UAP Task Force
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 5
| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, UAPTF |
| On the Timeline | 4 events, 2019–2023 |
The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) was a U.S. Department of Defense program, run within the Office of Naval Intelligence, that collected and analysed reports of unidentified aerial phenomena from August 2020 to November 2021. Its June 2021 preliminary assessment, released by the Director of National Intelligence, was the first official U.S. government report on UAP in decades.[1][2]
Creation
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After the 2017 revelations about the Pentagon's AATIP program and Navy pilot encounters, Congress pressed for more information. On 24 June 2020 the Senate Intelligence Committee, then chaired by Senator Marco Rubio, voted to require the intelligence community and the Defense Department to track and analyse data on unidentified aerial vehicles and to report within 180 days of the intelligence authorization law. On 4 August 2020 Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist approved the task force, which was announced on 14 August. Its stated mission was to "detect, analyze and catalog" UAP that could pose a threat to national security. It was led by Brennan McKernan, under the oversight of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and included representatives of other agencies, among them David Grusch for the National Reconnaissance Office.[1][3][4]
The 2021 preliminary assessment
On 25 June 2021 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a nine-page unclassified report, Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, prepared with the task force. It examined 144 reports from U.S. government sources, mostly military aviators, between 2004 and 2021. Only one was explained, as a large deflating balloon. The report said 18 incidents involved objects that appeared to show unusual movement or flight characteristics, such as remaining stationary in wind or moving abruptly at speed without visible propulsion, and that further analysis was needed. It grouped possible explanations into categories including airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. classified programs and foreign adversary systems, plus an "other" category. Officials said there were no clear indications of a non-terrestrial explanation, but that UAP posed a safety risk to flight and possibly a national security challenge.[2][5]
Successors
On 23 November 2021 Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks issued a memo creating the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to replace the task force, which was disbanded and its resources transferred. In July 2022 that group was in turn replaced by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).[1][6]
On the UAP Timeline
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- TTSA Senate briefings (12 July 2019) — DeLonge says To The Stars spent 18 months briefing the Senate and committees.
- Navy UAP briefing cards (24 July 2020) — A Navy briefing card tells staff to say 'UAP', not 'UFO'.
- Franc Milburn's directed-energy claim (7 October 2022) — A former UK officer claims directed-energy weapons were used against UAP scientists.
- NRO Sentient system (27 February 2023) — An NRO FOIA reply describes its AI system 'Sentient' detecting a Tic Tac-shaped object in 2021.
References
- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- ODNI, Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (25 Jun 2021) · dni.gov · archived copy
- "Establishment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force", U.S. Department of Defense (14 Aug 2020) · war.gov · archived copy
- "Senators want the public to see the government's UFO reports", Politico (23 Jun 2020) · politico.com · archived copy
- "Experts Weigh In on Pentagon UFO Report", Scientific American (2021) · scientificamerican.com · archived copy
- Establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, DoD memo (23 Nov 2021) · media.defense.gov · 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.
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