AARO 2023-2024 - a chronology

 Establishment

In a blog article dated 27 July 2022, I reported on the establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO.) Its director was named as Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick. The current article aims to provide an update on the work of AARO since its establishment, drawn from open sources.

12 January 2023

The Department of Defense announced that AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick was to speak at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board , in Washington DC, on 12 January 2023. The title of his talk was "The Defense Department's UAP Mission & Civil Aviation." In the talk, Kirkpatrick spoke about "What is AARO?" and how the AARO Mission was applicable to the Transportation Research Board. To see his full presentation click here. 

19 January 2023

In a Tweet dated 19 January 2023, reporter Bryan Bender stated that:

"AARO is partnering with Enigma Labs to evaluate their application, data stream and filtering capabilities to determine the utility of its open source data to augment its collection efforts focused on national security areas only. Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough tells me."

19 February 2023

Part of AARO's remit was to hear out the narrative and sighting experiences of individuals who wanted to convey UAP related information to AARO. In a 19 February 2023 article, U.S. researcher Robert Hastings advised that AARO had been in touch with him, regarding his collection of nuclear installation UAP events, and witnesses. As a result, a number of U.S. veterans, with accounts of incidents with UAP near military nuclear weapons facilities, had spoken to AARO.

Also, in February 2023, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Marco Rubio led a group of 16  Senators who signed a letter to Kathleen H. Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Stacey Dixon, Principle Deputy Director of National Intelligence.

Kathleen H. Hicks > U.S. Department of Defense > Biography

This letter included:

"...we respectfully request your assistance in securing the necessary funding and organizational support for AARO's success and longevity."

 The letter went on to speak of a "...serious funding gap.." It went on to remind the two addressees, that:

 "The FY23 Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) requires that the Director of AARO report directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.."

which had not occurred as at the date of this letter. 

7 March 2023

Avi Loeb | Department of Astronomy (harvard.edu)

A draft, six page paper, coauthored by Dr. Kirkpatrick and the Galileo Project's Avi Loeb, titled "Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" was made available. Its abstract read:

"We derive physical constraints on interpretations of "highly maneuverable" Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) based on standard physics and known forms of matter and radiation. In particular, we show that the friction of UAP with the surrounding air or water is expected to generate a bright optical fireball, ionization shell and tail - implying radio signatures. The fireball luminosity scales with inferred distance to the 5th power. Radar cross-section scales similarly to meteor head echoes as the square of the effective radius of the sphere surrounding the object, while the radar cross-section of the resulting ionization tail scales linearly with the radius of the ionization cylinder. The lack of all these signatures could imply inaccurate distance measurements (and hence derived velocity) for single site sensors."

19 April 2023

Dr. Kirkpatrick was the sole presenter to the Senate Armed Services sub-committee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. During this presentation his statement included:

"I want to underscore today that only a very small percentage of UAP reports display signatures that could reasonably be described as 'anomalous.' "

On the question of an extraterrestrial origin for some UAP, Kirkpatrick said:

"I should also state clearly for the record that in our research AARO has found no credible evidence thus far or extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics. In the event sufficient scientific data were ever obtained that a UAP encountered can only be explained by extraterrestrial origin, we are committed to working with our interagency partners at NASA to appropriately inform the US Government's leadership of its findings."

A video of the entire hearing is available click here.

May 2023

A vacancy notice for a Deputy Director of AARO recently appeared on an agency website. The direct link to this advert no longer works.

On 31 May 2023, NASA held a public meeting of its Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Team. Dr. Kirkpatrick also made a presentation. In it he gave details of "UAP reporting trends" and provided examples of both identified and unknown UAP cases including some with video evidence. In closing he made several recommendations to NASA which included:

- Taking the lead on the evaluation of crowd sourced metadata from mobile phones

- Use of large-scale scientific instruments

- Use of Earth science satellites

- Reviewing archived data.

During the course of that public meeting Kirkpatrick stated that he had recently held a meeting with the "Five Eyes" partners (the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand) re UAP. The discussions included:

- What kind of analyses can they help us with?

- What kind of calibration can they help us with?

- Data sharing.

- What can we help them with?

- Kirkpatrick stated that those other countries would send their information and data to AARO to be integrated into the AARO processes. 

23 June 2023

A press release on the website of Senator Gillibrand advised that she had secured full funding for AARO in the Senate Armed Services Committee markup of the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act.

6 July 2023

The US Aerospace Corporation advised vacant positions in support of AARO. (Link not active.)

