ATP Working Group Founded (1985)

Colonel Col John Alexander and Lt. Col. Lt. Col. Ron Blackburn founded the Advanced Theoretical Physics (ATP) Working Group in 1985 as a constitutional inquiry into alleged rogue "black" UFO programs.

Context

Despite holding high-level clearances in Army Intelligence and R&D, Alexander found himself completely excluded from information about recovered non-human technology. He and colleagues believed a crashed craft had been recovered and "figuratively buried" — the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" scenario.

Objective

The ATP working group was established with an explicit mission: "There is a black UFO program someplace. Let's see if we can find it." The goal was to determine who was managing such a program and to gain read-in access to it.

Significance

This event marks Alexander's entry into the Blue Group inquiry framework — an attempt to investigate and bring classified UAP-related programs back under constitutional oversight. The founding would later become complicated by questions about whether Alexander eventually shifted allegiance toward the Black Group he initially sought to expose.