Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the transcript of an April 19, 2023 hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, chaired by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick testified on the office's mission, budget, data collection and review of the historical record. He said AARO had found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity or off-world technology. He also presented trend data and two declassified MQ-9 videos, and one of them was resolved as a commuter aircraft.
3 many referred by Congress, we need to set up a public process, and we need to know where that effort stands. With that, I would like to turn to Senator Ernst for her opening statement. STATEMENT OF SENATOR JONI ERNST Senator ERNST. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Dr. Kirkpatrick, for your testimony today. I will keep these remarks very brief so that we have maximum time for your briefing. The recent downing of the Chinese surveillance balloon and three other objects underscores the need for domain awareness. Adver- saries like China and Russia are working to hold United States in- terests, including our Homeland, at risk. That is why your testi- mony is so important and I so look forward to a progress update on the establishment of your office. As Members know, your office evolved from the Navy-led Uniden- tified Aerial Phenomena Task Force to the All-Domain Anomalous Resolution Office known as AARO. Dr. Kirkpatrick, your extensive background in science and tech- nology (S&T), research and development (R&D), and space makes you well suited to discuss these emerging challenges. My priority is that we understand the full range of threats posed by our adversaries in all domains. That is what the joint force needs to be prepared to fight and win in defense of our Nation. This Committee needs to know about Chinese or Russian ad- vanced technology programs to exploit our vulnerabilities. It needs to know whether your office, along with the Intelligence Commu- nity (IC), has detected potential Chinese or Russian capabilities to surveil or attack us. Finally, we need to ensure efficient interagency coordination. Multiple elements of the DOD and IC own a piece of this mission. To add value, AARO’s efforts cannot be redundant with others. Thank you again. We look forward to your testimony. Senator GILLIBRAND. Dr. Kirkpatrick, you can give your testi- mony. STATEMENT OF DR. SEAN M. KIRKPATRICK, DIRECTOR, ALL- DOMAIN ANOMALY RESOLUTION OFFICE Dr. KIRKPATRICK. Thank you, Chairwoman Gillibrand, Ranking Member Ernst, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. It is a privilege to be here today to testify on the Defense’s efforts to address unidentified anomalous phenomena. First, I want to thank Congress for its extensive and continued partnership as the Department works to better understand and re- spond to UAP in an effort to minimize technical and intelligence surprise. Unidentified objects in any domain pose potential risks to safety and security, particularly from military personnel and capabilities. Congress and DOD agree that UAP cannot remain unexamined or unaddressed. We are grateful for sustained congressional engagement on this issue, which paved the way for the DOD’s establishment of the All- Domain Anomaly Resolution Office in July of last year.
Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 26 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.