20 July 2023

In an article about a face-to-face interview with the U.S. ABC Network's, Devin Dwyer; Kirkpatrick is reported to have said that being caught off guard by intelligent or extraterrestrial technical surprise remained a top concern. Other points he made included:

- AARO had now received around 800 reports

- "We will follow the data"

- The vast majority of cases are readily explainable

- A small number of reports involved anomalies.

30 August 2023

The Defencescoop's Brandi Vincent reported , in an article dated 30 August 2023 that:

"Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks recently moved to personally oversee the Pentagon's UAP investigation formerly known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office....Hicks now holds regular meetings with AARO's inaugural director Sean Kirkpatrick who she has also repositioned to report directly to her...AARO is not yet at full operational capability and I look forward to AARO achieving that in fiscal year 2024."

31 August 2023

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder at a press briefing on 31 August 2023 announced the launch of the AARO website which had been long promised.  The website sets out details of the AARO Mission and Vision; defines UAP as they see it; and has sections which include UAP reporting trends:

- Reported UAP altitudes

- Typically reported UAP characteristics

- Reported UAP morphology

- Reported UAP hotspots.

Under a heading of "Coming soon" is that:

"AARO will be accepting reports from current or former US government employees, service members, or contractors with direct knowledge of US government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945."

Also "coming soon" will be "Current operational UAP reporting":

- For military personnel with the recent GENADMIN process titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Reporting and Material Disposition"

- For pilots, please report via the FAA.

Several UAP videos both identified, and unknown are available on the website. Following this, there is an "About us" section and "Additional information about AARO." As for reporting sightings from the general public the site states that "...we will advise when a reporting mechanism is available for others to use."

Interestingly, under "AARO Mission Overview" is a 12-slide presentation by AARO. Slide six includes a section headed "UAP object recovery" which states:

"Leads UAP recovery planning and execution, in close collaboration with AARO S & T Group.

Advises commands on the search and safe handling, storage, transport, and transfer of UAP objects and material, for AARO S&T exploitation."

 Slide eight includes "UAP Exploitation":

"Directs exploitation of recovered enigmatic technologies, leveraging cross-sector partnerships and the latest developments in theoretical and applied physics, engineering

Leads structured recording, synthesis and storage of signatures and material analyses for data consistency, across operational, analytic, and research partnerships."

31 October 2023

 1. AARO published its consolidated annual report. 

2. The US DOD issued a news release on 31 October 2023, announcing AARO's secure mechanism for authorized reporting of information about UAP programs, via the aaro.mil website. 

3. On 31 October 2023 AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick held a press briefing about UAP. Here is a transcript of that session.

4. On 31 October, the current Director of AARO, Sean Kirkpatrick held an off-camera media roundtable. Here is a link to the transcript of that session. The session described the new AARO reporting system which allows USG employees to confidentially report their knowledge of USG UAP related activities. 

8 November 2023

On 8 November 2023, the US Department of Defense announced the appointment of a Deputy Director, AARO. The appointee was Timothy A. Phillips. 

3. Also on 8 November 2023, The US Department of Defense announced the upcoming departure of the current AARO Director, Sean Kirkpatrick. 

2 December 2023

Three Case Resolution Reports were uploaded:

Middle East and Mediterranean Sea 2022 and 2023. 

South East Asia 2017.

Western United States. 2021.

8 March 2024

AARO advertised two positions titled Chief Science and Technology Officer. Duties:

Incumbents typical work assignments may include the following:

• AARO's Chief of Science & Technology (S&T) will provide oversight and direction to the S&T function of AARO. The Chief of S&T serves as the principal subject matter expert for the Director and Deputy Director of AARO.
• Fosters and cultivates strategic alliances and professional networks with interagency partners, government agencies, national laboratories, and universities/academia, to align and integrate the enterprise's array of S&T capabilities against Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) requirements.
• Provide direction and guidance to mission managers with regards to UAP efforts and liaises within AARO as well as external partners.
• Serve as the senior member of the S&T Team and demonstrate a level of managerial experience, including the ability to develop near and long-term strategies, set goals, establish metrics, and oversee projects and initiatives. Serve as a liaison to academia, and private industry to accomplish AARO's mission.

March 2024

The Geospatial Intelligence community's annual conference will be held in London this year on the 12-13 March 2024. Tim Phillips, listed on the DGI 2024 website as AARO's Director is scheduled to speak. 

8 March 2024

On 8 March 2024, Defense Scoop reporter Brandi Vincent reported on her attendance at an off-camera invite only media engagement with Tim Phillips, acting Director of AARO. It was revealed that AARO was developing and deploying a new surveillance system-called Gremlin. The media engagement was basically about the release of AARO's volume 1 of their report on US government engagement with UAP. The unclassified version of the AARO historical report may be read here. 

