Immaculate Constellation

Program insiders are suspected of researching IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION prior to the 2017 AATIP/AAWSAP revelations.

Immaculate Constellation (also written as IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION) is, according to Pentagon whistleblower Matthew Brown and investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, a reported unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP) within the United States government allegedly focused on collecting high-quality data on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The program puts together and analyses visual, electromagnetic, thermal, and other observational data collected by the US military's advanced sensor platforms, ensuring a secure chain of custody through government equities. The Department of Defense has denied holding any record of the program.

Disclosure

The existence of Immaculate Constellation came to public attention in 2024 following revelations about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). Within the intelligence community the program is abbreviated as "ImCon." Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger reported that a whistleblower within the US government had come across information about Immaculate Constellation by accident, and had compiled a 12-page report on their discoveries. He did not reveal his source's name or job title, saying that they wanted to remain anonymous because they were afraid of what could happen if they were publicly known. ImCon was described to Congress as a program that "relied on artificial intelligence to secretly scour classified servers used by the U.S. military and its intelligence agencies to search for and snatch images of UAP encounters." In Shellenberger's original reporting, the whistleblower described Immaculate Constellation as "a strategic intelligence program" constituting "part of the US military's family of long-standing, highly-sensitive programs dealing with various aspects of the UAP problem", and the report stated that "the Executive Branch has been managing UAP/NHI issues without Congressional knowledge, oversight, or authorization for some time, quite possibly decades." The full anonymous report was released by U.S. Representative Nancy Mace in November 2024, during the House hearing "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth". Separately, a second source referred to in a U.K. publication confirmed to the U.K. publication that the uSAP exists and is authentic. Department of Defense spokesperson Sue Gough denied records of the alleged program in a statement to NewsNation, writing, "The Department of Defense has no record, present or historical, of any type of SAP called 'IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION'".

Matthew Brown, who in April 2025 publicly identified himself as the author of the anonymous report, also addressed the program in an interview with investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell. Brown first encountered the program while working at the Pentagon, finding it referenced as an embedded SAP file within a Schriever Wargame simulation — not as fictional content — which confronted him with its reality unexpectedly. The program name and underlying document were subsequently reported in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Per Corbell, who reviewed the underlying document: "Reports of F-22s getting like boxed in by flying orbs that they couldn't shake." Brown characterised the broader significance: "This isn't just technology. This isn't something somebody came up with in a lab... Fundamentally, this comes from and is secondary to the — what we've been told is the biggest question, which is, is humanity alone? The answer is no."

Speculation about the origins of "Immaculate Constellation" predates its public revelation, with reports suggesting that the term was used in classified contexts as early as 2004. Analysis of Google Trends data revealed that searches for the term in all capital letters often originated near military installations and intelligence agency facilities. The secrecy surrounding Immaculate Constellation reflects broader debates about government secrecy in UAP research and the challenges of balancing national security with public interest in unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and potential contact with non-human intelligence (NHI).[citation needed]

Structure and purpose

Image said to demonstrate the high-fidelity imaging assets within the alleged IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION program.

Immaculate Constellation is said to function by integrating highly sensitive data from a variety of collection systems, including satellite imagery, signals intelligence (SIGINT), and other classified sources. By utilizing advanced sensor platforms, the program purportedly ensures the highest possible quality of UAP-related data, including video, radar, and thermal imaging. The program reportedly emphasizes strict chain of custody protocols, ensuring the authenticity and security of collected data. This approach is intended to address long-standing challenges in UAP research, such as maintaining the integrity of sensor data and minimizing potential leaks.

