Documents / Official release
This is Volume I of the Historical Record Report from the Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), dated February 2024 and released in full in February 2025. It reviews US government UAP investigations since 1945, from Project SIGN and Blue Book through the Condon Report, AATIP and the UAP Task Force. AARO found no evidence that any sighting involved extraterrestrial technology or that anyone reverse-engineered alien craft. It says the claims come largely from circular reporting, and it names KONA BLUE as a proposed program that was never approved.
19 AARO partnered with the U.S. National Archives to examine the records from the USAF’s Project BLUE BOOK, which spanned from 1947 to 1969. This research presented a significant challenge because of the volume of the documentation amounted to 7,252 files holding a total of 65,778 digital records. The vast majority of the files are populated with USAF documentation. Some cases contain media clippings and images, but these instances are rare. Results: Project BLUE BOOK determined that: • No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the USAF demonstrated any indication of a threat to national security. • There was no evidence submitted to, or discovered by, the USAF that sightings represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of then- present day scientific knowledge. • There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as unidentified are “extraterrestrial vehicles.” • Of the 12,618 sightings in Project BLUE BOOK’s holdings, 701 were categorized as unidentified and never solved.3839 CIA Evaluation of UFOs (1964) Background: Following high-level White House discussions on what to do if alien intelligence was discovered or there was a new outbreak of UFO sightings, DCI John McCone tasked the CIA to update its evaluation of UFOs. The CIA’s scientific division officially acquired UFO-sighting case information from the director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a private organization founded in 1956. 40 Results: Donald F. Chamberlain, Assistant Director of OSI, subsequently informed McCone that little had changed since the early 1950s; there was still no evidence that UFOs were a threat to the security of the United States or that they were of “foreign origin.” 41 O’Brien Committee (1964) Background: Dr. Brian O’Brien, a member of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, chaired the USAF Ad Hoc Review of Project BLUE BOOK. The committee included Carl Sagan, a prominent astronomer from Cornell University.42 Results: The committee’s report stated that UFOs did not threaten U.S. national security and that it could find no UFO case which represented technological or scientific advances outside of a terrestrial framework. The committee’s primary recommendation was that this topic merited intensive academic research and that a top university should lead the study.43 The Condon Report (April 1968) Background: Dr. Edward U. Condon, a physicist and former Director of the National Bureau of Standards, was the scientific director of an 18-month study on “flying saucers” funded under a $325,000 USAF contract to the University of Colorado. This panel took a narrow and05Page determined to be Unclassified Review by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841 (a)(1)(C) Date: 02/05/2025
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 63 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.