Book · 20 August 2024
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs
Also known as Imminent
Luis Elizondo · William Morrow (HarperCollins) · 304 pages · ISBN 978-0-06-323556-4
Glimpses
When Lonnie Zamora peered into that arroyo in Socorro, New Mexico, back in 1964, he saw an egg-shaped object with some sort of markings or insignia on its side. He was strictly warned by the Air Force not to share that knowledge with civilians, and he kept his word.
To be clear, I’m not advocating the ancient astronaut hypothesis that many today believe. I’m simply drawing some interesting parallels.
Given what we knew about Russian and Chinese capabilities, and the locations and nature of some of these intrusions, the ET hypothesis actually seemed the most viable explanation for some cases. This was clearly true for a series of encounters involving the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in November 2004.
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs (William Morrow, August 2024) is the memoir of Luis Elizondo, the former Pentagon official who says he led AATIP and who resigned in 2017 in protest at the handling of the subject.
The book's central claim is that a decades-long crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering effort, which Elizondo calls "Legacy Programs", has run since the Roswell recovery as a secret umbrella of government officials and aerospace contractors. He names Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems among contractors he says have worked on retrieved technology, and says multiple presidents were briefed.
The book was cleared by the Pentagon's prepublication review, which means it contains no classified information, not that its claims are confirmed. AARO's 2024 historical review found no evidence for such programmes, and the companies named by interviewees denied the claims on the record.
In an excerpt published by Literary Hub with the publisher's permission, Elizondo sets the markings Lonnie Zamora saw on the 1964 Socorro object beside the symbols reported at Roswell and Rendlesham, and reads ancient texts such as the Book of Enoch alongside modern encounter reports, while saying he is not advocating the ancient-astronaut hypothesis.
Sources: NewsNation · KQED · AARO Historical Record Report, Vol. 1 (2024) · Literary Hub
Facts and claims
- claimed Elizondo's memoir (William Morrow, 2024) says a decades-long crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering effort, which he calls “Legacy Programs”, has run since the Roswell recovery as a secret umbrella of government officials and aerospace contractors. — Luis Elizondo Source: newsnationnow.com (archived)
- claimed He names Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems among contractors he says have worked on retrieved technology, and says multiple presidents were briefed. — Luis Elizondo Source: newsnationnow.com (archived)
- claimed On Roswell, Elizondo writes that “Our primitive EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device must have somehow disrupted their propulsion bubble, rendering them vulnerable”, and that “Four deceased nonhuman bodies were in fact recovered from the 1947 Roswell crash.” (as quoted by BroBible, 2026) — Luis Elizondo Source: brobible.com (archived)
- claimed Early in the book, Elizondo writes, Hal Puthoff told him: “Roswell was real.” Puthoff has not publicly denied it (Michael Ian Black's review, 2024). — Luis Elizondo Source: michaelianblack.substack.com (archived)
- claimed The book was cleared for publication by the Pentagon's prepublication review (DOPSR). Clearance means it contains no classified information; it does not confirm the claims. Source: kqed.org (archived)
Connected files
Incidents
- Roswell crash (about)
People
- Luis Elizondo (authored by)
Concepts
Programs
Organizations
- Lockheed Martin (names)
- Northrop Grumman (names)
- RTX (formerly Raytheon) (names)
- Boeing (names)
Mentioned in this file
- Department of War (Department of Defense) (Organization)
- Legacy program (Program)
- Lonnie Zamora (Person)
- Socorro landing (New Mexico, 1964) (Incident)
- Rendlesham Forest incident (Incident)
- AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1 (Document)
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Program)
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