James T. Lacatski is an American engineer and retired Defense Intelligence Agency manager. After a visit to Skinwalker Ranch and discussions with Senator Harry Reid’s circle, he developed the proposal that became the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. The DIA awarded the contract to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies in 2008.

Lacatski’s government career was rooted in technical intelligence, weapons analysis, and the evaluation of foreign capabilities. He has said a visit to Skinwalker Ranch helped motivate the proposal that became AAWSAP, after which he served as the DIA program manager overseeing the contract. Retirement changed his role from administrator to participant-historian. Through books with Colm Kelleher and George Knapp, he began describing program structure and selected findings that had never appeared in the brief public summaries.

As the government program manager, Lacatski oversaw work that included a large case database, field investigations, and technical studies on advanced aerospace concepts. He later co-authored Skinwalkers at the Pentagon and Inside the U.S. Government Covert UFO Program with Colm Kelleher and George Knapp, presenting a participant’s account of AAWSAP. In interviews, he has also made striking statements about alleged access to a craft of unknown origin; public evidence sufficient to verify that claim has not been released.

Lacatski’s public profile is central to the institutional history of UAP. Unlike commentators reconstructing the program later, he helped create and manage it. His testimony therefore carries direct historical value while still requiring attribution where it moves beyond released contracts and reports. He connects Skinwalker Ranch, defense intelligence, technical studies, and the contested boundary between documented program activity and crash-retrieval allegations.