Report 06: One approval away, by their account (1947–2026)

Sources (all read 2026-10-24, primary unless marked)

• PURSUE R07 PDFs, browser-downloaded and hash-matched: D168 (Dec 2008 plan), D171 (Jun 2009 monthly), D173 (Nov 2009 monthly), D175 (Nov 2010 self-assessment), EOP-UAP-D002 (1963), USG-UAP-D002 (1962–64).
• Black Vault, DIA AAWSAP set:
• Reid to Lynn, 24 Jun 2009.
• USD(I) Clapper memo to DepSecDef.
• DIA IM to OUSD(I) Special Programs, 13 Nov 2009.
• DepSecDef talking points for the Reid meeting, 17 Nov 2009.
• DIA Director read-ahead, 19 Nov 2009.
• AARO, "History and Origin of KONA BLUE" (58 pp, DHS declassified 18 Jul 2023), including:
• the proposal;
• SAPOC minutes, 21 Nov 2011;
• the termination memo, 12 Dec 2011;
• DIA Director Burgess's info memo, Dec 2010.
• BAASS "Ten Month Report", 30 Jul 2009, 530 pp. Leaked Jun 2025 via Metabunk, provenance unconfirmed. Contains verbatim official BAASS text; full document unauthenticated. Quotes from it are tagged (unauthenticated leak). See the authenticity check below.
• PURSUE R01–R06 via vault Events notes; FY24 NDAA via vault Events/UAP Disclosure Act.

1. Before 2008, every crash story in these files died when the government checked it

• The phenomenon was handled as a security matter:
• SHAEF foo fighters, 1944–45.
• Oak Ridge, 1947.
• The SECRET Los Alamos conference with Bradbury, Teller and Reines, Feb 1949.
• 209 Sandia reports, 1948–50.
• Samford, 1952: "credible observers are reporting the incredible."
• The crash stories in the files failed when checked:
• The Hottel memo traces back to the Newton/Aztec hoax in the same FBI file.
• An AMC "disc" debris lot was a speaker diaphragm and capacitor parts.
• The 1963 Bahia report of a crater and a dead crewman was "fabricated" per State's follow-up cable.
• R01–R04 contain no crash-retrieval program.
• The machinery for a recovery program did exist, aimed at Soviet space debris:
• 1963: "DOD and AF want to use NASA for a 'cover'" (EOP-UAP-D002).
• Agencies deliver "fragments (including whole vehicles)" to DoD (USG-UAP-D002 p27).
• Congress was to get nothing "because of the harmful debate it would touch off."

2. The premise, Dec 2008 (D168, the BAASS plan to DIA)

• p12: oral histories from people "highly placed within government" about "novel spacecraft that were not 'black' government programs." BAASS has "a list of about ten individuals who have worked in ... programs involving retrieval of advanced aerospace hardware or of associated biological material."
• p13: "Under the premise that biological material of potentially non-human origin has been recovered," DIA will lobby for samples at AFIP, Fort Detrick and Dugway.
• p35: "With urgent effort, DIA will obtain the full set of Strategic Air Command (SAC)/other organization records" on nuclear-base incursions.
• p41: buy "hardware that we think is in foreign hands" and back-engineer it.
• Exhibit (p46): the 2002 Roswell PIO affidavit: "a couple of bodies under a canvas tarpaulin."

3. Every door, Jan–Jul 2009 (Ten Month Report §2C3, unauthenticated leak)

• DIA's own library: a Jan 2009 search "resulted in no files whatsoever." The program manager told BAASS that DIA "had destroyed thousands, perhaps millions, of paper files" in the early 1990s, and that only "a small minority" were copied electronically (p186).
• Los Alamos: the lab "refused entry." The files it released were 600 pages of Project Grudge, mostly already declassified and online (p187).
• NORAD: asked in Mar 2009 for JANAP 146 pilot reports, NORAD said "no such data exists ... no such reports had been received" (p188).
• Brazil: after a promising start, "further cooperation was abruptly terminated" (p189).

