Person
Eric Davis
Also known as Dr. Davis, Eric W. Davis
- Astrophysicist; advanced propulsion researcher (NIDS, EarthTech International)
- Defense contractor and consultant (Aerospace Corporation; AAWSAP/BAASS researcher)
Eric W. Davis is an astrophysicist who has spent three decades in privately and government-funded research on UAP and advanced propulsion. In 1996 Robert Bigelow hired him at the National Institute for Discovery Science, whose advisers included Hal Puthoff and astronaut Edgar Mitchell. He then joined Puthoff at EarthTech International in Austin. Under the DIA's AAWSAP contract he wrote Defense Intelligence Reference Documents, including "Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy", and Luis Elizondo has called him a chief scientist of AAWSAP/AATIP. More recently he worked for the Aerospace Corporation in Huntsville, supporting NASA's space nuclear propulsion office.
He is the reported author of the 2002 notes of a conversation with former DIA director Adm. Thomas Wilson, which describe an intact craft held by an aerospace contractor. The notes surfaced from Edgar Mitchell's papers in 2019 and were entered into the House Intelligence Committee record in 2022, though neither man has confirmed them. In 2020 he told The New York Times he had briefed Defense Department and congressional staff on recovered off-world craft. He later briefed Senate committee staff in 2019 and 2022. At Jay Stratton's request he also spent two and a half days briefing David Grusch, which fed Grusch's Inspector General complaint.
At the May 2025 congressional briefing he set out his account in detail: recovered craft "not of this earth", programs dating to the 1933 Magenta case and the Corona, New Mexico crash, and funding hidden through shell companies and contractors' research budgets. He also said the CIA closed one effort in 1989 for lack of progress and that there are no "alien reproduction vehicles". He appears in The Age of Disclosure (2025). His claims are second-hand and have not been backed by documents. Avi Loeb called his physics speculation, and AARO's 2024 report traces such claims to the AAWSAP circle he belonged to.
Sources: May 1, 2025 congressional briefing · American Alchemy interview · Wilson–Davis notes (House record, 2022) · The New York Times (July 2020) · AARO historical report (2024)
Facts and claims
- claimed He says his UFO work began in 1996 when Robert Bigelow hired him as a physicist at the National Institute for Discovery Science, whose science advisory board included Hal Puthoff and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell; he later worked for Puthoff at EarthTech in Austin. — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 53:20
- claimed Has stated that the U.S. government, along with several foreign adversaries, has recovered off-world craft. — Eric Davis Source: nytimes.com (archived)
- claimed At the May 2025 congressional briefing he repeated what he says he told The New York Times in 2020 about his contacts with industry leadership: “The craft that have been recovered are not of this earth. They're not made by human hands.” Asked whether they are extraterrestrial: “We don't know.” — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:04:55
- claimed Has said that defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin hold retrieved craft inside unacknowledged special access programs kept from congressional oversight. — Eric Davis Source: Admiral Wilson memo (EWD notes)
- claimed He is the reported author of the 2002 notes of a conversation with former DIA director Adm. Thomas Wilson, entered into the House Intelligence Committee record in 2022. He says he would need a lawyer to assess the circumstances in which Wilson gave him information before discussing it; neither man has confirmed the notes. — Eric Davis Source: Eric Davis: “A US President Was Briefed on UFOs!” at 7:47
- claimed He says he briefed Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committee staff in classified settings in 2019 and 2022, but was never invited to testify. — Eric Davis Source: Eric Davis: “A US President Was Briefed on UFOs!” at 8:24
- claimed He says that, while assigned to the Aerospace Corporation in Huntsville supporting NASA's space nuclear propulsion office, he met David Grusch “at the behest of Jay Stratton” and briefed him and his NRO boss for two and a half days just before COVID; that material formed part of Grusch's classified Inspector General complaint. — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:01:39
