In December 2017, three people — former Pentagon intelligence officer Lue Elizondo, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Chris Mellon, and investigative journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal — coordinated the release of information that forced UAP onto the global public agenda for the first time since the 1970s. Here is the complete account.
Elizondo Resigns From the Pentagon
Luis Elizondo ran AATIP — the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — from within the Pentagon’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. In October 2017 he resigned, citing bureaucratic resistance to taking UAP seriously and concerns about the Pentagon’s lack of institutional response to credible UAP encounter data. He wrote a resignation letter to Defense Secretary Mattis arguing that UAP posed a national security threat and deserved more than $22M and minimal attention.
The To The Stars Academy and Media Coordination
Elizondo connected with Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science — a civilian organization DeLonge had assembled specifically to build a bridge between UAP-aware government insiders and the public. Chris Mellon — with 25 years of congressional intelligence oversight experience — also joined TTSA. Mellon delivered three classified Navy UAP videos to The New York Times through Kean and Blumenthal.
The December 16, 2017 Publication
The New York Times published “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program” on December 16, 2017. Three Navy FLIR videos — Nimitz TicTac, GoFast, and Gimbal — were released simultaneously. The story hit the front page. Elizondo went public as AATIP’s director. The story went global within hours and has never left the news cycle. Everything that followed — Congressional hearings, AARO, PURSUE, war.gov/UFO — traces to that day.
Source: New York Times, December 16, 2017. Liberation Times, To The Stars Academy records.