UFO agency says no cases of verifiable alien activity (yet), betting on public to help investigate

Pentagon UFO agency director Jon Kosloski testifies on Capitol Hill Thursday, spilling the tea to lawmakers on whether there is verifiable proof that Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) from outer space actually exist – or if spying nation-state adversaries are to blame for the majority of unexplained sightings.

Kosloski appeared before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities to talk about the agency’s most recent cases, national security, and how it plans to involve the public moving forward.

A former NSA researcher with a background in mathematics, physics, and engineering, Kosloski has been the appointed head of the newly minted All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) since its inception in 2022.

Proof of alien life?

“It is important to underscore that to date, AARO has not discovered any verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology,” Kosloski stated in his introduction right off the bat.

Still, although the AARO director made clear that there have been no cases of verifiable alien objects – it does not mean they do not exist, he commented.

“AARO does not believe every object is a bird or a balloon or a UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle]. We do have some very anomalous objects. It's just the nature of resolution. We can only resolve things that we understand,” he explained.

To date, AARO has over 1600 UAP reports in its holdings from across the US government. Over half of those cases spanning 75 years are unresolved, meaning there is not enough scientific evidence to solve them at that time.

“You'll see that many reports resolve the commonplace objects like birds, balloons, and unmanned systems, while others lack sufficient data for comprehensive analysis,”

Kosloski said, noting that only a small percentage of reported sightings are potentially anomalous.

“These are the cases that require significant time, resources, and a focused scientific inquiry by arrow and its network of partners,” he added.

Kosloski said that by opening up data sharing with the public, AARO can reopen unresolved cases that have gone into the National Archives and cross-reference them with any new information given to the agency. AARO is currently working on an online public reporting mechanism that it hopes to have up and running by next year.

Issue of national security

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Iowa Senator Joni Ernst questioned the AARO chief on matters of unidentified flying objects and national security.

“We have so many UAPs around our bases, around our military sites, around our nuclear sites… that adversaries, at a minimum, could be using these opportunities to spy, to glean intelligence that will harm our long-term national security… it's deeply disturbing,” Gillibrand commented in her questioning.

“We don't understand how different UAPs are flying, what technology they're using, what their mission is, what their purpose is,” she said.

"Unidentified objects in any domain are a potential threat to safety and security."

- Jon Kosloski, Director, All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office

"Unidentified objects in any domain are a potential threat to safety and security," Kosloski responded. adding that “reports of UAP activity, particularly near national security sites, must be treated seriously and investigated with scientific rigor.”

Along with testimony, the agency recently released a new unclassified UAP report on its findings for the first half of 2024.

The 18-page document states that it has "no indication or confirmation" that any recent UAP cases are "attributable to foreign adversaries."

Kosloski also noted that AARO has been experiencing “a great increase in satellites [cases] recently, particularly with the launch of mega satellite constellations such as Starlink.”

The AARO director says specifically with reports of lights and orbs, “the satellites are catching what is called satellite flares, or glint off the sun just after sunset or just before sunrise.”

Case studies abound

Several publicly known case studies were also presented to the senators, three with proven explanations and three cases of yet to be explained UAP instances.

The first case reported by a US Border Control aircraft – known as “The Puerto Rico Object” – dates back to 2013. A UAP was spotted over the Rafael Hernandez Airport moving at high speeds and split in two. AARO now believes the object was highly likely a sky lantern or balloon, based on its scientific research.

The second case disproven by AARO was named "Go Fast" and involved a fast-moving UAP appearing between two US Navy aircraft in 2013.

And finally, a third since-resolved case involves a UAP flying close to Italy’s volcanic Mt. Etna during a 2018 eruption. AARO later determined that the object was "a drifting balloon."

Kosloski said the "Mt. Etna Object" case was one of the more difficult to resolve, involving very detailed 3-D modeling and “analysis of the object pixel by pixel as it's traversing across the clouds.”

The unexplained UAP cases that AARO is working on right now Kosloski described as "interesting," with two involving large objects, one the size of an airplane.

One case described a police officer observing a large orange orb floating several hundred feet above the ground. When he went to investigate, he saw a “blacker than black object” illuminated by bright lights underneath the orb “as large as a Prius.”

“It tilted up about 45 degrees and then shot up vertically…10 to 100 times faster than any drone.” As it silently took off, red and blue lights shone down “illuminated the inside of his vehicle as brightly as if someone had set off fireworks outside his vehicle.” When the officer returned to the site the next day to look, the area was completely undisturbed.

In another case, two government contractors reported a “large metallic cylinder, the size of a commercial airplane,” hung stationary in the sky, and surrounded by a bright white light. After "15 or 20 seconds," the object suddenly disappeared.

At some point, Gillibrand stressed the importance of military members, commercial pilots, and others reporting UAP sightings being protected by the agency, and not degraded by government officials as they have been in the past.

Where do we go from here?

Kosloski laid out the agencies three priorities moving forward in to 2025:

• Building strong partnerships across government, military, academia, private industry, and the public.
• Promoting transparency, collaboration, and information sharing with the partnerships by downgrading and declassifying UAP related information.
• Scaling up the work of the office by bolstering the quantity, quality, and diversity of data that it acquires and examines.

On declassifying materials, which the public has been clamoring for, without compromising national security, Kosloski said it's not necessarily the photos or videos of the unidentified objects that are the issue, “but the location, source, or method used to capture that is considered sensitive.”

The agency is said to be working closely with the National Archives and Records Administration to make UAP-related documents publicly available as digitized evidence. AARO has also launched a public website that features UAP imagery case resolutions, material analysis, archival records, and more.

Kosloski further said that AARO has taken meaningful steps to improve data collection and retention, bolster sensor development, effectively triage UAP reports, and reduce the stigma of reporting UAP events. The agency has since issued guidance to defense personnel on how to properly report UAP observations.

Currently, AARO is accepting reports from current or former US Government employees, service members, or contractor personnel with direct knowledge of US Government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945.

"We welcome any former or current government, civilian contractor, or military service member with relevant information to reach out by email. Without fear of stigma, a problem in the past for those coming forward," Kosloski said.

More information can be found on how to directly submit unclassified reports online through the AARO website here.