Per analyst Rob Jones, a former naval nuclear propulsion engineer (September 2025), Immaculate Constellation is a "parent" Special Access Program coordinating various compartmentalized UAP-related projects — integrating crash retrieval efforts, materials analysis, and global monitoring initiatives previously scattered across multiple agencies. Jones outlined a hypothetical operational model with four components: Collection, using National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellites and Air Force radar to gather global UAP data; Analysis, using National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) algorithms and artificial intelligence to process sensor imagery and signals intelligence; Exploitation, potentially routing recovered materials to private laboratories for in-depth analysis and reverse-engineering; and Coordination, by a small highly-cleared group relying on private contractors for execution. The whistleblower document itself indicated "witting participation by elements of the Defense Department, civil service, and intelligence community in a global surveillance apparatus".

The report accuses AARO and DoD staff of systematically concealing UFO information from members of Congress who should have been informed, describing "trivialization, obfuscation, and outright denial" of the existence of various pieces of UFO data and of classified projects researching them, and suggesting that this prevents "critical members of Congress" from receiving accurate information about "national security risks". It speaks highly of Luis Elizondo: internal documents confirm the accuracy of his statements about AATIP and AAWSAP and support his "exceptional character and credibility". The report's accusations against AARO are corroborated by Brown's personal testimony that he read classified transcripts of AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick briefing Senate Intelligence Committee members — and found that Kirkpatrick "absolutely distorted, downplayed, and outright lied" to those senators about the existence of the legacy crash retrieval program, producing a reaction in which Senator Rubio reportedly asked: "What the hell is the executive branch doing? Have they been running this for 60 years without congressional oversight?"

David Grusch's July 2023 congressional testimony identified ImCon's operational domain directly: Grusch testified that at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), one of his "primary tasks" was processing "overhead collection" — satellite and strategic sensor imagery — of UAP, and that he personally reviewed imagery he "could not even explain prosaically," which he described as consistent with what was being described in ImCon documentation.

The report describes a number of UFO sightings, and lists multiple types of UFO, classified by general appearance and observed characteristics, such as speed and agility of movement. Oddly, there is then a section headed "Sensitive Sources" that contains only the words "From mouth to ear". After a brief conclusion calling for full public disclosure of the UFO information held by the US military, the report concludes with the words "Be not afraid" (a Biblical reference), followed by "Scientia Igne Probata, Veritas Per Fidem" ("Knowledge proved by fire, truth through faith").

Man-in-the-middle

Immaculate Constellation has been compared to a man-in-the-middle attack in cybersecurity. By positioning itself within classified communication pathways, the program reportedly intercepts intelligence data before it can reach the broader United States intelligence community. This position enables the program to collect, analyze, and potentially suppress sensitive information, ensuring that only selected data is shared beyond its confines. Jones further argued that private contractors within the Veritas Capital network — particularly Peraton (formerly Perspecta) — may constitute the operational backbone of the program. Perspecta held an $824 million contract with the NGA in 2019 to modernize its systems architecture with cloud computing and artificial intelligence capabilities, which Jones described as "broadly consistent" with Immaculate Constellation's technical objectives. In May 2019, former NGA Director Robert Cardillo — who had previously vetoed the related Kona Blue initiative — joined Peraton's board of directors; Perspecta was subsequently taken fully private through its acquisition by Peraton in 2021 for $7.1 billion, removing it from public shareholder oversight.

Brown described the program's data-collection structure in detail: the classified DoD network (JWICS) contains a secret internet on which UAP-related material is shared across cleared communities going back decades — including video clips of varying duration and resolution — but more sensitive material is routed into a separate, fully locked-off system. Data ingested into that system is processed in a stovepipe: "it goes into the black box and then a product comes out for what you're cleared to see and what you have a need to know." Brown linked this filtering mechanism to reported cases in which service members filed UAP incident reports that subsequently failed to reach their intended destinations within the intelligence apparatus. Brown identified USD(I) as the primary keeper of intelligence SAPs and Controlled Access Programs (CAPs) of this kind, and argued that the program's designation as an OSD Policy-level parent SAP indicated it governed a mission rather than a specific platform.

Brown also noted that a known NRO artificial intelligence system called "Sentient" — whose existence and operational status as of the relevant dates were later confirmed in publicly released documents — was consistent with the kind of automated collection and processing infrastructure he encountered.

