The Origins of AAWSAP

[boringrealit]

As far as I know, we're quite sure that it never made it past the proposal stage. Maybe he means that some of the people on AAWSAP were party to the proposal.

Do we really know that? Given that SAPs are supposed to be secret, they wouldn't tell us or reveal the documents.

On the other hand, Elizondo is telling us that KB was some sort of program, which I assume would be illegal if it was/is a SAP under that name. And Lacatski claimed it continued.

There is of course some possible explanations, such as KB continuing "in spirit" and so on, maybe baked into some semi-private effort.

*

AATIP on the other hand is a worse mess. I think Lacatski is the one lying there. Elizondo has witnessed under oath, while Lacatski refuses. And it makes no sense for Elizondo/Stratton to use a cover name for AAWSAP for a real program or even a hobby project. Plus why would Elizondo lie about it running in parallel with AAWSAP?

It could be that both are lying, that AATIP was the real program and AAWSAP is the cover name, given how we are allowed to see so much about AAWSAP. Maybe Elizondo was supposed to come out as the director of AAWSAP but messed up and gave the real name of the program. Probably not, but it is possible. I lean more toward them being two different program in parallel or one within the other.

The KB docs also make it seem like AATIP was the precursor to KB, but I might misremember. I think the only place mentioning AAWSAP there was in AARO's intro. Maybe Lue actually messed up after all. Then again, why even release the KB docs if they wanted to keep things secret?

 

[RTM]

It sounds very like setting up a "committee to review the committee" type bureaucracy

 

[NorCal Dave]

On the other hand, Elizondo is telling us that KB was some sort of program, which I assume would be illegal if it was/is a SAP under that name. And Lacatski claimed it continued.

Is he? What does he actually say (bold by me):

As for KB, I was aware of the KB effort through others that were part of AAWSAP and AATIP before. Because this was not my program and was under DHS, I offered support where needed but I wasn't really involved with it.

An effort. We know there was an effort to stand up KB at DHS. This effort was led by Lacatski, Kelleher and Puthoff, who as usual tried to sell one thing, their supposed super sensor suites, while actually wanting to continue stuff at SWR and get a hold of UFO parts. From the book:

Bell had set up the meeting to brief Secretary O'Toole on the top level BAASS program mission goals. Lacatski, Kelleher, Puthoff, and Black were there to answer any technical questions before exploring any areas of commonality that might lead to a BAASS-like program under the auspices of the Science and Technology umbrella at DHS. Specifically, the briefing would focus on the commonality of sensor technology applied to both a BAASS-like program and a collaborative Science & Technology program under the roof of the DHS.

Then Kelleher quickly briefed her on the sensor driven strategies utilized on Skinwalker Ranch. Black and Kelleher then focused the rest of the discussion with Dr. O'Toole on some of the medical investigations that BAASS had initiated. O'Toole listened with great interest as Black and Kelleher recounted the 2005 case of the Ron Becker encounter with blue orbs that had culminated in a host of biological and medical issues.

pg: 149-150

From the actual KB proposal:

) Data Collection and Analysis, 2) Advanced Technology, 3) Consciousness, and 4) Integration.#1

(UAIVSACO) National Institute for Discovery Center:.

(S//KB//NTF)) The Data Collection Division will collect and deliver reports from the United States regarding sightings, evidence collection and subsequent laboratory analysis on advanced technology behavior within the territorial limits of the United States and immediately-adjacent Pacific and Atlantic Ocean areas.

(S/AB//NF) The Experimental Division initially will consist of a well-studied experimental locationt hat has been researched for approximately 15 years. The intent is to locate, calibrate and then subject other sites to the same intensive study as the primary location. Within each location, focus remote sensing capabilities on all known hot spots (locations with repeated/frequent reports of activity).

Data Collection is looking for UFOs, while the Experimental Division was obviously Skinwalker Ranch, with possible other spooky sites added. More from the proposal:

#2 (S//KB//NF)) Advanced Technology Center:(S/AKB/NE) Access recovered advanced technology and any earlier assessments to determine threat capability and any potential countermeasures possible against the advanced technology.(SHKB//NE) Collect oral histories from already identified sources - retired military, intelligence, and contractor personnel - to assist in locating additional recovered advanced technology.

#3 (S/XB/ANF)) Consciousness Center:(S/KB//NEF)) Collect critical data utilizing remote sensing in order to determine the activity and purpose of the advanced technology, especially any threat posed.(S//KB//NF)) In an expanded role, remote sensing and related techniques may present an invaluable aid in countering illicit activities conducted against the U.S. Demonstrations of capability will be made.

https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/UAP_RECORDS_RESEARCH/AARO_DHS_Kona_Blue.pdf

Advanced Technology Center is trying to get crashed UFOs, while Consciousness Center is the taxpayers once again paying Puthoff to play around with Psy. KB was just going to be a rehash of AAWSAP. The book and the documents agree. They also agree it never got passed being a proposal:

Lacatski worked with both senators to achieve the goal of a new DHS AAWSAP-like effort, but DHS leadership ultimately did not accept the new funding.

pg: 28

When DIA canceled AAWSAP/AATIP, several individuals involved with that program advocated for DHS to take the effort over and fund a new version of AAWSAP/AATIP under the code name "KONA BLUE." According to the proposal, KONA BLUE would continue the work previously undertaken by DIA's AAWSAP/AATIP to investigate, identify, and analyze sensitive materials and technologies, to include advanced aerospace vehicles.

