Department of Defense unveils new ‘one-stop shop’ for UFO reporting

The Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Department of Defense has unveiled a new web site meant to serve as a “one-stop shop” for all publicly available records on unidentified flying objects.

The site is tied to the DOD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and it’s meant to provide the public with information concerning what the government says are efforts to understand and resolve unidentified anomalous phenomena — sometimes called “UAPs,” the DOD’s newer term for UFOs.

The AARO’s new website at https://www.aaro.mil.

This site will provide information, photos and videos on resolved UAP cases as they are declassified and approved for release, the department said in a release.

The site will also have reporting trends, a frequently asked questions section as well as links to official reports, transcripts, press releases, and other resources, such as applicable statutes and aircraft, balloon and satellite tracking sites, the DOD said.

“The posting of the website is the next step in this process, in terms of ensuring that the public has information and insight into UAPs,” Pentagon press secretary and Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday. “And so what you see today is what has been declassified to date.”

In a an open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) before the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Mr. Scott Bray shared this Navy image of a UAP captured during Naval Exercises off the East Coast of the United States in early 2022. The image was captured through night vision goggles and a single lens reflex camera. Based on additional information and data from other UAP sightings , the UAP in this image were subsequently reclassified as unmanned aerial systems. U.S. Navy photo

icon to expand image

And this fall, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office says it will launch a secure reporting tool on the site for current and former U.S. government employees, service members, or contractors with “direct knowledge of U.S. government programs or activities to contact AARO directly to make a report,” the DOD said.

The reporting tool is required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, the department said.

Right now, the department is conducting reviews to ensure the reporting mechanism complies with federal laws.

In the interim, current service members, government employees and civil aviators are encouraged to use existing reporting mechanisms.

When it passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act in March 2022, Congress quietly gave the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base a role in the investigation of unidentified flying objects.

The act mandates a role for NASIC in the gathering of information about UFOs, or “UAPs” as they’re sometimes called today, a reference to “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”

About the Author