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Docs Related to AARO Press Briefing 3-6-2004 (FOIA 24-F-0893)

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 2024 · 20 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Office of the Secretary of Defense FOIA release (24-F-0893) collects Pentagon public affairs and legislative affairs emails from March 4 to 6, 2024. They include a Scientific American editor's request to join the press list for an AARO media event and a daily press operations summary. The file also holds readouts of Hill briefings. Acting AARO Director Tim Phillips and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick briefed congressional staff on the Historical Record Report, including KONA BLUE. A separate SASC briefing covered drone incursions at JBLE in December.

  • p. 2 …the U.S. and PNG have deepened their defense and security ties to further advance a…
  • p. 7 …the room had not had the chance to read the annex in advance of the session…
  • p. 11 …the room had not had the chance to read the annex in advance of the session…
  • p. 15 …the room had not had the chance to read the annex in advance of the session…
  • p. 19 …the room had not had the chance to read the annex in advance of the session…
(b)(6) Yayboke, Erol K SES (USA)
Subject: RE: Following up from Unders
(b)(6)
(b)(6)
(b)(6)
To: King, Heather SES SD
(USA)
• Meagher, Christopher M SES
Waibel, Carlie S SES (USA)
Yes, when they reached out to inquire, Breaking Defense said Langley was
being briefed in a classified setting to SASC today, fwiw.
Original Message
From: Wirkkala, Rheanne E HON OSD OASD LA (USA)
(b)(6)
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2024 10:21 AM
(b)(6)
Cc: Mancinelli, Thomas J SES OSD OASD LA (USA)
; Magsamen, Kelly E SES (USA)
Zier, Caroline G SES OSD OUSD POLICY (USA)
(b)(6)
(b)(6)
(b)(6)Yayboke, Erol K SES (USA)
Subject: RE: Following up from Unders
(b)(6)
Thanks, Heather. Copying below the quick read-out of the AARO briefings from
our team in case helpful:
Mr. Tim Phillips, Acting Director AARO, and (b)(6) were joined
by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick in a compartmented brief and a TS//:;CI brief to
staff on the findings of the Historical Record Report
BLUF: Both briefs were well attended and went well. Dr. Kirkpatrick attended
the first brief and the majority of the second brief. Questions were robust
in both sessions and the staff seemed appreciative of the information and
AARO's work. There are a few due outs.
Session 1: Compartmented Annex Brief to Senior Staff; 1300 - 1400
The session was well attended. Staff Directors and Clerks from all six
intelligence and defense committees attended, along with Senate Leadership
National Security Advisors (House Leadership NSA's were invited but did not
attend). Mr. Phillips delivered prepared opening remarks to convey the key
takeaways from the report, before inviting questions from the attendees.
Although it seemed most in the room had not had the chance to read the annex
in advance of the session, the discussion was robust. Staff asked numerous
questions about the individuals AARO interviewed as part of the review, and
some of the noteworthy programs to include KONA BLUE. Staff also asked
questions to better understand AARO perspectives on risk and Cl implications
of the findings in the report. DoD SAPCO provided copies of the annex for
reference during the brief and Mr. Phillips, Dr. Kirkpatrick, and
(b)(6) highlighted different sections during the Q&A session to provide
context and additional detail. At the end of the session, staff asked for
perspectives and recommendations for countering inaccurate or misleading
narratives related to UAP based on the review. The staff were appreciative
of the information and thanked the panel for the time.
Session 2: TS//SCI Brief to Intelligence and Defense Committee PSMs; 1400 -
(b)(6)

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the osd collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 20 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.