On December 16, 2017, the New York Times published a front-page story by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean titled 'Glowing Auras and Black Money: The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program,' revealing AATIP, releasing the Tic Tac infrared video, and naming Luis Elizondo as the program's director.

The story, published simultaneously with reports in The Washington Post and Politico, marked the first time a major U.S. news organization published official Pentagon confirmation of a secret UAP research program. The article and accompanying video of the 2004 Nimitz encounter went viral, fundamentally reshaping public and congressional attention toward UAP.