UAP Disclosure Network

A loose network of converging interests and shared nodes

Fifteen high-profile names orbit a single storyline: a two-decade effort, moving from CIA remote-viewing labs in the 1970s to the Pentagon's 2020 UAP Task Force, to study and publicise unidentified phenomena.

The same people appear again and again — first at Robert Bigelow's Skinwalker Ranch, then in the Defense Intelligence Agency's AAWSAP contract, next inside AATIP at the Pentagon, and finally in congressional hearings and headline films. Every member of the list below touches at least two of those nodes, and often many more.¹²

Additional, connected people include:

• David Fravor, Former Navy Pilot
• Avi Loeb, Astrophysicist/Professor
• Bob Lazar, Alleged Whistleblower
• Nick Pope, Former UK MoD Official
• Ryan Graves, Former Navy Pilot
• Steven Greer, Physician/Disclosure Activist

  Key Interlocks

Robert Bigelow's financial backing was instrumental in the network, as he bankrolled Skinwalker Ranch studies, NIDS, BAASS, and AAWSAP, which led to the hiring of Kelleher, Davis, Stratton, and Taylor, and also influenced Lacatski's DIA proposal.¹³

The disclosure pipeline has a consistent pattern: figures like Elizondo and Mellon provide material such as videos to journalists like Kean, who, along with partners like Ralph Blumenthal, publish the information. Corbell and Knapp then syndicate the footage, a route later followed by David Grusch for his own disclosures.⁴⁵

A group of core scientific consultants, including Green, Puthoff, Davis, and Nolan, shared analyses of alleged metamaterials and medical case files for both AAWSAP and the later UAP Task Force.⁶⁷

Together, these overlaps explain why the same names recur in every modern U.S. UAP debate — the network is small, long-running, and tightly connected.

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  Network Analysis

A small, stable network manages the flow of scarce UAP information. Each member gains different forms of capital — financial, scientific, political, or media — by cycling data through insider channels, private analysis, and public storytelling. The arrangement endures because secrecy creates scarcity, scarcity creates value, and value keeps the participants aligned despite occasional rivalry.

The Pentagon's own historical review, released in March 2024, states that decades of crash-retrieval, "alien biologics," and reverse-engineering claims trace back to a handful of inter-connected insiders whose stories could not be verified despite full access to every classified program.⁸

Independent documents, FOIA correspondence, and public financial filings confirm the same circle's revolving involvement in Bigelow-funded paranormal work, the un-funded "AATIP" effort, Tom DeLonge's loss-making To the Stars Academy, the 2020‐21 Navy UAP Task Force, and today's congressional lobbying.⁹¹⁰¹¹

No physical evidence of extraterrestrials was found; most headline videos and sightings are now attributed to balloons, drones, sensor glare, or camera artifacts, while real security issues involve Chinese surveillance balloons and uncontrolled drone activity.¹²¹³

    Core elements

The network operates within a landscape defined by several core dynamics. First, evidence remains scarce: classified sensor data, fragmentary physical samples, and a backlog of anecdotal reports form a limited pool of information that all participants compete to access and interpret.

Participation is incentivized by a range of financial and career rewards, including defense contracts, private aerospace funding, book deals, documentary royalties, and consulting retainers. Public attention also plays a crucial role, as media coverage and congressional hearings provide political leverage and enhance the brand value of those involved.

At the same time, security barriers — such as NDA-protected programs, compartmented clearances, and strict threat-to-source rules — constrain disclosure and create significant information asymmetry within the group.

    Program Timeline

    Actor classes and first-level motives

Within the UAP Disclosure Network, participants can be grouped into several distinct classes, each motivated by different primary and secondary incentives. At the top is the financier-owner, represented by Robert Bigelow, whose involvement is driven by a desire for private access to novel technology and paranormal data, as well as the prestige this brings to Bigelow Aerospace and his personal legacy.

The intelligence insiders — such as Christopher Mellon, Luis Elizondo, David Grusch, James Lacatski, and Jay Stratton — are primarily motivated by the national security relevance of UAP phenomena and the influence they can exert on policy. For them, personal vindication and the prospect of future consulting work serve as important secondary rewards.

