Delta Skywatchers Initiative DELTA SKYWATCHERS INITIATIVE
Education · History · Community

Delta Skywatchers Initiative

A grassroots group tackling the UAP and disclosure topic with a local lens.

Our mission is to advance the education and understanding of UAP, advanced technologies, and the historical disclosure movement in the Stockton-San Joaquin Delta region.

That work rests on three principles: education, history, and community.

EDUCATION

The H.G. Shaw Lending Library gives the public free access to sources on UAP history and American studies, open to anyone who wants to read.

HISTORY

The Delta has its own documented history of unexplained aerial phenomena, going back over a century. We research and preserve that record.

COMMUNITY

DSI exists to offer a stigma-free space to learn about and discover this topic as our government moves forward on it. Curiosity here costs you nothing and no one gets laughed at.

The collection

The Colonel H.G. Shaw Lending Library

A free lending collection of 100+ titles spanning UAP research, intelligence history, consciousness, philosophy, and the record of power in America.

Delta Skywatchers Initiative illustration: the Col. H.G. Shaw Encounter, 1896

DSI AI-generated image depicting the November 1896 encounter reported by Col. H.G. Shaw near Stockton. The incident appears throughout the literature on the 1896–97 airship wave, including Jacques Vallée’s Passport to Magonia and work by David Michael Jacobs (1975), Daniel Cohen (1981), among others. It is often described as the earliest published account of beings attempting to take a witness aboard a craft. Contemporary researchers disagree on whether the newspaper report was a sincere account or period satire.

Browse the collection

Search the shelf, then send a check out request for anything you want to borrow. We'll reply with pickup details.

Shelf location & open hours: coming soon. Questions in the meantime, email dsi209@outlook.com.
Context

Our Why

Why this work exists, and where the record stands right now.

Public interest in unidentified craft is older than the modern UFO era, going back to antiquity. We focus on modern documented history, beginning with newspapers covering a wave of unexplained airship reports across California in 1896 and 1897.

The Air Force ran Project Blue Book from 1952 to 1969 and closed it on the Condon Report's conclusion that the subject did not merit further study. For decades after, the documentary record moved mainly through civilian research groups and Freedom of Information Act requests. That changed in 2017, when reporting on a Pentagon program returned the subject to mainstream coverage.

Congressional attention now runs through the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, which has held hearings on UAP transparency and taken sworn testimony from military whistleblowers. In 2023 David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence official, testified that he had been informed of a multi-decade crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program. In 2026 he ramped up his public claims with congressional support, vocally calling on the executive branch to take action. The Pentagon's investigative office has said it found no corroborating evidence in the channels it reviewed. Grusch now serves as a special advisor to Rep. Eric Burlison on the congressional task force's declassification work.

The Pentagon has released five batches of UAP files since May 2026. A UAP Science Advisory Council convened in 2026 under physicist Avi Loeb to advise the government, reporting to an interagency governance board. Funding is starting to follow, and New Jersey became the first state to fund a university UAP research center. Other governments have taken the subject up for decades. The Soviet Union ran Setka, a paired Academy of Sciences and Defense Ministry study, from 1978 to 1990. Japan's Defense Ministry has required standardized UAP reporting since 2020, and a cross-party parliamentary league has pushed since 2024 for a dedicated investigative office.

Our position on all of this: we teach the documentary record and let people read it themselves. We do not tell anyone what the phenomenon is.

The Basics

What’s That Mean?

The words that come up constantly in this subject. No prior reading required.

