UFO whistleblower claims Pentagon threatened him after leaking military reports

Elizondo says he and his family are facing both personal and professional pressures

The US Navy released a video earlier this year showing what appeared to be UFOs ((US Navy))

A former national security official who went public with reports of UFO sightings has filed a complaint against the Pentagon’s top official for allegedly running a smear campaign to discredit him.

Luis Elizondo, the controversial whistleblower who worked on a Pentagon program meto investigate “unidentified aerial phenomena” in 2008, has filed the 64-page complaint with the Pentagon’s inspector general on 3 May, reported Politico.

The complaint also said that the senior official threatened him that he would tell “people you are crazy, and it might impact your security clearance”.

Mr Elizando, a former head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, recently came out to say that the government’s investigation of UFOs wasn’t adequately resourced and alleged they were trying to cover up details about the unexplained sightings.

His latest accusations of a coordinated campaign to discredit him come as Washington officers are set to release a report before Congress in June detailing all their findings on UFOs so far.

It was part of a larger coronavirus relief bill signed by Donald Trump in 2020 which included the mandate for the Pentagon to provide all the information it possesses about unidentified flying objects within 180 days. But the document will likely be delayed, US media report.

Pentagon officials also recently acknowledged authentication of three UFOs sighted over Navy ships, said to be harassing the army off the coast of California.

This file video grab image by US Department of Defense shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots that have circulated for years showing interactions with “unidentified aerial phenomena”. (DoD/AFP via Getty Images)

“Several internet bloggers were notified … that I had no duties regarding AATIP and that AATIP did not involve the study of UAPs,” Mr Elizondo told the Pentagon Inspector General.

“As a result, the bloggers began to disseminate reporting, accusing me of being a fabricator.”

Daniel Sheehan, an attorney of Mr Elizondo, told Politico that the complaint has a much larger goal than just clearing his client’s name. He said it is to pressure the Pentagon to clear up confusion over all UFO sightings.

“Nobody seemed to be taking this thing seriously,” the lawyer said about Mr Elizondo’s claims. “The different units and different groups that are responsible for responding to this particular phenomenon… they’re not briefing each other on this.”

The Defence Department’s Inspector General did not respond to the complaint but announced an investigation into Pentagon “actions” on UFOs on the same day the complaint was filed.

Mr Elizondo has been vocal about efforts to discredit his role since he retired from Pentagon in 2017 and made a series of revelations about the covert Pentagon programme.