the
          strange UFO incidents he says he learned of    AATIP.                                          Stars (his title, according to the company’s
          when he was at the Pentagon running the                “Hi John –  Thanks for reaching out,”   website, is national security affairs adviser).
          Advanced Aerospace  Threat  Identification     DeLonge wrote. “The program was initially run   “Fox & Friends” neglected to mention this
          Program, known as  AATIP. It’s as if  Agent    out of [the Defense Intelligence  Agency] but   connection, along with the fact that the History
          Mulder had handed off his X-Files to another   when Lue took it over in 2010 as Director, he ran  Channel show was made by the company
          paranoid government agent, this one with a pug  it out of the Office for the Secretary of Defense  Elizondo and Mellon work for.
          face and billy-goat beard. In the screener I saw  (OSD) under the Under Secretary of Defense for      I’m not surprised. By now, Elizondo and
          for “Unidentified,” the narrator says that     Intelligence (USDI). Hope that clarifies.”      Mellon have come to rely on a largely passive
          Elizondo quit the Pentagon because he was              I tried contacting Elizondo multiple    and credulous press to generate sensational UFO
          “frustrated by what he says was a cover-up.”   times via email and his cellphone. He has not   headlines.
                 Whatever the truth about otherworldly   responded. It’s not as if he is on retreat
          UFOs (cue a collective eye-roll from scientists),  somewhere; I noticed that in the run-up to his  AMID THE MOUNTAIN of media coverage
          there is one crucial detail missing from       star turn on the new History Channel show, he   of Elizondo in the last two years, I have found
          “Unidentified,” as well as from all the many   has been speaking to everyone from the New      only one story that provides official
          stories that have quoted Elizondo since he outed  York  Times to UFO media personalities and   confirmation that he headed the government
          himself nearly two years ago to a wide-eyed    military bloggers.                              UFO program known as AATIP.
          news media:  There is no discernible evidence          Indeed, judging by all the UFO stories         “Pentagon spokeswoman Dana  White
          that he ever worked for a government UFO       lighting up the internet this week, the self-   confirmed to Politico that the program existed
          program, much less led one.                    described “career spy” is having another big    and was run by Elizondo,” Bryan Bender wrote
                 Yes, AATIP existed, and it “did pursue  moment in the media spotlight.  The timing is   in December 2017. (Earlier this year, White, a
          research and investigation into unidentified   either an auspicious coincidence or the “flying  Trump administration political appointee,
          aerial phenomena,” Pentagon spokesperson       saucers are here” brigade’s well-oiled PR       resigned amid an internal probe into charges of
          Christopher Sherwood told me. However, he      machine is working overtime.                    misconduct.)
          added: “Mr. Elizondo had no responsibilities                                                          But Pentagon spokesperson Christopher
          with regard to the  AATIP program while he     ANOTHER IMPORTANT DETAIL  being                 Sherwood told me that he “cannot confirm”
          worked in OUSDI [the Office of Under           glossed over or entirely left out of the breathless  White’s statement.
          Secretary of Defense for Intelligence], up until  coverage  surrounding    the   release   of         As it happens, Bender, who is Politico’s
          the time he resigned effective 10/4/2017.”     “Unidentified” is the relationship between its  defense editor, had a recurring role in the first
                 That directly contradicts an email sent by  executive producer,  Tom DeLonge, Elizondo,  episode of “Unidentified.” He appeared on
          a spokesperson for  To  The Stars Academy of   and other former Pentagon officials and         camera numerous times as a kind of
          Arts & Science, a UFO research and             members of the intelligence community who       authoritative character witness for Elizondo,
          entertainment company that Elizondo joined     appear in the show.                             Mellon, and their UFO investigations.
          after he left the Defense Department.                  DeLonge, a musician of Blink-182 fame                          (Continued on Page 22)
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