Pentagon Launches Website for Declassified UFO Data
Facts
- The US Defense Department announced Thursday that its designated office for addressing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), launched a new website for declassified information about UFOs.1
- The Pentagon stated the website will serve as a 'one-stop shop' for all publicly released information about resolved UAP cases, adding it will be updated in the coming months to allow current and former US officials as well as the public to file reports via a 'private and secure means.'2
- A message on the site from AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick says the page was launched to help publicize the work of the office that was established in July 2022. The site currently has a handful of videos, memos, and links to other documents online.3
- The AARO was created after a 2021 preliminary assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence identified 144 UAP encounters since 2004, a figure that jumped to 500 military UAP reports this year. Astrophysicists caution that extraterrestrials are unlikely to be the source of the claims.3
- The testimony of whistleblower David Grusch in front of the House Oversight Committee in July, in which he claimed the US possesses material of 'non-human origin,' has intensified scrutiny, with six members of Congress demanding details from the intelligence community about the alleged UAP retrieval program.4
- While the US military states it has no evidence that extraterrestrials have visited Earth, interest in UFO sightings erupted into the mainstream in 2020 after the Pentagon released videos taken by naval aviators that showed UFOs moving at high speed in unexplained ways.5
Sources: 1CBS, 2NBC, 3USA Today, 4FOX News and 5Bloomberg.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. This move was a simple act of due diligence, nothing less and nothing more. While some are making outlandish and improbable claims with regard to the true origin of UAP, the AARO has decided to clear the air and post their work publicly for the world to see. While it may be much more fun to reside in the land of shadowy conspiracies and little green men, the AARO will keep following the science and resolving UAP claims, wherever the clues may lead.
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Debrief. While this long-awaited official website is obviously a step forward, the AARO has yet to establish the congressionally ordered Historical Record Report, a formal system to collect reports involving UAP encounters, regardless of classification level. Until then, US officials and civil aviators will have to rely on the existing mechanisms available to them through their organizations, which don't allow classified information to be remotely provided to AARO.