58 pages • 1 hour read
Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs
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Chapters 21-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Out of the Airlock”
Elizondo refers to his October 2017 resignation as “the most open secret in the history of the Pentagon” (200). He wrote a conventional resignation letter, as well as a second letter intended specifically for Mattis, in which he referred to the “bureaucratic challenges and inflexible mindsets” that were keeping a serious threat secret (201). Shortly after he left the building, his former boss, Garry Reid, demanded an explanation. He threatened Elizondo’s reputation and said that the resignation letter would not reach Mattis. Elizondo ignored the threats, focusing on his immediate plan.
Elizondo met with a journalist named Leslie Kean, introduced to him by Mellon. She had written about UAP in the past, and Elizondo walked her through his research over the course of four hours. He did not mention anything classified. Kean was receptive and optimistic. Next, Elizondo thought about his career options. He needed money, so he accepted an offer from To the Stars Academy (TTSA), a private UAP research group set up by Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge. Elizondo met with DeLonge and accepted a job with TTSA, though he and Jennifer would need to move across the country. He took a position as the chief of security and special programs for TTSA, based in California. This, Elizondo believed, was the “best way to achieve [his] objective” (207). Elizondo met again with Kean, as well as another journalist: Ralph Blumenthal from The New York Times. On the way to the meeting, Elizondo identified two likely members of a Pentagon surveillance team and pointed them out to Kean. The journalists confirmed to him that there was a campaign to discredit him coming from within the Pentagon.
Elizondo and Jennifer moved to California. Back at the Pentagon, Mattis was shocked to hear that Elizondo had resigned. Reid was blamed for the acrimonious departure. With the Times story set to publish soon, Elizondo felt optimistic. He also felt happy that Senator Harry Reid “had [his] back” (209). On December 16, 2017, the story was released, and Elizondo was catapulted to fame. The three UAP videos, now declassified, appeared on the New York Times website. These videos were watched by millions of people around the world. Elizondo criticizes the article slightly for not focusing on the security threat posed by UAP, but he is broadly positive about the reaction. This attention was a double-edged sword, however, and Elizondo was relieved when an investigation cleared him of any impropriety. Nevertheless, many of his files at the Pentagon were deleted despite their importance for national security.
Chapter 22 Summary: “All the Small Things”
As part of their plan to take their UAP disclosure battle to congress, Elizondo and Mellon worked on raising public awareness. They worked with the History Channel to produce a UAP documentary series titled Unidentified. The show premiered in 2019 and was well received. During this time, Elizondo dealt with what he calls smear attempts by his former employers, which he likens to “administrative terrorism” (215). The Pentagon accused him of having no involvement with AATIP, in spite of earlier confirmations of his work. The press reported on this narrative, though Elizondo argues that he was eventually vindicated. When Mattis resigned in 2019, the Pentagon doubled down on efforts to reframe Elizondo’s past work. He laments the “fake news” that, he insinuates, came from the Pentagon (217). Elizondo also received bad news when TTSA reduced his pay amid a restructuring process. He and Jennifer moved into an RV while renting out their house. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Since Elizondo was largely working from home, they drove the RV out of California and drastically reduced their living costs while continuing to raise awareness of the UAP issue, including making a second season of Unidentified. Eventually, Elizondo was let got from TTSA, but he credits DeLonge for “his role in the disclosure movement” (219). While taking on work as a consultant for an aerospace firm, Elizondo received a call from Washington, DC. Congress wanted to hold hearings about UAP.
Chapter 23 Summary: “The War Plan”
Elizondo met with staffers for a congressional representative. He credits Mellon for introducing him to important lawmakers, who were “extremely interested” in any UAP evidence he showed them. In Congress, Elizondo hoped to combat the stigma surrounding UAP/UFOs. They developed a plan to present their evidence and data in the most compelling way possible. As the UAP Task Force came into being, the Legacy Program began pushing back behind the scenes, introducing many bureaucratic hurdles for Elizondo and his team to cross. Mellon coached Elizondo on how to talk during the congressional hearings, reiterating that their primary goal was education, not to ask for anything or lobby for any cause.
During the initial briefings, they talked at length about the threat posed by UAP. Mellon also proposed ways to get around issues surrounding the classification of documents now that they were backed by the authority of Congress. All this took place against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet Elizondo praises the “refreshing” reception that he received in Congress. He praises individual senators and congresspeople from both parties for their help in bringing the issue to light. He was pleased when Congress decided to believe the “men and women in uniform over the bureaucrats” (227).
Elizondo shares his guesses about which presidents have been briefed to some degree about UAP: Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Trump all received some degree of briefing for a variety of reasons. Over time, the congressional hearings resulted in actual laws that called on the Pentagon to prepare reports on UAP research and release these reports to the public. Elizondo continued to work with the media and the government to advocate for transparency in UAP programs. Eventually, Congress passed a bill that would create “a permanent UAP program directly funded by Congress […] and which will report to Congress on all UAP matters” (233). As the DoD resisted any interference in UAP programs, Congress insisted, and with Elizondo, Mellon, and others’ help, Congress triumphed. The bill was passed in December 2021 and signed into law by President Biden. Senator Harry Reid, by this time retired and in poor health, said that he would stay alive to see this historic moment. He died a day after the bill was passed.
As a requirement of the bill, Congress held hearings in 2022. In Elizondo’s view, these public hearings confirmed that “UAP are indeed real” (236), and Elizondo was pleased with this perceived victory. The permanent UAP office—the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)—was set up, though the DoD continues to try to interfere in such matters. Gradually, Elizondo sensed that the “stigma” surrounding UAP is dying (238). The fierce opposition from the DoD only made him feel as though his efforts were working. As proof of this, the Pentagon dropped any issues with Elizondo and admitted that he and his past work exist. Elizondo is pleased that the latest UAP bill protects whistleblowers who come forward. He praises these bills as “truly historic and eye-opening” (241). He believes that he did the right thing by coming forward.
