A former Pentagon official who played a key role in the U.S. government’s investigation into UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena is set to release a memoir that promises unprecedented revelations about what he claims authorities have known regarding nonhuman intelligence.
Jay Stratton, a veteran intelligence and defense official who spent 16 years investigating Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), will publish “Out of the Shadows: Revealing the Truth About Non-Human Intelligent Life” on October 13.
Stratton became one of the most recognizable figures in the UFO disclosure movement after appearing in last year’s documentary, “The Age of Disclosure,” where he made a startling claim.
“I have seen with my own eyes,” he said, “nonhuman craft and nonhuman beings.”
A highly decorated national security official who held the civilian equivalent of a two-star general rank, Stratton served as the first director of the Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. He also helped launch a government effort to investigate mysterious objects reported near U.S. nuclear weapons facilities.
Now, with public interest in UFOs at a historic high and pressure mounting for greater government transparency, Stratton says he is ready to tell his story.
According to publisher HarperCollins, the memoir details what Stratton believes was a decades-long effort to keep information about nonhuman intelligence hidden from both elected officials and the American people.
“Operating in the shadows of the intelligence community, Stratton discovered an 80-year cover-up of the existence of nonhuman intelligent life and fought back against powerful gatekeepers who have hid the truth from the public, Congress, and even presidents,” the publisher said in a statement to People.
Stratton retired from government service in 2022 and is expected to recount what he describes as disturbing encounters during his investigations into unexplained phenomena.
Those experiences, HarperCollins said, “profoundly altered his understanding of humanity’s place in the universe and took a disturbing toll on him and his family.”
The book’s release comes as UFOs and UAPs have moved from the political and cultural fringes into the national spotlight.
Military declassifications, congressional hearings, whistleblower testimony, and the release of Pentagon records have intensified calls for answers about what the government knows.
A presidential directive issued in February ordered federal agencies to declassify evidence related to UAPs and nonhuman intelligent life.
According to the publisher, Stratton has worked with the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the War Department in efforts to obtain and review relevant evidence for potential public release.
Dan Farah, director and producer of “The Age of Disclosure,” has also secured television and film rights to the memoir.
“After discovering the related national security concerns and a potential existential threat, Jay defied powerful institutional gatekeepers and risked everything in order to reveal that humanity is not alone in the universe and to ensure the government takes action,” Farah said, according to People.
Whether Stratton’s claims ultimately convince skeptics or fuel further debate, his book is likely to become required reading for those following the growing push to uncover what the government knows about unexplained aerial phenomena and the possibility of nonhuman intelligence.
Nicole Weatherholtz is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist who covers news, politics, and culture.
