--- category: UFO & Anomalous Phenomena relations: - fn: 2 role: AAWSAP and AATIP investigator and recruiter of Elizondo; in Elizondo's account helped create AAWSAP, wrote the report on the 2004 Nimitz encounter and the OPLAN Interloper proposal start: 2009 type: employed_by with: '[[Defense Intelligence Agency]]' - fn: 5 role: first director, per Elizondo, after the Secretary of Defense announced the task force type: director_of with: '[[UAP Task Force]]' - fn: 6 role: subject matter expert for intelligence strategy, member of the chief executive's strategy team, per the company release of May 12, 2022 start: 2022-05-12 type: employed_by with: '[[Radiance Technologies]]' summary: In early 2009, Jay Stratton, along with a colleague, approached Luis Elizondo to recruit him for a highly classified program at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). tags: - Person - UFO updated: 2026-10-03 --- [Jay Stratton](/people/jay-stratton/) is a former US Navy intelligence officer who played a crucial role in the [Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program](/programs/advanced-aerospace-threat-identification-program/) (AATIP) and later became the first director of the [UAP Task Force](/organizations/uap-task-force/). He was instrumental in recruiting [Luis Elizondo](/people/luis-elizondo/) into the UAP investigation effort and was a key investigator and strategist throughout the process.[^1] ### Recruitment of Luis Elizondo In early 2009, Jay Stratton, along with a colleague, approached [Luis Elizondo](/people/luis-elizondo/) to recruit him for a highly classified program at the [Defense Intelligence Agency](/organizations/defense-intelligence-agency/) (DIA). Stratton, who Elizondo pegged as a fellow special operator, explained that the program, initially known as AAWSAP, was focused on "unconventional technologies" and required a senior intelligence officer to handle counterintelligence and security.[^1] ### Role in AATIP Stratton was a core member of the AATIP team and a key investigator. He was the lead investigator of the 2004 [Tic Tac](/events/tic-tac/) involving the [USS Nimitz](/concepts/uss-nimitz/) Carrier Strike Group, writing a detailed report on the event that became a cornerstone of the program's research. He was also responsible for drafting OPLAN Interloper, an ambitious plan to use a carrier strike group as bait to lure UAP for observation and data collection.[^1] When AATIP faced internal opposition and lost its funding, Stratton worked with Elizondo to move the remnants of the program under Elizondo's portfolio of national programs to ensure its survival. He also successfully secured an additional $10 million in funding from Senator [Harry Reid](/people/harry-reid/), though the funds were later absconded by another DoD program.[^1] ### UAP Task Force After Elizondo's resignation from the Pentagon, Stratton remained in the government and was tasked by Navy intelligence leadership to build a whole-of-government interagency task force to continue the UAP investigation. This effort, which he built from the ground up, became the Pentagon's [UAP Task Force](/organizations/uap-task-force/), and Stratton was named its first director. In this role, he continued to push the UAP issue forward within the government, briefing members of Congress and the [White House](/places/white-house/) [National Security Council](/organizations/national-security-council/), and laying the groundwork for future legislative action.[^1] ### Stratton in Elizondo's account Elizondo described Stratton in early 2009 as "a serious male in his midthirties," who "helped create something called the AAWSAP," and who with a colleague he calls "[Rosemary Caine](/people/rosemary-caine/)" arrived at his Arlington office wearing blue credentials identifying them as government intelligence officials.[^2] He wrote that Stratton "investigated the incident before I joined the team" and "had written a detailed AAWSAP/AATIP report" on the Nimitz encounter of November 2004, and that pilots later told Stratton they had been debriefed by intelligence officers and saw no follow-up.[^3] He wrote that Stratton drafted the operation plan "Interloper," "a classic 'honey pot,'" with dates, call signs, ship names and radar data, which the Joint Staff declined to give a compartment designation in late 2016, and that Stratton proposed the term unidentified aerial phenomena in place of UFO.[^4] After the resignation, Elizondo wrote, Stratton fielded briefing requests from members of Congress, Navy intelligence leadership tasked him with building a whole-of-government task force with members from the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/), the [National Reconnaissance Office](/organizations/national-reconnaissance-office/), [NASA](/organizations/nasa/) and the Federal Aviation Administration, the Secretary of Defense announced the UAP Task Force "after a couple of years" and named Stratton its first director, and the [Legacy Program](/programs/legacy-program/) then "started quietly pushing back on Jay."[^5] ### Radiance Technologies [Radiance Technologies](/organizations/radiance-technologies/) announced on May 12, 2022 the hiring of Stratton, as "John F. Stratton Jr.," for the position of subject matter expert for intelligence strategy. The release states that he was "recently retired" from his role as Defense Intelligence Senior Executive with the [Office of Naval Intelligence](/organizations/office-of-naval-intelligence/), with more than 32 years in the national intelligence community, that as a member of the chief executive's strategy team he would lead and develop efforts in scientific and technical intelligence, and that "Most recently, he was the first Director of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF)." It quotes Radiance president Tim Tinsley and quotes Stratton: "I am very excited to join Radiance Technologies."[^6] George Knapp of KLAS-TV reported on May 24, 2022 that "In January 2021 ... Stratton was surprisingly transferred out of the job" at the Task Force, and that Stratton "has never spoken publicly about his work and is not commenting now."[^7] In a report posted October 13, 2022, Knapp wrote that Stratton urged Radiance to hire Travis Taylor, and quoted Taylor: "Jay and I are working on growing the capabilities, doing reverse engineering of foreign materials."[^8] Liberation Times reported on December 3, 2023, in an article in which the attorney Daniel Sheehan alleged that the CIA supplies Radiance with non-human materials, that "multiple sources" had told it the allegation was untrue and that Stratton and Taylor "are long-time advocates for more transparency on this topic and are in no way involved in any coverup." Details are on [Radiance Technologies](/organizations/radiance-technologies/).[^9] [^1]: Elizondo, Luis. *Imminent*. William Morrow, 2024. [^2]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 5 to 14. Page numbers are those of the printed index where it lists the passage; the digital copy read carries no pagination, so other pages are interpolated from index entries and may be off by one. [^3]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 71 to 73. [^4]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 143, 147 and 186 (Interloper at pp. 143 and 186; the term UAP at p. 186). [^5]: Luis Elizondo, *Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs* (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 211 and 223 (task force and first director at p. 223). [^6]: "John F. Stratton Jr. Joins Radiance Technologies as SME for Intel Strategy," Radiance Technologies, PR Newswire, May 12, 2022, read in the Internet Archive capture of the same date. https://web.archive.org/web/20220512145721/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/john-f-stratton-jr-joins-radiance-technologies-as-sme-for-intel-strategy-301546258.html [^7]: George Knapp, "More UFO hearings? Congress might consider hearing from these 2 men," 8 News Now (KLAS), May 24, 2022. https://digital-release.8newsnow.com/?p=1136519 [^8]: George Knapp, "Is this company working with alien technology in Nevada?" KLAS 8 News Now, posted October 13, 2022 (Pacific time). https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/is-this-company-working-with-alien-technology-in-nevada/ [^9]: Christopher Sharp, "Daniel Sheehan Exposes Five Powerful Republicans Blocking UFO Disclosure Act, As The Clock Ticks Down," Liberation Times, December 3, 2023. Sole source for the Sheehan allegation and the denial so cited. https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/daniel-sheehan-exposes-five-powerful-republicans-blocking-ufo-disclosure-act-as-the-clock-ticks-down