Everett Heinman
Everett Heinman is a former CIA official who served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology (DS&T) at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1979 to 1982, and subsequently directed NRO Program B — the CIA's SIGINT satellite initiative — from 1982 to 1989. He served as the first chief of the ground element for Program B at Pine Gap, Australia. His name entered UAP research through the 1989 Inman-Echler Telephone Call, in which Admiral Bobby Ray Inman identified Heinman as "the best person to ask" about recovered UFO vehicles being made available for research — an unsolicited referral that UAP researchers treat as the clearest documented pointer from a senior intelligence official toward the CIA DS&T as the management node for alleged UAP material holdings.
| Role | CIA Deputy Director for Science and Technology (DS&T); NRO Program B Director |
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Career Background
Heinman served in the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology during a period when the DS&T was one of the two founding agencies of the National Underwater Reconnaissance Office (NURO), alongside the US Navy. His subsequent role as NRO Program B director placed him at the intersection of the CIA's most sensitive technical collection infrastructure. Program B's ground control element at Pine Gap, Australia — a joint US–Australian facility — processed satellite SIGINT data for the NSA and related agencies.
Following his government service, Heinman wrote about Project Palladium — a classified 1960s-era CIA program using naval assets to create false UAP radar signatures and map Soviet air defenses — in a 1998 CIA journal article, which constituted the first public discussion of that program.
1989 Meeting with Bob Echler
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman directed NASA mission specialist Bob Echler to Heinman as "the best person to ask" about recovered UAP vehicles. Echler met Heinman at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on 10 August 1989. At that meeting, Heinman denied any knowledge of UFOs or UFO legacy programs.
2022 Contact by RGH_UFOs
In 2022, Twitter researcher RGH_UFOs contacted Heinman with reference to Inman's claim that Heinman was knowledgeable on US UFO programs. Heinman did not issue a categorical denial. Instead, he stated he was "a long way and quite a few years from working in the area you are researching" and offered to answer questions — but subsequently did not respond. UAP Gerb has also independently attempted to contact Heinman and received no reply. UAP researchers note that a person with no knowledge of the subject would be expected to issue a straightforward denial; the equivocal response is treated as an ambiguous partial acknowledgment.
Significance
The combination of Heinman's DS&T role (one of NURO's founding agencies), his NRO Program B directorship (overseeing the program whose satellite capabilities would be relevant to UAP tracking), and Inman's specific referral to him as the right contact for recovered vehicle research is treated by UAP researchers as circumstantial evidence that the CIA DS&T served as a key node in managing alleged UAP material holdings. The fact that Heinman directed NRO Program B from Pine Gap, Australia — and that Pine Gap serves as a ground control station for US reconnaissance satellites — adds to speculation that the facility may have intersected with UAP tracking infrastructure.