4. The pivot: from government holdings to the corporate world, plus a SAP

• D171 p7 (Jun 2009, official): a 5,000 sq ft underground vault at North Las Vegas, "in line with a BAASS priority to pursue and acquire recovered hardware and biological samples from the corporate world and/or from private individuals and groups located elsewhere, including in Brazil." There was "no highly secure facility ... to store exotic material or tissue."
• Ten Month Report, 30 Jul 2009 (unauthenticated leak; no official copy released):
• p185 (unauthenticated leak): "it will be necessary to alter the official programmatic status of the BAASS operation. This change is already underway and will afford the BAASS organization deeper cover ... without important need to know (NTK) restrictions."
• p214–216 (unauthenticated leak): the oral-history sources are people "who have personal first-hand knowledge of the programs involving material obtained from advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin." They were "warned that unauthorized disclosure ... would be vigorously denied." BAASS asks for "high-level executive authorization ... with an appropriate Need-to-Know status," and says "changes to BAASS sponsorship are now underway."
• p488 (unauthenticated leak), 2010 plan item 4, "Acceleration of SAP-derived need to know (NTK) access," item a: "Establish relationships with aerospace contractors—obtain hardware." Its contacts in "the aerospace and electronics industries" have "been given access to the extremely closely guarded information that the United States possesses regarding the physical evidence (hardware and biological samples) of advanced aerospace vehicles and their pilots." Item f: "Launch search to obtain EBE tissue samples."
• Reid to DepSecDef Lynn, 24 Jun 2009: asks for a "Restricted Special-Access-Program (SAP) with a Bigoted Access List." The portions to protect include "the methodology used to identify, acquire, study, and engineer the advanced technologies" and "protection of industry partnerships." He says some technologies "will be collected, engineered and applied by the U.S." The attached nomination lists the category as "Intelligence, DoD Acquisition," with BAASS on the bigoted list (Kona Blue file p56).

5. Refusal 1: DoD, Oct–Nov 2009

• DIA got Reid's letter for evaluation only on 21 Oct 2009, four months after he sent it (read-ahead, 19 Nov 2009).
• The review was of the 26 unclassified technical papers (the DIRDs). DIA: "we can not find a direct link between the content of the reports and his letter" and "DIA is unaware as to which ones the senator believes are sensitive."
• FY09 deliverables were all unclassified "as the contractor had yet to establish a secure facility and the employees were going through the vetting process for their clearances" (DIA IM, 13 Nov 2009).
• Clapper, USD(I): "I recommend against establishing a Special Access Program at this time." "At this time" reads as deferral, not a ruling on merits.
• DIA's read: Reid seems to be "looking ahead to a research, development and acquisition (RDA) effort that lies outside the DoD Intelligence Community's purview."
• DepSecDef talking points also note: "August 2008: DIA learned of counter-intelligence concerns with Bigelow Aerospace," which "do not appear to be directly related to" AAWSAP. That was before the contract was awarded.
• Same month, D173 p155 (official): Northern Tier, "entry into classified archives, Project Oral History, as well as contacting key people in the military and private sector are on hold because BAASS currently does not have the Need to Know." BAASS adds that it has taken "tentative steps to contact some organizations within the USG that may have access to material and archives."
• The gap: none of the released DoD denial papers mentions the vault, the corporate-world material, or the oral-history program. The denial judged the papers. The thing the SAP was for, per BAASS's own reports, never appears in the released decision record. Withheld papers could say otherwise; that's record target 3.
• DIA Director Burgess, Dec 2010: the reports "were of limited value to DIA," and the project "could be transitioned to another agency." AARO 2024 adds that DIA ended it citing "lack of merit and lack of utility."

6. Refusal 2: DHS Kona Blue, 2011

• After DIA, "several individuals involved with that program advocated for DHS to take the effort over" (AARO).
• The proposal's own words:
• "Retrieval and integration of historical data from high value personnel with knowledge of recovered AAV technology and present location of recovered material is accessible only within a SAP construct" (p21).
• Analyze "recovered technology in collaboration with major aerospace and electronics Companies" (p19).
• "Inventory all existing caches of [AAV] materials ... in National Laboratories, government organizations and/or contractors" (p24).
• "Negotiation with present holders/stewards of AAV hardware ... governmental or privatized" (p25).
• Facility: "a new five building ... complex in Las Vegas," including a 5,000 sq ft building (p34). The 2009 vault was also 5,000 sq ft. Suggestive at most; a matching size is weak linkage.
• 11 Jul 2011: Under Secretary O'Toole establishes it as a prospective SAP "based on claims that relevant information and material existed."
• 21 Nov 2011, SAPOC: called with "some sense of urgency" over "the impending transfer of funds to DHS from Senators Reid and Lieberman"; $10M for FY12.
• 8 Dec 2011: Deputy Secretary Lute questions whether the SAP justifications "were adequate" and whether the proposal's elements were sufficient. She "directed that the PSAP be terminated immediately." It was terminated 10 Feb 2012.
• AARO: "some DHS personnel believed that relevant information and material would be delivered to DHS upon establishment of the SAP," but "no data or material of any kind was ever transferred." AARO's interviewees described Kona Blue as protecting "the retrieval and exploitation of 'non-human biologics.'"

7. Refusal 3: Congress, 2023–2026

• Senate UAPDA, Jul 2023: federal eminent domain over "recovered technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence," plus an independent review board.
• The House stripped both in conference; the FY24 NDAA was signed 22 Dec 2023.
• Jul 2026: the House adopted Rep. Burlison's UAP Disclosure amendment, eminent domain included, to the FY27 NDAA (H.R. 8800). CRS (IN12704) lists no recorded vote on the amendment; secondary sources say voice vote. The rule allowing it passed 214–211 on 21 Jul, and the full NDAA passed 216–212 on 22 Jul (roll call 278). The 216–212 figure is the bill's passage, not the amendment's. The Senate NDAA stalled on a failed cloture vote (Jul 14). Conference is pending.