UAP
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The term the U.S. government now uses in place of UFO. It is purposefully broader: it covers objects in the air, in space, and underwater, not only things that fly.
UFO
Unidentified Flying Object. First used by the Air Force in the 1950s. It means exactly what it says, something seen in the sky that has not been identified. It does not mean extraterrestrial.
NHI
Non-Human Intelligence. The language used in congressional testimony and in legislation for an intelligence that is not human in origin. It is used precisely because it makes no claim about where that intelligence comes from, as opposed to Extraterrestrial.
Extraterrestrial
Originating outside Earth. The word makes a specific claim about origin, which is why officials and researchers increasingly prefer NHI or UAP.
Ultraterrestrial
An intelligence native to Earth rather than one arriving from elsewhere, whether hidden from us, living alongside us, or belonging to an older terrestrial history than our own. John Keel popularized the term in the 1970s as a direct alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The core of the idea is that the phenomenon has always been here.
Transdimensional
Also called multidimensional. The hypothesis that the phenomenon originates in, or moves between, dimensions or states of reality beyond the three spatial ones we perceive. It is offered to account for behavior that appears to break physics as we understand it, such as objects appearing and vanishing or moving without visible propulsion. Jacques Vallée argued along these lines from the 1960s onward. It cannot be tested with current tools, which is both its appeal and the main objection to it.
Disclosure
The release of government-held information about UAP, classified technologies, and research and development programs, to the public. In practice this means declassification, transfers of records to the National Archives, and sworn testimony, rather than one single announcement from the President.
Special Access Program
A classified program with protections above ordinary top secret, where access is limited to a specific named list of people. Often shortened to SAP.
Unacknowledged SAP
A special access program whose very existence is classified. Officials are not obligated to confirm that it exists. This category is central to most crash retrieval allegations.
FFRDC
Federally Funded Research and Development Center. A research organization paid for by the government but run by a university, nonprofit, or company. Lawrence Livermore National Labs (less than an hour from Stockton), RAND, MITRE, Los Alamos, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory are examples. They sit in the space between government and private industry, hold security clearances, and are named repeatedly in allegations about where classified work is carried out.
Crash retrieval
The alleged recovery of a craft of unknown origin by a government. Described in congressional testimony by named former officials. The first crash retrieval was claimed to take place in Magenta, Italy in 1933. No agency has confirmed it, and no physical evidence has been made public.
Reverse engineering
Taking a piece of technology apart to work out how it functions and how to reproduce it. In this subject it refers to alleged programs studying recovered material.
Zero-point energy
In physics, the lowest energy a quantum system can hold, which is not zero. In this subject the term is used for a hypothetical way to draw usable power from that background energy, and so for propulsion that needs no conventional fuel. No working device has ever been demonstrated publicly.
FOIA
The Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1966. It lets any person request federal records. A large share of the public UAP record exists because someone filed a FOIA request and waited.
Declassification
The formal process of removing a security classification so that material can be released. It is slow, it is reviewed line by line, and released documents are often redacted.
Whistleblower
Someone inside government or a contractor who reports wrongdoing through legally protected channels. Federal law gives them specific protections against retaliation.
Experiencer
A person who reports direct contact with the phenomenon. The word is used in place of older and more loaded language, and it carries no judgment about what happened.
Psionic
Relating to the mind acting directly on the physical world, or to information received without the ordinary senses. The word comes up in this subject because many witnesses describe encounters with a mental or perceptual dimension, and because the U.S. government funded remote viewing research for roughly two decades under programs later declassified as Stargate. Claims in this area are contested and difficult to test.
Project Stargate
The umbrella name for U.S. government remote viewing research, which ran in various forms from the early 1970s until 1995 under sponsors including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA. The program was declassified in 1995. A CIA-commissioned review that year concluded the results did not justify continuing it, a finding several participants and researchers still dispute. The files are public.
Close encounter
A sighting at short range. Astronomer J. Allen Hynek built the scale: the first kind is a sighting nearby, the second leaves physical traces, the third involves observing occupants. Later writers extended it further.
CE5
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, a term for contact initiated by people rather than by the phenomenon. The protocol most associated with it was developed by Dr. Steven Greer and uses meditation, group intention, and light signaling. Practitioners report results. There is no controlled evidence establishing an effect, and the practice sits outside mainstream investigation.
Sensor data
A record of an object made by instruments instead of by eye: radar returns, infrared and electro-optical video, telemetry, and electromagnetic readings. Sensor data is what lets a case be measured, analyzed, and checked by other people, which is why investigators and members of Congress keep asking for it. Witness testimony carries real weight. Instrument records carry more.
Tic Tac
The nickname for the object encountered by Navy pilots from the USS Nimitz strike group off Southern California in November 2004. Described as smooth, white, wingless, and roughly forty feet long, shaped like the mint. It was tracked on radar and recorded on targeting infrared. The Pentagon officially released the video in 2020, and Commander David Fravor, who flew the intercept, testified about it before Congress in 2023.
Roswell
In July 1947 the Army Air Field at Roswell, New Mexico announced it had recovered a flying disc, then retracted the statement within a day and called it a weather balloon. It remains the most widely known case in the subject and the starting point for most crash retrieval claims.
MJ-12
Short for Majestic 12, an alleged secret committee said to have been created by President Truman in 1947 to manage recovered craft. Documents describing it surfaced in 1984. The FBI investigated and concluded the documents were bogus, and most researchers treat them as fabricated. The name still circulates widely in this subject, which is worth knowing when you run into it.
Project Blue Book
The Air Force investigation that ran from 1952 to 1969 and collected more than 12,000 sighting reports. It was shut down after the Condon Report concluded the subject did not warrant further study. The files are public.
MK-Ultra
A CIA program that ran from 1953 into the early 1970s and tested drugs, hypnosis, and other methods of influencing behavior, often on people who never consented. The agency director ordered most of the records destroyed in 1973. The Church Committee in 1975 and a Senate hearing in 1977 documented what survived. It comes up in this subject as a confirmed case of a program the government denied until the surviving record forced an admission.
Want a term added? Send it through the contact page.
Start here

Resource Library

Where to read the record yourself. These are the primary sources, government channels, and archives we point people to first.

