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Person

Christopher Mellon

Former Defense and Senate official; chairs the Disclosure Foundation

2017– · To The Stars Academy · Official

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and former minority staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a private equity investor, in 2017 he joined the advisory board of To The Stars Academy; with Elizondo he carried out intensive lobbying for UAP provisions in the Defense budget, leaving TTSA with him at the end of 2020. In 2023 he tried to mediate between Grusch and AARO, judging Grusch sincere and credible in messages to Kirkpatrick made public via FOIA. He chairs the Disclosure Foundation and appears in “The Age of Disclosure.”

Key claims
  • Wrote that well-placed officials, both current and former, gave him detailed information about the alleged retrieval program (2023).
  • Maintains that many witnesses did not trust AARO and that hundreds of military reports remain unexplained.
  • According to Luna, he called a 2024 AARO report the most error-ridden and unsatisfactory he could remember; in 2026 he called the WSJ's 2025 articles biased and riddled with errors.
Controversies
  • A package labeled “L Elizondo” was found on his web server; Art Levine reports that he allegedly got the Navy videos to TTSA and the New York Times, and Mellon declined to rule out Elizondo's involvement.
  • In spring 2025 he did not take part, like Grusch and Elizondo, in the closed-door briefing of Luna's task force.
Today
Chairs the Disclosure Foundation; in September 2026 he asked the WSJ to correct its articles on “Yankee Blue” and the National Press Club to revoke the prize awarded to the WSJ.

Documented authority

It measures how documented and verifiable what the person claims is, not their honesty. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 2.

Credentials 2/2
His positions at the Pentagon and in the Senate are reported in the SEC filings and confirmed by multiple sources.
Direct access 0/2
Reports information received from other officials; does not claim to have directly seen craft or materials.
Evidence provided 0/2
He has not made public any evidence of the retrieval program.
Claims track record not applicable
The sources consulted do not trace the outcome of any verifiable claims made by this person.
Conflicts of interest 1/2
He chairs an advocacy foundation on the topic and was on the TTSA advisory board; no documented compensation is known.

Sources

  1. TTSA, Offering Circular (Form 1-A) filed with the SEC, August 15, 2017 (primary source)
  2. The Black Vault, April 18, 2024: FOIA documents on AARO's attempts to hear from Grusch (primary source)
  3. Washington Post, March 9, 2018: op-ed by Christopher Mellon (press)
  4. Washington Spectator (Art Levine), July 20, 2023: “Spaceship of Fools” (press, skeptical)
  5. Space.com: AARO's historical report and the criticisms (press)
  6. UFO Feed, September 17, 2026: Mellon's Disclosure Foundation against the WSJ (aggregator) (other, pro-disclosure)

On this site

Documents 4

Where the claims come from 2

Timeline 6

Open in the interactive archive The whole section: Directory of people

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.