Roster
The people in the story
Who's who in UAP: the reporters, pilots, officials, scientists, experiencers and lawmakers. We say what each person did, said or reported, and note where it is disputed. Being on this list says nothing about whether someone is right. Lost in the acronyms? See the glossary, or see how everyone connects on the connection map.
Reporters and hosts
Journalists, filmmakers and podcasters who broke or carry the stories.
George KnappInvestigative reporter, KLAS-TV Las VegasLas Vegas TV reporter who aired Bob Lazar's Area 51 account in 1989 and has covered the subject ever since.Jeremy CorbellFilmmaker and podcasterDocumentary maker who has published military UAP photos and video, often with George Knapp.Jesse MichelsHost of American AlchemyInterviewer whose long-form YouTube show covers UAP, physics and secret programs.Joe RoganHost of The Joe Rogan ExperienceComedian and podcaster whose show brought UAP witnesses to one of the biggest audiences in the world.Curt JaimungalHost of Theories of EverythingCanadian filmmaker with a math and physics background whose long-form show sets UAP beside physics and consciousness.Chris RamsayMagician, YouTuber and host of Area52Canadian magician and puzzle YouTuber who hosts the Area52 podcast on UAP and the unexplained.Ross CoulthartInvestigative journalist, NewsNationAustralian reporter who did the first TV interview with David Grusch in 2023.Leslie KeanInvestigative journalist and authorCo-wrote the 2017 New York Times story that revealed the Pentagon's AATIP program.Ralph BlumenthalFormer New York Times reporterCo-wrote the 2017 AATIP story and a biography of John Mack.Helene CooperPentagon correspondent, New York TimesThe Times's Pentagon reporter on the 2017 AATIP story.Michael ShellenbergerJournalist, PublicPublished the "Immaculate Constellation" whistleblower report and testified in 2024.Linda Moulton HoweDocumentary producer and reporterProducer of the 1980 cattle-mutilation documentary A Strange Harvest; runs Earthfiles.Nick PopeFormer UK Ministry of Defence UFO desk officerRan the British government's UFO desk in the early 1990s and now comments on the subject.Richard DolanHistorian and authorAuthor of UFOs and the National Security State, a history of government handling of UFOs.Bryce ZabelTV writer, producer and podcast hostCo-created the 1996 TV series Dark Skies; now hosts UAP podcasts and co-wrote a book on disclosure.Brent FriedmanScreenwriter, producer and podcast hostCo-created Dark Skies with Bryce Zabel; says a Reagan-era official briefed him on UFOs in 1981.Chrissy NewtonPodcast host, Rebelliously CuriousHosts Rebelliously Curious, interviews about UAP, science and space carried by The Debrief.Grant CameronResearcher and authorCanadian researcher who tracks what US presidents knew about UFOs.Greg BishopAuthor and radio hostWrote Project Beta, about the Air Force's handling of Paul Bennewitz.Daniel SheehanConstitutional lawyerLawyer who has represented UAP whistleblowers and pushed the Disclosure Act.Danny JonesPodcasterLong-form podcast host whose guests include many UAP researchers and witnesses.Kathleen MardenResearcher, Betty Hill's nieceBetty Hill's niece, who co-wrote the main books on the Hill case.Thomas JaneActor and UFO researcherActor from The Expanse who has researched the UFO subject in depth.Ammar KandilFilmmaker, Yes Theory co-founderYouTube filmmaker who set out to interview every UAP whistleblower.UAP GerbPseudonymous researcher and YouTuberMaps the agencies, contractors and labs he says make up the UFO "legacy program."
Pilots and service members
People who reported what they saw while on duty.
David FravorRetired Navy commander, F/A-18 pilotLed the flight that saw a white, oblong object off San Diego on November 14, 2004.Alex DietrichRetired Navy lieutenant commander, F/A-18 pilotFlew in the second jet during the 2004 Nimitz encounter.Chad UnderwoodFormer Navy F/A-18 pilotRecorded the 2004 Nimitz infrared video on a later flight that day.Kevin DayFormer Navy senior chief, radar operatorRan the USS Princeton's air picture during the 2004 Nimitz radar tracks.Gary VoorhisFormer Navy systems technicianUSS Princeton technician who checked the radar during the 2004 tracks.Ryan GravesFormer Navy F/A-18 pilotReported near-daily sightings off the East Coast in 2014 and 2015 and testified in 2023.Alexandro WigginsNavy senior chief petty officerTestified in 2025 about objects he saw rise from the sea off Southern California in 2023.Dylan BorlandAir Force veteran, intelligence specialistTestified in 2025 about a 2012 sighting at Langley Air Force Base.Jeffrey NuccetelliAir Force veteran, security forcesTestified in 2025 about objects over Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2003.Robert SalasFormer Air Force missile launch officerSays nuclear missiles at Malmstrom went offline during a 1967 UFO report.Delbert C. NewhouseNavy chief warrant officer and photographerFilmed the 1952 Tremonton, Utah objects.
Officials and insiders
People who ran, worked on or spoke for government UAP programs, or say they did.
