Lue Elizondo on Security, Intent, and Non-Human Intelligence
In an interview published on August 14, 2026, Dr. Eliot Koretney introduces Lue Elizondo as the first guest on a podcast from the Project on UAP Studies and International Security at the Ralph Bunche Institute, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The conversation centers on the dramatic shift in U.S. government discourse around UFOs, now called UAP, especially since 2017, when figures such as Elizondo and others helped bring previously secretive government attention to the issue into public view. Koretney frames UAP through an international relations lens, especially securitization theory, asking whether UAP are moving from taboo or curiosity into an officially recognized national and international security concern. Elizondo argues that this securitization is already underway, citing reports to Congress, UAP-focused offices and programs, law enforcement and intelligence interest, taxpayer-funded investigations, and international activity involving Japan, China, Russia, Latin America, and possible United Nations-linked initiatives. The discussion broadens into UAPs as a possible non-human intelligence issue rather than merely a conventional science problem. The speakers discuss Ronald Reagan’s 1987 United Nations speech, the possibility that some presidents may have been briefed on UAP realities, and the idea that humanity often unites only when facing a shared threat. Elizondo emphasizes that advanced technologies are neither inherently good nor bad; human intent determines whether they become tools for public benefit, cooperation, arms racing, or harm. The conversation closes on the ethics of contact: UAPs may be studying humanity as humanity studies them; they appear associated with nuclear technologies and large bodies of water; aggressive attempts to lure or attack them could be dangerous; and humanity should approach unknown intelligences with caution, readiness, goodwill, love, and neighborliness.