Chapter 24 Summary: “The Next Level of Disclosure”
Elizondo explains that 2023 was a year of “historic success” but also tragic loss. New whistleblower legislation has allowed new evidence to be brought forth by witnesses such as David Grusch, who testified about UAP before Congress. Grusch notably also confirmed the existence of the Legacy Program within the Pentagon. As Elizondo learned of Grusch’s plans to come forward, his father passed away. Just before his death, however, he told Elizondo how proud he was of him.
More whistleblowers came forward. Grusch was joined by Commander Fravor and Lieutenant Graves. All three testified under oath in front of Congress about the existence of UAP, the recovery of nonhuman bodies, and the hidden program to reverse engineer nonhuman technology. The Pentagon still pushed back against these testimonies and tried to demonize Grusch in the press, but Congress succeeded in passing legislation to demand that any information about the Legacy Program’s possession of nonhuman bodies must be declared. Elizondo helped Senate leadership to sharpen the language in legislation to ensure that as much information as possible was publicly declared, though certain politicians—who Elizondo suggests are supported by the “defense contractors involved in the Legacy Program” (245)—fought back. In spite of their work to suppress the release of information about UAP, Elizondo vows to fight on. He is pleased to have changed the government’s mentality regarding UAP.
Chapter 25 Summary: “New Horizons”
When he receives visitors, Elizondo takes them on hikes up Devil’s Tower. The landmark is closely connected to the culture surrounding UFO/UAP research, having featured in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. To Elizondo, the area is deeply spiritual. He can sit beneath the stars and reflect on his journey to this point. His parents were “far from perfect” (247), but he is thankful for their influence. Now, he believes that humanity is closer than ever to learning a new truth about the universe. With this information now made public, the public itself shares responsibility for ensuring that the matter is not ignored. Elizondo ends the book with a call to action, asking the audience to talk to friends and family members about UAP, reach out to politicians, and not “pretend that we are alone in the universe” (249).
Chapters 21-25 Analysis
Elizondo describes the sequence of events as he went public with his information about UAP. With the help of his team—and with the help of wealthy private individuals with an interest in UAP research—he was able to launch an entire media campaign to brief the public about what he knew. The breadth of his media reach is impressive. As well as the newspaper articles and television reports, he helped establish a UAP research institute known as To the Stars Academy with Blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge, advised on the creation of a television series, and appeared before Congress. His fear that conspiracy groups such as the Legacy Program or the Collins Elite would seek to destroy him proved unfounded. In reality, his biggest hurdle was challenging the stigma surrounding UFO research. In claiming to expose The Conspiracy to Cover Up Evidence of UAP, he opened himself up to the charge that he was simply one of many conspiracy theorists who had made similar claims for decades. Like those conspiracy theorists, he attempts to defuse any criticism by claiming that such criticism is part of the conspiracy: In other words, those who wish to keep the presence of UAP a secret do so in part by villainizing any witnesses who dare to come forward and creating a cultural stigma around UFO research that casts immediate doubt on anyone who questions the official narrative. Elizondo prepared for this by rebranding his research—speaking about UAP rather than UFOs even though these acronyms have almost precisely the same meaning—and by ensuring that his evidence appeared strong. Though the videos and pictures that Elizondo and his team publicized are generally grainy and inconclusive, their military provenance and association with high-tech recording equipment lend them greater credibility than eyewitness accounts and camcorder footage from ordinary people.
All this effort, however, came at a cost. Elizondo emphasizes that he was sacrificing his Pentagon career and placing his family in possible financial trouble. Such sacrifices are a necessary component of any narrative focused on The Quest for Redemption. Though he found a job with DeLonge’s TTSA, he makes clear that this did not last long. He moved his family across the country and bought a house for a job that lacked the security he left behind at the Pentagon. Elizondo and his wife lived out of their RV for many months, having made a material sacrifice so that Elizondo could tell the world what he knew. Furthermore, the preparation that he made to convince the media was undermined by his former employers. Despite the breadth of evidence that he had produced, the Pentagon tried to undermine his credibility. Elizondo presents all these hardships as deliberate persecution by his powerful antagonists, in line with the traditional structure of redemption narratives.
Elizondo’s sacrifice is also contrasted with the personal tragedies that befell him during this time. His father, the figure who inspired his quest for redemption, died, leaving him without any parent figure in his life for the first time. Furthermore, Senator Harry Reid died, depriving the UAP community of one of their most forthright supporters. Even in his retirement, and even amid his health issues, Reid campaigned for transparency around UAP, and he died almost as soon as President Biden signed into law a bill establishing a new UAP office with the authority to investigate and publicize UAP sightings. Reid was able to die after an important part of his life’s work was realized. Rather than be saddened by these deaths, Elizondo was inspired. His father was a formative influence on him, who never ceased in his fight to reclaim his native Cuban from the same regime he once helped to install. Reid, meanwhile, was mocked in the press for his interest in UAP but was vindicated by men like Elizondo. In his own quest for redemption, Elizondo learned from these two deaths not to give up and not to let the world stigmatize his beliefs. He drew inspiration from tragedy and now reaches out to the reader to encourage them to act as well. This final call to action is the culmination of Elizondo’s narrative. Like his father, and like Reid, he has played his part. Now, he, too, needs help to make the world aware of UAP.
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