Summary
Senator Harry Reid secured $22 million in black-budget funding to establish the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) under the DIA, directed by Luis Elizondo, investigating cases including the Nimitz encounter.
Detail
In 2007, Senator Harry Reid helped secure roughly $22 million in black-budget funding to establish the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) inside the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Directed by intelligence official Luis Elizondo, the program investigated UAP cases including the 2004 Nimitz encounter and produced classified reports on anomalous materials and propulsion phenomena. AATIP's existence was officially denied until the 2017 New York Times exposé brought it to light — one of the openings of the modern disclosure era.