The structure

1. The claim: material exists in contractor or private hands.
2. Access condition, as the proposers stated it: the material is reachable "only within a SAP construct" (Kona Blue p21), with SAP-derived NTK (Ten Month Report p488, unauthenticated leak). This is their claim, not a finding.
3. SAP condition: a justification the reviewers can see.
4. What the reviewers saw: unclassified physics papers (2009) and a proposal they judged insufficient (2011). No material. The 2009 ruling also rested on jurisdiction (an RDA effort outside the DoD IC's purview) and security readiness (no secure facility, clearances pending).
5. Result: no SAP → no NTK → no material → no justification for a SAP.
6. Congress tried to cut the loop with eminent domain, which skips the SAP step. It was stripped in 2023 and is pending again in 2026.

The loop is documented on both sides. Its contents are not. The records fit both readings: - Material exists: the gatekeepers judged the request on paperwork that, by design, couldn't contain the material. Contractors had no obligation to come forward, and sources had been warned they'd be "vigorously denied." - Nothing exists: a contractor whose premise rested on testimony and an affidavit asked for secrecy first, evidence later. Two separate departments judged that it hadn't shown cause.

Granting a SAP would also settle it: the material would appear or it wouldn't. But that path runs through the gatekeepers who refused twice. An outside forcing mechanism (eminent domain, or a review board with subpoena power) is the only test that doesn't depend on them. That's why the eminent domain vote is the one to watch.

Against the material reading (keep honest)

• Every crash or body story in these files that the government checked between 1950 and 1963 fell apart.
• The same contractor logged moved pennies and a "cold grip" at its ranch (D173 p60–70). Its Nimitz excerpt dropped the exercise-inject and ice-crystal explanations (D175 p26–27 vs the 2018 KLAS copy).
• Los Alamos's promised files turned out to be already-public Grudge reports. BAASS itself noted the "discrepancy between the original allegations ... versus what was actually found."
• AARO 2024: no verifiable evidence of retrieval programs. The one tested sample (Army–TTSA) came back ordinary.
• DIA flagged counter-intelligence concerns about Bigelow Aerospace before the contract was awarded.

Ten Month Report authenticity check

• Its vault paragraph (p3) matches the official D171 p7, released Oct 2026, almost word for word, including "from the corporate world and/or from private individuals and groups located elsewhere." The leak surfaced Jun 2025, sixteen months before D171 was released.
• Differences are consistent with a later compilation: the leak says "During the month of May 2009," names the administrator, and points to "the August 2009 BAASS monthly." D171 says "June," redacts the name, and points to "the June 2009 monthly." A document dated 30 Jul 2009 citing the August 2009 monthly means either the date is wrong or it was compiled later; the 2015 PDF metadata fits later compilation.
• The "UAP is anachronistic for 2009" objection fails: the official D169 (Mar 2009) uses "UAP" 23 times, and D171 uses it 24 times.
• PDF metadata shows creation on 16 Jun 2015 (a scan or conversion date). The original custody chain is still unknown.
• Prior circulation: Popular Mechanics (Feb 2020) was shown a 494-page BAASS document dated 30 Jul 2009, by someone never involved with BAASS; Skinwalkers at the Pentagon lists a 530-page "Ten Month Report" (secondary, via ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com, 2023). So the document was in private hands by 2020. No public release of BAASS monthly text before Jun 2025 found.
• What the match proves: the leak contains genuine BAASS text that existed before D171 was released. It does not authenticate the other ~529 pages. Someone holding one real monthly could build around it. Verdict: contains verbatim official BAASS text; full document unauthenticated. D172 (record target 1) is the direct test.

Record targets (each tests one link of the loop)

1. D172, the missing BAASS report for Jul–Oct 2009. Absent from the release (crawl manifest goes D171 → D173). The Ten Month Report likely covers the same window.
2. The 30 Oct 2009 DIA quality-review IM (U-429-09) and the eleven outside expert reviews ("all ... positive, some exceptionally so"). These test whether the papers were weak or just unclassified.
3. What the program manager told USD(I) in Oct 2009 beyond "no justification ... based on the content of the FY09 deliverables." Did anyone in the decision chain see the monthlies?
4. The Aug 2008 counter-intelligence concerns about Bigelow Aerospace.
5. Kona Blue's "claims that relevant information and material existed": what O'Toole was shown before 11 Jul 2011.
6. The "about ten individuals" BAASS offered to name (D168 p12), and the "organizations within the USG that may have access to material" (D173 p155).
7. The FY27 NDAA conference outcome on eminent domain.