Person
Leslie Kean
Also known as Kean, Leslie Keane
- Investigative journalist; co-author of The New York Times' 2017 AATIP story and The Debrief's 2023 Grusch story
Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who has done more than any other reporter to move UFOs into mainstream news. She is a reporter rather than a witness, and her work rests on the officials and pilots she interviews.
Through the Coalition for Freedom of Information, she and filmmaker James Fox organised the 2007 National Press Club panel, where military pilots and officials from several countries called for UFO investigations to be reopened. Her book UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010), with a foreword by John Podesta, collected first-person accounts from the same circle. In 2016 Chris Mellon gave her his first public comments on how a UAP program could be hidden inside a defense company.
On December 16, 2017, with Helene Cooper and Ralph Blumenthal, she revealed the Pentagon's AATIP program and the Navy videos in The New York Times, a story that "fundamentally changed the conversation", as she later put it. The sources were Luis Elizondo and To The Stars Academy, with Mellon supplying the videos. David Fravor credits the story with removing the stigma from the subject, and Rep. Tim Burchett says it is how he learned of the Tic Tac. With Blumenthal she also broke David Grusch's whistleblower account in The Debrief in June 2023, six weeks before his testimony. She appears in The Phenomenon (2020) and The Alien Perspective (2025). Her close working ties with To The Stars Academy, which supplied the 2017 story, are part of the record.
Sources: The New York Times (16 December 2017) · The Debrief (5 June 2023) · Fravor written testimony (2023) · National Press Club panel (2007) · Capitol Hill press conference (June 2026) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- documented Co-wrote, with Helene Cooper and Ralph Blumenthal, the December 16, 2017 New York Times article that revealed the Pentagon's $22 million AATIP program. Source: nytimes.com (archived)
- claimed Author of “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record” (2010). Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
- documented With filmmaker James Fox she organised the November 2007 National Press Club panel at which pilots and officials from several countries called for UFO investigations to be reopened; she was then with the Coalition for Freedom of Information. Source: National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety
- claimed In 2016 Chris Mellon, speaking publicly about UAP for the first time, told her that if UAP technology were hidden, he would place it in a compartment inside an existing defense company and manage it as an “Independent Research and Development Activity”. He framed it as a hypothetical, saying he had no reason to believe recovered alien technology exists. — Chris Mellon Source: huffpost.com (archived)
- claimed David Fravor's written testimony says To The Stars Academy worked with Kean, Ralph Blumenthal and Helene Cooper to publish the December 2017 articles; Chris Mellon says he provided the three Navy videos for the story, and Hal Puthoff says TTSA helped Kean get it out. — David Fravor Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- documented On June 5, 2023 she and Ralph Blumenthal broke David Grusch's story in The Debrief: “A former intelligence official turned whistleblower has given Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says possess retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.” Source: thedebrief.org (archived)
- claimed At the June 2026 Capitol Hill press conference she said she had interviewed Grusch extensively before publishing his story, that the conversation should now shift “with more of a focus on biology and less on technology”, and that Kirk McConnell was present in classified settings when credible sources briefed senators, including Marco Rubio, about recovered non-human bodies. — Leslie Kean Source: FULL PRESSER: David Grusch & Lawmakers Call for UAP Records Declassification on Capitol Hill (9 June 2026) at 16:07
- documented Rep. Tim Burchett told the July 2023 hearing that her New York Times article is how he learned of the Tic Tac case. — Tim Burchett Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
Connected files
Books
- UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (authored)
- UAPs and the Nuclear Puzzle: Visitations, National Security, and the Need for Transparency (wrote foreword for)
Claims
- 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)
Events
- Capitol Hill UAP declassification press conference (speaker at)
- National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety (organized)
- The New York Times reveals the Pentagon UFO program (reported)
- David Grusch files his whistleblower complaint with the ICIG (reported on) — She and Ralph Blumenthal broke Grusch's story in The Debrief on 5 June 2023
Documentaries
- The Alien Perspective (appears in)
- The Phenomenon (appears in)
Organizations
- National Reconnaissance Office (statement about)
- To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (worked with) — TTSA supplied her 2017 story; Puthoff says it helped her get it out
People
- Kirk McConnell (cited) — Kean says McConnell was present when credible sources briefed senators about recovered non-human bodies
- David Grusch (reported on)
- Chris Mellon (sourced from) — Mellon gave her his first public comments in 2016 and supplied the Navy videos for her 2017 story
- Luis Elizondo (sourced from) — Elizondo and To The Stars Academy were sources for her 2017 story
- David Fravor (statements by)
- Tim Burchett (statements by)
Incidents
- USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter (reported on) — Her 2017 New York Times story is how Rep. Burchett says he learned of the Tic Tac
Programs
- Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (reported on)
Videos
- The Alien Perspective: official trailer (appears in)
- FULL PRESSER: David Grusch & Lawmakers Call for UAP Records Declassification on Capitol Hill (9 June 2026) (appears in)
- UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026 (discussed in)
- Joe Rogan Experience #2314: Hal Puthoff (discussed in)