The Creator and Former Director of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), Jay Stratton, recently made his first-ever public interview in episode three of the WEAPONIZED podcast, hosted by journalists George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell. As the only person from the U.S. federal government to have worked on all of the modern Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) programs, Stratton’s role as the most senior figure directly involved makes his interview particularly significant.
With a rank equivalent to a two-star Admiral, Stratton was the ideal person to tackle the UAP topic and lead engagement efforts with Congressional committees. During the interview, Stratton discussed the importance of trust, acknowledging that “We’re already 70 years behind the power curve for trust, right? Because everybody says the government’s lying to us and that the whole Blue Book thing and the whole Roswell thing killed trust.”
However, Stratton’s approach to the UAPTF was to keep an open mind, being a skeptic, and looking for answers in all the means available. He admitted that there were times where they could not close the loop and they realized that something needed to be done about it.
Stratton’s involvement in the UAP topic started in 2017 when he was a part of the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) and the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). He had no intention of returning to the UAP topic again, until the New York Times broke its story about the Pentagon’s secretive UAP investigation following Lue Elizondo’s resignation from the DoD. This led to Congress’s interest and prompted his boss at the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) to ask him to lead engagement efforts with Congressional committees.
In 2018, Stratton formed the UAPTF, which was later formally established by the Department of Defense (DoD) in August 2020. ONI saw Stratton as the best person to work on the UAP topic due to his previous experiences and background in identifying the capabilities of other nations’ military systems and validating potential threats.
When the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act became law in January 2021, the UAPTF was given the task of creating a report for Congress in six months. However, the task became further handicapped when Stratton was reassigned to other duties, leaving the job of creating the report to two other members of the UAPTF who had full-time jobs. Despite this, the two members were committed to transparency with the American public on the UAP topic and used a massive briefing presentation created by Stratton as the basis for the report delivered to Congress.
George Knapp described Stratton as “the U.S. government’s top UFO hunter.” He conducted the first in-depth investigation of the Tic Tac case and is the only person in the entire government to work on all of the major UFO probes, including AAWSAP, AATIP, and the UAPTF. Knapp added that unlike many of his former colleagues at DoD, Stratton believes the public has the right to know what’s going on.
Jeremy Corbell confirmed that some of his photographic and video releases were contained within the audio and visual report generated by Stratton and UAPTF, including the Mosul Orb. However, Corbell stressed that none of the materials or information ever provided to him originated from Stratton or UAPTF. He spoke about the significance of Stratton’s first public outing and its impact on the UAP topic, saying, “The importance of somebody like Jay Stratton coming forward for the first time is a key milestone for the UAP
community and the public in general. It shows that there is a willingness on the part of the U.S. government to address the issue and engage in open dialogue with the public. Stratton’s background and experience in the UAP topic make him an authority on the subject, and his insights and opinions carry weight.
During the interview, Stratton spoke about his experiences as the head of the UAPTF, including his attempts to find answers to the numerous UAP sightings and encounters reported by military personnel and civilians. He acknowledged the challenges faced by the UAPTF, including the limited resources available, but emphasized the importance of a systematic and thorough investigation of the UAP phenomenon.
Stratton’s interview is a step in the right direction for the UAP community, and it gives hope that the government is willing to engage with the public on this issue. Despite the difficulties faced by the UAPTF, Stratton’s commitment to transparency and his determination to find answers have made a significant impact on the UAP topic.
