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Official reports, hearing transcripts, case files and releases: the paper behind the cases. 2,872 documents, 2,610 mirrored with their text, 53,529 pages indexed, so a search reads inside them and lands on the page.
New in the library The PURSUE files The Department of War's UAP release, mirrored in full: the videos, recordings and images, each beside its case file.Documents43 records
This July 15, 2022 memorandum from the Deputy Secretary of Defense establishes the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to meet section 1683 of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act. AARO takes over duties planned for the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group and becomes the DoD's authoritative office and focal point for UAP. The memo renames the executive council to AAROEXEC and directs the Navy to disestablish the UAP Task Force and hand its data over to AARO.
This July 20, 2022 memorandum from the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security covers the establishment, resourcing and leadership of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). The extracted text says that tracking anomalous objects in all domains is vital to national security and to the safety of military personnel. It also stresses keeping pace with novel adversary technology and a commitment to maximum transparency while safeguarding classified information. The memo calls AARO's establishment a significant step forward.
This is an unclassified briefing presentation that Director Seán Kirkpatrick of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office gave at an April 19, 2023 open hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. It summarizes UAP reporting trends from 1996 to 2023. Most reports describe round objects 1 to 4 meters across, and orbs make up 52% of the morphology. It covers two MQ-9 cases: a 2022 Middle East orb that remains unresolved, and a 2023 South Asia object likely resolved as a commercial airliner and a video artifact.
This stenographic transcript records an April 19, 2023 open hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, chaired by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, on the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. Director Sean Kirkpatrick testified that AARO was tracking about 650 cases and had found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity or off-world technology. He presented trend data and two declassified MQ-9 videos, one unresolved and one resolved as a commuter aircraft.
The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued this October 2023 consolidated annual report on unidentified anomalous phenomena, drafted by AARO. It covers 291 UAP reports received from 31 August 2022 to 30 April 2023, which brings the total to 801, and notes more FAA reporting and no confirmed adverse health effects. It concludes that most UAP will likely resolve to ordinary phenomena as data quality improves. An appendix resolves a 2021 Western United States case as commercial aircraft.
This is a statement for the record by Dr. Jon Kosloski, Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on November 19, 2024. He reports that AARO holds over 1,600 UAP reports, many of which resolve to birds, balloons and unmanned systems. He adds that AARO has found no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology. He names three priorities: partnerships, transparency and declassification, and scaling up data collection.
The Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office issued this Fiscal Year 2024 consolidated annual report to Congress under 50 U.S.C. 3373(k). It covers 757 UAP reports received from May 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024. Every resolved case turned out to be a prosaic object such as a balloon, bird, drone, satellite or aircraft. The report says AARO has found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology, no health effects on observers, and no data showing any UAP was captured.
This is a slide presentation from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, given by Director Dr. Jon Kosloski at an open hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on November 19, 2024. It charts UAP reporting trends from 1996 to October 2024, showing that 75 percent of closed cases were resolved as balloons. It also gives AARO's case resolutions for the 2013 Puerto Rico object, the 2015 GO FAST video and the 2018 Mt. Etna object, finding nothing anomalous in any of them.
The Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office issued this February 2024 report, Volume I of its Historical Record Report. It reviews U.S. government UAP investigations since 1945, drawing on archives and about 30 interviews. AARO found no evidence that any investigation confirmed extraterrestrial technology and no empirical evidence of hidden reverse-engineering programs. It attributes such claims largely to circular reporting and misidentified classified programs, and it describes KONA BLUE and a metal sample found to be an ordinary terrestrial alloy.
This September 2025 information paper from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), part of the U.S. Department of War, explains how UAP-related information is classified and declassified. It says UAP imagery is often classified to protect the platform, location or methods used to capture it, and that only the originating office can declassify it. The paper describes the review steps and DOPSR clearance, and notes that records are being transferred to NARA. It states that AARO has found no evidence of extraterrestrial beings or technology.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, under the Department of War, issued this Fiscal Year 2025 annual report to Congress on unidentified anomalous phenomena. It covers June 2, 2024, to May 30, 2025. In that period AARO received 319 reports and resolved 370 cases in total, all of them attributed to prosaic objects such as balloons, satellites, birds, aircraft and drones. The report also describes a new modeling capability that resolved 238 reports as satellite flaring and 50 drone incidents near nuclear sites, and it states that no evidence of captured UAP materials exists.