Luis ElizondoFormer Army counterintelligence officerSays he ran the Pentagon's AATIP program until he resigned in 2017 in protest.Christopher MellonFormer Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for IntelligenceFormer Pentagon intelligence official who helped bring the Navy videos to the press.David GruschFormer Air Force intelligence officerTestified in 2023 that the US has a program retrieving craft of non-human origin.Sean KirkpatrickFirst director of AAROPhysicist who led the Pentagon's UAP office from 2022 to 2023.Jon KosloskiDirector of AAROTook over the Pentagon's UAP office in 2024.James LacatskiFormer DIA scientistRan the Pentagon's AAWSAP study from 2008 to 2010.Colm KelleherBiochemist and researcherLed field work at Skinwalker Ranch for Robert Bigelow's groups.Robert BigelowHotel owner and aerospace entrepreneurFunded NIDS, owned Skinwalker Ranch and won the AAWSAP contract.Hal PuthoffPhysicist, EarthTech InternationalRan the SRI remote viewing research in the 1970s and later worked on AAWSAP.Eric DavisAstrophysicistWorked on AAWSAP and has briefed defense officials on UAP.Thomas WilsonRetired Navy vice admiral, former DIA directorThe admiral at the center of the Wilson-Davis notes, which he says are fiction.Christopher "Kit" GreenPhysician and former CIA analystFormer CIA scientist who studied the medical effects reported by UAP witnesses.Tom DeLongeMusician, founder of To The StarsBlink-182 guitarist who founded To The Stars Academy in 2017.Jim SemivanRetired CIA operations officerCo-founder of To The Stars Academy after a career in the CIA's clandestine service.Steve JusticeFormer Lockheed Skunk Works program directorAerospace engineer who led To The Stars Academy's aerospace work.Karl NellRetired Army colonelFormer UAP Task Force member who has said non-human intelligence is real.Jay StrattonFormer director of the UAP Task ForceNaval intelligence officer who led the Pentagon's UAP Task Force.Travis TaylorPhysicist and engineerUAP Task Force scientist and lead scientist on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.Tim GallaudetRetired Navy rear admiral, oceanographerFormer acting head of NOAA who testified about UAP over the ocean in 2024.Michael GoldFormer NASA associate administratorSat on NASA's UAP study panel and testified in 2024.Richard DotyFormer Air Force OSI special agentHas said he fed false UFO stories to researchers in the 1980s.Paul BennewitzPhysicist and businessman · 1927 to 2003Albuquerque physicist who said he picked up alien signals near Kirtland in 1979.Guy HottelHead of the FBI's Washington field officeSigned the 1950 memo about "flying saucers" in New Mexico.Matthew BrownFormer Pentagon policy adviserIdentified himself in 2025 as a source on the "Immaculate Constellation" program.
Scientists and researchers
Academics and independent researchers who study the subject.
Garry NolanStanford immunologistStanford professor who studies injured witnesses and claimed UAP materials.Jacques ValléeComputer scientist and astronomerDecades of careful case research and books including Passport to Magonia.Beatriz VillarroelAstronomer, leader of the VASCO projectStudies star-like flashes that appear and vanish on 1950s sky-survey plates.Avi LoebHarvard astrophysicistLeads the Galileo Project, which builds telescopes to look for technological objects.Diana Walsh PasulkaProfessor of religious studiesStudies belief in UAP as a new kind of religion; wrote American Cosmic.Kevin KnuthPhysicist, University at AlbanyFormer NASA scientist who studies UAP performance from sensor data.Richard HainesFormer NASA research scientistCollected aviation UAP reports through NARCAP.Scott and Suzanne RamseyResearchers of the 1948 Aztec caseSpent decades tracing witnesses and records for the Aztec, New Mexico crash.James E. McDonaldAtmospheric physicist · 1920 to 1971University of Arizona scientist who urged Congress to take UFOs seriously in 1968.Edward CondonPhysicist · 1902 to 1974Led the Air Force-funded University of Colorado UFO study.Robert HastingsResearcher and authorHas interviewed scores of veterans about UFOs at nuclear sites.Stanton FriedmanNuclear physicist and lecturer · 1934 to 2019Revived the Roswell story in the late 1970s.
Remote viewers
The government-funded psychic research programs and the people in them.
Russell TargPhysicist, SRI remote viewing researcherCo-founded the government-funded remote viewing research at SRI with Hal Puthoff.Ingo SwannArtist and remote viewer · 1933 to 2013Helped design the remote viewing methods used in the government program.Pat PriceFormer police commissioner and remote viewer · 1918 to 1975Early SRI viewer whose sessions on Soviet sites were studied by the CIA.Joseph McMoneagleArmy intelligence officer, remote viewer 001The Army's first remote viewer in the program later called Stargate.
Experiencers and claimants
People who describe close encounters or inside knowledge. We report their accounts, not verdicts.
