WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects has received “several hundreds” of new reports but so far no evidence of extraterrestrial life, the agency’s leadership told reporters Friday .
Established in July, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is responsible for not only tracking unidentified objects in the sky, but also underwater or in space — or possibly an object moving from one domain to another can next.
The bureau was formed after more than a year of observing unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but sometimes been reluctant to report for fear of stigma.
In June 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that there were 144 such encounters between 2004 and 2021, 80 of which were recorded on multiple sensors.
Since then, “we’ve received a lot more reports,” said Sean Kirkpatrick, head of the Bureau of Anomalies. When asked to estimate the amount, Kirkpatrick said “several hundred.”
An updated report from the Director of National Intelligence, which will provide specific figures on new reports received since 2021, is expected by the end of the year, officials said.
The bureau was established not only to investigate the existence of extraterrestrial life, but also to address the security risk posed by so many encounters with unidentified flying objects by military installations or military aircraft.
In May of this year, Congress held its first hearing on the subject in more than half a century, with several members voicing concerns about whether the objects are extraterrestrial or potentially new, unknown technologies being used by China, Russia or another potential adversary, the unknown, creates a safety hazard.
So far “we have not seen anything, and we are very early on, that would lead us to believe that any of the objects we have seen are extraterrestrial in origin,” said Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary for intelligence and security. “We consider any unauthorized system in our airspace to be a security threat.”
The bureau is also working on ways to improve its ability to identify unknown objects, such as recalibrating sensors that may only focus on known enemy aircraft or drone signatures, Moultrie said.
One reason for the hundreds of additional reports being received could be the publicity the department has undertaken to destigmatize the reporting of potential encounters. Each service also has its own reporting processes in place, Kirkpatrick said.
Aside from unidentifiable objects, there is a lot of new technology – like future stealth bombers and stealth fighters, drones and hypersonic missiles deployed by both the US and China – that could be mistaken for a UFO. Kirkpatrick said the new office coordinated with the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to get the signatures of US technology to rule out those planes or drones.
“We’re establishing very clear mechanisms with our blue programs, both our DOD and IC programs, to decouple any observations that come in with blue activity and make sure we weed them out and identify them fairly early on,” Kirkpatrick said to the “blue” US aircraft programs run by the Pentagon or intelligence agencies.