Official position · S-005

In a memo prepared for the November 19, 2009 meeting with Senator Reid, the DIA wrote that it found no sufficient basis in DoD regulations for establishing the restricted special access program requested for AATIP; it indicated that the contract would end after fiscal year 2010 and that any future work should be entrusted to the competent DoD body.

DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) · Nov 13, 2009

AATIP and AAWSAP

What it denies and what it leaves open

It denies that AATIP met the regulatory requirements to become a restricted special access program; it does not rule on the content of the research or on the “highly sensitive” advances claimed by Reid. The DoD states that it replied to Reid, but that reply has not been found: a FOIA request closed on December 15, 2025 produced only the senator's letter.

Original words: DIA can not find sufficient grounds under DoD regulations to establish a restricted SAP
Who disputes it: Reid's letter of June 24, 2009 is cited by supporters as evidence of the program's importance; the reconstruction according to which Deputy Secretary Lynn personally rejected the request rests on a reply that was never made public.
Concerns: Harry Reid

Sources

DIA briefing memo for the meeting with Senator Reid, November 2009 (PDF) (primary source)
Letter from Harry Reid to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, June 24, 2009 (PDF) (primary source)
The Black Vault: the DoD's reply to Reid's letter still cannot be found (Dec. 2025, updated May 2026) (analysis)

On this site

People 1

Harry Reid

Documents 2

Senator Reid's letter asking to protect AATIP with a special access program Original available
The DIA prepares for the meeting with Reid: no basis for a special access program Original available

Open in the interactive archive The whole section: Denials and official positions

UAPgrade's entries are compiled with artificial intelligence (three verifiers with opposing roles) and checked against the sources listed above: how we work. Have a document that changes this entry? Bring it to the Investigations Unit.