- claimed He says the crash-retrieval programs go back to the U.S. Army's 1944 recovery of a craft that crashed in Italy in 1933, are hidden from Congress under presidential emergency action directives dating from Eisenhower, and are funded through shell companies and contractors' internal R&D. — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 59:50
- claimed He says a materials scientist hired by Ben Rich at Skunk Works told him the recovered materials' elements were identifiable by mass spectrometry but structured in a way no one could fabricate on Earth, and that only engineers and materials scientists, no physicists, work in the legacy programs. — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:15:04
- claimed He says the grays he knows of came from the crash near Corona, New Mexico, which he says is misnamed Roswell. — Eric Davis Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:30:23
- claimed He also says he was told the CIA shut down its effort in 1989 for lack of progress, and that there are no “alien reproduction vehicles”. — Eric Davis Source: Eric Davis: “A US President Was Briefed on UFOs!” at 33:18
- claimed At the same briefing Avi Loeb responded to Davis's negative-energy explanation of how the craft fly: “We don't have a reliable theory that combines the quantum gravity. So what we are hearing is speculation.” — Avi Loeb Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:23:10
- documented AARO's 2024 historical report found “no empirical evidence” for claims that the U.S. government and private companies have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology, and traced modern claims largely to individuals tied to the cancelled AAWSAP/AATIP program. Source: AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1
Connected files
Claims
- A craft of non-human origin came down near Magenta, Italy, in 1933, and Mussolini's government recovered it (asserts)
- Programs dealing with UAP have been hidden from congressional oversight (asserts)
- The U.S. has recovered the bodies of non-human beings from crashed craft (asserts)
- The U.S. holds recovered craft of non-human origin and runs a secret program to reverse-engineer them (asserts)
- A craft of non-human origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and the military recovered it (asserts)
Documents
- DIA FOIA response FOIA-00159-2018: release of 37 AAWSAP DIRDs (March 25, 2022) (mentioned in)
- Admiral Wilson memo (EWD notes) (attributed) — Reportedly typed by Davis; unverified
Events
- Admiral Wilson memo begins circulating online (attributed) — Presents itself as Davis's notes of a 2002 conversation with Wilson; neither has confirmed it
Documentaries
- The Age of Disclosure (appears in)
Incidents
- Holloman AFB landing film (claimed) (reported) — Says George H.W. Bush told him in 2003 of a landing at Holloman, with film as the main evidence
- Magenta crash (alleged, 1933) (claims)
- Roswell crash (claims about) — He says the grays he knows of came from the crash near Corona, New Mexico, which he says is misnamed Roswell
Organizations
- National Reconnaissance Office (statement about)
- Lockheed Martin (claims about) — He says contractors such as Lockheed Martin hold retrieved craft in unacknowledged programs
People
- Avi Loeb (disputed by) — Loeb called Davis's account of how recovered craft fly “speculation” without a theory of quantum gravity
- David Grusch (briefed) — Davis briefed Grusch and his NRO boss for two and a half days; Davis says it fed Grusch's IG complaint
- Edgar Mitchell (statement about)
- Hal Puthoff (worked with) — Davis joined Puthoff at EarthTech International in Austin
- Jay Stratton (worked with) — Davis briefed Grusch “at the behest of Jay Stratton”
- Glenn Gaffney (statement about)
- James T. Ryder (statement about)
- Robert Bigelow (hired by) — Bigelow hired Davis at the National Institute for Discovery Science in 1996
Hearings & briefings
Programs
- Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (worked on) — He wrote Defense Intelligence Reference Documents under the AAWSAP contract
- Legacy program (statement about)
Concepts
- Crash retrieval & reverse engineering (claims about) — He says “the legacy program has been very insulated and insular” and that he briefed Grusch on it
Videos
- “These Are Parts Of an Alien UFO!”: Garry Nolan at Stanford (American Alchemy) (discussed in)
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) (speaks in)
- Eric Davis: George H.W. Bush told him of crash retrievals and the Holloman landing (The Age of Disclosure, clip) (appears in)
- Eric Davis: “A US President Was Briefed on UFOs!” (appears in)
- Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff (discussed in)
Mentioned in videos
- Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform)
- Eric Davis: “A US President Was Briefed on UFOs!”