Christopher Mellon served nearly two decades in U.S. Senate and Pentagon intelligence oversight roles. He worked for senators William Cohen, John Chafee, John Warner and Jay Rockefeller, helped create U.S. Special Operations Command, and held Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence posts under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.
In 2017 Mellon supplied three Navy cockpit videos of unidentified aerial phenomena to the New York Times. He has since lobbied Congress for formal UAP reporting, joined the To the Stars Academy briefly, and served as research affiliate with Harvard’s Galileo Project and chair of the Disclosure Foundation.
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, 1999–2002.
- Minority Staff Director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 2003–2004.
- Provided FLIR, GIMBAL and GOFAST videos to New York Times, December 2017.
- Helped shape 2020 Senate language that led to the June 2021 UAP Preliminary Assessment.
- Research affiliate, Harvard Galileo Project since 2021; Chair, Disclosure Foundation.
- United StatesBorn and raised
- United States SenateStaff positions 1985–2004
- Senate Select Committee on IntelligenceProfessional staff and Minority Staff Director
- United States Department of DefenseDeputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence 1999–2002
- To the Stars Academy of Arts and SciencesNational Security Affairs Advisor 2017–2020
- Harvard University Galileo ProjectResearch affiliate since 2021
- Disclosure FoundationChair of the Board
Background
Christopher Karl Mellon was born October 2, 1957, in Topeka, Kansas. He grew up in difficult circumstances in inner-city Chicago after his parents divorced. He attended Loomis Chaffee School and earned a B.A. in economics from Colby College before completing an M.A. in international relations at Yale University with a concentration in finance and management.
Mellon entered government service in 1985 on Capitol Hill. He spent roughly a decade as a professional staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. While serving as legislative assistant to Senator William Cohen, he conceived and drafted key provisions of the legislation that established the United States Special Operations Command in the 1987 National Defense Authorization Act.
In 1997 Mellon accompanied Cohen to the Pentagon as part of the Secretary of Defense transition team. He first served as Coordinator for Advanced Concepts and Program Integration, then as Special Assistant to the Secretary for Intelligence Policy from November 1997 to June 1998. From June 1998 through November 1999 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security and Information Operations.
In November 1999 Mellon received a non-career Senior Executive Service appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. He held the post through the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld until 2002. During this period he oversaw intelligence policy and participated in oversight of special access programs.
Mellon returned to the Senate in February 2003 as minority staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under Senator Jay Rockefeller. He left federal service after 2004. He later worked as a private equity investor focused on biotechnology and information-technology startups and served on the board of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, chairing its science committee.
Mellon’s public involvement with UAP began after he was invited to an Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program meeting. In 2017 he joined To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences as National Security Affairs Advisor. He personally delivered the three Navy videos—FLIR from the 2004 Nimitz incident and GIMBAL and GOFAST from the Roosevelt carrier group—to New York Times reporters for the December 16, 2017 article that disclosed AATIP.
Mellon left TTSA at the end of 2020. He continued advocating for UAP transparency through op-eds, congressional briefings, and media appearances. He contributed to language included in the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that directed an intelligence community assessment of UAP. The resulting June 2021 Preliminary Assessment documented 144 incidents since 2004.
Mellon became a research affiliate of Harvard University’s Galileo Project in 2021. He has appeared in the History Channel series Unidentified and the documentary The Phenomenon. In 2024 he delivered the inaugural address to the Japanese UAP Caucus. He has received the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal, the Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Medal, and the Secretary of Defense Public Service Award.
Where They Are Now
As of October 2026 Christopher Mellon continues to work as a private equity investor and UAP transparency advocate. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the Disclosure Foundation and has headlined conferences including the 2026 Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies annual meeting.
Mellon remains active in media, policy discussions, and efforts to declassify additional government records on unidentified anomalous phenomena.
Last updated 25 October 2026