Public disclosure

Background and discovery

Matthew Brown holds a degree in international affairs and an unfinished master's in security policy from George Washington University. His government roles reportedly included policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, technical advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and programme advisor at the U.S. Department of State. He worked at the Pentagon for over five years under a TS/SCI clearance — including in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence — focused on countering weapons of mass destruction. During this period he had access to all-source intelligence, live feeds from platforms such as Reaper drones, and the classified JWICS network.

Brown described his initial exposure to UAP material as incidental: UAP video clips — orbs around nuclear facilities, objects transiting from coastal installations out to sea — appeared on the shared JWICS network without context or discussion. He attributed the community's silence not to ignorance but to an understood norm that the subject was not to be raised openly, a norm he observed tighten noticeably after approximately 2018. He noted that, specifically, the name of David Grusch had become "radioactive" in certain classified environments — including on classified chat systems, where people who raised his name were immediately attacked in the threads.

Brown's encounter with Immaculate Constellation itself occurred accidentally around 2018 while sorting misfiled documents on an Office of the Secretary of Defense shared server. He opened a file labeled "2018 Schriever War Game" and found it unexpectedly contained a classified slide deck. The first substantive slide bore Luis Elizondo's face and text stating that Immaculate Constellation was "an acknowledged special access program established after the exposure of AATIP in 2017."

Contents of the document

Brown described four main collection incidents presented in the Immaculate Constellation deck:

• A color still image taken close to the waterline, which Brown interpreted as from a clandestine submersible, showing a large black equilateral triangle hovering approximately 200 meters above Russian naval intelligence vessels off the coast of Kamchatka in the Pacific Ocean. The Russian vessels showed no visible reaction, and the analysis in the text suggested they may have had foreknowledge of the craft's appearance.

• Imagery of orbs transiting from coastal sensitive facilities out to sea, with text describing the facility of origin and the direction of travel.

• A green infrared image showing a second black triangle — smaller and more angular than the first — hovering above a Russian intelligence vessel in the Atlantic Ocean at night, again with no response from the ship below.

• Satellite or persistent-infrared imagery of a large disc using cloud cover as concealment over the ocean. Brown described the craft as appearing to move through the scene and then "scoot off to the side" when it came close to center frame — as if startled by the collection asset observing it.

Beyond these four examples, Brown stated that his broader investigation across classified systems had also turned up video and reports of UAP exhibiting shapes described internally as "floating brain" or "irregular/organic" — consistent with what was later publicly released as the "jellyfish" UAP video — and objects entering and exiting the ocean transmedially without change of inertia: "like the water wasn't there." He also described reviewing reports of interception attempts by both US and foreign aircraft, including cases off the US East Coast that were characterized internally as "engagements" — where UAP boxed fighters out using their jet wash in ways that would be classified as hostile if performed by another nation's aircraft.

Whistleblower pathway

After discovering the Immaculate Constellation file, Brown spent approximately four years conducting what he described as his own "all-source analysis" of what the DoD knew about UAP, drawing on material he encountered during his WMD-related duties. He compiled this analysis into a report organized around seven categories of evidence — of which Immaculate Constellation was one, and "the attention grabber, but it's the one where there's the least amount of detail."

Brown's attempts to bring his information to Congress through official whistleblower channels were repeatedly frustrated. He signed his name in the logbook of the Hart Senate Office Building SCIF on August 17, 2023, and met with a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) staff member — a meeting he describes as constructive — but follow-up meetings with both SSCI and SSAS (Senate Armed Services Committee) members, as promised, never occurred. A later attempt to re-engage SSCI after the failure of the UAP Disclosure Act resulted in Brown drafting a longer, more detailed version of the report and delivering it in person; the SSAS meeting that followed was described as productive but produced no further action.