17 April 2024

It is being reported that AARO will be giving a briefing to some members of the US Congress between 1-3pm EST on 17 April 2024, in a SCIF. 

22 April 2024

The AARO website recently published information related to "Kona Blue" a program proposed for the Department of Homeland Security in 2011, which would have continued and extended the work of AAWSAP. It was never formally established and work on it wound up in December 2011. AARO itself provided details of how it had come to learn about Kona Blue. 

The current version of the website may be accessed here. 

The Australian Space Agency and UAP

Introduction

Of all the Australian government Departments and Agencies which might be expected to have an interest in UAP, the main ones in my opinion would be the Department of Defence (DOD), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Australian Space Agency (ASA). 

Department of Defence

In response to any queries about the subject of UAP, the DOD has for many years consistently stated:

"Defence does not have a protocol that covers recording and reporting of UFO sightings." (June 2019.)

"Defence does not have a protocol that covers recording or reporting of unidentified aerial phenomena..." (June 2019.)

The former Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mel Hupfield said "...he had not seen any reports of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAPs - in Australian airspace." (Oct 2021.)

An internal DOD briefing paper used at Senate Estimate Committee hearings included:

"...the United States nor any other nation or ally has requested or offered to collaborate on any UAP reporting or investigation." (Early 2022.)

The CSIRO

The CSIRO is Australia's national science agency. Included in a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in August 2022, was a statement by the CSIRO used to respond to queries about UAP. Dated June 2021, in part it read:

"We're expecting to receive media inquiries into whether CSIRO has been researching UAPs...CSIRO doesn't investigate or research UAPs...CSIRO won't be commenting on the release of the report (KB- ODNI June 2021 UAP report.)

ASA

So, neither the DOD nor CSIRO have any official interest in the reporting, recording or investigation or research into UAP. What about the ASA? 

On 27 August 2022 I wrote an article titled "Two Freedom of Information requests and the Australian Space Agency." In that piece I reported on the response by the ASA to two FOIA requests. One by an unnamed individual in April 2019, and one by another unnamed individual in September 2021. I also submitted my own FOIA request to the ASA in August 2022, which failed to locate any relevant documents.

On 25 February 2024 I submitted a new FOIA request to the ASA after reading the results of Defence FOI 386/23/24 which contained a copy of an email dated 16 October 2023, from the Defence Space Command to the Royal Australian Air Force Ministerial Liaison Office, which in part read:

"I'm seeking information regarding details pertaining to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that was mentioned in a Senate Estimate by Air Force. I'm unsure of how long ago. The Australian Space Agency is requesting this information for a brief."

As I had never seen or heard of the ASA having a briefing document on UAP, I submitted my second FOIA request seeking a copy of said brief.

On 15 April 2024, I received a response from the ASA which included two versions of their briefing paper. The response was signed by Christopher DeLuis, Genral Manager, Office of the Space Regulator and dated 9 April 2024. FOIA request number LEX74644. Two individual documents were located, titled "Briefing EC23-002464-Unidentified Aerial Phenomena-23 October 2023" and "Briefing EC24-00131-Unidentified Aerial Phenomena-1 February 2024." 

Comments:

1."The Office of the Space Regulator is responsible for regulating and oversight of Australian space and high power rocket activities for safety, security and national interests."

2. The EC in the document names, indicates they were both prepared for ASA individuals attending the Australian Parliament's Senate Estimates Committe. Thanks to the work of Melbourne based researcher Grant Lavac, we already have copies of similar briefing papers prepared for individuals from the Department of Defence attending Senate Estimate Committee hearings. 

What do the ASA briefing papers tell us?

Both papers are very similar. Firstly, from EC23. 

Enrico Palermo

"Lead Enrico Palermo, Head of Agency.

"The Department has noted recent United States Congressional inquiry into Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), also known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs.) The Department has no information on this, and any queries should be directed to representatives of the United States government."

"The Department also noted that NASA recently released the final report of its independent study into UAPs. The Department or the Agency did not contribute to the study. Any inquiries should be directed to NASA."

"The Agency does not monitor UAPs, or UFOs in Australia, nor seek to resolve these issues."

 "The Agency has no records relating to UAPs or UFOs in Australia - although we have received enquiries and FOI requests relating to such."

"Military reporting on UAPs and UFOs. Questions relating to military reporting of UAPs and UFOs are a matter for the Department of Defence."

From EC24.

"The Australian Space Agency (the Agency) does not monitor Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), also known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), or seek to resolve these issues."

"The Agency has no records relating to UAPs or UFOs in Australia, nor does it support UAP research."

"The Agency has no information on the 2023 US Congressional hearings into UAPs and did not contribute to the 2023 NASA report on UAPs."

