17 Facts About Luis Elizondo

Luis Elizondo is a media personality and author formerly employed by the United States Department of Defense in roles of United States Army Counterintelligence, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and as Director for the National Programs Special Management Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

At the University of Miami, Luis Elizondo majored in microbiology and immunology.

Luis Elizondo enlisted in 1995 and served in the United States Army with service in the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, and in the United States, and then as a civilian intelligence officer during which he ran military intelligence operations in Afghanistan, South America, and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and its Camp Seven.

Luis Elizondo ran anti-terrorist missions against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Luis Elizondo has reported that he worked with officials from the US Navy and the CIA out of his Pentagon office for this program until 2017.

Luis Elizondo was Director for the National Programs Special Management Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Luis Elizondo told a reporter he thought that he might have been selected for AATIP because of his scientific background, work as a counterintelligence agent protecting American aerospace technology, and lack of interest in science fiction.

Luis Elizondo has been called a "leader" with responsibility for management of security for AATIP.

In 2017, Luis Elizondo was confirmed as an AATIP leader by Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White to Politico.

In June 2019, Pentagon spokesperson Christopher Sherwood confirmed that AATIP "did pursue research and investigation into unidentified aerial phenomena", and added to The Intercept that Luis Elizondo "had no responsibilities with regard to the AATIP program while he worked in OUSDI, up until the time he resigned".

In late 2017, Luis Elizondo resigned to protest what he characterized as "excessive secrecy and internal opposition".

At the time of his resignation Luis Elizondo was a federal "GS-15 employee", the civilian equivalent to colonel rank.

In 2017, after resigning, Luis Elizondo gave three videos to reporters made by pilots from the United States Navy aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt which were then publicized in the New York Times.

The Times story publicized the existence of AATIP, with Luis Elizondo expressing his belief that UFOs depicted were not of human origin.

Luis Elizondo has stated he believes the US government to be in possession of "exotic material" associated with UAPs.

Luis Elizondo was announced on October 30,2021 as a research affiliate to The Galileo Project, a program began by Harvard University astrophysicist and ufologist Avi Loeb to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of unidentified flying objects.

Levine noted that Luis Elizondo had "become a lightning rod for a dangerous new rage that is overtaking some conspiracy-oriented UFO believers and influencers, who are demanding 'disclosure now' by the government about its purported encounters with aliens".