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Matthew Pines

National-security analyst and Bitcoin policy executive who comments on UAP policy and secrecy structures. Adviser to Skywatcher since early 2025.

Current role: Executive Director, Bitcoin Policy Institute; national-security and geopolitics analyst; independent adviser to Skywatcher (as of 2025-04-25)

Former roles:

  • Director of Intelligence, PinnacleOne (SentinelOne)
  • Head of Strategy, Bitcoin Policy Institute

@matthew_pines on X

Background

Matthew Pines is a national-security and geopolitics analyst who leads the Bitcoin Policy Institute as Executive Director and previously ran intelligence at PinnacleOne, SentinelOne's strategic advisory unit. He holds an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a degree from Johns Hopkins. On UAP he is a commentator rather than a reporter: his long-form podcast appearances lay out how US classification, special-access and contractor structures could hold a programme out of oversight, and he has been an independent adviser to Jake Barber's Skywatcher project since February 2025. He has no security clearance and does not claim first-hand knowledge. This site's 2023 explainer on competing UAP explanations credits his framework. The 2025 summit bio gives the current title and background.

On the record

  • 2025-04-25 – Skywatcher interview (Unveiled, Ep. 13) – with Jake Barber, described Skywatcher's effort to attract, monitor and record UAP and the plan for independent analysis of its data. – Interview
  • 2025-02-17 – Skywatcher announcement – joined Skywatcher as an independent adviser, as announced by Jake Barber. – Barber's post
  • 2024-11-08 – TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast, #554 – "UAP Disclosure Is Upon Us", a three-hour discussion of the policy and secrecy architecture around UAP. – Episode listing
  • 2023-09-01 – framework cited by Disclosure Diaries – laid out four candidate explanations for the UAP disclosure process, which this site adopted as its explainer. – Disclosure Diaries

Reported claims (secondary / anonymous-sourced)

  • 2025-01-06 – podcast remarks, clipped on X – according to Pines, citing an unnamed source, incoming DNI Tulsi Gabbard had received an informal briefing on UAP: "I was told that [Gabbard] was given some sort of briefing or informal conversation with individuals involved in this." No official confirmation of such a briefing has been located. – Clip
  • 2024-12-31 – referenced by Harald Malmgren on X – Malmgren cited Pines' account of US security controls across DoD, DOE and other agencies when making his own claims about Navy retrievals from nuclear tests. Those claims are Malmgren's, not Pines'. – Malmgren's post

Timeline of involvement

  • 2023-09-01 – four-explanations framework adopted by Disclosure Diaries
  • 2024-11-08 – TFTC podcast on UAP disclosure
  • 2025-01-06 – Gabbard informal-briefing remark
  • 2025-02-17 – joins Skywatcher as independent adviser
  • 2025-04-25 – Skywatcher update interview with Jake Barber

Part of the Key People in Disclosure series. Verified 2025-04-25. Spotted an error? Reach out.