Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume I

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• Some literature suggests individual accounts can be unreliable as they are subject to a
person’s interpretation of sensory data through the filter of their experiences, beliefs,
or state of mind during the event. A person who reports a case might be credible, in
that they believe the elements of their account to be accurate. However, their
reliability, which is their ability to accurately interpret events—as well as to recall
and convey those events due to a range of factors—is altogether different from their
inherent sincerity.1
• Similarly, confirmation bias is a recognized subconscious cognitive process whereby
a person tends to seek and believe information that supports their hypothesis and to
discount information that undermines their hypothesis.2
• AARO remains open to additional, verifiable information that may alter the
conclusions rendered in Volume I and will note any changes to the findings in this
report in Volume II.
Note on “UAP” Nomenclature
Use of the UAP naming convention, while imperfect, is the best manner in which to
characterize the multitude of unidentified reported sightings. AARO understands that the use of
“UAP” to refer to all potential possibilities provides a false sense of commonality; such as their
origins, identity, purpose, type, and threat they may pose. The only commonality that they all
share, at least initially, is that they are each unidentified. Beyond initially being unidentified or
misidentified, drones, balloons, aircraft, rockets, rocket exhaust plumes, satellites, infrared (IR)
aberrations, sensor artifacts, birds, stars, planets, indistinct lights, vague radar returns, meteors,
and optical effects—such as parallax—have nothing in common.
Congressional Oversight
DoD is committed to providing timely and thorough reporting to Congress and to
transparency with the American public. Since its establishment, AARO has endeavored to keep
Congress fully and currently informed of its activities and findings at all levels of classification.
AARO and DoD will continue to share the status and findings of its research at the appropriate
level of classification with Congress.
AARO’s HR2 Program of Analysis
AARO established six complementary lines of effort (LOEs) to conduct the HR2 research
with the goal of ensuring this report conveys an accurate and complete picture. LOEs were
conducted in parallel and reinforced each another; a lead in one LOE drove new research and
pursuits in another. AARO’s goal was to conduct thorough cross-checks to vet all information to
discover and close gaps in its understanding. These LOEs were to:
• Conduct open-source research on claims (through historical interviews) about USG
investigations of, contact with, and recovery of UAP, as well as exploitation of
alleged UAP material and technology.