AATIP: Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program

Secretly funded between 2007 and 2012 with $22M, AATIP was a Department of Defense programme tasked with studying anomalous aerospace threats. Its existence was confirmed in late 2017 by the New York Times. Director Luis Elizondo resigned in protest at the lack of transparency, and helped catalyse the 2020s era of official UAP acknowledgement.