Draft:Christopher Mellon

Mellon obtained a Bachelor of Economics at Colby College. He earned his Masters Degree from Yale University in International Relations, with a concentration in finance and management. Mellon is a member of the Mellon family, and a descendent of both judge Thomas Mellon and William Larimer Mellon Sr., co-founder of Gulf Oil. Mellon returned to his family's longtime Pittsburgh home in 2006 after decades in the Washington, D.C. area, working for the United States Senate and the Department of Defense (DOD). Mellon settled in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, home to many of his extended Mellon family. Mellon has served on the board of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Mellon has been involved with various business startup companies, including in the wireless power transfer field.

Before first joining the Department of Defense (DOD), Mellon served for twelve years in various United States Senate positions on Capitol Hill, including a decade as a professional staffer of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Mellon acccompanied then-Senator William Cohen to The Pentagon when Cohen became the United States Secretary of Defense. Mellon joined Secretary Cohen's transition team on January 2, 1997. Following the transition, Mellon became Coordinator for Advanced Concepts and Program Integration, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, concentrating on encryption and information assurance issues. From November 1997 to June 1998, he advised Cohen on intelligence issues as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Policy.

Later, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security and Information Operations from 1998 to 1999. Mellon then served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence beginning in November of 1999. Mellon served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence under the United States Presidencies of both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. At the Pentagon, Mellon served under Donald Rumsfeld for a time. Among Mellon's roles at the Department of Defense were oversight for waste and duplication, and included visits to classified and restricted sites such as Area 51. In interviews with Joint Forces Quarterly, Mellon in 2002 discussed his time and memories working in the United States Senate. In 2003, Mellon was hired by Senator Jay Rockefeller as minority staff director.

He was later Minority Staff Director of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, focusing on "black programs", nuclear weapons and special operations. Mellon's Senate work involved oversight of the National Reconnaissance Office, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and other intelligence organizations. He was indicated as the first official from the Congress to "review all of the NSA's compartmented programs". In Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, author and journalist Fred Kaplan wrote of Mellon's involvement during his Senate career with the National Security Agency and J. Michael "Mike" McConnell, former Director of National Intelligence, and Mellon's research into the NSA's budget. Rowan Scarborough wrote in Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA that Mellon, at the behest of the White House, had been deliberately excluded along with his Republican Party Senate counterpart Bill Duhnke from critical National Security Agency briefings related to the NSA warrantless surveillance events from 2001-2007.

Mellon was decorated through his government career, awards included the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal and the Defense Intelligence Agency Director's Medal. Mellon was noted for having unusually deep and wide security clearances between the United States military and the United States intelligence community through his Executive and Senate work. Ed Henry of Roll Call has called Mellon's credentials "distinguished".

Mellon has asserted that the Federal government of the United States "possesses stark visual documentation" of UFOs which are restricted.

After resigning from the government, Mellon joined To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences (TTSA), a public-benefit corporation co-founded by musician Tom DeLonge, CIA veteran Jim Semivan, and engineer Hal Puthoff to research UFO-related topics. Mellon played a role in the publication of the New York Times report "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program", with journalist Leslie Kean telling the The New Yorker's Gideon Lewis-Kraus that Mellon and retired Pentagon Director Luis Elizondo were responsible for the creation of the article. Mellon, with Puthoff, Semivan and Elizondo had met Kean at an arranged meeting in a hotel near the Pentagon. At the meeting, Mellon was involved in the sharing with the New York Times of what became known as the Pentagon UFO videos. Mellon was a featured contributor to the History Channel documentary series, Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation highlighted a 2018 column by Mellon in the Washington Post, discussing the lack of interest in UFO investigations by the Pentagon, despite repeated military encounters with them. Mellon has also authored pieces for Politico. In 2020, then-Senator Marco Rubio included language to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which directed the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Defense to create "a detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence reporting", which was heavily drawn from proposals by Mellon to the United States Congress. After then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe disclosed on Fox News that some UFOs lacked "good explanations" and further details, the Washington Post reported that Mellon supported the disclosures.

According to Mellon during a 2021 interview with Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes, he began his advocacy due to his concern that "not enough was being done to investigate UFOs." In the interview, Mellon asserted that the UFOs in question were "definitely not developed by the Pentagon". In 2023, journalist Art Levine reported that Mellon had lobbied in support of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which included a provision to investigate UFO-related topics and to create the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

Mellon was announced on October 30, 2021 as a research affiliate to The Galileo Project, a program began by Harvard University astrophysicist and ufologist Avi Loeb to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of unidentified flying objects.

{{Portal|Biography|United States}}

• Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)
• Clipper chip
• David Grusch UFO whistleblower claims
• ECHELON
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
• Investigation of UFO reports by the United States government
• Luis Elizondo

{{Reflist|1|refs=

{{Cite web|date=2003|title=Christopher Mellon|url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/graduate/hcia/panelist_bio_65.php|url-status=live|website=Harvard Colloquium on International Affairs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041114004031/http:/www.law.harvard.edu/academics/graduate/hcia/panelist_bio_65.php|archive-date=2004-11-14}}

{{Cite web|date=2025-02-18|title=Are UFOs a Threat to National Security? This Ex-US Official Thinks They Warrant Investigation|url=https://www.history.com/articles/chris-mellon-ufo-investigations|access-date=2024-08-31|url-status=live|website=History Channel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250414033943/https://www.history.com/articles/chris-mellon-ufo-investigations|archive-date=2025-04-14}}

{{cite magazine |last1=Lewis-Kraus |first1=Gideon |title=How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously |magazine=The New Yorker|date=2021-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427234352/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously|archive-date=2021-04-27}}