Scientists and engineers, including Kit Green, Hal Puthoff, Eric Davis, Garry Nolan, and Travis Taylor, are drawn by the opportunity to obtain raw data for research papers and patents, thereby enhancing their professional reputations. In addition, they benefit from advisory contracts and invitations to speak at conferences.

Finally, the storytellers — George Knapp, Jeremy Corbell, and Leslie Kean — are motivated by access to exclusive content and the potential for audience growth. Their secondary payoffs include licensing fees and the ability to shape and influence the public narrative surrounding UAPs.

    Information flow

1. Military or agency sensors collect UAP data
2. Insiders bring snippets of that data to private programs (Bigelow-funded or AAWSAP/AATIP) and to select scientists for analysis
3. Scientists return technical assessments that insiders can cite in briefings
4. Storytellers package curated material — videos, reports, whistle-blower interviews — for press or streaming platforms, driving public and legislative interest
5. Political pressure generated by coverage forces additional data releases and budget line-items, restarting the loop

Money and reputation travel counter-current: public interest → media revenue → higher speaking fees/consults → more research funding.

    Feedback loops

• Validation loop — Repetition of each other's claims across scientific papers, classified memos, and documentaries makes uncertain evidence appear stronger.
• Scarcity loop — Limited new data heightens the market value of each leak, encouraging controlled drops rather than full transparency.
• Policy loop — Congressional inquiries trigger new task forces, which hire participants from the same pool, ensuring continuity of influence.

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  Individual Dossiers

    Kit Green

Kit Green is a former CIA physician and analyst who funded early remote-viewing experiments, including SCANATE and Stargate.²²⁶ He worked with Hal Puthoff at SRI and later consulted for Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), bringing him into the Skinwalker Ranch circle.

    Hal Puthoff

Hal Puthoff is a laser physicist who co-ran the SRI remote-viewing program and later co-founded To the Stars Academy (TTSA).²³²⁴ He was a mentor to Kit Green, was recruited by Robert Bigelow's AAWSAP, and became a partner in TTSA with Lue Elizondo and Christopher Mellon.

    Christopher Mellon

Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, played a key role in the public disclosure of UAP information by leaking the Navy's "Tic Tac" videos.²⁵¹ On October 4, 2017, he met with Leslie Kean, Hal Puthoff, and Lue Elizondo to prepare for a New York Times story on the subject. He later served as an advisor to the UAP Task Force.

    George Knapp

George Knapp is an investigative reporter for KLAS-TV and "Coast to Coast AM" who was the first to bring mainstream attention to Skinwalker Ranch. He has co-authored books with Colm Kelleher and produces media with Jeremy Corbell.⁵

    Jeremy Corbell

Jeremy Corbell is a documentary filmmaker who promotes leaked military footage through his "Weaponized" podcast.⁵ He is a media partner of George Knapp and served as a source liaison for the testimony packages related to David Grusch.

    Robert Bigelow

Robert Bigelow, the billionaire owner of Bigelow Aerospace, has been a central figure in UAP research. He purchased Skinwalker Ranch to investigate paranormal claims and was the prime contractor for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).¹²⁶ He employed Colm Kelleher, Eric Davis, Jay Stratton, and Travis Taylor, and hosted the 2007 site visit with James Lacatski that led to the creation of AAWSAP.

    Eric W. Davis

Eric Davis is an astrophysicist known for authoring the "Wilson-Davis Memo," a document detailing an alleged conversation about a secret government program to retrieve and study crashed non-human craft, which was later filed in congressional records.²⁷²⁸ He was a theorist for AAWSAP under Robert Bigelow and has served as a consultant to Christopher Mellon and David Grusch.

    Luis "Lue" Elizondo

Luis Elizondo is a former Army counter-intelligence officer who ran the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) until his resignation in October 2017.¹²⁹ After leaving the government, he joined To the Stars Academy with Hal Puthoff and Christopher Mellon. He frequently appears in projects by Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp and provided briefings to journalist Leslie Kean.

