Who is Luis Elizondo?

“Luis Elizondo is a former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer who has stated he led the Pentagon's AATIP UAP program from 2010 to 2017 — his 2017 resignation triggered the New York Times disclosure that brought UAP back into public discourse.”

Luis Elizondo is a former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer and Department of Defense civilian official. Elizondo has publicly stated that he led the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) — a Defense Intelligence Agency UAP investigation effort — from 2010 until his resignation from the Pentagon in October 2017. His resignation letter to then-Defense Secretary James Mattis cited concerns over how the U.S. government was handling UAP information. Two months later, in December 2017, the New York Times published the investigation by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean that disclosed AATIP's existence to the public — using Elizondo's on-record cooperation as a primary source. Elizondo joined the To The Stars Academy and has since testified before Congress, published a 2024 book titled "Imminent," and become one of the most public faces of U.S. UAP disclosure. AARO has not formally confirmed the scope of his AATIP leadership role.