Christopher Mellon

Christopher Mellon served in U.S. intelligence and defense posts, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He reviewed reports of unusual craft sightings.¹² Mellon began his career with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 1985 and joined the Pentagon in 1999 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.¹

  Advocacy for Disclosure

Since leaving government, Mellon has pressed Congress for hearings and better data collection on UAP incidents.³⁴⁵

He helped reveal the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and gave the Pentagon UFO videos to the New York Times.⁶⁷

  AATIP Liaison and New York Times Scoop

Though Mellon did not serve in AAWSAP/AATIP, he facilitated the hand-off of three de-classified Navy FLIR videos from Luis Elizondo to reporters, a move that triggered the December 2017 New York Times exposé.⁸ Mellon personally delivered the "Tic-Tac" footage to journalist Leslie Kean and confirmed its provenance.

  Briefings to Congress and Policy Impact

From 2018-2022 Mellon organised classified UAP briefings for members of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, arguing that unknown craft pose an aviation-safety and intelligence gap.⁹ His behind-the-scenes lobbying contributed to the creation of the UAP Task Force (2020) and its successor, AARO (2022), as well as UAP reporting language in multiple NDAAs.

  Public Messaging

Mellon frames UAPs as a potential national-security threat rather than declaring them extraterrestrial; this sober posture has earned him mainstream credibility. He co-stars in documentaries such as The Phenomenon and frequently publishes op-eds emphasising radar data and pilot testimony over speculation.

  Criticism

Skeptics note Mellon released the Navy videos outside normal FOIA channels, calling it a "controlled leak." Others argue his threat-centric rhetoric may exaggerate danger to secure funding; nonetheless, even critics concede his sources and documentation are authentic.¹⁰

In July 2023 the Washington Spectator reported that Mellon, along with Luis Elizondo and To The Stars CEO Tom DeLonge, was named in draft SEC complaints alleging fraudulent investor solicitations that promised a warp-drive "spaceship."¹¹

  References

1. en.wikipedia.org ↩ ↩²

2. defense.gov ↩

3. thehill.com ↩

4. politico.com ↩

5. washingtonpost.com ↩

6. vice.com ↩

7. nytimes.com ↩

8. newyorker.com ↩

9. politico.com ↩

10. The Intercept, "Meet the Ex-Officials and Spooks Who Promote the Pentagon's UFO Narrative," 2021-06-29. ↩

11. washingtonspectator.org ↩