So, there you have the official positions of the Australian DOD, the CSIRO and the ASA.

Comments:

1. Despite saying that they have no interest in UAP, someone in the ASA had to make time to research the topic of UAP in preparing these briefs. The same within the DOD (Space Command?). 

2. As of April 2024, we still haven't located the individual from the Australian DOD who attended the May 2023 Five Eyes briefing on UAP, by former Director Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or what they did with the information that they received at said briefing. You would imagine that a report on the content of the briefing would have been reported back to the DOD in Australia. However, despite efforts to find out, Australian UAP researchers are none the wiser for certain, although a case can be made that it was an individual from the DOD's Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO). Unfortunately for us, the DIO is one of several intelligence agencies exempt from the Australian FOIA.

3. If any reader has a suggestion as to any other area of the Australian government to look into, as regards UAP, I would be delighted to hear from you. 

U.K. Parliament and UAP

An interest by various Parliamentarians

In recent years, we have seen movement as regards individual Parliamentary member interest in UAP, in the U.S. Congress; the Australian Parliament; the Canadian Parliament, and most recently the European Parliament. The U.K. Parliament seems to have been the most reticent to have any individual member ask a question about UAP. However, thanks to the efforts of Twitter user @wow36932525 and John Priestland of @UNHidencharity, we are now aware of a short U.K. Parliamentary interaction mentioning UAP. 

U.K. House of Commons

The U.K. House of Commons' Science, Innovation and Technology Committee took oral evidence on 13 December 2023, when conducting their inquiry into the state of play with Astronomical research in the U.K.

The following is an extract of the relevant mention of UAP from the official transcript of the conversation. To watch a clip of the session video, click here. 

"Q76. Stephen Metcalfe: I am slightly loth to ask these questions, and I cannot even blame the Clerks for them. They are entirely my own invention. As has been mentioned, we are about to launch an inquiry into astronomy. At our briefing last week one of the questions was, “What is the purpose of astronomy?” and we were given some very excellent answers, but one of them was to look for the evidence of extraterrestrial life in any form. Let us not kid ourselves that we are looking for little green men, but it would fundamentally change our understanding of our place in the universe if we were to find evidence of life outside of earth. First, do the Government specifically fund the search for extraterrestrial life, or is it just through the general astronomy programme? Secondly, if life were found in whatever form, do Government have a plan about how that would be shared with the public? Does it just trickle out of the six o’clock news or is it on the risk register, for example?

Michelle Donelan: To the best of my knowledge, it is not on the risk register. The communication plan would depend on the exact specifics of the hypothetical that we are talking about and how it would play out and would also be a cross-Government undertaking with particular Cabinet Office involvement. 

Sarah Munby: We have a small effort within our space team looking at the question of how we would handle such an announcement. By the way, by far the most likely scenarios here are not ones that would feature on the risk register. They are the findings of what is likely to be relatively local, relatively unadvanced microbial life. It could actually be a really important catalysing moment for the UK science community. 

Q77 Stephen Metcalfe: You can see why I am loth to ask this question, because I can hear sniggering. We are looking for it. I just wondered how seriously that is taken. 

Michelle Donelan: It is taken appropriately seriously. 

Q78 Stephen Metcalfe: I will wait for the sniggers, but while we were in the United States, doing our AI inquiry, there were hearings taking place on the Hill about unidentified aerial phenomena. Do the Government have any views on those or did they look on with astonishment? Do they have Departments that look at these things as well? Are they thinking of having hearings on UFOs? 

Michelle Donelan: We are not planning on any hearings at the moment, but of course we work very closely with our allies on all these topics. We have a goal to be one of the most innovative space sectors in the world and our relationship with America on this agenda is incredibly important. 

Q79 Stephen Metcalfe: Were you surprised that they held those hearings? 

Michelle Donelan: I do not think I was surprised. I was intrigued. 

Stephen Metcalfe: Yes, we were all intrigued. Chair: It is interesting to know that, in terms of our preparedness, there is preparedness for a communication should such a discovery be made. This is fascinating."

Who was speaking?

Stephen Metcalfe

Stephen Metcalfe is a member of the House of Commons. The Chair for the whole session was Greg Clark, another member of the House of Commons. The Right Honourable Michelle Donelan, M.P. is the Secretary of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Sarah Munby is the Permanent Secretary, Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.

I checked two more transcripts of the Committee's inquiry into Astronomy in the U.K., namely of oral testimony taken at meetings on 10 January 2024 and 13 March 2024, but found no further mention of UAP.

Acknowledgement: I wish to thank Jonathan Davies, from Wales, for research assistance with this article.