This white paper, sponsored by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office and hosted with Associated Universities, Inc. and Florida State University, synthesizes a workshop held August 5 and 6, 2025, that brought together 40 participants. The workshop examined how to collect, standardize, link and analyze UAP narrative reports. It calls for standard metadata templates, human oversight of AI tools, triage of reports, preservation of historical records, better public reporting portals and further workshops.
This January 2026 supplement from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) adds historical context to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory analysis of a metallic specimen. The specimen was reportedly recovered in the mid-1990s from private property near Flint Ridge State Park, Ohio, after the owner saw a large unidentified airborne object. ORNL found it consistent with an ordinary aluminum alloy and detected no radioactivity. AARO concurs and assesses that the specimen is most likely a conventionally manufactured aluminum-silicon alloy, possibly from casting, recycling or an automotive fire.
This July 2024 report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office supplements Oak Ridge National Laboratory's April 2024 analysis of a magnesium alloy specimen. The specimen had been publicly alleged to come from a crashed extraterrestrial vehicle in 1947 and to work as a terahertz waveguide. AARO agrees with ORNL that the specimen's isotopic composition shows it is terrestrial and that it could not function as a waveguide. AARO judges it is probably a test object or manufacturing byproduct from mid-20th century magnesium alloy research.
This case resolution from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), U.S. Department of War, is dated 8 September 2025. It reviews 17 minutes and 30 seconds of infrared footage recorded on 23 October 2017 by an aerostat blimp above Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. AARO concludes with high confidence that the object showed no anomalous behavior and was consistent with a cluster of fully and partially inflated balloons drifting with the wind. It rejects a partner's suggestion that the object was a camouflaged quadrotor drone.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) of the U.S. Department of Defense issued this case resolution on 8 May 2023. It covers three infrared videos that theater UAV operators recorded over the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea in 2022 and 2023, which appeared to show anomalous propulsion wakes. AARO concludes that each apparent wake was a sensor artifact. One object was matched to a military aircraft and another to an Airbus A380 airliner, while the rest were probably prosaic aircraft.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office issued this information paper in December 2024 on how sunlight reflecting off Starlink and other Low Earth Orbit satellites can be mistaken for UAP. It explains the difference between diffuse and specular reflection, Starlink trains, and flares, and it gives a step-by-step method for predicting flare windows. The method is shown with AARO photographs taken near Sidney, Nebraska, and applied to a 2022 airline pilot report near Gallup, New Mexico. AARO concluded that the lights in that report were very likely satellite flares.
This All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office release makes public Department of Homeland Security records on KONA BLUE, a DHS prospective special access program that was ended on February 10, 2012. DHS declassified the records on July 18, 2023. The briefing slides and program proposal describe an Advanced Technology Threat program. It would collect reports on advanced aerospace vehicles, inventory recovered technology, gather oral histories and fund consciousness studies. The release also contains Senator Harry Reid's 2009 letter asking for a restricted SAP for AATIP and a 2010 DIA memo on the program.
This undated memorandum for record from the Office of the Secretary of Defense is signed by Maj Gen David W. Abba, Director of the DoD Special Access Program Central Office. It authorizes AARO representatives to interview people who have or had access to sensitive government information. It also lets people give AARO UAP-related information covered by nondisclosure agreements, under Section 1673 of the FY2023 NDAA. Such disclosures must take place in secure spaces, and individuals must keep safeguarding classified information.
