Kona Blue

Program Structure and Intent

Kona Blue was designed as a prospective PAP (Program Acquisition Plan) to establish a secure Special Access Program structure that would:

• Receive recovered UAP craft materials and possibly complete craft from Lockheed Martin
• Operate under Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology oversight to avoid traditional DoD/IC gatekeeping structures
• Provide Senator Harry Reid and Congressional intelligence committees visibility into UAP material custody
• Enable Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BASS) to conduct research and analysis on the transferred materials under AAWSAP contract
• Maintain waived USAP security protocols to protect sources, methods, and the materials themselves

The program's name "Kona Blue" appears to follow standard DoD/IC cryptonym convention for compartmented programs.

Material Transfer Attempts ( 2008-2011)

James T. Ryder, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation and head of the Advanced Technology Center, reportedly made at least two separate attempts to transfer recovered UAP materials to the AAWSAP program via Kona Blue:

First Attempt (~2008-2009): According to Eric Davis and AARO historical documents, an initial transfer attempt was made shortly after AAWSAP's September 2008 contract award to BASS. This attempt was reportedly blocked by James Clapper or other senior DoD/IC officials.

Second Attempt (2011): A more formal transfer attempt was made in 2011 using the Kona Blue PAP structure. Documents entered into the November 2024 House Oversight UAP hearing record by Representative Tim Burchett detail:

• Ryder proposed a "UAP Material Divestment Plan" to AAWSAP leadership
• Materials were described as residing in "a specific facility known to me" (facility location provided to Inspector General)
• Materials originated from "crash retrieval materials from the 1950s and other historical operations"
• Some sources claim the materials included craft hull fragments or the complete 1953 Kingman, Arizona crash vehicle
• Tara Oul of DHS Science and Technology was approached to establish the PAP infrastructure
• Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies constructed a 5,000 square foot underground vault (15-20 feet deep, 3-foot thick walls/ceilings/floors, multiple tunnels, security doors, vault steel door) specifically to receive and secure the materials
• The vault was designed to be operational by late 2009 or early 2010

Stonewalling by CIA and DNI

The 2011 Kona Blue transfer was killed through coordinated opposition from multiple senior intelligence officials:

Glenn Gaffney — CIA Deputy Director for Science and Technology:

• Met directly with Lockheed Martin executives (including a senior VP and executive VP)
• Was "very antagonistic" about the company releasing materials to DIA/BASS
• Wielded decisive authority to block the transfer from CIA's position
• Publicly identified by David Grusch and Christopher Sharp as a UAP legacy program gatekeeper

Robert Cardillo — Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration:

• Allegedly exercised veto authority over the transfer from the DNI position
• Later joined the board of Paraton in 2019 — the corporation that may have ultimately received Lockheed's divested materials through a separate corporate transaction

Possible Lockheed Martin Internal Opposition:Mary K. Sturdivant, serving as Lockheed VP for Intelligence, Joint, and Science and Technology Programs during this period, may have coordinated with Gaffney from within Lockheed due to her extensive CIA background and prior work in the joint CIA DS&T/Directorate of Operations office.

Official Justification for Rejection

According to declassified AARO documents on Kona Blue, DHS and other involved agencies ultimately shut down the proposal citing "skepticism regarding the authenticity of the purported materials". This official explanation contradicts the testimony and documentary evidence suggesting high-level stakeholders blocked the transfer to preserve siloed program control rather than due to doubts about material authenticity.

AARO Declassification and Tim Phillips Statements

On July 30, 2025, former AARO Deputy Director Tim Phillips made controversial public statements about Kona Blue, claiming it was established "as the home for all this paranormal UFO crap" and alleging that multiple whistleblowers cited Kona Blue to justify their claims to Congress. Phillips did not provide examples or evidence for these assertions.

AARO released a declassified Kona Blue slide deck that confirmed the program's structure and DHS involvement but framed it as a proposal ultimately rejected due to material authenticity concerns — a characterization disputed by UAP researchers who view the declassified materials as confirmation of the program's legitimacy rather than its supposed paranormal focus.

Significance for UAP Disclosure

Kona Blue represents the most well-documented instance of an attempted formal UAP material transfer from a defense contractor to a government research program with Congressional oversight. The program's failure illustrates:

• Active resistance by CIA and DNI gatekeepers to Congressional visibility of UAP materials
• The existence of Lockheed Martin custody of recovered materials dating to the 1950s (acknowledged in DoD-cleared documents)
• Senator Harry Reid's genuine efforts to bring UAP programs into legitimate government oversight structures
• The "special access program within special access programs" structure that keeps UAP materials siloed from even senior government officials

The program's blocking by Glenn Gaffney and Robert Cardillo is cited as evidence that elements of the IC actively work to prevent oversight and maintain the legacy program status quo.

Possible Alternate Disposition: Veritas Capital Transaction

UAP researcher Rob Jones, in his paper "Sub Rosa," presents a theory that after the Kona Blue blocking, Lockheed may have successfully divested the materials through a complex corporate transaction. In 2010, Veritas Capital acquired Lockheed Martin's Enterprise Integration Group (EIG) — a unit deeply involved in highly classified systems engineering for US intelligence agencies — for $815 million cash. Jones theorizes this transaction may have included the transfer of UAP materials to what eventually became Paraton (after multiple mergers and rebrandings under Veritas Capital). Robert Cardillo's 2019 joining of Paraton's advisory board potentially supports this theory.

Sources

• Video - Lockheed Martin - UFO Reverse Engineering, Material Exploitation, & Legacy Programs
• November 2024 House Oversight UAP Hearing Record (Representative Tim Burchett document submission)
• AARO Declassified Kona Blue Slide Deck