AARO
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 7
| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office |
| On the Timeline | 34 events, 1952–2022 |
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is the U.S. Department of Defense office responsible for investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in the air, in space and underwater. It was established on 20 July 2022 under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with its director reporting to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and its role is set out in law at 50 U.S.C. § 3373.[1][2]
Predecessors
AARO is the latest in a line of modern U.S. efforts. The Defense Intelligence Agency's AAWSAP/AATIP program ran from 2007 until funding ended in 2012. On 4 August 2020, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist approved the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) within the Office of Naval Intelligence, which issued a preliminary assessment in June 2021 that could explain only one of 144 military reports. On 23 November 2021 the task force was replaced by the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, which in turn became AARO.[1][3][4]
Leadership
Physicist Sean Kirkpatrick was AARO's first director, serving until 1 December 2023. His deputy, Timothy Phillips, on assignment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, served as acting director. Jon Kosloski was named director on 26 August 2024.[1][5]
Reporting and reports
AARO launched a public website in late August 2023, after delays; at first it lacked a way for the public to submit reports, which earlier laws had required. It also provides a secure channel for current and former government employees to report information about alleged programs.[1]
The January 2023 annual report, produced with the ODNI, covered 366 new reports. About half had ordinary explanations such as small drones, balloons and radar clutter, while 171 remained uncharacterised; some of these were said to show unusual flight characteristics. Officials said there was no evidence of extraterrestrial origin.[1][6] In December 2022 Under Secretary of Defense Ronald Moultrie said the department had seen nothing indicating alien origin.[1] In November 2024, presenting the fiscal year 2024 report, Kosloski said AARO was still analysing a small number of "true anomalies" that it could not explain.[1][7]
Historical Record Report
In March 2024 AARO published the first volume of its Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, covering U.S. investigations from 1945 onward, including Projects Sign, Grudge, Twinkle and Blue Book, AAWSAP, AATIP and the UAPTF. It found no empirical evidence of extraterrestrial technology and no evidence of unacknowledged programs hidden from Congress. It attributed many claims to misidentified real secret programs and to "circular reporting" among a small group of people.[1][8][9]
The report also disclosed "Kona Blue", a proposal by advocates within the government for a Department of Homeland Security special access program to reverse-engineer any extraterrestrial craft in U.S. possession. DHS leaders rejected it as lacking merit.[1][9]
Criticism
Supporters of disclosure, including whistleblower David Grusch and several members of Congress, have accused AARO of lacking access to all relevant programs and of producing an incomplete historical review. Kirkpatrick said Grusch refused to meet his office, and after leaving he wrote that the claims of hidden programs had not been substantiated.[1][10]
On the UAP Timeline
- Submarine encounters study (1952) (24 April 1952) — Air Force and Navy intelligence study nine undersea UAP encounters reported by U.S. submarines.
- Airline pilots and the "Big Brother" gag rules (1958) (21 December 1958) — About 50 airline pilots criticize the Air Force's UAP gag rules as 'Big Brother'.
- NORAD's $294,157 search fee (September 1979) — NORAD says a search for UAP tracking data would cost $294,157.
- Kevin Thomas and the Nimitz black triangle (1991) — A Nimitz petty officer says he saw a huge black triangle rise out of the ocean.
- Michael Smith's NORAD reporting account (30 August 1996) — An Air Force radar controller says UAP events were only to be reported to NORAD.
- Disguised UFO sensor network claim (2 March 2002) — Kit Green says hidden UAP sensors were disguised as environmental monitoring stations.
- Vallée on privatized UFO research (2002) (6 May 2002) — Vallée writes that UFO research has likely been privatized in the U.S.
- Wilson–Davis notes (16 October 2002) — Eric Davis allegedly meets Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson about a secret UAP program.
- One black UFO operation claim (2003) (23 August 2003) — Puthoff and Petersen tell Vallée there is only one 'black UFO operation', about hardware.
- Contractor speculation dinner (2004) (28 March 2004) — Vallée's circle speculates about which contractors handle real UAP projects.
- Puthoff locates the hardware program (2007) (4 August 2007) — Puthoff tells Vallée he thinks he knows where the secret UFO hardware program hides.