This information paper from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), dated May 2024, explains how forced perspective and parallax can lead observers to misjudge the size, speed and direction of unidentified anomalous phenomena. Using examples such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a featureless sphere and an airborne sensor passing over a river, it shows how stationary objects can seem to move. It concludes that single-observer reports still matter and that observers should estimate range, size and speed.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) of the U.S. Department of Defense issued this case resolution on 14 October 2023 for the "Eglin UAP". On 26 January 2023, a military pilot on the Eglin Air Force Base training range off Florida reported four objects on radar and photographed one object at 16,000 feet. AARO concludes with moderate confidence that the object was very likely a lighter-than-air object such as a commercial lighting balloon. It judges that the radar malfunction was coincidental.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a Joint Staff J3 GENADMIN message from the J36 Homeland Defense Division, dated 19 May 2023. It tells the combatant commands and the military services to report every UAP incident, incursion and engagement to AARO on standardized templates within set deadlines, and to notify counterintelligence within 24 hours. UAP data and recovered objects or material must be transferred to AARO within 30 days. The message also defines UAP categories and related terms.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains redacted May 2023 emails to AARO Director Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick about planning the inaugural Five Eyes (FVEY) UAP Caucus. The meeting was held at the Pentagon on 24 May 2023. The agenda lists updates from AARO, ODNI, FAA, NASA, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It also covers a way-ahead plan for FVEY UAP collaboration, including report-sharing networks, shared databases, collection planning and the schedule for future meetings.
This AARO FOIA release (case 330UAP000032) is a memorandum for record dated January 8, 2024. It sets out AARO's repeated attempts from June 2023 to January 2024 to interview David Grusch for its Historical Record Report. The release also includes text messages with Chris Mellon, email threads with Grusch and congressional staff, and DoD and ODNI memos stating that AARO may receive classified information. It concludes that Grusch had no intention of giving AARO information on his claims.
This AARO FOIA release, reviewed for release on 27 March 2025, is built around a 8 January 2024 memorandum for record. The memo describes AARO's repeated efforts from June 2023 to January 2024 to interview David Grusch for its Historical Record Report. It says Grusch agreed to an interview on 14 November 2023 but did not appear, citing security concerns. The release also includes supporting emails and text messages, including exchanges with Chris Mellon, plus DoD and ODNI memos authorizing disclosures to AARO.
This FOIA release 24-F-0448 from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) contains an organization chart of the office, dated August 2024. The chart lists Director Jon Kosloski and Deputy Director Tim Phillips of ODNI. It also shows divisions for analysis, operations, science and technology, and strategic communications. The positions listed include radar analysts, all-source analysts, a science advisor and liaison officers from NASA, the Army and the Navy. The names of most staff are withheld under exemption (b)(6).
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a March 5, 2024 email from Sue Gough of Defense Press Operations, OSD(PA), to reporters at several outlets. It invites them to an embargoed, off-camera roundtable in the Pentagon Briefing Room on March 6 with Tim Phillips, AARO's acting director, about AARO's Historical Record Report Volume 1. Reporters who agreed to the embargo would get an advance copy, and the embargo would hold until DOD announced the report's public release on March 8.
This FOIA release, 24-F-1138, is filed under the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. It contains the standard verbal legal advisement read to people giving an oral history interview to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The advisement confirms that participation is voluntary and explains how the Privacy Act applies. It also states that nondisclosure agreements are waived only inside the SCIF, that false statements can be punished under 18 U.S.C. 1001, and that transcripts may be shared with Congress.
This All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office FOIA release, 24-F-1426, contains May 2023 emails to AARO Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick about the inaugural Five Eyes (FVEY) UAP Caucus Working Group meeting. The meeting was set for 24 May 2023 in a TS/SCI room at the Pentagon. The agenda lists updates from AARO, ODNI, the FAA and NASA, then partner briefings from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. It closes with discussion of a collaboration plan covering shared reporting networks, shared databases, collection planning and future meetings.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) contains a consolidated organization chart for AARO within OUSD (I&S), dated as of August 2024. The chart lists AARO's leadership, including Director Jon Kosloski, along with its chief of staff, budget, IT and records functions and its analysis, operations, science and technology, and strategic communications divisions. Most personnel names are redacted under exemption (b)(6). The chart covers staffing and structure only and does not discuss any specific cases.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains records of a Department of Defense prepublication security review completed on November 21, 2023. It includes emails, a DD Form 1910 clearance request signed by AARO Deputy Director Timothy Phillips, and a review worksheet for case 24-T-0401, which cleared a one-page "UAP Reporting Trends" graphic for publication on aaro.mil. The graphic summarizes reported UAP characteristics: mostly round objects 1 to 4 meters in size, white, silver or translucent, at 10,000 to 30,000 feet.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a December 2023 prepublication review package for AARO's "UAP Self Reporting Mechanism User Guide." It includes the emails and the DD Form 1910 signed by Acting Director Timothy Phillips, and it records that the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review cleared the guide for open publication on December 11, 2023. The 20-page guide explains how current or former government personnel with firsthand knowledge of UAP programs since 1945 can report to AARO.