Bob LazarPhysicist and businessmanSays he worked on alien craft at a site called S-4 near Area 51 in 1988 and 1989.John LearAirline and CIA contract pilot · 1942 to 2022Veteran pilot who brought Bob Lazar to George Knapp.Betty HillSocial worker, abduction account · 1919 to 2004With her husband Barney, gave the first widely known abduction account, from 1961.Barney HillPostal worker and civil rights leader, abduction account · 1922 to 1969With his wife Betty, gave the first widely known abduction account, from 1961.Travis WaltonLogger, abduction accountSays he was taken aboard a craft in an Arizona forest in 1975 and missing five days.Whitley StrieberNovelist, experiencerDescribed his own encounters in the 1987 bestseller Communion.John E. MackHarvard psychiatrist · 1929 to 2004Pulitzer-winning psychiatrist who worked with hundreds of experiencers.Steven GreerPhysician, founder of the Disclosure ProjectBrought former military and government witnesses to the National Press Club in 2001.Jake BarberFormer Air Force helicopter pilotSaid in 2025 that he flew a recovered egg-shaped craft by helicopter.Chris BledsoeBuilder, experiencerNorth Carolina man who describes orbs and encounters since 2007; wrote UFO of God.The Allagash fourJim Weiner, Jack Weiner, Charlie Foltz and Chuck RakFour art students who described being taken from a canoe trip in Maine in 1976.Peter KhouryExperiencer, SydneyAustralian man whose 1992 account included a hair sample later DNA-tested.Billy MeierSwiss contacteeSwiss farmer who since the 1970s has said he is in contact with beings from the Pleiades.Michael HornResearcher of the Billy Meier caseLong-time US advocate for the Billy Meier contact case.Edgar MitchellApollo 14 astronaut · 1930 to 2016The sixth man on the Moon, who later said he believed Earth has been visited.Gordon CooperMercury and Gemini astronaut · 1927 to 2004Astronaut who wrote that he saw UFOs as a fighter pilot in the 1950s.
Lawmakers
Members of Congress and officials who pushed for funding, hearings or disclosure.
Harry ReidUS Senate majority leader, Nevada · 1939 to 2021Secured the 2008 funding behind the Pentagon's AAWSAP/AATIP study.Chuck SchumerUS senator, New YorkCo-wrote the UAP Disclosure Act with Mike Rounds in 2023.Mike RoundsUS senator, South DakotaRepublican co-author of the UAP Disclosure Act.Kirsten GillibrandUS senator, New YorkWrote the law that set up the Pentagon's UAP office, AARO.Marco RubioFormer US senator, Florida; Secretary of StateAs Intelligence Committee vice chair, required the 2021 UAP report to Congress.André CarsonUS representative, IndianaChaired the May 2022 hearing, Congress's first public UAP hearing in decades.Tim BurchettUS representative, TennesseeOne of the House members who pushed for the 2023 hearing.Anna Paulina LunaUS representative, FloridaChairs the House task force that held the 2025 UAP hearing.Nancy MaceUS representative, South CarolinaChaired the November 2024 UAP hearing.Jared MoskowitzUS representative, FloridaDemocrat in the bipartisan House UAP caucus.Eric BurlisonUS representative, MissouriShowed the "Hellfire" orb video at the September 2025 hearing.Jimmy Carter39th US president · 1924 to 2024Filed a UFO sighting report from 1969, before he was president.John PodestaFormer White House chief of staffLong-time advocate for releasing government UFO records.
The early years
Figures from 1947 to the 1990s who shaped how the subject is talked about.
Howard M. McCoyAir Force colonel, intelligence chief at Air Materiel Command · 1946 to 1949 at AMCSenior Air Force intelligence officer when Projects Sign and Grudge began.Lincoln LaPazUniversity of New Mexico meteor expert who studied the green fireballs · 1948 to 1949Said the green fireballs were unlike any meteorite fall he knew.Art BellRadio host, creator of Coast to Coast AM · 1945 to 2018Late-night radio host who made UFOs and the paranormal a nightly national talk show from Pahrump, Nevada.Kenneth ArnoldPrivate pilot · 1915 to 1984His 1947 sighting near Mount Rainier gave us the phrase "flying saucer."Jesse MarcelArmy Air Forces intelligence officer · 1907 to 1986The Roswell base officer who handled the 1947 debris.Edward RuppeltAir Force officer, first head of Project Blue Book · 1923 to 1960Led the Air Force's UFO project in the early 1950s and coined "UFO."J. Allen HynekAstronomer and Air Force consultant · 1910 to 1986Air Force science consultant for two decades who came to take the subject seriously.Donald KeyhoeRetired Marine major and author · 1897 to 1988Best-selling author who led NICAP and pressed Congress for hearings.Thomas Townsend BrownPhysicist and inventor · 1905 to 1985Inventor of electric "lifters" and a founder of NICAP.Frank ScullyVariety columnist and author · 1892 to 1964His 1950 book was the first to describe a recovered craft, the case later tied to Aztec.Silas NewtonOilman, Frank Scully's main source · 1887 to 1972Said in 1950 that saucers and their crews had been recovered in the Southwest.Leo GeBauerEngineer, Scully's "Dr. Gee"Identified as "Dr. Gee," the scientist in Frank Scully's 1950 crash account.Philip CorsoRetired Army lieutenant colonel · 1915 to 1998Wrote in 1997 that he seeded Roswell technology into industry.
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