- BAASS "back door" approach (24 December 2008) — A BAASS team member says he tried to get 'back door' access to an aerospace contractor.
- Underwater Tic Tac near Haiti (January 2010) — A Navy sailor sees a Tic Tac-shaped object under the water near Haiti.
- Kona Blue (February 2011) — A BAASS director reports to the DIA program about UAP studies.
- Alexander's no-secret-program conclusion (15 February 2011) — Alexander says there was no secret UAP project at the Pentagon or the energy labs.
- Homeland Security and BAASS (2011) (June-July 2011) — Homeland Security officials explore setting up BAASS as a UAP program in the government.
- Navy underwater-object program claim (2017) (19 September 2017) — An astronomer with Navy contracts claims the Navy runs a secret underwater-object project.
- Eric Davis on an existing crash-retrieval program (24 June 2018) — Eric Davis says a crash retrieval program still exists.
- A.D.A.M. project (July 2018) — To The Stars Academy launches the A.D.A.M. project to study claimed exotic materials.
- Elizondo on shoot-downs and recoveries (2019) (15 March 2019) — Lue Elizondo is asked about shoot-downs and recoveries and doesn't answer directly.
- Eric Davis on underfunded reverse-engineering (30 April 2019) — Eric Davis says crashes happened and reverse engineering is split into small, underfunded efforts.
- Eric Davis on recovered hardware (2019) (30 April 2019) — Eric Davis says the government holds recovered crashed and landed UFO hardware.
- SBIRS UAP detections claim (20 February 2020) — Christopher Mellon says a missile-warning satellite system has recorded unidentified objects.
- Mellon's first steps as president (5 May 2021) — Christopher Mellon says what he would do first about UAP if he were president.
- ODNI Preliminary Assessment on UAP (25 June 2021) — The ODNI's preliminary UAP assessment is published (see the Library record).
- Elizondo on rogue programs (2021) (2 September 2021) — Elizondo says he saw no UAP programs in secret program oversight; any would be rogue.
- Energy Department labs as analysts claim (2 October 2021) — Eric Davis says Energy Department labs analyzed UAP materials for another owner.
- Coulthart on divested UAP technology (30 November 2021) — Coulthart says UAP technology was moved into private aerospace companies.
- Puthoff on withheld materials science (11 February 2022) — Puthoff says private companies withhold materials science information.
- Coulthart on contractor scientists (2022) (May/June 2022) — Coulthart describes scientists said to work on secret UAP research.
- Puerto Rico underwater object (September 2022) — Elizondo describes a helicopter crew seeing a dark object underwater near Puerto Rico.
- FY2023 NDAA UAP provisions (6 December 2022) — The UAP sections of the 2023 defense bill are published with late changes.
- December 2022 Pentagon UAP briefing (17 December 2022) — Pentagon officials say they've seen no evidence that crashed UAP are from another world.
- George Knapp's four legacy programs (19 December 2022) — George Knapp says he knows of at least four 'legacy' UAP programs.
References
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "DoD Announces the Establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office", U.S. Department of Defense (20 Jul 2022) · war.gov · archived copy
- ODNI, Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (25 Jun 2021) · dni.gov · archived copy
- Establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, DoD memo (23 Nov 2021) · media.defense.gov · archived copy
- "Department of Defense Announces the New Director, AARO", U.S. Department of Defense (Aug 2024) · war.gov · archived copy
- ODNI, 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena · dni.gov · archived copy
- Jon Kosloski media roundtable on the FY24 consolidated annual report, U.S. Department of Defense · war.gov · archived copy
- AARO, Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with UAP, Vol. 1 (2024) · media.defense.gov · archived copy
- "US once considered a program to reverse-engineer alien spacecraft", Politico (8 Mar 2024) · politico.com · archived copy
- "Here's What I Learned as the U.S. Government's UFO Hunter", Scientific American (19 Jan 2024) · scientificamerican.com · archived copy
🛸 Sightings & submissions about this 162
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Digital Rendering, “Large Triangle with Red Lights,” 2023Colorado Springs
Digital Rendering, “Dark Triangle with Lights,” 2011
Digital Rendering, “Airborne Triangle,” 2002Afghanistan
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STS-80 Unidentified Object Image 3, 1996Low-Earth OrbitShowing the 24 newest of 162.
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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