Document · December 2009 – January 2011

Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs)

Also known as DIRDs, DIRD, AAWSAP DIRDs, AAWSAP DIRD

The Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) are the 38 technical papers commissioned in 2009–2011 under the DIA's AAWSAP programme through Bigelow Aerospace's BAASS contract, written by outside physicists and engineers. A DIRD is a reference format the DIA used to capture baseline knowledge on a subject for later analysis, a synthesis rather than original research.

Their topics range from conventional subjects (metallic glasses, biomaterials, ultracapacitors, high-energy lasers) to speculative physics: warp drive, traversable wormholes, antigravity, negative mass and energy from the quantum vacuum, and one report on the effects of anomalous fields on human tissue. They are the most concrete surviving output of AAWSAP.

The DIA released 37 of them (1,473 pages) in March 2022 in answer to John Greenewald's FOIA request, with authors' names redacted, and the Department of War republished all 37 in PURSUE release 06, each with an AARO summary warning that it "should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed."

Sources: DIA FOIA release (2022) · PURSUE release 06

Facts and claims

documented A DIRD is a technical reference format the DIA used to capture baseline knowledge on a topic for later analysis. DIRDs are reference and synthesis products, not original research. Thirty-eight were produced under AAWSAP between 2009 and 2011. Source: DOW-UAP-D138 — AAWSAP DIRD, Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions, April 2010
documented In answer to John Greenewald's FOIA request of January 31, 2018, the DIA located 37 responsive documents (1,473 pages). It released them on March 25, 2022, withholding parts under FOIA exemptions 3 (10 U.S.C. § 424) and 6, which covers the authors' names. Source: doc-dia-foia-00159-2018.pdf
documented The Department of War republished all 37 in PURSUE release 06 (records DOW-UAP-D117 to D153). Each comes with an AARO summary warning that the reports reflect their framing at the time of writing and “should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed.” Source: DOW-UAP-D138 — AAWSAP DIRD, Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions, April 2010
documented Topics range from conventional subjects (metallic glasses, biomaterials, ultracapacitors, high-energy lasers) to speculative physics: warp drive, traversable wormholes, antigravity, negative mass and energy from the quantum vacuum. One report covers the effects of anomalous fields on human tissue. Source: DOW-UAP-D128 — AAWSAP DIRD, Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human Biological Tissues, March 2010