Harry Reid

Harry Reid (1939–2021) was a Nevada-born American politician who served as a U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader. As a prominent advocate for government transparency on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), Reid initiated one of the first major U.S. government investigations into UFOs in 2007. In his role as Senate Majority Leader, he secured $22 million in Pentagon funding through the Defense Intelligence Agency to establish the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), later renamed the Advanced Aerial Threat Identification Program (AATIP). Working with fellow senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, Reid championed the program's research into unexplained aerial phenomena and advocated for public disclosure of findings. He collaborated closely with aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow and former Stanford engineer Hal Puthoff to conduct theoretical studies on UAP. Reid's efforts helped legitimize UAP research within government institutions and contributed to the eventual public acknowledgment of the program by the Pentagon and the 2021 Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force report.