EXCLUSIVE Identity of whistleblower who exposed 'secret Pentagon UFO program' revealed as he says he fears for his life

Daily Mail​

29-04-2025

The whistleblower behind a stunning report submitted to Congress - exposing what he claims is a secret Pentagon program tracking unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) - has now revealed his identity and says he fears for his future for speaking out.
Matthew Scott Brown is a former U.S. national security official who previously served as a Policy Advisor for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a Technical Advisor for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, and a Program Advisor for the Department of State.
He publicly identified himself as the whistleblower in WEAPONIZED Episode 74 - a podcast released Tuesday that is hosted by investigative journalists and UFO experts Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp.
Brown is the author of the Immaculate Constellation Field Report, a document entered into the Congressional Record earlier this year that alleges the Executive Branch has been secretly managing UAP programs for decades - without congressional oversight.
'This is absolutely what I did not want to do,' Brown said during the podcast. 'I am, on a personal level, giving up the future that I made for myself and was going to try to make for a family. My hope is that the stakes are not paid out, but they are life imprisonment and the possibility of execution.'
Brown, who held Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearances with a Counterintelligence Scope Polygraph (CI Poly) during his government career, is bound by strict secrecy agreements that carry steep penalties if classified information is improperly disclosed.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Corbell said those fears are not unfounded - even if rarely enforced to the extreme.
'When you're in the classified world, you sign your life away,' Corbell explained. 'There are serious consequences for leaking national security information - and yes, on paper, that includes life imprisonment or even capital punishment in rare cases tied to espionage.'
However, Corbell stressed that the real threat whistleblowers often face comes not from criminal prosecution, but from being systematically dismantled through legal, bureaucratic, and other coordinated nefarious means.
He said whistleblowers can see their lives destroyed through 'weaponized bureaucracy, targeted investigations, character assassination'.
'It happened to a number of friends of mine. It's very concerning.'
He added: 'We've seen it before. The system can grind you to dust.'
Still, Corbell emphasized that Brown had been meticulous in following all legal protocols.
'He did everything lawfully,' he said. 'He pushed his material through pre-publication review at the State Department. They didn't push back. He did everything by the book.'
Brown said he discovered references to the program in 2018 while reviewing classified materials at the Pentagon.
It was '100 percent accidentally,' he said on the podcast. 'So the first exposure, or the exposure to Immaculate Constellation, happened on a shared server that was shared by all the offices in OSD... I was opening files that were clearly misfiled.'
Among the files was a transcript of a classified briefing to members of Congress. What Brown read, he said, confirmed his worst fears.
'When I was in USDI, I read the transcripts of Sean Kirkpatrick briefing Senator Rubio, Senator Warren and Senator Gillibrand,' he said.
'My blood ran cold at a specific point... Mr. Rubio's response was, 'Well, what the hell is the Executive Branch doing? Have they been running this for 60 years without congressional oversight?'
Brown said he ultimately decided to go public - not for political reasons, but because he believed the truth could no longer be buried.
'Ultimately, my biggest fear is what humanity will do to itself out of fear and greed,' he said. 'We have built a prison around ourselves. It's invisible, but it's not complete, and there is still time to maybe alter our trajectory.'
Corbell told DailyMail.com that Brown's decision to reveal his identity was made both to protect himself and to catalyze action in Congress.
'I have seen problematic, even nefarious pressures put upon individuals as they are preparing to come forward,' Corbell said. 'The time is now... not just to report the truth, but to protect those who will not - or cannot - protect themselves.'
He said Brown initially fought hard to avoid going public, but that whistleblower protections inside the government had 'fallen flat'.
Above, an excerpt from the January 2000 issue of national security magazine Jane's International Defense Review, in which reporter Bill Sweetman first made public the existence of 'Unacknowledged Special Access Programs' - which officials are told to lie to protect
'This was the last thing he wanted to do,' Corbell said. 'We tried to keep his identity confidential, to walk him through the proper channels. But those options proved to be false promises. Ultimately, his best protection was to come forward boldly.'
Brown's field report describes encounters involving orb-shaped UAPs and a massive black triangular craft, observed over Russian naval intelligence ships.
He alleges the Pentagon has maintained surveillance programs on UAPs while withholding information from Congress for decades - an accusation that cuts to the heart of ongoing calls for greater transparency.
'This isn't just technology,' Brown said in the episode. 'This isn't something somebody came up with in a lab... The answer is no, [we're not alone] and the secrecy that has been defended is at the cost of, in my mind, human dignity, freedom and progress.'
Corbell said Brown's testimony is only the beginning.
'There's a small army of whistleblowers ready to come forward, we have already recorded with them,' Corbell said. 'The levee is breaking. The American public has not just a right, but a need to know.'
He also warned that threats and intimidation tactics have already targeted Brown and others who have begun speaking out.
'We have had very disturbing personal threats that we take extremely seriously - not just with Matt, but with some of the other whistleblowers who have already recorded with us,' Corbell said. 'This is serious. It's happening.'
Corbell said the next parts of Brown's testimony will be released in a three-part series, culminating ahead of anticipated UAP-related hearings in Congress set for May of this year.
The urgency surrounding Brown's revelations comes amid heightened congressional scrutiny of UAP programs.
In November 2024, the House Oversight Committee held a high-profile hearing featuring whistleblowers and former officials, including Luis Elizondo and Michael Shellenberger. Witnesses testified about alleged secret government programs — including one called 'Immaculate Constellation ' — that have operated without congressional oversight for decades.
Elizondo, a former Department of Defense official, claimed that the U.S. government possesses advanced technologies not made by any known nation and that elements within the military and intelligence community are engaged in disinformation campaigns to discredit UAP whistleblowers.
Michael Shellenberger presented a whistleblower report detailing a highly secretive program named 'Immaculate Constellation,' allegedly focused on collecting UAP data. The report included an account of an F-22 encounter with multiple UAPs exhibiting advanced capabilities.
Lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Mace, expressed concern over the lack of transparency and potential constitutional violations, emphasizing the need for greater oversight and accountability.
The hearing underscored the increasing congressional interest and concern surrounding UAPs, highlighting the need for further investigation into whistleblower claims and alleged secret programs.