Official government records

PURSUE
The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, established by executive order in 2026. Directs the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, State Department, and Executive Office of the President to review and release UAP material. Files have been published in batches since May 2026.
war.gov/ufo
National Archives UAP Records
The federal repository. Textual records, microfilm, photographs, and finding aids, including material transferred under the 2024 defense authorization act.
archives.gov/research/topics/uaps
Project Blue Book
The Air Force's own investigation, 1952 to 1969. More than 12,000 sighting reports, the complete case files, and the Condon Report that ended the program.
archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos

Congressional testimony

Grusch, Fravor and Graves · July 26, 2023
The House Oversight hearing that put UAP back in front of Congress. Former intelligence official David Grusch, Navy commander David Fravor of the 2004 Nimitz encounter, and former Navy pilot Ryan Graves testified under oath.
oversight.house.gov
2023 hearing transcript (PDF)
The complete official transcript, published by the Government Publishing Office. Read what was actually said rather than what was reported about it.
docs.house.gov
Knapp, Borland, Nuccetelli and Wiggins · September 9, 2025
Restoring Public Trust Through UAP Transparency and Whistleblower Protection. Testimony from investigative journalist George Knapp, Air Force veteran Dylan Borland on black triangle craft, Air Force veteran Jeffrey Nuccetelli on the Vandenberg incident, and Navy Senior Chief Alexandro Wiggins.
oversight.house.gov

Key documents

Immaculate Constellation (PDF)
The report on an alleged unacknowledged special access program, authored by former NSA and current Inspector General whistleblower Matthew Brown. This is the copy entered into the record at the House Oversight hearing of November 13, 2024. Brown continues to publish on the subject at his Substack, Invisible Frontiers.
congress.gov

Independent archives

Disclosure Project Intelligence Archive
Dr. Steven Greer's archive of military and government witness testimony, assembled over decades through the Disclosure Project.
drstevengreer.com/dpia
The Black Vault
The largest privately run archive of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, including decades of UAP material.
theblackvault.com

Organizations and independent research

Much of what is public came out of direct citizen action, above all Freedom of Information Act requests, which any person can file with any federal agency. Because of the FOIA work of independent researchers, the disclosure movement has gained ground over the last forty years. We strongly encourage you to read and engage with these.

New Paradigm Institute
Advocacy and public education pushing for UAP transparency through legislation and citizen organizing. Publishes explainers on pending bills, including the UAP Disclosure Act.
newparadigminstitute.org
The Sol Foundation
Academic research organization convening scientists and policy scholars on UAP, with an emphasis on peer-reviewed work and public policy rather than advocacy.
thesolfoundation.org
UAP Disclosure Fund
Nonprofit working on transparency and whistleblower protection, including briefings to members of Congress.
uapdisclosurefund.org
UAP Gerb
Independent researcher whose work on classified program structure circulates widely in the disclosure community.
youtube.com/@UAPGerb

Films and documentaries

The Age of Disclosure
Directed by Dan Farah. The largest number of senior government officials to date speaking on the record about non-human intelligence and reverse engineering. Streaming on Prime Video.
Disclosure Day
Steven Spielberg's feature film, written by David Koepp, with Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor. A drama rather than a documentary, it reached theaters in June 2026 and put the contact question in front of a wide audience. Available on digital now, and streaming on Peacock starting October 9.
Moment of Contact: New Revelations of Alien Encounters
James Fox's documentary on the 1996 Varginha incident in Brazil, the case behind the National Press Club testimony. Free to watch on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube
The Program
James Fox's 2024 documentary on the congressional UFO investigations, built around sworn testimony from military and intelligence officers describing a clandestine effort to analyze recovered materials and non-human biologics. Narrated by Peter Coyote, with Rep. Tim Burchett and journalist Bryan Bender among those interviewed. Runs about 95 minutes. Free to watch on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube

Closer to home

The Colonel H.G. Shaw Lending Library
Our own collection of 100+ titles, free to borrow. Browse it on the library page and send a check out request for anything you want to read.
San Joaquin County historical records
The 1896 airship reports were carried in local papers. County and regional historical collections hold the period newspaper record for anyone who wants to read the original coverage.
Know a source we should add? Send it through the contact page.
S.A.P.

Stockton Aerospace Podcast

Conversations about the universe, UFOs, and the future of declassification.

Episode 1 coming Fall 2026.

Stockton Aerospace Podcast, episode 1 coming Fall 2026
Listening links will be posted here when Episode 1 goes live. Join the mailing list on the Support page to hear first.
Writing & posts

From the Feed

Notes collected from our feeds so they stay readable in one place.

Posts are being collected from Instagram and will appear here.
Updates

News & Updates

Updates on the movement, in person events, the H.G. Shaw Library, and the Stockton Aerospace Podcast will be posted here.

Nothing posted yet. In the meantime, follow along on Instagram (@deltaskywatchers) or X (@deltaskywatch) for the latest.
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Get in Touch

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