Skinwalkers in the Pentagon

Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (2021) is a 348-page exposé co-written by Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) missile engineer James T. Lacatski, biochemist Colm A. Kelleher, and investigative reporter George Knapp.

The book resets the narrative with AAWSAP, AATIP, and Lue Elizondo, who had previously publicly claimed to be the director leadership of the program. Additionally, it portrays AAWSAP as a broader research program into Skinwalker Ranch and paranormal, rather than merely focused on UAP.

The authors describe how Lacatski's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) — funded with $22 million from 2008-2012 — investigated UFO cases, Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, and an array of paranormal side-effects nicknamed the "hitchhiker effect."

Contract files and an official list of 38 DIA technical reports confirm that AAWSAP existed, yet a 2024 Pentagon review by the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) finds no evidence of extraterrestrial hardware. The book therefore sits at the intersection of documented government spending and claims that remain unverified.¹²³⁴⁵

The book is essential if you want to understand how a small group persuaded Congress to bankroll five years of UFO and paranormal research. The money trail and the 38 DIA studies are verified; the dramatic ranch stories and medical after-effects remain uncorroborated and are now at odds with AARO's official review.

Skinwalkers at the Pentagon is a primary source on AAWSAP's worldview — not as settled fact — and cross-reference every claim with the public documents listed below.

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  Book Overview

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  Key Players

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  Representative Incidents Described

AAWSAP Origins

July 2007. Lacatski reports seeing a "tubular, bell-shaped" apparition in the ranch kitchen, prompting him to draft an intel-collection plan.⁷

Skinwalker Ranch Fieldwork

Multiple blue-orb encounters, livestock mutilations, and electromagnetic spikes recorded between 2009-2010. "Hitchhiker effect": orbs and poltergeist-like activity later appear in researchers' homes; several families develop autoimmune disorders.⁶

Broader UFO Cases

Re-analysis of the 2004 USS Nimitz "Tic Tac" footage and a 2011 Kirtland AFB penetration test are folded into the same threat portfolio.²

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  Documented Evidence & Fact-Checking

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##Gaps, Critiques, and Remaining Questions

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  Suggested Primary Documents & Further Reading

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  References

1. amazon.com ↩ ↩²

2. audible.com ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. documents2.theblackvault.com ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. documents2.theblackvault.com ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. media.defense.gov ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. theblackvault.com ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. reason.com ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

8. theguardian.com ↩ ↩²