Six months later, however, the Deputy Secretary of DHS disapproved KONA BLUE as a Special Access Program (SAP), and further directed its immediate termination citing concerns about the adequacy of justification for the program, and sufficiency of information central to the proposal development, including personnel and budget requirements.

https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PD...History_and_Origin_of_KONA_BLUE_FINAL_508.pdf

There is no evidence KB ever existed beyond a proposal according to the people that proposed it.

Then again, why even release the KB docs if they wanted to keep things secret?

Because there's nothing to keep secret.

As for Elizondo's description of AATIP and AAWSAP:

1. AAWSAP was the original contract vehicle that was approved and executed in 2008, although discussions occurred before that from my understanding. This included BAAS as the primary contractor. Focus included UAP and anomalies at Skin Walker Ranch

Yes, that's what most of us are saying. It's what the book says and it's corroborated by the FOIA documents. AAWSAP got $22m over 2 years with most of it going to BAASS.

2. AATIP was created to focus solely on military encounters with UAP. The 2009 memo demonstrates this. Keep in mind that justifying the spending of military resources (people, travel, time, etc) requires a military focus. This means showing a clear connection to military equities. The perfect example is the Nimitz incident and investigation that Jay conducted. I was part of AATIP already but focusing on the security element.

Now it gets fuzzy. The book notes that Elizondo was working with Jay Stratton:

Further down the dinner table sat Luis Elizondo, who worked collaboratively with Axelrod (Stratton) and was at the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USDI).

PG: 49

But the memo Elizondo produced for his X post, is the one Knapp, Kelleher and Lacastski claim used the made up name of AATIP:

Given what he had just heard from Bigelow, Reid was concerned that BAASS would get too high a profile at DoD in the near future and that the AAWSAP contract would be exposed and essentially unprotected from potential opponents at DoD.

A new unclassified nickname, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), was created for use within the unclassified letter because it was decided for security reasons not to use the AAWSAP acronym. Reid's letter was carefully crafted to initiate the process of urgently conferring Special Access Program (SAP) status to some of the more sensitive projects at BAASS.

pg:90-91

It sounds like what many of us suspect it was, an unofficial and un-funded search for military UFO stuff (bold by me):

3. From 2009 to 2012 both AATIP and AAWSAP were run simultaneously. Meaning, AAWSAP was focusing on the ranch and some archival UAP cases (for which I was not part of so I can't really speak to any degree of authority involving AAWSAP. As for me, at AATIP we were focused on military encounters with UAP which there were many.

4. In 2012, funding for AAWSAP ended and from my understanding those efforts ended (I could be wrong here because I wasnt really involved with that effort. With the finding done for AAWSAP, AATIP continued. In 2013 and 2014, we had another 10 million that was provided to us (AATIP) through appropriations but the language was vague and so the money didn't come to us and instead taken by another element in USD(I), much to our disappointment. Fortunately I managed activities that allowed me to use our own resources to keep the program alive. By this point, we had plenty of military incidents to review and triage

He was using money (resources) from his assigned duties to keep his and Stratton's side gig rolling. The possible funding for 2014-2015 may refer to attempts to fund AAWSAP via DoD:

For FY14 with the assistance of Congressman Steny Hoyer, and again in FY15, Senator Reid and Lacatski attempted to fund AAWSAP through the DoD. Both attempts failed. Finally, on May 13, 2016, Lacatski retired from government service. So, after nine years of effort, the work of AAWSAP ended.

Then, wanting to get a hold of crashed UFO parts and get his little unknown project some "top cover", he tries to do an end run around his boss's, boss's boss, the Secretary of the Air Force and goes straight to the Secretary of Defense, with help from Mellon:

6. When Gen Mattis became SecDef I saw it as an opportunity to see if we could get a memo from the SecDef, thereby trumping (forgive the pun) the SecAf. To do this, we would need to brief his staff. Please keep in mind that all the while AATIP had been placed into DoD control systems but very few people in the new chain of command were even aware of it. So this was the perfect opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I.e. get top cover at the highest level while also getting a memo signed by SecDef to allow certain contractors to hand over the material they said they already had. Chris Mellon knew folks in the SecDef front office and introduced us. I already had served with Mattis overseas but I didn't know anyone in his front office so Chris' help was invaluable.

This all sounds like what we have suspected. Elizondo and Stratton were farting around looking for UFOs in military circles while AAWSAP was up and running and then carried on after AAWSAP closed down and KONA BLUE was a bust. When they couldn't get the new Secretary of Defense to take up their cause, Elizondo decided to go public:

7. Jay and I along with our colleagues kept running into roadblocks with initiatives such as Interloper. As such, in 2017 we decided one of us would have to break cover in order to get the Secretary's attention to this important matter. We decided it would be me that would go public while Jay remained in the shadows to continue AATIP from inside.

Elizondo makes no mention of funding, aside from the lack of it, for AATIP nor how it was constituted or what chain of command it was part of. Were he and Stratton and others using the AATIP prior to the Reid memo? Maybe. Did Reid and Lacatski get the nick-name AATIP form Elizondo or Stratton? Again, maybe. But in the end AAWSAP was the officially funded program that paid out $22m to BAASS. AATIP at best was was a small program that Elizondo and Stratton worked on part time and at worst was just their side hustle.