Full Name: Luis Daniel Elizondo
Born: ?, Texas, United States
Luis “Lue” Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official and special agent who was recruited into a strange and highly sensitive US government program to investigate UAP, funded through Congress and managed within the Department of Defense.
He also led classified investigations worldwide where he became involved with entities such as the FBI, the CIA, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Specifically, Lue Elizondo worked within the Department of Defense (DoD), the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Eventually, he began managing Special Access Programs (SAPs) for the National Security Council (NSC) and the White House.
from the Introduction of Luis Elizondo‘s book Imminent:
“In late 2008, I began a new job over at the Pentagon after several tours with other US intelligence agencies. Shortly thereafter, my life changed forever when I was recruited into a strange and highly sensitive US intelligence program unlike any I had ever been a part of. The program investigated the global mystery that is “unidentified anomalous phenomena”, or UAP for short, also known to many as UFOs. For nearly a decade, I found myself on the front lines of the biggest paradigm shift in human history and learned the reality of our place in the universe.
Unidentified craft with beyond-next-generation technology━including the ability to move in ways that defy our knowledge of physics and to do so within air, water, and space━have been operating with complete impunity all over the world since at least World War II.
These craft are not made by humans. Humanity is in fact not the only intelligent life in the universe, and not the alpha species. Yes, I know that’s going to take a bit of time to process, but buckle up. There is a lot more.
UAP, and the nonhuman intelligence controlling them, present at best a very serious national security issue, and at worst the possibility of an existential threat to humanity.”
from Chapter 1 of Luis Elizondo‘s book Imminent:
“In my twenties, I joined the US Army and was recruited into various sensitive programs in military intelligence. Later in my career, I did three combat tours in Afghanistan and the Middle East and went on to work all over the world with America’s most elite special operations and intelligence units.
As an operations officer and senior intelligence officer, I was assigned missions throughout the world, focusing on counterinsurgencies, counternarcotics, counterterrorism, and counterespionage. I ran Intelligence efforts against enemies including ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and the FARC. I led classified investigations worldwide with partners that included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I worked within the Department of Defense (DoD), the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Eventually, I managed Special Access Programs (SAPs) for the National Security Council (NSC) and the White House.
Finally, in 2008, I returned to a job at the Department of Defense. While in that assignment, I worked for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)), focused on an information-sharing operation between the DoD, DHS, and state, local, and tribal law enforcement authorities.”
[Luis Elizondo on meeting with Jay Stratton and his “colleague”, who Luis Elizondo refers to as Rosemary Caine]
“… Rosemary approached my desk. “We’re here to talk to you about something very important. A matter of national security. We are interested in your counterintelligence and security experience for a highly classified program led out of our office at DIA.”
They had come to recruit me to support an intelligence program over at the Defense Intelligence Agency. When a DoD program needs a new person, they sometimes work their network of colleagues to find the right candidate. In this case, Jay and Rosemary’s team needed a senior intelligence officer to set up counterintelligence and security for one of their programs.
Jay explained that he helped create something called the AAWSAP, Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program, which would later become AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program).
They described it as a small but highly sensitive program focused on “unconventional technologies”, and said they reported directly to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and to Congress.”
[Luis Elizondo on meeting with James Lacatski]
“In a calm voice, he told me AAWSAP worked on sensitive aviation technology and needed a senior counterintelligence agent to lock down all intel about the program from the usual antagonists, foreign adversaries. They employed many outside contractors, but Jim deliberately handpicked a small cadre of intelligence officers to manage and oversee the work performed by contractors.
Nestled deep inside DIA, a member of the US intelligence community (the IC), AAWSAP drew its authority directly from Congress, according to Jim.
He explained that AAWSAP focused on “unusual phenomena” and investigated unidentified aircraft, specifically ones that seem to display beyond-next-generation technology and capabilities━what we now call unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, or what were long referred to as UFOs. Jim explained that for decades, civilians, military personnel, and law enforcement officers had reported strange sightings across the world, and there was actually data to support what they saw. Data collected by the same intelligence gathering systems used to keep our country safe from our adversaries, arguably the most advanced in the world. Jim emphasized that what they focused on didn’t conform to physics as we understood it.
A few days later, I met Jim Lacatski again. This time, Jim shared that the program enjoyed the support of the DIA’s then director, Lieutenant General Michael D. Maples, and was funded through the efforts of a bipartisan group of senators: Senator Harry Reid, Senator Ted Stevens, and Senator Daniel Inouye.
In this second meeting, Jim Lacatski formally asked me to handle counterintelligence and security for the program. He was still mysterious and didn’t tell me the name of the effort I’d be focused on.”
from Chapter 2 of Luis Elizondo‘s book Imminent: