2009 AAWSAP SAP Request Denial

On 24 June 2009 Harry Reid wrote to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn asking that AAWSAP be made a restricted special access program. The letter cites "unconventional materials and controls" and frontier physics, and names neither Lockheed nor Skinwalker Ranch [S1]. DIA reviewed the program on 30 October. On 13 November Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence James Clapper recommended against creating a SAP, and the Pentagon declined [S2].

Why it matters

This is the one senior-official refusal in the UAP record with the government's own paper behind it. In 2021 Reid gave his motive: "I was told for decades that Lockheed had some of these retrieved materials… I tried to get… a classified approval by the Pentagon to have me go look at the stuff. They would not approve that" [S3]. Note what was refused. The Pentagon declined to create a new compartment. The record does not show Reid being refused entry to an existing one. See The Committee Gate and the research report.

Sources

[S1] "Reid letter to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn III, 24 June 2009" / https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/20090624_Reid_to_DEPSECDEF_ref_AAITP_in_SAP.pdf / Accessed 2026-09-27 / Text of the request [S2] "DIA FOIA — Senator Harry Reid's Request to Put AATIP under Special Access Protection" / https://www.dia.mil/FOIA/FOIA-Electronic-Reading-Room/FileId/237660 / Accessed 2026-09-27 / DIA review; Clapper memo; recommendation against [S3] "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously" (The New Yorker, 2021) / https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously / Accessed 2026-09-27 / Reid's account of his motive