Office of the Director of National Intelligence
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 9
![Seal of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. See more information: [1]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_the_Office_of_the_Director_of_National_Intelligence.svg)
| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | ODNI, Director of National Intelligence |
| On the Timeline | 3 events, 2006–2021 |
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is the US government agency that supports the Director of National Intelligence in leading and coordinating the country's intelligence agencies. It was established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.[1] Since 2021 it has published the government's official assessments of unidentified aerial, later "anomalous", phenomena (UAP). The first was the Preliminary Assessment of 25 June 2021, which found that 143 of 144 military reports could not be explained.[2][6] It also commissioned the 2008 JASON study that dismissed claims about high-frequency gravitational waves.[7] In 2026 Director Tulsi Gabbard described a "comprehensive" multi-agency programme to declassify UFO records.[5]
Creation and role
In February 1991 Senators David Boren and Frank Murkowski, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, proposed a director of national intelligence to coordinate intelligence operations.[1] The idea met resistance until the attacks of 11 September 2001. The congressional joint inquiry into the attacks, and later the 9/11 Commission, recommended a cabinet-level director taking authority from the director of the CIA.[1] The post was created when the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was signed on 17 December 2004, with an office to support it.[1]
- Duties. The director leads the intelligence community, advises the president on national security and manages the National Intelligence Program.[1]
- Leadership. The director and a principal deputy are both confirmed by the Senate, and one of them must be a military officer or show "an appreciation of military intelligence activities".[1]
- Centres. The ODNI oversees the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. In August 2025 Gabbard eliminated three other centres, including the Foreign Malign Influence Center.[1]
The earlier version of this article said the ODNI has about 1,000 employees. That figure is not covered in the sources read here.
Early UFO links
- Gravitational waves (2008). In October 2008 the JASON group of scientific advisers completed a report for the ODNI on high-frequency gravitational waves. It concluded that "no foreign threat in HFGW is credible", including for communication, imaging or propulsion.[7] See JASON report on high-frequency gravitational waves and JASON.
- Zero-point debate (2006). In January 2006 the physicist Jack Sarfatti claimed that an official in Director John Negroponte's office was arranging, with the former CIA scientist Kit Green, a debate between him and Harold Puthoff on zero-point energy. The only source is Sarfatti's own post.[8] See Sarfatti–Puthoff zero-point debate.
The 2021 Preliminary Assessment
The mandate
The Senate Intelligence Committee's report accompanying the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal 2021 required the Director of National Intelligence, with the Secretary of Defense, to report within 180 days on what the government knew about UAP. The deadline was 25 June 2021.[6] The report was to analyse data gathered by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the UAP Task Force and the FBI, describe an interagency process for collecting data, and assess any threat to national security.[6] The mandate followed press reports on the Pentagon's AATIP programme and the creation of the UAP Task Force in the Office of Naval Intelligence on 14 August 2020.[6]
Findings
On 25 June 2021 the ODNI released the nine-page unclassified Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, prepared with the UAP Task Force, together with a classified annex.[2][3][6] Its findings:
- Reports. It covered 144 reports from US government sources between 2004 and 2021, mostly from Navy personnel.[6] The earlier version of this article said 80 of them were recorded by multiple sensors.[2]
- One explained. Only one was explained "with high confidence", as "a large, deflating balloon".[6]
- Unusual flight. In 18 incidents the objects appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, manoeuvre abruptly or move at considerable speed "without discernible means of propulsion". Some gave off radio-frequency energy that was picked up by military aircraft.[6]
- Near misses. There were 11 documented near misses with pilots.[6]
- Five categories. It said UAP "probably lack a single explanation". It proposed airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, US government or industry programmes, foreign adversary systems and "other".[6]
- No extraterrestrial evidence. Officials said: "We have no clear indications that there is any nonterrestrial explanation for them — but we will go wherever the data takes us."[6]
The report was widely seen as inconclusive. A person who attended the classified briefing said lawmakers were given little beyond what was public.[6] Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks then ordered a more formal process for collecting and analysing UAP reports.[6] The UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony notes that the report listed many contributing agencies but not the Department of Energy. It speculates about the omission without evidence.[9] See ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP.
Later reports
A declassified annual report released in January 2023 said 366 more reports had been received through August 2022. They included 247 new events and 119 from before the 2021 cutoff, bringing the total to 510 since late 2004.[4] Of the 366, 163 were judged balloons or balloon-like objects, 26 drones and six airborne clutter, leaving 171 uncharacterised. Some of these "appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities".[4] The report put the rise partly down to a "concentrated effort to destigmatize" reporting. It noted that incidents kept occurring in restricted airspace, raising concerns for flight safety or "adversary collection activity".[4] The work is now shared with the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.[4]
The UFO files
In February 2026 President Trump ordered federal agencies to identify and declassify UFO records. The first files were published on 8 May 2026 through a Pentagon website called PURSUE.[5] Gabbard described a "comprehensive" multi-agency declassification programme involving the ODNI, the Defense Department, the Department of Energy, NASA and the FBI.[5] The earlier version of this article dated her remarks to 2025–2026. The source read here places them at the May 2026 release.[5]
On the UAP Timeline
- Sarfatti–Puthoff zero-point debate (25 January 2006) — Physicist Jack Sarfatti claims a debate with Puthoff was arranged at the intelligence director's office.
- JASON report on high-frequency gravitational waves (October 2008) — The JASON science advisers evaluate high-frequency gravitational waves for national security.
- ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP (25 June 2021) — The ODNI's preliminary UAP assessment is published (see the Library record).
References
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena", ODNI (25 Jun 2021) · intelligence.gov · archived copy
- "Not enough data to analyze still-unexplained UFO sightings, U.S. report says", CBC News (2021) · amp.cbc.ca · archived copy
- "Over 500 UFO reports have been received by the US government, unclassified report says", Yahoo News (2023) · news.yahoo.com · archived copy
- United States UFO files — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO Report (U.S. Intelligence) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Steven Aftergood, "JASON study debunks gravitational wave 'threat'", Federation of American Scientists (2008) · fas.org
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entry for 25 January 2006 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 25 June 2021 · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Office of the Director of National Intelligence”, “United States UFO files”, “UFO Report (U.S. Intelligence)”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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