New whistleblower claims knowledge of secret US UFO program

In an article published on October 8, 2024, journalist Michael Shellenberger reports on a new whistleblower's claims about the US's alleged UFO recovery program

In this long and comprehensive article, published on his substack platform “Public”, journalist Michael Shellenberger describes the long detours taken by the U.S. government to answer the thorny question of UFOs, despite the many figures who have spoken out on the subject in recent years. 

He then reports having contacted a whistleblower, author of a report stating that the executive branch of the U.S. government has been the managing authority on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena and Non-Human Intelligence issues.

He adds that several sources have revealed the name of one of the programs tasked with managing the UAP problem under the status of “Unacknowledged Special Access Program”: “Immaculate Constellation”. 

This program would have been created in response to the unveiling of the AATIP program in the New York Times columns in 2017. Its function would be to consolidate observations from general observation platforms, but also from platforms specifically designed to observe UAPs. 

The report explains that a treasure trove of data would have been recorded during UAP observations by multimodal sensors that are “difficult or impossible to observe with the human eye alone”. 

The report concludes, according to Shellenberger, with :  “the existence of IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION demonstrates the extant capability to detect, quarantine, and transfer UAP and ARV [Alien Reproduction Vehicle] collection incidents” in a rapid manner to prevent information from spreading through military and intelligence channels.

The report describes several instances of contemporary midair encounters with groups of UAPs whose behavior is identical to observations made during the Second World War by pilots of Japanese, German, British and American forces. 

Another intelligence source told Shellenberger that this program is directed from the office of the Secretary of Defense.

In addition, he points out that these statements have been provided to authorized congressional committees and their teams.

At the time of writing, the Department of Defense has not responded to these allegations. 

ADDENDUM 9/10/2024

In an interview published on October 9, 2024, decorated journalist Ross Coulthart talked to Michael Shellenberger on NewsNation, where he supported information obtained by Shellenberger concerning a vast database on UAP.

Coulthart added that said program is reportedly under the control of the “Office of the Undersecretary for Defense and Intelligence”.

It was the head of that very same office who was questioned on May 17, 2022 by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation during a public hearing, where he declared that he had no knowledge of the Malmstrom case, which allegedly saw nuclear-tipped missiles deactivated by a UAP, but confirmed the existence of the AATIP UAP study program within the Department of Defense. 

According to Ross Coulthart and his sources, the name immaculate constellation corresponds to this database. 

One of the pieces of information that most interested Ross Coulthart was the mention of ARV (Alien Reproduction Vehicle). According to him, this concerns “a reference to a vehicle that has been constructed from non-human technology that is being operated, presumably by either private aerospace or the United States government”. 

Shellenberger went on to point out that the report is 25 pages long. He added that, from his reading of the document, “this is a phenomenon of domination. This is not a benevolent brotherhood of space. It's a demonstration of domination at a very basic physical level”.

Regarding the legality of such a program, Shellenberger considers that “that this is more evidence that the system is out of balance, that the executive branch, that elements within the executive branch, elements within the defense and intelligence communities, are outside of democratic civilian control.”

He insists, however, that many of his sources are terrified of revealing what they know about the subject, for fear of reprisals: “The whole way in which we met showed deep alarm and concern about their safety, and they are still very nervous about this, and feel that their obligation to the public interest, you know, trumps their fear.”

Shellenberger ended the interview by saying that he recommends whistleblowers “not talk to AARO”:

“I don't think that they're trustworthy. I'm sorry to say, I also don't trust the IC IG or the DoD IG anymore, I don't think they're doing their jobs.”

“I think all the action is at the level of Congress and the public, as mediated by journalists and the media. And so if I were a whistleblower and I were scared, that's the two I would find.”

While the Department of Defense took four days to respond, Shellenberger received an answer to these allegations on the same day the article was published.

In it, we read that the Pentagon says it has found no evidence of a secret UAP program that members of Congress have not been briefed on. 

As Shellenberger himself says, the devil is in the details. Indeed, the details of programs presented for congressional oversight are left to the Pentagon's discretion. 

The latter states that: “The DoD has no record, present or historical, of any type of SAP called ‘IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION.’”

One wonders if the Pentagon is even capable of validating the existence of a secret program publicly. The Groom Lake base, nicknamed Area 51, was only officially recognized by the CIA on June 25, 2015, following a 10-year-old FOIA request, even though it has been in service since 1942, notably hosting CIA's secret U2 aircraft program as early as 1955. 

Questioned by Shellenberger about the existence of a database on UAP, the Pentagon has refered to documents recovered and sometimes put online by AARO. 

Again, one wonders, if a secret database existed, would the Pentagon have the right to talk about it, breaking its secrecy in the process?