Following the failure of the UAP Disclosure Act, Brown submitted his report for pre-publication review through the Department of State, where he had moved to work on counter-WMD policy. The State Department returned a one-sentence email — "You may proceed" — with no redactions requested, and Brown then took his document to journalist Michael Shellenberger, meeting him in California in the summer of 2024. Shellenberger subsequently published the story in Public, kicking off widespread coverage.

Corbell had introduced Brown to key House members months before the November 2024 hearing, and Brown had indicated he was willing to testify if requested; however, the origin of his report was "grossly distorted" during the hearing itself. Brown later described his decision to go public as an excruciating one: he had repeatedly tried to bring IC to the attention of superiors within the Department of Defense and State Department but found himself blocked at every step, and understood that by coming forward he was sacrificing his career and security clearances — describing the system as "designed to discourage truth and transparency."

Corbell facilitated Brown's physical introduction to members of Congress — taking him to multiple congressional offices hidden within a camera crew, then asking everyone to leave the room so Brown could give brief in-person testimony. Brown's report was ultimately entered into the Congressional Record at the November 2024 House hearing, though Corbell noted that Nancy Mace misrepresented it as a government Pentagon document during the hearing when it was in fact entirely Brown's own work.

Brown described the personal cost of coming forward: his government career was effectively ended, he faced potential legal jeopardy including "life imprisonment and the possibility of execution," and he had spent approximately four years largely without allies before finding them in Corbell, Knapp, and others. He described his motivation as moral and constitutional: "The secrecy that has been defended is at the cost of, in my mind, human dignity, freedom, and progress... it is no longer permissible or acceptable in my mind to continue this course to deprive another generation — not just Americans but humanity — of their birthright to know who they are, where they came from, and what's with us."

Brown characterized the broader secrecy apparatus not as a government program but as a private international structure: "This doesn't ultimately reside in the government anymore. This is held in an illegal internationalist regime, some sort of international cabal of sorts — a mix of corporate, military, political, intelligence, and criminal interests that have come together and they have subverted us and have taken this and have made it the source of their wealth and power."

Security and secrecy

X-Keyscore is one of the tools used to prosecute FISA 702 warrants against surveillance targets. According to whistleblowers, even mentioning the codeword IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION would trigger automatic surveillance under a warrant issued by a secret FISA court.

Immaculate Constellation operates under the highest levels of classification, with collected materials designated as TOP SECRET SCI-SAP. Personnel with access to the program must meet rigorous clearance requirements, including security vetting, a demonstrated need-to-know, and compliance with additional measures specified by the program's security manager. The extreme secrecy surrounding the program is evident in reports that even mentioning its name outside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) could result in significant repercussions, such as FISA Section 702 surveillance warrants.

These measures contribute to speculation that the program may serve as a mechanism for suppressing information related to non-human intelligent beings and to fear that inadvertent and deliberate interloper will become subject to intimidation and harassment by agents or even Men in Black. The program's secrecy also extends to its position within classified communication pathways. By intercepting intelligence data before it reaches the broader United States intelligence community, Immaculate Constellation ensures its operations remain insulated from external scrutiny, even within the military and intelligence apparatus.

Claims of suppression and censorship related to "Immaculate Constellation" have been raised, particularly concerning alterations to publicly available search data. Observations from Google Trends reportedly showed historical search spikes for the term, dating as far back as February 2004, that later disappeared or became inaccessible. Screenshots shared online indicated changes in spike sizes and missing location data, fueling speculation of deliberate removal or manipulation of records. These alleged efforts at data suppression further reinforce concerns about the program's role in controlling access to sensitive information.

George Knapp reported the existence of a Soviet/Russian parallel: from 1978 to 1988, the Russian Ministry of Defense maintained a standing order requiring every unit in the Soviet military to investigate and report any anomalous aerial objects. The officer overseeing the program stated that in three cases where Russian warplanes attempted to engage and shoot down UAP, the warplanes crashed — resulting in two pilot fatalities. The Russian Air Force subsequently issued an order to leave the objects alone, citing what the commander described as their "incredible capacities for retaliation."

References

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