Kona Blue Material Transfer Attempt

During the AAWSAP program, Lockheed Martin attempted to transfer exotic crash retrieval materials — allegedly hull and bulkhead fragments from the 1953 Kingman, Arizona retrieval — to Bigelow Aerospace under a Department of Homeland Security prospective Special Access Program (SAP) codenamed "Kona Blue."

CIA DS&T Director Glenn Gaffney intercepted and blocked the transfer. According to Dr. Eric Davis, Gaffney was shocked to learn that Lockheed still possessed the materials, as they were supposed to have been surrendered back to the government in 1989. Gaffney categorically refused to allow an "uninitiated" private contractor to receive them.

[!note] Two claims under one codename (added 2026-09-14) Two separate stories circulate as one, and this note's title welds them together.

The Davis-sourced account, which this note describes: a Lockheed Martin executive attempted to transfer non-human materials and was blocked by CIA DS&T director Glenn Gaffney. It traces to Eric Davis's own on-record statements. What Davis attests first-hand is narrower than the story built on it: a clearance transfer from BAASS to Lockheed Martin's facility security officer, and a SCIF briefing from a Lockheed senior vice president.

AARO's account: its History and Origin of KONA BLUE describes Kona Blue as a DHS prospective special access program proposed by former AAWSAP personnel, states that "no data or material of any kind was ever transferred to or collected by DHS under the auspices of KONA BLUE", and does not mention Lockheed Martin or Davis at all.

Neither settles the other. AARO is a party to the allegation, not a neutral registrar: a denial issued by the institution whose own conduct is in question is a party statement, and its evidentiary weight is not raised by being printed on official letterhead — source tier measures provenance, not candour. The symmetrical caution applies to Davis, who is also an interested party and whose account is uncorroborated by any second witness. Recorded here as a live dispute. See the Davis career research report.