1 Dr. James Lacatski
Last Updated September 15, 2026. v2.
Dr. James Lacatski is a former Defense Intelligence Agency rocket scientist who served as program manager of the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). In his book Inside the US Government Covert UFO Program, cleared through DOPSR, he stated that the United States possesses a craft of unknown origin whose interior has been accessed.
1.0.1 Book Excerpt
Lacatski recounts posing a direct question to a U.S. Senator and an agency Under Secretary at a 2011 Capitol Hill meeting, describing a recovered craft of unknown origin whose interior had been accessed, but which showed no visible engine, fuel, or control surfaces.
“At the conclusion of a 2011 meeting in the Capitol building with a U.S. Senator and an agency Under Secretary, Lacatski, the only one of this book’s authors present, posed a question. He stated that the United States was in possession of a craft of unknown origin and had successfully gained access to its interior. This craft had a streamlined configuration suitable for aerodynamic flight but no intakes, exhaust, wings, or control surfaces. In fact, it appeared not to have an engine, fuel tanks, or fuel. Lacatski asked: What was the purpose of this craft? Was it a life-support craft useful only for atmospheric reentry or what? If it was a spacecraft, then how did it operate?”
Lacatski, James. (2023). Inside the US Government Covert UFO Program: Initial Revelations. RTMA LLC Henderson, NV.
1.0.2 AAWSAP
Speaking with George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell on WEAPONIZED, Lacatski and colleague Kelleher confirm that AAWSAP and Bigelow discussed taking possession of crash-retrieval materials, while pushing back on the characterization that a "full blown craft" was involved.
Knapp: "Is (sic) you pursuing this material? Were you trying to find the goods?"
"There's part of your question is....there's material and there's material. Are you talking about material to be investigated? In other words, pieces falling off flying saucers? Or are you talking about full blown craft? You know, there's a big difference. And I'm not so sure that I would ever characterize it that we were constructing facilities in order to look at full blown craft. I mean, again, we're talking about a commitment of money. Bob Bigelow went over well over and well and beyond commitment to the contract. I mean, we stopped tracking (at DIA) his losses at $1.5 million. Now is he going to be constructing large facilities? There's a lot of statements that have been made on the internet that partially ring true, but ultimately aren't really true. I mean, that's a large commitment of money on his part. And as a contractor, he's responsible for having his supplying the facilities, not the government."
Corbell: "Right. But didn't he revert or didn't he retrofit Bigelow Aerospace? I mean, Dr. Kelleher, maybe you could talk about this, but didn't he retrofit Bigelow Aerospace in hopes to gain either some materials or a full craft? You've already told us that we have a full craft that we got inside it that we've been reverse engineering within our government. Didn't he want to be part of that and get some materials?"
Kelleher: "Part of the contract was that DIA wanted a facility security clearance bestowed on some of the buildings associated with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies. And so in order to be accredited to achieve that facility security clearance, a lot of retrofitting was necessary. So the National Security Agency (NSA) got involved and all of these audits happened on a very regular basis. So you had to dot the I's and cross the T's. That was a part of the requirements of the contract that we have to perform. That's a very different thing from building a hangar outside Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in order to receive a craft. We were mandated by the contract in order to adhere to facility security clearance requirements." (WEAPONIZED 2023, 40:23)
1.0.3 A Craft in Possession
Pressed repeatedly by Corbell to confirm the claim beyond the specific wording his DOPSR review approved, Lacatski confirms the U.S. government possesses a recovered craft of unknown origin whose interior has been accessed, while declining to elaborate further.
Corbell: "But what this is, is you're officially allowed to tell us that the United States government has in its possession a craft of unknown origin and you were able to access the inside. Is that correct?"
"The wording that you read is correct."
Corbell: "I'm asking you, did it really happen?"
"Oh, of course."
Corbell: "And it's true?"
"Yes."
Corbell: "Okay, you're telling us, you told us, because you were allowed to tell us, that our government has a UFO in its possession and has been able to access the inside of it, right?"
"Yes. I was allowed to tell you, let me show the back of the book (laughs)."
Knapp: "How do we know it's a craft and not a doorstop? We accessed it. It has no engine. It has no wings. No, no fuel. It doesn't. We don't know that it travels. Do we know it's a craft or it's just a rock?"
"George (Knapp), you're going into the further discussion that occurred that day. We can't go there. But let me tell you, we're going to try to cover that in the future. But it's delicate. It makes the technology described in here (the book) look primitive."
Corbell: "Why is this delicate? Why is this topic that the United States government has a UFO in its possession and we've been reverse engineering it.. You've done admitted it. Why is it delicate?"
"The details. I'm old school. I'll use the term, I won't use the term: adversary, competitor, as the way we describe. We are surrounded, maybe not surrounded, but hopefully not so...by our enemies. And our enemies, you can be sure they're listening to this show right now. You can be sure that they were monitoring AAWSAP. You can be sure, that perhaps they had employees, hopefully not in DIA, in the contractor part, that was, that was... we're giving out information. I am...I know that. So the thing is, is we can't say anything more than what we've been approved to say." (WEAPONIZED 2023, 15:30)
1.0.4 AAWSAP Outstanding Questions
Lacatski says his and Corbell's earlier book raises several unresolved questions — including why the AAWSAP program was started and whether it truly ended — that he suggests point toward a specific answer without stating it outright.
"(his books) ...have not what I would call zingers in it, but has some interesting doors that have not been ever mentioned.
- Why was this program started?
- Why was this program ended?
And we've raised this partially in Skinwalkers At the Pentagon. Did it end?
Also, we had a chapter in Skinwalkers at the Pentagon where we met with a high level Brazilian official at a meeting, started introducing some of our cohorts. And no one ever asked us, why did you have that meeting? hat was so important about that meeting?
You know, there's a lot of material in there that as Kit Green, Dr. Kit Green, one of our consultants on the OUSAT program said, read between the lines. That applies both to Skinwalkers at the Pentagon and Initial Revelations. Read between the lines.
Now, you may come to the wrong conclusions. And I can tell you on the topics I just read, you don't have enough information to come to the correct answers."
Corbell: "So why? Why did the- You're asking- One big question people should ask is, why was the UFO program started? Maybe you can't tell the full story, but give us a hint. Why was the UFO program started? You said that's important."
"I can't do that without documenting more and getting approval." (WEAPONIZED 2023, 18:15)
1.1 References
Corbell, Jeremy. (2023). Inside the DIAs Secretive UFO Investigation : WEAPONIZED : EP #38. https://youtu.be/ow7FqiegixQ.