This FOIA release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office contains a Department of Defense prepublication clearance package from November 2023. It includes a DD Form 1910 request, a DOPSR case sheet (24-P-0136), and related emails. The Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review cleared a one-page biography of Timothy A. Phillips for open publication on aaro.mil on November 17, 2023. The biography states that Phillips became AARO Deputy Director in October 2023 and is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the U.S. Department of Defense issued this case resolution on the "Go Fast" video on February 6, 2025. It covers a January 2015 FLIR recording made by a U.S. Navy F/A-18F off Florida's eastern coast. From the public 34-second video, AARO puts the object at about 13,000 feet, moving at 5 to 92 mph relative to the wind. It attributes the apparent high speed to motion parallax and has high confidence the object showed no anomalous performance.
This release from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) covers KONA BLUE, a Department of Homeland Security prospective special access program proposed in 2011 to continue DIA's AAWSAP/AATIP work after that program was canceled. AARO first heard of it through interviews for its historical review. The DHS Deputy Secretary disapproved it six months later and ordered it terminated. AARO reports that KONA BLUE never received funding and that no data or material, including claimed non-human biologics, was ever transferred to DHS.
This case resolution from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the U.S. Department of Defense is dated 28 April 2025. It examines a December 2018 infrared video recorded by a U.S. military uncrewed aerial system near Naval Air Station Sigonella. The object appeared to move at high speed through the ash plume of an erupting Mt. Etna. AARO has moderate confidence that the object was a balloon about one foot across, drifting at wind speed about 30 km from the sensor. It concludes that motion parallax and sensor limits created the appearance of anomalous behavior.
This undated synopsis from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) reports on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's analysis of a layered magnesium-zinc specimen with bismuth bands. The specimen is claimed to come from a UAP crash around 1947, and some say it can reduce inertial mass. Using microscopy, spectroscopy and isotope analysis, ORNL found that the bismuth could not have acted as a terahertz waveguide. It concluded that the material was manufactured on Earth and later damaged by heat and mechanical stress.
This synopsis was prepared by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). It reports on an analysis of drill shavings and a small bulk piece from a metallic specimen claimed to be linked to an unidentified phenomenon over central Ohio around 1995. Chemical assays, microscopy, computed tomography and gamma spectroscopy showed a conventional near-eutectic aluminum-silicon casting alloy that had cooled slowly and gave off no radiation. The report concludes the specimen is ordinary terrestrial industrial metal with no evidence of exotic origin.
This Privacy Impact Assessment from the Office of the Secretary of Defense covers the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office Authorized Reporting collection and was approved on 10/26/23. It describes a website where people can voluntarily send AARO contact details to report U.S. Government UAP activities in support of the Historical Record Report required by the FY2023 NDAA. The PII collected includes name, email, phone, zip code, employment status and security clearance status. It cites SORN DoD-0017 and OMB Control Number 0704-0674.
This All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) case resolution, dated 20 March 2025, looks at infrared video recorded on April 26, 2013 by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft over Rafael Hernandez Airport near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Using reconstruction and pixel analysis, AARO found with high confidence that the two objects drifted over land at wind speed and never entered the ocean. It concludes with moderate confidence that they were a pair of sky lanterns.
This is a case resolution report dated 17 March 2023 from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) of the U.S. Department of Defense on the "Southeast Asia Triangles" case. Satellite imagery from 30 August 2017, reported by an Intelligence Community member, showed six dark triangles and was flagged as a possible risk to navigation. AARO's intelligence and science and technology partners compared it with imagery from 2022 and 2023. They concluded the objects were almost certainly static, cone-shaped fishing nets on the water, about 11 by 7 meters each.
This is a case resolution report from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the U.S. Department of Defense, dated 8 May 2023. It covers a 2021 case in which military personnel in Western United States military airspace saw five equidistant lights on infrared and flagged them as a possible incursion into restricted airspace. AARO and its science and technology partners concluded that the objects were almost certainly commercial aircraft up to 300 nautical miles away. The report says sensor vibration and autofocus caused the apparent changes in shape.