    Jay Stratton

Jay Stratton, an engineer from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), led the UAP Task Force from 2019 to 2021.³⁰ His involvement in UAP investigations began earlier with fieldwork for Robert Bigelow at Skinwalker Ranch, where he was identified by the pseudonym "Axelrod" in the book Skinwalkers at the Pentagon. He frequently teamed with Travis Taylor.

    Travis S. Taylor

Travis Taylor is an aerospace engineer and television scientist who was revealed in 2022 to have been the chief scientist for the UAP Task Force.³¹ He is a long-time colleague of Jay Stratton and appears on the History Channel series "The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch," which is funded by the ranch's current owner, who succeeded Robert Bigelow.

    Colm A. Kelleher

Colm Kelleher is a biochemist who served as the deputy administrator for NIDS and later as the operations chief for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). He is a co-author of Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.³²³³ He ran the science team at Skinwalker Ranch, co-wrote with George Knapp, and worked directly for Robert Bigelow and James Lacatski.

    James T. Lacatski

James Lacatski was a DIA missile analyst who wrote the 2008 proposal for AAWSAP and managed its $22 million contract.³ His visit to Skinwalker Ranch with Robert Bigelow triggered the formation of AAWSAP. He later co-authored the history of the program with Colm Kelleher and George Knapp.

    Leslie Kean

Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-wrote the 2017 New York Times story that first brought mainstream attention to AATIP, as well as the 2023 Debrief exposé on alleged crash retrieval programs.⁴ She works closely with Christopher Mellon and Lue Elizondo and was instrumental in amplifying David Grusch's claims to Congress.

    Garry P. Nolan

Garry Nolan is a Stanford immunologist who analyzes alleged metamaterials and investigates medical cases of individuals reportedly injured during UAP encounters.³⁴⁷ He collaborates with Kit Green, Hal Puthoff, and Eric Davis, and was a speaker on UAP technology at the 2023 SALT conference.

    David Grusch

David Grusch is a former intelligence officer with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) who filed a 2022 Inspector General complaint alleging the existence of secret crash-retrieval programs. He testified before Congress on July 26, 2023, regarding these claims.⁸ His work was supervised by Jay Stratton and he was briefed by Eric Davis, while his disclosure efforts have been championed by Leslie Kean, Jeremy Corbell, and George Knapp.

  Relationship Map

    CIA/DIA Remote-Viewing (1970-1995)

The remote-viewing programs conducted by the CIA and DIA, which included projects SCANATE and Stargate, involved both Kit Green and Hal Puthoff.²²

    Skinwalker Ranch Investigations (1996-Present)

The investigations at Skinwalker Ranch have been a central node for many key figures. This work began with the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), continued under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), and is now the subject of an ongoing television series. Individuals directly involved include Robert Bigelow, Colm Kelleher, George Knapp, Eric Davis, Jay Stratton, Travis Taylor, and James Lacatski.¹³³

    AAWSAP (2008-2010)

The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was a $22 million DIA contract that produced over 100 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs). The program involved Robert Bigelow, Colm Kelleher, James Lacatski, Jay Stratton, Eric Davis, and Hal Puthoff.³

    AATIP (2010-2017)

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) succeeded AAWSAP and operated within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSDI). Key members included Lue Elizondo, Christopher Mellon, Hal Puthoff, and Eric Davis.¹

    To the Stars Academy (2017-2020)

To the Stars Academy (TTSA), founded by Tom DeLonge, served as a vehicle for public UAP-related releases and included Hal Puthoff, Christopher Mellon, and Lue Elizondo.²⁴

    UAP Task Force (2019-2022)

The UAP Task Force was a Navy-led initiative ordered by Congress. It was directed by Jay Stratton, with Travis Taylor as chief scientist, David Grusch as the NGA liaison, and Christopher Mellon as an advisor.²

    Media & Disclosure (2017-2025)

The public disclosure effort has been driven by a small group of journalists and insiders. This includes the 2017 New York Times article, the Weaponized podcast, and the 2023 article in The Debrief. Key figures in this media ecosystem are Leslie Kean, George Knapp, Jeremy Corbell, Christopher Mellon, Lue Elizondo, and David Grusch.⁵⁴

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