Fmr. defense official: DOD has ‘culture of suppression’ around UFOs
The former head of the government’s UFO investigation program said he and others have been targeted by the Pentagon.
The U.S. government has received more than 700 reports of unexplained phenomena but have found no proof of extraterrestrial life, the Pentagon’s UFO office confirmed at a Thursday briefing.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) said it received 757 reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, also known as UAP, between May 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024.
Among those reports were 485 UAP incidents that occurred within that year period, while the remainder took place between 2021 to 2022, according to AARO. The office, which operates within the Secretary of Defense, has been reviewing more than 1,600 cases in total, as of June 1, 2024.
ARRO Director Jon T. Kosloski said a higher portion of these incidents were reported by national security sites near U.S. military assets in what he called a “geographical bias.” However he clarified this is likely due to an increase incommercial pilot reporting in the continental U.S.
“We follow up on every tip,” Kosloski said. “We’ve received 1,600 cases. A large number of those are unresolved, which means we don’t know exactly what they are. Until we know what they are or who they belong to we can’t attribute intent and understand exactly what the purpose of that phenomenon is.”
No evidence of extraterrestrial beings found
ARRO has found no “verifiable evidence” of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology according to Kosloski.
“There are definitely anomalies. We have not been able to draw the link to extraterrestrial,” Kosloski said.
Kosloski mentioned that none of the resolved cases have been linked to breakthrough technologies, which refers to advanced capabilities that exceed what exists today or within the next few years. He also shot down claims that all UAPs are either drones or unmanned aircraft systems.
“We have several particularly interesting cases. We’re working within the office, working with our partners to downgrade several of those cases so we can talk about them publicly,” he said. “But there are interesting cases that I, [in] my physics and engineering background and time in the IC (Intelligence Community), I do not understand. And I don’t know anybody else who understands.”
ARRO urges Americans to report UAP sightings
Kosloski urged anyone who sees what they genuinely believe could be a true anomaly to report it to ARRO.
He emphasized the office is going to need the help of academia and public to address these sightings and said ARRO aims to “build that more transparent partnership.”
While acknowledging that his request could lead to deliberately misleading reports, he said it’s worth it.
“I’m a firm believer in big data is going to lead to better conclusions, and I would rather have to filter out some of those copycat cases,” Kosloski said. “If we’re looking for a needle in a haystack, I’d rather have multiple haystacks to go digging through, rather than just one.”
Anyone can submit a report regarding a UAP sighting by navigating to ARRO’s website and following the office’s instructions.
Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
