Documents / Official release

Office of the Secretary of Defense: 026_DGI_Briefing

Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense. · 2023 · 12 pages · text from the file's own layer

This unclassified briefing from the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office was given by Deputy Director Tim Phillips to the Defense Space, Geospatial and Intelligence Leadership Conference and was released on 2/6/2025. It defines UAP and notes that most reports lack enough data, while most that can be assessed resolve to mundane objects. It says a 2018 Mt. Etna object was likely a balloon. It also describes controlled tests at Camp Grafton, North Dakota, a Space UAP Tiger Team, and Starlink flaring as a cause of reported orbs.

ALL-DOMAIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE (AARO)
UNCLASSIFIED
SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF SPACE UAP: STARLINK FLARING
10UNCLASSIFIED
▪ Pilots and ground-based observers report unusual “orbs”
▪ Unlike Starlink “trains”, these are very bright and short-
lived
▪ Reddish orange to white with spatial extent
▪ Appear to suddenly change directions
▪ Possible cause: Starlink Satellite Flaring
▪ Not the trains which are higher in the sky, many lights in a
row
▪ Flaring is bright specular reflection off nadir surface;
▪ Occurs just above horizon after sunset and before
sunrise;
▪ Several can appear at once and move in diverse
directions; appearance of a single object changing
directions
▪ AARO employed mathematical tools to predict when and
where flaring events would occur; observed and validated the
predictions
(U) Above: Imagery of Starlink “trains”1
(U) Above: Time-lapse imagery of Starlink “flaring”
captured by AARO.
(UNCLASSIFIED)
(UNCLASSIFIED)
(UNCLASSIFIED)
(UNCLASSIFIED)
1 - J. Hsu, "New Scientist," 4 10 2023. [Online]. Available:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2394949-starlink-carbon-footprint-up-to-30-
times-size-of-land-based-internet/.
Page determined to be Unclassified
Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO
IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C)
Date: 2/6/2025026

Cases discussed

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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 12 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.