The American Formalization: AAWSAP and the 38 DIRDs // The Global Compact Fusion & Plasma Weapons Investigation

2. The American Formalization: AAWSAP and the 38 DIRDs

2.1 The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program

The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was the DIA-administered program that formalized the technology assessment framework inherited from Soviet Thread-3. Approximately $22 million was secured by Senators Harry Reid, Ted Stevens, and Daniel Inouye — three of the most powerful senators on defense appropriations at the time.

The contract was awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a company founded by Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas hotel billionaire with long-standing interest in anomalous aerospace phenomena. BAASS served as the primary contractor, managing the production of technical assessment papers and field investigations.

2.2 The 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents

Between 2008 and 2010, AAWSAP commissioned 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) — formal technology assessment papers written by "outside subject-matter experts" under contract to BAASS. The authors were asked to extrapolate technology to 2050 and compare projected capabilities with reported UAP performance characteristics.

37 of the 38 DIRDs were released via FOIA on March 25, 2022. The 38th — covering high-energy laser weapons — remains classified SECRET. The topics include:

Warp drive, wormholes, and antigravity
Vacuum energy and spacetime engineering
Aneutronic fusion and inertial electrostatic confinement fusion
Negative mass propulsion
Electromagnetic field propulsion
Superconductors in gravity research
Field effects on biological tissues
Pulsed-power-based weaponry

At least 15 of the 38 DIRDs are directly about propulsion or energy technologies. Three specifically address fusion energy: "Controllable Fusion as a Future Energy Source," "Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion," and "Fusion Energy for Space Missions."

Established: The key DIRD authors are directly connected to the informal networks that would later continue the technology assessment. Hal Puthoff authored DIRDs on vacuum energy and spacetime engineering. Eric Davis authored 6 DIRDs — the most of any author — and later served as a BAASS subcontractor. Both Puthoff and Davis are connected to the private sector cut-out networks discussed in subsequent chapters.

2.3 Reid's SAP Request

In June 2009, Senator Harry Reid sent a letter explicitly requesting Restricted SAP treatment with a Bigoted Access List for portions of the AAWSAP-related effort. A Bigoted Access List is a SAP access control mechanism that restricts knowledge of the program to a specifically named list of individuals — even those with otherwise appropriate security clearances cannot access the program without being on the list.

This letter is primary-source evidence that the program's sponsors intended at least portions of the effort to be conducted under formal SAP protections. The request for Restricted SAP status with a Bigoted Access List indicates that the technology assessment was considered sensitive enough to require the highest level of access control available outside of waived SAPs.

2.4 BAASS and the "Invisible College" in Formal Output

The DIRDs were written by outside subject-matter experts — meaning they were not DIA employees but contractors brought in for their specific expertise. This is the "Invisible College" in formal output form: the same network of scientists, intelligence personnel, and private sector individuals who would later continue the work through informal channels produced the DIRDs as the formal, documented output of AAWSAP.

Key personnel involved in AAWSAP include:

James T. Lacatski: AAWSAP manager, had knowledge of Thread-3's 12 missing attachments
Hal Puthoff: DIRD author through EarthTech International, CIA Stargate veteran
Eric Davis: 6 DIRDs, BAASS subcontractor, later discussed DIRDs publicly (January 2018)
Colm Kelleher: BAASS/NIDS, author of "Skinwalkers at the Pentagon"
Robert Bigelow: BAASS founder, reportedly funded portions personally after government funding ended

2.5 Formal Termination (2012)

AAWSAP officially ended in 2012 when the $22 million in funding was exhausted. However, Robert Bigelow reportedly funded portions of the work personally for an additional year — an early instance of the private funding bridge pattern that would characterize the informal continuation phase. The formal end of AAWSAP did not end the technology assessment; it merely shifted it from a formal, funded program to an informal, unfunded network.