Christopher Karl Mellon

Christopher K. Mellon served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush and later as Minority Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a descendant of the Pittsburgh Mellon banking dynasty – the family behind Mellon Bank, the Mellon Institute, and, through merger, Carnegie Mellon University. His grandfather was Matthew T. Mellon; his brother, Matthew Mellon, died in 2018. Despite the family name, Mellon was raised in inner-city Chicago in difficult circumstances, with an estranged father who worked as a trucker and fishing boat crewman.

Mellon has spent more than three decades in and around the U.S. national security establishment. He is a recipient of the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal, the DIA Director’s Medal, and the Secretary of Defense Public Service Award. Since 2017, he has become one of the most consequential public advocates for UAP transparency – credited with physically delivering Navy UAP videos to journalists at The New York Times, catalyzing the modern era of mainstream UAP coverage.

Career Timeline

Year	Role	Organization
1986	Legislative aide; conceived/drafted legislation establishing U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM)	Office of Sen. William S. Cohen (R-ME)
1997	Pentagon transition team; advanced concepts & program integration	Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
1997–1998	Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Policy	U.S. Department of Defense
1998–1999	Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security & Information Operations	U.S. Department of Defense
1999–2002	Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence	U.S. Department of Defense
2002–2004	Minority Staff Director	U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)
2017–2020	National Security Affairs Advisor	To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences (TTSA)
2024–present	Chairman of the Board	Disclosure Foundation (Disclosure.org)

Role in UAP Disclosure

The 2017 Video Release

Mellon is widely credited with a pivotal act that shifted UAP from the fringe to the front page. According to his own account and corroborating reporting, Mellon received a physical package containing unclassified Navy UAP videos from a Defense Department official in the Pentagon parking lot. He has stated he retained the packaging. He then delivered two of the videos to journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, who were working with The New York Times. A New Yorker long-form account ties the handoff chain to an October 4, 2017 meeting near the Pentagon involving Mellon, Luis Elizondo, and Kean.

The resulting December 2017 New York Times article revealed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) and became the single most important catalyst for modern UAP discourse. Mellon later provided a third video for a Washington Post piece.

In a 2021 open letter to Rep. Ruben Gallego, Mellon stated plainly:

“I delivered two authentic but unclassified DoD UAP videos to the New York Times.” – ChristopherMellon.net, November 24, 2021

National Security Framing

Mellon’s core argument has always been institutional rather than speculative: UAP represent an airspace sovereignty and intelligence-collection failure that the Department of Defense has been unwilling or unable to address. His 2018 Washington Post op-ed laid out this case directly.

TTSA and Mainstream Media

As National Security Affairs Advisor to To The Stars Academy (2017–2020) alongside Luis Elizondo, Mellon helped bring UAP footage and testimony into mainstream outlets including 60 Minutes, ABC News, and the History Channel series Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation, where he appeared as a featured participant. He departed TTSA at the end of 2020.

AARO Oversight and Criticism

Mellon has been among the most vocal critics of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), arguing that the office has failed to meet its statutory obligations – including the overdue Volume II of its historical record report and the 2025 annual report. His criticism intensified after David Grusch’s 2023 whistleblower testimony raised questions about whether AARO was adequately investigating the programs Grusch described. His April 2024 analysis in The Debrief called AARO’s Volume I “the most error-ridden and unsatisfactory government report I can recall reading.”

The Trump Directive (February 2026)

When President Trump announced his intent to release government UAP and extraterrestrial-life files in February 2026, Mellon offered measured support while stressing the importance of follow-through:

“This might be a consequential moment, but the impact will depend on the follow-through.” – DefenseScoop, February 20, 2026

On February 28, 2026, Mellon published a detailed reaction on X, arguing that disclosure “is not going to be the result of someone combing through stacks of UAP documents released to the National Archives” and that any confirmation of non-human intelligence would be routed directly to the White House. He called the directive “clearly a historic development” while noting the process may feel “like water torture to some UAP researchers.”

Notable Statements

“Unfortunately, we have no idea, because we aren’t even seeking answers.” – The Washington Post, March 9, 2018

“Nobody wants to be ‘the alien guy’ in the national security bureaucracy.” – ABC News, March 13, 2018

“There is no Pentagon process for synthesising all the observations the military is making.” – ABC News, March 13, 2018

“Those who think the government can’t keep secrets are wildly off the mark.” – ChristopherMellon.net, April 16, 2023

“I have referred four witnesses… materials recovered from off-world craft.” – As quoted by Vox, June 10, 2023

“Unidentified aircraft were being detected but no warning information was being sent up the chain of command.” – ChristopherMellon.net, February 14, 2024

“This is the most error-ridden and unsatisfactory government report I can recall reading.” – The Debrief, April 12, 2024

“I spent more than 30 years inside the U.S. intelligence community.” – San Francisco Chronicle, October 11, 2025

“Incidents… were detected… but routinely dismissed, buried or classified beyond justification.” – San Francisco Chronicle, October 11, 2025

“AARO has yet to fulfill its statutory obligations.” – DefenseScoop, February 20, 2026

Key Publications & Appearances

Date	Title / Appearance	Outlet
March 9, 2018	The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn’t the Pentagon care?	The Washington Post (op-ed)
2019–2020	Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation (featured cast)	History Channel
October 9, 2020	Interview – UAP secrecy and The Phenomenon	Tucker Carlson Tonight (Fox News)
May 5, 2021	Episode #1645 – Christopher Mellon	The Joe Rogan Experience
May 16, 2021	UAP segment – Navy encounters and DoD response	60 Minutes (CBS)
July 25, 2021	Possible Next Steps for Congress on the UAP Issue	ChristopherMellon.net
November 24, 2021	Open Letter to Representative Gallego	ChristopherMellon.net
April 12, 2024	The Pentagon’s New UAP Report is Seriously Flawed	The Debrief
October 11, 2025	The U.S. government is sitting on a trove of UFO records. It should release them	San Francisco Chronicle (op-ed)

Sources

1. ChristopherMellon.net – About
2. Disclosure Foundation – Team Bio
3. History Channel – Cast Bio
4. Vail Symposium – Speaker Bio
5. The Washington Post – Op-Ed (March 9, 2018)
6. ABC News – Report (March 13, 2018)
7. Vox – Congressional Hearing Recap (June 10, 2023)
8. The Debrief – AARO Report Critique (April 12, 2024)
9. San Francisco Chronicle – Op-Ed (October 11, 2025)
10. DefenseScoop – Trump UAP Files (February 20, 2026)
11. DefenseScoop – AARO Caseload (February 25, 2026)
12. The New Yorker – How the Pentagon Started Taking UFOs Seriously (May 10, 2021)
13. Gizmodo – Parking Lot Handoff Account
14. TTSA Blog – Elizondo Joins / Mellon Listed as National Security Affairs Advisor
15. 60 Minutes – UAP Segment (May 16, 2021)
16. The Joe Rogan Experience #1645 (May 5, 2021)
17. Wikipedia – Christopher Mellon
18. Wikipedia – Mellon Family