Narrative Statement 1, Western United States Event, 2023

UNCLASSIFIED
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF WAR
5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASH INGTON , DC 20301-5000
INTELLIGENCE
AND SECURITY
02 June 2026
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: Nairntive from Witness 1 - Western U.S . Event
References: (a) https://www.war.gov/ufo/#Western-US-Event,VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1052,
08-MAY 2026.
1. Executive Sumrna1y.
This memorandum presents the first-hand naiTative from Witness 1 provided to the All
domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Witness 1 was one of several United States (U.S.)
federal law enforcement special agents who reported observing unidentified anomalous
phenomena (UAP) over a period of two days in October 2023 in the western United States.
2. Witness Na1rntive.
fu response to AARO 's request to provide a free-fo1m naiTative of the sequence of events
exactly as they remember them, Witness 1 submitted the following text:
"It staiied the first night with other teains repo1iing weird lights moving along in groups miles
away. From my vantage point I could not see them, though in theo1y should have been able to.
Because of my location I did not see anything specific the first night. The second night another
teain member and I were out working and driving to our destination. As we headed through a
valley area we suddenly noticed a large glowing ball to our right 90 degrees from where we
were. It looked like it was between us and a hill face, and initially I guessed it was 500 to 600
meters away, though another later day I was able to use a range finder to put the distance to the
hillside at about 1100 meters. The ball appeared close to the hill face. It was just a circle of light
that looked like a swirly pattern of bright lava. It was bright in the dusk light, the time was just
before 7 pm I think. It was not visible up to the moment we first saw it, though the hillside face
behind it was visible as we drove for some distance before we saw the object. The object's
lighted ai·ea was a well defined circle, but had no visible strncture at the edges to show what
contained the light or why it was where it was. Looking at it through binoculars it almost
appeared to have a line or spindle below possibly touching the hillside below. It was not
possible to verify for sure because of the distance. There was no observed glow behind or below
the object on the hillside or ground. It was only observed for a minute or two before we could no
longer see it. It did not fade out, we just could not see it anymore. There was no paii iculai·
sound heai·d with it. All seemed quiet and it was pretty remote. I would have guessed the circle
to be 20 feet or more in diameter. We sta1ied driving and drove a few more minutes. Then we
stopped and had to get out of the vehicle. About 20 minutes later to the front, another object that
looked similar lit up in the sky over the top of another hillside slightly to the right of front. It
appeai·ed to be several miles away. It only lit up for a second or two and then was gone again.
1
UNCLASSIFIED