Inconsistency · I-E-01
Title in AATIP: “director” or no formal role?
Weight: Central to credibility
- First version
- Oct 4, 2017 · The resignation letter of October 4, 2017 is signed “Director, National Programs Special Management Staff” and does not mention AATIP; according to the DoD (Garry Reid memorandum), Elizondo was a section chief for the management of classified information in support of the Office of Military Commissions, with no duties tied to AATIP. DoD Office of Inspector General, FOIA release DODIG-2022-000313 (with the 2017 resignation letter and a copy of the Politico article of May 26, 2021)
- Second version
- Oct 2017 · A few days later, in the launch video of To The Stars Academy, he says he directed the program for almost a decade; later come the slide “AATIP Director resigns” at the MUFON conference (2018), the title of “senior ranking person” in the written answers to Congress (2024) and that of former director on his website (2026). Memorandum for Record by Garry Reid (OUSD(I)), late December 2017 – FOIA 22-F-1322, released April 2, 2024
- Analysis
- The official sources diverge: according to the Politico summary reported by Wikipedia, in December 2017 Pentagon spokesperson Dana White identified him as responsible for AATIP, whereas the DoD, from the Reid memorandum of late 2017 to the statements of 2019 and the press fact sheet of May 2021, maintains that he had no “assigned” responsibilities, and AARO (2024) that AATIP was never an official program; former Senator Harry Reid (2021) and Christopher Mellon, on the other hand, confirm his leading role. An innocent explanation is that AATIP was an informal activity, as AARO itself admits when it writes that the name was used by some people after the end of AAWSAP: an informal title could not appear in the official signature, which reflected the administrative position, and the 2017 emails and the Navy's testimony document a real activity, even if without funding or appointment. The fact remains that no known contemporaneous document describes him as the director of AATIP.
Sources
- DoD Office of Inspector General, FOIA release DODIG-2022-000313 (with the 2017 resignation letter and a copy of the Politico article of May 26, 2021) (primary source)
- Memorandum for Record by Garry Reid (OUSD(I)), late December 2017 – FOIA 22-F-1322, released April 2, 2024 (primary source)
On this site
People 1
Claims 3
- Luis Elizondo: In the resignation letter he claims that there is overwhelming evidence, classified and unclassified, of… Unverifiable
- Luis Elizondo: Claims to have directed for almost a decade a sensitive aerospace threat identification program (AATIP)… Disputed
- Luis Elizondo: Claims under oath that in his last assignment he was Director of the National Programs Special Management… Partly verified
Documents 3
- Elizondo's two resignation letters (October 2017) Original available
- Garry Reid's memorandum on AATIP and on Elizondo (December 2017) Original available
- The Inspector General's emails on Elizondo and the Pentagon's official line (2021) Original available
Open in the interactive archive The whole section: Inconsistencies
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.