Chris Mellon
Chris Mellon is a former senior U.S. government official who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence during both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, and as staff director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He subsequently became a prominent public advocate for UAP transparency and was an early member and national security affairs adviser at To The Stars Academy (TTSA), departing by approximately 2021. Mellon has been a frequent public commentator on UAP policy and disclosure, publishing op-eds, participating in congressional briefings, and communicating directly with journalists and researchers about alleged government UAP programs.
| Role | Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; former staff director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence |
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Public Statements on Close-Proximity UAP Encounters
During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Mellon stated that he had personally viewed footage depicting a UAP positioned immediately adjacent to a military pilot's aircraft — described as being "right next to" the cockpit. This claim aligns with statements by Luis Elizondo about government-held footage showing UAP at distances as close as 50 feet from aircraft, corroborating that such incidents have been documented and that the footage exists within classified military archives. Mellon's statement adds credibility to claims that the most compelling UAP evidence remains classified and unreleased to the public.
Role in UAP Programs
In April 2024, Mellon released partially redacted screenshots on social media of a Signal messaging exchange with an unidentified individual who claimed their group had made substantial progress accessing the UAP crash retrieval portfolio and had deciphered its management structure, security control system, and program ownership. The unknown individual in the exchange referenced the 1953 Kingman, Arizona landing and a still-classified Secretary of the Air Force memo from the 1950s allegedly remaining in effect. Researcher Alex Catz subsequently performed a character-count analysis on the redacted name in the exchange, identifying Russell E. Wiler as the most probable candidate for the senior Air Force official described as gatekeeper for the crash retrieval portfolio. The presenter of "The Hidden Wing" alleges that Mellon and associated figures have pursued a strategy of limited, selective transparency that protects certain individuals and program equities while releasing partial information about UAP legacy programs.
Response to Kirkpatrick's AARO Claims
Following Kirkpatrick's Scientific American op-ed — in which Kirkpatrick claimed no whistleblowers had approached AARO with evidence — Mellon published a public rebuttal stating he was "astonished" by the claim. Mellon wrote that he personally introduced Kirkpatrick to Luis Elizondo, Eric Davis, and Hal Puthoff, each of whom spent hours briefing Kirkpatrick in a classified setting, and that "none have received any feedback." Mellon also called on AARO's forthcoming congressional report to describe what specific claims were made by these witnesses and what AARO did to evaluate them.