ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | 25 June 2021 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 199 |
| Year | 2021 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2021 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 16 |
On 25 June 2021 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a nine-page unclassified report, Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, required by Congress. It was the first time the U.S. government officially acknowledged that it could not explain most military UAP reports.[1][2]
Preparation
The report was drafted by the Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) and the ODNI's National Intelligence Manager for Aviation, with input from other agencies. The task force concentrated on reports from November 2004 to March 2021.[1]
Findings
- 144 reports came from U.S. government sources, most from Navy personnel; 80 involved observation with multiple sensors.[1]
- Only one was explained with high confidence, as a large, deflating balloon.[1]
- In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual movement patterns or flight characteristics: objects that appeared to remain stationary in winds, move against the wind, manoeuvre abruptly or move at considerable speed without visible propulsion. A small number appeared to show "signature management".[1][3]
- The task force had 11 reports of documented near misses between pilots and UAP.[1]
Explanations
The report said that if and when individual cases were resolved, they would probably fall into one of five categories: airborne clutter such as birds, balloons and drones; natural atmospheric phenomena; U.S. government or industry developmental programs; foreign adversary systems; and an "other" category for objects that could not be explained without further scientific advances.[1]
Conclusions
The report said that limited, inconsistent data and "sociocultural stigmas", which discouraged pilots from reporting, hampered analysis. It concluded that UAP clearly posed a flight-safety hazard and possibly a challenge to U.S. national security, and recommended standardised reporting, better data collection, machine learning and closer work with the Federal Aviation Administration.[1][4]
Reception and aftermath
The report was widely seen as historic, though a classified annex was not released. It led to the creation of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group in November 2021 and then the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in 2022.[2][5]
People and topics
.JPG)
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence — The office that oversees U.S. intelligence agencies.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
On the Timeline
- Greer's Elizondo vehicle story (19 May 2021) — Steven Greer says he heard Elizondo was in a facility holding an alien vehicle.
- Elizondo on interference with AATIP (26 May 2021) — Elizondo says some officials interfered with AATIP's work.
See every 2021 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena", ODNI (25 Jun 2021) · archive.dni.gov · archived copy
- "Pentagon UFO report released; most cases remain unexplained", CBS News (2021) · cbsnews.com · archived copy
- "Detailed Analysis of the Government's Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena", The Debrief (2021) · thedebrief.org · archived copy
- "Unidentified phenomena pose flight safety threat and potential broader risks: US government", FlightGlobal (2021) · flightglobal.com · archived copy
- 2022 United States Congress hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (June 2021, PDF) — ODNI · dni.gov · archived copy
- Not enough data to analyze UFO sightings, U.S. report says — CBC · amp.cbc.ca · archived copy
- DoD UFO report: unexplained, could be security threat — Washington Times · washingtontimes.com · archived copy
- Analysis of the once-classified version of the report — The Debrief · thedebrief.org · archived copy
- US report doesn't rule out extraterrestrial origin of UFOs — Dawn · dawn.com · archived copy
- documents2.theblackvault.com · documents2.theblackvault.com · archived copy
- patentimages.storage.googleapis.com · patentimages.storage.googleapis.com · archived copy
- twitter.com · twitter.com · archived copy
- nytimes.com · nytimes.com · archived copy
- triadns.org · triadns.org · archived copy
- lanl.gov · lanl.gov · archived copy
Further reading
- UFO files — FBI Vault · vault.fbi.gov · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- UFO documents — NSA · nsa.gov · archived copy
- Pentacle memorandum — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
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.
No discussion yet.