Book · 2021
Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders' Account of the Secret Government UFO Program
Also known as Skinwalkers at the Pentagon
James T. Lacatski, Colm A. Kelleher & George Knapp · RTMA, LLC · ISBN 979-8-4876-3965-3
Glimpses
I believe that there is information uncovered by the government’s covert investigations into UAPs that can be disclosed to the public without harming our national security.
Between September 2008 and December 2010, the Pentagon spent those millions investigating UAPs as well as the paranormal and psychic correlates to UAPs.
The first of the authors' books on AAWSAP, the DIA program James Lacatski managed and Colm Kelleher ran day to day at Bigelow's BAASS, written with George Knapp. In its authors' words it covers the program's "effects on humans" track: medical and physiological effects of close encounters, and the paranormal activity studied at Skinwalker Ranch. They describe AAWSAP as a wholly UFO-focused program and AATIP as a nickname for it. Knapp has since said that the book's "Axelrod" is Jay Stratton.
AARO's 2024 report gives the official counterpoint: the ranch work was never authorized by DIA, the program's papers were not peer reviewed, and AARO found no other substantive case work. The book itself is copyrighted and not held here; the claims on this page come from its authors on record.
Sources: Mystery Wire interview with the authors (2021) · WEAPONIZED #38 (2023) and WEAPONIZED with Jay Stratton (2026) · Joe Rogan Experience with David Grusch · AARO Historical Record Report, Vol. 1 (2024) · The Black Vault · Wikipedia (Skinwalker Ranch)
Facts and claims
- claimed The first book by AAWSAP's program manager and two colleagues about the DIA-funded program run through Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, including its work at Skinwalker Ranch. According to documents published by The Black Vault, the Pentagon's prepublication office cleared it “as amended” on May 11, 2021, after more than a year of review. Source: theblackvault.com (archived)
- claimed Reviewing it in the Journal of Scientific Exploration in 2023, Barry Greenwood criticised the lack of documentary evidence from the ranch after decades of study, and described Skinwalker as “always in the business of selling belief and hope”. Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
- claimed Co-author Colm Kelleher says AAWSAP ran two parallel tracks, UFO performance and the effects of UFOs on humans, and that this book reported mostly the second: medical, pathological, physiological, psychological and paranormal effects. — Colm Kelleher Source: Inside the DIA's Secretive UFO Investigation: Lacatski and Kelleher on WEAPONIZED #38 (October 2023) at 25:03
- claimed James Lacatski says AAWSAP “was completely UFO-related”, although the released contract documents don't show it, because BAASS's proposal listed “a worldwide database of advanced aerospace vehicles”; over a hundred reports went to the DIA. — James Lacatski Source: Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp on “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” (Mystery Wire, October 2021) at 0:32
- claimed Lacatski says “The name AATIP was a nickname for OSAP for certain security reasons that we've put into the book”, and that the Pentagon effort later called AATIP “was basically zero funded” and had no contract. — James Lacatski Source: Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp on “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” (Mystery Wire, October 2021) at 2:14
- claimed Kelleher says BAASS, which he managed in Las Vegas, had a team of about 50 by May 2009, built a “data warehouse” of 11 UAP databases, and logged several hundred cases of medical and physiological effects, investigated with two MD-PhD physician consultants; the book describes such cases, including a man near Bend, Oregon, who says a small object passed through his shoulder. — Colm Kelleher Source: Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp on “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” (Mystery Wire, October 2021) at 8:20
- claimed David Grusch cites pages 152–153 of the book as Lacatski's disclosure of a recovered craft, and infers from its wording that access to the craft was forcible. — David Grusch Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2065 - David Grusch at 32:07
- claimed Co-author George Knapp says the book's pseudonymous “Axelrod”, the intelligence officer who had strange experiences after visiting Skinwalker Ranch, is Jay Stratton, and that Stratton coined the term “Hitchhiker” for phenomena said to follow visitors home. — George Knapp Source: Jay Stratton's first on-camera interview, recorded 2022 (WEAPONIZED, released October 2026) at 12:24
- documented Counter-evidence: AARO's 2024 historical report says the program “investigated an alleged hotspot of UAP and paranormal activity at a property in Utah”, including “shadow figures” and “creatures”, that “DIA did not seek, nor specifically authorize, this work”, that its scientific papers “were never thoroughly peer reviewed”, and that AARO “has yet to uncover any other substantive UAP case work”. Source: AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1
Connected files
Books
- Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah (follows)
- Inside the US Government Covert UFO Program: Initial Revelations (followed by)
People
- James Lacatski (authored by)
- Colm Kelleher (authored by)
- George Knapp (authored by)
- Jay Stratton (portrays) — Co-author George Knapp says the book's pseudonymous “Axelrod” is Jay Stratton
- David Grusch (statements by)
Programs
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (about)
- KONA BLUE (related to)
Places
- Skinwalker Ranch (about)
Official records (PURSUE)
Videos
- Lacatski, Kelleher and Knapp on “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” (Mystery Wire, October 2021) (subject of)
- Inside the DIA's Secretive UFO Investigation: Lacatski and Kelleher on WEAPONIZED #38 (October 2023) (subject of)
- “He ran the Pentagon's secret UFO program, and says we've been played”: James Lacatski, part 1 (WEAPONIZED, November 2025) (subject of)
- “The Government UFO Boss”: James Lacatski, part 2, on New Insights (WEAPONIZED, November 2025) (discussed in)
- Mystery Wire: the Bigelow–Lacatski connection, AAWSAP and New Insights (8 News Now, January 2026) (discussed in)
- “This is UFO disclosure, as far as it can go”: James Lacatski on Future Visions (WEAPONIZED, April 2026) (discussed in)
- Jay Stratton's first on-camera interview, recorded 2022 (WEAPONIZED, released October 2026) (discussed in)
Mentioned in this file
- Robert Bigelow (Person)
- Bigelow Aerospace (Organization)
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (Program)
- AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1 (Document)
- Defense Intelligence Agency (Organization)
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Program)
Mentioned in videos
- Inside the DIA's Secretive UFO Investigation: Lacatski and Kelleher on WEAPONIZED #38 (October 2023)
- Jay Stratton's first on-camera interview, recorded 2022 (WEAPONIZED, released October 2026)
Mentioned in documents and records
- Inside the U.S. Government Covert UFO Program: Future Visions
- Inside the U.S. Government Covert UFO Program: New Insights
- PURSUE Release 07: federal agents' triangle sighting and AAWSAP's working files
More books
- Out of the Shadows: Revealing the Truth About Non-Human Intelligent Life
- Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs
- UFO Crash/Retrievals: Status Reports I–VII
- UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know (And Don't Know)
- UAPs and the Nuclear Puzzle: Visitations, National Security, and the Need for Transparency
- In Plain Sight: An Investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science