DIA Memo: No Justification for Classifying AATIP as Special Access Program

In November 2009, " The DIA's rejection was grounded in a practical review of the program's actual output: during fiscal year 2009, all program documents were unclassified, largely because the contractor had not yet established a secure facility and employees were still being vetted for clearances. Looking ahead to fiscal year 2010, DIA noted that most research products would remain unclassified, with only four to six of the original technical reports slated for expansion to include classified data, likely at the secret level. This modest projection of classified material fell far short of the threshold needed to justify the extraordinary controls of a restricted SAP.

The memo thus frames a central tension: a high-profile political request for heightened secrecy collided with the bureaucratic reality that the program's work was, at its core, open and unclassified.

The classification landscape described All deliverables produced in fiscal year 2009 were unclassified, a status…