Documents / Report
This September 2025 information paper from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), part of the U.S. Department of War, explains how UAP-related information is classified and declassified. It says UAP imagery is often classified to protect the platform, location or methods used to capture it, and that only the originating office can declassify it. The paper describes the review steps and DOPSR clearance, and notes that records are being transferred to NARA. It states that AARO has found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings or technology.
UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED 3 Much like the soda can example above, UAP imagery is often classified to protect sensitive information associated with the platform, location, or methods used to captured it. This includes commonplace images of birds, balloons, commercial drones, and natural phenomena, which are frequently reported to AARO as UAP. Even when AARO resolves a case as unremarkable, the underlying data may remain classified if it originates or is derived from sensitive sources or methods. In addition to considering the classified nature of sensitive sources or methods, AARO is also vigilant of U.S. and allied operational security. In characterizing and resolving UAP, AARO must balance its commitment to transparency with its national security mission to increase domain awareness to avoid strategic surprise. How does AARO declassify UAP-related information? AARO cannot declassify information on its own because the classified information relevant to the UAP reports was created by other government entities outside of AARO – for example, the Military Departments. The office that originally created the information has the primary authority to declassify it. As such, AARO experts must work with the owners of classified information across the U.S. Government every day to facilitate the declassification and release of UAP records without compromising the security of its partners. Declassification is a deliberate and time-intensive process in which the originating office uses a team of experts to examine the classified information to determine if it still requires protection. Information must remain classified when its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause damage, serious damage, or exceptionally grave damage to national security. Even when declassification may seem appropriate or obvious based on the subject of the information, such as the soda can image example, the methods with which the information was obtained or other details within the data may result in a decision to postpone declassification. If declassification is postponed, the information will be required to undergo additional declassification reviews at prescribed intervals to determine whether continued classification is needed. To declassify information as part of the UAP case resolution process, AARO first solicits a determination from the originating office that created the information as to whether the release
Report, from the aaro collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 4 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.