{{Cite web |date=2017-10-11 |title=Fmr. Manager of DOD Aerospace Threat Program: "UFOs are Real"|last1=Kean |first1=Leslie |author-link1=Leslie Kean |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fmr-manager-of-dod-aerospace-threat-program-ufos_b_59de2f4be4b0b992a8214874 |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=Huffington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213222201/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fmr-manager-of-dod-aerospace-threat-program-ufos_b_59de2f4be4b0b992a8214874|archive-date=2019-02-13|language=en-US}}

{{Cite web|date=2021-03-21|last1=Thebault|first1=Reis|title=Thanks to Trump-era covid relief bill, a UFO report may soon be public — and it’ll be big, ex-official says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/03/23/ufo-report-covid-bill/|access-date=2024-08-31|url-status=live|website=Washington Post|archive-url=http://archive.today/2021.05.26-210615/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/03/23/ufo-report-covid-bill/|archive-date=2021-05-26}}

{{Cite web|date=2016-05-09|last1=Kean|first1=Leslie|author-link1=Leslie Kean |title=Is There a UFO Cover-up? A Government Insider Speaks Out|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-there-a-ufo-coverup-a_b_9865184|access-date=2024-08-31|url-status=live|website=Huffington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828055720/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-there-a-ufo-coverup-a_b_9865184|archive-date=2019-08-28}}

{{Cite web |date=2021-10-30 |title=The Galileo Project welcomes Christopher Mellon and Luis Elizondo as Research Affiliates|url=https://news.yahoo.com/ufos-very-real-60-minutes-061200487.html |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=Harvard University, The Galileo Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111102204/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/galileo/files/mellon-elizondo_announcement_final_2.pdf|archive-date=2021-11-11|language=en-US}}

{{Cite magazine|date=2023-07-20 |first=Art|last=Levine|title=Spaceship of Fools |url=https://washingtonspectator.org/spaceship-of-fools/ |access-date=2023-07-21 |magazine=The Washington Spectator |language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721001904/https://washingtonspectator.org/spaceship-of-fools/|archive-date=2023-07-21}}

{{Cite web|date=2021-05-19|last1=Wall|first1=Mike|title=UFO answers coming soon? US government to report on mysterious sightings|url=https://www.space.com/ufo-report-military-dod-to-congress-next-month|url-status=live|website=Space.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605112046/https://www.space.com/ufo-report-military-dod-to-congress-next-month|archive-date=2021-06-05}}

{{Cite web |date=2021-08-29 |title=UFOs regularly spotted in restricted U.S. airspace |last1=Whitaker |first1=Bill|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-military-intelligence-60-minutes-2021-08-29/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=CBS News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829232810/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-military-intelligence-60-minutes-2021-08-29/|archive-date=2021-08-29|language=en-US}}

{{Cite web|date=2007-06-30|last1=Fitzpatrick|first1=Dan|title=Mellon family's legacy lives on|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2007/06/30/Mellon-family-s-legacy-lives-on/stories/200706300127|url-status=live|website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250502211530/https://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2007/06/30/Mellon-family-s-legacy-lives-on/stories/200706300127|archive-date=2025-05-02}}

{{Cite web|date=2007-06-30|last1=Reginato|first1=James|title=The Mellon Family Is Famed for Restraint, but MAGA Mega-Donor Tim Mellon Is Rocking the Boat|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/tim-mellon-maga-mega-donor|url-status=live|website=Vanity Fair|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003092040/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/tim-mellon-maga-mega-donor|archive-date=2024-10-03}}

{{Cite book|date=March 2016|title=Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War|last1=Kaplan|first1=Fred|url=https://archive.org/details/darkterritorysec0000kapl/page/n1/mode/2up?q=mellon|access-date=2025-05-02|pages=35-36|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781476763279}}

{{Cite book|date=2007-07-16|title=

Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA|last1=Scarborough|first1=Rowan|pages=65|publisher=Regnery Publishing|isbn=9781476763279}}

{{Cite web|date=2018-03-12|title=UFO sightings ignored by Pentagon, former insider says|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-13/ufos-former-insider-says-pentagon-doesnt-care/9542484|access-date=2024-08-31|url-status=live|website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316075642/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-13/ufos-former-insider-says-pentagon-doesnt-care/9542484|archive-date=2018-03-16}}

{{Cite web|date=2018-03-09|last1=Mellon|first1=Christopher|title=The military keeps encountering UFOs. Why doesn’t the Pentagon care?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-military-keeps-encountering-ufos-why-doesnt-the-pentagon-care/2018/03/09/242c125c-22ee-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html|url-status=live|website=Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313011351/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-military-keeps-encountering-ufos-why-doesnt-the-pentagon-care/2018/03/09/242c125c-22ee-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html|archive-date=2018-03-13}}

{{Cite web|date=2023-07-27|title=US Congress holds UFO hearings, and we might not be alone in the universe after all|url=https://wired.me/science/us-ufo-hearing-alien/|url-status=live|website=Wired|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110211948/https://wired.me/science/us-ufo-hearing-alien/|archive-date=2024-11-10}}

{{Cite web |date=Summer 2002 |title=Fighting the Decisive Battle|last1=Locher III |first1=James L. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA596867.pdf |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Joint Force Quarterly, National Defense University (United States) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250503002342/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA596867.pdf|archive-date=2025-05-03|language=en-US}}

{{Cite web |date=2003-02-12 |title=Unholy Alliance?|last1=Henry|first1=Ed |url=https://rollcall.com/2003/02/12/unholy-alliance/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Roll Call |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811130333/https://rollcall.com/2003/02/12/unholy-alliance/|archive-date=2020-08-11|language=en-US}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellon, Christopher}}